Sports Lawyer Research Paper

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What Is Sports Law and Who Is a Sports Lawyer?
Matthew J. Mitten
Matthew J. Mitten is a law professor and director of the National Sports Law Institute, Marquette University Law School, in Milwaukee.

When you think of a “sports lawyer,” do you envision a lawyer who represents only a narrow pool of high-profile clients, such as professional athletes, sports leagues, or sports clubs? To the contrary, “sports lawyers” represent a wide variety of clients who need legal advice and representation that usually requires knowledge of several areas of law.

In my career as a sports lawyer (and now a sports law professor), I provided legal advice in a major league baseball player’s medical malpractice suit against his former team. I represented Harris …show more content…

As a sports lawyer, you might find yourself representing clients such as amateur and professional players; coaches, referees and officials; leagues; governing bodies of the sports industry; athletics administrators; educational institutions; and sports facility owners and operators. Even more broadly, your representation might extend to sports broadcasters; sports equipment manufacturers; sports medicine care providers; businesses that sponsor athletic events or athletes; and concessionaires who serve food and drink to fans at …show more content…

Those representing professional athletes must be familiar with labor and employment, contract, federal and state tax, and worker’s compensation law, as well as athlete-agent regulation. A sports lawyer must have strong contract negotiation and drafting skills to represent professional sports industry clients. An understanding of the arbitration process is also important because most employment-related disputes between professional athletes and leagues or their respective clubs are resolved by mandatory arbitration. Representation of individuals, educational institutions, and governing bodies that are part of the youth, high school, college, or Olympic sports industries also requires broad knowledge of contract, private association, tort, and constitutional law (if the requisite “state action” exists) and of arbitration (for Olympic

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