Beecroft Lecture 2024

The William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV
&
The Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution

2024 Memorial Beecroft Lecture:  Arbitrating Sports, Politics & Human Rights: Who Decides

Professor Maureen Arellano Weston
Professor of Law and Director of the Entertainment, Media & Sports Dispute Resolution Project
Pepperdine Caruso School of Law

Thursday, February 22, 2024
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Thomas & Mack Moot Court Facility
This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Join us after the lecture for a reception sponsored by the ADR Section of the State Bar of Nevada.

Register Now!

Description

Arbitration is the designated and largely exclusive mechanism to resolve sports-related disputes, particularly in Olympic and international sports. The Olympic Charter designates the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) as the only dispute resolution institution for resolving sports-related international arguments between and among athletes, teams, and sport governing bodies from more than 200 countries, plus “individual neutral athletes” who compete without country affiliation.

The disputes before the CAS are not simply about who won or lost a game or match but instead have far-reaching implications related to politics, athlete abuse and safety, doping, corruption, and human rights.

Professor Weston’s lecture will examine private arbitration in the context of international sports. Among the questions she will consider are whether these private arbitration mechanisms should make decisions on matters with political and human rights implications, especially when these decisions involve consequences and protections of broader international human rights conventions. Professor Weston will discuss recent cases and issues in international sports arbitration leading up to the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.

Presenter

Maureen Weston is Professor of Law at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law and Director of the Entertainment, Media & Sports Dispute Resolution Project. She received her JD from the University of Colorado, and BA in Economics/Political Science at the University of Denver. Professor Weston teaches courses on arbitration, mediation, negotiation, international dispute resolution, legal ethics, and U.S. and international sports law. She serves as Faculty Advisor to the Sports & Entertainment Law Society and Dispute Resolution Journal, and as coach for ICC Mediation Advocacy and Sports & Entertainment Law Negotiation competitions. Weston has taught law at the University of Oklahoma, University of Colorado, University of Las Vegas Nevada, Hamline, and in Oxford, England. Prior to teaching, Weston practiced law with Holme Roberts & Owen and Faegre & Benson in Colorado. She is actively involved in programs furthering opportunities for students to gain experience in negotiation, mediation and arbitration. Her committee service includes the ABA, Law School Division, Arbitration Competition, AALS Sports Law Executive Committee, and former chair of the ABA Dispute Resolution Education Committee and Representation in Mediation Competition. She is a member on the Boards of Directors at the University of Colorado School of Law Alumni Board, the National Sports Law Institute at Marquette School of Law, Malibu Little League, and Editorial Board of LawInSport. A frequent speaker at conferences, Weston is co-author of casebooks on sports law and arbitration and has written numerous articles in the area of Olympic and International Sports Arbitration, disability law, sports law, and dispute resolution.

About the Beecroft Lecture Series 

The Beecroft Lecture Series was established in honor of the late Chris Beecroft Jr., a 1971 UNLV graduate and commissioner of Alternative Dispute Resolution for the Clark County District Court. Following Beecroft’s passing in December 2016, the ADR section of the State Bar of Nevada worked quickly to launch the Chris Beecroft Jr. Fund, which helps to sponsor the lecture series at the Saltman Center.

Past Beecroft Lectures include:

2023: Truth. Regardless of Reconciliation?, Professor Michael Moffitt, Philip H. Knight Chair
University of Oregon, School of Law & Honors College, and Professor Bobbie Conner, Director of Tamástslikt (Tah-MAHST-slickt) Cultural Institute, the tribally-owned museum on the Umatilla Reservation near Pendleton, Oregon

2022: Civil Public Discourse: Some Lessons from Psychology, Professor Jennifer Kirkpatrick Robbennolt, Associate Dean for Research and Alice Curtis Campbell Professor of Law, Professor of Psychology, and Co-Director of the Illinois Program on Law, Behavior and Social Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

2021: Restorative Justice and Anti-Racism, Professor Martha Minow, 300th Anniversary University Professor and former Dean of the Law School Harvard University

2020: Hiding Harassment, Professor Pat Chew, Judge J. Quint Salmon & Anne Salmon Chaired Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Law

2019: Behavioral Ethics and Legal Negotiation, Professor Russell Korobkin, Vice Dean for Graduate and Professional Education and Richard C. Maxwell Professor of Law at UCLA

2018: Gender and Negotiation: What About the Guys, Professor Andrea Schneider, Marquette University Law School

In Memory of Chris Beecroft, Jr.

Chris Beecroft, Jr. was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He moved to Nevada and received his undergraduate degree from UNLV in 1971, the first recipient of the Nevada Centennial Scholarship Award, which is given to the graduating senior holding the highest four-year scholastic record. He then earned his law degree from McGeorge School of Law in 1974. Chris became a member of the State Bar of Nevada and worked in private law practice for over twenty-five years. Chris also was a president of the UNLV Alumni Association and served on the Alumni Board of Directors.

In 2000, Chris joined the Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution and became its ADR Commissioner in 2001. He was tasked with developing and monitoring a collection of court- connected, alternative dispute resolution programs. These programs provided litigants an opportunity to resolve their disputes without having to go to a full trial. Shortly after becoming the ADR Commissioner, he began the Eighth Judicial District Court's Short Trial Program. This unique program went on to win an Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties in 2004 and a better government award from the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research in 2008. In 2008, he was appointed Family Court Discovery Commissioner and in 2012 he became the Discovery Commissioner for additional departments within the Eighth Judicial District Court.

Chris passed away on December 26, 2016 at the age of 67. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Christine, their children Melissa and Jonathan, along with other members of his extended family. His family lovingly remembers his passion for cooking, traveling, and spending time on his boat ("On The C's"). He was known to say, "Don't just watch the boats floating by, be on your boat floating by."
 
Thank you for your interest in the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution and the Memorial Beecroft Lecture.  You can help us continue our work by making a donation here.