Law Schools with Sports Law Profs

Each year, the AALS (Association of American Law Schools) releases the “AALS Directory of Law Schools.” Law profs self-identify by subject interest, and at the back of the book, there are lists divided by subject. Some readers (future law students?) might be interested in which law schools have self-identified “sports law profs” as tenured or tenure-track faculty members (at many schools, Sports Law is taught by an Adjunct Professor – meaning, someone who has a full-time job other than teaching law). In approximate alphabetical order, here are the schools with sports law profs (where schools have more than one sports law prof, I have indicated that):

Akron; Alabama; Arkansas (2 profs); Barry; Baylor; Berkeley; Boston College; Boston University; BYU; California Western; UCLA; Capital; Cincinnati; Cooley; UConn; Depaul (2 profs);University of Detroit (2 profs); Duke (2 profs); Florida (2 profs); Florida A & M; Florida Coastal (3 profs); Florida State; Georgia; Georgia State; George Washington; Gonzaga; Harvard; Houston; Idaho; Illinois; Indiana; Indiana-Indianapolis; Lewis & Clark (2 profs); Loyola – LA; Marquette (3 profs); Maryland; Miami; Michigan; Michigan State (2 profs); Minnesota; Mississippi College; Missouri (2 profs); New England; New Mexico; North Dakota; Nova Southastern; NYU; UNC; Nebraska; Northeastern; Northern Kentucky (2 profs); Ohio Northern; Ohio State; Oklahoma; Pepperdine; Puerto Rico; Richmond; St. John’s; Saint Louis; St. Thomas (MN); Seton Hall; Southern; Southern Illinois; Southwestern; Stanford; Stetson; Suffolk; Syracuse; Temple; Texas; Texas Southern; Texas Tech; Toledo (2 profs); Tulane (2 profs); Tulsa; Valparaiso; Vanderbilt (2 profs); Villanova; Virginia; Wake Forest; Washburn; Western New England; West Virginia; Whittier; Widener (2 profs); Willamette; Yale.

A few caveats. First, this list is “self-identified” sports law professors: The fact that an academic believes s/he is an expert in a subject may not always mean s/he actually is (there are a few self-identified sports law professors I would not consider to be sports law professors, in that they have neither published anything about sports law nor possess significant sports law practice experience, but out of politeness I will not name names). There may also be some faculty members who are sports law profs in a broad sense (for example, who serve as NCAA Faculty Athletic Representatives for their universities) but who do not self-identify as such. Second, the number of professors in a subject area may not be the same thing as number of courses offered or depth of coverage. Third, this list was based on an April 2005 survey, so it may not accurately reflect recent hires or recent departures (e.g., Illinois’s sole sports law prof, Stephen Ross, is leaving for Penn State). Fourth, although I am not certain of this, the AALS directory probably only includes law schools that are fee-paying members of AALS (some aren’t).

Posted in: