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Sports Law

Syracuse Law Establishes ESLS Certificate

syracuse university

The Entertainment and Sports Law Society at Syracuse University College of Law is proud to announce that the Syracuse University College of Law (SUCOL) Faculty has accepted its proposal for a certificate program. The certificate, which has been named, the Entertainment and Sports Law Studies Certificate, will give students the chance to focus in on this emerging legal field. The ESLS hopes that this certificate will be the first step to building SUCOL into a hub for sports and entertainment like similar programs at Marquette and Tulane.

Joshua Meredith, President of Syracuse Law’s ESLS sent me the following message:

“This was an idea that has been developed since Spring 2008, nine months after writing the initial proposal with my colleague Dan Goode; I was ecstatic to say the least when I heard we had been approved. We would like to thank all the faculty for supporting us, including our sponsor Professor Laura Lape and sports law Professor, Rod Surratt.”

“Having this certificate will give Syracuse a step up in building a program that focuses in this topic. Over the next year, I hope we can continue to build on this, creating classes, publishing students papers and creating partnerships with the new David B. Falk Center for Sports Management.”

“I truly think this is a giant achievement for our organization as we were able to come together as a club to really show the faculty how interested we were in this endeavor and that we were willing to push them to pass it. It’s a great day for the ESLS and the membership who are going to have this opportunity to focus in on this portion of the law.”

On February 3, 2009, I posted about Meredith’s effort to create the Entertainment and Sports Law Studies Certificate and asked that you help him achieve his goal.  Thanks to those of you who lent Meredith a hand; our profession needs more programs like the one being implemented at Syracuse Law.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.