Matthew H. Adler Quoted in New York Daily News Article, 'Deflategate Proves NFL Needs to Change Its Disciplinary Playbook, Say Legal Experts'
Matthew H. Adler, Pepper partner, chair of the firm's International and Domestic Arbitration Practice Group and co-chair of the firm's Commercial Litigation Practice Group, was quoted in the September 4, 2015 New York Daily News article, "Deflategate Proves NFL Needs to Change Its Disciplinary Playbook, Say Legal Experts."
“This decision gives a road map of what to do differently,” said attorney Matthew Adler, who leads the arbitration practice group at the firm Pepper Hamilton. “It has nothing to do with whether the ball is over-inflated or under-inflated. It’s the process that matters.”
Adler, who also teaches law, says he describes arbitration to his students as “a tug of war between the public and the private,” meaning that a private institution seeks to handle its disputes internally but have the results of its proceedings enforced by federal courts. And to do that, courts expect arbitrators to meet a basic standard of due process.
“The NFL went below the very, very low floor,” Adler says, noting that Berman was suspicious of the fact that Brady’s side was deprived of an opportunity to interview NFL general counsel Jeffrey Pash, who reviewed a report prepared by attorney Ted Wells and commissioned by the NFL.
“The next time a player wants to cross-examine a witness, the next time a player wants to see more evidence, the NFL is going to let them,” Adler predicted.
But to Adler, the NFL’s loss in this case was also simply a matter of poor strategy. He says a lawyer who believes in his or her case should do nothing to limit the other’s side’s effort to bring in evidence.
“If I think I’m going to beat my opponent, I want all of their defense to come in,” said Adler. “I can block something from coming in, but then that block will become the reason for an appeal. I don’t want them to appeal the little stuff while I’m clobbering them on the big stuff.
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