David Simon Cohen

David S. Cohen is a partner at Daniel Ebeling, Maccia and Cohen and heads their California office in addition to serving as the General Counsel of Tempus Ex Machina, Inc, a sports technology startup. He is also the founder of Major League Business LLC which provides business consulting services to companies and individuals both across and outside of the sports industry. David served as Head of Player Operations for the Alliance of American Football. In that role, David built and led a 175 person department from the ground up and was instrumental in scaling the company from under 30 to over 1,100 employees. David previously served for over five years as the General Counsel of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa, Florida. In the role with the Buccaneers, David was instrumental in reducing organizational turnover by over 55%. He was also deeply involved in the four year $180 million renovation of Raymond James Stadium.

Before joining the Buccaneers, David spent nine years with Angels Baseball LP and AM830 KLAA building and overseeing the legal department and was deeply involved with baseball operations, human resources, sponsorship, ticket sales, and marketing. Prior to the Angels, David spent nine years working as an Athletic Trainer in the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, and Montreal Expos organizations. His peers in the Association Corporate Counsel (ACC) selected him as the 2019 ACC Network Member of the Year and a 2013 “Top 10 Thirty-Something,” and the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society honored him as the “2001 Minor League Baseball Athletic Trainer of the Year”. He was a 2014, 2016, and 2017 Tampa Bay Business Journal Top Corporate Counsel Awards finalist. David is a 2015 inductee of the West Virginia University College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Hall of Fame.

While working in-house for Tempus Ex, the Angels, and Buccaneers, David was responsible for drafting and negotiating legal and business terms of contracts with leagues, sponsors, vendors, employees, and other customers. He oversaw all organizational litigation and has significant experience in managing complex and class action lawsuits. David also oversaw human resources, security, insurance, compliance, and privacy functions for the Buccaneers.

David earned a B.S in Exercise Physiology/Athletic Training and an M.S, in Community Health Promotion from West Virginia University School of Medicine in Morgantown, West Virginia. He also holds a Juris Doctor from California Western School of Law in San Diego, California. David also completed Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau’s Scout Development Program. He is a licensed California attorney and a National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) Certified Athletic Trainer.

David is a leader in the ACC and NATA and is a past President of the ACC’s Tampa Bay Chapter and District 9 representative to the NATA’s Professional Responsibility Committee. He moderated and lead ACC’s 2018 Leadership Development Institute. In the past, David served as Chair of the ACC Sports & Entertainment Committee as well as ACC-SoCal Chapter Vice-President, Board of Directors Member and Chair of its In-House Counsel Conference Committee. He was also a leader in the Tort, Trial, and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association (TIPS). He served two years as the Student Liaison to the TIPS Council and was a leader of several task forces, general committees, and standing committees. He is a past Chair of the TIPS Self-Insurer and Risk Managers Committee and the TIPS Task Force on Outreach to Law Students.