Many kids say they want to be a lawyer when they grow up. However, I have yet to hear one say “I want to be an executive compensation and employee benefits lawyer.” Admittedly, I also did not make that declaration, even in law school!
My journey here to Baker Tax Law began with my passion for sports. I was from Nebraska and some of my earliest memories with my dad are of watching Nebraska football. As I got a bit older, I picked Dan Marino as my favorite NFL player and a year after writing him a letter in the fourth grade asking for an autograph, I received an autographed photo in the mail (which I still have to this day). But in playing pee-wee football and rec league basketball in middle school and high school, it was very apparent that I would not make a living as a professional athlete. That didn’t stop me from wanting to somehow be involved in sports as a career.
In my freshman year of college I remember watching Terrell Owens’s public antics and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, speak on his behalf. Immediately I thought, “Maybe I could do that!” I began researching how to become a sports agent and learned that having a law degree could help. Eventually, after learning more about the, let’s say “less glamorous” things that agents are expected to do for their clients, my goal shifted to trying to work in the front office of a professional team. But I still believed that a law degree would help with that as well.
So when it came time to look at law schools, my primary focus was on what school had the best sports law program and could give me with the best chance at working for a professional team. When I learned that Harvard not only had multiple sports law classes, but also a sports law clinic, it immediately became my top choice. In fact, when I was asked “Why Harvard?” in my admissions interview, I mentioned the sports law program and my professional goals, and on my acceptance letter the Dean of Admissions wrote “I hope you bring your interest in sports law to HLS.”
I did, and during the Winter Term of my 1L year, in addition to the mandatory Winter Term course that all 1Ls are required to take, I was given permission to audit the course “Representing the Professional Athlete.” I was able to meet Shaquille O’Neal and his agent in that class and I was able to discuss with the professor, Peter Carfagna, my career goals. Through Professor Carfagna, during my 2L Winter Term, I was able to land one of only two spots available each year to work for the Washington Nationals as part of the Sports Law Clinic. While exciting, the experience was also humbling as to how few opportunities there are to break into professional sports, especially straight out of law school. The advice that I received as to how to give myself the best chance to break in with a team? Go to a big firm and first learn how to be a “real” lawyer.
I listened and did exactly that. I decided to try and go against the grain to stand out, so I opted not to go to New York the way most of my classmates did. After I graduated in 2013, I instead followed LeBron James to South Beach (or Brickell to be more precise) and I started in the Miami office of Holland & Knight.
The practice group I began with was particularly slow when I arrived, but the head of the firm’s employee benefits and executive compensation practice was in sudden need of an associate who could dedicate a significant amount of time to a massive IRS determination letter project after the attorney he hired unexpectedly quit. That was my very first introduction to employee benefits law. It was a steep learning curve, but the partner was incredibly patient and happy to teach me as questions arose (and there were many). When the determination letter project was complete, I asked the benefits partner if he had enough work to allow me to switch to his group full time. And that’s how I became a compensation and benefits attorney.
After seven years at Holland & Knight, I made the move to a boutique firm where I was able to focus primarily on M&A support and executive compensation matters. Also, for the first time, I started representing individual executives. With that career focus, I found a sweet spot better than I could have hoped for going into and coming out of law school. I am able to work with incredibly talented and smart attorneys from many different firms, and I am also able to do exactly what seemed so exciting to me about being a sports agent; I get to represent individuals in contract negotiations that are some of the most important negotiations they will ever enter into. Except with this job, I get to meet and learn from people from all different kinds of industries and companies, all while being able to have dinner with my family nearly every night.
Austin Stack is the head of the Compensation & Benefits practice group at Baker Tax Law. For additional information, please contact austin@mbakertaxlaw.com.