Baseball’s Texas Rangers Name New Top Lawyer in Busy Offseason

Erin Kearney, who has worked for three large law firms, has been called up to the big leagues as the new general counsel for Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers.

Kearney, who confirmed her appointment via email, has worked in the club’s in-house legal department for three years. She replaces former Rangers legal chief Katherine Pothier, who departed last year for the New York Mets.

The Rangers made headlines last month when they signed Mets starting pitcher Jacob deGrom to a five-year, $185 million contract. The team in October lured out of retirement Bruce Bochy, a three-time World Series winner, to be their new manager.

The Rangers, who play their home games near Dallas in Arlington, Texas, are owned by a group that includes Neil Leibman, a former in-house lawyer at Exxon Mobil Corp. Leibman is also the team’s president and chief operating officer.

Fortuitous Path

Kearney spent more than a decade as an associate at Alston & Bird, DLA Piper, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison before joining the Rangers in 2020.

The Massachusetts native spent several years in New York after graduating college. She jokingly noted that after the Rangers signed deGrom in December she received emails and texts from several people whom Kearney had not heard from in years, as if she personally recruited the star pitcher to Texas.

Being in the right place at the right time, Kearney said, helped position her for the team’s top legal role when it suddenly became available.

“My best advice is to not turn down any opportunity, even if it isn’t exactly in the field you want to be in, because you never know where it might lead,” she said.

Kearney started her legal career representing lenders in commercial mortgage-backed securities. Her path to professional sports began by accident. She wanted to work remotely after the birth of her daughter, Kearney said.

DLA Piper’s sports and entertainment group was the only practice that offered her the opportunity to do so in 2013. Kearney said her real estate experience helped her get the job. Negotiating mortgages on sports-related financings then led Kearney to start working for the Rangers.

The team has close ties to DLA Piper. Maxine Hicks, an Atlanta-based real estate partner at the firm, prepared project documents for the stadium that the club opened in 2020. Hamilton Wise, a former summer associate at DLA Piper, is now director of international scouting and development for the Rangers.

While at DLA Piper, Kearney advised on the financing for Globe Life Park—the club’s 40,300-seat ballpark—and worked on related matters as the edifice arose. In mid-2019, she traveled to Arlington to meet Pothier and former Rangers corporate counsel Ilana Miller in person for the first time. For the next few months, Kearney said she pestered Pothier to give her an interview for an in-house job.

Kearney initially joined the club as a senior corporate counsel. When Pothier left last year, Kearney was promoted to associate general counsel.

“I honestly got lucky,” Kearney said. “I was able to demonstrate to ownership over the last year that I was capable of filling the large void left by Katie.”

New Baseball Roles

Kearney’s new top legal role with the Rangers comes as two other MLB teams touted the promotions of their own top lawyers to positions, making them among the most senior women executives in the league.

The San Diego Padres announced last month the elevation of general counsel Caroline Perry to chief operating officer, effectively making her the club’s third-in-command. Marti Wronski, a longtime general counsel for the Milwaukee Brewers, was also promoted to COO of the team in December.

Kearney is already making additions to the legal group that she now leads.

The Rangers are poised to welcome aboard Zackary Kessinger, currently a real estate development and investment associate at Winstead in Dallas. Kessinger, a former college baseball player and one-time legal intern with the St. Louis Cardinals, will soon join the Rangers as an associate counsel.

“He will be a strong addition to our team,” Kearney said.