Guardians Promote Ex-Paul Weiss Litigator to General Counsel

Nearly two years after adopting their new name, the Cleveland Guardians are making changes to their legal department.

Joseph Znidarsic relinquished his title as general counsel prior to the season and is now senior vice president of legal and strategic planning. Maxwell Kosman, who was the team’s deputy general counsel, stepped up to succeed him.

“I will remain head of our legal department but will be more focused on higher leverage legal and business priorities the club faces,” Znidarsic said in an email.

Major League Baseball’s Guardians are a century-old team that in mid-2021 said they would ditch their former Indians nickname to embrace a new brand derived from an Art Deco landmark in Cleveland.

The Guardians have been involved in the insolvency of Diamond Sports Group LLC, the largest US broadcaster of regional sports channels that filed for bankruptcy in March. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison is lead debtors counsel in that case. Court filings show the law firm received nearly $13.9 million in advance retainer payments from Diamond Sports prior to its bankruptcy.

As the baseball side of the Guardians business grew increasingly more complex, Znidarsic said it became necessary to divvy up the in-house legal labor. “Max will have a growing responsibility in what I would call day-to-day club legal work, as well as managing our litigation matters,” he said.

Kosman spent almost a decade as an associate at Paul Weiss in New York before joining the Guardians in 2020. The firm has been a longtime legal adviser to MLB. Kosman didn’t respond to a request for comment about his promotion.

Znidarsic said the Guardians don’t have any immediate plans to fill Kosman’s deputy general counsel role, calling such a decision “several years out.”

Cleveland Sale

Znidarsic is also a partner at Thrasher, Dinsmore & Dolan, where he handles corporate, real estate, and tax and estate planning work. Lawrence “Larry” Dolan, a former managing partner of the Cleveland-based firm, went on to become a cable industry magnate and bought the Guardians in 1999.

Znidarsic worked on that transaction. At the time, the $320 million deal represented the highest price ever paid for an MLB team, a sum since surpassed by the $2.4 billion sale of the New York Mets in 2020.

Dolan transitioned control of the Guardians in 2013 to one his sons, Paul Dolan, another former Thrasher Dinsmore partner who is now chairman and chief executive of the team.

Thrasher Dinsmore continues to handle engagements for the Guardians, including real estate acquisitions and advising on the $230 million sale a decade ago of the club’s former regional sports network.

Cubs Changes

The Guardians aren’t the only MLB team switching up their legal ranks.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and Texas Rangers are among clubs that have elevated or recruited new in-house attorneys this year.

Shameeka Quallo, who spent the past five years working for the Chicago Cubs, left the club last month to become the new general counsel for the Washington Spirit, a team in the National Women’s Soccer League. Quallo also joined the board of USA Weightlifting in January.

The Cubs, which posted a job opening for Quallo’s counsel position, also hired a new corporate counsel late last year in Taylor Riskin, who most recently worked at Oak Brook, Ill.-based Athletico Physical Therapy.

Marlins, Phillies

The Miami Marlins, which last summer saw their former legal chief depart for a sports betting startup, welcomed aboard staff counsel Aaron Caputo in November from his role as executive director of legal and client services for marketing and naming rights consultancy the Superlative Group Inc.

The Marlins hired Caputo after former staff counsel Amanda Bethel took a similar job at Legends Hospitality Management LLC, a large stadium and food services operator partially owned by the New York Yankees.

The Philadelphia Phillies, losers of last year’s World Series to the Houston Astros, raided the latter for former legal intern Elina Doolabh. She recently joined the Phillies as an associate counsel, having previously worked for specialty chemicals maker Kuraray America Inc.

The Phillies have reorganized their in-house legal team following the retirement of veteran general counsel Richard Strouse.