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New GC of WWE Has Headlock on Legal Position
Corporate Counsel
January 13, 2009
A career in law usually isn't filled with body slams, outrageous costumes and rip-roaring crowds getting ready to rumble. But Jared Bartie, the new general counsel of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., sees no reason that his job can't be filled with drama, chaos, humor and showmanship.
"I grew up watching wrestling on Saturday mornings," remembers the Cambridge, Mass., native. While he is unlikely to be seen at WWE events sporting crazy getups or face paint, the job will still force him to wear many hats. His 14-person legal team will negotiate live event contracts and the WWE's television, film, music and publishing rights. They also handle employment and IP litigation.
The company already had a trademark scuffle in 2000, when the World Wildlife Fund sued the then World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc., for use of the WWF acronym. The wrestlers knew the animals had them in a headlock, and the federation lost the rights to the trademark. With new logos, the WWF became the WWE, inaugurating the change with a playfully naughty "Get the F out" campaign.
For Bartie, joining the wrestlers' ring is a homecoming of sorts. He was hired in 2001 as the vice president of legal affairs for the XFL, a short-lived off-season football league owned by the WWE.
But this avid sports fan continued to work in the industry after the XFL fumbled, and moved next to the United States Tennis Association in 2002, as chief legal officer and general counsel. Bartie then jumped to the basketball court as vice president of team marketing and business operations at the National Basketball Association in 2005, and most recently as the chief administrative officer and general counsel for the Charlotte Bobcats since 2007.
Bartie admits that while he's a die-hard wrestling fan, he won't be trying out a half-nelson on world heavyweight champion Chris Jericho or taking on WWE tag team winners Carlito and Primo Colon anytime soon.
"Right now, the only sports I play are an occasional game of basketball and trying to keep up with my 1-year-old daughter, Madison," he says.
