In the early 2000s, when Martha Sabol was in-house legal counsel for Hyatt Gaming Management, she routinely worked across borders, in multiple jurisdictions, and with clients around the world. The job was gratifying. But it had its frustrations—among them, dealing with different outside law firms in each jurisdiction, some with little to no experience in the gaming industry.
“Every time we entered into a transaction to buy or sell a casino or did business with any casino around the world, I had to educate people about the industry before I could even get started,” says Sabol, now co-chair of the Global Gaming Practice at Greenberg Traurig LLP. “It was an incredibly inefficient use of time and money, paying professionals to get up to speed on gaming-related issues.”