Everett L. Glenn, Attorney at Law

Protecting the interests of the injured worker, especially the athlete, is the latest manifestation of a longstanding and unwavering commitment Everett Glenn has made to promoting and protecting the interests of the athlete at every level:  transfer and related issues for high schoolers; eligibility and transfer related issues for Division 1 college athletes; advocating for the rights of all athletes through media outlets including CBS, MSNBC, Huffington Post; representing professional athletes in their contract negotiations, marketing and related matters; and representing pro athlete clients in related arbitration hearings. 

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In addition, as a pioneering sports attorney Everett had the occasion to represent players on all injury and non-injury grievance matters. The injury grievance matters directly invoked players' rights arising from their worker's compensation benefits.  Everett also served as the first Black in the Office of the City Attorney. The Office of the City Attorney routinely dealt with workers compensation matters.

  

Everett’s legal career started in Cleveland, OH with the law firm of Guren, Merritt, Sogg & Cohen.  It was at Guren, Merritt that Everett got his first taste of sports law, sitting second chair to James N. Bailey in the representation of then Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell including the first stadium “privatization” deal in sports history that resulted in the assignment of the rights the City of Cleveland had in managing and operating Cleveland Municipal Stadium to Modell’s Cleveland Stadium Corporation.  The deal fueled a new era in the relationship between team owners and their public entity stadium landlord/owner.

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After relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area, Everett joined the firm of Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe where he continued to hone his contract negotiation skills through commercial banking and real estate deal work.  It was while at Heller, Ehrman that Everett burst onto the sports scene when he negotiated the richest contract in NFL history for a rookie wide receiver, and the first lifetime income contract in NFL history for All-American and Olympic sprinter/hurdler Willie Gault.  Everett would go on to handle the business affairs for 13 other NBA and NFL 1st round draft selections and 4 Hall of Fame inductees.  In the process, Everett would become the first Black individual agent/attorney to represent multiple 1st round draft picks in the same NFL draft (twice) and remains the only individual agent/attorney of any ethnicity to represent multiple 1st round picks in the NBA and NFL in the same draft year (twice). 

 

Along the way, Everett would serve as the first Black in the Office of the City Attorney for the City of Long Beach, responsible for the negotiation of affordable housing transactions for the city’s Community Development Department, cable franchise and related telecommunications contracts for the City’s Telecommunications Department, and land use agreements for the City’s Harbor Department. The Office of the City Attorney routinely dealt with workers compensation matters. To round out his legal experience, Everett spent 5 years as Senior Counsel with the Newport Beach Office of the Resolution Trust Corporation/FDIC responsible for responding to the financial impact associated with the savings & loan crisis.

 

Everett recently started a nonprofit effort to support the next generation student athletes, ESP Education & Leadership Institute (ESP).  Through ESP’s signature BOSS™ (Business of Success beyond Sports) effort, Everett continues to position athletes to make a difference and enjoy success beyond and/or through sports.  With supporters that include AEG, DICK’s, the Los Angeles Clippers, Chargers, Rams and Lakers, as well as the Pac-12 Conference, Everett is doing unique work with an increasingly visible group – athletes obviously are highly visible in their school and college communities.  We’re not just working to make athletes understand how to be successful, we’re helping them to help their non-athlete peers succeed. 

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Everett has also appeared twice on Tamron Hall’s News Nation, Weekends with Alex Witt and on NBC News . Everett was the recipient of the Rainbow/PUSH 2014 “Trailblazer in Sports” award recipient and the 2013 “Black, Cool & Hip” Award from the Power Networking Conference, the No. 1 networking conference for Black professionals in the country. A 1974 graduate of Oberlin College, Mr. Glenn received his law degree from Case-Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Glenn is a member of the State Bar of Ohio and California.

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ARTICLES OF ACHIEVEMENT 

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"Sports Lawyer Glenn Hopes to Reverse Trend for Blacks"

By Sentinel Staff Writer

Published November 8, 2007

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Everett Glenn

"A Pioneering Sports Attorney"

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