pROFILE
protecting
the brand
General counsel for the Edmonton Oilers
is ever watchful of the impact of social
media on the club's trademarks.
By Vawn Himmelsbach
Being one of the world's
top ringette goalies
didn't stop Keely Brown from pursuing a career in law. Fortunately, her career and love of sports aren't mutually exclusive.
Brown has always been an athlete; she's played ringette for 30
years and hockey since she was a teenager. But in her third year
at the University of Toronto, she ran into injury troubles and
decided it might be a good idea to look at alternate careers.
"I appreciated law for what it could do for giving me a definite path," says Brown. "Sports was my passion, so linking
the two together was always the end goal but I didn't think
it would happen so fast."
Now, as general counsel for the NHL's Edmonton Oilers
Hockey Club, she uses her spare time to teach ringette as
co-owner of 5-Count Ringette Goalie Instruction.
When Brown came on board with the Oilers, the company was using outside counsel for sponsorship and advertising work with no in-house presence. So, in 2006,
she started working four days a week, where she was
challenged to carve out a niche for herself.
Now, as general counsel, she deals with the business
of running a major hockey club, from drafting advertising agreements and sponsorship deals, to the licensing of trademarks and dealing with infringements,
as well as negotiating broadcast rights. More
these days, she has to deal with social media
and she's the organization's privacy officer.
"Getting to watch the games in the news
i knew corporate was more my style as
is actually part of my job," says Brown. Of
course, she's watching the games from a difopposed to litigation, and i could get my
ferent perspective — looking at what's going
work done and still play (sports).
on with sponsors and partners, promotions
KeeLy BroWn, edmonton oilers
on ice, and fans in the stands.
But it's also important for networking
with colleagues and corporations. "Being a
lawyer inside a company, I want to be approachable," she says. "It helps if they see
me as someone they can ask questions of — it
w w w. c a n a d i a n law y er m a g . c o m / i n h o u s e
june 2013
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