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...but will it work?

Paul D. Anderson is a 3L at Missouri-Kansas City who wants to practice sports law. So does everybody and their brother. Unfortunately, (and unsurprisingly?) even with what sounds like solid grades and two decent summer jobs, Paul entered 2012 without a job lined up.

So, Paul started a blog in January tracking the lawsuits filed by former NFL players against the league over concussions. He has kept up well with the lawsuit and become a leading reporter on the cases. Numerous news sources have cited his blog and the Hang Up and Listen podcast did a short profile on him this week.

Despite this success, he is still looking for a job after graduation. Paul wants to avoid the plaintiffs' firms because he would eventually like to work for the NFL or an NFL team, but hopes to "work at a firm in Kansas City and develop a niche Complex Sports Litigation Practice."

Thought I would share this because I found it to be an interesting story and one that highlights the degree of difficulty and competition in getting a job in a high-demand niche field, especially from a lower-tier school like UMKC. Plus, he seems like a good guy and maybe a little extra publicity will help him get that job he's looking for.

Any sports law experts around here? What are the odds Paul gets a sports law job in Kansas City this year? How many sports law jobs can there be in KC? What are the odds he eventually makes it as an NFL lawyer? Is he more likely to end up in some sort of legal journalism career?

Nice try, Paul.

Samara wrote:...but will it work?

Paul D. Anderson is a 3L at Missouri-Kansas City who wants to practice sports law. So does everybody and their brother. Unfortunately, (and unsurprisingly?) even with what sounds like solid grades and two decent summer jobs, Paul entered 2012 without a job lined up.

So, Paul started a blog in January tracking the lawsuits filed by former NFL players against the league over concussions. He has kept up well with the lawsuit and become a leading reporter on the cases. Numerous news sources have cited his blog and the Hang Up and Listen podcast did a short profile on him this week.

Despite this success, he is still looking for a job after graduation. Paul wants to avoid the plaintiffs' firms because he would eventually like to work for the NFL or an NFL team, but hopes to "work at a firm in Kansas City and develop a niche Complex Sports Litigation Practice."

Thought I would share this because I found it to be an interesting story and one that highlights the degree of difficulty and competition in getting a job in a high-demand niche field, especially from a lower-tier school like UMKC. Plus, he seems like a good guy and maybe a little extra publicity will help him get that job he's looking for.

Any sports law experts around here? What are the odds Paul gets a sports law job in Kansas City this year? How many sports law jobs can there be in KC? What are the odds he eventually makes it as an NFL lawyer? Is he more likely to end up in some sort of legal journalism career?

Slim. You generally need to work biglaw to end up working for a league. The usual path is biglaw firm with league/team clients > in-house.

I listened to a talk by a former college athlete who hustled his way into an agent's gig from a TTT school, but he stressed that agencies will really only hire you if you played in college/pro. Winning your fantasy sports league three years running doesn't count.

Helmholtz wrote:Nice try, Paul.

+1. I think this thread is a net loss for Paul.

Agent wrote:

Helmholtz wrote:Nice try, Paul.

+1. I think this thread is a net loss for Paul.

Samara wrote:...but will it work?

Paul D. Anderson is a 3L at Missouri-Kansas City who wants to practice sports law. So does everybody and their brother. Unfortunately, (and unsurprisingly?) even with what sounds like solid grades and two decent summer jobs, Paul entered 2012 without a job lined up.

So, Paul started a blog in January tracking the lawsuits filed by former NFL players against the league over concussions. He has kept up well with the lawsuit and become a leading reporter on the cases. Numerous news sources have cited his blog and the Hang Up and Listen podcast did a short profile on him this week.

Despite this success, he is still looking for a job after graduation. Paul wants to avoid the plaintiffs' firms because he would eventually like to work for the NFL or an NFL team, but hopes to "work at a firm in Kansas City and develop a niche Complex Sports Litigation Practice."

Thought I would share this because I found it to be an interesting story and one that highlights the degree of difficulty and competition in getting a job in a high-demand niche field, especially from a lower-tier school like UMKC. Plus, he seems like a good guy and maybe a little extra publicity will help him get that job he's looking for.

Any sports law experts around here? What are the odds Paul gets a sports law job in Kansas City this year? How many sports law jobs can there be in KC? What are the odds he eventually makes it as an NFL lawyer? Is he more likely to end up in some sort of legal journalism career?

If he wanted to work for the NFL i think he should have gone straight into that instead of going to law school.

MrAnon wrote:If he wanted to work for the NFL i think he should have gone straight into that instead of going to law school.

It does seem like he's screwed out of the NFL by raising the profile of an issue they want to sweep under the rug. It sucks that his blog is so successful, but probably won't lead to a sports lawyer job. If he's not in too much debt though, I think he should continue in sports journalism. With legal issues growing in the NFL and other leagues, I imagine there will be demand for sports law expertise in journalism. I'm curious to see what he does.

Samara wrote:

MrAnon wrote:If he wanted to work for the NFL i think he should have gone straight into that instead of going to law school.

It does seem like he's screwed out of the NFL by raising the profile of an issue they want to sweep under the rug. It sucks that his blog is so successful, but probably won't lead to a sports lawyer job. If he's not in too much debt though, I think he should continue in sports journalism. With legal issues growing in the NFL and other leagues, I imagine there will be demand for sports law expertise in journalism. I'm curious to see what he does.

He needs to use that same hustle to obtain more realistic work. Anecdotal, but I have a close family friend that I know who represents/represented an NFL team. He is a biglaw partner and went to a T14.

I stopped reading the blog when I saw the guy's tie.

polkij333 wrote:I stopped reading the blog when I saw the guy's tie.

It's a stl cardinals tie! Can't go wrong with that. I'd hire him lol

I applaud the effort, but like most of the TLS people, the odds are against hitting the home run and making it big in your desired area of law. Moreover, Kansas City is hardly a sports law mecca. There might be 2 or 3 attorneys who specialize in that in town if that.

--ImageRemoved--

Yuck.

I can understand wanting to rep for your team (go Cardinals!) but there are better looking STL ties than that.

I hope things work out for this guy. The battle will be very uphill for him though.

1. That's not the subdued sort of sports tie that is generally acceptable.

2. I've heard so much "advice" about using social media to get jobs through blogging and other connections. I'm not sure if this is true and I don't believe stories like this until he gets a job. My OCS kept telling me to cold-call partners for coffee. After striking out for months on end, I went back to them and they asked if it had helped, because they had never checked to see if that strategy worked.

Even though kinda lame - impressed by the hustle (as long as you are hustling in more traditional ways too)

i mean his blog is cool and all, but it's no #whatshouldwecallme

I think that story is exhibit A of how not to hustle for a job. Keeping up a tip-top blog is a huge time commitment, and the chances of it getting noticed by prospective employers are pretty slim.

nealric wrote:I think that story is exhibit A of how not to hustle for a job. Keeping up a tip-top blog is a huge time commitment, and the chances of it getting noticed by prospective employers are pretty slim.

I will say though that keeping a tip-top LinkedIn profile and strategically joining groups, liking companies and events, and sharing news stories is a great way to get noticed. I got two unsolicited BigLaw/BigCorp non-headhunder job interviews that way.

I just hope there are more people like this at my school.

Everyone knows that plaintiff's side sports law is where its at.

superbloom wrote:I just hope there are more people like this at my school.

I've met some who smartly did this on non-controversial topics before law school, so they had a broad Google presence, then stopped in law school so they could ace exams and network.

I met someone who had a Blog entitled "I Have An Opinion About Everything." I heard he had a tough time getting serious interviews.

His chances of getting a job would have increased dramatically had he not worn that tie to every interview at OCI.

I hope things work out for that dude, but it seems totally unlikely. I know the guy who does general counsel for the Giants and he went to Yale, then biglaw, then city attorney's office, then Giants. I'm pretty sure you can't just start a blog and then get a sweet job. I wish it worked that way.

yeah if he had used the time he spent writing this blog on contacting possible employers then that would be hustling. IMO, however, this was largely a waste of time and probably will not lead to employment.