FORS represents NFL athletes in the businesses they build off the field, because understanding that what happens off the field is equally as important as what happens on it. This week, that brought attorneys Jorge L. Fors, Jr. and Daniel C. Fors, to the Miami Dolphins' Baptist Health Training Complex, where they joined the organization as Friends & Family for the Dolphins' joint practice with the New York Giants. For a firm full of Dolphins fans, which proudly owns season tickets, we are always to come see our clients at their place of business: On the field.

Being around professional sports is also a familiar reminder of something we see regularly in our practice: behind the athlete is often a sophisticated and increasingly complex business. Professional athletes face business opportunities and legal decisions that extend far beyond their playing contracts. Companies are formed. Investment opportunities are presented. Real estate is purchased and sold. Endorsement and sponsorship agreements arrive. Brands are developed. Business partners propose new ventures. Contracts need to be negotiated. Assets need to be protected. This is non-stop, and it happens while the athlete is concentrating on what matters most: performing at the highest level of his or her sport.

That is where FORS comes in. We serve as business-minded legal counsel to NFL athletes, helping them evaluate opportunities, structure transactions, manage risk, and protect the businesses and assets they build throughout their careers.

Our work includes business formation and structuring; contract review and negotiation; endorsement, sponsorship, and commercial agreements; investments and business ventures; real estate transactions; asset protection; disputes and litigation; and long-term estate and legacy planning.

In many respects, we counsel an athlete the same way we would counsel the founder of a successful company, because in many cases, that is exactly what a professional athlete is. A playing career is short and the business it creates is not. Money arrives before structure does. By his third or fourth season a player may own property in two states, hold an interest in a business he has never seen a balance sheet for, and have signed several agreements nobody read closely. The trouble surfaces later, when a deal renews, a partner stops answering, or a property has to be sold and no one agrees on who owns what.

The NFL is a relationship-driven world, and so is the practice of law. Our attendance at this week's Dolphins-Giants joint practice was another opportunity to spend time with people and relationships that are already part of what we do, and affirmation of our commitment that we understand the in-season responsibilities of NFL players and are always prepared to come to the athlete, no matter where their career takes them.

At FORS, we help professional athletes protect what they've earned, structure what they're building, and prepare for what comes next.