About

Rowena Samarasinhe qualified as a solicitor into the commercial IP and IT department at CMS Cameron McKenna but always had a keen interest in sports work due to her background as an athlete. She negotiated her first GP2 driver contract and assisted on various F1 driver contracts when she was still very junior. At two years PQE she obtained a role with Sportfive working in Geneva on the European Football Championships 2008 and made the move in-house negotiating global broadcast agreements for the tournament. After the event finished, she moved into her current role working principally on the sale of the worldwide marketing rights and certain broadcast rights of the IAAF and the IAAF World Athletics Series, but also a number of other global sports properties. Samarasinhe recently completed an MBA in International Sports Management. She has also been appointed as a non-executive director for CIMSPA, the professional development body for the UK’s sport and physical activity sector. She highlights that her ‘passion is the development of sport and encouraging participation and so I aim to progress my career with this goal in mind’. Within the first three months of starting at AMS, Samarasinhe negotiated a landmark sponsorship deal for the IAAF which, at the time, was the largest deal in the history of the sport of athletics. She says, ‘the deal cemented my passion not only for my position as a sports lawyer, but also to have moved into a part of the industry so relevant to my life’. She has also led high profile negotiations and worked in the implementation of compliance and enforcement of sponsor and broadcast agreements at the IAAF World Championships and other major international sporting events. Speaking about her job she says: ‘the scope of work ranges from drafting tender documents and advising on bid documentation, to negotiating major sponsorship and broadcast agreements. This variance has made me a much more dynamic lawyer as well as having a broad skillset and knowledge base. While I am no expert in any one field, I have experience in so many areas that I am able to adapt to so many situations. This has enhanced my ability to think on my feet and advise in new capacities. I am by no means a typical in-house lawyer’.