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Spring 2023 Clinic

Sports Law Clinic

Enrollment in this clinic will not fulfill the HLS JD pro bono requirement.

Required Class Component: This clinic requires that students have taken at least one of the courses listed below. Clinic priority will be given to students who take the Advanced Drafting course, due to the fact that most clinic placements require the hands-on negotiating and drafting skills covered in the context of studying a wide variety of Sports Venue Marketing/Sponsorship Agreements. Highest priority will be given to students who take the Advanced Drafting course and the Sports and the Law: Examining the Legal History and Evolution of America’s Three “Major League” Sports: MLB, NFL and NBA course, which is annually updated to cover the current cutting-edge issues in Sports and the law.
Additional Co-/Pre-Requisites: The following courses do not have any seats reserved for clinical students: Sports Law: Advanced Contract Drafting (fall 2022); Sports and the Law: Examining the Legal History and Evolution of America’s Three “Major League” Sports: MLB, NFL and NBA (fall 2022); Sports and the Law: Representing the Professional Athlete (winter 2023).
By Permission: Yes. The deadline to apply is October 12, 2022. Please see below for additional instructions.
Add/Drop Deadline: December 2, 2022.
LLM Students: International students on F-1 student visas are required to have Curricular Practical Training (CPT) authorization; LL.M. students are not eligible for CPT.
Placement Site: Various externship placements.

Sports Law clinical placements are in a variety of settings, including legal departments of major leagues or sports franchises, and with law firms and lawyers doing sports law in representing individual players, teams, or leagues. Students’ clinical work in the field can may include contract and transactional work, arbitration, litigation, research, and writing.

Peter Carfagna, instructor of sports law courses at HLS, oversees clinical placements and students’ clinical work. Admission in the clinic is by application. Applications are due by 5pm on October 12, 2022. To apply, please review the Sports Law Clinic Guide before submitting a statement of interest (including which semester you are applying for) and a resume to clinical@law.harvard.edu and to Professor Carfagna (pcarfagna@law.harvard.edu). Please note that your application materials may be sent to placement organizations during the selection process.

Please note that international students in F1 visa status may only participate in this clinic once. F1 students are not eligible to return to their placement as an advanced student, or to go to a new placement through the clinic.

More information about the clinic can also be found in the Sports Law Clinic Q&A on the OCP website.

This is an externship clinic. Students must have at least one full business day available in their schedule to work on-site at their placement organization. Any remaining clinical hours should be worked in blocks of at least 5 hours. Most placement organizations are open Monday-Friday from 9am-5pm.