Breaking down where $10M in outside legal fees paid by KU in its NCAA infractions case went
LAWRENCE — Kansas athletics paid four outside law firms a total of more than $10 million while defending the NCAA infractions case that was resolved in 2023. The case concerned the men's basketball and football programs and spanned a number of years.
Those firms were Bond, Schoeneck & King, Husch Blackwell, Hogan Lovells and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. Travis Goff, who became athletics director in 2021, said last month the nature of the process necessitated additional layers outside of KU's legal counsel.
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But while the KU public records office estimated last month that Kansas athletics spent an average of about $2.2 million across each of the past five fiscal years and about $70,000 during the current fiscal year with these firms, some cost the department more than others.
More: Breaking down Kansas athletics legal fees: What KU paid for in NCAA infractions defense
Kansas men’s basketball was put on probation and ordered to vacate its 2018 Final Four run as a result of the case, which centered on violations stemming from a 2017 federal investigation into college basketball corruption. The independent panel created by the NCAA to handle complex cases downgraded the most serious allegations lodged against the program. The case involved whether two representatives of apparel company Adidas were acting as boosters when they arranged payments to steer recruits to KU. The penalties were not as harsh as the allegations could have brought.
The 1,575 pages of documents The Topeka Capital-Journal obtained through a public records request included invoices for fees that weren’t associated with the NCAA infractions case. That, as well as varying amounts of redactions, meant not all of the invoices in these documents could be tied to this matter. Here is a breakdown of what the law firms cost the department from documents that can be connected to the NCAA case.
Context: Did KU pay all $10M in legal fees for NCAA infractions case out of athletics funds?
Husch Blackwell
Husch Blackwell had invoices dated from March 2021 to May 2023. That included both services provided and disbursements. Close to $166,000 the firm billed had to do with the NCAA.
There were multiple invoices in May 2023 that combined to total a bit more than $55,000. That represents about a third of what the firm billed across the years in question. The invoices dated in 2023 made that year the most costly, with 2021 second and 2022 third.
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Hogan Lovells
Hogan Lovells had invoices dated from July 2020 to November 2023. They also included services and disbursements. Documents showed a bit more than $5.1 million that the firm billed that had to do with NCAA proceedings.
The most costly invoice came in February 2022 and eclipsed $427,000. There were 21 separate invoices that totaled more than $100,000. Regarding the years, 2021 proved to be the most costly for KU with this firm: 2022, 2023 and 2020 followed in that order.
Bond, Schoeneck & King
Bond, Schoeneck & King had invoices dated from November 2018 to November 2023. They also included services and disbursements. In total, the documents analyzed had a bit more than $2.6 million that the firm billed related to the NCAA men’s basketball investigation.
The most costly invoice came in September 2020 and totaled nearly $145,000. Most of the invoices were in the tens of thousands of dollars or more, but one was as small as $237.50 in July 2023. For the years in question, 2020 showed the most billed amount, with 2021, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2018 following in that order.
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman had invoices dated from July 2019 to November 2023. While the invoices also listed services and disbursements, this firm also went listed discounts to KU. So, in addition to the documents analyzed outlining more than $2.5 million billed that had to do with the case, there was also a little more than $185,000 in discounts.
The most costly invoice came in April 2020 and totaled close to $199,000. That invoice would have eclipsed $200,000 if not for what was referred to as an additional courtesy discount of a little more than $7,000. Regarding the years, 2020 proved to be the most costly to KU, with 2022, 2021, 2023 and 2019 following in that order.
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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: KU spent $10M in legal fees on its NCAA case: Here's where it went
