Of Counsel, Fisher & Phillips, LLP
Greg Grisham has over 25 years of successful experience counseling and representing employers in all aspects of workplace law in Tennessee and across the United States.
He has helped employers avoid claims, charges and lawsuits with a focus on preventative practices. Preventative practices include counseling in situations involving discipline, termination, demotion, promotion and other workplace changes in the terms and conditions of employment, harassment investigations, wage and hour compliance, FMLA Compliance, Reasonable Accommodation assessment, supervisor training and the review of employment policies and procedures. In addition, Greg's practice includes the representation of business entities subject to Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act in Public Accommodation cases.
Greg has successfully litigated hundreds of administrative charges, employment lawsuits, and arbitration demands on behalf of employers, including federal and state law claims alleging discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, defamation, invasion of privacy, breach of contract, wage and hour violations and ERISA violations, among others. He also represents employers before the National Labor Relations Board in unfair labor practice proceedings. He represents employers in the enforcement of post-employment restrictive covenants such as non-compete, non-solicitation and non-disclosure agreements and related trade secret litigation. Greg's practice also includes the defense of property owners and property management companies in federal and state Housing Discrimination charges and litigation. He also advises Tennessee Public Charter Schools on education law and workplace compliance matters.
Greg has extensive experience working with insurance carriers and their insureds in the defense of EPLI claims. He is a regular speaker at public seminars on workplace law issues and has authored numerous articles on a variety of labor and employment law related topics.
Greg holds an AV Preeminent Peer Review rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been selected for inclusion in Mid-South Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America for Employment Litigation-Management side. Greg was elected as a 2016 Fellow to the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and has been selected to the “Top 20 Lawyers in Traditional Labor & Employment Law” list in conjunction with Human Resource Executive Magazine and LawDragon’s 2017 and 2018 “Most Powerful Employment Attorneys” lists and specialty guides. Greg was also named a Fellow in the American Bar Foundation in 2017.
Vice President and Senior Counsel, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Daniel Blomberg is vice president and senior counsel for Becket. Before joining Becket, he clerked for Chief Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and served as litigation counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom. Daniel’s clients have included an international order of nuns, the world’s largest religious media organization, synagogues, members of the U.S. military, religious healthcare ministries, peaceful protestors, halfway houses, religious colleges, state legislators, homeless shelters, religious business owners, an art gallery, and churches. Daniel has represented a wide variety of faith groups, including Anglicans, Baptists, Catholics, Hindus, Hutterites, Jews, Lutherans, Mennonites, Muslims, Presbyterians, Russian Orthodox, and Sikhs. Cases on which he has served as counsel to a party include: Our Lady of Guadalupe v. Morrissey-Berru, 140 S. Ct. 2049 (2020); Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, 141 S. Ct. 63 (2020); Zubik v. Burwell, 136 S. Ct. 1557 (2016); Little Sisters of the Poor v. Sebelius, 134 S. Ct. 1022 (2014); Wheaton College v. Burwell, 134 S. Ct. 2806 (2014); Fellowship of Christian Athletes v. SJUSD, 82 F.4th 664 (9th Cir. 2023) (en banc); Singh v. Berger, 56 F.4th 88 (D.C. Cir. 2022); Demkovich v. St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, 3 F.4th 968 (7th Cir. 2021) (en banc); Maxon v. Fuller Theological Seminary, 2021 WL 5882035 (9th Cir. 2021); Intervarsity Christian Fellowship/USA v. University of Iowa, 5 F.4th 855, 867 (8th Cir. 2021); Business Leaders in Christ v. University of Iowa, 991 F.3d 969 (8th Cir. 2021); Whole Woman’s Health v. Smith, 896 F.3d 362 (5th Cir. 2018); Lee v. Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, 903 F.3d 113 (3d Cir. 2018); Gagliardi v. TJCV, 889 F.3d 728 (11th Cir. 2018); Harvest Family Church v. FEMA, 2018 WL 386192 (5th Cir. 2018); Fratello v. Archdiocese of New York, 863 F.3d 190 (2d Cir. 2017); Eternal Word Television Network v. U.S. Dep’t of HHS, 756 F.3d 1339 (11th Cir. 2014); InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA v. Bd. of Governors of Wayne State Univ., 534 F. Supp. 3d 785 (E.D. Mich. 2021); and Singh v. Carter, 168 F. Supp. 3d 216 (D.D.C. 2016).
Daniel has been featured on CNN, Huffington Post Live, Fox News, EWTN Nightly News, and CBS Evening News.
He earned his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law, graduating magna cum laude. While in law school, Daniel clerked for the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office, served on a South Carolina Supreme Court task force, and interned with Judge J. Michelle Childs of the Circuit Court for the Fifth Judicial Circuit as a part of the Judicial Observation and Education program. He is a Blackstone Fellow. Daniel received his undergraduate degree from Columbia International University. He and his wife have five children and too many animals.
Staff Attorney, National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation
Glenn Taubman is a Staff Attorney for the National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation (1982 to the present). He was a Law Clerk for Senior Circuit Judge Warren L. Jones, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits, Jacksonville, Florida, from 1981-82, and a Staff Attorney for the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, from 1980-81. His Bar Admissions include: Georgia, 1980; New York, 1981; U.S. Supreme Court, 1983; District of Columbia, 1985. He regularly appears before the National Labor Relations Board and various federal courts, representing individual employees only.
He is the author of "'Neutrality Agreements' and the Destruction of Employees' Section 7 Rights" (2005) and co-author of "Union Discipline and Employee Rights," a monograph published by the National Right to Work Foundation.
A partial listing of his reported cases includes: Lucas v. NLRB, 333 F.3d 927 (9th Cir. 2003);Penrod v. NLRB, 203 F.3d 41 (D.C. Cir. 2000);Production Workers v. NLRB, 161 F.3d 1047 (7th Cir. 1998);Food & Commercial Workers Local 951 v. Mulder, 31 F.3d 365 (6th Cir. 1994);NLRB v. Office Employees Local 2, 902 F.2d 1164 (4th Cir. 1990);Tierney v. City of Toledo, 917 F.2d 927 (6th Cir. 1990);Lowary v. Lexington Local Board of Education, 902 F.2d 422 (6th Cir. 1990);Lowary v. Lexington Local Board of Education, 854 F.2d 131 (6th Cir. 1988);Tierney v. City of Toledo, 824 F.2d 1497 (6th Cir. 1987);Masiello v. US Airways, Inc., 113 F. Supp. 2d 870 (W.D.N.C. 2000);Jordan v. City of Bucyrus, 739 F. Supp. 1124 (1990),further proceedings, 754 F. Supp. 554 (N.D. Ohio 1991);Dana Corp., 341 N.L.R.B. No. 150, 2004 WL 1329345 (June 7, 2004);California Saw & Knife Works, 320 N.L.R.B. 224 (1995),enforced, 133 F.3d 1012 (7th Cir. 1998).
Western Region Director, State Affairs, R Street Institute
Steven Greenhut oversees R Street’s efforts in California, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Washington state, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska, Wyoming and Hawaii. His duties include authoring op-eds and policy studies, testifying before state and municipal legislative bodies, and representing R Street as a speaker, public commentator and coalition ally in venues where it is possible to move state and local policy in a free-market direction.
He most recently served as California columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune. In this role, from his base in Sacramento, he wrote a regular reported news column covering the State Capitol and issues outside of San Diego. Previously, he was vice president of journalism at the Franklin Center, where he oversaw a team of watchdog editors and reporters in state capitols.
Steven is the author of two books, Abuse of Power: How the Government Misuses Eminent Domain (2004) and Plunder! How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives and Bankrupting the Nation (2009). In 2005, he received the Thomas Paine Award, granted by the Institute for Justice in recognition of his writing to promote liberty. In 2011, he placed second in the International Policy Network R.C. Hoiles Prize for Journalism.
He received his bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in journalism from George Washington University.
Steven and his wife of 35 years live on an acreage outside of Sacramento and have three adult children, 30 goats, five cats, six chickens and two dogs.
Carol Matheis practices law business litigation and insurance law in Newport Beach, California. She earned her J.D. at Western University College of Law and is a graduate of George Mason University.
Vice President and Legal Director, National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, Inc.
William Messenger is Foundation Vice President and Legal Director. He was a staff attorney for over twenty years and, during that time, represented individuals in numerous cases that sought to expand worker freedom of choice. This includes acting as lead counsel in three cases before the United States Supreme Court. In 2018, Messenger argued Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, where the Supreme Court held it violates the First Amendment for governments and unions to compel individuals to financially support unions and their speech. Originally from Youngstown Ohio, Messenger attended Ohio University as an undergraduate and then the George Washington University School of Law.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Judge Nelson was confirmed to the Ninth Circuit in October 2018, as the youngest Circuit Judge to serve from Idaho and he has chambers in his hometown of Idaho Falls. Prior to his confirmation, Judge Nelson served for nine years as General Counsel of Idaho Falls-based Melaleuca, Inc., a consumer goods company. He previously worked in Washington, DC, where he served in all three branches of the federal government, including as Special Counsel for Supreme Court nominations to the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; Deputy General Counsel to the White House Office of Management and Budget; Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice; and a law clerk to Judge Henderson of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He has argued in most of the federal courts of appeals and worked on dozens of Supreme Court briefs. He started in the Washington, DC office of Sidley Austin as an appellate lawyer, after clerking for Judges Mosk and Brower of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal at The Hague, and for now-Judge Tom Griffith, then-Senate Legal Counsel, during the impeachment trial of President Clinton. Judge Nelson earned his B.A. from Brigham Young University and his J.D., with honors, from BYU Law School. Judge Nelson has been a member of the Federalist Society since 1998.
Special Counsel, Hopkins & Carley
Chuck Reed is a member of Hopkins & Carley’s Real Estate Practice in the San Jose office. As Special Counsel to the firm, Chuck brings his years of experience in government to help clients solve complex problems in a variety of practice areas, including:
Chuck was Mayor of San Jose from 2007 to 2014, a member of the City Council from 2000 to 2006, and a city and county Planning Commissioner for 14 years before being elected to office. Before taking office as Mayor of the tenth largest city in the country, he was a lawyer in private practice in San Jose.
Chuck has been recognized as a national leader by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, other national media, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the National League of Cities. The story of his work in San Jose has been noted in books, such as Boomerang by Michael Lewis and Fate of the States by Meredith Whitney, and he has been a frequent speaker on pension reform at conferences around the country.
Western Region Director, State Affairs, R Street Institute
Steven Greenhut oversees R Street’s efforts in California, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Washington state, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska, Wyoming and Hawaii. His duties include authoring op-eds and policy studies, testifying before state and municipal legislative bodies, and representing R Street as a speaker, public commentator and coalition ally in venues where it is possible to move state and local policy in a free-market direction.
He most recently served as California columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune. In this role, from his base in Sacramento, he wrote a regular reported news column covering the State Capitol and issues outside of San Diego. Previously, he was vice president of journalism at the Franklin Center, where he oversaw a team of watchdog editors and reporters in state capitols.
Steven is the author of two books, Abuse of Power: How the Government Misuses Eminent Domain (2004) and Plunder! How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives and Bankrupting the Nation (2009). In 2005, he received the Thomas Paine Award, granted by the Institute for Justice in recognition of his writing to promote liberty. In 2011, he placed second in the International Policy Network R.C. Hoiles Prize for Journalism.
He received his bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in journalism from George Washington University.
Steven and his wife of 35 years live on an acreage outside of Sacramento and have three adult children, 30 goats, five cats, six chickens and two dogs.
Carol Matheis practices law business litigation and insurance law in Newport Beach, California. She earned her J.D. at Western University College of Law and is a graduate of George Mason University.
Vice President and Legal Director, National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, Inc.
William Messenger is Foundation Vice President and Legal Director. He was a staff attorney for over twenty years and, during that time, represented individuals in numerous cases that sought to expand worker freedom of choice. This includes acting as lead counsel in three cases before the United States Supreme Court. In 2018, Messenger argued Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, where the Supreme Court held it violates the First Amendment for governments and unions to compel individuals to financially support unions and their speech. Originally from Youngstown Ohio, Messenger attended Ohio University as an undergraduate and then the George Washington University School of Law.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Judge Nelson was confirmed to the Ninth Circuit in October 2018, as the youngest Circuit Judge to serve from Idaho and he has chambers in his hometown of Idaho Falls. Prior to his confirmation, Judge Nelson served for nine years as General Counsel of Idaho Falls-based Melaleuca, Inc., a consumer goods company. He previously worked in Washington, DC, where he served in all three branches of the federal government, including as Special Counsel for Supreme Court nominations to the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; Deputy General Counsel to the White House Office of Management and Budget; Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice; and a law clerk to Judge Henderson of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He has argued in most of the federal courts of appeals and worked on dozens of Supreme Court briefs. He started in the Washington, DC office of Sidley Austin as an appellate lawyer, after clerking for Judges Mosk and Brower of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal at The Hague, and for now-Judge Tom Griffith, then-Senate Legal Counsel, during the impeachment trial of President Clinton. Judge Nelson earned his B.A. from Brigham Young University and his J.D., with honors, from BYU Law School. Judge Nelson has been a member of the Federalist Society since 1998.
Special Counsel, Hopkins & Carley
Chuck Reed is a member of Hopkins & Carley’s Real Estate Practice in the San Jose office. As Special Counsel to the firm, Chuck brings his years of experience in government to help clients solve complex problems in a variety of practice areas, including:
Chuck was Mayor of San Jose from 2007 to 2014, a member of the City Council from 2000 to 2006, and a city and county Planning Commissioner for 14 years before being elected to office. Before taking office as Mayor of the tenth largest city in the country, he was a lawyer in private practice in San Jose.
Chuck has been recognized as a national leader by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, other national media, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the National League of Cities. The story of his work in San Jose has been noted in books, such as Boomerang by Michael Lewis and Fate of the States by Meredith Whitney, and he has been a frequent speaker on pension reform at conferences around the country.
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