Bio

Michael Burwick brings more than 25 years of legal, negotiation, and financial services industry experience to Greenspoon Marder. As a partner in the firm’s corporate department, Mr. Burwick focuses his practice on entertainment, sports, media and technology law, tax law, and securities law. He also has significant real estate finance and government law experience. With a strong undergraduate background in sociology and psychology, Mr. Burwick serves as a trusted advisor and a fierce advocate for his clients, guiding them through significant, complex negotiations and counseling them on a host of various business, legal, and personal decisions. He has significant proficiency with the various collective bargaining agreements in use by a host of professional sports leagues and he is a Player Agent, licensed as such by the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), the players’ association of the NBA, and he is expanding his licensures to include certification by the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA). He has partners who are licensed as Player Agents by the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA). Moreover, he works with many athletes engaged in individual sports such as golf (PGA and LPGA), tennis (ATP and WTA), swimming, mixed martial arts (MMA) and he represents various NASCAR teams. Finally, he is building out his sports practice to include the representation of gamers competing in electronic sporting competitions (Esports). Mr. Burwick has a deep understanding of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), state and local tax regulations, the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and the rules and regulations promulgated and enforced by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Mr. Burwick has extensive experience advising clients in a wide range of tax and securities matters, including capital gains tax liability related to the disposition of highly appreciated assets, investment in Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZs), investment in and formation of Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOFs), and the use of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). He also provides counsel on various types of public and private offerings, including the use of crowd sourcing and crowd funding and private offerings made pursuant to Regulation D. Mr. Burwick advises clients on compliance with securities laws and their associated rules and regulations. He advocates for financial services firms in their dealings with FINRA and the SEC. He serves as outside counsel to numerous financial services firms. Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs), Broker-Dealers (B/Ds), sponsors of various private financial products sold via Regulation D and issuers who issue public securities that are registered with the SEC rely on his breadth of skills to guide them through intricate legal matters and compliance issues. Mr. Burwick also has broad corporate law experience, including in entity formation, corporate governance issues and succession matters. In addition to his role at Greenspoon Marder, Mr. Burwick is also the President of a boutique sports, media and entertainment agency, Strategic Sports, Media & Entertainment LLC where he, with the backing of the Greenspoon Marder’s Entertainment, Media & Technology Industry group and Sports Law practice group members, negotiates contracts with professional sports teams as well as endorsements, licensing deals, and other forms of contracts on behalf of athletes, entertainers and media personalities, including streamers and other participants in various new media platforms. Michael Burwick frequently writes and speaks on a wide range of sports, media and entertainment law, securities law, and tax law matters. Outside of his legal practice, he serves on the Board of Directors of Autism Speaks (New England) and the Georgetown Law Advisory Board (LAB). He also plays an active philanthropic role at The New England Center for Children (NECC), a residential and day program serving autistic children since 1975, where his son, Spencer, has been a residential student since 2014.