Diane Morse was named chief counsel of ESPN in October 2015 and manages a team of lawyers, paralegals and staff, responsible for all legal functions of the company.  Morse joined ESPN as counsel in 1996 and was later promoted to vice president and associate general counsel.

During her time at ESPN, Morse has been responsible for legal matters of the content area and has negotiated many of the largest programming acquisitions, including agreements with the NFL, NBA and the NCAA. In addition to programming, Morse has had oversight responsibility for legal matters in digital, production and newsgathering, including pre-publication review for television, digital and ESPN The Magazine.

Prior to joining ESPN, Morse was an associate at Dow, Lohnes & Albertson, a Washington, D.C. media law firm. She practiced in the intellectual property group and represented media clients such as Gannett, Cox Communications, Comcast and Primestar Partners.  Morse previously spent time working on Capitol Hill for the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Consumer Protection and Finance, and after that on Tim Wirth’s Senate campaign in Colorado.  Her first foray into media was as an intern for KFMB-TV in San Diego, California.

In 2017, Morse was named one of CableFAX Most Powerful Women.

Morse graduated with a degree in film from San Diego State University and received her law degree from Duke University School of Law.

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