Three students receive Weiler Awards

Three Harvard Law School students – Brandon Bailey J.D. ’16, Loren Shokes J.D. ’17, and Nicolas Hidalgo J.D. ’16 – have been awarded Weiler Prizes, presented annually to eligible students who have participated in the HLS Sports and Entertainment Law Courses, the Journal on Sports and Entertainment Law (JSEL) activities, and in clinical placements through the Sport Law Clinic.

Bailey and Hidalgo won a Weiler Scholarship, established in in honor of Emeritus Professor Paul C. Weiler, who retired in 2008 after 26 years of teaching at HLS. Shokes won the Weiler Writing prize, awarded to students whose writing project is accepted for publication in JSEL. Lecturer on Law and Sports Law Clinic Director Peter Carfagna ’79, presented the awards. Over 20 alums of the clinic and students in his class were in attendance.

The Weiler Award Winners

Brandon Bailey is a 3L from Northern Ontario, Canada. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a concentration in Canadian international relations and Canada-US affairs before coming to Harvard Law School. While at Harvard, he discovered an interest in sports and entertainment law, and has undertaken clinical placements in entertainment law through the Transactional Law Clinics, as well as at the National Hockey League Players’ Association in Toronto and the Tampa Bay Lightning in Tampa through the Sports Law Clinic. He has also participated in the Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law as an Article Editor and has volunteered for the Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law. After graduation, Brandon will begin working in the New York office of the law firm Skadden, Arps.

Loren Shokes is a 2L from Orange County, California. Before coming to HLS , Loren attended UCLA and majored in psychology and minored in political science. During her undergraduate studies, Loren was published in the UCSB Law and Society Journal as well as the UCLA Undergraduate Law Journal. At Harvard, she is the Events and Speakers Chair of the Recording Artists Project, the Interviewer and Highlight Contributor for the Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law, and an active member of the Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law. She also received the Dean’s Scholar Prize in Carfagna’s Advanced Contract Drafting: Sports Law course during the Fall 2015 semester and will serve as a co-Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant for the course in fall 2016. During her 1L summer, Loren interned at Sony Music Entertainment in New York, which inspired her to write the paper, for which she won the Weiler prize.

“I have a keen interest in music, fashion, and film law and I greatly enjoyed researching and learning about the intersection between the entertainment industry and new forms of technology,” she said.

This summer Loren will be working at the law firm Simpson Thacher in their Manhattan and Beverly Hills offices.

3L Nicolas Hidalgo grew up just outside of Detroit, but moved to Indianapolis for high school and attended college at Indiana University. There he studied chemistry and history, attended every home basketball game he could, and wrote a thesis on the Cold War. He applied to law school during his senior year of college and started at Harvard after his graduation. At Harvard has worked on the Journal of Law and Technology and the Harvard Law and Policy Review and served as vice president of La Alianza.

“I enjoyed Professor Carfagna’s Representing the Professional Athlete course during the winter of 2015 and his Sports and the Law: Examining the Legal History and Evolution of America’s Three “Major Leagues” during the fall of the same year,” he said. “Professor Carfagna helped me obtain a placement with Chris Deubert at the National Football Player’s Health Study, where I drafted research papers comparing the NFL, NBA, and MLB’s health policies.”

During the 2016 winter term Nicolas worked as a Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant for Carfagna’s Representing the Professional Athlete course and worked with a co-Research Assistant to update some of the class study guides. Next year, he will be working in Washington D.C.