Richard Hernandez Is the GC to the Big Blue at the New York Giants

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There’s a folder in Richard Hernandez’s inbox that’s simply labeled “Requests.” Every week, that folder receives another forty or so hopeful emails that Hernandez will diligently review, knowing that there is only so much he can do. That’s what happens when you become the senior vice president (SVP) and general counsel (GC) of the New York Giants.

Students ask Hernandez how to get into the sports world. Senior executives eye a role in the organization and petition for support or advice. Casual acquaintances hope to score some tickets or donations for fundraising events.

“At the end of the week, I just have to plow through that folder until I’m done,” Hernandez says. “We love to help people, but it is just me and a talented paralegal, Debra Agosta, that support the legal needs of the entire organization. So, the reality is there is only so much time in the day.”

Hernandez knows he has a dream role and loves it. The lifelong Giants fan never set out to work in sports, though. He’s seen the confusion from people asking him just how many years he spent scrapping and clawing his way into the sports industry. As it turns out, the GC spent his formative years trying to add tools to his toolbox through developing his legal skills and experience while building a practice of impressive and like-minded clients in a traditional law firm environment.

“Understanding that the organization leads with compassion and prides itself on what it represents in the NFL, the tri-state area, and to its fans is an important north star that guides my approach to legal matters.”

Richard Hernandez

John Mara, president and CEO of the New York Giants, has known Hernandez since the SVP-to-be was a sophomore in college. But they wouldn’t work in the same building for another twenty-five years. Why? Hernandez spent nearly two decades building out his expertise in business litigation, antitrust law, and sports law at Newark-based firm McCarter & English, with the Giants among his clients. That work eventually expanded beyond litigation to a variety of the corporate, transactional, and risk-management issues faced by any National Football League (NFL) organization.

Evolving from a litigator to an attorney—with experience in a wide variety of practice areas and business matters—has served him well in his role at the Giants.

“The Giants are a family-run organization and my years of experience working with the franchise and the Mara and Tisch families as outside counsel gave me an important understanding of not only the people and operations of the club, but of the values and culture of the organization,” Hernandez says. “Understanding that the organization leads with compassion and prides itself on what it represents in the NFL, the tri-state area, and to its fans is an important north star that guides my approach to legal matters.”

“It was an honor for Mr. Mara and the Tisch family to ask me to join the organization after so many years of serving as one of its outside counsels,” Hernandez says. “It has certainly been a different experience to transition from a traditional law firm environment to a high profile, family-run organization with whom I’ve had such a long standing professional and personal relationship. And the sense of responsibility I feel to the organization has only increased since coming in-house.”

While he loved his work and colleagues at McCarter, he realized the Giants were one of his firm’s signature clients. “So, I’d much rather have this special client be the entirety of my professional life, rather than one of several,” he says.

“After over twenty years of being accustomed to being the person with the answer, it was scary to think that I may not always have an answer at the ready. I’ve learned it’s important to know what you don’t know and when to seek help from outside counsel who specialize in a particular issue.”

Richard Hernandez

Hernandez joined the Giants in January 2022. When his predecessor retired at the end of that year, he was promoted to SVP and GC.

His philosophy has always been to act as a trusted advisor who gives the hard truth the way he sees it. That doesn’t mean he is always right or demands things go his way, but rather that he will always be honest about where he thinks an issue stands and what should be done—regardless of what someone may want to hear or how that decision might impact him.

“The foundation of any professional or personal relationship is based on trust and understanding. I feel as if I’ve built that with the organization over many years of collaborating to solve problems and address issues,” he says.

That doesn’t mean the job is easy. The sheer breadth of legal work for the Giants’ so-called small but mighty legal team was the most exciting—and the most terrifying—part of taking on the job. His responsibilities cover contract drafting, litigation, broadcast and media rights, copyright, IP, data security and privacy, HR, government affairs, community relations, non-profit work, international business affairs, crisis management, and at least a dozen other issues.

“After over twenty years of being accustomed to being the person with the answer, it was scary to think that I may not always have an answer at the ready,” Hernandez says. “I’ve learned it’s important to know what you don’t know and when to seek help from outside counsel who specialize in a particular issue. I’m especially grateful to my friends at McCarter who continue to provide A-plus counsel to this day.”

Hernandez says his success is the result of incredible mentors, whom he names liberally: Randy Sherman and Jennifer Patterson, who worked at his first firm, Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hayes and Handler (now Arnold and Porter), and Bill O’Shaughnessy and Bill Reilly at McCarter. Those mentors may not have looked like Hernandez, but he says they went above and beyond to take an interest in his development, as both a lawyer and a person. Now, Hernandez is determined to pass that on to the next generation of legal leaders.

“In this profession, it’s so important to have somebody that advocates for you and moves you through the development process,” the SVP says. “It’s a hard process to figure out when you’re young.”

That doubly goes for being a minority in the legal world. But Hernandez says he eventually decided that his calling card would be that people would get better work and passionate counsel from him more than anyone else. He encourages people to approach his diversity as a differentiator, rather than something to be overcome. And with the right mentors looking out for him, he eventually became a legal Giant.

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