Leigh is a highly experienced intellectual property attorney who specializes in the sports and entertainment industry. His clients have included professional athletes, sports teams and leagues, TV personalities, authors, artists, as well as television channels and marketing agencies. During his career, Leigh has prosecuted over 1,100 trademark applications at the US Patent & Trademark Office, and filed or defended multiple oppositions and cancellations before the Trademark Trials and Appeals Board.
He has extensive experience drafting and negotiating intellectual property and business contracts, including licensing agreements for trademarks and copyrights, website terms of use and privacy policies, securing domain names, and advising on sports sponsorship agreements (including NIL’s).
Leigh started his legal career as in-house counsel for a sports marketing agency and later transitioned to private practice at law firms in Colorado. Before coming to EIP, Leigh founded his own law firm and sports marketing agency, and taught Sports Law at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law. He currently teaches Sports Media Law at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Published articles
- December 2018
The Colorado Lawyer, What’s in a Domain Name? Famous names and the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) - 2009
Univ. of Denver Sports & Entertainment Law Journal, Who Is Responsible When Spectators Are Injured? (link) - 2006
Entertainment & Sports Lawyer, How to Tell If a Work is in the Public Domain - 2003
Colorado Lawyer, Endorsement Contracts for Professional Athletes - 2002
Villanova Sports & Ent. Law Journal, Legal Considerations for Sponsorship Contracts of Olympic Athletes
Education
-
1995 — 1998
J.D., University of Denver, Sturm College of Law -
1991 — 1994
Bachelor of Science, Business Administration and Management, University of Colorado at Boulder, College of Business
Career history
- 2018 — present
Partner, EIP - 2017 — 2018
Of Counsel, EIP - 2009 — 2017
Founder, Augustine Law Firm, LLC - 2008 — 2009
Senior Associate Attorney, Sherman & Howard, LLC - 2005 — 2008
Associate Attorney, Moye White, LLP - 2001 — 2005
Founder, Leigh Augustine, Attorney at Law, LLC - 2000 — 2001
In-house counsel, Proxy Partners, LLC
Awards and recognition
- Ranked as 'Trade Mark Star 2024' IP Stars (link)
- Best Lawyers, United States, 2023 - Recognised in Sports Law. (link)
- WTR 1000, 2022, Ranked 'Bronze' in Individuals: United States: Colorado. (link)
- Selected as one of the Best Lawyers in America in Sports Law since 2007
- Selected as one of Denver’s Top Lawyers in Entertainment & Sports Law by 5280 Magazine five years in a row (2015-2019)
Speaking engagements
- June 2021
Rocky Mountain IP & Technology Institute, Sports & Dying Trademarks