NFL Union’s Soaring Legal Bills Benefit Latham, Winston, Dechert

Dechert, Latham & Watkins, and Winston & Strawn collected about 90% of the nearly $10.8 million that the NFL players union spent on outside legal help over a one-year period, a union financial statement shows.

Latham brought in the most at almost $4.9 million for “professional services” and collective bargaining matters between March 1, 2022, and Feb. 28, 2023, according to a filing with the US Labor Department.

Winston received almost $3.5 million and Dechert collected about $1.1 million to work on collective bargaining and other issues for the NFL Players Association, according to the union’s most recent financial statement.

The union’s outside legal bills were more than double the roughly $4 million that it paid out to law firms in the year prior as the organization conducted a search for a new leader, faced litigation from NFL player agents, and took legal advice on a sale involving a joint venture.

NFLPA leader DeMaurice “De” Smith, a former partner at Latham and Patton Boggs, a predecessor to Squire Patton Boggs, is poised to see his 14-year tenure as executive director come to an end. Smith has said his current term will be his final one, although his exact exit date hasn’t been publicly announced.

The Athletic reported in February that among the half-dozen candidates to succeed Smith are the union’s current chief operating officer, Tuaranna “Teri” Patterson Smith, and two other NFLPA executives, assistant executive director of external affairs George Atallah and senior director of player affairs Donald Davis Jr., who is also a senior adviser to De Smith.

Media contacts for the Washington-based union and Smith didn’t respond to requests for comment. The NFLPA elected him leader in 2009.

Smith’s total compensation tripled last year to $9.7 million. His union pay had $9.3 million itemized as “gross salary,” a sum that included almost $5.7 million in deferred retirement compensation, according to the filing. The NFLPA separately noted that Smith paid $106,000 for Super Bowl tickets in 2022 and 2023.

Among the possible candidates to succeed De Smith, Davis received more than $596,600 in total compensation during fiscal 2022-23, while Atallah received almost $436,400, according to the filing. Teri Patterson Smith, a former Latham associate who also once worked at Dechert, earned more than $1 million.

The NFLPA also paid almost $938,800 to its general counsel, Thomas DePaso, as well as $752,900 to managing director Ira Fishman. De Smith, who worked at Patton Boggs in Washington after leaving Latham in 2006, hired Fishman from Patton Boggs three years later to be his No. 2 at the NFLPA.

Legal Engagements

Other in-house lawyers on the union’s payroll include Sean Sansiveri, who was paid almost $632,800 in his position as general counsel and head of business affairs for NFL Players Inc., the NFLPA’s for-profit licensing and marketing arm.

Heather McPhee, a former litigator at Latham and Patton Boggs, received roughly $510,200 in her role as an associate general counsel.

Another former Latham and Patton Boggs lawyer, Ahmad Nassar, served as legal chief and president of NFL Players before stepping down last year as the top executive at OneTeam Partners LLC, a joint venture between the NFLPA and RedBird Capital Partners LLC, a private equity firm whose assets include the XFL.

RedBird sold its 40% stake in OneTeam last year in a deal valuing the business at $1.9 billion. Latham advised the NFLPA on that matter. OneTeam’s finances were affected by a downturn in cryptocurrency markets, according to The Athletic. OneTeam subsequently restructured its operations and laid off 10% of its workforce. Nassar now heads the Professional Tennis Players Association.

Besides Latham, Winston, and Dechert, other firms receiving payments from the NFLPA within the last year include the Groom Law Group ($599,000); Linklaters ($260,300); and New York’s Katzke & Morgenbesser ($109,000).

Other legal billers include Weil, Gotshal & Manges ($61,800); Philadelphia-based Willig, Williams & Davidson ($60,000); Boston-based Hemenway & Barnes ($57,600); Bethesda, Md.-based Bregman, Berbert, Schwartz & Gilday ($42,300); and Delaware’s Farnan ($38,500) and Potter Anderson & Corroon ($20,300).

Rounding out the outside counsel roster for the union were Duane Morris ($21,400); Day Pitney ($18,700); San Francisco-based Altshuler Berzon ($17,100); Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher ($11,100); Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton ($10,800); and Detroit’s Kerr, Russell & Weber ($10,600).

Kerr Russell and Winston are representing the NFLPA in litigation filed by an agent embroiled in a long-running dispute with the organization over a suspension barring their representation of NFL players. An online database maintained by the union shows that lawyers from several large firms—including Ballard Spahr, Duane Morris, Greenberg Traurig, Kutak Rock, Ropes & Gray, and Taft Stettinius & Hollister—are registered to represent NFL players.