The United States Soccer Federation paid nearly $6.4 million to two Big Law firms during its most recent fiscal year, according to a financial disclosure.
Latham & Watkins, which has been representing the governing body for US soccer in a pay equity fight with US women’s national team players, received nearly $5 million in legal fees during the one-year period ending March 31, 2022.
The annual form 990 filing by the nonprofit federation, which was released last week, shows that the organization also paid more than $1.4 million to Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. The federation’s total legal expenses were nearly $9.9 million.
Latham, Morgan Lewis, and the Chicago-based federation didn’t respond to requests for comment. The legal fees for both firms last year are less than the $9.2 million and $2.2 million that Latham and Morgan Lewis respectively received during the organization’s 2021 fiscal year.
The federation last year agreed to a $24 million settlement in its long-running pay bias battle with US women’s national team players. The landmark agreement equalized pay with the US men’s national team and provided the collective bargaining framework for equal pay pushes in other industries.
Latham took over the federation’s pay equity defense in 2020. The firm replaced Seyfarth Shaw, which exited after it filed a controversial brief comparing the biology of male and female soccer players. Latham is also representing the federation in antitrust litigation filed by soccer promoter Relevant Sports LLC and the North American Soccer League, a now-defunct rival to MLS.
The federation has longstanding ties to Latham. Alan Rothenberg, a retired partner at the firm, was once president of the organization and founded Major League Soccer, the top US circuit for professional men’s players. The firm has also done work for the National Women’s Soccer League, the top tier for US women’s players, which until recently was led by a former Latham associate.
Morgan Lewis represented the federation last year in reaching a new collective bargaining agreement with US women’s national team players after resolving the underlying litigation.
Karen Leetzow, hired in 2020 as the federation’s chief legal officer, was paid nearly $441,000 in total compensation last year, per its financial statement.
Leetzow took over from the federation’s former legal and compliance chief, Lydia Wahlke, who resigned amid the fallout from the Seyfarth filing and returned to private practice. Leetzow subsequently promoted longtime federation lawyer Gregory Fike to general counsel.
The federation has continued to shake up its in-house ranks. In February, senior counsel Leah Holt left to become senior legal counsel for partnerships at FIFA, soccer’s global governing body for soccer. An online jobs board shows that the federation is looking to backfill Holt’s position.
The organization also hired a new legal counsel last month in Alidu Salifu.
