CBA Record March-April 2025

THE YOUNG LAWYERS SECTION

ferences between law firm work and agent work is the financials. In the law firm world, you bill hours worked on a case in one month and are usually paid for that work the following month. The agent world is much more speculative. You can spend thou sands of dollars recruiting a player as a client, and you eventu ally receive a commission on their contract once they are placed. Breaking even on prospective player can be months or even years away from the time you sign them. As a small business, any mis calculation in recruiting or an unexpected injury to your client could result in your company ending up in the red for the year. I experienced every possible mishap in one draft year that started with five players on rosters and ended with one player on trial for serious crimes, one player injured and out of the league, and one cut from the team for breaking team rules. Based on factors completely out of my control, I lost three-fifths of the potential revenue for that year, and I was also unable to recover A s a young lawyer, I have had diverse legal experiences. My career began in Big Law. I went on to clerk for a U.S. Magistrate Judge. I then practiced at a small civil litiga tion boutique in Chicago. But for the better part of the last two years, I have been an Assistant United States Attorney. To me, being an AUSA is immensely rewarding, and I am eager to share some observations about my transition from private civil litigation practice to practicing criminal law with the federal government. People often ask why I wanted to be an AUSA after years of civil practice. I usually answer with two reasons. First and fore most, it is a job where my principal concern is ensuring justice and doing the right thing. I am not suggesting that I did not do the right thing while in civil practice. But my job in that field had a slightly different focus: it was more about being a strong advocate for my client. As a federal prosecutor, I work for the people. Being an advocate for the people means enforcing the laws that protect them and bringing those who violate those laws to justice. Each federal prosecutor has something called pros ecutorial discretion, so good judgment is essential. Whenever I decide the appropriate recommendation for sentencing, when ever I decide what and how many charges to include in an indict ment, or whenever I make any decision in a case, it is comforting to know that my guiding principle is to do the right thing and fairly administer justice. Second, I wanted to gain federal trial experience. It is difficult to gain trial experience in many types of civil litigation. Parties may be more conservative and hesitant to go to trial. As a result, cases regularly settle before reaching trial. Associates may be assigned to handle pretrial responsibilities, discovery issues, and discrete research and briefing assignments, meaning they may Federal Prosecutor By Jonathan Kim

the thousands of dollars in expenses that went into recruiting those players. The following year, after learning those expensive lessons, I joined a top ten agency with a large roster of athletes. That year I also had my first draft pick and was part of a team that negoti ated a historic, fully guaranteed veteran contract. I attended all the major events of the NFL season and earned more airline miles than I imagined possible in one year.

Dominique Price, a former NFL player, is Counsel with Scharf Banks Marmor LLC; teaches sports law at Spalding University and UIC Law School; and advises professional athletes, student-athletes, and universities on issues related to marketing, licensing, endorsements, and name, image, and likeness.

not always get substantive opportunities to question witnesses or otherwise meaningfully participate in trials. However, in my time as an AUSA so far, I already have more trial experience than I ever had as a civil litigation associate: I have tried two federal cases— once as a first chair and once as second chair. That experience has been invaluable. I also wish to share a challenge I experienced when transition ing from civil to criminal practice. While there are many similari ties between civil practice and criminal practice, one of the biggest differences is the phase before a criminal case is initiated—the investigatory phase. During this phase, I work with agents from different federal agencies to gather evidence. The goal during an investigation is to gather as much admissible evidence as possible to prove a crime (or multiple crimes) beyond a reasonable doubt. Often, it means sending grand jury subpoenas to obtain docu ments reflecting subscriber information of bank accounts or cell phone numbers. Sometimes, it means applying for a search war rant to search a house or to obtain contents of social media mes sages or a search warrant of a residence. Other times, it means interviewing witnesses to make sure I have a foundational witness to admit certain evidence. Figuring out what tools to use and strat egizing with federal agents during the investigatory phase is a chal lenging (albeit fun) difference between civil and criminal practice.

Jonathan S. Kim is an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois, Western Division. CBA RECORD 27