Tulane Sports Law Blog

A Review of the National Baseball Arbitration Competition

Nearly four months ago the Tulane Sports Law Society hosted the 5th annual National Baseball Arbitration Competition. Like most other law school moot court competitions, the National Baseball Arbitration Competition's main goal is to provide participants with the opportunity to sharpen their oral and written advocacy skills. However, this competition is unique in that it allows law students to sharpen these skills within the specialized context of Major League Baseball’s salary arbitration proceedings.  Every year, teams from law schools across the country compete for two days in simulated salary arbitrations modeled closely on the procedures used by Major League Baseball.

	The final round of the competition featured Thomas Jefferson School of Law (left) and The University of Virginia School of Law (right)
	The final round was judged by Scott Shapiro (agent at Praver Shapiro Sports Management), Clark Griffith (former Owner of the Minnesota Twins) and Jon Fetterolf (Partner, Williams and Connolly).
	The first panel, “The New CBA: Change and Continuing Peace” featured Larry Silverman, Steven Fehr, Clark Griffith, Bryan Minniti, Marc Kligman, and Professor Gabe Feldman.
	The second panel, “Hot Topics in Baseball: International Issues, Arbitration Today, and More” featured Jay Reisinger, Jorge Arangure Jr., Scott Shapiro, Jon Fetterolf, and TJ Henry.
	2012 Tulane National Arbitration Competition Champion: The Thomas Jefferson School of Law: Justin Heim, Sam Ehrlich, and Daniel Nguyen with competition chair TJ Henry
	Second Place: The University of Virginia School of Law, Caitlin McLaughlin, Stacy Chung and Scott Galla with competition chair TJ Henry
	Semifinalists: The Columbia/NYU team of Michael Hofer and Matthew Rotbart with competition chair TJ Henry .
	Semifinalists: Wisconsin’s Jeffrey Gross and Zack Lackey with competition chair TJ Henry .

In addition to the competition, the event concludes with a symposium. The symposium is comprised of panel discussions on current issues in major league baseball featuring guest arbitrators and prominent members of the baseball community. This year’s panel discussions were “The New CBA: Change and Continuing Peace” featuring Larry Silverman, Steven Fehr, Clark Griffith, Bryan Minniti, Marc Kligman, and moderated by Professor Gabe Feldman; and “Hot Topics in Baseball: International Issues, Arbitration Today, and More” featuring Jay Reisinger, Jorge Arangure Jr., Scott Shapiro, Jon Fetterolf, and moderated by TJ Henry.

This year’s competition was easily the most competitive one yet, as every school showed up with a great knowledge of the MLB arbitration process. Additionally, this year’s judges were the most distinguished yet.

Out of the 40 teams which competed this year, the team from Thomas Jefferson School of Law (Justin Heim, Daniel Nguyen, and Sam Ehrlich - coached by Randy Grossman) took home first place in a very close final round against the team from the University of Virginia School of Law (Stacy Chung, Scott Galla, Caitlin McLaughlin).

This year’s semifinalists were the teams from Wisconsin School of Law (Jeffrey Gross and Zack Lackey), and the Columbia/NYU Law team (Michael Hofer and Matthew Rotbart).

The lineup of guest arbitrators and panel members for the competition included:

Nona Lee, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the Arizona Diamondbacks 
Jon Fetterolf, Partner, Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington D.C.
Larry Silverman, former Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Pittsburgh Pirates
Darren Heitner, Attorney, Wolfe Law Miami P.A.; Chief Editor, SportsAgentBlog.com
Jorge Arangure Jr., Senior Writer, ESPN The Magazine
Marc Kligman, Baseball Agent, Total Care Sports Management
Bryan Minniti, Assistant GM of the Washington Nationals 
Steven Fehr, Outside Counsel to the MLBPA
Scott Shapiro, Agent at Praver Shapiro Sports Management
Jay Reisinger, Partner at Farrell & Reisinger, LLC
Clark Griffith, Attorney; AAA Arbitrator; former Owner and Executive Vice President of the Minnesota Twins and former Chairman of Major League Baseball Properties.

Here is what some of the judges had to say about the competition:

"Frankly, I am the one who needs to thank you and everyone at Tulane for the job you all do on this event.  It is first class all the way and I had a wonderful time again this year.” – Larry Silverman, former Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Pittsburgh Pirates.

“You did a great job putting together and managing the event.  It was truly my privilege to be included.” – Nona Lee, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

“Pulling off a competition/event of this size is a monumental task. I have participated in many symposiums over the years and this was definitely one of the smoothest. Roll Wave!" - Scott Shapiro, Agent at Praver Shapiro Sports Management.

"It was my absolute pleasure to take part in this event.” - Jorge Arangure, Senior Writer, ESPN The Magazine.
"The event was fantastic” – Darren Heitner, Attorney, Wolfe Law Miami P.A.; Chief Editor, SportsAgentBlog.com.