Our Advisors
Sports Solidarity is fortunate to call upon a deep bench of experts across the sports and labor industries for counsel on issues large and small.
Larry Cohen
Larry Cohen has been a leader within the labor movement for the last four decades. In a career that started as an organizer, Cohen went on to become Organizing Director and then President of the Communication Workers of America. He also founded multiple organizations that have championed the rights of workers, including Jobs with Justice and American Rights at Work.
Bill Fletcher
Bill Fletcher has been a labor, racial justice, and international activist for more than five decades. Fletcher has held numerous positions over that time, including President of the TransAfrica Forum and former Assistant to the President of the AFL-CIO. He also co-founded and served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Advocates for Minor Leaguers.
Kerri Gilmore Mesiah
Kerri Gilmore Mesiah is the Director of Staff Diversity and Inclusion at a major international law firm. Before attending law school at William & Mary and becoming a lawyer, Kerri was a collegiate athlete at James Madison University, where she helped lead the JMU women’s basketball team to three sweet-sixteen appearances in her four years on campus.
Bill Gould
Bill Gould is the former Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board and a renowned legal scholar. He was the first Black faculty member at Stanford Law School, where he has served for more than five decades and made significant contributions in the fields of labor law and labor relations. During his tenure at the NLRB, Gould helped to negotiate the end of the 1994-95 Major League Baseball strike.
Justin Keating
Justin Keating is a partner at the law firm of Beins, Axelrod & Keating, P.C., who specializes in the area of traditional labor law. Justin represents unions large and small as chief negotiator in collective bargaining as well as with respect to their organizing campaigns, legislative efforts, arbitrations, and litigation.
Jess Kutch
Jess Kutch has been a leader and innovator in the labor movement for more than a decade. Kutch began her career at the Service Employees International Union and has since served as Organizing Director at Change.org, co-founder and co-Executive Director of Coworker.org, and co-Executive Director of the Action Network Fund.
Lucas Middlebrook
Lucas Middlebrook is a partner with the law firm of Seham, Seham, Meltz & Petersen, LLP who practices in the areas of labor and sports law. Middlebrook serves as outside counsel to the National Basketball Referees Association (NBRA) and the Professional Soccer Referees Association (PSRA). He has also represented individual combat sports athletes and represents numerous labor unions across North America in their organizing and collective bargaining efforts.
Peter Olney
Peter Olney has been an influential labor and political organizer, activist, and leader for more than five decades. Among other positions, Olney has served as Organizing Director of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and Associate Director of the Institute for Labor and Employment at the University of California. Olney played college football at Harvard University.