Executive Vice President & General Counsel
As Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Sam Fernandez has been responsible for overseeing all of the Dodgers’ legal affairs for over 38 years. His duties have included negotiating and drafting contracts with the team’s broadcasting partners, concessionaires, sponsors, and players, licensing the team’s marks and other intellectual property, leasing the stadium for concerts and films, and supervising all litigation. He has worked on matters ranging from the establishment of the Dodgers’ training facility in the Dominican Republic in 1986 to serving on the Board of Directors of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc.
In 2009, Fernandez was awarded the Sports Counsel of the Year Award by the Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel. In 2012, the Daily Journal included Fernandez in the publication’s annual selection of the Top 20 General Counsel in California. In 2013, the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Corporate Law Departments Section named Fernandez Outstanding Corporate Counsel of the Year, and the National Law Journal recognized Fernandez as one of America’s 50 Outstanding General Counsel in 2014.
Fernandez graduated magna cum laude from UCLA in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He received his Juris Doctor in 1980 from the University of California, Hastings College of Law and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.