‘B-A-D’ But Good: ABA Journal Profiles Deb Willig’s Career Fighting ‘On the Side of the Angels’

The Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) recently ratified a historic collective bargaining agreement with the WNBA, which raises the minimum salary from $270,000 to $300,000 in 2026 – the largest salary increase from one CBA to the next in the history of sports. Managing partner Deborah Willig led the negotiating team fighting for fair treatment for these world-class athletes, after similarly helping the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association (NWSLPA) secure its first collective bargaining agreement in 2022.

The American Bar Association (ABA) Journal recently profiled Willig and her determination to secure the best possible deals for these hard-working women. She credited her persistence to her belief that she is “on the side of the angels” in her work, adding that union attorneys are “basically fighting for the little person against the giant corporation or giant government. It’s frequently a David and Goliath battle.”

Meghann Burke, the executive director of the NWSLPA, said that Willig’s tough, no-nonsense approach led players to call her “Bad-Ass Deb” or “B.A.D.” She added that Willig “suffers no fools, particularly a management side who underestimates her clients or their worth. In women’s sports, this is key to empowering women to stand in their power. Deb isn’t only exercising a strategic legal mind; she is being her authentic self and, in so doing, inspiring the next generations of professional women to know their worth.”

Willig told the ABA Journal that it’s vital to listen to “both your client and other side” to determine whether demands are reasonable and help find a middle ground. “You have to understand the budget,” she said. “You really have to get into the weeds and understand the workings of the employer and the goals of the union.”

Willig also noted that employers have not changed much over the years. “I just sit there and think to myself, ‘It is such a repetitive theme that if managers listened to workers, business and governments might actually run better, but they won’t do it.’ I have been confounded by that for 50 years.”

As a trailblazer for women lawyers in the 1970s, Willig drew inspiration from activists’ fight for justice and equality. “I grew up in the Civil Rights Movement and the belief system that says everybody deserves equal treatment and equal access under the law,” she said.

A former high school basketball player and avid Phillies and Eagles fan, Willig said she found the opportunity to negotiate for sports stars very exciting, adding “I am delighted that my personal interests and professional life came together finally.”

Read the full article online: ‘B-A-D’ But Good: Professional athletes gave this lawyer a nickname fitting her skills (ABA membership required.)