NFL: Saints Bounty Thread

[JDaveG]

(12-11-2012 05:16 PM)AsylumGuido Wrote:  First of all, Tags is a partner in the firm representing Goodell ... alone ... the NFL is not a participant in that suit. As a partner in the firm wouldn't all clients represented by that firm, in turn, be his client as well?

He's not a partner. He's of counsel.

http://www.cov.com/ptagliabue/

And even if he were a partner, all clients represented by the firm wouldn't be his clients. Clients are represented by lawyers, not firms. There are ethical obligations owed to firm clients by the firm (chiefly that we cannot take on work that would pose a conflict of interest to a firm client, so for example, I can't bring in a case where someone wants to sue one of our firm's clients over an event that we already represent that client on). The only difference if he were a partner would be he would have a financial stake in the case, though his financial interest would be in billing, which would tend to imply he would want the litigation to continue, so that's still a weak claim of bias.

The reality is he probably does lean their way, but I don't consider it a conflict of interest. It's not really any different than the judge being golfing buddies with a lawyer. We used to have a guy working here whose mother in law is a judge. She recused herself from all of our cases, not just his. But everyone's legal opinion was she didn't have to do that (she would have to recuse herself from hearing her son-in-laws cases). She did it to avoid the appearance of impropriety, but other judges often hear the cases of their former law partners, and there is nothing wrong with that. This isn't really different from that, since he doesn't have a financial stake in the equity of the firm.

Quote:Oh, and I see where we were crossed up on the "stated as such". I was referring to the lack of any evidence confirming the existence of bounties.

Fair enough. You should be careful mixing in your inferences with facts, because I'm pretty sure that's where most of us get sideways with you on this issue.