The 35th Annual (SLA) Sports Lawyers Association Conference will be held this May 14-16 in Chicago, Illinois. Registration is currently open and the conference agenda is officially posted. The event starts on Thursday May 14, and goes pretty much all day on Friday, and Saturday. The conference agenda includes some amazing speakers and covers very interesting topics. The individual who took the late Gene Upshaw’s position, new NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, will be in attendance.
Mr. Smith is only one of the many amazing names that will be in Chicago at the conference. Some of the other great names include Jeff Gewirtz, Senior VP and General Counsel of NETS Basketball/ Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment. Stephanie Varvadas, Managing Attorney for Nike Inc. Donald M. Fehr, Executive Director and General Counsel for the MLBPA, Richard J. Berthelsen, General Counsel for the NFLPA, along with Professors Richard Karcher Director of Law and Professor Florida Coastal School of Law Center for Law and Sports, Vared Yakovee Professor at USC Gould School of Law and Editor-in-chief of Entertainement & Sports Lawyer, Gary R. Roberts from Indiana University School of Law and Gabe Feldman, Director of the Tulane Univesity Sports Law Program to name only a few.
At the two break out sessions on Friday, registrants can choose from about 5-7 sessions on hot topics in the sports law area that go on at the same time. You get to pick which two break out sessions you want to attend when you register for the conference on the SLA webstie.
The Conference looks like a great opportunity to learn from and meet some of the best names in the sports industry. I have already registered and will be attending the entire event. Let me know if you will be attending and would like to meet up and talk. You can contact me via facebook, twitter, linkedin, or through LiveFromLawSchool.
SLA Conference Brochure of events and speakers: http://www.sportslaw.org/conferences/2009brochure.pdf