Scott Andresen - AEMM - Sports Management

Attorney Scott Andresen has been an adjunct instructor in the AEMM department’s Sports Management concentration since the early days of its inception. An accomplished instructor and lecturer, Andresen instructs Sports Law I, a course for which he was the first instructor at Columbia to teach.

Outside of Columbia, Andresen practices law at Andresen & Associates, a Chicago-based law firm specializing in sports, entertainment, and intellectual property which Scott co-founded in the early 2000s. Scott recently talked with us about his experiences at Columbia.

What lead you to teaching at Columbia?
I was fortunate to have been introduced to Philippe Ravanas (current Chairman of AEMM) by a mutual colleague at the same time as he was conceptualizing Columbia College’s sports management program in 2003/2004. The timing was perfect as I had been seeking an opportunity to teach the type of class that I would have wanted to take as a student. Philippe and Columbia gave me the freedom to teach classes comprised of lectures discussing practical knowledge and real-world applications, rather than forcing me to utilize textbooks that might have been written years before and focus more on theory than the realities of the world that will be faced by my students after they leave Columbia and join the working world.

How does your classroom time influence your work outside of Columbia?
I believe that my preparation for each class helps me stay current on the new legal and business developments in the sports and entertainment industries. I also like the fact that I am able to get feedback on current events from my students during our class discussions.

What should we be on the lookout for from Scott Andresen in the future?
I am beginning to move my career from a traditional legal practice towards more entrepreneurial pursuits. Although I love being an attorney and plan to always utilize my legal background and experience, I think it is important to keep one’s life and career exciting with new challenges and endeavors. I also want to take my non-business pursuits to “the next level” with increased domestic and international speaking/lecturing engagements and more scholarly writing for publication.