Jim Quinn-Don't Be Afraid To Win: How Free Agency Changed the Business of Pro Sports

Professional sports is a multi-billion dollar business that pays players extremely well, but it wasn’t always that way.  How did pro sports go from a quaint collection of athletes who needed side jobs in the off-season, to the lucrative industry for players it is today?  Jim Quinn is the legendary sports lawyer who spearheaded free agency for every professional sports league, including the MLB, MLS, NFL, and NBA.  Quinn’s new book, DON’T BE AFRAID TO WIN: How Free Agency Changed the Business of Pro Sports is a captivating look inside the tense meetings between owners, players, and league unions that explains free agency, and why it matters.  With specific examples of how hard owners fought, Quinn shows the gritty steps it took to make deals that satisfied everyone. JAMES W. QUINN is one of the most accomplished trial, arbitration, and mediation lawyers in U.S. history.  Mr. Quinn spent virtually his entire career at Weil, Gotshal, & Manges LLP, a premier international law firm based in NYC.  At Weil, he served for more than two decades as both head of the firm’s 350-attorney Litigation Department and as a member of the Firm’s Management Committee.  Mr. Quinn practiced in all areas of complex litigation and alternative dispute resolution, with particular emphasis on antitrust, securities, false advertising, sports entertainment, patent, and related complex intellectual property litigation.  He also developed extensive experience serving as an arbitrator under, among others, ICC and AAA International rules.  He is currently counsel to the national litigation boutique firm Berg and Androphy and a principal in JW Quinn ADR LLC, a mediation practice where he tries to settle, rather than start, disputes.    Mr. Quinn received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and his L.L.B. from Fordham University School of Law, where he teaches a course about winning at trial.