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Longtime WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt transitioning towards retirement

Aaron Rift

In January of 2022, MLW filed an anti-trust lawsuit against WWE and claimed that there are “ongoing attempts to undermine competition in and monopolize the professional wrestling market by interfering with MLW’s contracts and business prospects.”

Longtime WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt has been involved in the case but is being replaced. McDevitt explained to Wrestlenomics.com in an e-mail that he will be retiring at the end of the year…

“As you may know, since early 2022 I have been working towards retirement. I had hoped that the Court would again dismiss MLW’s lawsuit as it did the first time. When it did not, and it became obvious that the case would run into at least 2025 in all probability, I advised my client that I would be wrapping things up by year-end and that it would make sense for them to secure counsel who can go the distance on the case now that discovery will be starting. There is also the chance that I might be a witness given the allegations. I will be 74 this January and it just seems like the right time to make necessary transitions.

We have worked with Paul[,] Weiss on other matters and they are an excellent firm who I will be helping get up to speed. It has been a great 36-year run with a great Company and Vince [McMahon], and I am very proud of all that we accomplished during that time, and I will continue to help them any way I can.”

During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com discussed the retirement…

“He’s been slowing down for about a year or two. But there’s more to the story because obviously, WWE thought the MLW case was going to go away and Jerry McDevitt wrote arguments to get the case dismissed and they were all rejected so the case is going forward.”

“The law firm K&L Gates, which has been representing WWE in the case, the entire law firm is out of the case and they’ve hired a new law firm… a very high-powered law firm to take the case, the same law firm they’re using for their merger talks. So there’s more than meets the eye. You don’t replace an entire firm unless there’s something going on and obviously, Vince McMahon was not happy with that aspect of the case not going away.” (quotes courtesy of WrestlingInc.com)