Expanding the Frontiers of Legal Training for Budding Lawyers: A Case for Sports Law

Abstract

The legal profession is one of the most ancient, revered and honourable professions.[1] In contemporary times, it is no exaggeration to assert that the profession of law is the pivot on which modern juridified society is built as law is strategically to be found at every component of human endeavour[2] ranging from  sports, politics, governance, administration, commerce, agriculture, health, transportation, communication, InfoTech to mention a few.[3] The lustrous and scintillating relevance of the legal profession presents gladdening prospects and ledge to the aspiring lawyers referred to in this paper as budding lawyers. The thematic preoccupation of this article is to critically examine Sports law as an emerging field of law thereby expatiating on the concept from a global perspective, the relevance of the field, its effectiveness and appropriateness of its study as well as answering the critiques of study of Sports law and at the end eliciting suggestions that will inject new meanings and principles in legal education. Teaching sports law is a grand task which requires serious preparation and reference to wide variety of subjects. This article is designed to provide a springboard for preparing to teach sports law in Nigerian universities and may not be concerned with the various sports law topics and teaching suggestions. Legal training is synonymous with legal education in the context of this paper.