Sam Katz

Sam Katz founded Athlaw LLP in 2015, intending to do everything in his power to protect disabled National Football League (NFL) Players’ rights and ensure they receive the benefits to which they are entitled. For over 10 years, Sam has worked tirelessly to build a practice that can help him achieve that goal. He is regarded as the premier attorney in this space due to his extensive depth of knowledge of the NFL’s Disability and Survivor Benefit Plan, the concussion settlement, and relevant case law regarding ERISA-regulated NFL benefits and rights.

Sam has personally trained every attorney at Athlaw in the complicated area of ERISA-regulated NFL disability benefits, as well as in the intricacies of the Plan’s benefits process. As a result of the preeminent quality of his Player representation, he has earned a nationally recognized reputation in the field and Athlaw’s clients have collected over $110 million in entitled benefits and compensation.

Sam has also successfully challenged the NFL in other matters. Notably in the NFL Players’ Concussion settlement, he successfully opposed an NFL objection to the district court, resulting in it upholding a nearly $3.2 million NFL Monetary Award in the face of the NFL’s challenge to the Special Master’s determination. Additionally, Sam’s defeat of the NFL’s appeals of Monetary Awards under the concussion settlement has also resulted in various published precedential Special Master decisions, in areas like Alzheimer's diagnosis and Biomarker testing.

In 2023, Sam was pivotal in bringing a class action lawsuit on behalf of 10 former NFL players against the NFL Player Disability & Survivor Benefit Plan and NFL Player Disability & Neurocognitive Benefits Plan (collectively the Plan), and the Disability Board that administers the Plan. The lawsuit alleges defendants breached their fiduciary duty of loyalty to many former players in violation of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and separately, wrongfully denied benefits to many former players, in violation of the terms of the Plan.

On March 20, 2024, Judge Julie Rebecca Rubin of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland denied the NFL’s attempt to dismiss the case – a huge win for retired NFL players who have been subjected to the NFL Disability Plan’s systemic injustice for far too long. This was the first time a class action lawsuit against the NFL’s Disability and Survivor Benefit plan survived a motion to dismiss.

Education

• University of Southern California, Gould School of Law, Juris Doctor, May 2014
• University of California, Irvine, Bachelor of Science in Law, Economics, and Political Science, 2009

Bar Admissions

• State Bar of California (2014)