Coming Soon: The Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law

Congrats are in order for a group of Harvard Law School students for receiving their law school's approval for an official new online law journal: the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law. The editors of HJSEL are still putting everything together, but a website should soon be up and it is anticipated that HJSEL will publish one issue in its first year, likely next spring.

While HJSEL is not yet formally accepting article submissions, you can contact one of its editors, Ashwin Krishnan, for more information about submissions. There will be also additional information on Sports Law Blog.

HJSEL has been in the works for several years. For instance, while he was a student at Harvard Law School between 2002 and 2005, Mike Zarren, who served as Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology and who is now the Boston Celtics Assistant Executive Director of Basketball Operations and Associate Counsel, worked on a proposal for HJSEL and also wrote an early version of the constitution and bylaws. Our blog's founder, Greg Skidmore, also was involved with efforts to start a sports law journal while he was an HLS student from 2002 to 2005. There are many other folks who deserve credit as well. Kudos to all of them and to Ashwin and the current group of students for their persistence and creativity.

It is fitting that Harvard Law School add a sports and entertainment law review, as Professor Paul Weiler is considered by many to be the founder of U.S. sports law and entertainment law. Through the Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law, HLS has also an impressive history hosting terrific sports law symposia and speakers series. The law school has also produced a number of distinguished sports attorneys, including the aforementioned Mike Zarren, Jeffrey Pash (NFL's Executive VP & General Counsel), and Derrick Jackson (Florida Marlins' VP & General Counsel), among many others.

Speaking of Harvard Law grads in sports law, congrats are also in order for Peter Carfagna, a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School (where he teaches sports law) and Partner at Calfee, Halter & Griswold. Peter, who previously served as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of IMG, helped the students organize their efforts to obtain approval.