Supreme Court and the NLRA

Anne Marie Lofaso Related Seminars and Products

Professor of Law

West Virginia University Law School

Anne Marie Lofaso is the Arthur B. Hodges Professor of Law at West Virginia University College of Law, where she teaches Labor Law, Employment Law, Advanced Labor Law, Comparative and International Work Law, Jurisprudence, Law and Socioeconomics, and in the WVU U.S. Supreme Court Clinic (which she co-founded with Jones Day Partner, Larry Rosenberg, in 2011). She was formerly the WVU Law Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development (2011-2015) and a Leadership Fellow in the WVU Office of the Associate Vice President for Creative and Scholarly Activities. She has previously taught at American University Washington College of Law and at the University of Oxford.

Dr. Lofaso has extensive law practice experience. She spent ten years as an attorney with the National Labor Relations Board’s Appellate and Supreme Court Branches. Prior to that, she worked as an associate for Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy’s Business Reorganization Department and clerked for the Hon. James L. Oakes, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Dr. Lofaso is a prolific writer in the fields of labor law, work law jurisprudence, and coal mine safety and health and has been published in numerous law reviews including the Harvard Law and Policy Review. Her casebook, Modern Labor Law in the Private and Public Sectors (Lexis Publishing with Harris, Slater, and Garden), now in its second edition, and her textbook, Mastering Labor Law (Carolina Academic Press with Secunda, Hirsch, and Slater), are the among the first U.S. labor-law-education books to treat both private and public-sector labor law.

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.