DraftKings hires mega-lawyer for New York clash
OK, they’re serious about this one.
DraftKings, the embattled Boston-based daily fantasy sports company, announced Friday that it has hired high-profile attorney David Boies as it fights an order banning its games in New York.
DraftKings announced the hiring the same morning it filed a lawsuit against New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The company is asking the state’s Supreme Court to declare that the games are not illegal, as Schneiderman claimed earlier this week. New York City-based FanDuel filed a similar, separate suit Friday.
Boies’s legal work has included representation of then-Democratic Presidential nominee and Vice President Al Gore following his 2000 election loss to George W. Bush. He successfully challenged Proposition 8, the California measure that banned same-sex marriage in the state.
Boies and partner Jonathan Schiller, also hired by DraftKings, have represented the NFL in a dispute with the league’s players union, and the NBA Players Association during collective bargaining. Boies also has experience in defending controversial technology: He was the attorney for the file-sharing network Napster more than a decade ago.
On Tuesday, Schneiderman said DraftKings and FanDuel violated gambling laws, and ordered them to stop accepting paid entries from within the state. Both companies have continued to take bets, resisting the ruling that would bar the companies from New York City and its 8.4 million residents. DraftKings said in its lawsuit that New York is home to 7 percent of its customers.
“Mr. Boies, Mr. Schiller and their team look forward to representing DraftKings, and joining their top flight legal team, which will work with the regulatory agencies, including the New York attorney general, to resolve this dispute,’’ a DraftKings spokesperson said.
In a statement earlier this week announcing it would work with a separate high-powered legal team, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, DraftKings foreshadowed the lawsuit.
“Fortunately, there is a process by which DraftKings can challenge [the ruling] in a court of law in an effort to prevent us from having to cease operations in the state of New York,’’ the statement said. “We intend to pursue this fight to the fullest to ensure that New York fantasy sports fans can continue to play the games they love.’’
In Massachusetts, Attorney General Maura Healey has taken a different approach from her New York counterpart. She has said the games are a form of gambling and should be regulated, but that they do not violate Massachusetts law. Gov. Charlie Baker has also said he believes the games are legal. Both Healey and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission are reviewing the industry, with a goal of helping decide how the games should be overseen.
Famous Massachusetts companies:
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