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Just a question. Right now I'm an 1L at a T2 school in NYC (full scholarship with no stipulations is the reason I chose this school to let you know) and I'm wondering what the chances of getting a job in the sports law field are? Not biglaw necessarily, but any sports law type of employment and if so what would be some tips to get into it?

I don't have any connections (yet), but I do have a big interest and my school has a number of programs related to this.

Sports law is a mixture of other types of "laws"--labor, intellectual property, financing, litigation, etc. So, when you say "sports law," you basically mean you want to work for clients in the sports industry.

TheFriendlyBarber wrote:Sports law is a mixture of other types of "laws"--labor, intellectual property, financing, litigation, etc. So, when you say "sports law," you basically mean you want to work for clients in the sports industry.

Yes exactly.

Connections are the key to getting your foot in the door. After that you can try to build a reputation and do entrepreneurial stuff.

This is from Drew Rosenhaus' Wikipedia page: "Rosenhaus attended and graduated in 1987 from the University of Miami and, in 1990, obtained a law degree from Duke University School of Law. Drawing heavily from his college connections, twenty-four of Rosenhaus' 100-plus NFL clients are fellow University of Miami alumni. In 1989, at the age of 22, Drew became the youngest registered sports agent" This is from Scot Boras' Wiki: "Boras's start as an agent came representing Mike Fischlin, a former high school teammate and major league shortstop for the Cleveland Indians, and Bill Caudill, a former minor league teammate and closer for the Seattle Mariners, both of whom now work for Boras."

Those are just two examples but I think they illustrate the point. It's almost impossible to land a client if you're just a random stranger with a JD who has zero experience in the field.

DeMaurice Smith

KibblesAndVick wrote:Connections are the key to getting your foot in the door. After that you can try to build a reputation and do entrepreneurial stuff.

This is from Drew Rosenhaus' Wikipedia page: "Rosenhaus attended and graduated in 1987 from the University of Miami and, in 1990, obtained a law degree from Duke University School of Law. Drawing heavily from his college connections, twenty-four of Rosenhaus' 100-plus NFL clients are fellow University of Miami alumni. In 1989, at the age of 22, Drew became the youngest registered sports agent" This is from Scot Boras' Wiki: "Boras's start as an agent came representing Mike Fischlin, a former high school teammate and major league shortstop for the Cleveland Indians, and Bill Caudill, a former minor league teammate and closer for the Seattle Mariners, both of whom now work for Boras."

Those are just two examples but I think they illustrate the point. It's almost impossible to land a client if you're just a random stranger with a JD who has zero experience in the field.

Yes, but that's the agency side of the field. If you want to work as a sports lawyer, a callback from Proskauer Rose would work just as well as (or better than) a "connection."

KibblesAndVick wrote:Connections are the key to getting your foot in the door. After that you can try to build a reputation and do entrepreneurial stuff.

This is from Drew Rosenhaus' Wikipedia page: "Rosenhaus attended and graduated in 1987 from the University of Miami and, in 1990, obtained a law degree from Duke University School of Law. Drawing heavily from his college connections, twenty-four of Rosenhaus' 100-plus NFL clients are fellow University of Miami alumni. In 1989, at the age of 22, Drew became the youngest registered sports agent" This is from Scot Boras' Wiki: "Boras's start as an agent came representing Mike Fischlin, a former high school teammate and major league shortstop for the Cleveland Indians, and Bill Caudill, a former minor league teammate and closer for the Seattle Mariners, both of whom now work for Boras."

Those are just two examples but I think they illustrate the point. It's almost impossible to land a client if you're just a random stranger with a JD who has zero experience in the field.

How exactly does one get these connections (working for a law firm that specializes in representing sports teams or players?)?

Finish top 2-3%, make law review, and hope for a job with proskauer.

.

You and every male in law school. Good luck.

MrAnon wrote:You and every male in law school. Good luck.

Thanks [homophobic language redacted].

starchinkilt wrote:Finish top 2-3%, make law review, and hope for a job with proskauer.

This.

gr100 wrote:

MrAnon wrote:You and every male in law school. Good luck.

Thanks [homophobic language redacted].

Outted and banned. Come back never!

Anonymous User wrote:

starchinkilt wrote:Finish top 2-3%, make law review, and hope for a job with proskauer.

This.

Or Dewey or Weil.

Proskauer represents league-side (meaning you're working for the team owners, rather than the players), whereas the player unions retain Dewey and Weil (both in the actual negotiations and in the Brady antitrust case).

Trying to break into sports (team side) in a direct manner without connections is like trying to catch a fish without a hook, net, dynamite, or a pair of fast hands.

I have some of the most dynamic, tangible connections in the sports world and it's still required a ton of hard, grunt work to give myself even a shot at a front office position somewhere down the line.

Best advice: Have a livable backup plan.

Ty Webb wrote:Trying to break into sports (team side) in a direct manner without connections is like trying to catch a fish without a hook, net, dynamite, or a pair of fast hands.

I have some of the most dynamic, tangible connections in the sports world and it's still required a ton of hard, grunt work to give myself even a shot at a front office position somewhere down the line.

Best advice: Have a livable backup plan.

Or you can bypass all that brown-nosing bullshit by getting filthy rich and simply buying the damn team.

On a cold and gray Brooklyn morning
Another dumbass noob is banned
In the ghetto

In the ghetttooooooo

starchinkilt wrote:Finish top 2-3%, make law review, and hope for a job with proskauer.

As someone who works for Proskauer, I can tell you that you need to do more than just land a job there. The competition inside the firm to get on the sports track is serious and you basically have to be in the NYC office and be favored by one of the partners who does work for those clients.