One way to get real-life legal experience? A free trip to the Paris Olympics

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Once a year, law professor Moraima “Mo” Ivory brings celebrities like Steve Harvey, Ludacris and Rick Ross into her Georgia State University classroom for some entertaining legal lectures. But this time, her next class will take her across the Atlantic, from Atlanta to the Paris Olympics.

Ivory and her law school students will head to the Summer Olympics in late July on a weeklong, all-expenses-paid trip, funded primarily by donations from Delta Air Lines. The students in the Legal Life course will study business and legal issues related to the Olympics.

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“We usually have celebrities, but I wanted to move into sports,” said Ivory, director of the school’s entertainment, sports and media law program, which she started in 2019. “I thought it would be interesting to study the Olympics as the focal point of the class and go through all the ramifications of the games.”

During the semester, Ivory has had guest speakers such as U.S. Olympic Committee General Counsel Edwin Moses and civil rights icon Andrew Young—mayor of Atlanta during the 1996 Summer Olympics. Her students learned about complying with host city laws, NBC’s exclusive broadcast contract in the United States, corporate governance, intellectual property ownership, security protocols, and how the International Olympic Committee operates.

After arriving in Paris, Ivory and more than 30 students expect to explore the Olympic Village, visit the home of Team USA, attend the opening ceremony, check out Olympic sponsorship sites and spend time at the local law school. They will also begin researching all the brands the class studied throughout their semester in Paris.

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“It’s kind of a holistic education,” said Hannah Nodar, 24, a second-year law student and graduate research assistant at Ivory. Hoping to venture into sports and entertainment law, she’s looking forward to learning more about security regulations and sponsorship deals.

“I think it’s more practical, especially legally. I think it’s really cool to be able to do an interview and describe a licensing agreement or what a recording contract entails,” she continued. “You can have a more authentic conversation. You understand what you’re talking about instead of just repeating things that came out of a book.”

Nodar said she was grateful to have a professor like Ivory, who wanted her students to hear directly from stars and veteran lawyers about negotiating deals, contracts and the legal concepts behind their brands. Her course began in 2019 with Ludacris as a featured speaker before bringing on Kandi Burris and Harvey & Ross. Others who appeared included DJ Drama and Steve Sadow, former President Donald Trump’s lead attorney in the Georgia election interference case.

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In January, Ivory surprised the class with a dramatic trip to the Olympics. The teacher handed out envelopes to the entire class, telling them that only two envelopes contained tickets to the Olympics.

As Ivory’s students eagerly opened their envelopes, each one gradually pulled out round-trip tickets to Paris. Delta Air Lines, which wouldn’t disclose how much the airline was covering for airfare and hotels, was willing to sponsor the trip about 48 hours after she pitched the idea to them, the professor said. She also raised other small donations from alumni of Georgia Law School.

“It wasn’t a hard sell,” said Ivory, a Spelman College graduate who earned a law degree from Temple University. Over the years, she built relationships within the entertainment and media industries as a practicing attorney, radio host and at Warner Music Group, where she worked on artist contracts.

Ivory said she wants to use her connections to enhance her students’ experiences, while creating new partnerships.

“I give my students an educational experience through the popular culture they already love,” she said. “It’s not hard to explain to an organization or a company or anyone. They get it right away. People are really nice and they really want to see students have experiences that will change their lives.”

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That’s certainly the case for one Ivory student, Ayanna Grant, who comes from an immigrant family. She gained invaluable experience from the course that she feels gave her an “edge” — even if Georgia State Law School isn’t as highly ranked as Yale, Harvard and Stanford.

“Seeing Professor Ivory and hearing her story and journey as a lawyer is so inspiring to me,” said Grant, who is of Guyana and Jamaican descent and has aspired to become an entertainment lawyer since fifth grade.

Now, Grant and her colleagues will have the opportunity to network and build relationships internationally.

“To see who organizes the Olympics and helps bring them to life is an amazing opportunity,” she said. “You never know what relationships might come out of that. Years later, that person might be the one who gives you a job. I’ve already developed this familiarity with them.”

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More AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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