Clifford Chance is building out its private capital sports capabilities with the addition of Jill Kelley, the former general counsel for the New York Jets, the law firm announced Tuesday.

Kelley joins from Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, where she spent a little more than a year as a partner. She was previously the chief legal officer for the National Football League’s Jets and had a stint as senior legal counsel at Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Big Law firms are bulking up their sports deal rosters as private equity plows money into professional teams and related investments. Clifford Chance lawyers advised long-time client Hearst Corporation, which owns a stake in ESPN, in a deal finalized in January that gave the NFL a 10% piece of the sports broadcaster.

“Sports transactions are more global in nature,” Kelley said, pointing to the expansion of the NFL into international markets and the NBA’s move to start a European basketball league. “There’s more of that need to be globally focused and so to be able to reach clients where they’re at — literally — is important,” she said.

Kelley was part of the Hogan Lovells team advising the Paul Allen Estate during the preliminary phases of the Portland Trail Blazers sale. She is also working on matters related to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“Clifford Chance has such a dynamic global presence already and it already has this great preexisting sports practice,” Kelley said. She’s looking to provide the advisory compliment on the operational and regulatory side to the firm’s private equity and mergers and acquisitions work in sports and entertainment capabilities.

Clifford Chance was among Big Law’s top five M&A dealmakers through the first three quarters this year, advising on $370 billion worth of transactions. The firm generated a record £2.6 billion ($3.5 billion) in global revenue last year, results it said were fueled by M&A, private equity and capital markets work.

Read More: Big Law’s Top 20 M&A Dealmakers and Their Largest Deals

It has been a bumpy ride for the UK-founded firm’s New York office. Clifford Chance saw the leaders of its financial markets and funds teams jump to Sidley this year. Two of those former partners said the firm was trying to claw back $5.8 million in pay, a dispute that prompted an ongoing lawsuit. The co-heads of the firm’s US insurance practice also decamped for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

“Arrivals and departures are part of the landscape of any international law firm and business operations in this field, but I think the vision and the growth strategy for the firm is brimming with ambition and is focused on our core clients and our key capabilities, in particular, the private capital sphere,” said Neil Barlow, a New York-based partner in the firm’s private equity practice.

Kelley is Clifford Chance’s tenth private capital partner hire globally in 2026. She is the latest addition to its growing US private capital team, which has also brought on White & Case tax partner Adriana Zhan, Freshfields private equity partner Michal Netanyahu and K&L Gates funds partner Chris Phillips‑Hart.