Padres, Dodgers Fill Top Legal Posts Ahead of MLB Season Start

The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers have new top lawyers to guide them with Major League Baseball’s Opening Day two weeks away.

The Padres have elevated associate general counsel Terezka Zabka to their top legal role after promoting former general counsel Caroline Perry to chief operating officer in January.

Dodgers deputy general counsel Daniel Martens has also been promoted to replace Santiago “Sam” Fernandez, who initially joined the team in 1983 and stepped down earlier this year as general counsel.

The appointments come as MLB prepares for what it hopes will be a routine season after reaching a new labor agreement with players last year and implementing rules changes designed to speed up three hours-plus game times to make the contests more attractive to fans.

Zabka, 33, is one of the youngest club legal chiefs in baseball. She joined the Padres as an associate general counsel in 2021 after spending a half-dozen years at communications company Viasat Inc.

“I believe in making your own luck—but it’s important to be open to opportunities that come your way and see everything as a learning opportunity,” Zabka said. “You don’t know where it will take you, and all the experience you get only makes you a more well-rounded attorney that can add value in more ways.”

Her predecessor, Perry, has worked for the Padres since 2011 after spending time as an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Davis Polk & Wardwell. Perry’s promotion to COO makes her one of the highest-ranking women in MLB.

Dodgers Legal Bench

Martens, like his predecessor Fernandez, began his career as a Latham & Watkins associate in Los Angeles. The litigator went on to become a founding partner of Dal Soglio & Martens, an El Segundo, Calif.-based law firm where Martens once represented the Dodgers in a lawsuit filed by a San Francisco Giants fan named Bryan Stow.

Stow nearly died and suffered permanent brain damage on Opening Day 2011 after he was beaten by two Dodgers fans in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium. Three years later, a Los Angeles jury awarded Stow and his family $18 million after finding both assailants and the Dodgers liable for his injuries.

The Stow family was represented by Thomas Girardi, a now disbarred titan of the plaintiffs’ bar facing criminal charges that he stole money from clients.

After legal fees and insurance offsets, Stow stood to receive only a fraction of the jury award, according to a Bloomberg News investigation in 2015.

Martens didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The Dodgers’ website shows that aside from Martens, the franchise recruited Cozen O’Connor litigation associate Carmen Izquierdo-Oliva last month as an associate counsel. She backfilled a role held by Chad Gunderson Jr., who the Dodgers promoted to deputy general counsel, succeeding Martens.

The Dodgers remain well-stocked with lawyers. Damon Jones, the first general counsel hired by the Washington Nationals and former chief legal officer for the National Football League’s Washington Commanders, also joined the club last year as an assistant general manager and baseball legal counsel.

Dodgers general manager Andrew Friedman is the son of J. Kent Friedman, a former Haynes and Boone partner who recently retired as the top lawyer for legal consulting company Morae Global Corp.