Lawyers In and Lawyers Out
NFLPA Lawyers Door
It seems that the NFLPA was under the rule of lawyers for decades when departed Executive Director Gene Upshaw ran the place. We’ve covered many of the lawyers inside over the past couple of years. And current Executive Director DeMaurice Smith recently alluded to the conflict of interest posed by the Groom Law Group with regard to the players’ pension plans; they wrote the plan and they represented BOTH the NFLPA AND the NFL when it came to defending the plan. (Click HERE to see the Super Bowl announcement.)
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Then you have Jeffrey Kessler who fought against the retired players in the Parrish GLA lawsuit by representing the NFLPA (who’s SUPPOSED to be representing the retired players’ interests – got that?!) and then turns around to represent the Union in the recent American Needle antitrust case in the Supreme Court. You also have CAA superagent Tom Condon who makes the big bucks representing many of the active players in their contracts with the League while also supposedly looking after retired players’ interests by serving for years as one of the 3 NFLPA representatives on the Disability Committee (most applicants get turned down for full benefits). And last but not least, you have NFLPA General Counsel, Richard Berthelsen, who’s been there as long as the wallpaper advising Upshaw over the years.
Gene Berthelsen
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But what happens when you throw in a lawyer with experience in criminal law and white collar crime to the top spot at the NFLPA and stir the pot? DeMaurice Smith stepped into the Executive Director’s seat a year ago after Berthelsen served as interim ED when Upshaw left the picture.
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Berthelsen actually hit official NFLPA retirement age last September and was rumored to be leaving for his next job at another sports firm. We’ve written about Berthelsen many times over the past couple of years (click HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE for a small glimpse into what he does for his paycheck). Smith has been slowly adding to his own team over the past year and many of them are former colleagues from various law firms. Maybe there should be a policy of kicking two lawyers out for every new one that’s brought in?
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Yesterday, there was a press release from several retired players demanding the immediate ouster of Berthelsen. The New York Times Fifth Down blog covered it:
March 8, 2010
Retired Players Call for Union Lawyer’s Dismissal
By JUDY BATTISTA.
A group of retired N.F.L. players, including Fred Dean and Joe DeLamielleure, sent a letter to players union chief DeMaurice Smith on Friday calling for the firing of the union’s top lawyer, Richard Berthelsen.
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In the letter, sent by the Georgia-based lawyer John V. Hogan, the players cite a 2008 California court decision against the union that awarded $28 million in damages to a class of retired players for the union’s failure to properly market their images. The letter asks why Berthelsen was not fired after the verdict.
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“It must be assumed that as the NFLPA attorney and key witness for the defense that he had full knowledge about the facts concerned in that trial,” the letter said.
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Read the rest of the article – click HERE.
And read the official press release – click HERE.
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And here’s a copy of disability attorney John Hogan’s letter that was sent on behalf of the retired players’ group, The Unbroken Line. (Click on the thumbnails to enlarge for reading.)
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Dave Pear
March 10th, 2010 at 2:12 am #
Dear Richard Berthelsen,
According to your online resume, one of your jobs is writing “Group License Agreements” (GLA).
However, on the witness stand in the Players Inc. trial while you were under oath and were asked the question: “who wrote the “GLA” agreements,” you said that you didn’t know.
Wow! How could you make that statement?
What were you doing? Getting coffee for Gene Upshaw and his gang during the writing of this agreement?
Certainly you must know who wrote the GLA agreements?!!
When are you going to stop playing this “BO” game?
Lying under oath is perjury.
Please read the court documents.
Regards,
Dave & Heidi Pear
Robbie Jones
March 10th, 2010 at 4:05 am #
Completely On Target, Mr. Pear!!! A common response from NFLPA officials and former NFLPA officials is that the Pension Plan was never meant to be a full Pension — Just a Supplement. The obvious conflicts of interest contributed to ensuring that only the post-1992 (approximate) members have a full pension. Screw everybody else!
Robbie Jones
New York Giants
1984 – 1987