Karen Leetzow’s, WCL/JD ’91, three-decade legal career was jumpstarted by her talented work in trademark and intellectual property law. It has grown thanks to her ability to nimbly jump between legal topics—from antitrust to labor to sponsorship—at a moment’s notice. But underneath that success is a foundation forged through relationships. In summer 2020, she joined the United States Soccer Federation as its chief legal officer and was tasked with mending an important one with US Women’s National Team players; an opportunity to head US Soccer’s legal department “really spoke to me in terms of how fractured the relationships were.” Over the next two years, she and her legal team helped pick up the pieces. In February, they settled a gender discrimination lawsuit with members of the women’s national team, and in May, they finalized collective bargaining agreements with the men’s and women’s national team players associations that secured equal pay, a first in international soccer. In June, Leetzow joined the 30 Minutes On podcast to discuss the recent legal breakthrough and the lessons she’s learned in law. 

View a full transcript of the episode on our website: https://www.american.edu/magazine/