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NEWS JUNE 21, 2021 ■ 9
of the Civil Issues Subcommittee about the job, which will see
of the Attorney General’s Advisory him focus on deals with disputes
Committee. stemming from the collective bar-
At Day Pitney, Droney’s focus gaining agreement.
is on complex litigation at the His role will not include play-
state and federal level. He also Football fan and Day ers’ conduct on and off the field, or
represents clients in white-collar Pitney partner Christopher issues related to the league’s drug
defense and matters involving Droney has been tapped to policy.
governmental and internal inves- be the NFL’s arbitrator, a Litigants could appeal his rul-
tigations. part-time post that will see ing to a three-person committee
He brings that litigation experi- him remain at the law firm. on which management and the
ence to the role, using the league’s players association agree. That
roughly 400-page collective bar- committee has the final say on all
gaining agreement as a guiding cases.
tool in making decisions. Droney said Burbank told him
“I have done a lot of analysis that on average he could be work-
over the years of complicated fi- ing on between two and five cases
nancial documents, and that’s what this document a year. The lawyers also talked about precedent, with
is,” Droney said. “I have reviewed the 400 pages.” Burbank sending the new arbitrator key decisions to
review. Now, as he heads into the new role, Droney
Recruitment said he is familiar with those decisions, and how
The former judge said the league approached him they were written.
earlier this year about the position. The Big Law partner said the NFL job will not in-
He said five NFL representatives and five mem- terfere with his role at Day Pitney.
bers of the NFL Players Association interviewed He said the length of his employment with the
him via Zoom. league is set to be 18 months. He could then gain
“They asked me many questions about my back- reappointment for another two years, and a series of
ground, my experience as a judge, and I also reviewed subsequent two-year terms.
the collective bargaining agreement to prepare for Droney said he’d like to continue in the job for as
the call,” Droney said. long as the NFL and the players association want
The league and players association will contribute him there.
to his salary, which is still being negotiated, the at- He said, “I hope I satisfy both sides, and continue
torney said. to be retained by them.” ■
NFL media staff members Alex Riethmiller and
Andrew Howard didn’t respond to a request for Robert Storace covers legal trends, lawsuits and
comment. analysis for the Connecticut Law Tribune. Follow
As part of taking on the role, Droney also spoke at him on Twitter @RobertSCTLaw or reach him at
length on the telephone with predecessor Burbank 203-437-5950.

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