After participating on a mock trial team in high school, Rand Getlin knew he wanted to go to law school.
But he didn’t become a lawyer.
Instead, Getlin, a former investigative reporter for Yahoo Sports and now Yahoo’s NFL breaking news writer, took advantage of the knowledge he learned during his three years at the University of Southern California to shape his reporting career.
Getlin was one of 16 professionals who spoke at the UF Levin College of Law’s symposium on ethical and legal decision-making in the sports industry Friday. The event, which was organized by the law school’s Entertainment and Sports Law Society, featured four panels and two keynote speakers: Getlin and Erik Burkhardt, a sports agent who represents multiple NFL players including Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel.
In his speech, Getlin talked about how the struggles of growing up in foster care and failing as a sports agent fueled his drive for success.
“Just because I failed doesn’t mean others have to,” Getlin said.
Burkhardt’s speech followed a similar path, advising the roughly 125 people in attendance to follow the career path that would make them the happiest, regardless of roadblocks they encounter along the way.
“Stay after it,” Burkhardt said in his speech. “It’s going to be a hard grind.”
The four panels each dealt with a different aspect of legal decision-making and ethics in sports, ranging from general counsel and NCAA compliance to sports representation and sports gambling.
Each panel consisted of a moderator and three to four panelists. They answered questions posed by the moderator for 50 minutes before holding a 15-minute Q&A with the audience.
“It gives us on the professional side a chance to interact with the next generation of thinkers,” Getlin said, “and it gives the next generation of thinkers an opportunity to pick the brains of people who are in places that maybe they’d like to be themselves.”
[A version of this story ran on page 9 on 3/30/2015 under the headline “UF Law symposium looks at ethical side of sports industry”]
Rand Getlin speaks during the UF Entertainment and Sports Law Society's symposium on ethical and legal decision-making in the sports industry on Friday.
