Elizabeth C. Pritzker

Pritzker, the co-founder of litigation boutique Pritzker Levine LLP, noticed a troubling omission in the big antitrust class action against the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the 11 major athletic conferences for allegedly restraining trade by limiting education-related benefits for student-athletes.

West Virginia running back Shawne Alston was the lead plaintiff, but where were the women? "As the case proceeded to the class certification stage I observed there was no women's basketball class representative, and I was concerned that women would be shut out of any benefits the litigation obtained," she said.

So Pritzker acted, filing a follow-on action that was integrated into the main suit. "I brought previously-unrepresented women's basketball class representatives into the case," she said. They included two from UC Berkeley, where Pritzker enjoyed watching the sport: women's basketball team members Justine Hartman and Afure Jemerigbe.

After a ten-day trial in which Hartman testified, Senior U.S. District Judge Claudia A. Wilken of Oakland ruled in 2019 that the NCAA violated antitrust laws; the damages settlement that followed came to $228 million. In re: NCAA Grant-in-Aid Cap Antitrust Litigation, 14-MD02541 (N.D. Cal., filed June 13, 2014).

On May 18, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel affirmed Wilken's bench ruling.

Pritzker prepared Hartman for her trial testimony. "She did a great job. It's not easy for a 21-year-old to testify in federal court."

She has become close to Hartman and Jemerigbe and has encouraged them in their aim to go to law school.

"I like to think I'm a mentoring influence. That's important to me," Pritzker said. "And this is one of the most important cases of my career. It's about antitrust and it's also about civil rights."

"A lot of college athletes are from poor or disadvantaged backgrounds," she added. "They work for scholarships, they get to school and work 80 hours a week on classes and their sports -- and they find the scholarship doesn't cover the true cost of their education."

In another major case, Pritzker represents classes of plaintiffs who accuse of price fixing the makers and sellers of a life-saving auto-injectable medical device that delivers the drug epinephrine to those suffering a severe allergic reaction. In re: EpiPen Marketing, Sales Practices and Antitrust Litigation, 17-MD02785 (D. Kan., filed Aug. 4, 2017).

She was appointed chair of the plaintiffs' steering committee, but it got better. After working through party discovery, third party discovery and expert expert analysis, she and her colleagues achieved certification of a nationwide RICO class and a multi-state antitrust damages class.

Then, at the end of his certification order, U.S. District Judge Daniel D. Crabtree of Kansas City, Kansas, made another ruling. "He acknowledged and rewarded my efforts by elevating me sua sponte to co-lead class counsel," Pritzker said. "Leadership appointments are what we all seek. It will be meaningful to my career."

-- John Roemer