The Brian Flores litigation has uncovered a potentially significant document through a subpoena issued to the Korn Ferry search firm. And Korn Ferry is trying to keep the document out of public view.
The document has been designated as confidential under a general protective order that allows the parties to claim that certain materials should not be disclosed. Flores’s lawyers have challenged the effort to keep it secret.
Via Daniel Kaplan, Korn Ferry filed paperwork on Thursday in support of the effort to keep the document under seal. Korn Ferry argues, among other things, that “whether the limited information from Exhibit A that Korn Ferry requests remain sealed is purportedly `discriminatory’ or `retaliatory,’ such that it supports and is relevant to Plaintiff’s claims in the Supplemental Complaint, has no bearing on whether Korn Ferry is legally entitled to have Exhibit A remain under seal.”
This statement suggests, as Kaplan notes, that Flores’s lawyers have argued that the document helps prove that he was the victim of discrimination and/or retaliation.
The document in question, which one source called “insane,” was generated by Korn Ferry in connection with a coaching search conducted by the Raiders. The precise Raiders coaching search isn’t specified; the Raiders have hired new coaches in 2026, 2025, 2024, 2022, and 2018.
If the document shows potential retaliation, it means that it came from a coaching search after the filing of Flores’s lawsuit, on February 1, 2022. Because the Raiders hired Josh McDaniels on January 31, 2022, it would limit the potential application of the document to the search that resulted in the hiring of Antonio Pierce in 2024, Pete Carroll in 2025, or Klint Kubiak in 2026.
Two of those searches happened after Tom Brady — who played for the Patriots when Flores served on the coaching staff there — became a minority owner of the team.
Regardless of whether the document comes to light in the short term, it’ll definitely be disclosed and discussed if/when the case goes to trial. If the document is truly bad for the NFL and the various teams that have been sued, it could result in the case being settled before the document ever comes to light.
