Meet the $10M powerhouse legal team that defended Kansas basketball's NCAA infractions case

LAWRENCE — The lengths Kansas athletics went to defend itself during the NCAA infractions case that concerned its men’s basketball and football programs were extensive. Four high-powered law firms were hired to form KU's defense at a cost of more than $10 million over several years.

Those firms were Bond, Schoeneck & King, Husch Blackwell, Hogan Lovells and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. According to an estimate from the KU public records office provided in December 2023, KU athletics spent an average of about $2.2 million each of the previous five fiscal years and about $70,000 during the current fiscal year for a total of more than $10 million.

Context: Did KU pay all $10M in legal fees for NCAA infractions case out of athletics funds?

Kansas men’s basketball was put on probation and ordered to take down its 2018 Final Four banner 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 legal defense team assembled by KU played a part in that verdict.

More: Breaking down Kansas athletics legal fees: What KU paid for in NCAA infractions defense

Even more: Breaking down where $10M in outside legal fees paid by KU in its NCAA infractions case went

So who are these firms? How many people worked for them across the handful of years the case unfolded? How much did the people who made the most make?

Here’s a further breakdown:

A closer look at KU athletics' legal team in NCAA infractions case

Analyzing these firms, what they could provide for Kansas athletics becomes clear.

Bond, Schoeneck & King has a Kansas City office that’s address is referenced on invoices in the documents. That office is the location of the firm’s Collegiate Sports Practice Group, which provides consulting for NCAA institutions. Tennessee, Ohio State, Minnesota and other schools have enlisted the firm's services while facing infractions cases.

Areas of consulting include enforcement investigations and infractions cases. The team includes the likes of Mike Glazier, a former NCAA staffer who was involved in infractions matters, and Richard J. Evrard, another former NCAA staffer.

Related: Why law firm bills for Kansas Athletics' NCAA defense were addressed to KU Medical Center

Husch Blackwell has offices around the country, including in Kansas City. It is nationally renowned in a number of areas and has also worked in the NCAA space before, including when it put together the report for LSU not too many years ago when LSU went through a Title IX review. The Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest also hired Husch Blackwell recently to investigate sexual misconduct allegations.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman has offices around the world. Among the services it can provide it has an education team that, according to its website, “has active matters for 30–50 different academic institutions” — including KU. Among the areas the firm promotes this team for is how formidable it is when it comes to litigation.

Hogan Lovells, which also worked on the University of Louisville’s infractions case, is another global firm. Its litigation services are also renowned.

Here is a look at how many people from these law firms could have been involved

Due to varying levels of redactions across 1,575 pages of documents The Topeka Capital-Journal obtained from an open records request this past December, especially with those concerning Husch Blackwell, the answer to this question is a little unclear. There’s also the reality that not all of the invoices provided identify fees that had to do with the NCAA matter. But for those invoices that reference the NCAA in some fashion, an idea of the human resources devoted to the case can be gleamed.

Bond, Schoeneck & King invoices referenced the NCAA men’s basketball investigation. Hogan Lovells invoices referenced an NCAA proceeding. Husch Blackwell invoices referenced either NCAA infractions or the NCAA hearing for football. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman invoices referenced the NCAA infractions investigation.

Excluding Husch Blackwell, due to the extent of redactions on its invoices, the number of people listed as billing for varying amounts of hours added up to 81 across the other three firms. That’s 22 for Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, 39 for Hogan Lovells and 20 for Bond, Schoeneck & King.

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Here is who billed for the most at 3 of the firms

For the invoices that met the above descriptions for the firms outside of Husch Blackwell, each firm had someone who billed for more than anyone else who worked there.

For Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, before naming someone there are two things to understand. First, not every invoice listed the amount someone billed, even if it listed how many hours an individual was billing for. Second, the discounts the firm took out of its services were listed after all of the individuals who billed for their work on each invoice where there was a discount — meaning it's unclear if each individual had the same percentage taken off or something else occurred.

For the invoices where amounts billed were available, W. M. Sullivan, Jr.’s billed hours amounted to a bit more than $775,500, the most for Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.

On the firm’s website is a partner named William M. Sullivan Jr., whose bio lists under representative experience, “Achieved a significant victory on behalf of his clients, the University of Kansas and head men’s basketball coach Bill Self. Following a years-long investigation, the NCAA’s Independent Resolution Panel concluded that allegations of severe NCAA rules violations against the University of Kansas and its men’s basketball program were without merit, and in regard to head men’s basketball coach Bill Self, only a single, Level 3 violation was supported by the record, which afforded no additional penalties beyond those self-imposed by the university, which the IRP also accepted.”

For Hogan Lovells, Virginia A. Gibson’s work amounted to a little more than $1.215 million. On the firm’s website there is a Virginia (Ginny) A. Gibson who is listed as a partner, and Gibson was included on a press release from October 2023 that began: “Global law firm Hogan Lovells secured a major victory on behalf of the University of Kansas, successfully defending the university and the Jayhawks’ men’s basketball and football programs against potentially draconian sanctions for alleged NCAA recruiting and benefits violations asserted by the NCAA’s Independent Accountability Review Process enforcement arm.”

For Bond, Schoeneck & King, R. H. Kirchner’s work amounted to nearly $1.4 million. The firm’s website lists a Robert H. Kirchner as a member whose bio includes pertinent references: Kirchner being experienced in proceedings for NCAA rules infractions and concentrating his practice in, among other things, NCAA compliance and enforcement matters.

Here is who billed for the most hours, and their rates

Bond, Schoeneck & King's Kirchner billed KU for the most hours in invoices at that firm that met the criteria, 3,096.5. Kirchner’s hourly rate was listed at $380 per hour at one point, but rose later to $475.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman’s Sullivan billed for the most hours at that firm: 2,063.1. Sullivan’s rate was listed at $875 per hour at one point, but rose later to $1,000.

For Hogan Lovells, Alexandra Bailey billed for 1,343.9 hours at a rate of $730, which led to an amount of a little more than $981,000. The firm’s website lists a senior associated named Alexandra Watson Bailey, and the aforementioned press release that includes Gibson also mentions a senior associate from the same location named Alex Bailey.

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: Meet the law firms paid $10M by KU athletics to defend NCAA infractions