FanDuel Promotes Former JPMorgan Lawyer to Chief Legal Officer

FanDuel Inc., the sports betting company, has elevated Carolyn Renzin to chief legal officer after adding at least a half-dozen lawyers this year.

Renzin, a former in-house lawyer at JPMorgan Chase & Co., takes the role after serving since early last year as chief risk and compliance officer at FanDuel, which is owned by Irish bookmaker Flutter Entertainment Plc.

She succeeds Christian Genetski, a longtime lawyer for FanDuel who the company said last month would switch to overseeing its business development, corporate strategy, government affairs, and partnership units in his new role as president. FanDuel announced Renzin’s promotion in an Aug. 1 statement.

The company and its Boston-based rival in the gaming and daily fantasy sports space, DraftKings Inc., have been coping with a shifting legal and regulatory landscape amid a boom in US sports betting.

Fanduel operates in 15 US states and has partnerships with professional sports leagues and franchises. It has enlisted law firms to work with US state and federal government officials in an effort to take sports gambling even more mainstream.

Public records show that FanDuel paid $10,000 last year to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom for the firm to lobby Congress.

Intellectual property boutique Erise IP and Fenwick & West collectively had a role on nearly 53% of FanDuel’s caseload in US federal courts within the past five years, according to Bloomberg Law data.

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz advised Flutter on its bid to take control of FanDuel in 2018 from the company’s former owners, which turned to Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati two years later to handle their $4.2 billion exit from the business.

Legal Hiring Spree

New York-based FanDuel has brought on at least a half-dozen lawyers so far this year, said Kevin Hennessy, a company spokesman.

They include former Wilson Sonsini corporate associate Brian Fried and Société Générale SA lawyer David Khalily, who were hired in May as a counsel for legal and regulatory affairs and director of privacy and data security, respectively.

Thomas Szymanski, who earlier this year made partner at FordHarrison, joined FanDuel in April as a labor and employment director.

Herrick, Feinstein associate Audrey Sheetz was hired in March as a litigation counsel.

And in January, FanDuel added former Skadden associate Brendan Lum and Oneworld Management Co. general counsel Andrea Berner to its legal, business, and regulatory affairs ranks.

FanDuel also promoted Jonathan Fishner, a former Sidley Austin associate who was hired two years ago, to senior director for federal regulatory compliance and anti-money laundering officer in March, said Hennessy, the company spokesman.

Fishner is part of a FanDuel legal team that includes legal and business affairs counsel Alan Conklin, who joined the company in late 2021 from LG Electronics USA Inc. FanDuel also brought on Charles Hurley, a former director of legal affairs for the now-defunct Arena Football League, in an in-house counsel role last year.

Genetski, FanDuel’s now former legal chief, said in a statement that during Renzin’s nearly three-year tenure she’s helped build out a regulatory and compliance function in a time of “transformative change” for the company.

“I’m confident she is the right choice to lead our high-performing legal team going forward,” he said.