Maurice Watkins (solicitor)

Maurice Watkins LLB, LLM is a Director of Manchester United's football board. He is also the club's solicitor. He is also Joint Senior Partner of Brabners Chaffe Street LLP Solicitors in Manchester.

Watkins was educated at Manchester Grammar School and University College London.

Martin Edwards asked Watkins to became a director of Manchester United Football Club in May 1984 on the same day as Bobby Charlton. In 1991, when Martin Edwards floated Manchester United on the stock exchange, Watkins joined the PLC Board as a non-executive director. Edwards and Watkins were the only two directors who served both on the Football Board and the PLC Board. At the AGM in 2005 Malcolm Glazer opposed Watkins' re-election to the PLC board along with two other directors Philip Yea a fellow non-executive director and Andy Anson. After Malcolm Glazer had completed his takeover of Manchester United he de-listed it from the stock exchanged and made it a private company once again. Watkins remains on the club's football board and is the club's lawyer.

Watkins has overseen numerous high profile football transfers both at home in the United Kingdom and abroad. He has also represented clubs and players before FIFA, UEFA, the FA, the Premier League and the Football League disciplinary bodies. Also he has represented players and clubs at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and international and league compensation tribunals. He has worked with the South Africa and Nigerian Premier leagues in respect of broadcasting and regulatory matters as well as the Egyptian Sports Council and UAE footballing authorities.

Watkins regularly speaks on football and sports law issues within the United Kingdom and internationally. He has represented both the Football Association and the Premier League at conferences in Egypt, France, Qatar, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Trinidad and Tobago and Japan.

Positions

• Director of Manchester United Football Club Limited
• Director of the British Association for Sport and Law (Former President & Chairman)
• Member of the FA Premier League Legal Advisory Group
• FA Premier League representative on the Association of European Union Premier Professional Leagues (EPFL)
• Member of Working Group for Financial Matters of the FIFA Task Force "For the Good of the Game"
• Non-Executive Director for the Rugby Football League
• Regional Chairman for Coutts Bank
• Trustee of the Professional Footballers Pension Scheme
• Chairman of Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Charity
• Chair of Governors at The Manchester Grammar School
• Chairman of The Greyhound Board of Great Britain

Charitable Support

Mr Watkins is involved with many great causes. Previous roles have including the Chairman of The New Children's Hospital Appeal. With his leadership the Appeal successfully raised £20 million to provide beds for parents on wards and additional and up-to-date equipment at the new state-of-the-art Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.

External links

• Brabners Chaffe Street at Solicitors From Hell
• Brabners Chaffe Street LLP Solicitors
• What are Brabners Chaffe and Street guilty of?

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Name	Watkins, Maurice
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