10th Annual National Sports Law Negotiation Competition

November 10, 2020

The Thomas Jefferson School of Law’s 10th Annual National Sports Law Negotiation Competition was held — for the first time — remotely via Zoom. The competition was coordinated by alum Sam Ehrlich (2014). 36 teams of law students from 21 law schools located all across the United States and Canada competed by negotiating problems drawn from cutting-edge issues in the world of sports.

This year’s problems focused on a proposed “play-in” tournament for the NBA playoffs; intellectual property rights of college athletes; and the re-structuring of minor league baseball. TJSL professor Steven Semeraro commented, ‘It was interesting to see all of the teams seamlessly adapt to the on-line format. I am so pleased that we were able to provide this platform for law students to hone their negotiation skills despite the disruptions to normal life in higher education.’ The final rounds were negotiated before an expert panel of judges, each of whom was involved in the real negotiations to restructure minor league baseball. A team from South Texas College of Law won the competition with UC Berkeley Law School as the runners up.