Everton have added one of the UK’s top barristers to their legal team for the club’s appeal against their ten-point deduction.
Laurence Rabinowitz KC is regarded as a “super silk” and the decision to hire him demonstrates the club’s determination to challenge the punishment for breaching the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules when the case is reconvened in the near future.
An independent commission sanctioned Everton in November after they admitted to breaking the rules, which allow for losses of £105 million over a three-year period. They accepted they had gone above that threshold by £9.7 million, although argued that a number of mitigating factors, including interest on stadium loans, should have been taken into account.
The penalty, which was greater than the nine-point deduction handed to Portsmouth when they went into administration in 2009-10, was described as “wholly disproportionate and unjust” by the club.
An appeal was lodged with the chairman of the Premier League’s judicial panel and a new commission will now hear the case.
Rabinowitz, who specialises in commercial litigation, will lead the appeal and work in tandem with James Segan KC, who represented Everton at the original hearing.
His appointment is regarded by Everton as a coup given that he is in huge demand and they believe he falls alongside Lord Pannick KC, who has been hired by Manchester City in their fight against 115 Premier League charges, and Jonathan Crow as the best in the United Kingdom.
The appeal does not allow new evidence to be presented but will instead focus on the regulatory process followed by the three-man panel who decided upon the ten-point deduction and what was presented in the commission’s conclusion.
Everton feel they have a strong case to challenge the severity of the punishment, the result of which means they are 17th in the top flight, a point above the relegation zone.
Meanwhile Everton and Sevilla are interested in the midfielder Hannibal Mejbri, 20, who Manchester United are ready to loan out this month.
