By Matthew Rosenthal,  J.D. ’19

Matthew Rosenthal,  J.D. ’19

Growing up in New England, sports fandom has been a constant throughout my life. And as my interest in the law grew, I gravitated toward areas of the law that tend to intersect with the world of sports (antitrust, intellectual property, labor, and commercial litigation, to name a few). So when I learned that I would be attending Harvard Law School, I was immediately drawn by the opportunities available to students interested in learning about and working in the sports industry. Among these opportunities (which include the courses taught by Professor Carfagna, the Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law, and the Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law), perhaps the most unique opportunity that the law school has to offer is the Sports Law Clinic.

Through my participation in this clinic, I was able to spend my Winter Term working for the National Football League (NFL) in New York City. Over the course of my clinical experience, I received substantive and challenging assignments from my supervising attorneys. Specifically, I was tasked with a range of assignments that dealt with issues relating to NFL team ownership and stadiums—among the most public-facing and important areas of the league’s business. These assignments required me to apply the skills that I’ve gained in the classroom to real-world issues faced by the most successful professional sports organization in the country. Ultimately, I was able to gain practical, on-the-job experience, while learning from all-star attorneys who have worked their way from law school to the major leagues.

The Sports Law Clinic is perhaps the best program in the country for law students who plan to represent and work for clients in the sports industry. Indeed, my time spent at the NFL proved to be an invaluable complement to my legal education, and the knowledge that I gained during this experience will doubtless carry over into my post-graduation professional endeavors.

By Benjamin Roth, J.D. ’19

Benjamin Roth, J.D. ’19

Over J-term, I worked at the NFL headquarters in New York for their legal department. For me it was a dream come true to work at a place that fused together my two passions: legal analysis and NFL football.

The first thing that struck me when I arrived was just how professional and polished everyone and everything in the office was. My name was on my cubicle, I had a standing desk with a dual screen setup, and I immediately met with my attorney supervisor.

She assigned me two principle projects. The first was to redo the law enforcement training module on identifying authentic NFL merchandise. The main point of the assignment was to dress up the power point presentation and to update it, and it was a really great way for me to learn about the security features that the NFL employs to protect its fans and partners, the common ways in which counterfeiters fail to emulate authentic merchandise, and the tricks they utilize to fool unwitting consumers into purchasing the bootleg products.

My second project was to research the current law in China regarding the copyrightable status of a live sports broadcast. This project was especially interesting because it was an entirely different kind of research from what I was taught in law school. There were no cases in Westlaw, so I needed to go to the web and be creative. I had to find English translations of cases and articles and I reached out to a speaker at a symposium on the topic. After focusing on publicity rights in class during the semester, it was fascinating to explore the different system in China. This was a memo unlike any I had written over the summer or in school as it wasn’t predictive or persuasive, and so it felt like I was learning an entirely new skill set.

Whereas those initial projects were somewhat out of the box, legal research and writing wise, my last two projects were much more conventional, and one of them was almost a direct review of Prof. Peter Carfagna’s Sports Law class I took this past semester. I was asked by my supervisor to assist a different member of the legal team by writing two separate memos about the laws regarding trademark and publicity rights in video games throughout the United States. It was a very typical law school memo, with a ton of research on Westlaw and the like. It was really interesting to deal with the issue of publicity rights, given that we had done an entire class on it, and it was intellectually satisfying to see the legal difference between the rights of publicity and a trademark in the law. It was especially interesting to me to be able to deal with a national organization like the NFL, and really get to focus on which circuit might be best for which claim.

In between researching and writing the memos I was assigned, I had a chance to learn from a lot of people in different departments. I met some wonderful people and forged new connections. I also learned a lot about being in-house counsel to a big company, and I got to see firsthand what working for a sports league entailed.

By Jonathan Weinberg, J.D. ’17

Office view

My continuing clinical placement through the Sports Law Clinic at the Major League Baseball Players Association was an exciting opportunity to gain valuable labor law practice at a vibrant union. I was able to build upon my work and experience last year and help advance the rights of baseball players pursuant to their collective bargaining agreement, while also having fun. I first participated in the Sports Law Clinic because, as a sports fan, I savored the opportunity to work in the industry. But I now further appreciate that baseball is more than a game!

Like last year, I primarily worked on grievance arbitrations (disputes between players and clubs) at the MLBPA; however, unlike last year, I worked on several similar player grievances in lieu of one relatively-unique situation. The series of grievances all arose under the same provision of baseball’s Basic Agreement (collective bargaining agreement.) First, I was tasked with reading and summarizing a series of previous panel arbitrations which served as the relevant legal precedent. Once I developed sufficient background, I reviewed the relevant discovery, files and facts surrounding each of the grievances and developed work product which provided MLBPA attorneys with all of the relevant information they needed to properly represent and advise the player-clients.

For a few of the grievances, I was even able to observe attorney / player-client meetings where attorneys updated player-clients on their grievances based upon my work product. Finally, I authored a comprehensive legal memorandum analyzing the panel precedent and applying it to one of the player-grievances, evaluating the player’s case and making recommendations for next steps. In addition to this work, I was asked to research and summarize case-law developments potentially impacting the union for attorneys, and afforded shadowing opportunities whenever available.

My time at the MLBPA taught me that baseball players have disparate needs and interests, and that even all-stars require zealous representation to protect fundamental interests. While a baseball player union does not typically engender the visual of labor activism, I found that the union labor lawyers treated their role just as that of any other union labor relations attorney, advancing rights for workers who happen to play baseball for a living – though they certainly are fans of the game.

I am excited to apply what I’ve learned through the Sports Law Clinic as a labor and employment attorney. And as a fan, I’ll definitely watch baseball differently.