Orrick's Sarchio, who is based out of New York and Washington, D.C., joined the firm in August 2012 from Patton Boggs, where she was cochair of the government investigations and litigation practice. Sarchio, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan, told sibling publication The Blog of Legal Times that Orrick's litigation practice and global footprint enticed her to leave Patton Boggs, a firm she joined in December 2008 from now-defunct Howrey.
At Patton Boggs, Sarchio was part of a team of lawyers from the firm that once represented disgraced financier R. Allen Stanford. (In our reporting on that case, we once noted that Sarchio's profile on Patton Boggs's website described her as, "charming in person, deadly in the courtroom.")
Sarchio's other clients have included the NFLPA, which Smith, her former Patton Boggs colleague, has headed since 2009. Smith has since staffed the Washington, D.C.–based NFLPA with several Patton Boggs alums, including former partner Ira Fishman and ex-associates Heather McPhee and Ahmad Nassar.
Federal tax filings by the NFLPA for fiscal year 2011 show that Smith received about $2.5 million in compensation as executive director, while Fishman was paid $682,658 in his role as managing director of the union. McPhee was paid $337,202 in her position as associate general counsel. Nassar took home $287,324 in his job as vice president of business and legal affairs for the union, according to a Labor Department filing.
In the aftermath of last year's NBA lockout, union president Fisher sought to hire Patton Boggs for a review of its business practices under Hunter. The move immediately drew the executive director's ire and set off a battle for control of the NBPA, according to our previous reports.
Sarchio was the lead Patton Boggs partner tapped to handle that review for the union. Asked about her retention at the time, she cited her previous experience advising the NFLPA. The assignment was shelved once the NBPA's executive committee hired Paul Weiss to conduct its own internal investigation. Sarchio, who did not respond Thursday to a request for comment, subsequently moved to Orrick.
The union's decision to hire Orrick and Sarchio has clearly rankled some in the pro-Hunter camp, one of whom remarked to The Am Law Daily on the condition of anonymity that she was "tethered to the waist" with Smith. Smith did not respond to a request for comment about his former colleague's hiring by the NBPA.
A spokesman for Hunter and his attorney Ashley—the two men know each other from growing up as teenage sports stars in southern New Jersey—declined to comment on the matter when contacted by The Am Law Daily. (Ashley, who once represented former Newark Mayor Sharpe James on corruption charges, played basketball at Rugters University; Hunter was captain of the football team at Syracuse University.)
The latest legal developments follow the NBPA's appointment earlier this week of former Weil, Gotshal & Manges associate and longtime union deputy general counsel Ronald Klempner as acting executive director during Hunter's paid leave of absence.
Should the union's rank and file move to elect a new leader during All-Star Weekend—current National Hockey League Players Association head Donald Fehr and acting ATF director B. Todd Jones, who is also U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, have been mentioned as potential replacements for Hunter—it could lead to other changes at the NBPA.
