It’s hard to capture the cloud that was hanging over the United States Soccer Federation back in 2020 when Karen Leetzow was interviewing for the job as the organization’s chief legal officer.

The USSF was entangled in litigation with members of the wildly popular and successful U.S. Women’s National Team who claimed the men’s team was paid more and treated better. The federation’s defense lawyers at Seyfarth Shaw had argued in court papers that the players on the women’s team “do not perform equal work requiring equal skill, effort, and responsibility under similar working conditions.”