Lawyer Turned Sports Reporter Clay Travis Dishes On What It's Like To Leave The Law, CLE Credits, And College Football

Billed as “the least miserable way to earn CLE credit,” Outkick CLE knows that earning credits for those mandatory CLE hours can be a boring, tedious experience. So they aim to make things a little bit more fun. You can take “The Craft Beer CLE,” “The NCAA Legal Dumpster Fire,” or the (free!) course, “How the Supreme Court Changed College Sports Forever.” Definitely more interesting than your run-of-the-mill CLE course.

Outkick CLE is the brain child of Clay Travis, a familiar face for sports fans. Travis is a television analyst for Fox Sports, book author, and blogger at Outkick the Coverage. But he is also a lawyer. A graduate of Vanderbilt Law School, he practiced law for several years before giving it all up to pursue his passion for sports writing. We interviewed Travis to find out exactly why he went to law school in the first place, what he misses about being a lawyer, and what he thinks the upside of his beloved Tennessee Titans will be now that they have a solid QB in Marcus Mariota.

You obviously have passions outside of the law, what made you decide to go to law school in the first place?

I liked the idea of being a lawyer more than I liked the actuality of being a lawyer. Also, I’m a history buff, the study of the law is really the study of our country’s history as much as anything.

Is there anything you miss about practicing law?

No.

I feel like that’s an abrupt answer and there has to be something, but no is the answer. I don’t miss anything about practicing law.

Do you maintain your admission to the bar? Was making that decision an easy one for you?

Yes, I’m still licensed in the US Virgin Islands and the state of Tennessee. It wasn’t that hard of a decision to make, I’m just not willing to give it up.

Are there skills you learned in the course of your legal career that helped you make the transition to sports writing?

I think so, certainly. A sports opinion is just an argument. You make the case for why you think you’re right and why someone else is wrong. Then a game happens — which is basically a court ruling — and you adjust your opinion accordingly. Your side was either right or wrong and you move on to the next case or game.

What would a CLE description have to say to get you excited to take the class? What would be your ideal CLE?

“Charlotte McKinney will be topless discussing…” Bang, I’m sold. Doesn’t matter the subject. It could be complexities of rule against perpetuities law in Thailand and I’m there.

As for my ideal CLE, it’s mixing sports, media, and the law. Those are the areas that I’ve actually used my law degree the most.

In addition to sports blogging, you’ve written several books. What is the most challenging part of writing a book?

For me it was writing the book while writing full time outside of the book. It’s just a tremendous undertaking. I write everyday online so writing every day online and then writing every day offline is a lot of work. That and having three kids eight and under. Every day feels like a sprint.

It’s been an interesting year for legal sports scandals (Deflategate, Baylor, CTE, daily fantasy leagues) what legal sports scandal will leave the biggest impact when it’s all said and done?

CTE. I believe football as we know it has been forever injured by the danger inherent in the game. No one really lets their kid box nowadays because we know what can happen to boxers. I think, increasingly, lots of moms and dads are going to make the same decision about football.

After that, it’s Baylor. Colleges are going to have to start answering this question: how much risk is too much risk for us to put our regular students under in order to excel at football.

I’m an Oregon Ducks fan, so I’ve been his fan for a while, but Marcus Mariota — what do you think are his biggest strengths? Do you see him bringing a championship to Tennessee?

I absolutely love Mariota and I think he’ll win a Super Bowl at Tennessee. His biggest strength is his passing inside the red zone. That typically takes years to develop, his numbers were off the charts in year one. Mariota had the best first 12 games as a quarterback in the history of the NFL, if he keeps up this trajectory he’s going to be incredible.

Are you content with the current college football playoff system?

No, it should be eight teams, the big five conference champs and three wild card teams.

Who do you think will win the college football championship this year?

Alabama.

Until Nick Saban’s team falls apart, they have to be everyone’s top pick.

                                                                                                                                         

Outkick CLE is the least miserable way to earn CLE credit. We produce interesting CLEs from interesting presenters that you might actually want to pay attention to. Check out our ATL Bundle for 3 courses on sports, beer, and pot.