1. Building a Dream Team: Austin Brown ’13L

Shea Gibbs | W&L: The Washington and Lee Magazine
September 16, 2024

This article first appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of W&L: The Washington and Lee Magazine.

Austin Brown '13L grew up just north of Chicago, a big-city kid from birth. His Evanston, Illinois, high school had more than 4,000 students, about half of whom were from various racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Today, the sports super-agent - one of the most prolific among all NBA player representatives - says he owes his success to his ability to connect with individuals of all types. Diversity, in other words, is important to Brown.

So, what made the young Midwestern Black man choose a school of approximately 400 graduate students and 1,850 undergraduate students in the small town of Lexington, Virginia, when he decided to pursue a law degree?

According to Brown, diversity is relative.

"It's all about how you define 'different.' It depends on your own experience," he says. "Even though Washington and Lee is in the South and my first-year [cohort] was a small group, to me, it was very diverse."

Brown, who as part of the Creative Artists Agency helps manage $1.25 billion in NBA contracts and negotiated more than $300 million in contracts in 2023, says he met people from California, the East Coast, the South, the Midwest and beyond when he arrived at the Washington and Lee University School of Law. Some were former athletes, like himself. Some came straight from their undergraduate studies. Others had already gathered a lifetime's worth of experience.

"One of my law school classmates was one of the original hand models for Palmolive," Brown says. "She had a full career prior to becoming a lawyer. That is diversity."

"The most important thing in my career is being able to relate to people and be honest and transparent … Real relationships in this business are hard. But that has always been at the forefront. That sets you up for success in any business." - Austin Brown '13L

Full-court press

After high school, Brown played basketball at DePauw University, a DIII school in Indiana. He excelled off and on the court, receiving offers to play professional basketball in Europe after graduation. But instead of heeding his hoop dreams, he followed his father's financial footsteps and took a job with JP Morgan in New York.

After deciding to go back to school for a law degree, Brown began looking for a summer experience prior to attending W&L in the fall of 2010. He then landed an internship at a sports agency in Chicago where everything just clicked: business and finance, law, basketball, his ability to converse with others from all walks of life - he realized they all blended perfectly in a career as a sports agent.

So with that, Brown arrived on campus for his first semester at W&L's Law School with lofty aspirations.

However, landing clients such as 2019's first overall NBA pick Zion Williamson, Cleveland Cavaliers standout Donovan Mitchell, Memphis Grizzlies star Jaren Jackson Jr. and Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma doesn't happen to everyone who wants to be an agent. For Brown, a few more pieces would need to fall into place.

During his third year at W&L, Brown devised a unique externship with professor of law emerita Mary Natkin, who was at the time assistant dean for clinical education and public service. Most of the school's externs up to that point had worked in Virginia or Washington, D.C., specifically preparing themselves for their post-graduation legal careers.

Because of the intimate working relationship among students and professors at Washington and Lee, Brown and Natkin were able to work out a biweekly commute to and from Chicago, where Brown would once again be working for a sports agency.

"Dean Natkin was so great with me. Without her, my path would have been a lot different," Brown says. "She was incredible."

Brown considered bigger law schools before committing to W&L, but the small liberal arts feel had seeped into his bones at DePauw, and he wanted a second shot at those small class sizes and close relationships with professors. The bucolic environment at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains would be the "and-one," a place where Brown could focus without distraction.

Law school was challenging, but he developed a close rapport with his fellow students. He joined the Sports, Entertainment and Intellectual Property Law Society and the Law School Football League, a chance to decompress and further build classmate camaraderie. He took in Lexington's quaint restaurants, history and scenery. He was focused but still felt tied to the full university community.

"Law school is hard, and you would be lying if you said you weren't scared," Brown says. "Those small class sizes and having those real relationships are critical."

Sports representation comes with plenty of challenges. It's a nonstop, 15-hour-per-day hustle, and agents aren't always the most beloved characters in sports. But for all the Scott Borases of the world, there are also the Austin Browns.

Brown, named a 30 Under 30 by Forbes magazine in 2015 and a 40 Under 40 by Sports Business Journal in 2020, says his client list will always be about quality over quantity, and teamwork is paramount.

Indeed, Brown says his job is everything he hoped it would be - and then some. Far from a consolation prize for falling short of the NBA himself, getting a chance to work with the world's best basketball players every day is perhaps a greater award all its own.

"The most important thing in my career is being able to relate to people and be honest and transparent," Brown says. "You meet people of all different walks of life, and you have to establish a rapport and have familiarity with them in a short timeframe. Real relationships in this business are hard. But that has always been at the forefront. That sets you up for success in any business."

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