Mel Stephens
Founder
Mel Stephens is the founder of the firm. He is a US-qualified attorney and has doctorates from both Oxford University and the University of California. He is the co-author of International Business and National Jurisdiction (Oxford University Press, 1988) with the late Sir Alan Neale.
Mel has practiced in the UK since 1983, when he founded Stephens & Associates. He acted as a Director and International Counsel to Reebok International Limited for many years. He has also served as a director on the boards of a number of other companies. Mel acts for a range of clients in the sports and fashion sectors to whom he provides a broad spectrum of international legal and business advice.
He can fairly be described as one of the world’s leading experts on international distribution and licensing arrangements. He has acted as an expert witness in terms of custom and practice in the sports fashion industry in a number of major cases, including in one dispute in which our client was awarded US$52 million in damages.