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NUFC transfer news – Muckle client signs John Devine for General Counsel role

28th Oct 2022 | Sports
john devine with NUFC in the background

When our Head of Sport John Devine joins Newcastle United FC as General Counsel he’ll be leaving one great team to join another - but this transfer won’t mean goodbye.

They say football is a game of two halves, and we look forward to supporting John in the second half of his career at NUFC, the club he has supported his entire life.

League-topping sporting expertise

John’s fantastic contribution to the firm has included helping to build our nationally recognised Sport practice, now the only firm ranked in Sport by Legal 500 UK in the North and maintaining our Tier 1 ranking for Charity law for over 10 years.

Jason Wainwright, managing partner, said of the move, “We are obviously very sad to see John leave the Muckle team, but he leaves with the entire firm’s best wishes and support.

“When John moves to Newcastle United, he’ll have been with us for over 11 years, enhancing our expertise in the sporting arena and strengthening our client base.

“We’ve been delighted to provide legal support to NUFC over many years. We look forward to continuing  to develop our strong relationship with the club at such an exciting time in its history while providing first-class sports legal advice.”

John said: "I've enjoyed my time at Muckle immensely and have had the pleasure of working with our team of talented lawyers. I'm very grateful, both to them and all of our clients for everything they've done to help and support me over the past 11 years and to Newcastle United for the opportunity to join its legal team. I've seen first-hand how passionate our region and our nation are about sport at all levels, so I'm looking forward to continuing to work within football for NUFC". 

Sporting excellence

Our league-topping national client list includes The Football Association, Sport England, parkrun and England Athletics and longstanding international clients, including the Caribbean Premier League.

For decades, our expert team has worked across a full spectrum of domestic and international sports supporting governing bodies, tournaments, leagues, clubs and athletes from the very top level of professional sport to grassroots.

Tony McPhillips, who heads up the Muckle Sport, Education and Charities group, added: “Working with John since he joined us has been a pleasure, and the team’s expertise and client base have grown exponentially.

“We’ve worked closely with our clients over the past few months leading up to John joining Newcastle United. It is great that one of our own lawyers will be part of the club’s development and we will continue working with the club as one of our many local, national and internationally renowned high-profile sporting clients.”

For more information on how we can help you, please contact Tony McPhillips at [email protected] or on 0191 211 7908.

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