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Sports Agent Vs. Sports Lawyer

Being a sports lawyer and a sports agent is not one in the same.

The following guest contribution was written by Jonathan Gordon, a junior at the University of Notre Dame with plans of attending law school. The founder of Sports Analytics Blog, Jonathan invites you to connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

“If I want to be a lawyer and work in sports, then I should be an agent.”

Being a sports lawyer and a sports agent is not one in the same.
Being a sports lawyer and a sports agent is not one in the same.

Blame it on youthful ignorance, perhaps, but this is a common misconception held by many students and young professionals.

Sports agency and sports law are two very different industries with very different careers.

As a sports agent, your primary responsibility is to take care of your clients. In general, this can be anything from booking hotels to finding marketing opportunities to managing public relations to booking radio appearances to negotiating contracts. You are on call 24/7 for your clients.

While many agents are indeed lawyers, being a lawyer is not required.

Most of your responsibilities as a sports agent will be recruiting new clients and managing the lives of your current clients. Contract negotiations only occur once every several years per client. For clients with long-term contracts, agents can go years without negotiating a contract.

What, then, does a sports lawyer do?

Responsibilities vary depending on the company you work for and the clients you have. Sports lawyers can work for law firms, teams, leagues, governing federations, player unions, and more. Getting known as a lawyer going at it solo or as part of a firm will require some specialized marketing from the likes of https://gladiatorlawmarketing.com/. Freelance lawyers are quickly becoming as popular as traditional law firms and heavily rely on marketing services to help them grow. If you are a freelance lawyer you might want to look into legal marketing services designed to help you grow predictably and expand your client base.

As a sports lawyer, your responsibilities would likely include some combination of the following:

-Representing professional leagues and/or player unions in collective bargaining agreements;
-Representing leagues/teams in media deals;
-Advising in the purchasing or selling of a team;
-Representing teams in stadium construction and financing;
-Representing leagues in data commercialization;
-Protecting intellectual property related to sports leagues, teams, companies, and/or sponsors;
-Defending teams/leagues in any lawsuits against them;
-Negotiating player contracts with agents;
-Ensuring your team stays within the salary cap;
-Negotiating licensing deals;
-Drafting and negotiating any relevant contracts; and
-other related matters.

Though many lawyers are sports agents, “sports lawyer” and “sports agent” are two very different careers with very different responsibilities. Understanding what exactly each does, and what exactly you want to do, is an important first step for those who wish to work in one of the industries.

“If I want to be a lawyer, and I want to work in sports, then I should be a sports lawyer.”

By Darren Heitner

Darren Adam Heitner, Esq., is a preeminent sports attorney and the founder of Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm specializing in sports law, contract negotiations, intellectual property, and arbitration. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2010 and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida in 2007, where he was named Valedictorian of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Admitted to practice in the state bars of Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as multiple federal courts, Darren also serves as a certified arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

As an adjunct professor, Darren imparts his expertise through teaching Sports Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) at the University of Miami School of Law in the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law LL.M. program. His scholarly contributions include authoring several books published by the American Bar Association, such as How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, and numerous articles in prominent publications like Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Above the Law. His thought leadership in NIL has earned him recognition as one of the foremost experts by The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and On3, and he has been lauded as a “power player in NIL deals” by Action Network and a “top sports trademark attorney” by Sportico.

Darren’s passion for sports law led him to establish Sports Agent Blog on December 31, 2005, initially titled “I Want To Be A Sports Agent.” The platform, created as a New Year’s resolution, has grown into a cornerstone of the sports agency community, offering in-depth analysis of industry trends, legal disputes, and agent-player dynamics. His commitment to the field is further evidenced by his representation of numerous athletes and sports agents, as well as his prior role as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, where he developed and taught a course on Sport Agency Management from 2011 to 2014.

Darren’s contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the University of Florida’s 40 Under 40 Award, the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, and designation as the best lawyer in Fort Lauderdale by Fort Lauderdale Magazine. He remains an active voice in the sports law community, sharing insights through his weekly NIL newsletter and his X posts, engaging a broad audience on legal developments in sports.