The Go To Lawyer For Troubled Athletes Joins the Scott Garceau Show
The Go To Lawyer For Troubled Athletes Joins the Scott Garceau Show
Sports Attorney David Cornwell joins Scott, Jeremy, and Jason on the Scott Garceau Show to discuss the current off-the-field legal conflicts in the NFL during the perfect storm of a terrible PR week for the league. Although there have been several players under scrutiny from both the legal system and the court of public opinion lately, Ray Rice's situation is still among the most controversial and debated. "As it relates to league issues, wow--this evidence clearly warrants discipline from a league perspective. I do believe [Goodell] never saw the second video because he said he didn't, so I believe him," said Cornwell.
Many have taken the same sentiment of late, believing that there would be no good reason for someone is such a high position of authority to lie about whether the evidence was viewed.Though Cornwell believes Goodell, the lawyer also thinks the league has a lot of groundwork to establish. "I think that the NFL has to go out and explain not only what it plans to do now but also going forward with these situations," said Cornwell.
However, Cornwell doesn't think the NFL has to do that to simply take its lumps from the public--there's a larger implication at hand: "I'm very concerned that what could happen is a player's future could be determined from simple public outrage and how bold a headline is. That can't happen. It's not fair," Cornwell believes.
"I've worked with the people involved, and they are usually very thorough. The fact is that this is close to what happens on the field--You make a mistake, you get it fixed. they've got to get it fixed," Cornwell added. Being a Sports Attorney by title, it's not surprising that his takes and theories are more calm and systematic compared to that of the public outcry. However, he does believe the league has violated CBA violations that not many are pointing out.
"You can only have singular discipline, either the club or the commissioner. Moreover, you can't be tried twice for the same crime--that's double jeopardy," said Cornwell while referring to Ray Rice's additional discipline from the commissioner after the second video. "I also don't like that his indictment creates the discipline. We need to figure out a concrete way to discipline these matters so people's outrage doesn't dictate the discipline. That's dangerous," Cornwell insisted.
