Mark Levinstein

Mark S. Levinstein is Senior Counsel at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington DC, where he has built one of the most respected sports law practices in the United States. Recognised for his work representing businesses and individuals in the sports industry, he has been named Sports Sector Litigation Lawyer of the Year in Washington DC, US, at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2025, an award that reflects decades at the forefront of high-stakes sports disputes.

Levinstein has spent his career at Williams & Connolly, joining the firm in 1983 after clerking for a United States District Judge and graduating with honours from Harvard Law School. His sports practice spans litigation, arbitration, negotiation and business planning across the professional, Olympic, collegiate and amateur worlds. Over the years he has advised athletes, players' associations, teams, owners, leagues, sponsors, coaches, agents and universities, a breadth of clients that has placed him at the centre of many of the sector's most consequential controversies.

His work reflects the reality that modern sports disputes are rarely confined to a single discipline. Levinstein's matters have combined litigation and arbitration with collective bargaining, controversy and crisis management, and the formation and financing of sports businesses. That integrated approach allows him to guide clients through the commercial, regulatory and reputational dimensions of a dispute simultaneously, whether the issue is a contested governance decision, a commercial disagreement between stakeholders, or a matter requiring careful public handling. Sports sector litigation sits at the meeting point of contract, antitrust, employment and regulatory law, played out against intense public and media scrutiny, and it calls for advisers who can move fluently between the courtroom, the arbitral tribunal and the negotiating table while remaining alert to the commercial and reputational stakes that ride on every decision.

Beyond the sports arena, Levinstein maintains a substantial practice in antitrust law, business litigation, professional liability defence and corporate governance, expertise that reinforces his sports work given the antitrust and commercial questions that frequently arise in league and association disputes. This combination of specialist sports knowledge and broad commercial-litigation experience is a hallmark of his standing and a large part of why sophisticated clients turn to him when the stakes are highest.

His influence also extends to teaching and to the wider profession. He has taught antitrust and sports law as an adjunct professor at several Washington universities over many years, and has been repeatedly recognised among the leading lawyers in his field, including designation as a sports law “Lawyer of the Year.” Williams & Connolly, the firm at which he practises, is renowned nationally for its trial and litigation capabilities, a culture that complements Levinstein's own reputation as a formidable advocate. His recognition as Sports Sector Litigation Lawyer of the Year in Washington DC, US, at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2025 confirms his position among the most accomplished practitioners serving the business and legal needs of sport.