Michele A. Roberts (born 1956) is an American attorney and former executive director of the

National Basketball Players Association The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) is a labor union that represents National Basketball Association (NBA) players. It was founded in 1954, making it the oldest trade union of the four major professional sports leagues in the Uni ...

. She was the first woman to hold that position and the first woman to head a major professional sports union in North America. Previously, she was an attorney with

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1948, the firm consistently ranks among the top U.S. law firms by revenue. The company is known for its wor ...

Early life

Roberts grew up in a

housing project Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authorities, government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the d ...

in the

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

neighborhood of

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

in New York City. She attended the

Masters School The Masters School (colloquially known as Masters), is a private, coeducational boarding school and day college preparatory school located in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Its campus is located north of New York City in the Hudson Valley in Westc ...

Dobbs Ferry, New York Dobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 10,875 according to the 2010 United States Census. In 2019, its population rose to an estimated 11,027. The village of Dobbs Ferry is located in, and is a p ...

. She earned her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

in 1977 and her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

School of Law A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

in 1980.

Career

Roberts began her career in 1980 at

Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia The Public Defender Service (PDS) for the District of Columbia provides legal defense to individuals on a court-appointed basis for criminal (at the trial and appellate levels) and delinquency cases indigent adult and juvenile defendants/ responde ...

. She served in that role for eight years, rising to the chief of the trial division. She was mentored by attorney

Charles Ogletree Charles James Ogletree Jr. (born December 31, 1952) is an American attorney, law professor and the Jesse Climenko Professor at Harvard Law School, the founder of the school's Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice. He is also th ...

. Roberts built her reputation as a trial lawyer. She worked for

Akin Gump Akin may refer to: People *Akin (given name), a list of people *Akin (surname), a list of people *Akın, a list of people with the Turkish given name or surname Places *Akin, Illinois, a town in the United States *Akin, Aksaray, a village in Ak ...

from 2004 to 2011. In 2011 she was hired by

. Roberts was named executive director of the

in July 2014. She succeeded Billy Hunter in the position. She received 32 of 36 votes. In 2014 she was named one of ESPNW's Impact 25. Roberts is an adjunct faculty member at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

and a fellow of the

American College of Trial Lawyers The American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) is a professional association of trial lawyers from the United States and Canada. Founded in 1950, the College is dedicated to maintaining and improving the standards of trial practice, especially tria ...

. The '' Washingtonian'' once referred to her as the "finest pure trial lawyer in Washington." In 2020, Roberts announced plans to resign, but later entered negotiations with NBA players and owners. These negotiations included the planning for the 2020 NBA Bubble, where play resumed during the COVID-19 pandemics. The negotiations also included efforts to promote racial justice, such as painting

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

on NBA courts. In 2021, ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' included Roberts' in "The Unrelenting", a feature on women in sports. ''Worth'' named her one of the "21 Most Powerful Women in the Business of Sports". That same year, ''

Crain's New York Crain Communications Inc is an American multi-industry publishing conglomerate based in Detroit, Michigan, United States, with 13 non-US subsidiaries. History Gustavus Dedman (G.D.) Crain, Jr. ( Gustavus Demetrious Crain, Jr.; 1885–1973), pre ...

'' included her on its list of "Notable Women in Law". Roberts retired as the NBPA executive director in January of 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Michele A Living people African-American women lawyers American women lawyers African-American lawyers National Basketball Association executives Lawyers from the Bronx Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom people Sports labor leaders UC Berkeley School of Law alumni Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Wesleyan University alumni The Masters School people 1956 births 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women