Law Schedule of Classes

NOTE: Course offerings change. Classes offered this semester may not be offered in future semesters.


245.4 sec. 001 - Drafting and Negotiating Sports Law Contracts (Fall 2024)

Instructor: Richard L Brand  (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only)
Instructor: Zachary Welsh  (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: Law 170
From August 20, 2024
To November 19, 2024

Course Start: August 20, 2024
Course End: November 19, 2024
Class Number: 31728

Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 15
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 16
As of: 12/14 05:03 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. 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 perspectives on some of the documentation covered by this seminar. There will be no exam; instead, there will be a number of independent drafting assignments that 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 the first class and all subsequent classes 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. Class participation (quality not quantity), attendance, written drafting assignments, and the final negotiation/drafting assignment are the elements considered in determining the grade.

Rich Brand is Managing Partner of ArentFox Schiff’s San Francisco office and heads the firm’s Sports practice. He has been the lead attorney in connection with the largest, most complex, and most prominent transactions in California and the United States for many years. Rich 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.

Rich has counseled numerous professional sports team clients in all the major leagues.

Rich is recognized as a “Leading Lawyer” in sports by Legal 500 and as a leading real estate attorney by Best Lawyers and Legal 500. He is also recognized as a SportsBusiness Journal Power Player and was named one of the Daily Journal’s “Top 100 Lawyers” in California for a third time this year. Best Lawyers has also recognized Rich as a “Lawyer of the Year” for his high-profile sports work. He is often a featured speaker at national industry events and a go-to source for the San Francisco Business Times, Daily Journal, Law 360 and LawInSport.

Rich Brand earned his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and his undergraduate degree in finance from Georgetown University.

Zak Welsh is a transactional associate in the San Francisco office of ArentFox Schiff. Zak has a broad-based transactional practice, with an emphasis on clients in the sports, entertainment, media and technology, and hospitality industries.

Zak has represented professional sports franchises, owners and operators of professional sports and entertainment venues, and corporate sponsors in connection with a broad array of transactions in the sports and entertainment industries, including naming rights agreements, sponsorship agreements, advertising and promotional agreements, suite, club, and premium hospitality leases and licenses, media rights and advertising agreements, multi-media rights (MMR) agreements, facility management agreements, facility leases and licenses, event leases and licenses, concessionaire and food and beverage agreements, pouring rights agreements, franchise acquisition and disposition agreements, and league formation and related agreements.

Zak also advises clients on a wide range of real estate, corporate, and hospitality matters, including purchase and sale agreements, joint venture agreements, operating and partnership agreements, leasing and subleasing agreements, ground leases, financing agreements, guaranty and indemnity agreements, licenses and easements, entity formation and restructuring, franchise agreements, hotel management agreements, title and survey review, land use and permitting matters, affordable housing, and rent control compliance issues.

Prior to joining ArentFox Schiff, Zak worked as a real estate associate at a large international law firm in San Francisco.

During law school, Zak served as an Executive Editor of the California Law Review and the Managing Editor and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Berkeley Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law. He also worked as a legislative aide for Senator Dianne Feinstein in her Washington, DC office and as an extern for the Honorable Judge Jon S. Tigar of the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Before law school, Zak worked for six seasons for the San Francisco Giants as a Clubhouse Assistant.


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.


Prerequisites:
Not applicable

Requirements Satisfaction:


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


View teaching evaluations for this class - degree students only

Exam Notes: (None) Class requires a series of papers, assignments, or presentations throughout the semester
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Course Category: Simulation Courses
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Business Law

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