Law - Sports, Entertainment & Arts Law Graduate Certificate

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This online graduate certificate (SEAL) will fill a gap in the legal education market and leverage the strengths of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, the larger University and its alumni, and the region.  Our University and region have long produced leaders in sports, entertainment, and arts, from Panther to Steeler Nation, Fred Rogers to George Romero, and August Wilson to Andy Warhol.  In today’s rapidly changing, increasingly intersecting, and highly competitive sports, entertainment, and arts industries, leaders also need legal skills, knowledge, understanding and connections to succeed.  By launching the SEAL certificate program, Pitt Law will help to ensure that our graduates, University and region will receive their cultural, social and economic return on investment.

The SEAL certificate is a ten-month, accelerated program that will target the market of business, legal and creative professionals who are currently working or planning to work in sports, entertainment, and or arts/sectors, and who wish to expand their legal skills, knowledge and understanding of these industries. These three synergistic sectors present similar legal issues, involving labor and employment, intellectual property, corporate, and commercial transactions law.  Pitt Law Faculty with expertise in these fields will oversee the development and implementation of the SEAL courses, which will be taught by regular and adjunct Pitt Law faculty with industry experience.   

By combining the study of sports, entertainment, and arts law into one program, the SEAL certificate will seize an opportunity to fill a gap left in the fields of sports, entertainment, and arts law education.  Currently, the only programs offered by U.S. law schools that cover all three sectors are costly, in-person, full-time programs limited to lawyers or law students seeking degrees.   Although a number of part-time, online programs in these legal fields do now exist, these programs force students to choose one or two sectors, despite the increasing intersection of all three of these competitive industries.  By covering the law and providing connections in all three sectors, the SEAL certificate will increase the size of our target market and expand employment opportunities for our graduates.  This is an ideal time to launch this program, which would distinguish it as the first online program to cover all three fields, and incoming SEAL students would be well-positioned to apply for impending employment opportunities that will open post-pandemic.              

The SEAL certificate will also advance the long-term goals of the Law School and University. The program will “Advance Educational Excellence” by preparing our graduates to “lead lives of impact” through the appropriate use of technology and increased and affordable access to professional education. The SEAL program will “Strengthen Communities” by ensuring that our students understand the legal issues that they must address to fully benefit from the economic impact of their work. The program will “Advance Diversity and Inclusion” by empowering our students to serve as social justice warriors, legally protected from discrimination, censorship and exploitation.  And the program will allow our students to “Embrace the World” by understanding the international legal issues presented in this truly global industry. 

Finally, offering this new program will positively impact existing University programs and students.  SEAL students will be able to apply their credits towards fulfilling the requirements in our Master of Studies in Law (MSL) degree.  The SEAL program will also leverage opportunities to work with the Pitt Athletic, Music, Studio, and Theater Arts Departments and with the Film and Media Studies Program to increase the social, cultural and economic impact of our University and region.