As announced by the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association (NWSLPA), the Report of the NWSL and NWSLPA Joint Investigative Team has been released today. A copy of the report, including the Joint Investigative Team’s recommendations for systemic reform, can be found here.
The report is the culmination of a fourteen-month investigation into the abuse, harassment, and bullying of NWSL players commissioned by the NWSL in partnership with the NWSLPA. The Joint Investigative Team was led by Covington, counsel to the NWSL, in close collaboration with Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, counsel to the NWSLPA. The Joint Investigative Team reviewed all reports of inappropriate conduct directed towards players in the NWSL and its member clubs from 2012 through the present, as well as the practices and policies in the NWSL and its member clubs relevant to identifying, investigating, and addressing inappropriate conduct. The Joint Investigation Team conducted more than 200 interviews, including of current and former players, coaches and other club personnel, leaders of the NWSL and the United States Soccer Federation, and other individuals connected to women’s professional soccer. The investigation is unprecedented in professional sports, both in terms of its scope—it covers the entire history of the NWSL and all of its clubs—and in that it is a review commissioned by both the NWSL and the NWSLPA.
This report, written by Covington in collaboration with Weil, details the Joint Investigative Team’s observations and findings regarding individuals responsible for acts of interpersonal misconduct directed at players; individuals and institutions connected to women’s professional soccer who failed to prevent and address this misconduct; and cultural and systemic issues that contributed to, and were perpetuated by, those incidents. The report concludes with recommendations of reforms the NWSL and its member clubs could adopt to continue to build a culture with player safety, empowerment, and well-being at its core.
“We thank the players who bravely recounted painful experiences to us in service of truth, accountability, and reform,” said Amanda Kramer, a partner in Covington’s Institutional Culture and Social Responsibility practice and lead counsel for the NWSL in the investigation. “We also commend the NWSL and NWSLPA for commissioning and supporting this groundbreaking joint investigation. We hope that our report will help the NWSL and NWSLPA move forward as they work together to ensure that players are safe, secure, and empowered.”
In addition to Amanda, the Covington team was led by Mona Patel and Jason Criss, and included a diverse group of more than a dozen other attorneys drawn from Covington’s Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington offices.
About Covington
In an increasingly regulated world, Covington & Burling LLP provides corporate, litigation, and regulatory expertise to help clients navigate their most complex business problems, deals, and disputes. Founded in 1919, the firm has more than 1,300 lawyers in offices in Beijing, Brussels, Dubai, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, and Washington.
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