William B. Briggs

William B. Briggs (born 1954) of Manhattan and Ithaca, New York, is a subject matter expert in sports and entertainment law.^[1] He is Vice President for Arbitration and Litigation for the National Football League (NFL), an Adjunct Professor of Law at Cornell University Law School, and the Thomas A. O’ Boyle Lecturer in Law at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. He received his Bachelor of Science at Cornell University in 1976, his Master of Arts at George Washington University in 1978, and his Juris Doctor at Georgetown University Law Center in 1982.

Expertise

Briggs’ expertise includes the application of law and economics to sports and entertainment markets.^[2] Beginning as a professional athlete’s labor advocate in the late 1970s and 1980s, he has transition to the role of counselor of the team owners.^[3] His focus includes institutional analysis across multi-competition sectors of the American economy,^[4] with a specific focus on the National Football League^[5] and the relationship between professional and amateur athletics.^[6] In 1983, counselor Briggs was admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia. He was staff counsel for the National Football Players Association/Federation of Professional Athletes through 1988, after which he engaged in representation of professional athletes in arbitration hearings from 1988 to 1994. He began his teaching career as an Adjunct Professor, University of Toledo College of Law and Drake College of Law in 1988. He served as a Visiting Associate Professor, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University from 1989 to 1994.

Sample publications

• Deborah E. Klein & William Buckley Briggs, Proposition 48 and the Business of Intercollegiate Athletics: Potential Antitrust Ramifications under the Sherman Act, 67 Denv. U.L. Rev. 301 (1990)(cited as authority in several legal journals and reviews, including the Florida Law Review, the Fordham Law Review, the Howard University Law Review, the South Texas Law Review, the Tennessee Law Review, and the Villanova Law Review.)
• William Buckley Briggs, The ‘Good Motives’ of the NCAA and the Anticompetitive Aspects of Proposition 48: Heading on a Collision Course Under the Sherman Act?, Univ. Denv. L.Rev. (Spring 1990), co-author.
• William B. Briggs, Injury Grievances in the National Football League, 63 L. INST. J. 164 (1989).

Associations

Briggs joined the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at Cornell University, and through that organization, the Irving Literary Society.^[7]

References

1. Jon Morgan, "Owners have antitrust shield under caps," Baltimore Sun (Dec. 24, 1994).
2. Jon Morgan, "Baseball deal ushers in air of conciliation Newest agreement ensures labor peace in all four pro sports," Baltimore Sun (Nov. 28, 1996).
3. John Clayton, "Packers' Murphy comes full circle Once considered a radical, team president is now trying to settle NFL's labor problems," ESPN.com (March 28, 2010).
4. Jon Morgan, Pro sports call timeout to settle some old scores, Baltimore Sun (Oct. 02, 1994).
5. Patrick Blakemore, "God Game," Cornell Daily Sun (Apr. 17, 2007)
6. "Sports Attorneys Offer Expert Commentary on Amateur and Professional Athletics," Penn Law Journal (Fall 2003) at 4.
7. Cornell University Residence Plan of 1966, Schedule I, Appendix A (May 3, 1966)(see sixth page of document noting the relationship between Phi Kappa Psi and the Irving Literary Society)); see also’’, List of Phi Kappa Psi/Irving Literary Society Members (Aug. 18, 2011).

External links

• Cornell Law School Biography