2nd Annual Conference on Sports and Entertainment Law - Saturday, November 5, 2011
Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at
Arizona State University
Saturday, November 5, 2011
9:00am-6:30pm
Morning Session (9:10am - 12:35pm) in Great Hall (1st Floor, Armstrong Hall)
Afternoon Session (1:25 - 5:55pm) in Great Hall (1st Floor, Armstrong Hall)
PANELIST BIOGRAPHIES
KEYNOTE SPEAKER - MICHAEL BIDWILL
After practicing law for six years as a federal prosecutor, Michael Bidwill joined the Cardinals organization in 1996 as Vice President/General Counsel and today serves as team President. In that time, no one has been more influential in steering the organization on the path that has led to back-to-back NFC West titles and the franchise’s first-ever Super Bowl appearance. In addition to guiding the Cardinals, Bidwill has also taken on an ever-increasing role in the National Football League and the greater Phoenix business community as well. In 2007, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell appointed Michael to the league’s Business Ventures Committee, one of the NFL’s most prominent.
Within the league, Michael chairs the NFL Security Advisory Committee, a group of eight club executives that oversees and develops best security practices for NFL facilities. He additionally serves on Arizona’s Super Bowl Host Committee which successfully staged Super Bowl XLII at University of Phoenix Stadium and will seek to bring the game back to the state. Bidwill is also a member of the board for the Pat Tillman Foundation.
STEVEN ADELMAN
Steven A. Adelman is the head of Adelman Law Group, PLLC in Scottsdale. His practice focuses on litigation, expert testimony, and risk management in entertainment venues such as arenas, stadiums, hotels, and performing arts centers. Mr. Adelman is also a frequent author and speaker on safety and security in public accommodations. He teaches several courses for the International Association of Venue Managers, and his recent interviews have included appearances on ESPN, various Fox News affiliates, and stories filed by the Associated Press. Steve Adelman can be reached at sadelman@adelmanlawgroup.com.
Judge Redfield T. Baum
REDFIELD T. BAUM, SR. was appointed a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Arizona on March 26, 1990. Prior to his appointment, he was a partner and director at the O’Connor, Cavanagh, Anderson, Westover, Killingsworth & Beshears law firm, one of the then largest law firms in Arizona, where he concentrated in commercial law, creditor’s rights, bankruptcy, chapter 11 reorganizations, and litigation. From 1973 to 1980, he practiced with and became a partner at the Arizona law firm of Rawlins, Ellis, Burris & Kiewit. He graduated with honors from Arizona State University [B.A. History] in 1970 and from Arizona State University College of Law in 1973. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army in 1970 and became a captain prior to his honorable discharge. He has been on the board of directors of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University Alumni Association for many years.
In 2005, he was appointed the Chief Judge of the Arizona Bankruptcy Court. He has been an active member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges serving on the Board of Governors, the finance, elections, site selection and legislative committees, and runs its annual golf tournament. He has served multiple times as a judge pro tem on the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel. He has served on the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Judge’s education committee and its local rules committee. He was also a member of the Arizona State Federal Judicial Council. He has also served as a visiting judge and settlement judge in other districts in the Ninth Circuit. He helped create and implement the Alternative Dispute Resolution program adopted by the Arizona Bankruptcy Court.
He has served numerous times as an instructor at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy bankruptcy litigation skills annual programs and at the American Bankruptcy Institute Trial Skills program. He was one of the original authors of the Arizona Civil Remedies Book. He has participated at the American Bankruptcy Institute’s annual national program and annual southwest programs on numerous bankruptcy related topics and is a long time member of that organization. He has been a speaker at the annual Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustees Conferences. Co-taught a course on Comparative International Insolvency at the Master in International Law Program at McGeorge University Law School. He participated in the program “Reducing the Risk”: Promoting Mutual Understanding in Insolvency Practices” given in San Jose, Costa Rica in August 1996, which was co-sponsored by the Associacion Costarricense de Derecho Internacional and the American Bankruptcy Institute. He was one of the three members of the U.S. Delegation to the Czech Republic to assist and consult with the Czech Parliament, Supreme Court and others regarding the Czech Republic enacting a new, modern insolvency law, which started in 2001 and is an ongoing program. He spoke at the International Bar Association’s annual meeting in the Czech Republic in 2005. Twice selected as one of the ten “Outstanding Bankruptcy Judges” by Turnarounds & Workouts published by the Beard Group, Inc., first in 2000 [“Excellent practical experience in large cases; consensus builder, but makes tough rulings to break deadlocks; great rapport with practitioners”] and again in 2011 [“Creative judge who expeditiously handled Phoenix Coyotes Chapter 11 case, dealing efficiently with matters of first impression under the bankruptcy code. Organized and digested volumes of extensive legal briefing on all areas of law (including anti-trust) and kept control of the proceedings so the time table proceeded on track”]. He has spoken extensively in the United States, primarily in the southwest, on a variety of legal topics including commercial law, bankruptcy/reorganizations, foreclosures and litigation presenting to the American Bankruptcy Institute, Arizona State Bar, Maricopa County Bar, Pinal Country Bar, Western Michigan Bankruptcy Bar, Urban Land Institute, California Bankruptcy Forum and many others. Judge Baum is also the co-author of “Chapter 11 Cases Involving Professional Sports Franchises: Special Issues” to be published in Collier’s On Bankruptcy. Judge Baum is the presiding judge in the Phoenix Coyotes Chapter 11 proceeding.
Gregg E. Clifton
GREG CLIFTON is a Partner in the Phoenix office of Jackson Lewis LLP. He is Co-chair of the firm’s Collegiate and Professional Sports Industry Group.
Mr. Clifton has extensive experience in the collegiate and professional sports world. Prior to joining Jackson Lewis, he spent six years as Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Team Sports for Gaylord Sports Management. He has also served as Vice President and Senior Counsel for Athlete Representation at Octagon, a national sports marketing firm, and as President of the Athlete and Entertainment Division for famed sports attorney Bob Woolf’s firm, Woolf Associates, in Boston.
Mr. Clifton began his career as an Associate at Jackson Lewis where he focused his practice on traditional labor law. He counseled clients in collective bargaining negotiations, representation cases, arbitrations and National Labor Relations Board matters.
He frequently serves as an expert speaker to law schools, including Harvard University, Boston College, Hofstra University and Arizona State University, and bar associations regarding sports law issues, including agent regulation and salary arbitration. He is also often cited as an expert source in national news media for his commentary and opinion on legal issues in sports.
Mr. Clifton is a member of the New York and New Jersey Bars. He is also a member of the American Bar Association and its Section on Labor and Employment Law and its Forum on Entertainment and Sports Industries. He is a past Chairperson of the New Jersey Bar Association’s Sports Law Committee. Mr. Clifton received his A.B. in General Studies, cum laude, from Harvard University. While at Harvard, he was the recipient of the John Harvard Scholarship for Academic Excellence. He earned his J.D. from the Hofstra University School of Law.
AMARA EDBLAD
AMARA EDBLAD graduated from Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law in 2011. While at ASU, she founded the Volunteer Legal Assistance for Artists pro bono organization and the Sports and Entertainment Law Journal. She served as the Director of External Competitions on the Executive Moot Court Board, President of Entertainment in the Sports and Entertainment Law Students Association, Treasurer of the Intellectual Property Law Students Association, and Adviser to the Volunteer Legal Assistance for Artists pro bono organization. She initially became interested in entertainment law while at USC, where she studied film production and had the opportunity to produce several films.
TIMOTHY LIAM EPSTEIN
TIMOTHY EPSTEIN is a partner in SmithAmundsen’s Chicago office. His current practice focuses primarily on sports, construction, commercial, and large loss claims. Tim's Sports Law practice focuses on the litigation needs of players, coaches, teams and schools and serves as Chair of the firm's Sports Law practice group. Tim’s Sports Law practice is all-encompassing, but is litigation-based at its core. It spans from injuries on the athletic field (plaintiff and defense), to sports product issues, to disappointment lawsuits (lack of/misuse of an athlete's playing time), amateur representation issues (while not violating NCAA rules), NCAA/high school association violations, personal website/social networking issues, multiplier/anti-recruiting measures, recreational immunity, coach's standing to sue/file TRO's, Olympic issues, off-the-field issues during athletic trips, drug testing, construction/sports issues, and the intersection of sports/religion.
Tim serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He currently teaches courses in Sports and Entertainment Law. Tim also serves as general counsel to the producer of numerous musical events including the Pitchfork Music Festival.
Tim’s successes do not end in serving the litigation needs of his clients. He is an accomplished legal writer, published as an author and contributor in nationally respected law reviews, periodicals, and bar association publications including the University of Virginia, the University of Texas, the New York Times, the Chicago Bar Association, Crain’s Chicago Business, USA Today, the University of Illinois, ESPN the Magazine, the University of Pittsburgh, Sports Litigation Alert, Legal Issues in Collegiate Athletics, the American Lawyer, and the Sports Business Journal. Tim has earned the respect and trust of his fellow attorneys by being selected for numerous bar association leadership positions, including his current work as the Defense Research Institute (the national defense trial bar) Sports Law Special Litigation Group Chairman. Tim is listed in the Sports Law Expert Witness Directory and has been featured multiple times in the DRI Leadership Spotlight. Tim has also served as a legal analyst for Fox and WGN.
In 2011, Tim was appointed to an honorary position with the Fetzer Institute, specifically as a member of the Fetzer Advisory Council on Sports, Physical Training and Exercise, and Embodied Spiritual Practices. The Fetzer Institute is a private, nonprofit operating foundation that engages with people and programs working to bring the power of love and forgiveness to the center of individual, organizational and community life. Tim has been selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2011 Illinois Super Lawyers© magazine list of "Rising Stars" in Illinois.
SUSAN FREEMAN
Susan M. Freeman is a partner at Lewis and Roca LLP in Phoenix, Arizona. Ms. Freeman received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College (1972, with distinction) and her J.D. from New York University School of Law (1975, Root-Tilden Scholar). She is a Fellow and former Director and Vice President of the American College of Bankruptcy. Ms. Freeman is a Member of the American Law Institute, the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and the Arizona State Bar. She has been a Certified Specialist in Bankruptcy Law since 1987, and Co-Chairs the Secured Creditors Subcommittee of ABA Business Bankruptcy Committee. She formerly Co-Chaired the Chapter 11 Subcommittee and Chaired the Professional Responsibility Subcommittees. Ms. Freeman’s publications include Chapter 127, Ethical Responsibilities, NORTON BANKRUPTCY LAW & PRACTICE 3D; Are DIP and Committee Counsel Fiduciaries for Their Clients’ Constituents or the Bankruptcy Estate? What is a Fiduciary, Anyway?, 17 Amer. Bankr. Inst. L. Rev. 291 (Winter 2009); The Scope of Bankruptcy Ancillary Jurisdiction after Katz as Informed by Pre-Katz Ancillary Jurisdiction Cases, 15 Amer. Bankr. Inst. L. Rev. 155 (Spring 2007); “§ 1110 is Amended on its Own, NORTON BANKRUPTCY LAW ADVISOR July 2000.
She is a frequent lecturer at various bankruptcy seminars in Arizona and nationally, and listed in BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA since 1989, in the categories of appeals and bankruptcy, and listed in the “Top 50 in Arizona” by SOUTHWEST SUPERLAWYERS. Her bankruptcy practice includes representation of debtors-in-possession, secured and unsecured creditors, committees, trustees, and asset buyers. She has served as the Liquidating Trustee of the Oregon Arena Corporation liquidating trust in Portland, Oregon. Ms. Freeman has a sub-specialty in bankruptcy ethics, and in addition to articles and programs on that subject, has represented lawyers and served as an expert witness or advisor in cases concerning bankruptcy ethics. She has a second area of legal expertise, civil appeals. She is a member of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and teaches at national and state Appellate Practice Institutes. She has briefed and over 300 appeals in state and federal courts, and has served as a judge pro tem at the Arizona Court of Appeals and on several appellate court committees including the Ninth Circuit Rules Committee. She co-authored the Civil Appeals section of the ARIZONA APPELLATE HANDBOOK. Ms. Freeman was counsel to the potential purchaser of the Phoenix Coyotes in its Chapter 11 proceeding.
DON E.N. GIBSON
Don Gibson is Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kavi Sports & Entertainment (“KAVI”), a consulting firm that provides a broad range of services to clients in the sports and entertainment industries, including strategic planning, licensing, branding and business development. Don has spent more than twenty years in senior leadership positions in the sports industry. He has served as Vice President and General Counsel, as well as Senior VP/Acting President of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc., the licensing and marketing division of Major League Baseball, and as Chief Operating Officer of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. In each role, he revitalized the organization and produced record revenues, profits and market awareness. Don offers expertise in licensing, corporate partnership arrangements (including sponsorship), intellectual property development, management and protection, league structure and operation, and brand development. He maintains strong relationships with senior executives at all the professional sports leagues, sporting goods manufacturers, current and former athletes and coaches, corporate sponsors and consumer product manufacturers.
Don left private law practice in Santa Monica, California in February 1989 to become Associate Counsel for the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Eighteen months later he was promoted to Vice President and General Counsel of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. (“MLBP”), the licensing and marketing division of Major League Baseball. Don was subsequently promoted to Senior Vice President/Acting President of MLBP, a position he held for almost two and a half years. During that period he guided the division through the labor dispute that ended the 1994 season early and caused the cancellation of the World Series, and helped grow the division into a $3 billion business. Don revitalized the organization by creating new business partnerships and programs that generated tens of millions of dollars in new revenues, and restructured the organization.
Following his eight-year tenure with Major League Baseball, Don became Chief Operating Officer of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame where he was responsible for all day-to-day administration of the institution, including management of the $103 Million new Hall of Fame Riverfront development project. Don left his position as Chief Operating Officer of the Basketball Hall of Fame in the fall of 2000 to pursue entrepreneurial interests in Los Angeles, forming his own sports management agency, XL Sports, and subsequently becoming a principal and co-founder of Section 1, which produced sports and entertainment focused consumer products.
In November, 2007 Don returned to private law practice, joining the law firm Dreier Stein Kahan LLP based in Santa Monica, California, a new iteration of the very first law firm with which he practiced law. Don was a Partner in the firm and was head of the firm’s new sports law practice. He also simultaneously launched and became Chief Operating Officer of Dreier Sports Opportunities, a sports marketing and business development consulting firm. When both Dreier entities ceased operations in December, 2008, Don launched KAVI. In order to complement his work with KAVI and to provide his clients access to a broad spectrum of high level legal services to support their business endeavors, in June, 2009 Don joined the law firm Troy Gould PC, which is based in the Century City area of Los Angeles. He served as Of Counsel to the firm, working in its Entertainment, Sports & Media department, until June 2010 when he formed his own sports and entertainment law practice.
ELISSA HECKER
Elissa D. Hecker practices in the entertainment and business fields, specializing in copyright, trademark and business law. Her clients encompass a large spectrum of the entertainment world. In addition to her private practice, Elissa edited the books Entertainment Litigation - Know the Issues and Avoid the Courtroom and Counseling Content Providers in the Digital Age.
Elissa is Past Chair of the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law (EASL) Section of the New York State Bar Association, Editor of the EASL Journal, member of the Editorial Board of the NYSBA Bar Journal, and Co-Chair and founder of the EASL Pro Bono Committee. She is also the Editor of the EASL Blog. Elissa is a frequent author, lecturer and panelist, a member of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. (CSUSA), a member of the Board of Editors for The Journal of the CSUSA, and Editor of the CSUSA’s Newsletter.
Elissa was selected as a 2011 Rising Star for New York Super Lawyers, was the inaugural recipient of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A.'s 2011 Award for Excellent Service, and received the New York State Bar Association's Outstanding Young Lawyer Award. She was previously Associate Counsel with The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. and its parent company, the National Music Publishers Association, Inc.
DARREN HEITNER
Darren Adam Heitner, Esq. is the Founder/CEO of Dynasty Athlete Representation, Professor of Sport Agency Management at Indiana University Bloomington, and the Founder/Chief Editor of Sports Agent Blog, a leading niche industry publication. He is an attorney based in the State of Florida, who is licensed to practice on the state and federal level, and focuses on sports, entertainment, and intellectual property litigation and transactional work. Darren is regularly interviewed on major sports radio programs and television shows, he has written pieces that have been featured in various top sports publications, and has spoken at/moderated sports discussions at institutions of higher education. He is a regular panelist on CBS West Palm Beach's "Beyond the Game." In 2010, Darren was named to Miami, Florida's Power 30 Under 30 in the Sports category along with the MLB's Hanley Ramirez, NBA's Udonis Haslem, and NFL's Ronnie Brown.
Darren is well versed on many areas of law, including Sports and Entertainment Law. He is a Contributing Writer of An Athlete’s Guide to Agents, 5th Edition, author of a Dartmouth Law Journal article titled, Duties of Sports Agents to Athletes and Statutory Regulation Thereof, author of a Gaming Law Review and Economics article titled, The Plight of PASPA: It's Time to Pull the Plug on the Prohibition, co-author of a Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law article titled, Corking the Cam Newton Loophole, a Sweeping Suggestion, author of a NYU School of Law IP and Entertainment Law Ledger article titled, You May Not “Like” This Title: Everything Stored On Facebook Is Discoverable, co-author of a New York State Bar Association Entertainment, Arts & Sports Law Journal article titled, Have Some Standards: How the Sports Agent Profession Should Be Effectively Regulated, and co-author of a Virginia Sports & Entertainment Law Journal article titled, In Baseball's Best Interest?: A Discussion of the October 2010 MLBPA Regulations Governing Player Agents.
Darren has a Bachelors of Arts from the University of Florida and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the same institution, where he served two terms as the President of the Entertainment and Sports Law Society and Chair of the popular UF Sports Law Symposium. He is also the Public Relations Director of the National Sports and Entertainment Law Society and Associate Executive Director of the Jewish Coaches Association.
Darren is a member of many prestigious Honors Societies including Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Florida Blue Key. He is also Professor of Sport Agency Management at Indiana University.
JOHN HOBERMAN
John Hoberman has been involved in sports studies and sports journalism for 35 years, specializing in the areas of sports and politics, sports and race, and the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports. He is the author of Sport and Political Ideology (1984); The Olympic Crisis: Sport, Politics, and the Moral Order (1986); Mortal Engines: The Science of Performance and the Dehumanization of Sport (1992); Darwin's Athletes: How Sport Has Damaged Black America and Preserved the Myth of Race (1997); and Testosterone Dreams: Rejuvenation, Aphrodisia, Doping (2005). His essays include "The History of Synthetic Testosterone (Scientific American, February 1995) and "Listening to Steroids" The Wilson Quarterly, 1995). His sports journalism has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Foreign Policy, Der Spiegel, and other publications.
He lectures frequently in Europe on issues related to doping inside and outside the world of sports and is currently engaged in research on the use of anabolic steroids by police officers. He has taught sports studies courses at Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Texas at Austin, where he is Professor of Germanic Studies.
HAMID JABBAR
Hamid Jabbar maintains a dual state practice with offices in Los Angeles and Scottsdale. His primary practice areas are commercial law (including bankruptcy), litigation, and real estate. Hamid is a former large firm lawyer (O’Melveny & Myers, LLP), former law Clerk to Hon. Earl H. Carroll, United States District Judge for the District of Arizona. Hamid worked for Sacks Tierney, P.A. in Scottsdale before opening his own practice in February 2009. Prior to law school, Hamid attended New York University where he earned his Bachelor of Music degree with a major in Music Business. Over the years, he has continued his musical pursuits as both a guitar player and composer. As a lawyer, Hamid has represented a number of artists, galleries, fashion designers, musicians, film producers and entertainment companies. He is a co-founder of the international recording label Shelsmusic and serves as the label’s general counsel. In 2011, Hamid founded the Karma Counsel Foundation (www.karmacounsel.org), a California non-profit organization that pairs clients with lawyers willing to work on a donation-basis. Karma Counsel is the first donation-based legal services organization in the United States and is primarily aimed at helping artists and other creative individuals obtain the legal counsel they need.
NEVILLE JOHNSON
Neville L. Johnson is a founding partner of Johnson & Johnson, LLP. He specializes in media, entertainment, class action, privacy, and complex business litigation matters. Mr. Johnson is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where he was Phi Beta Kappa. He received his law degree from Southwestern University School of Law, graduating at the top of his class.
CALEB JAY
CALEB JAY is Associate General Counsel for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Sports Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.
TRAVIS LEACH
Travis Leach has a general corporate practice concentrated in the area of securities, including public offerings, private placements, corporate governance matters (including Sarbanes-Oxley compliance), SEC reporting obligations and mergers and acquisitions.
His practice also includes the representation of coaches, professional ownership groups and athletes in contract negotiations, licensing negotiations and in any personal business ventures. Travis co-chairs Snell and Wilmer's Sports and Entertainment Industry Group, and is the managing director of the firm's sports management subsidiary, Athlete Management Professionals, LLC.
RICK LOPEZ
RICK LOPEZ is an associate attorney at Greenberg Traurig's Phoenix office where he practices in the business finance group. He is the author of "Signing Bonus Skimming and a Premature Call for a Global Draft in Major League Baseball," 41 Ariz. L.J. 349 (2009), Arizona State Law Journal. Mr. Lopez graduated cum laude from Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law in 2010.
CONNIE J. MABLESON
Connie J. Mableson, Esq., is a nationally recognized attorney with over 28 years of practice in Intellectual Property Law with an emphasis in Arts & Entertainment, and Internet and E-Commerce, and New Media, Games, and virtual worlds. Connie's clients include Stephanie Meyer, the author of the Twilight vampire book and film series, Allison DuBois, the medium featured on NBC's Emmy award winning prime time program, “Medium,” and many other New York Times’ best-selling authors. Connie made history as the first lawyer in the world to open a law office in a Virtual World. In 2005, she opened her Intellectual Property Resource Center in Second Life. Connie also represented Cantor & Siegel in 1994 when they became the first people to commercialize the Internet. She has taught 2 courses at the Sandra Day O’Connor law school, e.g., Entertainment Business Contracts and Governance of Virtual Worlds. She is scheduled to publish a DMCA Handbook for Virtual World Owners in the Fall, 2011.
GARY MARCHANT
Gary Marchant is the Lincoln Professor of Emerging Technologies, Law and Ethics at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. He is also a Professor of Life Sciences, Executive Director of the ASU Center for Law, Science and Innovation, and Senior Sustainability scientists in the Global institute of Sustainability at ASU. Professor Marchant has a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of British Columbia, a Masters of Public Policy degree from the Kennedy School of Government, and a JD from Harvard Law School. Prior to joining the ASU faculty in 1999, he was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Kirkland & Ellis where his practice focused on regulatory issues. Professor Marchant teaches and researches in the subject areas of environmental law, risk assessment and risk management, genetics and the law, biotechnology law, food and drug law, legal aspects of nanotechnology, and law, science and technology.
JAMES M. MAROVICH
James Marovich is a litigation and transactional attorney who, before solo practice and forming his own firm, worked for two multi-state law firms in Phoenix and Scottsdale. Mr. Marovich's business and intellectual property practice consists of copyright, trademarks and trade names, and rights to privacy. He provides business, intellectual property, intellectual property licensing, and contract law services for all types of enterprises, including singers, songwriters, musicians, bands, independent film companies, actors, talent and modeling agencies, publicists, authors, artists, photographers, theatre companies, talent management, record sales and distribution services companies, audio studios, and physicians and other medical professionals.
He provides legal services to start-up companies, which includes assisting with choice of entity, agreements among persons desiring to do business together, organization of corporations and companies, ownership and licensing of intellectual property, negotiating contracts and business deals, risk assessment, end of business life decisions, helping clients to avoid disputes and, if necessary, to resolve disputes.
Prior to legal practice, Mr. Marovich had over twenty years of senior hospital administrative experience. He has served on numerous not-for-profit boards and is a frequent speaker for the Arizona Songwriters Association, local talent organizations, and community college performing arts classes. He is currently serving as general counsel for the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame, is a member of the Executive Council of the Intellectual Property Section of the Arizona State Bar, and has been recently appointed an associate director to the board of Jazz In Arizona, Inc.
MARY PENROSE
Professor Mary Margaret “Meg” Penrose joined the Texas Wesleyan law faculty in 2009 after teaching nine years at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Professor Penrose taught Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Gender Discrimination and International Human Rights at OU. She continues to practice in federal court with an emphasis on federal habeas corpus representation of Texas Death Row inmates and Title VII and Title IX litigation challenging gender bias and discrimination in the workplace.
Prior to teaching, Professor Penrose most enjoyed her time working at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas. She served as a Senior Law Clerk to the Honorable Jerry Buchmeyer. After working briefly for the Texas firm, Thompson and Knight, she returned to the courthouse to assist with the renumbering of the Local Rules. Upon completion of this project, she began working with the Honorable Jane J. Boyle as a pro se Staff Attorney. Professor Penrose believes her teaching has been greatly enhanced through her experience at the federal courthouse. Next to teaching, her favorite job(s) have been working with Judges Boyle and Buchmeyer.
Professor Penrose is a member of the American Law Institute. She is also a member of the Texas Bar Association, the federal bar for the Northern District of Texas and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. She has been a constant member of the Texas Bar Association’s pro bono College – requiring over 75 hours of pro bono representation each year. She is a volunteer attorney for the Women’s Sports Foundation. Her dedication to Title IX stems from her time as a Division I basketball player for the University of Texas – Arlington. She continues to pursue athletic endeavors and names as her proudest non-legal accomplishment qualifying for and running the Boston Marathon in 2008-09.
Professor Penrose earned her J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law where she graduated magna cum laude and served as the Managing Editor of the Pepperdine Law Review. Thereafter, she received her LL.M, graduating summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame. Her LL.M thesis, Lest We Fail, was published by the American University Journal of International Law and Policy. She continues to pursue scholarship and most recently completed two textbooks: Education Law and Policy, which she co-wrote with Professor Bernard James, and An Introduction to Civil Procedure: Forum Selection and Choice of Law, which she co-wrote with Professor Paul George. In addition, Professor Penrose has published poetry, copyrighted a children’s book and appeared in the legal documentary, The Trials of Law School. She is listed as one of the Contemporary Lawyer Poets hosted by the University of West Virginia.
THOMAS SALERNO
Thomas J. Salerno is co-head of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey’s international financial restructuring practice. He has been involved in restructurings in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Switzerland and the Czech and Slovak Republics. In addition, he teaches Comparative International Insolvency at the University of Salzburg. Mr. Salerno was named as one of 12 Outstanding Bankruptcy Attorneys in 1998 and 2000 by Turnarounds & Workouts, a newsletter published by Beard Group, Inc. in Washington DC, and is a member of the select group of insolvency professionals listed in the K&A Restructuring Professionals Registry. He is also listed in The Best Lawyers in America and selected as the Restructuring Lawyer Of The Year in Phoenix for 2009 by this publication. He was selected by his peers for inclusion in Southwest Super Lawyers, a distinction honoring the top 5 percent of lawyers in the region, in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 2007, Mr. Salerno was one of three Arizona-based lawyers to be listed in The International Who’s Who of Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyers. He is rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell’s rating system.
Mr. Salerno has extensive experience representing distressed companies, acquirers and creditors in financial restructurings and bankruptcy proceedings, pre- and post-bankruptcy workouts, and corporate recapitalizations. He has represented clients in diverse industries such as casinos, resort hotels, real estate, high-tech manufacturing, electricity generation, agribusiness, construction, health care, airlines and franchised fast-food operations. He has also served as an expert witness on US insolvency law in litigation in Germany. He has represented parties in insolvency proceedings in 30 states and five countries. Mr. Salerno headed the US delegation to the Czech Republic in advising the Czech Government in the historic revamping of its bankruptcy law, which took effect in January 2008. He has also advised on revamping insolvency laws in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. He is a member of the UNCITRAL working group on its Insolvency Law Reform Project, completed in early 2007.
In addition to numerous articles in both national and international journals, Mr. Salerno is the author of “An Overview of the Restructuring Process,” which appeared in Best Practices for Corporate Restructuring, published in 2006 by Aspatore Books. He is also the co-author of “Chapter 11 Cases Involving Professional Sports Franchises: Special Issues” to be published in Collier’s On Bankruptcy; the Executive Guide to Corporate Bankruptcy, originally published in 2001 by Beard Publications (with the Second Edition published in 2010); co-author and an executive editor of the three-volume treatise Advanced Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Practice, published by Aspen Law Publications; and co-author of the two volume Bankruptcy Litigation and Practice; A Practitioners’ Guide – 4th Edition, also published by Aspen Law Publications. Mr. Salerno served as a director of the American Bankruptcy Institute, where he also served on the executive committee, and formerly was a director of the American Bankruptcy Board of Certification, Inc. He is a past chair of the Bankruptcy Section of the State Bar of Arizona and a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. Mr. Salerno was lead counsel in the Chapter 11 proceeding of the Phoenix Coyotes.
STEVE WEBB
Steve Webb, an Associate Director of Amateurism Certification in the Eligibility Center of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) since 2007, was named Executive Director for Athletics Compliance at Arizona State University in August 2011. Directing compliance for Sun Devil Athletics, he is responsible for developing comprehensive rules education programs for staff, students, donors, and members of the public; developing systems and mechanisms for rules monitoring; investigating and reporting rules violations; and leading the Athletics Compliance office.
Lisa Love, the University Vice President for Athletics, said the appointment of Steve Webb reflects Arizona State University’s commitment to integrity. “I am extremely excited about the opportunity to join the Arizona State University staff,” Webb said. “This is a university that I have long admired from an institutional as well as an athletics standpoints and I have been very impressed with the people I have met so far. They have communicated their strong commitment to a successful and rules compliant athletics program and I am looking forward to helping everyone accomplish that objective.”
Webb studied Biological Sciences at Northern Illinois University (1996) where he was a baseball student-athlete, named NIU’s Most Valuable Player and Academic All-District his senior year. After studying law at Ohio State University (2002) Webb practiced law with the firm of Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, primarily specializing in intellectual property patent litigation in the area of biotechnology. He joined the NCAA as an assistant director of enforcement in 2005, and moved to the Amateurism Certification department in 2007.
In the Amateurism Certification department, Webb oversaw NCAA Eligibility Center staff processing reviews to determine whether entering first-year student-athletes satisfied amateurism requirements, which included performing many high profile and elite athlete reviews. His position also required managing many operations of the NCAA amateurism certification area and serving as a liaison for the department with other NCAA departments and external groups.