Speakers
Jodi S. Balsam
Brooklyn Law School
Jodi S. Balsam is Professor of Clinical Law at Brooklyn Law School, where she teaches Sports Law, directs NYC’s only specialized sports law externship program, and serves as faculty advisor to the Brooklyn Entertainment and Sports Law Society and Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment Law Blog. She also teaches the Sports Law course at NYU School of Law, and has taught the subject at New York Law School, University of New Hampshire School of Law, Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany, and the MESGO Executive Masters Program in Global Sport Governance. She was an independent arbitrator for the National Collegiate Athletic Association, hearing complex infractions cases, and now serves as a neutral for FAIR Sports, which hears commercial cases involve college athlete name, image, and likeness.
Professor Balsam frequently writes and speaks on sports law topics, including as co-author of Weiler’s Sports and the Law, a leading casebook in the field. Her publications and presentations have addressed antitrust challenges to sports leagues and organizing bodies, sports trademarks, athletes’ rights of free expression and name/image/likeness exploitation, sports gambling and integrity, sports league governance, and the role of the sports agent. She is the on-air Legal Analyst for NBC Sports/The Golf Channel, and frequently appears in the media on legal issues in sports, including ESPN, The Athletic, Front Office Sports, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. She is on the editorial boards of Law360-Sports & Betting, the Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport, and the international sports law blog LawInSport. She is a past-chair and current executive committee member of the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Law and Sports.
Before joining academia, Professor Balsam was the National Football League's Counsel for Operations and Litigation, where she managed litigation in all areas of law, oversaw a variety of policy and operational matters, negotiated and drafted contracts for League special events including the Super Bowl, and administered the League's internal dispute resolution processes and compliance program. Prior to the NFL she was a litigator with the New York office of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where she represented sports and entertainment clients in antitrust matters and complex commercial litigation. She served as a law clerk for Judge Dennis Jacobs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Judge Charles Brieant of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. A graduate of Yale College, Professor Balsam received her law degree from NYU School of Law.
Scott Bearby
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
Scott Bearby serves as senior vice president and general counsel for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). He has been general counsel since January 2013 after serving in various legal positions at the national headquarters. He has been a lawyer for the Association for 25 years.
As general counsel, Scott has day-to-day management of the NCAA Office of Legal Affairs and its staff. The department handles legal responsibilities for the national association, supporting its governance and sport committees, 90 championships, and its national office staff assisting the membership and student-athletes. The Office of Legal Affairs also manages litigation involving the national association. Scott also oversees the NCAA Hearing Operations function.
Prior to becoming senior vice president and general counsel, Scott spent much of his career at the NCAA focusing on media, intellectual property, and championship matters. He was lead NCAA inside counsel for all of the NCAA's television, digital and other multi-media agreements for the Division I Men's Basketball Championship and other NCAA championships since 1999.
In 2023, Scott was appointed as an arbitrator within the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS), the international and Olympic sport dispute resolution organization. Scott has been an adjunct faculty member at both Indiana University McKinney School of Law and Indiana University Maurer School of Law. He is a member of the Indiana Sports Corporation Executive Committee and Board.
Scott graduated from the University of Notre Dame and received his J.D. from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law (Bloomington).
Jeffrey Bivins
Justice Jeff Bivins took office as a member of the Tennessee Supreme Court on July 16, 2014. He was appointed to this position by Governor Bill Haslam. He was elected to the remainder of the full term in August 2016. He was reelected in August 2022 to another eight-year term. Justice Bivins served as Chief Justice from September 2016 through August 2021. Prior to his appointment to the Tennessee Supreme Court, Justice Bivins was a judge on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals from August 2011 until July 2014. Previously, Justice Bivins also served as a Circuit Court Judge for the 21st Judicial District of Tennessee. He is a 1986 graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law. He received a B.A. Degree, magna cum laude, in 1982 from East Tennessee State University, with a major in political science and a minor in criminal justice. Justice Bivins is a past President of the Tennessee Judicial Conference.
Liz Breen
FGS Global
Liz is a Managing Director in FGS Global's Strategic Communications Division, working in the Washington D.C. office and helping lead the firm's growing sports practice.
Liz loves a challenge and relishes the opportunity to work at the center of high-profile, complex communications moments. She specializes in crisis, litigation and executive communications and is passionate about the intersection of sports and society - working on issues where our national pastimes intersect with critical national conversations. Liz advises leaders at professional and collegiate sports leagues, teams and governing bodies on their most vexing public affairs issues.
Prior to joining the firm in 2017, Liz worked in public affairs at the Pac-12 Conference in San Francisco and in executive communications in the office of the President of the NCAA in Indianapolis. In these roles, Liz developed and executed communications strategies on everything from concussion research to sustainability to student-athlete rights.
A native Arkansan, Liz graduated from the University of Arkansas with Bachelor's Degrees in Political Science and Journalism, with a focus on Advertising and Public Relations. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband and one-year-old son.
John Clune
Hutchinson, Black and Cook, LLC
John Clune is a partner at the Colorado based firm of Hutchinson, Black and Cook. John serves as the chair of both the firm’s Title IX litigation and Sports Law practice groups representing individuals and athletes with varying legal disputes. The other side of John’s practice is representing survivors of sexual misconduct often involving high profile individuals such as Kobe Bryant, NFL QB Jameis Winston, former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Clune served as a Chief Deputy District Attorney in Colorado prior to his career in private practice. His sports hobbies are skiing, cycling and surfing.
Peter Czegledy
Aird & Berlis LLP
Peter Czegledy is a Partner and member of the Corporate/Commercial Group at Aird & Berlis LLP, as well as Chair of the firm’s Gaming Group, and co-Chair of the firm’s Esports & Gaming Group and Sports, Media & Entertainment Group. Peter has substantial expertise in the area of gambling and gaming law, with experience both in the acquisition/establishment phase and as ongoing corporate counsel managing compliance with applicable regulatory regimes and advising on technological applications. He is regularly consulted by governments and their regulators for policy and legal advice. He has acted in both private transactions and public procurements, and has represented a multitude of leading participants in the casino, track, igaming, mobile gambling, skills gaming and social gaming industries. Peter is widely recognized as a top practitioner in the field of Gaming Law by Chambers Canada: Canada’s Leading Lawyers for Business (Band 1), The Best Lawyers in Canada and Who’s Who Legal: Sports & Gaming (Global Leader). He was named Best Lawyers’ 2023 Lawyer of the Year in Gaming Law (Toronto) and a “Global Elite Thought Leader 2024” by WWL. Peter is a member of the International Masters of Gaming Law, the International Gaming Advisors Association, the International Committee of the Sports Lawyers Association and other industry associations.
Hannah Hartman DuPont
Major League Baseball
Before MLB, Hannah graduated from the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law with both her JD and Master's in Sports Law and Business. While a student at ASU, Hannah interned with the NFL, Lionsgate, Insight Sports Advisors, and Wasserman. Hannah played NCAA Division I lacrosse at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to attending law school, Hannah worked in sports broadcasting and marketing.
N. Jeremi Duru
American University, Washington College of Law
Professor N. Jeremi Duru teaches several sports law courses as well as civil procedure, and he is among the nation’s foremost sports law authorities. He is a co-author of one of the field’s premier casebooks, Sports Law and Regulation: Cases and Materials (5th edition) (Wolters Kluwer), as well as one of the field’s premier explorations of sports agency, The Business of Sports Agents (3rd edition) (U. of Penn Press). In addition, he is the sole author of Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL (Oxford University Press), which examines the NFL’s movement toward increased equality of opportunity for coaches and front office personnel.
Professor Duru is active in the national sports law community. Among other appointments, he serves on the Board of Directors for the Sports Lawyers Association and for the Fritz Pollard Alliance of coaches, scouts and executives of color in the National Football League, the National Sports Law Institute’s Board of Advisors, and the LawInSport Editorial Board. He has also served as a member of the NCAA’s Committees on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport and the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s Anti-Doping Review Board.
Professor Duru has a particular interest in sport’s impact on society, with a principle focus on racial and gender dynamics. He has conducted research and delivered lectures on these topics throughout the United States as well as abroad, including as: a Fulbright Fellow at Faculdades Integradas Helio Alonso in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; a Parsons Visitor at the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia; and a Visiting Professor at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, China. In addition, Professor Duru remains active in practice. He has represented sports industry professionals in employment matters involving the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and Major League Baseball. He has also represented collegiate student-athletes – most notably in McAdoo v. University of North Carolina – serving as counsel to plaintiffs suing the university with respect to its nearly two decades-long academic fraud scandal.
Professor Duru is widely recognized for his excellence as both an advocate and a teacher. He has received the National Bar Association’s Sports and Entertainment Lawyer of the Year Award as well as the American University Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching and the Washington College of Law Award for Excellence in Teaching. In addition, before joining the WCL faculty, while teaching at Temple Law School, Professor Duru received Temple’s George P. Williams Outstanding Law Professor of the Year Award.
Professor Duru received his undergraduate education at Brown University and then completed a joint-degree program at Harvard University, receiving a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Upon graduation, Professor Duru served as a law clerk to the Honorable Damon J. Keith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Professor Duru is a frequent media contributor and has provided commentary for numerous media outlets, including CNN, BBC, NBC, Fox, ESPN, NPR, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
Stephanie Galvin
Dallas Cowboys Football Club
As the Senior Associate Counsel for the Dallas Cowboys, Stephanie Galvin is a pivotal member of the legal team, providing comprehensive legal guidance across various operational facets. Her expertise encompasses the negotiation and drafting of contracts, ensuring promotional activities adhere to legal standards, and devising strategies to mitigate risks while enhancing operational efficiencies. Her legal acumen extends to addressing emergent legal matters for not only the Dallas Cowboys, but also the broader spectrum of Jones family enterprises.
Stephanie joined the Dallas Cowboys in February 2024, where she has since leveraged her substantial experience within the sports industry to the benefit of the organization. Her previous role as Senior Director of Business and Legal Affairs at Legends—a company renowned for delivering premium experiences in sports and entertainment—saw her concentrate on the hospitality division and corporate governance. Her responsibilities included negotiating and drafting various agreements, managing hundreds of clients, and ensuring compliance and harmonizing procedures throughout the company's diverse business lines.
Before her time at Legends, Stephanie served as the Associate General Counsel for the Miami Marlins, overseeing the entirety of the organization's legal operations. Her formative experiences also include internships with notable sports franchises such as the Orlando Magic, Milwaukee Brewers, and Charlotte Hornets.
Stephanie earned a Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration from Marquette University, alongside a Bachelor of Commerce with a focus on marketing from the University of British Columbia. A native of Vancouver, Canada, she now calls Dallas, Texas home, where she resides with her husband, Matthew, and their dogs, Jackson and Coco.
Locher Grove
Dealiyo
Locher is the CEO & Co founder of Dealiyo - an automated legal-negotiation SaaS platform for creators, athletes, and businesses to securely make creator agreements and/or NCAA compliant NIL (name, image, and likeness) legal agreements. Think Legalzoom for the creator economy. Ed O'Bannon (who jump-started NIL with his lawsuit against the NCAA in 2015) is on the Dealiyo board. Dealiyo operates with Universities and student athletes across the country. Prior to Dealiyo, Locher was the Co founder of Rosedale Collective (a music accelerator, label, and creative services company), a Partner in the incubator aKartel, and a former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Malia and their instagram famous dog Brady.
Bobby Hacker
Robert A Hacker, Attorney at Law + Sports Media Consulting
After 18 years at FOX Sports working on national programming, since 2017 Bobby has run his own shop consulting on sports media rights, representing above the line talent in live sports television and hosting Sport Shorts for the SLA
Mo Hawthorne
Airbnb
Mo Hawthorne is Lead Counsel for Airbnb Global Marketing, and supports a variety of global marketing campaigns, paid advertising, and creative production counseling, with a focus and expertise on brand marketing and product marketing. Previous to Airbnb, she served as senior counsel for adidas' global sports marketing and brand. She's a graduate of Cal Poly SLO and Lewis and Clark Northwestern School of Law, where she also teaches adjunct for the law school. When she's not thinking about brand marketing or the future of her law students, you might find her hiking, catching a beach sunset, or in a community theater production.
Aaron Hernandez
Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
In Summer 2023, the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law named Aaron Hernandez the Assistant Dean and Executive Director of the Allan “Bud” Selig Sports Law and Business Program at Arizona State University. You can read more about it here: https://news.asu.edu/20231013-asu-law-sports-law-and-business-program-under-new-leadership
As Executive Director, Aaron is responsible for supervising the Sports Law and Business (SLB) Program and ensuring its continued success. Aaron oversees the following aspects of the SLB Program: operational efficiency, admissions, curriculum development, academic and career advising, recruiting, donor and alumni relations, stakeholder relations, and student engagement. Aaron also is responsible for long-term strategic vision and growth of the SLB Program. In addition to overseeing the SLB Program, Aaron is also responsible for teaching class at the law school.
Before joining Arizona State, Aaron was the Associate Director of Football at the NCAA. While at the NCAA, Aaron specialized in stakeholder engagement in Division I (FBS). Aaron worked closely with high-profile college football coaches, athletic directors, sports administrators, compliance officers, and many other stakeholders to identify major threats to the collegiate model. He also served as the primary liaison to the Big 12 Conference, American Athletic Conference, Under Armour, and the College Football Playoff for all football-related matters. Aaron also conducted investigations of institutions that may have violated NCAA rules and focused on matters that involved Division I college football.
Aaron has previously served in compliance and legal roles with: Marquette University Athletics, the National Sports Law Institute, NASCAR, and Gray & Associates, LLP. Aaron graduated with his Juris Doctor in May of 2013 from Marquette University Law School, receiving a certificate in Sports Law from the National Sports Law Institute, and is an admitted attorney to the State Bar of Wisconsin. Aaron was named the 2019 Marquette Sports Law Alumnus of the Year and is published in four separate law journals for works focused on legal issues in sports.
In January 2024, Aaron joined the Collegiate Sports Law Practice at Church, Church, Hittle + Antrim where he provides expertise and legal counsel related to a wide array of clients in college athletics. You can read more about his work at CCH+A here: https://www.cchalaw.com/our-news/ccha-law-welcomes-aaron-hernandez
A native of El Paso, TX, Aaron received his Bachelor’s in Business Administration in Finance from the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame in 2010. Aaron currently resides in Phoenix, AZ.
Stephanie Jarivs
Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
Stephanie Jarvis is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Sports Law & Business Program in the Allan “Bud” Selig Sports Law and Business program at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Ms. Jarvis is an alumnus of Northwestern University and the University of Cincinnati, where she earned a Juris Doctorate degree. After a 13-year tenure as Associate Commissioner of the Horizon League, Ms. Jarvis transitioned to the Phoenix metro area in 2012. Since coming to the Valley, Ms. Jarvis has held several leadership roles in local sports organizations including: General Counsel/Chief Compliance Officer of the Fiesta Bowl; Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the 2016 College Football Playoff Championship Game; and Chief Operating Officer of the Phoenix Local Organizing Committee for the 2017 NCAA Final Four. She joined the ASU Sports Law & Business Program in August 2017. Additionally, she is the founder of SJarvis Consulting where she serves as outside counsel for the Cactus League and Teall Properties Group, and is part of the team that helped secure the 2024 Phoenix Men’s Final Four and the 2026 Phoenix Women’s Final Four. She also serves as an Arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.
Jeffrey L. Kessler
Winston & Strawn LLP
Co-Executive Chairman of Winston & Strawn, Jeffrey is one of the world’s leading antitrust, sports law, and trial lawyers. He has served as lead counsel in some of the most complex antitrust, sports, and intellectual property litigations in the country, including major jury trials, and has represented a number of U.S. and international companies in criminal and civil investigations in the antitrust, sports law, trade, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) areas.
Jeffrey formerly served as the co-chair of Winston’s global Antitrust/Competition Practice and as the co-chair of the firm’s Sports Law Practice. Law360 recently named both practices as a “Practice Group of the Year” for their respective categories. He focuses his practice on all aspects of antitrust/competition, sports law, complex commercial litigation, intellectual property (IP), and government criminal and civil investigations. He has served as lead counsel in some of the most complex antitrust, sports law, and IP law cases in the country, including major jury trials, and has represented many U.S. and international companies in criminal and civil investigations in the antitrust, trade, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) areas. He successfully defended Matsushita and JVC against claims of a worldwide conspiracy in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Zenith v. Matsushita and is regarded universally as a leading commentator on international antitrust law. He has also been the lead counsel for important cases involving frontier issues of IP law and lead counsel in numerous government criminal and civil investigations. He is a member of the firm’s Videogame, Gaming, and Esports Group, which provides comprehensive legal solutions to companies in the sector.
Jeffrey is also one of the United States’ most prominent lawyers regularly engaged in high-profile sports litigation. He has litigated some of the most famous sports-antitrust cases in history, including the landmark college players-brought Alston v. NCAA case, in which, following Jeffrey’s oral argument, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously affirmed his and co-counsel’s earlier “groundbreaking and disruptive” trial victory against the NCAA in this antitrust challenge to its no-compensation rules; McNeil v. The NFL, the watershed antitrust jury trial that led to the establishment of free agency in the National Football League (NFL); and Brady v. NFL, which led to the end of the 2011 NFL lockout. Jeffrey’s sports sector clients have included the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), the Arena Football League Players Association, the National Hockey League Players Association, the Major League Baseball Players Association, the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), Wasserman Media Group, SCP Worldwide, MVP Sports, the U.S. Women’s National [Soccer] Team (USWNT), the NFL Coaches Association, the Women’s Tennis Benefit Association, Endeavor, Super Slam Ltd., Activision Blizzard, Adidas, Klutch Sports, and Players, Inc. Jeffrey has represented various classes of Division 1 college basketball and football players; other college athletes; elite swimmers; NBA, NFL, AFL, and MLS players; the North American Soccer League (NASL); the U.S. Football League; the Overwatch and Call of Duty Esports leagues; the Professional Bull Riders; Relevent Sports Agency, and the Cities of San Diego and Oakland, as well as Alameda County, in various sports law disputes. He negotiated the current free agency/salary cap systems in the NFL and NBA, and successfully represented Latrell Sprewell in his controversial suspension arbitration. In the area of NFL discipline, he represented the NFLPA on behalf of Ray Rice, Tom Brady (in “Deflategate”), Ezekiel Elliott, Adrian Peterson, and the “Bountygate” players. He represented pro bono Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee athlete, in his successful arbitration to obtain the right to compete against non-disabled athletes around the world. Recently, he achieved a landmark equal pay class action settlement for the members of the USWNT.
This impressive experience has led Law360 to name Jeffrey as an MVP for Sports and Betting (2015; 2018–2022; and 2024). In March 2022 at the Benchmark Litigation East Coast Awards, Jeffrey was honored as the Antitrust Litigator of the Year, and the firm was recognized for its work on NCAA v. Alston, one of the National Impact Cases of the Year. Jeffrey is also part of the group recognized with GCR’s 2022 “Litigation of the Year: Cartel Prosecution” award.
William Koch, Jr.
Bill Koch is currently the President and Dean of the Nashville School of Law. Before joining NSL in 2014, he served on the Tennessee Supreme Court and the Tennessee Court of Appeals. During his 30-year judicial career, Dean Koch was recognized as one of the 500 Leading Judges in America and as the American Board of Trial Advocates’ Tennessee Appellate Judge of the Year. He also received the Tennessee Bar Association’s Justice Frank F. Drowota III Outstanding Judicial Service Award and the Nashville Bar Association’s Liberty Bell Award. Before becoming a judge, Dean Koch served as Counsel to Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander, Commissioner of Personnel, and Deputy Attorney General for the State of Tennessee.
Dean Koch earned his B.A. degree from Trinity College; his J.D. degree from Vanderbilt University; and his LL.M. from the University of Virginia. He has taught Constitutional Law and Tennessee Constitutional Law at NSL and has received appointments as an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt School of Law and Belmont College of Law. He is also an Academic Master of the Bench in the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in London, England.
Dean Koch received the A. Sherman Christensen Award for his local, national, and international service to the American Inns of Court movement. He chairs the Tennessee Trial Court Vacancy Commission and serves on the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct. He has also served on the boards of Cumberland University, the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville, and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.
Kate Koster
CAA Sport Business Affairs
Kate Koster is a Sports Business Affairs Executive at CAA Sports in New York, where she focuses on brand consulting, property sales, risk management, and general corporate advisory. Before joining CAA Sports, Kate was Major League Soccer’s Vice President, Legal Affairs; Oxygen Media’s Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs; the National Football League’s Counsel, Finance/Business Operation; and the National Hockey League’s Assistant General Counsel. She began her legal career at Cravath, Swaine & Moore and is a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School. Kate currently resides in Manhattan with her family.
Lisa Lazarus
Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority
Lisa Lazarus oversees the Authority’s full operations, including the implementation of the Racetrack Safety Program and the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program.
Lazarus has a strong background in sports business and law, having established and led the Equestrian Practice at Morgan Sports Law. She has served as General Counsel and later Chief of Business Development & Strategy at the Fédération Equestre Internationale, the international governing body for equestrian sports. Prior to that, Lazarus spent a decade at the National Football League where she served as the league’s Labor Relations Counsel and Senior Legal Counsel. Lazarus began her legal career working as an associate at Akin Gump after clerking for a Federal District Court Judge in Memphis, Tennessee, following her graduation from Fordham University School of Law.
In 2024, Lazarus was honored as a Game Changer by Sports Business Journal for her exemplary work as a woman in sports.
Paul Loving
Rimon PC
Paul Loving is a Partner at Rimon Law. He is a transactional attorney who advises individuals and brands in the sports, entertainment and consumer products sectors. Mr. Loving has 31 years of extensive experience working as outside and in-house counsel for startups as well as Fortune 500 companies.
Mr. Loving is also Special Counsel for adidas, and was Assistant General Counsel for Nike, where he handled sports marketing, advertising, and entertainment matters. Mr. Loving clerked for the Oregon Supreme Court. He is an adjunct professor of sports law at the University of Oregon School of Law.
Mr. Loving was a member of UCLA's 1987 NCAA Championship Track and Field team.
Matt Mitten
Marquette University Law School
Matt is a Professor of Law and the Executive Director of the National Sports Law Institute at Marquette University Law School whose courses include Amateur Sports Law, Professional Sports Law, Sports Sponsorship Legal and Business Issues Workshop, Business Torts, Antitrust Law, and Torts. He has authored Sports Law in the United States (Wolters Kluwer 2011, 2nd ed. 2014, 3rd ed. 2017, 4th ed. 2025 (forthcoming)) and co-authored a law school textbook, Sports Law and Regulation: Cases, Materials, and Problems (Aspen/Wolters Kluwer 2005, 2nd ed. 2009, 3rd ed. 2013, 4th ed., 2017, 5th ed. 2020, 6th ed. 2024), and Sports Law: Governance and Regulation (Wolters Kluwer 2013, 2nd ed. 2016, 3rd ed. 2020, 4th ed. 2024), an undergraduate/graduate text. A leading sports law scholar, he has published articles in several highly ranked law reviews as well as in medical journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine.
He is an arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland (serving on the ad hoc Division for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games and Anti-doping Division for the 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympic Games), American Arbitration Association (sports, commercial, and consumer arbitration matters), JAMS Sports Program, New Era, and Fair Sports arbitration and mediation panels. He has served as the sole arbitrator, chair, or panel member in 70 sports cases. He is an emeritus member of the Sports Lawyers Association (SLA) Board of Directors (serving as SLA president from May 2015-May 2017) and the Advisory Board for the Sports & Society Initiative of The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences. He testified before the U.S. Senate Commerce and Judiciary Committees, two U.S. House of Representatives joint subcommittees, and the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics regarding various college sports law issues. He has discussed a wide variety of sports law, business, and ethics topics at more than 200 conferences and seminars throughout the United States as well as in Australia, Canada, China, England, Hungary, Republic of Korea, and Turkey.
Ajay Mohandas
CAA Sport Business Affairs
Ajay Mohandas is an Executive in the Sports Business Affairs group at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). In this capacity, he supports various CAA Sports entities through a wide range of commercial matters including negotiating and drafting agreements for corporate, consulting, and talent clients.
Prior to joining CAA, Ajay spent three years as an attorney in the Business Affairs group at William Morris Endeavor (WME). At WME, Ajay worked within the speakers department where he led contract negotiations for high-level athletes, world leaders, actors, musical artists, and executives.
Ajay received his J.D. from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and his B.S. from the University of Central Florida.
Sabrina Perel
NFL
Sabrina Perel joined the NFL in May 2013, having practiced commercial litigation with the law firm Riker Danzig in Morristown, New Jersey and serving as in-house counsel to Kroll Inc. in New York City.
At the NFL, Perel leads the Compliance group which emphasizes the NFL core values, ethics and integrity. Compliance focuses on enterprise risk management, regulatory compliance, and game integrity. Regarding game integrity, Perel is responsible for the League's Integrity & Compliance program, including policy, education, monitoring, and enforcement. She is responsible for integrity and gambling policy training for League personnel, educating more than 20,000 personnel each year. Perel is also responsible for the League's Compliance Plan (code of conduct) and League-wide policies pertaining to anti-corruption and anti-bribery. Perel works with NFL team general counsels on legal matters and shares compliance best practices guidance. She also serves as the Treasurer of the Gridiron PAC.
Perel served for 10 years as Executive Vice-President and General Counsel to Kroll, a global risk advisory services firm and publicly traded company. Perel managed the legal affairs of the company, including corporate governance, compliance, mergers and acquisitions, litigation, and regulatory matters. She also served as Corporate Secretary and was a longstanding member of the company's executive committee.
Lindsay Richardson
Ropes & Gray LLP
Lindsay Richardson is an associate in Ropes & Gray's private equity group. She represents private equity funds, their portfolio companies, strategic investors and corporate clients in a wide variety of complex transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, going-private transactions, leveraged buyouts, growth equity financings and investments. She also counsels on general corporate matters, compliance and corporate governance. Lindsay has advised clients across several industries including, sports, entertainment and hospitality, consumer goods, and technology.
As a member of the sports law group, Lindsay assists in the negotiation of sponsorship, media rights and strategic investments for various collegiate and professional sports and entertainment organizations.
During her time at the firm, Lindsay completed a client secondment with the National Football League.
Nicholas Simon
BakerHostetler
Nicholas Simon is a business lawyer who advises companies, private equity sponsors and investors on their most important corporate, finance and commercial transactions. A focus of Nick's practice is the sports industry, where he has experience advising professional sports leagues, teams and their owners, as well as businesses active in professional, youth and amateur sports, on transactional and other matters, including mergers and acquisitions; stadium and team debt financings; equity financings; media, apparel, naming rights, sponsorship, licensing and other commercial agreements; internal investigations; and youth protection and safeguarding matters.
Suzanne Spellacy
Minnesota Timberwolves & Lynx Basketball
Suzanne Spellacy joined the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx organization in 2021 as the first internal General Counsel for the franchises.
In her role, Spellacy oversees all legal matters including contract negotiations, corporate transactions, intellectual property, dispute resolution, employment law and league rules and regulations.
Spellacy’s career includes 19 years at Taylor Corporation, including serving as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary from 2012-2019, where her responsibilities included acting as external General Counsel to the Timberwolves and Lynx franchises. Spellacy started her legal career with Twin Cities law firm Winthrop and Weinstine, P.A. and became a shareholder of the firm before joining Taylor Corporation. From 2019-21 she was General Counsel for Jack Link’s Protein Snacks.
Suzanne is an independent director for Nuvera Communications, Inc. (NUVR), a publicly traded regional broadband company, and was first elected to the board in 2012. She currently chairs Nuvera’s Corporate Governance & Nominating Committee and is a member of the Compensation Committee.
Spellacy received her B.A. from the College of St. Benedict, summa cum laude, and her J.D. from the University of Minnesota, magna cum laude, Member of the Order of the Coif. In 2024, Spellacy was recognized by Twin Cities Business as a Notable General Counsel for her work on behalf of the Timberwolves and Lynx.
Spellacy has long been active in the community, serving on the boards of the YMCA, Loyola Catholic School, Greater Mankato Early Learning Initiative, and currently as Vice President of the Board of the Child and Family Advocacy Center of South Central Minnesota.
Mike Tannenbaum
Espn/The 33rd Team
Jets GM 2006-12; VP of Football Operations Miami Dolphins 2015-19; ESPN Front Office Insider 2019 - Current; Founder/CEO The 33rd Team 2019-Current
Ted Tywang
Haslam Sports Group
Ted Tywang is in his tenth season with the Cleveland Browns and third as Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel for Haslam Sports Group (HSG), which owns and operates the Cleveland Browns and Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew, and also owns a controlling interest in the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks. Tywang is responsible for all legal work and government affairs connected to HSG and is an integral part of both the Browns’ and Crew’s multi-faceted community efforts.
As the Chief in-house counsel for both the Browns and Crew, Tywang provides legal oversight and strategic guidance, is involved in various business initiatives and projects, while strengthening relationships and navigating legislation in Ohio with government officials. He provides legal guidance and oversight on all HSG major investment initiatives, long-term direction to HSG partners and executives, as well as supporting all HSG departments to help drive the organization's day-to-day operations.
Tywang is a key leader of the Browns’ future stadium planning efforts, as the organization works to bring a world-class dome stadium and transformative mixed use development to Northeast Ohio after the end of its current stadium lease after the 2028 season. He also guided the legal and government relations process that led to the construction of Lower.com Field, home of the Columbus Crew that opened in 2021.
Complementing his professional leadership, Tywang is also active in the Northeast Ohio community. For the past four years, he’s been a board member of the Cleveland League Aid Society and was chosen by the Cuyahoga County Executive in 2022 to serve on the nine-member Board of Trustees for Cuyahoga Community College (“Tri-C”). He also serves as an ambassador for EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute.
Before Cleveland, Tywang was a corporate associate in the sports law group of Proskauer for three and a half years, an international law firm headquartered in New York. He is a member of the New York State Bar and is authorized to practice law in the State of Ohio.
The Nashville, Tenn. native earned his bachelor’s degree, cum laude, with honors in government from Georgetown University, where he was a four-year member and senior captain of the men’s tennis team. He then went on to receive his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and President of Columbia’s Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Society.
Tywang and his wife Jess reside in Shaker Heights with their four daughters in a blended family, Maggie, Frankie, Adelaide and Ramona.
Heather Udowitch
Snell & Wilmer
Heather Udowitch is a member of the firm’s Corporate and Securities group, where she focuses on a variety of corporate matters, including corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, and other general securities and corporate transactions. Heather assists clients with various transaction documents, due diligence reviews, and entity formation requirements. Before joining the firm, Heather worked in legal and operations roles within the sports and entertainment industry. In those roles, she gained experience in professional and collegiate athletics, sports media production, and NCAA compliance. Heather received her J.D. and Masters of Sports Law and Business from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Before that, she received her Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Arizona State University where she was a four-year letter winner competing on the Women’s Gymnastics Team.
Geoff Urbina
KeyBank Capital Markets
Geoff Urbina has over 25 years of public finance experience and has served as lead banker on over $64 billion in taxable and tax-exempt financings. Mr. Urbina has spent the majority of his career focusing on originating and executing taxable and tax-exempt financings for Native American, municipal, and quasi-corporate issuers.
Over the course of his career, Mr. Urbina has provided market commentary to CNBC, the Bond Buyer, and Bloomberg and has presented at numerous national industry conferences. Mr. Urbina earned his B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Washington and his M.B.A. in Finance from the Foster School of Business (University of Washington). He is registered representative with FINRA (Series 7, 24, 52, 63 and 79).
Norm Wain
Sports Consultant
Norm Wain is a seasoned business leader and sports and entertainment executive. He currently works as a consultant for various sports teams and corporate entities. Previously, he served as the longtime Chief of Business & Legal Affairs for USATF, and as the Vice President - Corporate Legal Affairs for The Finish Line, Inc. Norm sits on the board of trustees for Safe Sport International, the board of directors for the Sports Lawyers Association, the governance commission for World Athletics, and also as the chair of the Advisory Board for Law In Sport, based in the UK.
Daniel Werly
Tennessee Titans
Dan Werly is Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the Tennessee Titans and Nissan Stadium. Werly oversees the Legal, Strategy & Analytics, and Corporate Partnerships departments for the organization. He also plays a key role in the vision and development of the New Nissan Stadium.
Prior to joining the Titans, Werly was the first General Counsel of Major League Soccer’s Nashville Soccer Club and worked at several law firms, primarily focused on representing professional sports teams and leagues on a variety of legal matters.
He sits on the boards of W.O. Smith School of Music, the Pedigree Foundation, and is on the Advisory Board of the American Bar Association's Sports Division. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University Law School and Charleston School of Law.
Maureen Weston
Pepperdine Law School
Maureen Weston is Professor of Law at Pepperdine University School of Law. She is a member of the NCAA Committee of Infractions, an arbitrator on the rosters for the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Dispute Resolution Unit, the American Arbitration Association, and FINRA. Weston is on the Board of Directors for the Sports Lawyers Association (SLA), the National Sports Law Institute, and on the Editorial Board for LawInSport. She received her Juris Doctor from the University of Colorado, and Bachelor of Arts in Economics/Political Science at the University of Denver.
Lisa Wiznitzer
Loeb & Loeb LLP
Lisa Wiznitzer is an attorney at Loeb & Loeb LLP and maintains a transactional practice focused on advertising, media, entertainment, sports and technology. She is experienced in drafting and negotiating a wide range of commercial, corporate, entertainment, sports and financial service agreements and transactions. Specifically, she advises clients on matters associated with intellectual property, licensing, brand protection and sponsorship, as well as in connection with joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, broad corporate transactions, new ventures and general corporate matters. Notably, she has worked with professional sports teams and leagues on a variety of corporate and commercial transactions.
Lisa’s experience in structuring and negotiating agreements and deals spans several industries, including advertising, media, technology, entertainment and sports, among many others, allowing her to draw upon a unique breadth of experience to proactively identify challenges and develop practical and creative solutions when issues arise.
Brandon Wurl
Arizona Cardinals
Brandon Wurl serves as Associate Counsel for the Arizona Cardinals. Prior to joining the Cardinals, he worked in commercial contracts at Honeywell Aerospace and private practice as an Associate Attorney at Scheer.Law PLLC.
He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona and his Juris Doctor from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law (ASU), where he served as an editor for the Arizona State Sports and Entertainment Law Journal.
Brandon is licensed to practice law in Arizona and Washington and currently a co-chair for the Sports Lawyers Association’s NextGen Committee.
Warren K. Zola
Boston College
Carroll School of Management, Boston College
Executive Director, Boston College Chief Executives Club
Adjunct Faculty, Business Law & Society
Warren K. Zola serves as the Executive Director of the Boston College Chief Executives Club, a program of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. Long recognized as one of the world’s premier business forums, the Boston College Chief Executives Club gathers keynote speakers to address Boston’s business leaders. The speakers are the world’s most influential CEOs drawn from the top echelons of their fields—thought leaders who welcome the opportunity to address an audience of their peers.
In addition, Zola is an adjunct faculty member in the Carroll School’s department of Business Law & Society teaching two graduate courses—Sports Law and the Business of Sports. As an attorney and key opinion leader in the business of sports and sports law, Zola is frequently relied upon by the national media for his insight and perspective, and was invited to a Congressional roundtable discussion as an expert to discuss reform in college athletics. In addition, he has provided scholarly articles for legal textbooks, books, law reviews, and newspapers.
Zola earned a B.A. with Honors from Hobart & William Smith Colleges, a J.D. from Tulane University, and an M.B.A. from Boston College. He has been an active member of the Sports Lawyers Association and Massachusetts Bar since 1993. Zola serves on the Board of Directors of four non-profit organizations: Mass Mentoring Partnership, Sports Lawyers Association, You Can Play, and his alma mater, Hobart & William Smith Colleges.