TJSL Represented at the 7th Annual National Baseball Arbitration Competition

Thomas Jefferson's Baseball Arbitration Team defended their competitive reputation at the 7th Annual National Baseball Arbitration Competition at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans from January 22nd thru the 24th.

"Sam Ehrlich, Ismael Iniguez, Jason Barmasse and Alex Corrado represented TJSL proudly," said Professor Randy Grossman '94, the team's faculty advisor.

40 schools from across the country competed in the simulated moot court salary arbitration competition which is modeled closely on procedures used in Major League Baseball. TJSL won the national championship in 2012, with Dan Nguyen '12, Justin Heim '12 and Sam Erlich (3L) on the team. This year's team was coached by Jeremy Evans '11 and beat top schools LSU, Fordham, and Wisconsin in the first three rounds, but lost to Emory in the fourth round.

“The Thomas Jefferson School of Law Baseball Arbitration team holds a proud tradition at the law school. In addition to being National Champions in 2012, our teams have always competed well. High praise to the team and alums who helped us prep,” said Coach Evans.

According to Alexander Corrado (2L), “The most exciting part of the competition was being in the same room with people like Nona Lee (Senior Vice President & General Counsel of the Arizona Diamondbacks), Alex Winsberg (Director, Legal Affairs and Risk Management at Angels Baseball, LP), and Zack Rosenthal (Director - Baseball Operations/Assistant General Counsel of the Colorado Rockies).”

“Being able to listen to Ms. Lee, Mr. Rosenthal, and Mr. Winsberg talk about real life baseball arbitration was extremely interesting and very insightful. I have no doubt that the information I learned will help me be better prepared as I chase my career dream of one day working for a professional team or league,” said Corrado.

Third time team competitor Sam Ehrlich has been getting closer and closer to his dream career in baseball arbitration. Ehrlich has interned with a baseball agent for the last two years and recently prepared strategies and exhibits for two real-life arbitration cases.

Ehrlich attributes those opportunities to the knowledge and skills he has developed on the team over the years. “These experiences have done wonders for my career goals. This competition has allowed me to network with a huge number of professionals in the field and learn a lot about what actually goes on in a field that is normally hidden to the public eye,” he explained.

The team came home feeling accomplished and proud to have represented TJSL. “The way Thomas Jefferson has represented itself in the Tulane baseball arbitration competition in New Orleans has led other schools as well as the organizers of the competition to truly respect us as colleagues,” explained Ismael Iniguez (3L). “The warm reception other law schools have received us with further instill a sense of pride to represent our school.”

“Overall we performed admirably and had four incredibly strong rounds where all three of us (Ismael, Jason and I) gave our best performances on each argument to date,” said Ehrlich.

“I am extremely proud of the hard work, dedication and performance of the team. Our school has a great reputation at this competition in New Orleans and all of the other law schools know who we are and know we're always one of the teams that will be in the mix. Thanks to Jeremy Evans for helping to coach this year's team again,” said Professor Grossman.

You can view the original article here.