Women’s Sports, Practicing Democracy, and Fighting for Workers Voices at the Bargaining Table and Beyond

Hear first-hand how to chart a non-traditional path that leads you to make history. Join OPIA for a community discussion with Wasserstein Fellow Erin D. Drake AB ‘14, Senior Advisor and Legal Counsel at the Women’s National Basketball Players Association, the Union for WNBA Players. Erin will discuss her own career path, labor negotiations, and the skills she relied on most to make change for WNBA players and the labor movement more broadly. Whether you’re interested in women’s sports, the labor movement, building consensus among diverse groups of people, navigating the media, coalition building, or developing and executing strategic campaigns and actions, this talk should leave you ready to give your skillset to a movement.

Lunch provided. Please RSVP. Open only to the HLS community.

Erin D. Drake is Senior Advisor & Legal Counsel for the Women’s National Basketball Players Association. In her role, Erin works closely with players and other staff to address social, cultural, workplace, and legal concerns that arise for players, and prepares the Union to strategically respond to these matters, and any others arising from the ever-changing landscape of women’s sports. She conducts research, drafts reports and correspondence, and designs education sessions, and strategic campaigns as needed. Erin serves as a primary point of contact with national and global labor, political, advocacy, and civil rights organizations, in addition to other outside legal counsel and organizations. She co-leads the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion player leadership committee, sits on the AFL-CIO’s sports council, assists with the Union’s internship program. Erin is a member of the Union’s collective bargaining negotiations team that secured the historic and transformational 2026 CBA. Prior to joining the WNBPA, Erin clerked for Judge Diane P. Wood on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Judge Robert L. Wilkins of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Born in Nashville, TN, Drake graduated from Harvard University in 2014 and from Yale Law School in 2020. She is a member of the Tennessee Bar and admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

If you or an event participant requires disability-related accommodations, please contact HLS Accessibility Services at accessibility@law.harvard.edu two weeks in advance of the event.