Sports Big Law Forum

[ladenmysogony]

Seems like right place for this--

Anyone here have any experience knowledge on sports law? Is there "big sports law"? My two passions are sports (mostly soccer, but really everything) and law. I want to combine them together for my career and I know a lot of sports agents are JDs, etc. but was curious if there is an equivalent BigLaw for lawyers interested in sports. Thanks.

[PDX4343]

Also interested.

[Elston Gunn]

I think Proskauer does a lot of sports stuff? Covington definitely does.

But basically, this is not a career to plan on.

The easiest way to get into sports law that I know is basically
Go to Yale --> Go to Covington (maybe 20-25% for people who get interviews) --> Profit (assuming they would let you do a decent amount of it, but IDK how they staff)

The firms that do enough sports work that an associate can actually get involved if he/she tries is so small that you have to be a hugely appealing candidate so that you can hopefully target specific firms, which very few people can.

It's possible to go in-house (there's a thread about someone at an NFL team buried around here), but the odds are just hugely against you. It's not a career path you can reasonably expect.

[tomwatts]

Firms definitely do this. You might check something like this to get an idea of who they are and follow up by reading the firms' websites to see what they do. You could then go to something like the instructions here and figure out which schools place into the right firms for sports law (note: there's probably a better resource for this sort of thing).

I'm an SA at a Covington satellite right now, and Cov definitely does a fair amount of sports law. A few associates in the office I'm in do some amount of sports deals, but I don't think there's enough of it to focus on exclusively or even primarily, so they do sports deals alongside various other corporate deals. I think the headquarters office (in DC) you might be able to do primarily sports deals there. Once you're at the right firm, you can seek out the work proactively (at Cov, this probably means talking to, like, Paul Tagliabue) and you'll be able to get it.

Oh, and it's possible to be a litigator who does a significant amount of sports-related litigation. I don't know a ton about this, though. It tends to be the same firms that do sports deals, I think, but different people at those firms. (Also, I think becoming an agent is a little different, but I don't know anything about that, other than that lawyers do that, too.)

It's important to understand that sports law is a niche practice area, one that very few in the legal community get to do. People will caution you (they already have) when you're interested in a niche practice, because it's often a bad idea — by definition, most people don't go into that niche. When you're going into something that not very many people do, make sure that the path that you're taking supports it: other people at the school you're thinking of attending have done it before, you know which classes/internships to take to give yourself the best chance at it, etc. (It's a good sign if the school has at least one explicit sports law class, and an even better sign if it has a sports law clinic, has on-campus interviews with firms that do sports law, etc.)

The bottom line for a 0L is that you pretty much want to go to the T6 for this. I think HLS might be the best for sports law, because it's such a huge school that it can support a sports law clinic, a secondary journal devoted to sports and entertainment law, a couple of sports-specific classes (search "sports"), etc., but I don't know in detail how other schools handle this.

[Elston Gunn]

Firms definitely do this. You might check something like this to get an idea of who they are and follow up by reading the firms' websites to see what they do. You could then go to something like the instructions here and figure out which schools place into the right firms for sports law (note: there's probably a better resource for this sort of thing).

I'm an SA at a Covington satellite right now, and Cov definitely does a fair amount of sports law. A few associates in the office I'm in do some amount of sports deals, but I don't think there's enough of it to focus on exclusively or even primarily, so they do sports deals alongside various other corporate deals. I think the headquarters office (in DC) you might be able to do primarily sports deals there. Once you're at the right firm, you can seek out the work proactively (at Cov, this probably means talking to, like, Paul Tagliabue) and you'll be able to get it.

Oh, and it's possible to be a litigator who does a significant amount of sports-related litigation. I don't know a ton about this, though. It tends to be the same firms that do sports deals, I think, but different people at those firms. (Also, I think becoming an agent is a little different, but I don't know anything about that, other than that lawyers do that, too.)

It's important to understand that sports law is a niche practice area, one that very few in the legal community get to do. People will caution you (they already have) when you're interested in a niche practice, because it's often a bad idea — by definition, most people don't go into that niche. When you're going into something that not very many people do, make sure that the path that you're taking supports it: other people at the school you're thinking of attending have done it before, you know which classes/internships to take to give yourself the best chance at it, etc. (It's a good sign if the school has at least one explicit sports law class, and an even better sign if it has a sports law clinic, has on-campus interviews with firms that do sports law, etc.)

The bottom line for a 0L is that you pretty much want to go to the T6 for this. I think HLS might be the best for sports law, because it's such a huge school that it can support a sports law clinic, a secondary journal devoted to sports and entertainment law, a couple of sports-specific classes (search "sports"), etc., but I don't know in detail how other schools handle this.

Unless you think a firm like Covington is more likely to hire you if you've taken a sports law class or been in a sports law clinic, and I don't think they are, I don't see why those things would matter.

I agree with most of your post, but the TL;DR is still go to a top school, get top grades and hope you get lucky. OP shouldn't go to law school unless there's something else s/he would be happy doing.

[tomwatts]

Unless you think a firm like Covington is more likely to hire you if you've taken a sports law class or been in a sports law clinic, and I don't think they are, I don't see why those things would matter.

Having these classes is an indication that the school is at least trying to place into sports law. (And you can try to get statistics/anecdotes about how successful the school has been in doing so.) If they don't have any kind of sports law curriculum at all, I'd be suspicious. So it's not about you; it's about the school.

Though it's sort of about you, because you might do better once you're in your summer job (and, I guess, as a first-year associate) if you know something about the field, and doing well initially is probably helpful in getting more of the same kind of work.

[Elston Gunn]

Unless you think a firm like Covington is more likely to hire you if you've taken a sports law class or been in a sports law clinic, and I don't think they are, I don't see why those things would matter.

Having these classes is an indication that the school is at least trying to place into sports law. (And you can try to get statistics/anecdotes about how successful the school has been in doing so.) If they don't have any kind of sports law curriculum at all, I'd be suspicious. So it's not about you; it's about the school.

Though it's sort of about you, because you might do better once you're in your summer job (and, I guess, as a first-year associate) if you know something about the field, and doing well initially is probably helpful in getting more of the same kind of work.

I just don't buy that "placing into sports law" is a thing a school can be good at. If it is, it's so minimal that it can't possibly justify choosing one firm over another. What you want is a school that is good at placing you in firms, so you have a slightly better shot at the firms that actually do the work. Again, I really don't think an internship or a class is going to have more than a minimal effect on your chances of doing well at your work once your at a firm, either. Having a basic background just means it will take you 20 fewer minutes to get context when you get an assignment.

[Pokemon]

The guy investigating the whole FIFA/Qatar row is a Kirkland partner. That summarizes all I know about sport's law.

[kalvano]

Proskauer represents the NHL in its collective bargaining talks (Gary Bettman used to work there, I believe). Given that the NHL has labor negotiations about every 3 months, that could be a lucrative area.

[FSK]

I know an associate at Covington that does sports/tech transactions. He was EIC of the Law Review at one of HYS....quite selective.

[RoyBatty]

Go to a top 10 school and have a sports background or connection. The latter is more important and less within your control than people might assume. Intern or summer at a league office, agency or team. Play a major college sport, or be a manager or trainer for one in undergrad. Have a relative or mentor in a team front office. If you have one of those connections and go to a top school, your slim chance is less slim. I don't think "HYS" is a major need, unless that's just shorthand for what it takes to get through the door at Covington. Without any real connections, before law school consider reaching out to (many) teams and league offices offering to work for free (if that's even possible anymore). Interest, enthusiasm and free labor have led to a surprising number of sports management gigs.

Covington and Proskauer are obvious powerhouses. Dewey once was, and those guys went various places.

But there are actually quite a few other national and regional firms with legitimate but (even) smaller sports practices. Some teams are owned by old partners, harkening back to the days when a lawyer could have enough money and influence to get control of a team. Reinsdorf in Chicago owns the White Sox and Bulls, and is (or long was) a Katten partner. DLA did the MLB steroid investigation. Random firms in various second and third tier markets represent teams, players, coaches and management in those towns.

[Elston Gunn]

I don't think "HYS" is a major need, unless that's just shorthand for what it takes to get through the door at Covington.

Yes, that's all it was.

[Instinctive]

Isn't Winston & Strawn the primary target if you want to do Sports Law? (Kessler)

[tomwatts]

Isn't Winston & Strawn the primary target if you want to do Sports Law?

It's in Tier 1 in the link I gave, so presumably it's a good choice.

Per the discussion above, I did a quick search and it looks as though a LOT of schools have a sports law class, including schools that very likely don't place into firms that do lots of sports law. So that is not a terribly good indication by itself. But the basic point is to make sure that you know what you're getting into; this is not an easy field to break into, and you want to make sure that your path is realistic.

Also, there is something to be said for not being bored for 3 years of law school, so if a school has more curriculum in your area of interest than another school of comparable quality, it's not a bad idea to take into account the classes you'll be able to take.

[AnotherLawyer]

Stumbled across this and thought I would chime in, in case anyone is still interested in biglaw sports practice. I have done biglaw sports work so hopefully my experience will be helpful.

If your goal is to work in biglaw and you want to maximize your chance of getting to do sports work, some of the firms that I would look at, and what they are most known for, are: Proskauer NYC (NHL/NBA, often in labor matters), Covington DC (NFL, most litigation matters), Skadden NYC (NHL/NBA, often in antitrust matters), Winston & Strawn NYC (NFLPA and other player-side representation), Weil NYC (NBPA/NHLPA, other player-side representation). These firms all do other work too, and there are many other firms that do sports work, if not as much or as wide a variety. It's worth researching which attorneys usually represent the leagues/teams and players in different types of matters, since the "major" sports firms might not be the ones that usually handle the type of work you decide you're interested in. Remember that "sports law" mostly just refers to the type of client -- there are a lot of practice areas that can involve sports work and clients often use different firms for different types of work.

As far as getting in, what I have seen is that the hurdles are basically the same as the hurdles to getting into any biglaw firm/group. Your chances are higher if you go to a top school -- I don't think HYS is at all necessary, but your best bet is probably a top 10 school that places well in NYC/DC. It isn't impossible out of a lower ranked school, but it's obviously more difficult. Do as well as you can in 1L so that you might have more options during OCI. And then try to interview well during OCI. Though, I don't know that going to any of these firms and saying upfront, as a 1L, that you are dead set on sports work is a great idea (since it's a relatively small part of each firm's work). Others may disagree on that. If you can get hired by a firm that does sports work, I think your job at that point is just to network during your summer program and see what you need to do to get placed in that group and to work with the people who represent sports clients. I can't speak to all of these firms -- it wasn't that difficult at my firm, and I know another of the firms I mentioned where it wasn't as competitive as you'd think, but firms assign work in different ways and there are a lot of factors that you can't control.

As has been said, networking always helps. Personally, I didn't have any sports experience or connections at all, and I worked with others who also had no sports experience other than working for the group during our summer program, so I don't think it's impossible to break in without a sports background. That said, it is worth reaching out to alums of your law school or others who are doing sports work at firms or league offices, if only so that you can find out more about the work. Apply to every league and team for a 1L summer internship too. Most of the leagues' attorneys seem to be hired from the firms that represent them (unsurprisingly), but an internship on your resume can't hurt, if you can land it. That one might require connections so, again, reach out to alums or anyone else you know.

Oh, also, I don't really think taking sports law classes has much to do with anything, mainly because almost all of firm hiring occurs before 2L year, so you probably won't have taken anything but the foundation courses. The sports law course will probably (hopefully) be interesting for you, but I wouldn't choose a school based on how many sports law courses it offers. My school offered one sports law course, and it was interesting but, again, I took the course after I had been hired by the firm. Also, a sports law course that covers all of the landmark cases is great, but I think most of the substance can be picked up in other courses -- antitrust, labor law, IP, contracts, complex litigation, etc.

TL;DR: It's not impossible, or necessarily more difficult than getting any biglaw job, but you should probably be proactive if you really want to do this.

[westphillybandr]

Williams and Connolly

[baal hadad]

just do ncaa compliance and investigations at lightfoot franklin in birmingham bro

[AnotherLawyer]

Williams and Connolly

I think most of the Williams and Connolly sports lawyers left last year, didn't they? I'm not sure it's a firm where I'd count on getting much sports work these days. I could be wrong. Also, this requires the ability to get hired by Williams and Connolly.

[Young Marino]

I just lol at the tier 4 kids who think a career in sports law is attainable

[mw115]

Stumbled across this and thought I would chime in, in case anyone is still interested in biglaw sports practice. I have done biglaw sports work so hopefully my experience will be helpful.

If your goal is to work in biglaw and you want to maximize your chance of getting to do sports work, some of the firms that I would look at, and what they are most known for, are: Proskauer NYC (NHL/NBA, often in labor matters), Covington DC (NFL, most litigation matters), Skadden NYC (NHL/NBA, often in antitrust matters), Winston & Strawn NYC (NFLPA and other player-side representation), Weil NYC (NBPA/NHLPA, other player-side representation). These firms all do other work too, and there are many other firms that do sports work, if not as much or as wide a variety. It's worth researching which attorneys usually represent the leagues/teams and players in different types of matters, since the "major" sports firms might not be the ones that usually handle the type of work you decide you're interested in. Remember that "sports law" mostly just refers to the type of client -- there are a lot of practice areas that can involve sports work and clients often use different firms for different types of work.

From what I understand, Proskauer represents essentially every major sports league. Also, heard that Foley & Lardner do a fair amount of work for MLB (Milwaukee connection), and I remember Paul Hastings used to do some arbitration's for MLB players.

Don't have the expertise of the guy I quoted, but my suggestion would be to focus on labor law at a top firm and then network like crazy to try and get some sporting clients.

[hiima3L]

What do you mean by "sports law"?

If you can't answer this question with specificity, don't even bother planning on going to law school with the intent to practice "sports law."