And with the Tartan Army<\/a>, in the World Cup for the first time since 1998, playing in Miami, well, \u201cthe entire city is abuzz,\u201d Colan said. <\/p>\n Rodney Barreto, co-chair of the host committee, has worked with Colan for more than 20 years and has no reservations about his partner\u2019s modified role. \u201cI have nothing to worry about when Bruce is in the room,\u201d Barreto said. \u201cHe\u2019s the guy I want in the foxhole with me. He knows all the contracts and understands the complexities in going from a handshake to an agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n The legal complexity of the contracts in question is, apparently, significant\u2026 particularly when one of the parties is FIFA. Colan was diplomatic about it, \u201cFrom FIFA\u2019s standpoint, they can\u2019t have 16 different operating agreements, which I understand.\u201d The result is agreements that are, shall we say, one-sided. \u201cAll the FIFA sponsors get preference,\u201d Colan said. \u201cIt\u2019s a tough agreement, and it\u2019s not for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n But he also had a more colorful summary of the FIFA negotiation experience: the organization is a \u201cballbuster,\u201d Colan said. Which is the exact right take for the consigliere.<\/p>\n Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Retired Biglaw Partner Becomes Miami\u2019s World Cup \u2018Consigliere\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Bruce Jay Colan spent decades at Holland & Knight before doing what every exhausted Biglaw partner dreams of: he retired. Then Miami\u2019s World Cup host committee came calling in 2023, and he said yes. Shortly after that, he was diagnosed with dry age-related macular degeneration, which reduces central vision, Colan manages the diagnosis with monthly shots in the eyes. In the legal industry, we call this a rough patch.<\/p>\n Colan is now general counsel for Miami\u2019s FIFA World Cup 26 host committee, though in practice he describes his role with a term more familiar to Sopranos viewers than legal directories. \u201cI\u2019m acting as more of a \u2018consigliere,’\u201d he told Bloomberg Law<\/a>, while day-to-day legal duties have been taken over by the firm Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod. David Seifer, head of Bilzin\u2019s corporate and finance practice and one of the partners working with Colan on the World Cup, said the firm handles the nuts and bolts \u2014 licensing and commercialization agreements, employment and stadium contracts, sponsorship, and more. And, Seifer notes, most of it done pro bono for the host committee. <\/p>\n And with the Tartan Army<\/a>, in the World Cup for the first time since 1998, playing in Miami, well, \u201cthe entire city is abuzz,\u201d Colan said. <\/p>\n Rodney Barreto, co-chair of the host committee, has worked with Colan for more than 20 years and has no reservations about his partner\u2019s modified role. \u201cI have nothing to worry about when Bruce is in the room,\u201d Barreto said. \u201cHe\u2019s the guy I want in the foxhole with me. He knows all the contracts and understands the complexities in going from a handshake to an agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n The legal complexity of the contracts in question is, apparently, significant\u2026 particularly when one of the parties is FIFA. Colan was diplomatic about it, \u201cFrom FIFA\u2019s standpoint, they can\u2019t have 16 different operating agreements, which I understand.\u201d The result is agreements that are, shall we say, one-sided. \u201cAll the FIFA sponsors get preference,\u201d Colan said. \u201cIt\u2019s a tough agreement, and it\u2019s not for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n But he also had a more colorful summary of the FIFA negotiation experience: the organization is a \u201cballbuster,\u201d Colan said. Which is the exact right take for the consigliere.<\/p>\n Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Retired Biglaw Partner Becomes Miami\u2019s World Cup \u2018Consigliere\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bruce Jay Colan spent decades at Holland & Knight before doing what every exhausted Biglaw partner dreams of: he retired. Then Miami\u2019s World Cup host committee came calling in 2023, and he said yes. Shortly after that, he was diagnosed with dry age-related macular degeneration, which reduces central vision, Colan manages the diagnosis with monthly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":155386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-jgla1B.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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