Statewide vs. Local Right to Work Laws - Podcast
Labor and Employment Law Practice Group Podcast
In 1957, an article in the Stanford Law Review asked the question: can counties and cities pass...
Labor & Employment Law Practice Group
Andrew Kloster, James Sherk, Ariana R. Levinson, Raymond J. LaJeunesse
Labor and Employment Law Practice Group Podcast
In 1957, an article in the Stanford Law Review asked the question: can counties and cities pass...
David Fortney, Brent Garren, John S. Irving
Labor & Employment Law Practice Group Podcast
2016 was a big year for labor and employment law. In Friedrichs v. California Teachers...
Administrative Law & Regulation Could a New Section 1983 Covering Federal Officials Curb Executive Branch...
Labor & Employment Law Practice Group Podcast
Ronald Meisburg, former National Labor Relations Board Member and General Counsel, joined us to discuss...
Lawrence VanDyke, Jesse Panuccio, D Hancock
Litigation and Labor & Employment Practice Groups Podcast
In May, the Department of Labor announced a new overtime regulation, which would require all...
Dwight D. Opperman Professor of Law; Director, Center for Labor, New York University School of Law
Samuel Estreicher is a nationally preeminent scholar in US and international-comparative labor and employment law and arbitration law. He has authored more than a dozen books, including Beyond Elite Law: Access to Civil Justice in America (with Joy Radice, Cambridge Univ. 2016); leading casebooks on legislation and regulatory state, labor law and employment discrimination and employment law; and published more than 200 articles in professional and academic journals. He served as Chief Reporter for the American Law Institute’s Restatement of Employment Law (2015). After clerking for Judge Harold Leventhal of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, practicing in a labor law firm, and clerking for Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. of the US Supreme Court, Prof. Estreicher joined the NYU School of Law faculty in 1978. In addition to serving as counsel to major law firms, he is the former secretary of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the American Bar Association, a former chair of the Committee on Labor and Employment Law of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.15). He maintains an active appellate and ADR practice. The Labor and Employment Research Association awarded him its 2010 Susan C. Eaton Award for Outstanding Scholar-Practitioner. In recent years, Estreicher also has published work in public international law and authored several briefs in the Supreme Court and US courts of appeals on employment and US foreign relations law issues. Prof. Estreicher received his BA from Columbia College, his MS in industrial relations from Cornell University, and his JD from Columbia Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Columbia Law Review. He is a member of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and was appointed in 2016 by the UN Secretary General as a member of the UN’s Internal Justice Commission.
Shareholder, Ogletree Deakins
Brian Hayes is a Shareholder in the Washington, DC office of Ogletree Deakins and serves as Co-Chair of the law firm’s Traditional Labor Practice Group. Immediately prior to his joining the firm he was a Member of the National Labor Relations Board. He was confirmed to that post by the United States Senate in 2010 and his term ended in December of 2012. He is currently a Member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Litigation Advisory Committee and was recently named Chairman of the U.S. Chamber’s Subcommittee on the National Labor Relations Act. He also serves as editor in chief for The Practical NLRB Advisor.
Prior to his nomination and confirmation to the NLRB, Brian Hayes served as the Republican Labor Policy Director for the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He came to Capitol Hill in 2005 after nearly thirty years in private legal practice devoted exclusively to representing management clients in labor and employment matters. While in private practice he represented clients in scores of cases before NLRB, state and federal courts, and a host of other federal agencies such as the EEOC, OFCCP, OSHA, the Department of Labor and their state counterparts. He also has had extensive private practice experience representing employers in collective-bargaining negotiations, arbitrations and other forms of dispute resolution. In addition to his private practice, he served as Counsel to the Employers’ Association of the Northeast, editor-in-chief and contributor to The Health Care Labor Manual, and also served on the adjunct faculty of Western New England Law School teaching courses in labor law, and collective-bargaining, arbitration and employment litigation. Before entering private practice he began his legal career at the NLRB working as a law clerk to the Chief Administrative Law Judge while in law school and subsequently as counsel to the then-Board Chairman. He is a graduate of Boston College and of Georgetown University Law School.
Principal, JacksonLewis
Marvin Kaplan is a principal in the New York City, New York, office of Jackson Lewis P.C.
Marvin, a former Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), advises clients on labor and employment issues, focusing on union organizing and labor-management relations. Over his eight years on the NLRB, Marvin participated in over 900 decisions, including decisions addressing the lawfulness of captive audience speeches and work rules, and the standards for determining the composition of a bargaining unit and whether an individual is an independent contractor, and several rulemakings, defining a joint-employer and laying out procedures governing representation elections.
Prior to his time on the NLRB, he served as Chief Counsel at the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and a Special Assistant at U.S. Department of Labor. His cross-disciplinary experience makes Marvin particularly well-suited to advise clients on strategic business planning.
His experience at all levels of government in different agencies and branches, including the U.S. House of Representatives, provides a unique perspective on Congressional oversight, legislation, regulations and federal investigations—enabling him to help clients navigate complex compliance challenges and anticipate regulatory developments that could impact their organizations.
He is a graduate of Cornell University and Washington University in St. Louis Law School.
Shareholder & Co-Chair of the Workplace Policy Institute, Littler Mendelson P.C.
Alexander T. MacDonald advises employers on all aspects of the employment and labor landscape, focusing on emerging legislation and regulation. He has extensive experience advising businesses on worker classification, arbitration, the administrative and regulatory process, and the future of work. He frequently writes, publishes, and speaks on these subjects. His work has been cited by scholars and appellate courts. He is a recognized voice for the management perspective.
Alexander is a co-chair of the Workplace Policy Institute (WPI) team. With WPI, he advises employers on legislative, administrative, and regulatory developments at the state and federal level. He advocates for employers in the regulatory and administrative process. He also helps employers protect their businesses by understanding and anticipating cutting-edge legal developments.
Alexander also has extensive experience in traditional labor law. He represents management in all aspects of labor-management relations, including unfair labor practice charges, grievance arbitrations, representation elections, contract negotiations, and related litigation, including litigation in the U.S. courts of appeals.
Before joining Littler, Alexander served as the director, future of work, for a major technology company. He also worked in a national labor and employment law firm and a major public-sector general counsel’s office. He was a law clerk to the senior judges in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
He is also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He served in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. In law school, he graduated first in his class
Director, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute
Thomas Berry is the director in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies and editor in chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review. Before joining Cato, he was an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation and clerked for Judge E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. His academic work has appeared in NYU Journal of Law and Liberty, Washington and Lee Law Review Online, and Federalist Society Review. His popular writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, National Law Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, National Review Online, and The Hill Online. He has testified before the U.S. Senate, and his work has been cited by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Berry holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he was a senior editor on the Stanford Law and Policy Review and a Bradley Student Fellow in the Stanford Constitutional Law Center. He graduated with a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, Santa Fe.
Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
Jimmy Conde is partner at Boyden Gray PLLC, specializing in energy, environmental, and administrative law, with particular expertise in the Clean Air Act. He has protected clients against agency overreach in cutting-edge and complex legal proceedings, including challenges to EPA, DOE, DOT, and California rules seeking to compel electrification of motor vehicles, the FCC’s universal service fund, Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division rules, and HHS rules interfering with the practice of medicine and sound insurance practices. His written commentary has been published and referenced in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Examiner, Concurrences (an antitrust publication), and Newsweek, among others.
Mr. Conde began his legal career as an associate with Boyden Gray PLLC. He clerked for Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge David J. Porter in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Associate Chief Counsel, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Maria C. Monaghan is associate chief counsel at the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, the litigation arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In this capacity, she handles a variety of litigation matters for the Chamber.
Before joining the Litigation Center, Monaghan practiced as an associate in the D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. She represented clients in the telecommunications, energy, transportation, and e-commerce sectors, with a focus on appellate litigation and regulatory matters.
Monaghan served as a law clerk to the Honorable Samuel A. Alito of the United States Supreme Court, the Honorable Ed Carnes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the Honorable Amul R. Thapar of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she served as Articles Development Editor for the Virginia Law Review and participated in the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. She received her undergraduate degree in Human Resource Management and Labor Studies from Rutgers University.
Senior Counsel, America First Legal Foundation
James Rogers is Senior Counsel at America First Legal Foundation, where he litigates in a number of areas, including border security, election integrity, parental rights, and administrative and constitutional law. Before joining America First Legal, from 2021 to 2022, he was Senior Litigation Counsel at the Solicitor General’s Office of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. While there, he spearheaded lawsuits against the Biden Administration’s destructive open borders policies and its COVID19 vaccine mandates. From 2015 to 2021, James was a Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Department of State, where he worked in the Office of the Assistant Legal Advisor for Consular Affairs, at the U.S. Consulate in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and at the U.S. Embassy in Windhoek, Namibia.
Prior to joining the Department of State, he was a commercial litigation partner at Osborn Maledon, a Phoenix-based firm with a #1 litigation ranking from Chambers and Partners. James earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2009, an L.L.M. in International Law from the University of Cambridge in 2008, and a B.A., with honors, in International Studies from Brigham Young University in 2005. He is a sixth-generation Arizonan and lives in Mesa, Arizona, with his four children.
Partner, Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP
Ryan Schermerhorn is a registered patent attorney in the firm's Industrial & Mechanical Technologies Practice Group. His engineering background provides him with an understanding of clients’ technologies and enables him to effectively and efficiently provide a range of patent procurement services. He also leverages his experience to assist on intellectual property litigation as well as develop strategies for acquiring and protecting intellectual property.
Since 2017, Ryan has been listed as an "Emerging Lawyer" by Emerging Lawyers Magazine and has been selected for inclusion in the Illinois Rising Stars® lists. Ryan was recognized in Chicago Daily Law Bulletin's 2023 40 Under Forty list. Since 2024, Ryan has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© list in the practice areas of Litigation - Patent and Patent Law. In 2025, Ryan was selected by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company’s Leading Lawyer Network as a “Leading Lawyer.”
Executive Director, Center for Election Confidence
Lisa L. Dixon serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Election Confidence (formerly known as Lawyers Democracy Fund). Lisa is also a consultant for the Republican National Lawyers Association, serving as their Legal Counsel. Previously, Lisa practiced at Holtzman Vogel, where she specialized in tax-exempt organizations, campaign finance and election law, and lobbying compliance.
During law school, she interned for the Office of Chief Counsel, Procedure and Administration, at the Internal Revenue Service and at the Center for Law and Religious Freedom. Before law school, she served as the Assistant Student Division Director at The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies and interned at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.
Lisa earned a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, an M.A. in History from the University of Virginia, and a B.A. in History from Hillsdale College. After 18 years on the East Coast, mostly in northern Virginia, she recently returned to her native Michigan, where she lives with her husband and three sons.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Oliver Dunford joined the Pacific Legal Foundation in March 2017. He litigates across the country to defend and advance individual liberty and the rule of law. Oliver’s cases involve the separation of powers, economic liberty, property rights, and the First Amendment.
Oliver remains inspired by the Classical Liberal ideals upon which our Founders declared independence and secured the blessings of liberty. The Constitution’s promises, however, are not self-executing. As James Madison explained, “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” Oliver feels lucky that his work helps oblige the government to control itself—to the end that all individuals may pursue their rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Before joining PLF, Oliver clerked at the Ohio Supreme Court and the Ohio Court of Appeals, and spent more than a decade in private practice working on complex commercial litigation. Originally from Cleveland, Oliver is a graduate of the University of Dayton and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, where he was a managing editor for the Cleveland State Law Review. Oliver is admitted to the state bars of Florida, California, and Ohio, as well as several federal courts including the United States Supreme Court.
Oliver spends all of his free time following the Cleveland Indians.
Partner, Phelps Dunbar LLP
Mike Hurst is a partner with Phelps Dunbar LLP where he optimizes his in-depth knowledge of the court system, investigative and prosecutorial agencies, the regulatory arena, and the public policy realm to help clients facing government investigations, enforcement actions, regulatory matters, general litigation and policy issues. Mike currently serves as the General Counsel of the Republican National Committee and as Chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party. He previously served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi from 2017-2021, and with over 20 years of experience before judges, juries and policy makers, handling some of the largest and most high-profile cases in Mississippi, he's known for untangling the most complex legal issues.
As U.S. Attorney, Mike was described as a “hard charger,” leading efforts to combat violent crime, human trafficking and public corruption, among many other issues, throughout Mississippi. He almost tripled prosecutions in the U.S. Attorney’s Office over a three-year period, resulting in the most indictments and federal defendants indicted in a one-year period in Mississippi history. He created innovative and national award-winning crime-fighting solutions, like “Project EJECT,” and he established the first statewide, multilevel and multidisciplinary human trafficking body, the Mississippi Human Trafficking Council, to comprehensively and holistically address this criminal scourge.
During his tenure as U.S. Attorney, Mike oversaw some of the biggest cases in Mississippi history: the largest health care fraud scheme (Wade Walters, et. al.), the largest Ponzi scheme (Lamar Adams), the largest False Claims Act health care fraud settlement (Region 8), and the largest nursing home False Claim Act settlement (Hyperion). In addition, as Chief Federal Law Enforcement Officer for the Southern District, Mike coordinated the largest single-state immigration worksite enforcement operation in our nation’s history, involving hundreds of federal law enforcement agents covering seven different locations operated by multiple companies.
Mike’s no show pony – he’s a work horse. Before his tenure as U.S. Attorney, Mike was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi for more than eight years. He handled some of the most difficult and complex cases in that office, dealing with white collar crimes, public corruption and financial fraud, including numerous jury trials before almost every federal judge in the Southern District.
He also has experience in the private sector. He has practiced law in Washington, D.C., and has served as a litigator and general counsel for a conservative nonprofit. He also has extensive experience in public policy, having served as the Legislative Director to a U.S. Congressman and as Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee.
Mike has also testified before both the United States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives on issues ranging from crime to Presidential pardons. He has worked on all sides of the legal, regulatory, investigative, prosecutorial and policy spectrum. The incredible insight gained from this varied experience enables him to find a path forward for clients, no matter how complicated the case.
Senior Litigation Counsel, Washington Legal Foundation
Zac joined WLF in 2025 as Senior Litigation Counsel. In that role, he regularly represents WLF and other clients as counsel of record in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal appellate courts. Before arriving at WLF, Zac served as counsel to Commissioner Allen Dickerson of the Federal Election Commission. Zac also spent eight years litigating First Amendment cases as a staff attorney for the Institute for Free Speech, where he represented clients in federal and state cases across the country. He received his J.D. from George Mason University’s School of Law, where he participated in GMU’s Wiley Rein Supreme Court clinic.
Solicitor General, Iowa Office of the Attorney General
Eric Wessan serves as Iowa’s Solicitor General in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. In that
role, Wessan leads Iowa’s litigation before State and federal appellate courts, including the Iowa
and U.S. Supreme Courts. Before that role, Wessan worked on complex commercial litigation at
two large law firms in Chicago. Wessan also served as a law clerk for the Honorable James C.
Ho on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and for the Honorable John F. Kness on the
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Wessan is a graduate of the University of
Chicago Law School, with honors, and of the University of Chicago.
Senior Litigator, The Buckeye Institute; Partner, Wegman Hessler Valore
Jay R. Carson is the senior litigator at The Buckeye Institute. In this role he oversees all of Buckeye’s efforts to protect people’s rights and good public policy through the courts.
Carson brings 20 years of private-sector litigation and public policy experience to The Buckeye Institute, and has served as a legislative aide to the Ohio General Assembly, a law clerk to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as a Common Pleas Court Magistrate.
In addition to his work for The Buckeye Institute, Carson continues to practice at Wegman Hessler in Cleveland, where he focuses on business litigation, regulatory compliance counseling, and dispute resolution. Carson draws on his experiences in the public and private sectors to advocate for economic liberty and against burdensome government regulations on behalf of The Buckeye Institute and the people that it represents.
Carson is active in his community, the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, the Northern District of Ohio Chapter of the Federal Bar Foundation, and is a life member of the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference. Carson has also served on the Lakewood Civil Service Commission, the Lakewood Charter Review Commission, and the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Workforce Investment Board. He currently serves on the boards of the North Coast Health Foundation and the Three Arches Foundation, which focus on providing health care to the uninsured, as well as the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
Jay earned his J.D. from The Ohio State University College of Law and his B.A. from Baldwin-Wallace College.
Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice
Sam Gedge is a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice. He joined IJ in June 2015 and litigates cases to promote economic liberty, protect political speech, and secure individuals’ rights to private property.
In 2017, Sam was named IJ’s second Elfie Gallun Fellow for Freedom and the Constitution. The fellowship comes with an emphasis on publishing written materials and speaking to students and others about the vital role the U.S. Constitution plays in protecting our most precious freedoms.
In his time at IJ, Sam has launched cases battling civil forfeiture and overzealous licensing boards, which generated widespread coverage and conversation in media outlets from Wired and The Atlantic to London’s Daily Mail.
Before joining IJ, Sam was an attorney at Wiley Rein LLP, in Washington, D.C., where he focused on litigation and election law. He is a former law clerk to Judge Raymond W. Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Sam received his law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2010.
Assistant Attorney General, Opinions Unit, Ohio Attorney General’s Office
Jeff Hobday serves as an Assistant Attorney General in the Opinions Unit at the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, where he researches and drafts formal opinions to guide state agencies, county officials, and townships on complex questions of statutory interpretation. He recently co-authored an amicus brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Ohio and 28 other states in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, addressing federal preemption and the States’ authority to regulate highway safety through tort law.
Previously, Jeff held leadership roles at the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office, including as Senior Elections Counsel and Deputy Elections Director. He began his public service career as an attorney with the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, where he drafted legislation and advised lawmakers on criminal justice, tort law, and the state’s court system.
Jeff Hobday earned his law degree from Cornell Law School and holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and Psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois.
Partner, Lehotsky Keller Cohn LLP
Mary Miller is an experienced litigator focusing on complex trial and appellate litigation in state and federal courts. She has represented clients in matters involving antitrust, fraud, breach of contract, class actions, misappropriation of trade secrets, false advertising, and the False Claims Act. Mary previously first chaired a federal jury trial to successful verdict, and she has authored numerous motions and briefs at all stages of litigation.
Before joining Lehotsky Keller Cohn LLP, Mary was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Washington, D.C. Mary previously clerked for the Honorable Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge Priscilla Richman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and Judge Richard J. Leon of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Legal Fellow and Manager, Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program, The Heritage Foundation
Zack is a Legal Fellow and Manager of the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
He previously served for several years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Florida. Prior to that, he spent two years as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which he joined after clerking for the Hon. Emmett R. Cox on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Smith received his undergraduate, master’s, and law degrees from the University of Florida. During law school, Smith served as the Editor in Chief of the Florida Law Review and served on the executive boards of several student organizations, including the UF Chapter of the Federalist Society.
U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, Senior Counsel
Jordan Von Bokern is senior counsel at the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, the litigation arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In this capacity, Von Bokern focuses on regulatory litigation, especially affirmative litigation in which the Chamber is suing to challenge federal, state, and local regulations.
Before joining the Litigation Center, Von Bokern served as a trial attorney in the Federal Programs Branch in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In this role, Von Bokern defended the United States and various federal agencies and officers against lawsuits that raised constitutional and statutory challenges to federal statutes, regulations, guidance documents, and other executive branch actions. Von Bokern litigated those claims in federal district courts across the country.
Prior to that, Von Bokern served as senior counsel in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice. Here, Von Bokern advised Department of Justice leadership and the White House on the selection, nomination, and confirmation of federal judges. He also worked on Department of Justice policy initiatives.
Von Bokern served as a law clerk for both then-Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett and Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jerry E. Smith. Between his clerkships, he was an associate at Jones Day in their Labor and Employment practice. He graduated cum laude from The University of Chicago Law School, where he served as managing editor of The University of Chicago Law Review. Von Bokern received his B.A. in Political Science, summa cum laude, from Colorado State University.
Senior Counsel, Compass Legal Group
Andrew Kloster is Senior Counsel at the nonprofit Compass Legal Group. He is a long-time fixture of the conservative movement, advising clients on the new right on a wide variety of matters criminal, civil, political / electoral, and administrative. Recently, he served as Chief of Staff to the Wisconsin Office of Special Counsel investigation into election administration. Prior to that, he served in the Trump administration, including concurrently as Associate Director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel and as Deputy General Counsel (and later, Acting General Counsel) in the United States Office of Personnel Management. He has also served in senior positions in regulatory and legal positions at the United States Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency, and was appointed by President Trump to serve a three-year term on the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States. Previously, he worked at the Heritage Foundation, the Scalia Law School, and other movement groups. He is a graduate of the University of Miami and the New York University School of Law, and he served as a law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Director, Center for American Freedom, America First Policy Institute
James Sherk was born in Ontario, Canada, and immigrated with his family to Midland, Michigan while in middle school. He serves as AFPI’s Director of the Center for American Freedom. Sherk previously served as Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy on the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Donald Trump. James served as the Administration’s top civil service reform and labor policy advisor from 2017 to 2021. At the White House, he was the principal author of and/or policy lead for approximately two dozen executive orders and presidential memoranda. Sherk also served as a member of the President’s Council on Improving Federal Civic Architecture. Prior to his White House service, Sherk was a Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, where he was a nationally recognized expert on the civil service and labor policy. Sherk received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Economics from Hillsdale College and an Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Rochester. Sherk and his wife, Jill, live in Northern Virginia with three beloved children who teach their parents to ponder inscrutable questions like “how much drawing can go on the walls before we have to repaint them?”
Professor of Law, University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law
Ariana R. Levinson is a nationally acclaimed and internationally recognized labor and employment law scholar and focuses her teaching on practical legal skills. She has often presented her research, including at Berkeley Law School, Fordham Law School, University of Leeds, and Universidad Carlos II de Madrid. Levinson’s work has been published in the Columbia Business Law Review and the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy. She has a forthcoming student co-authored article in the Harvard Journal on Legislation and is working on a hornbook on arbitration.
Professor Levinson received a Corey Rosen Research Fellowship from the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations for the 2012-13 academic year, and a Michael W. Huber Fellowship for the 2013-14 academic year. In conjunction with the fellowships, she published "Founding Worker Cooperatives: Social Movement Theory and the Law" in the Nevada Law Journal and is working on a research project about the Cincinnati Union Co-op Initiative. Her article "What the Awards Tell Us about Labor Arbitration of Employment Discrimination Claims", published in the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform was selected by blind review by Vanderbilt Law School faculty for presentation at the Branstetter New Voices in Civil Justice Workshop in May 2012.
In addition to writing about worker ownership and arbitration, Professor Levinson has also written a number of articles about workplace technology and privacy. Her most recent publications on this topic include a book chapter in the Research Handbook on Electronic Commerce Law.
Professor Levinson is the faculty liaison to the Peggy Browning Fund and a co-planner of the Warns-Render Labor and Employment Law Institute, an annual labor and employment law continuing legal education program. She coaches the mock arbitration team and advises the Wagner moot court team. She is a Reviewer for the American Business Law Journal. Professor Levinson is admitted to practice in Indiana and California.
Prior to teaching at Brandeis School of Law, Professor Levinson taught at USC Gould School of Law and at UCLA School of Law. She clerked for the Honorable John G. Davies (United States District Court, Central District of California) and for the Honorable Myra C. Selby (Supreme Court of Indiana) and practiced labor law, including serving as a fellow for the AFL-CIO's Legal Department.
She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. During law school, she served as a contributing editor on the Michigan Law Review and was awarded the Robert S. Feldman Labor Law Award for the most outstanding work in that field. She also received a 2014-15 faculty favorite award from the University of Louisville Delphi Center for Teaching and Learning.
Vice President & Legal Director, National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation
Raymond J. LaJeunesse, Jr., is Vice President and Legal Director of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a non-profit legal aid organization. He was the first Staff Attorney employed by the Foundation and has more than forty-five years of experience helping workers in litigation in federal and state courts and administrative agencies over the abuses of compulsory unionism.
Mr. LaJeunesse has argued four cases in the United States Supreme Court. Those cases include Lehnert v. Ferris Faculty Ass’n, 500 U.S. 507 (1991), which limited the purposes for which compulsory union fees collected from public employees may lawfully be spent; Air Line Pilots Ass’n v. Miller, 523 U.S. 866 (1998), which established that unions cannot compel nonmembers to exhaust union-established remedies before going to court to challenge compulsory union fees; and Marquez v. Screen Actors Guild, 525 U.S. 33 (1998), in which the Court recognized that unions must notify employees that they can satisfy the “membership” requirement of “union shop” agreements by just paying fees for union bargaining activities and need not join and pay full dues to keep their jobs. He also was lead attorney in Hohe v. Casey, 956 F.2d 399 (3d Cir. 1992), in which more than $8.3 million in compulsory agency fees was recovered from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees for a class of 57,000 nonmembers.
Mr. LaJeunesse is the author of several published articles about labor law, has testified before Congressional committees several times, and was an Advisor on the Transition Team for Labor- Related Agencies, Office of the President-Elect, in 1980-81 and a legislative aide to a member of the Virginia state legislature. He is a Vice Chairman of the Federalist Society’s Labor and Employment Law Practice Group and has spoken or debated at the Society’s National Lawyers Convention and at many Lawyers and Student Chapters on such topics as Right to Work laws, compulsory unionism arrangements, the misuse of union dues for politics, union organizing tactics (“card check” vs. secret-ballot elections), and the future of the union movement.
Mr. Fortney is a co-founder of Fortney & Scott, LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm counseling and advising clients on the full spectrum of work-place related matters, including employment discrimination and labor matters, compliance programs, government contracting, international dispute resolution and counseling matters, and developing strategies for avoiding or responding to workplace-related crises.
Mr. Fortney has a broad-based practice representing and counseling employers and executives in employment and labor matters, including equal employment opportunity requirements, wage and hour matters, federal contractor's affirmative action and non-discrimination obligations, collective bargaining, and workplace health and safety. He brings experience from the public and private sectors in advising clients on these issues, and he frequently represents clients before federal and state agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor's agencies, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board.
Mr. Fortney has been widely recognized for his professional accomplishments, including being named one of the leading employment lawyers in Washington, D.C. by the CHAMBERS USAsurvey of America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in all years from 2005 through 2015. He was selected for inclusion in the 2008 through present editions of The Best Lawyers in America, Washington D.C.’s, Washington D.C.’s Best Lawyers, and Super Lawyers. Mr. Fortney was also awarded an AV rating (the highest level) by Martindale-Hubbell.
Before co-founding the firm, Mr. Fortney previously served as the chief legal officer of the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. during the term of President George H.W. Bush. As Acting Solicitor of Labor, he was responsible for enforcing over 140 laws regulating the nation's workplaces and managing an agency with 800 attorneys and support staff. He advised Secretaries of Labor Elizabeth Dole and Lynn Martin and the Department of Labor agencies on a broad range of legal, policy, legislative, regulatory and enforcement issues.
Mr. Fortney has testified before the U.S. Congress on several occasions and a state legislative committee on wage and hour matters.
Mr. Fortney is a frequent lecturer and writer on employment-related topics, including appearances on CNN, CBS and Fox News. Mr. Fortney is the co-editor of the Federal Employment Law Insider monthly newsletter, Chapter Editor of The Family and Medical Leave Act (2006) published by BNA Books, co-author of the Military Leave Compliance Kit (2001), published by M. Lee Smith Publishers, and lead author of the Guide to Employee Leave(1997), published by Warren, Gorham & Lamont.
Deputy General Counsel, Local 32 BJ, Service Employees International Union
Brent Garren is a Deputy General Counsel of SEIU Local 32 BJ, the 145,000 member property services local in New York and the eastern seaboard. He worked for the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, then UNITE, UNITE HERE and Workers United prior to Local 32 BJ, including serving as General Counsel for UNITE HERE and later Workers United.
Mr. Garren’s career has focused on the National Labor Relations Act. He is an Editor-In-Chief of How to Take a Case Before the NLRB, the leading text on NLRB procedure. He is a member of and past union co-chair of the ABA’s subcommittee on Practice and Procedure under the NLRA, part of the Labor and Employment Law Section. He has spoken about and written on the NLRA, including on remedies, voluntary recognition and NLRB jurisdiction.
He has been involved in international labor solidarity activities, including representing U.S. labor to the International Labor Organization, dealing with protection of home workers and protection of contracted labor.
He was graduated by Wayne State School of Law, summa cum laude.
Of Counsel, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
John focuses his practice on labor and employment litigation and counseling employers on mergers, acquisitions and consolidations, downsizing, plant relocations, union representation elections, labor negotiations, strikes and lockouts, NLRB unfair labor practices, arbitration, wage and hour, wrongful discharge and equal employment. John, a former NLRB General Counsel and Labor Department official, was selected as a global leader in the field of employment & labor law in The International Who's Who of Labor and Employment Lawyers by Law Business Research, The Best Lawyers in America, and Super Lawyers.
John earned his B.A. from Brown University and both his J.D. and LL.M. from Georgetown.
Director, Faculty Relations, The Federalist Society
Katie McClendon is the Director of Faculty Relations at the Federalist Society, where she has worked since 2015.
Katie holds a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. in Political Science from Biola University, where she was a member of the Torrey Honors Institute. She is a fellow of the John Jay Institute and the Blackstone Legal Fellowship. Katie is originally from Los Angeles, and she now lives with her husband and four children in Atlanta.
Special Counsel, Hunton & Williams
Mr. Meisburg is a former National Labor Relations Board Member and General Counsel.
Prior to joining Hunton & Williams LLP, Ronald co-chaired the labor-management relations practice at an international law firm. Over the course of his 40-year career, which began with the Office of the Solicitor of the US Department of Labor, Mr. Meisburg has handled matters arising under federal labor and employment law in complex business transactions before federal agencies and courts.
Mr. Meisburg joined the NLRB in 2004, following a recess appointment by President George W. Bush. Two years later, President Bush appointed him to a four-year term as NLRB General Counsel, a position independent from the Board. Serving under the Bush and Obama Administrations as the chief prosecutor under the National Labor Relations Act and chief administrator of the agency’s 32 regional offices, he oversaw a $280 million budget and 1,200 staff.
Ronald has been quoted as a labor law authority by numerous national publications and news organizations, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, SHRM Online, Associated Press, Corporate Counsel Magazine, Bloomberg, Reuters, Employment Law 360 and BNA. He is a frequent speaker at national conferences sponsored by trade associations, professional groups and educational institutions, including the US Chamber of Commerce, numerous elite law schools and universities around the world, the Council on Labor Law Equality, Committee for a Democratic Workplace, Labor and Employment Research Association, Equal Employment Advisory Council, Human Resources Policy Association, Labor Relations Advisory Committee, National Retail Federation, Retail Leaders Industry Association, Energy and Mineral Law Foundation, American Arbitration Association and numerous bar associations. Mr. Meisburg has also been recognized by Legal500 USA.
Mr. Meisburg is admitted to practice in the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth and District of Columbia Circuits, and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Lawrence VanDyke serves as a circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to that appointment in January 2020, he served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice. Before that, he served consecutively as the Solicitor General of two western states – Nevada and Montana. At the beginning of his legal career, he worked as an attorney in the Appellate and Constitutional Issues practice group at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, LLP.
Judge VanDyke received his law degree magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor on the Harvard Law Review. He has engineering and theology undergraduate degrees and a masters degree in engineering management. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Janice Rogers Brown of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Judge VanDyke and his wife Cheryl live in Reno, Nevada, and they have three children.
Partner, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
Jesse, the former third-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Justice, helps clients with their most difficult litigation and regulatory issues─whether that means defending against an enforcement action, pursuing high-stakes litigation and appeals, navigating regulatory thickets at federal and state agencies, or crafting a comprehensive strategy to manage a crisis. He approaches these problems with the knowledge gained both from his broad private-practice experience and from having served at the highest levels of federal and state government.
Jesse has experience across a range of substantive and regulatory areas. He has sued the federal government and has also been one of its top law-enforcement officials; he has represented states and has also navigated their regulatory agencies on behalf of clients; and he has represented companies in business disputes, both as defendants and plaintiffs.
Before joining the firm, Jesse was the Acting Associate Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice. In that role, he oversaw the civil and criminal work of the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment and Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions. During Jesse’s tenure, the Associate’s office closely managed the Department’s most significant litigation, including matters involving large financial institutions, healthcare companies, automakers, energy companies, and state and local governments. In addition, Jesse served as Chair of DOJ’s Regulatory Reform Task Force and Vice Chair of DOJ’s Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud. Jesse regularly provided legal and strategic advice to the highest-level decision makers in the federal government, including the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, general counsels across the spectrum of federal agencies, and White House officials.
Jesse served for three years as the secretary of Florida’s labor, economic-development, and land-use agency, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Before that, he served as Governor (now Senator) Rick Scott’s general counsel.
Jesse maintains offices in both Washington D.C. and Florida. From Washington, he focuses on federal litigation and crisis management. In Florida, in addition to federal litigation, Jesse employs his knowledge of state government and regulation to help clients in courts across the state, from trial through the Florida Supreme Court.
Jesse currently serves on the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission, the body that provides the governor with nominees for appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Jesse is also a fellow at the Center for the Study of the Administrative State at the Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where he writes and speaks about administrative law.