Editor’s Note: Each summer Penn Law students hone their skills through a wide array of private and public sector internships across the country and around the world. Generous financial support and fellowships for international and public interest work enable students to pursue diverse assignments in the United States and abroad. This post from Mired Asfour L’19 is one in a series of firsthand accounts detailing how students’ summer employment opportunities are preparing them for their legal careers.
Asfour was born in Amman, Jordan before moving to McLean, Virginia as a child. He attended the University of Miami, where he majored in Sport Administration and minored in Business Administration and Psychology. As a student at the University of Miami, he worked for Bommarito Performance Systems, an athletic training facility in South Florida, as well as Stone Sports Management, a boutique sports agency. As a student at Penn Law, he serves as the Vice President of Sports for the Entertainment and Sports Law Society.
Searching for an internship for the summer was a unique experience for me. After discussing summer employment with several attorneys, it was clear that I had to search for an opportunity that would allow me to be involved in a wide range of legal matters. I knew that working for a sport entity would be a natural fit because of my past experience in the sports industry, however, I received advice to avoid legal departments where attorneys work on certain areas of the law in silos. Although my employment search lasted late into March, I was able to secure an internship with the United Soccer League.
The United Soccer League, headquartered in Tampa, Florida, is one of the most prominent division-two soccer leagues in the world. The League also operates the Premier Development League and is launching a division-three league in 2019. The USL has seen rapid expansion, nearly doubling in size since 2014, and has plans to announce the addition of several new teams in the upcoming seasons.
Working under Garrison Mason, the General Counsel of the USL, has exposed me to various aspects of the law and allowed me to be involved in all aspects of operating a professional sports league. Throughout the internship I have provided contractual support, which has included summarizing redlined agreements in sponsorship and franchise-acquisition negotiations, drafting amendments to franchise agreements, assembling requests for proposals for national sponsorship deals, and maintaining the League’s contract database.
Aside from contractual matters, I have also drafted League correspondence to teams for a variety of matters, presented research and analysis regarding proposals for the future commercial structure of the division three league, participated in the discovery process, and researched and outlined the potential antitrust law issues of a category exclusive license following the American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League Supreme Court case. Additionally, I have worked with the League’s outside counsel to perform intellectual property due diligence utilizing the USPTO database to research the status of teams’ trademarks and the status of trademark entity conversion filings.
My experience with the United Soccer League has been a great opportunity for me to apply the skills and knowledge that I gained during my first year at Penn Law. Having taken a course in contract law has been invaluable to my comprehension of the terms of each agreement I have reviewed. Moreover, Legal Practice Skills has been critical to my understanding of the mechanics of the negotiation process and to the development of my ability to research and write about a diversity of legal issues.
This internship has also underscored the importance of capitalizing on the cross-disciplinary offerings at Penn. For example, this experience motivated me to enroll in the Wharton Certificate of Management because I was able to observe the essential nature of business skills involved in serving clients and communicating with executives of an organization.
- Mired Asfour