Monday marks Opening Day for Major League Baseball’s 2017 season, one that begins a little more than four months after the league and its players signed a new collective bargaining agreement. The five-year deal, which guarantees play uninterrupted by labor strife, also generated a healthy amount of billings for outside law firms advising the Major League Baseball Players Association.
The New York-based labor union, one of the most powerful bodies in professional sports, had more than a dozen legal advisers on its payroll in 2016, according to the organization’s annual LM-2 filing with the U.S. Department of Labor on March 31. The document covers the period between Jan. 1, 2016 and Dec. 31, 2016. Sidley Austin and Francisco-based litigation shop Altshuler Berzon took the top two spots in the legal fee standings, billing $346,222 and $221,328, respectively, for their work on behalf of the MLBPA.
