Pannone & Partners is acting for a Derby County FC footballer who wants to play in more matches.

Midfield player Giorgi Kinkladze has been rejected for at least six of the Rams' last nine matches since new manager Colin Todd took over at the football club. In his frustration, Kinkladze has brought in Pannones sports partner Daniel Izza to meet with Todd to discuss the situation.
According to Izza, Kinkladze is not using the law itself to get into more games.
“Colin Todd is the best person to pick the team,” he said. “We had a meeting and it was amicable. I was simply there as Georgi's representative. Georgi needed me as someone to bounce ideas off. This wasn't legal work as such for me, I was really acting as an agent.”
Kinkladze brought Izza onside around 18 months ago as a substitute for the traditional footballer's agent. Izza has acted for him on general legal matters ever since. He argues that many players now use lawyers instead of agents, because lawyers charge an hourly rate while agents take a cut of a player's transfer fee. But Izza is the first to admit that this particular instruction is unusual.
“It's not a rare thing for footballers to instruct lawyers,” he said. “There doesn't have to be an agent. An agent does the selling of the player. If the footballer is already a household name, then he may need a lawyer more.
“However, we're usually instructed on contract negotiations involving intellectual property and marketing.”