Hausfeld founding partner Michael Hausfeld told The Am Law Daily on Friday afternoon that Cousins's decision was limited in its scope. magistrate judge Nathanael Cousins in Oakland ruled that the NCAA has no control over its member institutions, thus denying a plaintiffs' motion to compel responses to document and interrogatory requests by various universities. Court filings on Friday show that Schiff Hardin is now representing the NCAA in the litigation.Ĭurtner and the NCAA got a bit of good news this week when U.S. Curtner, who was not immediately available for comment on Friday, confirmed through a Schiff Hardin spokeswoman that he was taking the defense in the O'Bannon/Keller case with him from Miller Canfield. Joining Curtner, who will work out of Schiff Hardin's offices in Ann Arbor and New York, are antitrust litigation partners Frederick Juckniess, Kimberly Kefalas, and Robert Wierenga.

Schiff Hardin announced this week that it would open an office in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a team of four former Miller Canfield partners led by noted antitrust and sports litigator Gregory Curtner, a former Am Law Litigator of the Week. Now the NCAA's legal team is on the move. While a battery of high-profile plaintiffs firms led by Hausfeld and Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro are backing the former players, the NCAA has turned to longtime outside counsel Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone for representation in the case, which has garnered mention in the pages of The Atlantic and The New York Times Magazine. The suit survived summary judgment motions in early 2010 and was then consolidated with a similar case filed by former college football quarterback Sam Keller against the NCAA and video game publisher Electronic Arts. Janu2:30 PM The Score: NCAA, Under Fire, Sees Lawyers Switch Firmsįrom sex abuse scandals at two high-profile schools to boosters-turned-Ponzi-schemers to a federal investigation into a major bowl game, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and its member institutions have had to contend with a rash of legal issues in recent months.Īdding to the NCAA's legal woes: a class action suit filed in 2009 by former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon claiming the governing body of big-time college sports violated antitrust laws by allowing media and video game companies to use player likenesses without compensating former players.

The n.c.a.a. under scrutiny