Partner

After graduating from the Boston University School of Law, Michael joined the National Labor Relations Board's Appellate Court Branch where he successfully litigated more than  fifteen cases on behalf of the Board in the United States Courts of Appeals. Michael left the Board to represent the interests of labor unions and employees in collective bargaining, arbitration, federal court litigation, and before a variety of administrative agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board, Federal Labor Relations Authority, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  Michael serves as General Counsel to the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association.

In addition, Michael frequently represents executives and professionals in the negotiation of individual employment contracts, including separation and retirement agreements.  He also maintains a special practice representing rabbis and clergy in employment matters.

Michael regularly speaks at labor union conferences and union steward training programs.  For more than five years, he has served as an adjunct instructor in arbitration advocacy and street law at the National Labor College's George Meany campus.  Over the years, Michael has written extensively on employee privacy matters, including e-mail and internet monitoring, and on negotiating employment contracts for clergy.  He is a member of the AFL-CIO Lawyers' Coordinating Committee and has served on the Board of Advisors to the Bureau of National Affairs' publication, Collective Bargaining Negotiations and Contracts.

Education:

Boston University School of Law, J.D., Barreca Labor Relations Law Scholar, 1990

University of Michigan, B.A. with distinction,  1987

Federal Bar Admissions:

D.C. Circuit

Second Circuit

Fourth Circuit

Seventh Circuit

Ninth Circuit

Tenth Circuit

District of  Colorado

District of Columbia

District of Maryland

State Bar Admissions:

District of Columbia

Maryland

Past Employment:

Associate , Barr, Peer & Camens Washington DC, 1993-1997

Attorney, National Labor Relations Board, Division of Enforcement Litigation, Appellate Court Branch, Washington DC, 1990-1993

Summer Associate, Angoff, Goldman, Manning, Pyle, Wanger & Hiatt, Boston, MA, 1989

Summer Associate, Silver, Kreisler, Goldwasser & Schaeffer, Santa Monica, CA, 1988

Affiliations:

Member, AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee

Member, Labor & Employment Relations Association

Representative Decisions:

Blasic v. International Ass'n of Machinists, Auto. Lodge 1486, 162 L.R.R.M. 2886 (D.C. Cir. 1999)

Reich v. Newspapers of New England, 44 F.3d 1060 (1st Cir. 1995)

Wilson Trophy v. NLRB, 989 F.2d 1502 (8th Cir. 1993)

Local 32B-32J Service Employees Int'l Union v. NLRB, 982 F.2d 845 (2d Cir. 1993)

North Star Steel Co. v. NLRB, 974 F.2d 68 (8th Cir. 1992)

NLRB v. So-White Freight Lines, Inc., 969 F.2d 401 (7th Cir. 1992)

NLRB v. Cornerstone Builders, 963 F.2d 1075 (8th Cir. 1992)

Publications & Conferences:

Panelist, Necessity is the Mother of Invention: Reducing the Costs of Disputing - Successes and Failures, National Academy of Arbitrators Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (May 2007).

Panelist, Advocates Training, National Academy of Arbitrators Southeast Regional Meeting, Orlando, FL (February 2006).

Panelist, Internet Threats: An Old Issue in a New Medium, a mock arbitration, National Academy of Arbitrators Southeast Regional Meeting, Atlanta, GA (February 2005).

Co-Author (with Arthur Gross-Schaefer), Striking the Balance in Employment Contracts and Covenantal Agreements: A Negotiation Guide for Rabbis, CCAR Journal, 34 (Winter 2003).

Co-Author (with Arthur Gross-Schaefer), Employment Contracts and Covenantal Agreements: A Negotiation Guide for Spiritual Leadership, 5 Journal of Religion & Abuse: Advocacy 1, 67 (2003).

Presenter, Negotiating Rabbinic Employment Contracts, Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis Annual Meeting, Palm Springs, CA (January 2001).

Presenter, Legal Climate on Campus: Update on E-Mail and Cyberspace Issues, 1998 NEA Higher Education Conference, Savannah, GA (March  1998).

Author, First Amendment Rights and the Internet, NEA Higher Education Research Center Update (National Education Association, September 1997).

Author, Worker Privacy and Employer Monitoring in the Age of Cybermania: The Case of Electronic Mail, AFL-CIO Lawyers' Coordinating Committee Attorney's Conference, Chicago, IL (June 1997).

Author, Responding to Workplace Violence: The EAP Alternative, BNA's Collective Bargaining Bulletin (March 1997).

Presenter, Cyberspace: The Law and Legislation, NEA Higher Education Conference, Tempe, AZ (March 1996).

Author, E-Mail and Privacy, NEA Higher Education Research Center Update (National Education Association, October 1996).