The firm responsible for legal arguments widely criticized as sexist has requested to withdraw from representing U.S. Soccer in its gender discrimination lawsuit with the U.S. women’s national team.
The Seyfarth Shaw legal team drew intense backlash for offensive language in a March 9 filing for the defense that said the work of the U.S. women’s national team did not require “equal skill, effort and responsibility” to that of the men’s national team.
U.S. Soccer joined the general public, players and major sponsors, such as Visa and Coca-Cola, in denouncing the argument, which also was formally withdrawn from the case Wednesday, according to court documents.
The damage caused by the filing forced former USSF president Carlos Cordeiro to resign and issue an open letter calling the language used “unacceptable and inexcusable.” Former player and then-vice president Cindy Parlow Cone took Cordeiro’s place and said she is focused on settling the case before its scheduled May 5 trial.
“Settling this dispute is only the first step,” Parlow Cone said during a March interview. “The next step is a long process. I think a lot of damage has been done and I think we are going to have to rebuild that trust and rebuild that relationship and it’s not going to happen overnight.”
Prior to the official withdrawal, U.S. Soccer included a footnote in a previous filing saying the federation would no longer rely on the strategy and that it hired the firm Latham & Watkins — where former U.S. Soccer president Alan Rothenberg is a retired partner — to join the defense.
Kristen Peters of Seyfarth Shaw filed the request to withdraw from the case Wednesday night on behalf of herself and Brian M Stolzenbach, Chantelle C Egan, Cheryl A Luce, Ellen E McLaughlin, Giovanna A Ferrari, Kyllan B Kershaw, Noah A Finkel and Sharilee K Smentek.
Jamie Wine of Latham & Watkins signed on as the new counsel. Greg Fike, USSF senior counsel, also signed the document as a federation representative, consenting to the change.
Without the “equal skill, effort and responsibility” argument, the U.S. Soccer defense will focus mainly on the separate collective bargaining agreements of the men’s and women’s national team.