Winston & Strawn, Willkie Lead Firms for NBA Players Union Bills

Labor unions representing professional basketball players and referees paid about $4.7 million in legal fees to more than a dozen law firms, according to regulatory filings for the most recent fiscal year.

Top billers for the National Basketball Players Association last year were Winston & Strawn—a longtime adviser to the New York-based union on labor and litigation matters—at almost $1.7 million, as well as Willkie Farr & Gallagher at more than $1 million, the filings show. The union also paid $779,000 to Washington’s Groom Law Group and $299,000 to Dechert.

The NBPA had the bulk of the billables, incurring nearly $4.1 million in legal fees—almost triple the $1.4 million it paid for outside counsel compared with the previous year, according to financial statements disclosed by the US Department of Labor this month and in late December for the player and referee unions.

The NBPA’s filing, known as an LM-2, covers the one-year period between Oct. 1, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2023. The union finalized a collective bargaining agreement last year in a process that often leads to a spike in legal expenses. The National Basketball Referees Association struck a new labor deal of its own in 2022.

Tamika Tremaglio, an attorney and forensic accountant who was named executive director of the NBPA in January 2022, received nearly $3.3 million in total compensation last year, the filings show. Tremaglio stepped down in November and was replaced as acting executive director by former NBA player Andre Iguodala, who retired last year to run his own venture capital firm.

Ronald Klempner, a veteran NBPA in-house lawyer who was promoted to general counsel of the union in mid-2022, earned roughly $753,500 last year.

Other firms on the NBPA’s payroll are Blitman & King ($59,100); Fox Rothschild ($51,100); Davis + Gilbert ($50,200); New York boutique Kaufman Law ($50,200); Mayer Brown ($40,000); and what was once called Perry Guha ($28,700).

Rounding out the legal panel are Greenwald Doherty ($10,100); Squire Patton Boggs ($8,100); Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz ($7,300); and immigration-focused New York firm Cammisa Markel ($6,500).

The organization also paid $19,300 last year to legal services automation platform Tangible Legal Partners and more than $11,000 to Phillips ADR Enterprises, a dispute resolution firm led by former federal judge and ex-NBA system arbitrator Layn Phillips.

The referee union paid $552,600 to White Plains, NY-based Seham, Seham, Meltz & Peterson, up from $454,100 the year prior, according to its most recent LM-2 filing, which covered the year from Sept. 1, 2022, to Aug. 31, 2023.

A separate late December filing by a union representing the interests of players in the Women’s National Basketball Association shows it paid almost $135,600 during 2022-23 to director of operations for business and legal affairs Michael Goldsholl. The WNBPA last year joined the AFL-CIO.