Introducing Andrew Bouthiller

SportsAgentBlog.com – I Want to be a Sports Agent has just received its fifth contributor (not including me): Andrew Bouthiller. He is finishing up his 1st year as a law student at Florida Coastal School of Law, which is one of the few law schools in the United States that offers a Sports Law certificate program (Andrew is enrolled in the program).

He is also a graduate of the University of Florida. It sure is nice to get some more Orange and Blue blood on this blog!

But where are all the ladies at? I know you are out there! I would love to bring a knowledgeable woman on the board of contributors for this blog. If you think you have what it takes, shoot me an e-mail.

-Darren Heitner

Andrew Bouthiller

Hey guys, Andrew Bouthiller here. I just wanted to thank Darren for the opportunity to contribute to this amazing blog, and to let all readers know that I am very excited to bring you a first-hand look into some of the experiences that a first (almost second) year law student encounters in the sports law world.
Tucker Finley

Well, Andrew, all I can say is that i hope that you have a lot of valuable information to divulge for us to learn from.
Jordan McNulty

Looking forward to your insights. Quick question: how would you define Sports Law and how does your certificate program differ from a typical law school curiculum? What jobs does your program help you prepare for? Thanks.
http://www.sportsagentblog.com Andy

Jordan: To answer your first question, the term “Sports Law” is essentially an umbrella term that encompasses a collective body of specific areas of that law that apply within the business of sports. Examples being: contract law, intellectual property law, labor law, antitrust law, etc and so on. Of course, a sports lawyer/agent would also need to know the rules and regulations of the pertinent leagues (i.e. NFL) or associations (i.e. NFLPA) that he/she is involved in.

Onto your second question: All law students take a basic core curriculum in their 1L year. The sports law certificate program at my school begins to differentiate itself during the 2L year. Along with specific classes for amateur and professional sports law, my school offers four elective courses that are directly applicable to the legal world of sports (an example being, “Legal Issues in Sports Marketing and Sponsorship”). The curriculum is also structured in a way that offers great selectivity among classes that relate to sports law (the aforementioned labor law, intellectual property, etc). Beyond curriculum, there are three dedicated sports law professors (the Dean of the school actually teaches a sports law class), as well as numerous adjunct professors. All of these professors are very active in the world of sports law. There are other positives such as a dedicated sports law moot court team – their yearly competition takes place in New Orleans over Mardi Gras weekend, a dedicated sports law section for law review, and internship opportunities provided strictly for sports law students. Some examples of internships offered are working with the PGA Tour, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the U.S. Anti-doping agency, or numerous colleges athletic offices. The certificate program is a fairly new program, but it is a nice option for students, such as myself, that definitely want to work in the sports law world.
Jordan McNulty

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions Andy. Greatly appreciated. Givony at DraftExpress just posted a really good article on selecting an agent. And while this part of the sports industry is fascinating, I like that students like Andy are looking into other career pursuits that involve the legal aspects of sport. As an aspiring young agent, how can you compete with agents who may not play by the rules? Darren, what sports will Dynasty be getting into? My niece is a great gymnast…
Chris

I enjoyed Jonathan’s article, aside from throwing in the standard bs line about an agent can’t successful represent two clients up for the top spot in the draft.

“It would have been a slight conflict of interest for example for Andrea Bargnani to be represented by the same agent as LaMarcus Aldridge last year, since they were competing for the same spots in the draft and needed to be presented in a favorable light compared with one another.”

How would it be a conflict of interest? The agent’s job is to sell the team on each player’s strengths, set him up with the proper pre-draft information to work on, set him up with a trainer, etc. The NBA teams spend bundles of money each year to scout and workout players in the draft, an agent can’t go to Brian Colangelo and tell him to take this guy over that guy, he’d get laughed at…
http://www.sportsagentblog.com Andrew Bouthiller

Jordan: In general, I think a student who is considering becoming an agent would be doing a disservice to him or herself if they did not explore many different avenues related to sports law. The more understanding and experience an agent has, the more value he can bring to his clients. A prime example would be the CEO of Axcess Sports, Michael Huyghue. Mr. Huyghue has an amazing resume which includes serving on the NFL Management Council and serving as the Senior Vice President of Football Operations for the Jacksonville Jaguars. His prior experience on the “team-side” of contract negotiations is an incredible asset now that he negotiates with these teams as an agent. I was once told that the best agents have an incredible foundation of technical skill and that their personal/people skills are merely the vessel that allows them to transfer these skills to a career in player representation.

As for ethical implications and playing by the rules, this is strongly a matter of personal integrity. Becoming a certified agent is not extremely difficult and many agents will use more unscrupulous methods to gain an upper-hand. Their absence of professional ethics typically results from their lack of the substantive skills that good agents posses. If you hold a law degree, are you willing to risk expulsion from the bar and having your agent certification revoked by bending the rules for the mere chance of signing a big-name athlete? Personally, I would rather put in the hard-work and determination it takes to succeed as an agent while also keeping my professional and personal integrity intact. I think long-term success with players is built from a foundation of trust and dependability.
http://www.sportsagentblog.com Darren

Jordan-

Dynasty Athlete Representation has been registered as an LLC in the state of Florida and will be focusing on basketball and baseball until myself and Vuk finish up law school. I have been slowly letting the cat (Dynasty) out of the bag. Once some big news occurs, I will be sure to post it on here. After all, I want to be a sports agent. I have to post about it when I actually become one!
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