About the Authors
Matthew J. Mitten
Professor Mitten is the Director of the National Sports Law Institute and the LL.M. in Sports Law program for foreign lawyers at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as the Law School's Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from July 2002 to June 2004. He currently teaches courses in Amateur Sports Law, Professional Sports Law, and Torts and has also taught Antitrust Law, Comparative Sports Law, International Sports Law, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility, and a Sports Law seminar.
Professor Mitten earned a B.A. in Economics from The Ohio State University and his JD, magna cum laude, from the University of Toledo College of Law. He is a member of the Order of the Coif and served as a Note & Comment Editor for the University of Toledo Law Review's editorial board. He practiced antitrust and intellectual property law with Kilpatrick Stockton, LLP in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1984-1989. He taught at South Texas College of Law in Houston from 1990-1999 and has been a visiting professor at the University of Toledo College of Law as well as a visiting lecturer in sports medicine at The University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine. Matt has been appointed a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne Law School in Australia and is a member of the International Advisory Board for its Graduate Diploma in Sports Law program. He has also taught sports law courses at the University of Barcelona in Spain and the University of Queensland in Australia.
Professor Mitten has co-authored a textbook titled Sports Law and Regulation: Cases, Materials, and Problems (Aspen, 2d ed., 2005). A leading sports law scholar, he has published articles in the Iowa, Maryland, Marquette, New England, Pittsburgh, St. John's, St. Louis, Nebraska, Seton Hall, and South Texas law reviews as well as in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In August 2003 he testified before a Congressional joint subcommittee regarding proposed federal regulation of ephedrine. He has given lectures and presentations about a wide variety of sports law topics at numerous conferences and seminars throughout the United States as well as in Australia and in China.
Professor Mitten is a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Lausanne, Switzerland) and the Sports Lawyers Association's Board of Directors, and is an Executive Member of the International Academy of Sportslaw Practitioners & Executives. He has been appointed to the Advisory and Editorial Board for The NCAA Scholarly Colloquium on College Sports by NCAA President Myles Brand. He formerly chaired the American Association of Law Schools' Section on Law and Sports and the NCAA’s Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports.
Timothy Davis
One the country’s best known sports law scholars, Professor Tim Davis is the John W. & Ruth H. Turnage Professor of Law at Wake Forest School of Law. He has co-authored a casebook on sports law, and co-authored The Business of Sports Agents, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. He frequently presents papers and lectures at academic conferences and continuing legal education seminars. Tim serves on the Review Board for the United States Anti-Doping Agency and is a member of the Board of Advisors for the National Sports Law Institute. In addition, Tim teaches Contracts and Sales, and is a member of the Contracts Drafting Committee of the National Conference of Bar Examiners. Prior to coming to Wake Forest, Tim taught for nine years at Southern Methodist University and practiced commercial litigation in Denver, Colorado. Tim is a tenor and shares a passion for music with his wife and daughter.
Education
BA, 1975, Stanford
JD, 1979, University of California at Berkeley
Rodney Smith
Rodney Smith was appointed President of Southern Virginia University on June 1, 2004. Before coming to Southern Virginia University, he served as interim dean and Herff Chair of Excellence in Law at The University of Memphis. He also has taught or served as dean at The University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Capital University, The University of Montana, The University of San Diego, Widener University and The University of North Dakota.
Education
B.A., Western Colorado State 1973
J.D., J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, 1977
LLM., University of Pennsylvania, 1982
SJD, University of Pennsylvania, 1987
Robert C. Berry
Robert C. Berry is professor emeritus of law at Boston College Law School where, in 1972, he introduced the first law school course in the United States dealing with legal problems in professional and amateur sports. Since then, Professor Berry has been active in teaching, researching and consulting in both the sports and entertainment industries.
In addition to his co-authorship of Aspen Publishers’ Sports Law and Regulation, he is the author or co-author of several books and articles on the sports and entertainment industries. His books include Representation of the Professional Athlete: Law and Business of the Sports Industries (two volumes), Labor Relations in Professional Sports, and Law and Business of the Entertainment Industries, currently in its fourth edition.
From 1979 to 1986, Professor Berry served as the first chair of the American Bar Association’s Sports Division of the Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries. He was then a member of the Governing Committee of the Forum from 1986 to 1992. In those capacities, he organized and moderated numerous national sports and entertainment conferences.
Professor Berry has been a member of the Massachusetts bar since 1961. In addition to teaching and writing, his professional activities include:
- serving as legal consultant to various sports management companies, and professional athletes and entertainers;
- arguing salary arbitration cases in Major League Baseball, for the Boston Red Sox and, in other years, for MLB players;
- appearing as an expert witness on ethical and legal practices of lawyers and agents in the sports and entertainment industries;
- serving as a commercial arbitrator; and
- acting of counsel in personal rights (such as rights of publicity) and other sports and entertainment related litigation.
Professor Berry has been a guest on Larry King Live and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, as well as interviews on ESPN and all major networks’ evening news. He has also been a guest columnist for the New York Times.
Professor Berry received his undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri and his law degree from Harvard University.
