2023 Harvard Sports Law Symposium

Please register for each event of the 2023 Harvard Sports Law Symposium.

If you are attending virtually, please click on the event titles below to receive the Zoom link for each event.

For a campus map and directions, please visit the HLS website here.

 

2023 Harvard Sports Law Symposium Event Descriptions

Fireside Chat: 2023 Paul C. Weiler Distinguished Alum Award Presentation

The Harvard Committee on Sports & Entertainment Law (“CSEL”) is excited to present the annual Harvard Sports Law Symposium. Kicking off the symposium, Professor Peter A. Carfagna, together with previous award recipients Jeffery Pash and Mike Zarren, will present the 2023 Paul C. Weiler Distinguished Alum Award to Jihad Beauchman. After this presentation, Professor Carfagna will hand out the Weiler Scholar Award and the Weiler Writing Prize to this year’s student award winners. For the remainder of the lunch hour, the Paul C. Weiler Distinguished Alum Award winners will partake in a fireside chat moderated by Professor Carfagna.

The Weiler Awards are named in honor of Paul C. Weiler, the Henry J. Friendly Professor of Law (Emeritus) at Harvard Law School. The “Father of Sports and the Law” at Harvard, Professor Weiler is considered by many to be both the founder of American sports law and the most distinguished sports law scholar of all time. In his honor, the Paul C. Weiler Distinguished Alum Award is given annually to a Harvard Law School alum who has left their mark on the sports law industry through his or her incredible achievements and contributions to the field. The Weiler Scholar Award is given to students for their outstanding achievements in sports law during their time at Harvard Law School, including their work through Harvard’s Sports Law Clinic. Last but certainly not least, the Weiler Writing Prize recognizes excellent student-authored (or co-authored) paper(s) on topics related to sports or entertainment law.

• Panelist bios
• Award winner bios 

Panel #1: Alumni Panel

What better way to continue our programming than inviting back some of our most accomplished alumni!? Later in the afternoon, Professor Carfagna will moderate a panel discussion with many of our most successful alumni, regarding their career paths and some of the legal issues facing their practices today. This panel will be followed by an incredible opportunity to meet and greet our alumni coming back to campus. Dinner and refreshments will be provided.

• Panelist bios

Panel #2: The Athlete-Agent Relationship in 2023: The Evolution of the Profession

The athlete-agent relationship is one of the most well-known aspects of professional sports. Athletes rely on their agents for everything—sponsorship and salary negotiations, management of finances, marketing, operating and managing nonprofit endeavors, and off-field ventures and investments—just to name a few. As the nature of professional sports continues to evolve, this panel takes a fresh look at the athlete-agent relationship from the agent’s perspective, and what implications newer developments will have for sports law moving forward.

• Panelist bios 

Panel #3: Off the Field: Athlete Ventures

Aside from their respective sports, pro-athletes are using their platforms to create and advocate for different causes of their choice, all focused on issues of today. Some of these causes include mental health, financial literacy for underprivileged communities, and serving the soldiers and families who serve us. This panel will seek to explore the different ways athletes are using their platforms to expand their reach beyond their respective sports and what it is that is motivating them to do so.

Please register for any or all of our exciting Symposium events here.