Mr. Peter McCormick
Ex Chairman of the Premier League Football Association Board, Chairman of the Football Board and of the Legal Advisory Group of the League, Chairman of the FA (Football Association)
Peter heads the Sports and Media/Entertainment practice at McCormicks and is an internationally recognised expert in these areas of work. Recently, he was voted by his peers one of the best Sports and Entertainment lawyers in the world, following research by the leading guide, Who's Who Legal.
Regarded as one of the top sports lawyers in the UK, Peter is best known as the Chairman of the Legal Advisory Group of the Premier League and Chairman of the League’s Football Board, both Executive positions. In August 2015, he was unanimously elected by the 20 Clubs of the League to be a Director of the Football Association (FA), a member of the FA Council and Chairman of the Professional Game Board of the FA. Prior to these appointments, he was Chairman of the Premier League 2014/15.
In March 2016, he was elected by the Premier League and the Professional Game Board of the FA to the Football Regulatory Authority (FRA), which performs the regulatory, disciplinary and Rule-making functions of the FA. He is also an FA Ambassador, representing England and the FA at international matches abroad and away from Wembley.
In May 2016, he was appointed Chairman of the FA International Committee and a member of the FA Group Remuneration Committee, the FA Committees Appointment Panel and the FA Protocol Committee.
In August 2016, he was appointed Chairman of the FA Group Remuneration Committee and Chairman of the FA Judicial Panel Monitoring Group. In addition, he was made Chairman of the FA Premier League Medical Care Scheme Ltd, a company providing private health care to 95% of professionals in football in this country.
In July 2017, he was unanimously elected Vice Chairman of the FA.
In November 2018, he was elected Chairman of the Professional Game Board of the FA. He is also a member of the FA Finance Sub-Committee.
In November 2020, he was appointed interim Chairman of the FA.
Peter Chairs Tribunals and Appeals for the League, Football Association and Professional Game Match Officials Ltd. He is Chairman of Football Stadia Improvement Fund Ltd, a Trustee of the Football Foundation (the UK’s largest sporting charity), Chairman of The Football Foundation Trading Ltd and a Chairman of Sport Resolutions (UK). He is also an experienced Arbitrator and Mediator.
He advises businesses, organisations and individuals on Corporate and Commercial, Commercial Litigation, Media and Entertainment, Regulatory and Disciplinary, Defamation and Reputation Management issues.
Peter is also a leading national figure in Charities Law. He advises charity clients on a local and regional basis and also national charities, including The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and The Outward Bound Trust. He is Chairman of the Yorkshire Young Achievers Foundation, Chairman of War Memorials Trust and a Trustee of the Helen Feather Memorial Trust and several other charities. He is a Vice President of the Future 50 Campaign for Harrogate International Festivals. The Festivals have celebrated their 50th anniversary and launched a £1 million campaign to secure the next 50 years. Other Vice Presidents include Lesley Garrett, Mark Billingham, Lee Child, the Earl of Harewood, Peter James, Mark Lawson, Julian Lloyd Webber, Sir Neville Marriner and Val McDermid.
He was awarded the OBE for services to charity on 1 January 2000. He was awarded the Order of Mercy, in July 2016, by the League of Mercy Foundation, for outstanding voluntary service.
Peter was voted the inaugural Yorkshire Lawyer of the Year and Niche Practice Lawyer of the Year by the Yorkshire Law Societies. He has been ranked as a leading expert by the Legal 500 and Chambers UK, the leading independent guides to the profession, in Sport, Media and Entertainment, Corporate and Commercial, Commercial Litigation, Defamation and Reputation Management, Professional Discipline, Charities, Agriculture and Estates and Contentious Trusts and Probate.
The Legal 500 ranks him as an outstanding and leading lawyer nationwide and a leading individual in Yorkshire and the Humber.
He was the inaugural Chairman of Visit Harrogate, the Destination Management Organisation for business and leisure tourism in the Harrogate district, one of the largest in the country. In April 2017, he was appointed a Harrogate Conference Ambassador for the Harrogate Convention Centre.
In 2008, Peter received the Lifetime Achievement in Business Award at the Ackrill Media Group Business Awards.
Best in Sports Law Services - Global Awards - Corporate Live Wire
One of the leading Sports & Entertainment lawyers in the World - Who's Who Legal
