Episode 85: Darren Heitner, Founder and Chief Vision Officer at Heitner Legal P.L.L.C.

Daily Matters: The changing face of the legal industry

It’s a crazy time in the sports world—and Sports Law expert Darren Heitner has a behind-the-scenes vantage point into how America’s professional sports leagues, organizations, and athletes are handling the coronavirus pandemic.

In this episode, Darren joins Jack Newton for a discussion about:

• Pro sports’ efforts to resume play during COVID-19
• The difficult considerations pro athletes must take into account
• Darren’s personal experiences with the controversy around renaming the “Washington Football Team”
• Updates on the national debate about compensating collegiate athletes
• How attorneys can cultivate a strong personal brand and social media presence—and get their clients saying, “I love my lawyer.”

Bio
Darren Heitner is Founder and Chief Vision Officer at Heitner Legal P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Darren has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel, including well-known names like Antonio Brown, Brandon Marshall, Johnny Manziel, Terrell Owens, Anna Kournikova, Andrew Wiggins, De’Aaron Fox, Jose Bautista, Manny Ramirez, Drew Rosenhaus, and many others.

An attorney and Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator focusing on sports, entertainment, intellectual property, litigation and transactional work, Darren is the author of How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know. He also was a Contributor to Forbes for over six years, wrote for three years at Inc. Magazine, taught at Indiana University Bloomington, and founded the Sports Agent Blog. He currently writes at Above the Law.

In 2019, Darren was named to the University of Florida's 40 Under 40 list. In 2020, he was honored with UF Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus award.

You can follow Darren on Twitter at @DarrenHeitner