Breaking down Kansas athletics legal fees: What KU paid for in NCAA infractions defense
LAWRENCE – Kansas athletics’ outside legal fees in its NCAA infractions case, which was resolved in 2023 and concerned its men’s basketball and football programs, cost the department more than $10 million. Not all of that was spent on legal advice.
From an estimate from the KU public records office this past December, KU amassed an average of about $2.2 million paid to attorneys related to the case across each of the past five fiscal years. That includes about $70,000 during the current fiscal year. The endeavor, which saw the men’s basketball team hit with less significant penalties than previously anticipated, was substantial.
Context: Did KU pay all $10M in legal fees for NCAA infractions case out of athletics funds?
But not all of that money went specifically to the services four law firms provided. Some of that money was spent on disbursements. Here’s a breakdown on how that affected the final tally.
Disbursement fees contributed to final cost of Kansas athletics NCAA infractions case
The four law firms Kansas athletics used were Bond, Schoeneck & King, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, Hogan Lovells and Husch Blackwell. Each firm billed KU athletics for more than just professional services, according to documents obtained by The Topeka Capital-Journal through an open records request.
Related: Meet the $10M powerhouse legal team that defended Kansas basketball's NCAA infractions case
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman billed more than $2.55 million: More than 4% of that went to disbursements, a bit more than $108,500.
Hogan Lovells billed more than $5.125 million, with a little more than 2% of that going to disbursements. That comes to more than $111,000.
Husch Blackwell billed more than $165,000, more than 3% of that for disbursements. That is a bit more than $6,000.
Bond, Schoeneck & King billed more than $2.6 million, with a little more than 1% for disbursements, coming to a bit more than $37,500.
Follow the money: Breaking down where $10M in outside legal fees paid by KU in its NCAA infractions case went
This is how specific the disbursement fees could get
Bond, Schoeneck & King invoices specified a number of things in disbursement summaries. That included airfare and hotel charges, rental car cost and meals. That even included, according to an invoice from November 2019, $1.35 for copy charges and $7.50 for color copy charges out of an invoice that ended up seeing $3,259.09 billed in disbursements related to work done on the NCAA men’s basketball investigation.
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman’s invoice from October 2019 for work related to the NCAA infractions investigation delves into specifics as well. The total disbursement cost for that invoice was $10,273.14. It include items as low as $11.43 for supplies, which is specified to include a pen, highlighter, composition book and legal pad.
More: Why law firm bills for Kansas Athletics' NCAA defense were addressed to KU Medical Center
This was the most costly disbursement in a single invoice
Hogan Lovells turned in the most costly charge for disbursements in an invoice at $32,690.37 in October 2023, related to a NCAA proceeding, for an invoice that totaled $33,899.37. The professional services fee only amounted to $1,209 for that invoice.
Varying degrees of redactions across the documents in question limit what can be surmised from them. However, this invoice does explain to a degree what the disbursement was for: It states, with the initial part redacted, that it has to do with outside counsel fees.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas NCAA defense attorney fees: What KU paid for beyond legal advice
