Prior to her retirement in January 2022, Michele Roberts had since 2014  served as the Executive Director of the National Basketball Players Association [“NBPA”]. In that role she was tasked with working on behalf of NBA players to ensure their rights are protected and they were fairly compensated for the value they bring to the sport and their impact on the community. Prior to joining the NBPA, she was an esteemed trial lawyer with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.  Her practice focused on complex civil and white-collar criminal litigation before state and federal courts and in administrative proceedings. Ms. Roberts has tried more than 150 cases to jury verdicts, representing clients in a wide variety of areas, including products liability, white collar, racketeering, securities regulation violations, Title VII issues and premises liability. She is a top-ranked attorney who has received numerous accolades from Chambers Global, Chambers USA, and BenchmarkLitigation, among other notable publications.

Ms. Roberts is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. She worked for eight years in the office of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, where she was named Chief of the Trial Division. Ms. Roberts is a frequent lecturer and presenter to both the bench and bar on a variety of topics related to litigation and trial practice. She taught trial advocacy as an adjunct member of the faculty at Harvard Law School and as an instructor with the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.

Ms. Roberts currently serves on the boards of Cresco Labs, The Marshall Project, The Bronx Defenders, and Wesleyan University, her alma mater.