Supreme Court and the NLRA

Anne Marie Lofaso Related Seminars and Products

Professor of Law

University of Cincinnati College of Law

Anne Marie Lofaso is a Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, where she teaches labor law, employment law, employment discrimination law, and constitutional law. She is the former Arthur B. Hodges Professor of Law at the West Virginia University College of Law, where she taught for over 18 years. Professor Lofaso is a labor law expert. She has authored over seventy law review articles, primarily on labor and employment law, and over a dozen scholarly blogs, primarily in the area of human rights, focusing on socio-economic rights. She has co-authored two casebooks, Modern Labor Law in the Public and Private Sectors and Public Sector Employment, and one textbook, Mastering Labor Law. She is the author and editor of two labor law treaties, NLRA: Law and Practice and Drafting the Union Contract, and the editor of several other books including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act After 50 Years: Proceedings of the New York University 67th Annual Conference on Labor. 

Professor Lofaso is an active public intellectual who has presented nearly two hundred lectures throughout the world and the United States, has testified before Congress on labor law issues, and has appeared in numerous news outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, PBS, Bloomberg Radio, the Daily Labor Report, and Law360 to discuss labor law topics. Professor Lofaso is a former Special Government Employee who served as the Vice President of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and a former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission for the City of Morgantown. She is a College of Labor and Employment Lawyers member and affiliated with the Oxford Human Rights Hub Blog. Professor Lofaso earned her A.B. from Harvard University, magna cum laude, J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, and D.Phil. from Oxford University, where she wrote her doctoral dissertation on mass economic dismissals in the U.S., Great Britain, and the European Union.

Dale D. Pierson Related Seminars and Products

International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, AFL-CIO

Dale D. Pierson became General Counsel to the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, AFL-CIO, on May 1, 2002.  Prior to that time, Dale worked in private practice representing labor unions, fringe benefit trust funds, and individual workers since his graduation from Northwestern University Law School in 1982.  Throughout his career, Dale has been proud to work with some of the best lawyers in the United States in helping working people secure fair wages, adequate healthcare, and a comfortable retirement.

Dale believes that the most important protection working people and their families have is the right to bargain collectively over wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of their employment.  Protection of the right to strike in support of those goals is essential.  

In 1995 and 1999, Dale served as Labor Counsel to the Fraternal Order of Police, Chicago Lodge No. 7, in its negotiations for collectively bargained agreements with the City of Chicago.  Since beginning the Local 150 Legal Department in 2002, Dale has worked with a team of lawyers and legal professionals that is second to none.  They have successfully coordinated the legal strategy in multiple strikes, helped pass the Workers’ Rights Amendment, and continue to defend the First Amendment rights of Scabby the Rat.

Born on the southwest side of Chicago, Dale is a lifelong White Sox fan.  Throughout high school and college, Dale worked for his family’s union construction company as a laborer, carpenter, and equipment operator.  He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.  Dale based his NIU Master’s degree in labor history on his thesis, “Peter J. McGuire and the Origins of Pure and Simple Unionism.”  It was at NIU where he met his wife of 44 years, Loretta “Lori” Pierson.  She retired from her job as a legal secretary for Jenner & Block, and now has more time for several quilt guilds, numerous nieces and nephews, playing Wordle, and monitoring the Royals.

Amanda Sonneborn Related Seminars and Products

Partner

King & Spaulding

Amanda is a partner in King & Spalding’s Global Human Capital and Compliance practice. She advises and represents clients across a number of industries in strategic employment related issues in the United States, including employment, employee benefits, labor relations, and diversity issues. Amanda has handled a wide-variety of bet the company litigation matters, labor organizing campaigns and collective bargaining, high level executive investigations, and projects relating to workforce reorganizations and diversity strategy. She has advised employers on complex issues
relating to harassment and discrimination claims, pay equity strategy, and worker misclassification. Amanda has a particular focus on technology companies and the issues that they face with their workforces.

Amanda’s employment related counseling and litigation experience includes serving as lead defense trial counsel in "bet the company" employee litigation matters, as well as addressing executive level, harassment and discrimination allegations, independent contractor risks, and union organizing campaigns. Amanda provides strategic guidance to clients regarding key employee issues, such as workforce reorganizations and diversity program development, including management of potential
brand impact of such issues. She has also served as outside counsel and independent counsel to boards of directors and executive team members in connection with internal investigations and highly sensitive government investigations.

Amanda also has considerable experience in the area of employee benefits risk management. Amanda has advised high level executives regarding their fiduciary obligations for effective management of their employee benefit plans. Her ERISA and employee benefits experience includes defense of and advice regarding claims for benefits, breach of fiduciary duty claims, cash balance plan claims, breach of contract claims, and ERISA Section 510 employment discrimination claims. Amanda has handled class actions, as well as hundreds of single-plaintiff cases, brought in federal court under ERISA. Amanda has also counseled clients regarding Department of Labor
investigations and issues relating to their benefit plans’ investment strategy. She often speaks on ERISA risk management issues and serves as a chapter editor for the American Bar Association's book on employee benefits.

Within the arena of labor relations law, Amanda has served as national counsel to several corporations facing targeted corporate campaigns. She has experience advising clients during all aspects of union organizing campaigns, including public relations, government relations, and
investor relations issues that arise during the course of these campaigns. In addition, she provides clients with day-to-day labor relations advice on a wide spectrum of topics, including independent contractor issues and neutrality agreements. She also frequently negotiates collective bargaining
agreements on behalf of clients. Finally, Amanda has handled several appellate cases seeking review of National Labor Relations Board decisions.