NFL Hires Ex-Facebook Law Head Ted Ullyot as New Top Lawyer (1)

The NFL has hired Theodore “Ted” Ullyot, a former general counsel at Facebook and partner at Kirkland & Ellis, to replace retiring chief legal officer L. Jeffrey Pash as of May 1. Pash joined the NFL in 1997.

An NFL spokesman confirmed that Ullyot was introduced to owners of the league’s 32 teams Monday morning. NFL executives are gathered in Palm Beach, Florida, for the league’s annual meeting to discuss several key issues, including naming a long-awaited successor to Pash, whose retirement was announced almost a year ago. The NFL had options from a large pool of candidates—both in-house and external—to replace him.

Pash and Ullyot didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ullyot, who spent more than five years at Facebook until he left the social media company more than a decade ago, is a well-known litigator in Republican political and legal circles. He clerked for former US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and most recently co-founded Torridon Law in 2022 with William “Bill” Barr, who was US Attorney General during the first Trump administration.

The boutique firm has been busy bringing on lawyers from conservative legal circles to advise its growing client base. Torridon declined to discuss whether it will do work for the NFL, which has a robust outside counsel roster that includes Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Covington & Burling; Proskauer Rose; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; and Wilkinson Stekloff.

“This is a dream opportunity for Ted,” Barr said in a statement. “We are proud and thrilled to see him take his talents to the NFL. We know well what a superb lawyer and leader he his and we are certain he will do a fabulous job.”

Ullyot, 59, has also been an executive at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and was once tapped to oversee T-Mobile US Inc.’s acquisition of Sprint Corp. He is now poised to become the top lawyer for a business entity effectively owned by 32 billionaires—the NFL relinquished its nonprofit status in 2015—many of whom have competing agendas and interests.

“This is someone who has the credentials and the smarts to do just about any GC job in the world,” said Jodi Balsam, a former NFL in-house lawyer who is now a professor at Brooklyn Law School. “But why would he want this job? Does he know what he’s getting into?”

Balsam, who has met Ullyot in Federalist Society circles, called him a high-profile hire who brings to the job a “huge amount of political savvy and expertise.” Balsam said the “political component” of Ullyot’s selection could be helpful for someone who has friends in Washington at a fortuitous time for navigating the halls of power.

“There isn’t an industry in America right now who isn’t thinking in those terms when they’re hiring senior executives, especially lawyers,” Balsam said.

The NFL’s thinking in finding Pash’s replacement had to have been affected by President Donald Trump’s reelection, Balsam said. Three other lawyers familiar with the NFL’s operations, all of whom requested anonymity in discussing the league, agreed with her assessment.

The NFL and its commissioner Roger Goodell often found themselves at loggerheads with Trump during his first administration.

America First Legal, a conservative group founded by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, sought a civil rights probe last year into the NFL Rooney Rule’s legality by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Rooney Rule, a program aimed at increasing diversity in the league’s coaching and management ranks, was a template for the Mansfield Rule, another initiative designed to increase diversity within Big Law.

The EEOC is now conducting DEI-related inquiries into 20 large law firms.

Balsam said Ullyot is also an ideal choice for the NFL’s top legal job for his ability to manage a large litigation docket, protect intellectual property, and handle media and entertainment deals. One piece missing from his resume, however, is labor relations, a key part of the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement that underscores its revenue-sharing with players, Balsam said.

The NFL’s next labor deal, however, doesn’t expire for five more years. Only Ullyot—whose hire was first reported Monday by Sports Business Journal—and the league know if he plans to stick around until then.