Longtime Patton Boggs partner and chief operating officer Ira Fishman has left the firm to join former colleague DeMaurice Smith at the National Football League Players Association. The move comes nearly six months after Smith left to become the executive director of the players’ association and three months after the firm picked up the association as a lobbying client.
Fishman’s last day at Patton Boggs was Aug. 21, and he started at the players’ union as managing director on Aug. 24. Patton Boggs deputy managing partner Edward Newberry is currently the acting chief operating officer. Managing partner Stuart Pape stressed that Newberry’s appointment is an interim one. Patton Boggs has retained The Alexander Group, an executive recruiting firm, to search for a new chief operating officer.
