# Do sports agents practice law without a license?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sports-agents-practice-law-without-a-license/362210>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 26, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sports-agents-practice-law-without-a-license/362210 "2006-06-26T15:34:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sports-agents-practice-law-without-a-license/362210/1 "2006-06-26T15:34:38Z")

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IAAL but I don’t know the answer to this question. The June 30, 2006 edition of [The Sporting News](http://register.sportingnews.com/subscriptions/index.html?sourceid=subscribe) magazine (print edition only, apparently) has a big article about how to become a licensed NBA sports agent. Having a license to practice law, or to be a CPA, or a certified financial planner, isn’t a requirement, which leads me to the question: Why isn’t being a sports agent without a professional law license practicing law without a license?

My hunch is that it is practicing law without a license, but that is just my hunch. Does anybody have a good answer?

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sports-agents-practice-law-without-a-license/362210/2 "2006-06-26T16:01:45Z")

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So your hunch is that every sports agent is practicing law without a license and nobody has ever noticed or said anything about it? Not even lawyers?

Remind me not to listen to your hunches when you go betting. 😃

You do not have to be a lawyer to negotiate a contract. Business people do this all the time. Agents of every stripe - literary agents, film agents, art agents - do this all the time. You and I can negotiate a binding contract.

We might run into trouble later when clauses are questioned if we don’t get the contract right because of our non-lawyer ignorance, but that’s a different issue.

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**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sports-agents-practice-law-without-a-license/362210/3 "2006-06-26T16:53:52Z")

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As I understand it, practicing law means advising someone of their legal rights and/or obligations under the law. I’m not sure negotiating a sports contract involves providing legal advice. The deal is you play ball for X Jillion dollars, + y incentives, + z signing bonus. Now after the deal is made, I can see where questions of interpeting the contract could cross the line into law practice…