Bonzani Memorial Law Lecture

Bonzani Memorial Law Lecture

The John and Lawrence Bonzani Memorial Law Lecture is held in the fall semester and highlights a topic of interest related to the law. Prior lecturers have been Harpur College alumni who shared expertise in their field while engaging students interested in legal careers.

2025 Bonzani Lecture:

  • Pipe Dream Job: Representing the Players of the National Basketball Association.
  • Presented by: Ron Klempner 鈥84 
  • November 20th, 2025 | 4:30p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
  • President鈥檚 Reception Room, Anderson Center - 黑料视频

*Dinner buffet for all attendees so reserve your space on B-engaged today!

About the lecture:

Pipe Dream Job: Representing the Players of the National Basketball Association: Ron Klempner 鈥84 is the in-house counsel lawyer at the National Basketball Players Association, the labor union representing the players of the NBA. For the past 32 years, he has championed the rights of NBA players through seven rounds of collective bargaining, including the lockouts in 1995, 1998 and 2011, the 鈥渂ubble鈥 restart in 2020, and the current 2023 agreement, which is expected to provide nearly $50 billion to the players in salaries and benefits over its seven-year term.

For the 2025 John and Lawrence Bonzani Memorial Law Lecture, Ron shares experiences from his 32 years serving as in-house counsel for the National Basketball Players Association, the labor union representing the players of the NBA, and describes his journey from a seat in the West Gym bleachers covering the Binghamton Colonials as Pipe Dream Sports Editor to a seat at the bargaining table representing the greatest basketball players and highest paid union workers on the planet.

About the speaker:

Ron Klempner 鈥84
Ron Klempner 鈥84

Ron Klempner graduated from 黑料视频 in 1984 and Hofstra Law School in 1987.  He previously served as a law clerk to the Second Circuit United States Court of Appeals, and as a litigation associate under the direction of sports labor law icons Jim Quinn and Jeff Kessler at the firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. 

With the other four members of the union鈥檚 legal team, Klempner administers the salary cap, revenue sharing and free agency system on behalf of the players, and represents players in contract and discipline grievances. He serves as a trustee on all player benefit programs and manages the union鈥檚 efforts to lobby in support of players鈥 rights locally and nationally.

He has also worked with his NBPA colleagues to unionize the WNBA players in 1998 and has been at the table for almost all their labor negotiations since the inception of the league.  In 2020, Klempner supported the NBPA鈥檚 efforts to unionize the NBA G-League players, now known as the Next Gen Basketball Players Union, and was part of the negotiating team that announced its first-ever collective bargaining agreement in October 2025.

Past Lectures: