How to become a sports lawyer
Holly Shick regularly receives messages on LinkedIn from law students and young lawyers who want to know how to get into sports law.
“I always say, ‘Well, what is it that you want to do in sports law?’” says Shick, the chief ethics and compliance officer at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “Because there are a lot of diff erent ways to get into sports law that don’t have to do strictly with sports.”
She recommends finding a niche. For example, in-house counsel for the Ball Arena, the home of the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets, could work on construction, contracts and labor and employment issues, Shick says. They also handle litigation.
Her own career is another example. Before joining the Olympic & Paralympic Committee in 2020 , Shick was a federal prosecutor and a senior compliance offi cer at Goldman Sachs.
“Having the prosecution and investigations experience was really helpful for me to get this job,” Shick says. “And without doing the work at Goldman Sachs, I don’t think I would have been as successful or had as much of a shot.”
N. Jeremi Duru shares a similar story. He always loved sports but never thought it would be part of his career. Then, as a young civil rights lawyer, he began representing Black NFL coaches who felt they were prevented from advancing in their careers because of race.
“It was kind of like a ‘eureka !’ moment,” says Duru, who also became a sports law professor at American University Washington College of Law in 2013. “I realized I could pursue civil rights work and sports work together.”
The sports field is competitive, but Duru tells students to be persistent. He advises them to focus on “being the best lawyer you can be” because it’s rare for students to immediately find a job in sports law. Typically, he says, they start by gaining experience in a firm or other legal setting.
“Sports organizations aren’t interested in hiring fans,” Duru says. “They’re interested in hiring lawyers who are good at what they do and can use that in the sports space.”
Jonathan Jordan, who went straight into sports law, admits his situation was unusual.
He says he had to be “a go-getter.” While in law school in 2013, he got an internship compiling statistics for ESPN college basketball analyst Stephen Howard. Through Howard, he met Ernie Grunfeld, who was then general manager of the Washington Wizards basketball team. That led to operations internships with the Wizards and New Orleans Pelicans.
“It wasn’t sports law, but it was sports,” Jordan says. “Through these internships, I met other people, including a trainer who actually helped me get the job I have right now.”
Jordan became a legal fellow and then corporate counsel and director of men’s basketball operations at Sports International Group Inc., a sports agency in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He has been its general counsel for more than five years.
Based on his experience, Jordan says lawyers who want to work in sports should keep their options open.
“If there’s an opportunity, even if it’s not exactly what you want, you should always say yes,” Jordan says. “Because you never know if another opportunity will come from that.”
Shick also stresses the importance of networking when talking with law students and young lawyers. She suggests they join the Sports Lawyers Association or attend its programs. Volunteering for a committee under the National Governing Bodies, which oversee training, competition and development of individual sports in the United States, may also lead to beneficial connections, she says. USA Gymnastics and U.S. Speedskating are two of these entities. “Or you can volunteer with a youth organization or a grassroots organization to show your interest in sports, and get in that way,” Shick adds.
See also:
A League of Their Own: Lawyers represent sports organizations in many roles as the industry evolves
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