By Joel D. Buckman, Matthew E. Eisler, Peter S. Spivack, Benjamin Andrew Fleming, and Evan W. Guimond, of Hogan Lovells As the pending settlement in In re: College Athlete NIL Litigation, Case No. 4:20-CV-03919 (N.D. Cal) (the “House Settlement”) inches toward a final approval hearing before Judge Claudia Wilken on April 7th, a big question facing NCAA Division…
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Conference USA has announced the hire of Grant Newton as Senior Associate Commissioner/Chief Legal Officer. In his role, Newton will oversee all legal functions, including managing legal risks, litigation, regulatory, corporate, and legal NCAA matters, as well as outside counsel management. Prior to joining Conference USA, Newton practiced law at Vinson & Elkins LLP in…
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“Amid a staggering volume of Title IX complaints,” the U.S Department of Education (ED) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday the “Title IX Special Investigations Team” (SIT) to “ensure timely, consistent resolutions to protect students, and especially female athletes, from the pernicious effects of gender ideology in school programs and activities.” The…
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Montgomery McCracken has announced that that sports lawyer Kimberly L. Sachs has been elected to the firm’s partnership. Sachs is based in the firm’s Philadelphia office. Sachs focuses her practice on catastrophic sports injury defense and other complex litigation matters involving commercial disputes, products liability, and intellectual property. She earned her J.D. degree from Villanova University Charles Widger School…
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A new study presented at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) examined the impact of a policy implemented by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) to address youth players heading the soccer ball. Researchers found that the policy was associated with a decrease in soccer-related concussions; however, female players experienced a…
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Seattle Mariners President of Business Operations Kevin Martinez has announced that Melissa Robertson has been promoted to Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the organization. Robertson will report directly to Martinez and joins the club’s senior leadership team. Fred Rivera, who had been serving as General Counsel, is transitioning to a Special Advisor role…
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(What follows is an excerpt from an article that appeared in Sports Litigation Alert. The full article can be viewed at ) By Alexandra Miljanic, 3L, University of North Carolina School of Law The evolution of college athletics has not only impacted student-athletes, but also football coaches, whose contracts have evolved from handshake agreements to…
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As the recent surge of institutional capital and private equity (PE) funding continues to reshape the sports finance landscape, panelists at the 2025 Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal Symposium at Villanova will discuss the evolving methods of investing in sports as an asset class in a half-day program, Investing in Sports: The Future of…
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(Editor’s note: The following is shared from Legal issues in Collegiate Athletics, a monthly periodical of Hackney Publications that features 10-12 such articles in each issue.) By Russell C. Garner Dianthia Ford-Kee was appointed as Mississippi Valley State University’s (MVSU) Athletic Director on November 18, 2013, and was the first woman appointed to the role…
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The Drake Group, a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization working to better educate the U.S. Congress and higher education policy-makers about critical issues in intercollegiate athletics, released a major report: The Drake Group Report: An Analysis of Objections to the Proposed Settlement of College Athlete NIL Litigation (aka House/Carter v. NCAA and Power Five conferences). See it here. The purpose of the report is…
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