US Soccer Taps Former NASCAR General Counsel to Lead Legal Department
"Karen brings a vast amount of expertise and broad legal background to U.S. Soccer, and she'll immediately be a valuable addition to our team," U.S. Soccer secretary-general and CEO Will Wilson said in the press release.
July 31, 2020 at 05:13 PM
3 minute read
Karen Leetzow, chief legal officer, U.S. Soccer Federation
U.S. Soccer Federation Inc. announced Friday that Karen Leetzow, who most recently served as the general counsel for NASCAR, will become the organization's top lawyer beginning in August.
Leetzow, who is the first hire by new U.S. Soccer secretary-general and CEO William Wilson, will be based in Chicago and lead a 21-person legal department and a five-person risk management team.
"Karen brings a vast amount of expertise and broad legal background to U.S. Soccer, and she'll immediately be a valuable addition to our team," Wilson said in the press release.
A spokesperson for U.S. Soccer said Leetzow was not available for an interview and did not have a statement on her new role.
Leetzow joins the organization while it is still in a legal battle with the U.S. women's soccer team over the gender pay gap with the less successful men's national team. In March, the women's national team filed a gender wage discrimination suit against U.S. Soccer in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California seeking $66 million. In the suit, the team claims players were paid less than those on the men's team even though the team played 19 more games between 2015 and 2018.
After the suit was filed, the organization's president, Carlos Cordeiro, stepped down from his role. In April, Leetzow's predecessor, Lydia Wahlke, was suspended by the board of directors. Wahlke, who served as the chief legal officer since June 2017, resigned in May, but still works as a consultant to the organization, according to her LinkedIn profile.
On May 8, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner of the Central District of California largely dismissed the claims against U.S. Soccer but allowed the Title VII claim for discriminatory working conditions based on travel conditions and personnel and support services to continue. Because of the new coronavirus and jurors not being available, the trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 26, 2021.
Leetzow spent the last 20 years working in-house at NASCAR. She started as intellectual property counsel in 1999 and in December 2017 was named general counsel. Tracey Lesetar-Smith took over as the general counsel of NASCAR in October. Leetzow has also worked as an associate at Kilpatrick Stockton and an examining attorney at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
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