Ellen Marsha Zavian (born June 15, 1963) is an American sports agent and attorney. She was the first

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) female attorney-agent. She is a professor of law at the

George Washington University Law School The George Washington University Law School (GW Law) is the law school of George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Established in 1865, GW Law is the oldest top law school in the national capital. GW Law offers the largest range of cou ...

. She is also the founder and owner of EZ Negotiation, a sports agency based in the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

area.

Early life and education

Zavian was raised in

Maywood, New Jersey Maywood is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 9,555, Her father played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and her mother was a

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

, while her older brother ran

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

and her older sister played

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

. Zavian attended Maywood Elementary School and

Hackensack High School Hackensack High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Hackensack, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Hackensack Public Schools. Hackensack High School serves students from the Bergen County, New Jer ...

. Zavian was a three-sport varsity athlete at Hackensack High School, participating in

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, as well as

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

. She was also a

cheerleader Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

. For her undergraduate education, Zavian attended the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

. She earned her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in

business management Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

and

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

, graduating in 1985. Zavian continued her education at American University – Washington College of Law and earned her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree in 1988.

Early career

In the 1980s, Zavian worked at the Maryland racetracks' promotional departments (

Pimlico Pimlico () is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by London V ...

, Freestate and

Laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

) and the University of Maryland's Recreation Center.

Legal career

In law school, she worked as an intern at the

National Football League Players Association The National Football League Players Association, or NFLPA, is a labor union representing National Football League (NFL) players. The NFLPA, which has headquarters in Washington, D.C., is led by president J. C. Tretter and executive director De ...

(NFLPA) during the

1987 NFL season The 1987 NFL season was the 68th regular season of the National Football League. This season featured games predominantly played by replacement players, as the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) players were on strike from ...

players’ strike. Zavian worked under the supervision of NFL Hall of Famer

Gene Upshaw Eugene Thurman Upshaw Jr. (August 15, 1945 – August 20, 2008), also known as "Uptown Gene" and "Highway 63", was an American professional football player for the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League (AFL) and later the National F ...

, with her direct report to the economist, Michael Duberstein. After graduating from law school, Zavian joined a Senior Management Group LLC law firm based near

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and run by sports agent, Brett Senior, where she represented professional athletes as their attorney/agent. Two years later, Zavian launched her own practice. In 1990, at the age of 26, Zavian became the first female attorney/agent representing players and coaches in the NFL. Her first client was

John Booty John Fitzgerald Booty (born October 9, 1965) is a former American football defensive back in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Phoenix Cardinals, the New York Giants, and the Tampa Bay Bucca ...

, of the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

and later the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

and

Phoenix Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play th ...

. Nearly twenty years later, Zavian's final professional football player client was

Troy Brown Troy Fitzgerald Brown (born July 2, 1971) is an American football coach and former player who is the wide receivers and kick returners coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played as a wide receiver and ki ...

, MVP of the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

. Throughout her career, Zavian also worked with

Frank Reich Frank Michael Reich Jr. (; ; born December 4, 1961) is an American football coach and former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Maryland a ...

Steve Tasker Steven Jay Tasker (born April 10, 1962) is an American sports reporter, locally in Western New York on the MSG Western New York cable TV station, and on WGR Radio and formerly for CBS Sports. He is a former football player who was a wide receive ...

, Erik McMillan and

Tim Manoa Timote "Tim" Taliai Manoa (born September 9, 1964) is a former professional American football player. He played fullback for four seasons in the National Football League for the Cleveland Browns and the Indianapolis Colts. He played collegiately ...

, among many others. Following several years of representing players and coaches, Zavian was then approached by

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's Association football, soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four FIFA Women's World Cup, Wom ...

(USWNT) co-captains

Julie Foudy Julie Maurine Foudy ( ; born January 23, 1971) is an American retired soccer midfielder, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. She played for the United States women's national soccer team from 1988 to 2004 ...

and

Carla Overbeck Carla Werden Overbeck (; born May 9, 1968) is a retired American soccer player and longtime member and captain of the United States women's national soccer team. She is currently an assistant coach of Duke Blue Devils, Duke University's women's s ...

in late 1995 for help negotiating new contracts from the

U.S. Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

for nine of the women soccer players, including

Kristine Lilly Kristine Marie Lilly Heavey (; born July 22, 1971) is an American retired soccer player. She was a member of the United States women's national team for 23 years and is the most-capped football player in the history of the sport (men's or wome ...

and

Mia Hamm Mariel Margaret Hamm-Garciaparra (; born March 17, 1972) is an American retired professional soccer player, two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion. Hailed as a soccer icon, she played as a forward for the U ...

. The terms of the contract stated that the women’s soccer team would only receive a bonus if they won gold at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta, while the men’s soccer team contract stated they would receive an Olympic bonus if they won bronze, silver or gold. Zavian advised Foudy and her teammates to cross out the contested clauses and then faxed the revised documents back to the Federation which prompted a players’ lockout. Relying on her previous background with the

’s

players’ strike, Zavian and the U.S. women soccer players held out. By the early part of 1996, the Federation responded to the players’ requests agreeing that the women soccer team would receive bonuses if they won either gold, silver, or bronze at the Olympics. The

collective bargaining agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...

was also the first in women's sports to include a paid pregnancy leave clause. The agreements for two of the women soccer players who had small children also had a clause incorporating paid nannies. By the early 2000s, Zavian found another group of players to represent namely those involved in

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a ...

and

breakdancing Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...

. She helped create the X-Game and

Gravity Games The Gravity Games was a multi-sport competition originating in Providence, Rhode Island that was broken down into Winter and Summer adaptations. The competition featured a variety of extreme sports such as aggressive inline skating, skateboardi ...

extreme athletes (

skateboarders Skateboarding is an action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. ...

, bmx’ers and inliners) and the

break dancers Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African Americans, African American and Puerto Rican Americans, Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse ...

player associations. Throughout her career, Zavian has represented a range of athletes from professional football players, soccer and softball players to skateboarders and break-dancers. Zavian has served as the Founding Executive Director of the Women’s National Team Players Association The Women’s National Team Softball Association, The United Professional Skateboarder Association (UPSA). She also created the United Breakin Association, a global association for competitive break dancers, and she was appointed to the USA Dance task force which ultimately sought and obtained approval from the International Olympic Committee to recognized break dancing in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Zavian was appointed by FIFA to the FIFA Pro Bono Counsel group in 2019 and SafeSport International Board of Trustee in 2021. In 2022, Zavian became the first

General Counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

for USA Lacrosse, the governing body of

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

in the United States.

Journalism career

Zavian has held several positions in the field of journalism. She served as an inaugural columnist for Conde Nast’s Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal, covering the business of women’s sports. In addition, she also was a

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

for Fairchild’s Branding magazine, covering the sports marketing,

Pro Football Weekly ''Pro Football Weekly'' (sometimes shortened to ''PFW'') is an American sports magazine, founded in 1967, and website that covers the National Football League (NFL). It was owned by Pro Football Weekly LLC and headquartered in Riverwoods, Illinoi ...

, focusing on the business of the

and Bass Resource reporting on women. She is

Editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

for Esports and the Law and My Legal Bookie both of which focus on the legal issues within

esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

and

gaming Gaming may refer to: Games and sports The act of playing games, as in: * Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming" * Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles * Playin ...

. In 2020, she became a Contributing Author in esports coverage for

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

. Other writings and quotes of hers have appeared in ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'', ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'', The Guardian, Association of Corporate Counsel, and Sports Law Expert. She has also made appearances on

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

, and

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

Teaching career

Zavian is currently a Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington School of Law. She also teaches students in the Sports Management MBA program at

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

. Zavian has also taught at the

University of Baltimore Law School The University of Baltimore School of Law, or the UB School of Law, is one of the four colleges that make up the University of Baltimore, which is part of the University System of Maryland. The UBalt School of Law is one of only two law schools i ...

David A. Clarke School of Law The University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC Law) is the law school of the University of the District of Columbia, a public historically black land-grant university in Washington, D.C. It is named after David A. ...

, George Mason - Antonin Scalia Law School, and

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

–

Washington College of Law The American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL or WCL) is the law school of American University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleyto ...

Awards

1992, Zavian was awarded the New Jersey Achievement Award 1997, Zavian was awarded the Top 20 Most Powerful Women In Sports by the Women's Sports and Fitness Foundation. 2001, Zavian was named to the Jewish Community Center of Greater DC's Sports Hall of Fame.

Personal life

A resident of

River Edge, New Jersey River Edge is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough’s population was 12,049, reflecting a 6.3% increase from the 11,340 enumera ...

, she competes in

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

s and

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...

s and was a

body builder Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zavian, Ellen 1963 births Living people American sports agents Hackensack High School alumni People from Maywood, New Jersey People from River Edge, New Jersey Sportspeople from Bergen County, New Jersey Women sports agents 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 20th-century American women lawyers 20th-century American lawyers Lawyers from Washington, D.C. George Washington University Law School faculty New Jersey lawyers American female bodybuilders University of Maryland, College Park alumni Washington College of Law alumni American women sportswriters Jewish American journalists Jewish American attorneys Jewish women writers