The National Hockey League’s top-seeded team, the Vancouver Canucks, have appointed Catherine Chow as their new chief legal officer.
Prior to joining the Pacific Division-leading team in the NHL, Chow worked for a well-known Canadian steakhouse and bar company Keg Restaurants Ltd. for many years as general counsel and vice president of legal affairs.
Regarding her new employment with the Canucks, which is mentioned on Chow’s LinkedIn page, the club website, and her registration with the Law Society of British Columbia, she did not reply to a request for comment. Nor did the media relations representatives for the Vancouver-based Keg and Canucks hockey teams.
According to a 2013 biography, Chow became deeply involved with the real estate and commercial legal facets of the Keg’s operations after joining the firm in 2006. Having been trained as a commercial litigator, Chow managed a wide range of cases involving trademarks, contracts, insurance, and leasing.
Additionally, she assisted the Keg—which operates 100 outlets across four US states and Canada—in adapting to new legislation, especially those resulting from the pandemic.
Chow oversaw multiple ownership transitions for the Keg throughout her tenure there, including its 2018 sale to Recipe Unlimited Corp., a Canadian restaurant giant. Chow has also had an adjunct professorship at the law school of the University of British Columbia.
As part of her new position, Chow will work for Canucks Sports & Entertainment, which is led by Canadian businessman Francesco Aquilini and which also owns the Vancouver Warriors of the National Lacrosse League, the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League, and the Canucks, an e-sports team. In addition, Chow will manage legal matters for Aquilini’s investment firm’s Toptable, a collection of upscale dining establishments.
Chow’s Canucks placement was managed by TurnkeyZRG, an executive search and recruitment business that specializes in the sports and entertainment sectors. Michelle O’Connor was hired by the Canucks a few months ago to serve as assistant general counsel and senior legal director.
Chow takes over a prominent legal position that was left open by Canucks general counsel Christopher Beardsmore, who has since rejoined Blackfin Sports Group alongside a number of other former team executives, including former assistant general manager and club legal chief Christopher Gear. The Vancouver-based agency was established last year to provide counsel on entertainment and sports-related issues.
Through the Ice
A number of NHL teams have changed their legal staffs, while a new professional women’s hockey league was busy recruiting attorneys in preparation for its inaugural season, which kicked off in January.
Tampa Bay Lightning: In January, James “Jim” Shimberg Jr., a former partner at Holland & Knight who had served as general counsel for the team’s ownership group, the Vinik Sports Group, for the previous ten years, departed to establish a Tampa office for the Miami-based Shubin Law Group, a real estate and land use law firm.
Shimberg has also joined Shubin’s consulting firm, the Euclid Group, which specializes in urban planning and development. The ownership of the Lightning, who have recently expanded their internal legal staff, completed the sale of a portion of a $2 billion real estate joint venture in downtown Tampa to Cascade Investment Trust LLC, a company led by billionaire Bill Gates, last year.
Anaheim Ducks: In January, Reed Smith associate Natalie “Nat” Ochoa and Freedom Forever LLC associate counsel for corporate transactions Jessica Park were hired as associate counsel by OC Sports and Entertainment, the organization that manages the Ducks, their home ice at Honda Center in Anaheim, and the club’s AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. The Ducks promoted Lauren Fitzpatrick to deputy general counsel and Francis Lam, assistant general counsel, to deputy general counsel in the same month. The actions follow the start of a $4 billion development around the Honda Center last year by the Anaheim and Ducks ownership.
Minnesota Wild: In November, the team employed Jon Olson as a director of legal affairs. Olson is an associate general counsel for litigation at Thomson Reuters Corp. in Eagan, Minn. Olson became a member of the Wild following the hiring of Amber Cratsenberg, a former USA Triathlon risk and compliance coordinator, as the club’s manager of insurance, risk, and legal compliance.
Joshua Siskin, the previous Wild director of legal and corporate affairs, departed the organization in September of last year to take a position as general manager of FloSports Inc., a startup sports broadcasting and streaming service based in Austin, Texas, with a concentration on hockey. Cratsenberg was brought in to take Siskin’s place.
Dallas Stars: Currently ranked first in the NHL’s Central Division, the Stars lost associate counsel Rachael Lopez to the National Football League’s Las Vegas Raiders in October. The Raiders’ home field recently hosted the Super Bowl. Lopez left the Stars a year after Alana Matthews, their previous general counsel, left to launch her own handmade luxury clothing line for ladies called Alautus.
