Fred Sperling, '79: How He Became Michael Jordan's Attorney

Michael Jordan has spent decades protecting his image. Chicago attorney Fred Sperling has been there with him for the past 25 years.

A partner at Schiff Hardin, Sperling has won every legal case he has handled for the basketball superstar. And there have been many, including Jordan's high-profile divorce. In August, a jury ordered the former Dominick's supermarket chain to pay Jordan $8.9 million for using his identity without permission in an advertisement. Sperling is representing Jordan in a similar claim against Jewel-Osco. That case is scheduled for trial in early December.

“Michael and his advisers have been very consistent throughout” Jordan's career about the use of his identity, the attorney says during an interview in his Loop office—a space that is free of any Jordan-abilia except for a small, framed Chicago Sun-Times story about the first case Sperling handled for the athlete (a breach-of-contract suit) when he still was wearing 23 for the Chicago Bulls.