Florida Coastal Symposium this Friday

FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2009
10:30 am – 2:30 pm
Room 405

Opening Remarks: Stuart Herman, President of Sports Law Society at Florida Coastal School of Law

10:30 a.m. – noon: Maximizing Value for the Coach

Panelists will discuss the various issues that arise in negotiating and structuring college coaches contracts from the perspective of both the university and coach, including compensation and the various types of compensation, for cause termination, tax ramifications, and liquidated damages/buyout clauses.

Moderator, Rick Karcher – Assoc. Professor of Law and Dir., Florida Coastal School of Law Center for Law and Sports
Robert H. Lattinville – Partner, Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP
Terry Don Phillips – Athletic Director, Clemson University
Randall W. Spetman – Athletic Director, Florida State University
Bennett H. Speyer – Member, Eastman & Smith LTD

Noon – 1:00: Lunch provided

1:00 – 2:30 p.m.: Ethnic and Gender Issues in NCAA Hiring

Panelists will discuss the topic of diversity in the hiring of college coaches, including the following issues: (1) Does the Rooney Rule have application in college to increase minority football head coaches at NCAA’s highest level? (2) How does the NCAA view the challenges and solutions regarding minority and gender equity? (3) Are boosters unduly influential in hiring and firing coaches to the disproportionate detriment of minority coaches? and (4) Is Title VII a viable remedy?

Moderator, Roger Groves – Associate Professor of Law, Florida Coastal School of Law
N. Jeremi Duru – Associate Professor of Law, Temple University, Beasley School of Law
Kristen Galles – Civil rights attorney and Title IX expert
Floyd A. Keith – Executive Director, Black Coaches and Administrators

For speaker bios click here.
The event is free and open to the public.
To register, please email rkarcher@fcsl.edu.
CLE credits approved.

SELS Sports Law Panel Audio

We hosted three sports agents/attorneys yesterday at the FIU College of Law. The attorneys were David Canter, Faudlin Pierre, and Adam Kenner.

The speakers were all excellent and discussed several topics related to the field, such as negotiating deals, how to become an agent, what it takes, and others.

Thanks to fellow SELS member Stuart Hartstone for providing the audio recording for the event. If you are interested in obtaining the audio for the event, it is located here.

Sports Lawyer Association Annual Meeting: 5/14-16 in Chicago

The Sports Lawyer Association is having their annual meeting from 5/14-5/16 in Chicago, IL at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago. The registration fee for law school students is $175 if you register before April 23rd, and $200 if you register after the 23rd. The event will feature an excellent amount of Sports Lawyers who are very established in the field and would be well worth the trip to meet them alone.

If you are interested in signing up, the website for registration is located here.

Highlights of the event:

Thursday, May 14
12:15-12:25pm SLA Annual Membership Meeting

Gordon I. Kirke, SLA President, Toronto, Ont., Canada

12:25-12:30pm Opening Remarks and Presiding for Afternoon Sessions
Stephanie Vardavas, 2009 Conference Chair, Managing Attorney, NIKE Inc., Beaverton, OR
12:30-2:00pm (An Overview of Recent Legal Developments in Sports)
Gary R. Roberts, Dean and Professor of Law, Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis, IN

2:00-3:15pm (Negotiating Sponsorship and Endorsement Agreements)
Moderator – Jeff Gewirtz, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, NETS Basketball/Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, New York, NY
Panelists – Richard L. Brand, Partner, Arent Fox, LLP, Washington, DC; Michael Lufrano, Senior Vice President, Community Affairs and General Counsel, Chicago Cubs; James L. Tanner, Partner, Williams & Connolly, LLP, Washington, DC

3:30–4:45pm (New Media – Who Owns Which Rights?)
Moderator – Bobby Hacker, Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs, Fox Sports, Los Angeles, CA
Panelists – Karen Brodkin, Senior Vice President Business & Legal Affairs, Fox Sports, Los Angeles, CA; T. Derrick Heggans, Dulles, VA; Michael J. Mellis, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, MLB Advanced Media, L.P., New York, NY; Debbie Spander, Vice  President Business and Legal Affairs, Comedy Central / MTV Networks, Los Angeles, CA
4:45–6:15pm (Are Their Days Numbered? — IP Protection for Player Names and Statistics)

Moderator – Stephanie Vardavas, Managing Attorney, NIKE Inc., Beaverton, OR

Panelists – Donald Fehr, Executive Director and General Counsel, Major League Baseball Players Association, New York, NY; Rudolph A. Telscher, Jr., Harness, Dickey & Pierce, PLC, St. Louis, MO
6:15-7:15pm Welcome Reception

This is only the first day’s topics and there are two more days in addition to this, which are even more packed than the first day. The rest of the brochure for the event (including complete topic and attendance list) is located here.