Joe Paterno Turns to J. Sedwick Sollers

It was inevitable that ousted Penn State football coach Joe Paterno would retain counsel as scrutiny increased over who knew and did what in response to sexual abuse allegations. By all accounts, Paterno made a solid choice in J. Sedwick or “Wick” Sollers, who made the 2008 Lawdragon 500 list for his overall excellence in high-stakes criminal and civil white-collar cases. For that year, we noted that Sollers of King & Spalding had obtained a trial acquittal for Qwest’s former controller, and had also won a significant Supreme Court case in Leocal v. Ashcroftover what crimes can be used to remove a lawful permanent resident from the U.S. The “matters” section of his web bio also lists an impressive array of criminal and civil work over the years and reveals a talent at preventing investigations from turning into indictments.

The AmLaw Daily provides a helpful rundown of the many lawyers now involved in various aspects of the scandal. Among the most notable, the university trustees hired Penn State alum Kenneth Frazier to conduct an internal investigation into how the sexual abuse charges were handled. Frazier had been the GC of Merck and is now its president and CEO. He made our Lawdragon 500 guides in 2005 and 2006.