Crimson Red Sports

By Michael Isikoff
NBC News National Investigative Correspondent
Joe Paterno has hired a prominent Washington criminal defense lawyer to represent him in the Penn State sex abuse case, a source close to the case told NBC News.

J. Sedgwick Sollers, who once represented President George H.W. Bush in the Iran-Contra affair, was hired by Paterno on Thursday. The longtime Penn State football coach was fired Wednesday night after disclosures in a grand jury report that one of his assistants informed him in 2002 about an alleged incident of sexual abuse by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

Paterno has not been charged with any crimes in the case. He has been described as a cooperating witness in the case. Two other university officials who Paterno told about the incident were charged this week with failing to report Sandusky's conduct to legal authorities and perjury.

Sollers declined to comment Thursday night. He is the managing partner in the Washington office of King & Spalding, a major Atlanta-based law firm.

A source close to Paterno said that in addition to the investigations by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, the former coach is concerned about the likelihood of civil lawsuits by Sandusky's alleged victims and their families.  

J. Sedwick Sollers is Managing Partner of the Washington, D.C., office and former Chair of King & Spalding’s Special Matters & Governmental Investigations Practice Group. His experience includes defending accounting fraud cases, grand jury practice, criminal environmental, health care and FDA matters, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases, internal corporate investigations, representation before congressional committees, federal criminal trials and appeals, and general civil litigation, including qui tam cases.

After earning his undergraduate degree in economics from Princeton University in 1977, he received his law degree in 1982 from the University of Maryland where he was Order of the Coif and Articles editor of the Maryland Law Review. He then served as law clerk for the Honorable Norman P. Ramsey, United States District Court in Maryland.

Awards & Recognition

Selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America, D.C. Superlawyers and LawDragon 500, for white-collar criminal defense:

Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, inducted 2002
Memberships

Criminal Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association, Co-chair of the D.C. Subcommittee

D.C. Bar Foundation, Advisory Board Member

New Leaders for New Schools, Advisory Board Member

Living Classrooms, Advisory Board Member

St. Paul’s School for Boys in Baltimore, Board of Trustees Member

I wonder how big Penn State's endowment is.  ;)

I wonder how big their endowment will be when this is all over.

You may be a little ahead of yourself in assuming PSU is financially liable. I'm not sure establishing PSU's liability will be slam dunk. Then, suing the state or federal government opens up a whole new "ball of wax". I've heard all day long people saying how much this will cost PSU, but I'm not sure how sound that it, legally speaking. PSU may pay some money just to make this go away, so to speak, since some of this has taken place on school property.


That is why you hire high profile expensive attorneys, to make it go away!

I guess you know this since you were the OP but that is JoPa hiring a lawyer to protect himself, criminally and civilly.

I don't know if this is correct. I agree JoPa hired this attorney for personal protection. JoPa's son, an attorney, who wrote his first 265 word statement released on Monday probably told his dad to hire this defense attorney and spend what ever amount of money needed.