Steve Derian teaches Trial Advocacy, Professional Responsibility, and Sports and the Law at the UCLA School of Law, where for three decades he has guided would-be sports lawyers and then mentored them as they excelled in their careers.
Having played football and baseball at U.C. Berkeley, he is passionate about his interest in sports. It shows as he is a recipient of the Charles and Harriet Luckman Distinguished Teaching Award for Lecturers and the School of Law’s Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Before joining UCLA School of Law, he worked as a litigator at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
Professor Derian lectures to bar association groups and to law firms on subjects related to both legal ethics and sports law. He also serves as an arbitrator in matters involving sports law. We recently visited with him about teaching practice leading to these insights.
Question: When did you start teaching sports law, and what has changed the most about teaching it since you started?
Answer: I first taught Sports Law at the UCLA School of Law in 1990, and I’ve taught it every year since. My sports law class has changed significantly over the years. Initially, it was primarily a doctrinal course. Then, after a few years, I added an optional experiential component in which students—for one-additional unit—negotiated a mock MLB or NBA player contract (after significant preparation) with the advice and guidance of a leading industry professional.
In 2017 I expanded the course to five units, and the course is now primarily experiential in nature. We still use a casebook, and each student now works on a semester-long negotiation project, but the students also do weekly transactional and advocacy exercises. I have received significant help in developing those exercises (and in advising the students) from some top industry professionals like the Dodgers’ General Counsel Sam Fernandez, Wasserman’s Alanna Frisby Hernandez (Executive Vice President, Business Affairs and Operations of Wasserman’s Team Sports division), Andrew Bua (Senior Counsel, Team Sports division), and former Wasserman lawyer Debbie Spander (now the head of Insight Sports Advisors). Other outstanding industry professionals who have advised the students in negotiation projects over the years include Warriors General Manager Bob Myers, Warriors Assistant General Manager Larry Harris, Hornets and former Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak, Angels Assistant General Manager Alex Tamin, former Angels’ Assistant General Manager Jonathan Strangio, and former club-side attorney Marc Rosenthal. Long-time current guest instructors also include Octagon NBA agent Jeff Austin and Wasserman MLB agents Joel Wolfe and Mike Mariano. Each of them, and many others, have provided invaluable assistance to students over the years. Marc Rosenthal mentored then-student Alex Tamin, and Alex has gone on to have a great career, both as a club-side salary arbitration expert and as a lawyer for the Dodgers, Braves, and Angels. For Alex’s story, and for more information about the class, see https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/ucla-sports-law-clinic-scores-big-with-students-team-execs
Some key aspects of the law have changed dramatically over the years, particularly with respect to the labor exemption to antitrust law. That law continues to develop and a key case in that development was the seminal Supreme Court case, Brown v. Pro Football, Inc. (1996). But the most dramatic changes to sports law occurring now concern NCAA sports. In NCAA v. Alston, the Supreme Court dealt a significant blow to the NCAA’s traditional “amateurism” defense to antitrust claims brought by NCAA athletes with respect to the NCAA’s compensation limits. Moreover, partly as a result of the Alston decision, NCAA athletes now have Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights under various state laws, and the NCAA is lobbying Congress to pass a federal statute that would make the law regarding NIL rights uniform; the NCAA also seeks an antitrust exemption. So, there’s no doubt that at least some additional changes to the NCAA’s rules are coming, and it will be very interesting to see how it all plays out.
Q: What kinds of students impress you the most in your sports law class?
A: The students who impress me the most are those who work hard and are willing to learn by doing in the many experiential opportunities that are now a central part of the course. Alex Tamin, who took the class in the early 90’s, is typical of the kind of student who impresses me. He worked extremely hard and he performed exceptionally well in working on a mock salary arbitration under the tutelage of MLB salary arbitration expert Marc Rosenthal. Marc was also impressed: he hired Alex right out of law school. In 2020 I had two students, Vukie Mpofu and Aaron Kahn; Vukie and Aaron are former hockey players who were interested in working in the NHL. I devised a special project for them with the help of my former student Don Fishman, Assistant GM of the Capitols, and NHL agent Jim Nice. Both Vukie and Aaron worked hard, knew the NHL very well, and both devoted substantial effort to their negotiation project. Not only did they impress me, but both of them got NHL jobs right out of law school: Vukie is Manager, Hockey Operations and Legal Affairs for the L.A. Kings; Aaron is Director of Hockey Operations for the Detroit Red Wings. Of course, not every student ends up working in the sports industry, but all of the students who work hard to develop legal skills by devoting significant time and effort to their classwork impress me.
Q: If a student wants to ultimately be a sports lawyer, what is the best path for accomplishing that?
A: I’ve been on many panels over the years in which industry professionals have addressed this question. The advice has changed over the years. Back in the 90’s the answer tended to be that students should take any job they could get in the sports industry and try to work their way up. But these days the more common advice is that students should get the best job they can out of law school, whether or not that job is in the sports industry. Then the student should work hard to develop his or her legal skills while networking with industry professionals in organizations like the Sports Lawyers’ Association. For obvious reasons, networking can be essential in turning a potential opportunity into a job. Aspiring sports lawyers should also bear in mind that, in general, industry professionals are not impressed by how much a young lawyer loves sports; they are impressed by young lawyers who have skills that will benefit the hiring lawyer and that lawyer’s employer.
