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Greenberg builds franchise out of sports law

By: Jack Zemlicka, [email protected]//April 29, 2011//

Greenberg builds franchise out of sports law

By: Jack Zemlicka, [email protected]//April 29, 2011//

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Martin Greenberg
Martin Greenberg

If he had the chance, Milwaukee attorney Martin Greenberg would like to take over the Milwaukee Brewers for a day.

But the rest of the time, the veteran sports and real estate lawyer is content doing what he does best: negotiating professional sports contracts or working on stadium licensing agreements.

Greenberg co-founded Marquette University Law School’s National Sports Law Institute 22 years ago when the practice was little more than a novelty. After being coaxed into becoming a professor soon after he graduated in 1971 and developing the NSLI six years later, Greenberg has seen the program grow into one that produces lawyers who can carve out a career in sports law.

But there is more to being a successful sports lawyer than rubbing elbows with Danica Patrick or the late Al McGuire, Greenberg said, it takes business sense and creativity.

Greenberg, of the Law Office of Martin J. Greenberg LLC in Milwaukee, put that creativity to work in this week’s Asked & Answered.

Wisconsin Law Journal: If you could develop one CLE course for credit, what would it be about?
Martin Greenberg: Sports facility development. It would be a course on the creation, financing and leasing of sports facilities around the world.

WLJ: What was your least favorite course in law school and why?
Greenberg: Trust and Estates. It was my lowest grade and I just wasn’t interested in the subject.

WLJ: What is your favorite website and why?
Greenberg: jsonline.com. It keeps me abreast of local news.

WLJ: What is the one luxury item you cannot live without?
Greenberg: Fine restaurants. The ones I like the best are Il Mito, Lake Park Bistro and Bacchus.

WLJ: What is one thing attorneys should know that they won’t learn in law school?
Greenberg: Learn to be a good businessman.

WLJ: What is the first concert you went to?
Greenberg: The Beatles at Chicago Stadium in the ’60s. I also went to Streisand’s last concert in Florida. It was $1,000 a ticket.

WLJ: If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would it be and why?
Greenberg: Mark Attanasio. I would like to own a major league baseball team for one day.

WLJ: What is your motto?
Greenberg: Don’t worry about failure, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.

WLJ: What is your favorite movie about lawyers or the law and why?
Greenberg: “Legally Blonde.” What a hire.

WLJ: If you hadn’t become a lawyer, what career would you have chosen?
Greenberg: Professor or real estate developer.

Jack Zemlicka can be reached at jack.zemlicka@ wislawjournal.com.

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