Law Schedule of Classes

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245.4 sec. 001 - Drafting and Negotiating Sports Law Contracts (Fall 2022)

Instructor: Richard L Brand  (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only)
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only

Units: 3
Grading Designation: Graded
Mode of Instruction: In-Person

Meeting:

Tu 6:25 PM - 9:05 PM
Location: 🔒 Log-in to view location

From August 23, 2022
To November 22, 2022

Course Start: August 23, 2022
Course End: November 22, 2022
Class Number: 31475

Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 16
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 16
As of: 02/17 06:39 AM


This seminar focuses on the drafting and negotiation of certain sports law transaction documents. Examples of documents to be discussed in the seminar are suite license agreements, sponsorship agreements, naming rights agreements and sports team acquisition agreements. This seminar is intended to be "hands-on" with all students having the opportunity to experience being a "sports law attorney." The classroom environment is intended to simulate the experiences that a junior attorney would encounter in a law firm or corporate legal setting. The major emphasis of this seminar will be on how sports transaction documents are drafted, negotiated, revised and finalized. In addition to a discussion of some of the specific sports transaction documents and the drafting and negotiation techniques related to those documents, there will be general discussions of other sports law related issues. The seminar will also feature sports law practitioners (e.g., general counsels for professional sports teams or organizations) as guest speakers to discuss their sports law experiences and their perspective on some of the documentation covered by this seminar. There will be no exams but instead there will be a number of independent drafting assignments which will require the students to draft transaction documents based on forms from actual sports transactions. The final assignment will be a group assignment consisting of drafting, negotiating and finalizing a sports transaction document. There will also be numerous negotiation sessions. Attendance at all class sessions is mandatory. Enrolled and waitlisted students must attend the first class meeting to be enrolled in the course and waitlisted students must continue to attend classes until they are either enrolled or until the final determination of their waitlist status is made. Late papers are subject to grading penalties. Class participation (quality not quantity), attendance, written drafting assignments and the final negotiation/drafting assignment are the elements considered in determining the grade.

Biographical Information

Rich Brand is Managing Partner of ArentFox Schiff’s San Francisco office and heads the firm’s Sports practice. He represents professional sports franchises, owners of sports and entertainment facilities, sponsors and service content providers in connection with naming rights transactions, media rights agreements, sponsorship agreements, advertising agreements, promotional agreements, food and beverage agreements, suite and club seat licensing, and financings for professional sports teams and owners of sports and entertainment facilities. He also represents prospective purchasers and sellers of professional sports franchises and sports and entertainment facilities, negotiates player, coach and executive contracts, license agreements, salary cap and collective bargaining interpretation and related matters for professional sports teams. He is one of the best-known sports law attorneys in the United States and has been the lead attorney in connection with some of the largest, most complex, and most prominent transactions in the United States for many years. In just the past several years, in addition to building and running ArentFox Schiff’s San Francisco office and steering it through the COVID-19 crisis, Rich has led teams of lawyers on some of this year’s highest profile sports transactions in the country, including: 1) the extension of the Los Angeles Lakers Staples Center lease through 2041; 2) the record-breaking eye-opening naming rights and sponsorship transaction with SoFi; 3) back-to-back MLS stadium naming rights transactions with Q2 Holdings and Total Quality Logistics; and 4) a multi-year naming rights transaction with YouTube that names the development’s 6,000-seat performance venue, YouTube Theater together with a multi-year partnership for Google Cloud to power SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park’s digital innovation experiences.
Rich has counseled numerous professional sports team clients in all the major leagues, including the Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, DC United, Inter Milan, Los Angeles Galaxy, Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Rams, Madison Square Garden Company (the owner of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers), Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Dolphins, Miami Heat, New York City Football Club, New York Jets, New York Red Bulls, Oklahoma Thunder, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trailblazers, San Antonio Spurs, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Washington Capitals, and Washington Wizards. Rich is on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Sports Council, a prestigious group comprising individuals and corporate members of the sports business community. He is often a featured speaker at national industry events and a go-to source for the San Francisco Business Times, Daily Journal, LawInSport, and the YES Network’s Forbes SportsMoney talk show. He has routinely appeared on CNN, Fox Sports, and other national media programs. He was named a ‘Sports Lawyer of the Year’ in 2019 by The Best Lawyers in America©. Rich Brand earned his law degree from University of Pennsylvania Law School and his undergraduate degree in finance from Georgetown University.


Attendance at the first class is mandatory for all currently enrolled and waitlisted students; any currently enrolled or waitlisted students who are not present on the first day of class (without prior permission of the instructor) will be dropped. The instructor will continue to take attendance throughout the add/drop period and anyone who moves off the waitlist into the class must continue to attend or have prior permission of the instructor in order not to be dropped.


Requirements Satisfaction:


Units from this class count towards the J.D. Experiential Requirement.


Exam Notes: (None) Class requires a series of papers, assignments, or presentations throughout the semester
Course Category: Simulation Courses
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Business Law

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