Law, Leadership & Ethics in Sport LAW-861

This seminar – taught by the former Executive Director of the NFL Players Association, a Big Law partner and an Assistant U.S. Attorney and author of Turf Wars: The Fight for the Soul of America’s Game – will focus students on the complex set of ethical rules, laws and subjects in the field of sports law as they relate to stakeholders professional, collegiate and sports federations.  It will include ways in which labor law, antitrust, other bodies of law and ethical considerations shape the operations of sports leagues and entities. The class will consider the legal relationships among professional and amateur athletes, teams, leagues, governing bodies, and other actors. In particular, the course will provide a legal, factual, and historical analysis of how sports institutions have operated and engage students in an analysis of how they should operate with respect to accountability, oversight, and fairness, and the forces which influence those decisions. The class is constructed to be adversarial and to force students to develop the necessary skills of critical analysis, logical thought and presenting and defending arguments. In short, this is not a class for sports fans as much it is committed to building the skills that are necessary to evaluate and execute as a leader.

Instructor: DeMaurice Smith