(From left to right) Jack Anderson, Kane Leonard, Clark Selters, and Kaitlin Peterson


(From left to right) Jack Anderson, Kane Leonard, Clark Selters, and Kaitlin Peterson



I was watching ESPN on a summer afternoon when it finally hit me. The sports network was abuzz with reports that Major League Baseball was about to issue suspensions to players involved in one of the biggest doping scandals in sports history, when all of a sudden a voice that I recognized came on the air to discuss the legal proceedings behind the suspensions. It was the voice of David Cornwell, attorney for disgraced New York Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez, and a man that I had met in Buckhead, Georgia a few weeks earlier at the national Sports Lawyers Association Conference. How on earth did I rub elbows with that guy?

With some help from the Chapman Law Career Services Office, I, along with three other Chapman Law students, had the opportunity to attend the conference and to meet people like David Cornwell. The
Sports Lawyers Association Conference
is an annual event where the illuminati of the sports law world convene to discuss the latest issues facing the industry and to network. Nearly every major “player” in the field attends, including general counsels, agents, player’s union representatives, and league executives. For a sports law junkie and aspiring legal professional like me, the conference was an unparalleled learning and networking opportunity.

The panel discussions spanned over three days, and covered a wide variety of fascinating topics. It is one thing to read about legal developments in sports, but it is quite another to learn about them from the very people involved in the process. I got to witness a heated discussion on performance enhancing drug regulations between a general counsel from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and lawyers from the NFL and MLB player’s unions. I also had the opportunity to hear Lester Munson, a legendary legal analyst with ESPN, transcend the world of sports in a chilling analysis of the ethical and legal failings of the Penn State scandal.

Networking at large events like this is not a natural skill for me, but I did my best to take full advantage of the opportunity to build relationships with people in the industry. I had emailed a number of people who I had wanted to meet before the conference, and was surprised by how willing most of them were to meet up and share their experiences. I got to meet several general counsels and a prominent agent using this method, and also met up with several attorneys and law students who I had previously interacted with on Twitter but had never met in person.

Sometimes, networking is as much about luck as it is about strategy. My best networking experience on this trip came on my way back to the hotel from an Atlanta Braves game. That night culminated in getting lost on the Atlanta subway system during a freak thunderstorm with two other Chapman students. By coincidence, we found ourselves in the company of a MLB salary arbitration judge, an athlete workers compensation attorney from Santa Ana, a former ESPN video coordinator, and an international hockey agent. Needless to say, that was a fulfilling end to an unforgettable weekend.

About the Author:


anderson-jack


Jack Anderson (2L)



Jack Anderson is a second-year student at Chapman University School of Law and a native of Whittier, California. Jack attended Azusa Pacific University, where he graduated with a B.A. in Business Administration with a Minor in Political Science in 2012. An avid sports fan and business enthusiast, Jack aspires to work his way into a career involving sports or transactional law. When not attending classes or reading casebooks, you can likely find Jack a short distance away from campus at Angel Stadium of Anaheim cheering on his team.

The views expressed in the student blogs are those of the author and not the law school.