The article, In Baseball's Best Interest?: A Discussion of the October 2010 MLBPA Regulations Governing Player Agents, argues that the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) Regulations Governing Player Agents (as Amended Effective October 1, 2010) are well intentioned, but unenforceable and not in the best interests of MLB players.
The article, Corking the Cam Newton Loophole, a Sweeping Suggestion, discusses the emerging Cam Newton style "pay to play" scenario. The paper outlines the current regulatory schemes available to police NCAA athletes, their family/friends and prohibited athlete-agent conduct, explains why current NCAA legislation fails to deter athlete-agents from recruiting scholar athletes while they are still amateurs, introduces the reader to a concept known as the "Cam Newton Loophole" and provides the reader with a factual background of the Heisman Trophy winner's time as a scholarly athlete, presents the reader with discussion and analysis regarding recent scandals where notable NCAA athletes received impermissible benefits, and unveils the authors' proposed solution to deter individuals from engaging in the above-referenced prohibited conduct that violates the NCAA's principle of amateurism.
The article, You May Not "Like" This Title: Everything Stored On Facebook Is Discoverable, discusses how Facebook has revolutionized the way that people communicate and do business by providing an open and connected environment for individuals and businesses alike. This openness has largely contributed to both its popularity and success. However, enjoying the openness of this revolutionary platform may come at an unexpected cost, especially for those who do not understand how the website's content may be used as evidence in a lawsuit. Darren Heitner demonstrates how content published on a person's Facebook account may be discoverable for the purposes of litigation, even when the information sought is unavailable through Facebook's privacy settings.
The article, Have Some Standards: How The Sports Agent Profession Should Be Effectively Regulated, discusses the lack of state enforcement of sports agent laws. We propose a federal licensing system and self-regulation of the profession.
The article, The Plight of PASPA: It's Time to Pull the Plug on the Prohibition, argues that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, which denies 46 states from adopting any type of state-sponsored sports betting scheme, has an outdated purpose and is in violation of the Tenth Amendment and Commerce Clause within the United States Constitution.
The article, Duties of Sports Agents to Athletes and Statutory Regulation Thereof, argues that student-athletes should have a statutory right to enforce the duties of sports agents, all sports agents should have to be licensed under a federal registration system, and that there is a need for a self-regulatory commission of sports agents to help weed out the unscrupulous agents who do not fulfill their duties in the representation and solicitation of any athlete.
An Athlete's Guide to Agents, Fifth Edition is designed to better prepare athletes and their families to screen, select, and work with an agent. It teaches families about the importance of sports agents and allows athletes and their families to be active participants instead of handing all power away to a sports agent upon signing an agency contract.
Focusing on sports, entertainment, intellectual property, and commercial litigation and transactional work.
Teaching Sport Agency Management in the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation.
Setting up Professional Sports Counseling Panels, Agent Days, and a bevy of Agent Education materials to universities.
Manage the day-to-day operations for the full-service sports and talent agency based in the state of Florida. Progressively implement new promotional strategies, leveraging new media whenever possible. Conveniently initiate conversations with the various leaders in the sports business industry.
Continuously write and edit a variety of stories related to breaking news, legal issues, business issues, and other topics of concern. Deliberately grow the largest sports, entertainment agent, and legal focused blogs on the internet. Perpetually offer quality and creative assistance for all contributors.
Responsibly administer the flow of information between the Society and the public. Proactively dispense critical growth options at weekly board meetings.
Help handle the internal and external operations for the not for profit organization. Specific focus on public relations and fundraising.
Assisting in the growth and overall success of the litigation law firm. Areas of practice include Breach of Contract/Business Law, Plaintiff Personal Injury, Insurance Carrier Defense, Workers' Compensation Defense, and Sports Law.
Intrinsically serve as the leader for the Society, which has received the Organization of the Year Award for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years. Energetically recruit prominent guest speakers in the sports and entertainment fields. Assertively chair the globally popular UF Sports Law Symposium.
Spoke on the topic: "Poignant Paradox: The Unintended Consequences of Sweeping Academic Reform in Collegiate Athletics." Took a deep look at the implications of these past changes, as well as the newly instituted standards and other proposed academic reforms. In analyzing statistical data associated with APR rates, came to a clear determination that if APR standards are raised, there will be a distinguishable disparate impact amongst certain member institutions as compared to the majority of others.
Spoke on "Collective Bargaining Agreements - The Big 4" and "Amateurism" panels.
Spoke on "Overview of Current Legal Developments in the Sports Industry" and "Athlete Agent Regulation and Enforcement" panels.
Spoke on "American Sports Law in Practice" at the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA - International Association of Lawyers), an international congress of lawyers from all around the world.
Sat on a panel titled, "Ethics in Athlete Representation Panel" with speakers Josh Luchs, Warren Zola, Mook Williams. Moderated by Greg Bedard of the Boston Globe.
Moderated a panel titled, "Pre-Professional Athletes in an Amateur World: NCAA Rules, State Laws, Agents and Extra Benefits" with speakers Bob Myers, David Pump, Warren Zola, and Marc Isenberg.
Led a panel in discussing current issues in sports business and law, and provided insight regarding breaking into the industry.
Led breakout sessions with coaches and compliance, men's basketball team, men's football team, men's baseball team, and women's basketball team regarding NCAA rules & regulations, with special emphasis on athlete agent matters.
Member of the "Family Managing an Athlete's Career" panel.
Served as a salary arbitration hearings arbitrator and was Moderator for a panel titled, "MLB in the Dominican Republic: Taming the Wild West of Professional Baseball" with panelists Jorge Arangure, David P. Fidler, and Fernando Tamayo.
Guest speech to the Indiana University Sport Marketing Alliance and Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics class.
Guest speech to its Sports Law Society.
Big 3 panel included Peg Kaufmann (Athletic Director, Millersville U.) and Bryan Minniti (Assistant General Manager, Washington Nationals).
The mission of the conference is to offer Sport Management students the opportunity to expand their educational and practical experiences through the perspective of professionals who have working knowledge of the sport industry.
Member of the closing panel titled, "Looking for a Client who is Looking for You." The panel's focus was on othe pitfalls an attorney should avoid and ethical areas affected when seeking new talent or courting potential clients. Also a member of the panel titled, "Sports and Social Networking," which focused on the legal influence or implications of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other social networking tools on the four major professional leagues.
Member of the "Redemption: Athletes Overcoming Their Indiscretions" panel.
Symposium Discussion titled, "Bargaining Collectively." Three panels during the all-day event: 1) MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement, 2) NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement, 3) NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement. Secured nineteen moderators and panelists which included sports law attorneys, sports law professors, sports agents, executives at professional teams, and other sports business professionals. In charge of budgeting, promotions, sponsorships, and logistics. Secured Keynote Speaker, Dr. Harvey Schiller (Former Commissioner of the Southeastern Conference) and Closing Speaker, Donald M. Fehr (Former Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association).
Member of the "Partnership Activation Rising Stars" panel.
Speech given to the Sports and Entertainment Law Society.
Four discussion topics for the event: Recruiting, Negotiation, Labor Issues, and Future of Sports Business. Secured nineteen moderators and panelists which included sports law attorneys, sports law professors, sports agents, executives at professional teams, and other sports business professionals. In charge of budgeting, promotions, sponsorships, and logistics. Secured Keynote Speaker, Kevin Sullivan (Former Assistant to President Bush for Communications) and Closing Speaker, Bill Rasmussen (Founder of ESPN).
Referenced in the Following Published Law Review/Journal Articles
In The News
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