While the typical law school student organization may feature a single guest speaker over a lunch hour, three members of the Fowler School of Law Sports and Entertainment Law Society have coordinated an all-day sports law symposium with over 15 heavy hitter industry speakers. Evan Brennan (J.D. ’15), Jack Anderson (J.D. ’15) and Jason Hirschhorn (J.D. ’15) have the goal of making their impact on the school with hopes that the symposium will become an annual event.

all-three-guys


The idea of hosting a sports law symposium cultivated to a reality when the students connected during school. Before the 2013 fall semester began, Jack and Jason noticed there wasn’t a law school in Southern California known for sports law. They wanted to do something during their time at Fowler School of Law to brand it as the school for sports agents. Also before the start of the year, Evan Brennan met Jack on Twitter.  Evan transferred to Fowler School of Law after his first year because he wanted to find a law school that had a strong background and strong connections in sports and entertainment law. Evan and Jack also had a mutual interest in this area. Once school started, so did the talk of a potential sports law symposium at a level that would compete or advance those currently hosted at law school such as Pepperdine and Loyola.

The driving force for this event was the strong connections this team held with professionals in the sports industry. Jason had media connections from working with Acme Packing Company and as Editor-in-Chief of Hook’em Headlines. Evan is one of the
very few law students in the country to pass the National Football League (NFL) Agent Exam while attending law school
. Working in the field allows Evan and Jason the opportunity to network with other sports agents and professionals. The entire group of panelists for Fowler’s upcoming symposium is comprised of contacts cultivated by these impressive students.

The first step was getting the event approved by the school. This turned out to be easier than expected after an enthusiastic response and great support from
Dean Tom Campbell
and the Law School staff. The team then split up the contacts they had pooled together and went to work reaching out to potential speakers. Jack has taken the lead as “the big picture guy” by organizing speakers and coordinating topics. As the point of contact for the event, his email inbox has been flooded with attendee and panelist conversations.

Despite being challenged with event logistics and handling a budget, the team was delightfully surprised how receptive to school was to allow them host and then providing assistance to make this even more successful than anticipated. This is in keeping with the
entrepreneurial spirit
of the Fowler School of Law and Chapman University generally.   “We appreciate that the school supports our entrepreneurial endeavors,” Jack said.

The students have even received unsolicited requests to speak at the event in the last few weeks! “We wanted to get the best and I think we brought the panelists we wanted. Expectations were met in full,” Evan said. The entire team has said the panelists they reached out to have been eager to help in any way they can.

The symposium is fast approaching the original goal for attendance (120 attendees) and will soon meet the expanded capacity of 150, with the option of potentially moving to a bigger room if needed. It is expected to be a mix of attorneys, Fowler Law students, and Chapman students in general. The team also extended the invitation to other law school students in the area so they can take advantage of this learning experience and networking opportunity.

Even though Jack is the only member that has hosted an event at Chapman before this, none have hosted and coordinated an event of this size. The team agreed it been challenging and exciting working experience to plan this event. They hope to host this event again in the years to come as well as other events that may come up.



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About this Team of Law Students


Evan Brennan (J.D. ’15) is in his second year at Chapman University Fowler School of Law. He is currently working as an NFL agent. Evan received his B.A. in History from Brigham Young University. He also holds a Master of Sports Management from California State University, Long Beach. Follow Evan on Twitter
@brennansports


Jack Anderson (J.D. ’15) is in his second year at Chapman University Fowler School of Law. Jack is the Vice President of the Entertainment and Sports Law Society at Chapman University Fowler School of Law as well as a Staff Editor for the
Chapman Law Review.
He is currently externing at the California Court of Appeal. He received his B.A. in Business Administration and Political Science from Azusa Pacific University. Follow Jack on Twitter
@Jack_D_Anderson


Jason Hirschhorn (J.D. ’15) is in his second year at Chapman University Fowler School of Law.  He received his B.A. in History from University of Illinois at Urabana-Champaign. He is the editor-in-chief at
Hook’em Headlines
and editor at
Acme Packing Company
. Follow Jason on Twitter
@JBHirschhorn