CLARK
C. GRIFFITH
LAWYER AND ARBITRATOR
4920 IDS CENTER
80 SOUTH 8TH STREET
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA 55402
.
Mr. Griffith is a lawyer and arbitrator. He is admitted to practice
before the United States Supreme Court, federal and Minnesota state
courts. He is Chairman of the Sports Law Division of the American
Bar
Association Sports and Entertainment Law Forum, Vice Chairman of the
National Sports Law Institute at Marquette University. Treasurer and a
Member of the Executive Committee of the Women’s Sports Foundation..
Mr. Griffith’s law practice is in the areas of corporate governance,
antitrust, finance, securities, and intellectual property law. He
also
represents clients in business litigation and arbitration cases.
Mr. Griffith is often asked to speak and write on business and legal
matters. He is a contributing author for " Sports Business
Journal"
and writes on trademark issues for “The Licensing Journal.” He wrote a
study of the labor-antitrust interface in sports for the April 2000
issue of Antitrust Magazine.
In 2003 and 2004, he organized and managed the ABA Sports Law
Seminars
in New York and Los Angeles. In 2003, he participated in a
Stanford
Law School Sports Law program, and presented a paper on The Economics of Contraction in Major
League Baseball
at Vanderbilt Law School. He has participated in conferences on
Baseball Economics at Washington University in 2001 and
on
Baseball's Future at Smith College in 2000. He addressed
the Sports
and Entertainment Section of the ABA on Regulation of Athlete Agents.
His article, Collective
Bargaining after Brown v. Pro-Football, Inc.
was presented at the ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting. He
participated in a Sports Lawyer's presentation on single
entity
sports leagues in May, 1998, and the ABA Forum on Sports Labor Matters
in October, 1998, where he presented The Status of Sports Labor Matters.
In October, 1997, he addressed the ABA Sports and Entertainment Law
Forum on Civil Rights in Sports.
His articles on The Dynamics
of Team Ownership and The Impact of Labor Law on Sports
were published in 1995. He has appeared on panels discussing
labor
relations in sports at the Sports Lawyers' Conference as well as
seminars on marketing at Advertising Federation of Minnesota
conferences.
Mr. Griffith is involved in dispute resolution as an advocate and
as a
commercial arbitrator. As an advocate he has argued employment law,
labor grievance, contract and NASD arbitrations. He has addressed Major
League Baseball General Managers on arbitration procedure and case
management. He participated in grievance arbitrations while a member of
Major League Baseball's Player Relations Committee and while a Twins'
executive. He was selected as an arbitrator for the 1999 Pan
American
Games.
Prior to practicing law, Mr. Griffith was part owner, Treasurer and an
Executive with the Minnesota Twins Baseball Team. He had
responsibilities in the area of broadcasting, player development,
scouting, player relations, governmental relations, finance and
business matters. He was a successful lobbyist for the bill authorizing
the construction of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, and negotiated
stadium use agreements for the Metrodome and Metropolitan Stadium.
Mr. Griffith was Chairman of the Board of Major League Baseball
Properties, from 1975 to 1984. During his tenure as Chairman, MLP
launched its national and international trademark licensing program and
created its broadcast and marketing divisions. The broadcast division
produced and distributed the award winning syndicated shows This
Week
in Baseball and The Baseball Bunch.
Mr. Griffith was educated at Dartmouth College, graduating with an A.B.
degree with a History major in 1966. He began attending William
Mitchell College of Law while working for the Twins in 1983 and
graduated in 1986. While at law school, Mr. Griffith was elected
president of the student body. He served in the U.S. Navy.
Mr. Griffith is very active in community affairs. He was formerly
President of the Boys and Girls Club of Minneapolis and has served as a
trustee of the William Mitchell College of Law, the Freshwater
Foundation, the Minnesota Zoo Foundation, and is currently on the board
of Children's Heartlink.