UNC has spent $467,406.49 on outside legal fees since June 2010, when the NCAA began investigating the University’s football program.
Karen Moon, spokeswoman for the University, wrote in an email that no state-appropriated funds have been used to cover these fees and that the bills were paid through UNC Chapel Hill Foundation, Inc. and the department of athletics.
In June 2010, the University hired Rick Evrard — an attorney with the Overland Park, Kan., law firm, Bond, Schoeneck & King — to work with UNC during the NCAA investigation. Evrard is a member of the firm’s collegiate sports practice group.
In January of 2011, UNC added William King to its legal team. King, who is an attorney with Lightfoot, Franklin and White of Birmingham, Ala., has worked with other universities in most of the major conferences and has experience with NCAA investigations, Moon said.
On Wednesday, the University released 208 pages of heavily redacted documents related to the 2010 NCAA investigation. These documents included statements of fact and reinstatement requests from UNC to the NCAA and legal bills from the Bond law firm to the University.
The legal bills included in these documents date from June of 2010 through September 2010. Moon said information was redacted to protect confidential information related to students, personnel and the services provided by outside counsel.
