The latest tax filings by the National Football League and its collective bargaining arm, the NFL Management Council, show the two entities combining to pay three Am Law 100 firms a total of nearly $25 million during the 2012 fiscal year.
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Covington & Burling and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison divvied up the lucrative outside counsel work for the world’s most profitable professional sports league, which is awaiting the resolution of one of its most significant pending legal matters: litigation with former players who sued the NFL claiming that concussions and other head injuries suffered during their playing days had resulted in long-term damage to their health. The league and plaintiffs reached a $765 million settlement last August that still requires court approval.
