DapperSlapper
Junior
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2011
- Messages
- 1,316
What are "phantom legal services?"
A booster (or the school, though I would hope that schools would not stoop this low) could pay a lawyer for services that do not exist with the understanding that those fees are for something else - the representation of a student-athlete in trouble.
Wouldn't receiving free legal services still constitute an impermissible benefit if they are not available to all members of the student body?
See my post above - as long as some others (the others do not have to be students) receive pro bono services, then I can provide pro bono services for a student athlete (as long as he contacts me first). For any other pro bono case/client I want, I am permitted to ask to represent that potential client. For this work, if the student-athlete does not contact me first, it becomes an NCAA violation if I seek him out to represent him.
I'm just stating what the rules are - I have spoken with university gc's and compliance people about this. Theory and practice are 2 different things, as everyone here probably knows.
Maybe I do more pro bono work than most lawyers, but I think I'm usually at around 100 hours in any given year. I pick and choose who I represent pro bono. If a student athlete calls me up to represent him, I'm free to do so pro bono, or at an extremely discounted rate.