New Board for AALS Section on Sports and the Law

This past year, I had the honor of serving as Chair of the Association of American Law Schools' Section on Sports and the Law.

The AALS is a non-profit association of over 170 U.S. law schools and is legal education's principal representative to the federal government and to other national higher education organizations. The Section on Sports and the Law is composed of sports law professors from those schools.

The AALS held its annual meeting this past week in San Diego and on Thursday our section hosted a forum entitled, "The Emerging Nexus between Sports and immigration law." It was a dynamic event, featuring three terrific panelists: Kevin Johnson (the Dean of UC Davis Law School and also its Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o Studies), Katie Pothier (Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the San Diego Padres), and Robert Colosia (President and Founder of Group C Sports Law agency, which primarily represents soccer players). The panelists examined the various visas required for players to play in the U.S. and also discussed possible changes to relevant immigration law in President Obama's administration.

During the meeting we also elected a new group of section officers and executive officers for 2009. I congratulate the following new section leaders:

Chair: David Caudill (Villanova University School of Law)
Chair-Elect: Edmund Edmonds (Notre Dame Law School and Sports Law Blog)
Secretary: Erin Buzvuis (Western New England College of Law and Title IX Blog)
Treasuer: Tshaka Randall (Florida A&M University College of Law)

I enjoyed my time as Chair in 2008 and look forward to helping out the new leaders in any way. I would also like to especially thank Patricia Cervanka, Gordon Hylton, and Matt Mitten of Marquette University Law School and Geoff Rapp for all of their great advice and assistance this past year.