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Olympic Swimmer's Counsel on Client's Legal Concerns

By Melea VanOstrand
August 01, 2021

When 2020 came and went without the Tokyo Olympics, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Coral Gables, FL, lawyer Alan Fertel watched as many of the sponsorships and deals he'd negotiated for one of the world's fastest swimmers expired.

Sports and entertainment attorney Fertel is a partner with Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman, where he represents U.S. Olympic swimmer Caeleb Dressel, a Floridian considered a threat to Michael Phelps' gold medal records. Dressel is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and 13-time world champion who specializes in the sprint events. The 24-year-old represents the Cali Condors, part of the International Swimming League and is a former Junior World Champion, NCAA All-American, and multi-time National Age Group record holder.

But in October 2020, as many of the deals Fertel had secured for Dressel expired after what would have been the Olympics, Fertel had to work around force majeure clauses to get them extended. "The triggers for his bonus also had to be renegotiated since he didn't have the Olympics to swim last year, and those bonuses of course were related to the Olympics," Fertel said.

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