Affiliations

American Bar Association

• Young Lawyers Division Labor and Employment Law Committee, Co-Chair
• Committee on Practice & Procedure Under the NLRA Young Lawyers Division, Fellow
• Section of Labor and Employment Law, Leadership Development Program, Fellow

Chicago Bar Association

• Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra, Horn

Columbia College Chicago

• Labor Relations for Arts Administrators, Adjunct Professor (2009)

Representative Engagements

Representative Labor Relations Matters

• Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and United Food & Commercial Workers Int’l Union, 356 NLRB No. 85 (defended employer against unfair labor practice allegations involving claims of retaliatory discharges and unlawful solicitation of grievances).
• Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire and IATSE Local 2, Case No. 13-RC-22004 (defended employer against union’s challenge to three ballots and successfully represented employer on its contingent objection to conduct of election).
• Advised large hospital on collective bargaining and strike planning matters.
• Geminus Corporation and AFSCME Council 62 (Dworkin, Arb.) (defended employer’s discharge of employee for misconduct).
• Defended newspaper in private-sector interest arbitration for successor contract.
• Memphis Ready Mix and Teamsters Local 984, Case No. 26-UC-199 (defended employer against accretion of non-represented employees to an existing bargaining unit).
• Negotiated initial collective bargaining agreement for construction company’s bargaining unit of professional engineers.
• Negotiated successor collective bargaining agreement for symphony orchestra.
• Kiewit Mining and IBEW Local 2337, Case No. 16-RC-10827 (represented employer in IBEW organizing campaign involving mine workers).
• Teamsters Local No. 888 and The Baltimore Sun (Symonette, Arb.) (defended company’s changes to collectively-bargained health insurance plan).
• Advised on legal and operating issues associated with a multi-week strike against drug and alcohol treatment center.
• Jay’s Foods and Teamsters Local 734, Case Nos. 13-RC-21291, 13-RC-21293, 13-RC-21299 (represented employer in Teamsters organizing campaigns involving drivers).
• W Hotel Lakeshore Chicago and UNITE HERE Local 1 (Nathan, Arb.) (defended employer’s discharge of employee for theft).
• Additional unfair labor practice, organizing, arbitration, bargaining, and corporate campaign experience provided upon request.

Representative Federal Court Litigation

• St. Louis Newspaper Guild Local 36047, TNG-CWA v. St. Louis Post Dispatch LLC, __ F.3d __ (8th Cir. 2011) (order requiring employer to arbitrate retiree medical dispute reversed in employer’s favor).
• Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. Georgia-Pacific LLC, __ F.3d __, 190 LRRM 2643 (BNA) (7th Cir. 2011) (company owed no withdrawal liability to fund).
• Speciale v. Blue Cross Blue Shield Ass’n, 538 F.3d 615 (7th Cir. 2008) (motion for judgment granted because denial of plaintiff’s long-term disability claim was not arbitrary and capricious).
• Perrywatson v. United Air Lines, Inc., 190 LRRM 2043, 24 Am. Disabilities Case. (BNA) 174 (N.D. Ill. 2011) (motions to transfer venue and for summary judgment granted on disability discrimination claim and retaliatory discharge claim; single remaining claim abandoned by plaintiff).
• Katsanis v. Blue Cross Blue Shield Ass’n, Case No. 07-CV-696C (W.D.N.Y. 2011) (motion for summary judgment granted because denial of plaintiff’s long-term disability claim was not arbitrary and capricious).
• Hughes v. United Air Lines, Inc., 675 F.Supp.2d 907 (N.D. Ill. 2009) (motion to remand denied and motion to dismiss granted because workers’ compensation retaliatory discharge claim was preempted by the Railway Labor Act).
• Select Specialty Hospital v. Pactiv Corp. Master Health and Welfare Plan, #531, Case No. 2:05-cv-1093 (S.D. Ohio 2008) (motion for judgment granted because denial of plaintiff’s claim for additional benefits was not arbitrary and capricious).
• Additional experience provided upon request.

Presentations

• “Dateline NLRA: An Up-to-the-Minute Update of Developments under the National Labor Relations Act,” presentation at the American Bar Association Section of Labor & Employment Law Annual Law Conference (2011)
• “The NLRB, the Internet, and Social Media: Will They Be ‘Friends’?,” presentation at the American Bar Association Section of Labor & Employment Law Committee on Practice and Procedure Under the NLRA Midwinter Meeting (2011)
• “Exploring the Virtual Ballot Box: How Electronic Voting Would Work in NLRB Elections,” presentation at the American Bar Association Section of Labor & Employment Law Committee on Practice and Procedure Under the NLRA Midwinter Meeting (2010)
• “Fundamentals of Practice and Procedure Before the National Labor Relations Board,” presentation at the American Bar Association Section of Labor & Employment Law Annual Law Conference (2009)
• “Is the National Labor Relations Board’s Election Process Broken? A Management Perspective,” presentation at the American Bar Association Section of Labor & Employment Law Committee on Practice and Procedure Under the NLRA Midwinter Meeting (2008)

Publications

• “NLRB Issues Final Rule Requiring Employers to Post NLRA Rights Poster,” American Bar Association Section of Labor & Employment Law “Hot Topic” email listserv (2011)
• “Sale of Assets Exclusion From Withdrawal Liability Interpreted,” Benefits Magazine, Vol. 48, No. 8 (August 2011)
• “Remote Electronic Voting Under the National Labor Relations Act: Card Check in Disguise,”  HR Advisor, Vol. 16, No. 5 (September/October 2010)
• “Successorship and the Bargaining Obligation,” The Developing Labor Law, contributing editor, 5th ed. 2006 and cumulative supplements
• “Antitrust Problems,” The Labor Law Handbook, Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (2010)
• “New Lawyer Notes: Why Traditional Labor Law Matters For Employment Lawyers,” American Bar Association Section of Labor & Employment Law Newsletter, Vol. 37, No. 4 (2009)
• “Chamber of Commerce v. Brown,” American Bar Association Section of Labor & Employment Law “Hot Topic” email listserv (2008)
• “Multiemployer Pension Plan Audits: Strategies for Employers During Heightened Auditing Activity,” Benefits Law Journal, Vol. 20, No. 2 (2007)
• “Orchestrating an Exclusion of Professional Workers from the NLRA: Has the Supreme Court Endangered Symphony Orchestra Musicians’ Collective Bargaining Rights?”  Washington University Journal of Law & Policy, Vol. 15 (2004)

Community Involvement

• Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, Volunteer Attorney
• Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Overture Council Member
• United Methodist Higher Education Foundation, Board Member