Marquette University Law School's Sports Law program provides the nation's most comprehensive offering of sports law courses and student internships with sports organizations as well as opportunities to become a member of the Marquette Sports Law Review, and various national teams including the Baseball Arbitration, Basketball Negotiation, Game Day Case Competition, Sports Law Negotiation, and Sports Law Moot Court teams, as well as the Intramural Sports Law Negotiation team. Our broad, well-rounded curriculum is designed to provide law students with both a theoretical and practical education concerning legal regulation of the United States amateur and professional sports industries as well as an understanding of Olympic, international, and comparative sports law issues.
Students who are admitted to Marquette University Law School do not need to separately apply to be part of the Sports Law Program. All Marquette University Law School students are eligible to participate in the Sports Law Program by enrolling in sports law courses and meeting the standards for membership on the Marquette Sports Law Review. Students working toward receipt of the NSLI's Sports Law Certificate can also participate in the National Sports Law Institute's internship program.
The primary purpose of the Sports Law program is to enhance our students' legal education. Sports law students learn about many specialized areas of law with general application outside the sports industry (e.g. antitrust, labor, intellectual property, federal disability discrimination laws, etc.) and develop contract negotiation and drafting, alternative dispute resolution, business planning, and transactional skills. They also learn how several related areas of law combine to govern a complex industry and how courts resolve competing policy concerns when different bodies of law intersect and conflict. Virtually all of the knowledge and skills developed by students in sports law courses and internships are readily transferable and useful in serving clients in other industries. Most Sports Law program alumni practice law and have a variety of clients, including some in the sports industry.
Students graduating from Marquette University Law School are eligible to earn a Sports Law Certificate from the National Sports Law Institute. The Institute will present the Certificate to each student who has satisfied all Certificate requirements during the semester of his or her graduation.
Recently, our sports law students have also gained valuable internship experience with the NCAA, the United States Olympic Committee, NIKE, Inc., Major League Baseball, the Oakland Raiders, The Atlantic 10 Conference, and the Charlotte Bobcats, as well as local sports clubs and organizations, and university and high school athletic departments. Some of our recent alumni are employed by Major League Baseball, the Marquette University Athletic Department, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Atlanta Braves, the Orlando Magic, the NCAA, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Miami, among other organizations.
Contact: Professor Paul Anderson (email: paul.anderson@mu.edu | phone: (414) 288-5816), Director, Sports Law Program & National Sports Law Institute, Marquette University Law School.
Return to Sports Law Program Home for further information about the entire Sports Law Program.