Professor Rodney K. Smith, Director
The mission of the Center for Sports Law and Policy (CSLP) is to integrate Thomas Jefferson School of Law (TJSL) with, and prepare its students for engagement with and employment in, the growing sports industry. With its emphasis on both professional and amateur sports law and policy, its location in San Diego, and its involvement with the three other centers of academic excellence at TJSL, the Center is ideally suited to become a major force in dealing with sports law and policy issues and preparing its students for involvement in the industry.
See Video of the CSLP Conference: The BCS & the Future of Big-Time College Football
Important Documents/Forms:
CSLP Detailed Requirements Form
CLSP Program Event Attendance Log
Certificate Program
The centerpiece of the CSLP is its certificate program that permits students to emphasize sports law and policy as a part of their legal education. As a part of this certificate program, students will be required to take fifteen (15) units in the rich sports law and related course curriculum at
TJSL. Required courses include: Amateur Sports Law (3 units); Professional Sports Law (3 units); International Sports Law (2 units) and Internship in Sports Law (3 units); and a special projects or independent study (paper or project) under the supervision of a faculty member associated with the Center on a topic related to the sports industry (2 units.) In addition to those eleven (11) required units, students will take four additional units in sports law or related courses, such as Infractions and Compliance (2 units); Collective Bargaining in Professional Sports (2 units); Title IX (2 units); other independent studies, seminars or (2 unit) courses in sports law. With approval of the Director of the CSLP, students may also satisfy this four credit elective requirement by taking courses in TJSL’s rich curriculum in a subject matter that relates to the sports industry, in which the student may either write a major sports-related paper or complete a sports-related project.
As part of the Certificate Program, students will also be expected to participate in the policy-related work of the Center described in the following section. Students and faculty will also work with our Sports Law Society and our graduates working or interested in the sports industry in hosting various activities, including the National Sports Law Negotiation Competition. In fulfilling its mission of preparing students for engagement with and employment in the sports industry, at both the amateur and professional levels, the CSLP is committed to helping students understand how theory, practice and policy are integrated in the sports law and policy area.
Law and Policy
The CSLP is unique in its capacity to engage in research and study regarding sports law and policy related topics. Through the work of the CSLP, TJSL is committed to being a leader in the study of sports law and policy issues. Sports are a major force in our economy and culture, but it is rarely studied in depth. In the United States, it has been reported that we spend more dollars on sports than on education. Our nation’s media also provide more time and space (coverage) for sports and sports-related issues than for other issues covered in education. If such issues are studied in disciplinary isolation (e.g., articles in legal or business journals), the analysis is inadequate. The issues do not arise in isolation, in a disciplinary sense, so effective study of those issues requires cross-disciplinary research. As a free-standing, non-profit law school, TJSL is specially situated to build bridges with other major academic and professional entities and organizations throughout the world and is committed to doing so.
Students will be directly involved with faculty in hosting conferences, symposia and speakers. Students and faculty will also work jointly on projects and the generation of white-papers and other materials designed to contribute to improved policymaking in the sports law and policy area. With its recognition that policymaking and problem solving in the sports industry is by its very nature cross-disciplinary, students and faculty associated with the CSLP will work with those who are not necessarily lawyers within the industry to endeavor to find viable solutions to issues in the sports law and policy area.
Summary
The CSLP is committed to being a leader nationally and internationally in the sports law and policy area. By providing students with an engaging and balanced curriculum and opportunities to be involved with leading lawyers and policymakers in the sports industry, the CSLP offers students a unique opportunity to pursue their legal education and interest in sports law and policy.
We encourage students to visit campus, attend classes, talk with students and faculty and see for themselves whether they would benefit from being associated with the CSLP, with its commitment to being a leader in the sports law and policy area.
Qualifications of Director and Faculty Members Directly Associated with the CSLP
Professor Rodney K. Smith
- B.A., Western State College (academic All American); J.D., cum laude, Brigham Young University; LL.M. and S.J.D., The University of Pennsylvania
- Co-author of Sports Law, basic text series, West Publishing Company
- Co-author of Sports Law and Regulation, Aspen Publishing, now in 2d Edition Co-author of Sports Law and Regulation, a text to be published by Aspen Publishing for graduate and undergraduate programs in sports management and related areas under contract with Aspen
- Past Chair, AALS Sports Law Section
- Published multiple articles in the sports law and policy area, including seminal articles in the Indiana Law Journal (which called for and led to the development of certification of intercollegiate athletic programs as a part of the accreditation process); Nevada Law Journal (which called for and led to the development of graduation incentives and disincentives in commercialized intercollegiate athletics); South Texas Law Review (which called for and contributed to the development of women’s football in Florida and other states as a means of dealing with the Title IX conundrum)
- Published and presented commentaries and media appearances in the national media
- Former Member, Infractions Appeals Committee, NCAA Division-I
- Member, Advisory Board, National Sports Law Institute at Marquette University
- Former Faculty Athletics Representative and Chair of the Athletics Committee, The University of Memphis
- Past Advisor to Uniform Laws Commission regarding the law related to sports agents
- President, Southern Virginia University, which experience overseeing a small athletic program
- Dean, Schools of Law at Capital, Montana, the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, and Memphis (interim, while serving as the Herff Chair of Excellence in Law)
- See Professor Smith’s profile page for his full bio and scholarship
Joshua D. Winneker
Joshua D. Winneker is an Assistant Dean at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. He has taught Sports and the Law and the Business of Sports at Rider University. He has also taught at Widener University School of Law, Charleston School of Law and Seton Hall University School of Law. Additionally, he is the Sports Law Columnist for College Sports Business News, an on-line publication dedicated to educating and informing college sports administrators.
Dean Winneker graduated magna cum laude from Seton Hall University School of Law where he was a member of the Seton Hall Law Review. He was a summer associate, law clerk and associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York City in the Antitrust/Sports Law group, which represented professional sports leagues. He also served for two years as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Garrett E. Brown, Jr., Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. He was also an associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP and Winston & Strawn LLP.
Additionally, Dean Winneker graduated cum laude from Muhlenberg College, where he was a member of the Varsity Soccer team and a Centennial Conference Champion. He has published in the Seton Hall Law Review and is admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey and the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Dean Winneker can be reached at jwinneker@tjsl.edu.
Course to be taught in the Center for Sports Law and Policy: Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining in Professional Sports (Spring 2012).
Randy M. Grossman
Randy M. Grossman is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where he has taught Sports Law since 2000 and also teaches Trial Practice. Additionally, he is a member of the Board of Trustees of Thomas Jefferson School of Law.
Professor Grossman is certified as a player agent by the Major League Baseball Player’s Association and represents former players as well, such as Hall of Famer Dave Winfield and 7-time All-Star Tim Raines. During the course of his career, he has worked with players ranging from Hank Aaron to Willie Mays.
In a career in sports that spans more than 25 years, Professor Grossman began as a sportscaster for an NBC television affiliate on the nightly news. From there, he went to work for former L.A. Dodger and San Diego Padre Steve Garvey, who had a sports marketing company, where Professor Grossman was exposed to the world of corporate marketing and endorsements for professional athletes. During this period, he worked with clients such as Magic Johnson, Tony Gwynn and Robin Ventura, pairing them with companies such as Canon, Xerox and Rawlings.
Professor Grossman is the TJSL faculty advisor for the Sports Law Society, the National Sports Law Negotiation Competition, PAD Mock Trial Competitions held in Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. and the National Baseball Arbitration Competition held at Tulane University Law School. He is a frequent lecturer on sports and the law and has given presentations at the University of San Diego School of Law, Cal Western School of Law, La Faculté de Droit des Sciences Economiques et de Gestion in Nice, France and will teach International Sports Law during the summer program at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China.
He also practices law in the areas of contract litigation and criminal defense, where he has tried many high profile cases ranging from bank theft to murder. Professor Grossman is licensed to practice before all courts in the State of California, the United States District Court for the Southern District and the United States Supreme Court.
Professor Grossman has traveled to Africa and China on Major League Baseball goodwill tours. He has attended Major League Baseball games at 29 of the 30 current stadiums. He counts meeting the President of the United States in the Oval Office as one of his most memorable professional achievements.
The Center's Library Collection
New titles are added to the Center's collection every month.
