NFL Legal Chief Jeff Pash Prepares to Retire After 25-Plus Years

The National Football League is in the market for a new top lawyer as it heads into its 105th season.

Commissioner Roger Goodell announced Thursday that longtime legal chief Jeffrey Pash will retire after roughly four decades of “distinguished service” to the league. Pash, a former partner at Covington & Burling, joined the NFL in 1997 after serving as general counsel for the National Hockey League.

Pash will remain in the NFL’s top in-house legal role until the league hires his successor, Goodell said in a memo viewed by Bloomberg Law. The NFL doesn’t have a specific timeline for that process, a spokesman said.

Goodell, the NFL’s chief executive, said in the memo he’s open to candidate recommendations for its lead legal job.

“We are fortunate that Jeff will remain fully engaged and will actively participate in the search process and transition,” Goodell said. “Once the search is complete, we will address the timing of the transition with greater specificity.”

Goodell praised Pash for a “dynamic and highly successful” tenure that saw him “loyally and effectively” represent the NFL as an external and in-house legal and labor counsel. Pash had a role in negotiating two collective bargaining agreements with the league’s players’ union during that time.

“His leadership and impact across our business are immeasurable, and we are incredibly grateful for the lasting contributions he has made,” Goodell said.

Pash didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The NFL gave up its nonprofit status nearly a decade ago, but the league’s final US tax filing for fiscal 2015 shows that Pash earned more than $6 million in total compensation that year. In 2011, amid a labor impasse that led to a four-month lockout of NFL players, Pash and Goodell agreed to slash their salaries to $1.

During his time as general counsel, Pash worked for Goodell and Paul Tagliabue, another ex-Covington partner who spent over 16 years as NFL commissioner. Tagliabue is now a retired senior of counsel at Covington in Washington, where he returned to the firm after stepping down in 2006 to make way for Goodell.

Pash and another Covington partner, litigator Gregg Levy, had been considered candidates to succeed Tagliabue when he left the NFL.

Covington has remained a key legal adviser to the New York-based league. The firm has counseled the NFL on a variety of litigation, labor, and corporate issues, including a $14 billion broadcast deal and the $5 billion sale of the Denver Broncos.

Over the years Pash often found himself in NFL headlines, from leaked emails involving prominent coaches and executives to disciplinary matters involving star players. That includes the Deflategate scandal that led to a four-game suspension of former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

Earlier this year, a man was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being found guilty in a federal court in New York over a fraud scheme that saw him impersonate Pash and other sports figures.