COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION/NBA AND THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYERS ASSOCIATION/NBPA

Virtual Webinar on 2-25-26

Program

Our guest speaker will share his insights and expertise in collective bargaining. Specifically, he will discuss the collective bargaining process that culminated in the NBA’s & NBPA’s 2017 collective bargaining agreement. He will share 1) how he recruited players like Lebron James to be on the Executive Committee and present with him in negotiations 2) major bargaining issues 3) bargaining strategies on hot issues 4) achieved goals and entertaining stories. We hope you will join us for this entertaining presentation.

Speaker

W. Gary Kohlmam

W. Gary Kohlman is an experienced civil, labor and criminal lawyer in hundreds of jury and non-jury trials involving complex and high-profile cases in over 20 jurisdictions, mediations and arbitrations on behalf of large international labor organizations, and General Counsel for the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA). Additional experience includes hiring and supervising mediators and arbitrators, teaching trial advocacy and substantive law at Harvard and Georgetown law schools, training and supervising lawyers at the District of Columbia Public Defender Service, Bredhoff & Kaiser, PLLC, the NBPA, and the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.

His professional experience includes, but is not limited to:
Private Consulting and Litigation, 2022-Present
• Served as expert witness in New York Federal Court
• Represented former president of major union in employment dispute
• Counsel for elected official in political corruption case
• Co-counsel in post-conviction death penalty litigation
• Counsel in several civil and criminal cases in the District of Columbia and Maryland
District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General, Senior Counsel for Litigation,
2018-2022
• Consulted in selection of mediators and supervised several mediations between the District of Columbia and major corporations and financial institutions
• Trained, supervised and mentored staff of 300+ lawyers

National Basketball Players Association, General Counsel, 2014-2018
• Lead negotiator in $90 billion collective bargaining agreement
• Drafted significant portions of 400+ page collective bargaining agreement
• Co-wrote agent manual governing conduct of NBPA certified agents
• Hired mediators to mediate player-player agent disputes and participated in all mediations
• Mediated disputes between player agents
• Served as principal attorney in arbitrations against the National Basketball Association
• Initiated and conducted litigation on behalf of NBA players
Bredhoff & Kaiser, PLLC, Member, 1995-2014
• Senior litigation partner specializing in civil litigation, labor law, tax and benefits law, employment law, election law, civil rights and personal injury claims, congressional investigations
• Lead counsel in Martin County, Florida, Bush v. Gore recount trial following the 2000 election
• Lead counsel in the first successful effort to organize college football team at Northwestern University
• Lead counsel in successful defense of largest RICO case (over $3 billion) ever brought against the United Steelworkers of America
• Arbitrated dispute between two major unions
• Mediated asset dispute between partners in breakup of law partnership
• Participated in mediations involving high level disputes between international unions and large corporations
• Argued appellate cases in numerous state and federal forums
• Co-counsel in successful defense of prominent figure in Kenneth Starr investigation at criminal contempt trial
• Represented several IRS officials during Congressional investigation
Additional Experience includes:
Kohlman, Rochon & Roberts, 1982-1995
District of Columbia Public Defender Service, 1973-1982
Clerkship, The Honorable Samuel Roberts, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1971-1972

ACTIVITIES
• Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop Supervised by Professor Charles Ogletree, Faculty 1985-2015
• Georgetown Law School, Adjunct Professor, 2008-2013
• Gideon’s Promise, Founding Board Member and Board Chair, 2008-2016
• District of Columbia Public Defender Service, Board Chair, 2010-2014
• Neighborhood Legal Services, Board Member and Treasurer, 2017-Present • Justice Aid, Founding Board Member, 2013-2023

EDUCATION
• University of Michigan Law School, 1968-1971
• Graduated Magna Cum Laude, Order of the Coif
• Research Assistant to Professor Yale Kamisar
• University of Michigan Undergraduate, 1964-1968
• School of Business, B.B.A
BAR ADMISSIONS
• District of Columbia (Active)
• State of Maryland (Active)
• State of New York (Active)
• State of Washington (Inactive)
• United States Supreme Court (Active)
• United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Tenth ad District of Columbia Circuits (Active)

Registration and Pricing

Location

Membership

 If you would like to join our chapter, please use this link to the membership form on our website at
https://lerachapter.org/maryland/membership-account/membership-levels/ and/or contact Rachel Lapp, 1st Vice-President, at rachel.lapp@rndc-usa.com

Next Meeting

We return to in-person on 3/25/26 at Chiapparelli’s Restaurant for another interesting program entitled “Fighting Union Busters in a Carolina Carpet Mill”, a discussion of the recent book by its author Phil Cohen.  Registration for this program is open and available on the website at: “Fighting Union Busters in a Carolina Carpet Mill”, a discussion of the recent book by its author Phil Cohen – Maryland LERA