December 4, 2008 3:34 PM

Dewey & LeBoeuf Facing Off Against Covington, Akin Gump Over Suspended NFL Players

Posted by Brian Baxter

The National Football League Players Association filed a civil suit against the league in federal court in Minneapolis on Thursday seeking to block suspensions on five of the six players banned by the league earlier this week for alleged anti-doping violations.

The Am Law Daily reported on Wednesday about legal initiatives undertaken by the players themselves to thwart the suspensions. Now the union is throwing its own legal weight behind their cause, alleging in a 15-page complaint that league lawyers and doctors erred in advising players about certain non-disclosed banned substances.

The Am Law Daily has learned that longtime NFLPA outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler, the cochair of the global and sports litigation departments at Dewey & LeBoeuf, is representing the players union along with sports and entertainment litigation cochair David Feher. Lindquist & Vennum litigation partners Edward Glennon and Mark Jacobson are serving as local counsel.

Handling matters for the NFL is Gregg Levy, chair of the litigation practice at the league's longtime outside counsel Covington & Burling, and Daniel Nash from longtime league labor and employment counsel Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

On Wednesday afternoon, two suspended Minnesota Vikings players--defensive linemen Kevin and Pat Williams (no relation)--won a temporary restraining order from a Hennepin County District Court judge blocking a four-game suspension imposed by the league. Briggs and Morgan litigation partners Patrick Williams and Scott Knudson filed the 36-page complaint for the defensive duo, who are also being represented by Crowell & Moring litigation partner Peter Ginsberg.

But on Thursday morning, league lawyers successfully removed the state court case to federal court before U.S. district court judge Paul Magnuson in St. Paul, Minn. The shift could endanger the efforts of the two Vikings players to stay on the field while the league's second-ranked run defense tries to help the team secure a playoff berth.

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