The Fifth Annual Sports Law Symposium “Legal Champions in Sports” held on February 10th at the Hall of Champions in Balboa Park featured a provocative discussion of the issue of steroid use by professional athletes. The conference was organized by the Thomas Jefferson School of Law Sports Law Society.

Keynote speaker David Cornwell, former NFL General Counsel, challenged many of the premises which underlie the conventional wisdom that steroid use gives users an unfair competitive advantage and is harmful to the health of the athlete.

Cornwell is the president of DNK Cornwell, which provides legal representation and consulting services to professional athletes. Cornwell represents Charger linebacker Shawne Merriman, who agreed to a four game suspension for testing-positive for a banned substance – which Merriman says came from a dietary supplement. Under the NFL’s banned substances policy, athletes are responsible for any substance they ingest – knowingly or not.

“The focus on steroids (in pro sports) is absurd,” said Cornwell, as he tried to stimulate debate on the subject.  “We blindly accept that steroids are bad for sport…and athletes are tested more than any other class in society. Now we’ve created a new class --athletes.”

Cornwell dissected the National Football League’s steroid policy, which states, among other things, that “Players use steroids for the purpose of becoming bigger,
stronger and faster than they otherwise would be.”

Using the law school experience to draw a parallel to professional athletes, Cornwell asked whether the use of caffeine by law students to stay alert “gives them an unfair competitive advantage over other students. It’s the same rationale the league uses.”

Cornwell pointed out that he is “not arguing in favor of steroids, but I’m arguing for a better premise for banning steroids.” He also feels the NFL’s testing program is “far from perfect” and has the potential to ruin careers.

The conference attendees also heard from a panel made up of baseball player agents Barry Axelrod and Bob Teaff, along with San Diego State Assistant Athletic Director Jennifer Daniels and Michael McCann, an Assistant Professor of Law Mississippi College School of Law, who has represented troubled former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett.

Clarett unsuccessfully challenged the NFL’s draft rules requiring draft picks to be at least three years past their high school graduation date, and later wound up going to jail on criminal charges before his pro career could get off the ground.  Professor McCann gave an insider’s view of Clarett’s legal situation – which ultimately resulted in Clarett getting into trouble during the year he sat out football while his playing status situation was being resolved.

Encinitas lawyer Barry Axelrod, who has been called the “agent for the good guys” because he represents players such as Ken Bagwell, Craig Biggio and the Padres’ Jake Peavey, talked about how he became a sports agent – “by accident and by luck, I fell into it.”

Axelrod says today’s sports agent has to be as concerned with his client’s image as with the contract terms: “I tell my clients that real privacy has ceased to exist…you’re under the microscope at all times.”

By way of advice to law students who are thinking about becoming sports agents, Axelrod said: “It’s a tough business to get into. It’s very difficult. But it can be done if you stay with it.”

Sports agent and La Jolla attorney Bob Teaff compared sports law to other practices often “described in anatomical terms.” 

He told the audience that to be a sports agent you have to use good lawyering skills and put the passion of a fan aside for the “objectivity you need to practice law.”

Jennifer Daniels, who oversees National Collegiate Athletic Association compliance at San Diego State, said that while her bible is the 500 page book of the NCAA’s rules and regulations, her overriding concern is to protect students and their athletic eligibility.

Another panel at the symposium was focused on the lucrative field of licensing and sponsorship in sports. The panelists included Joanna Tsai, the General Counsel at Hang Ten and 2002 alumna of Thomas Jefferson; Chris Whitson, the General Counsel of the National Hockey League’s Nashville Predators; and Michael Bernstein, the Senior Corporate Counsel of the Upper Deck Company.

They discussed the ins and outs of sponsorship and endorsement deals and what types of law courses to take to prepare for that type of practice. The consensus is that having a firm grounding in business law in addition to a well-rounded legal education is a good foundation.

Bernstein said a wide-ranging group of courses will prepare you for whatever you decide to do in law – “but always be ready to switch gears.”

As in past years, this year’s sports law symposium was well-received by the nearly 50 attendees.

 “In my opinion, the conference was a success,” said conference co-organizer Brenda Foster.  “We could not have asked for a more experienced or a more informative panel.  I think students and attorneys alike left the conference with a greater knowledge and appreciation for the legal issues facing the sports industry today.”