Adam I. Dale
Partner
Recognized as a “Rising Star” and “One to Watch,” Adam focuses his practice on sports, antitrust, and labor law. He regularly counsels and represents athletes, agencies, Players Associations, and other high-profile sports industry clients.
Key Matters
- Alston v. NCAA – Successfully represented a class of college football and basketball players in a landmark antitrust suit at trial, appeal, and before the Supreme Court against the NCAA and 10 member-conferences that struck down unlawful compensation restraints imposed by the NCAA on Division I Men’s and Woman’s basketball and FBS Football programs.
- North American Soccer League v. United States Soccer Federation and Major League Soccer – Representing the North American Soccer League in a federal antitrust lawsuit seeking to recover damages inflicted on the League by the United States Soccer Federation’s and Major League Soccer’s illegal conspiracy to arbitrarily enforce the Federation’s rules in order to protect Major League Soccer from competition from other leagues.
- Relevent Sports v. United States Soccer Federation Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) – Representing soccer promoter Relevent Sports in a federal antitrust lawsuit seeking to enjoin the United States Soccer Federation and FIFA from continuing to block official season international soccer matches from being played in the U.S.
- House v. NCAA – Representing classes of current and former college athletes in a multibillion-dollar federal antitrust lawsuit seeking to enjoin the NCAA’s rules limiting athletes’ abilities to receive compensation for the use of their names, images, and likenesses and seeking to recover damages for the harm caused to athletes by NCAA’s prior and continuing NIL-related rules.
- Guden et al. v. Stanford University – Secured a settlement reinstating 11 varsity sports at Stanford University that were scheduled to be discontinued following the 2020-2021 school year.
- Elliott v. NFL – Served as counsel for Dallas Cowboys Running Back Ezekiel Elliott and the NFL Players Association in arbitration and federal court proceedings challenging the six-game suspension imposed on Elliott by the NFL for an alleged violation of the League’s Personal Conduct Policy.
- Green Bay Packers v. Bennet – Successfully represented NFL Tight End Martellus Bennett in an arbitration brought against him by his former Club, the Green Bay Packers, for alleged breach of the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement.
- Kerley v. San Francisco 49ers – Achieved complete victory for NFL Wide Receiver Jeremy Kerley in an arbitration against the San Francisco 49ers.
- Major League Baseball Player Agent Arbitrations – Frequently represents high-profile Major League Baseball Player agents and agencies in arbitrations before the MLBPA arbitration tribunal.
Adam maintains an active pro bono practice. He represented two clients serving life sentences for drug-related crimes in their successful petitions to the President of the United States for sentence commutations. Adam also successfully filed and argued a Habeas petition on behalf of a client to correct the Bureau of Prisons’ miscalculation of his client’s sentence. He negotiated a five-figure settlement for a state prison inmate in a civil rights action and secured asylum for a transgender torture victim from Honduras.