Sports & Entertainment Law

Mike Stone

Just floating this out there with no real question, per say. I'm looking into Sport Law schools, and dabbling into research on Entertainment Law schools (not mutually exclusive). Wondering if anyone else around these parts has the same idea.

Top interests right now include UGeorgia (approx 160 LSAT) and UMiami (little lower than that). Georgetown also, but that will likely be my reach school, and with a late application I'm not getting my heart set on it until I do some PTs.

Anyone else have insights/concerns about Sport & Entertainment Law schools, programs, & apps?

Alejandro

You should look at USC and UCLA

Pacifico

These are pretty popular fields and sports especially is not something people normally jump right into. It's much easier to go big law, work in the field, make connections, and then lateral out after a few years, most likely to an organization you have worked with in your time there. Assuming zero current connections you really should go to a school at least relatively close to where you want to practice (e.g.- Irvine would be okay for LA). Also, going to a law school in a bigger city (or one with a sports team or budding entertainment industry) will help you because there are simply more opportunities to make connections.

LA/NY are the smoothest routes to entertainment law given they are the major hubs for the entertainment industry. Of course you could always get into a smaller niche somewhere, but those are simply harder to do since there are fewer opportunities.

For sports, if you go and look at most of the lawyers that work for teams or related organizations, almost all started in corporate law, and likely more on the transactional side of the house. Of course there are still plenty of litigators, but going transactional can help position you better for both sports and entertainment in my opinion. I wouldn't bother getting wooed by any schools that boast a good program/curriculum for sports/entertainment since that shit is all about networking. So if you suck at networking, start practicing right now.

Mike Stone

@Alejandro i would do anything to get into either of those schools. i have a 3.34 gpa in college though so i'd really have to blow the LSATs out of the water, and my scholarship still may not be enough to make law school affordable. i'm really banking on getting in somewhere with a scholarship, since i'll be paying for my own school and i'm not very wealthy. Hence, the grind!

Mike Stone

@Pacifico thank you so much for such a thorough response. that offers a ton of clarity. i'm particularly surprised to hear what you say about the schools that boast a good program. I'm interested in UMiami for that very reason -- they claim to have a good sport & ent combo program. (Plus I live in New York so staying on the east coast would be convenient). However, if it is as unimportant as you say, then maybe its not worth getting hung up on that one school. My confusion, though, is that even if networking is #1 (which I fully believe), wouldn't it be important to be able to take quality sport/ent law classes in school, as opposed to hypothetically going to UNC which is ranked higher but only offers one sport law class?

GordonBombay

I've researched some about sports law and which law schools offer curriculums specifically for sports law (would love to work as an agent but I'm not banking on it at all because of the difficulty breaking into the market). I didn't find anything super substantial, and was left with the impression that most law schools don't place much of an emphasis on the sports law field in general. As Pacifico mentioned networking will most likely make you or break you as far breaking into the Sports Law field goes.

Since there's not too many options as far as actual sports law courses go, I would look for a school that has an active (and large) Sports Law society/club. Off the top of my head I know UCLA, Fordham, and Ohio State all have sports law societies. I've seen plenty of schools that don't have one at all so if you're really serious about it I would probably avoid those schools that don't have one.

Ohio State caught my interest more so than others because the professor who teaches Sports Law classes there is a guy names Greg Kirstein who is on the legal counsel of the NHL team the Columbus Blue Jackets. Definitely seems like a plus to have a professor who has some industry connections/experience.

Also do you have a specific sport (s) in general that you would want to work in?
I imagine knowing this could help influence your school choices as well.

Mike Stone

@GordonBombay Well, I would presume based on your screen name that we may be in agreement; to answer your question I specifically want to work in hockey. I would also be interested in football, or MMA. (That being said, of course it only makes sense to stay as open minded as possible.)

I appreciate those institution recommendations. For me, admission to UCLA would be a small miracle, but OSU is attainable. I have also been researching UMiami(FL), as they have a joint focus of sport and entertainment law, but with a 2015 ranking of ~63rd best law school, it doesn't sound too prestigious for my anticipated job application process, which naturally is the ultimate goal. I would imagine "The U" would have a decent amount of networking possibilities, and there are quite a few (9) florida sports teams between Miami, Orlando, Tampa Bay, and Jacksonville (Atlanta not far either) across 4 major sports.