2013 Speakers

Adam Arms

Attorney, McKanna Bishop Joffe & Arms. Before becoming a labor lawyer, Adam was a staff attorney for the Metropolitan Public Defenders. He is now a partner at McKanna Bishop where he represents both private and public sector Unions. He has represented clients before the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission, the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, and the Oregon State Board of Nursing.

Brad Avakian

Oregon Commissioner of Labor. For more than 20 years, Brad Avakian has been fighting to expand economic opportunity and ensure equality for all Oregonians. Early in his career, as an employment and civil rights attorney, Brad gave voice to workers who were seeking fair wages, better working conditions, and freedom from discrimination in the workplace. Later, as a state legislator, he passed laws to expand collective bargaining rights, crack down on predatory lending, and prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Since 2008, Brad has served as Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI), where he has stepped up enforcement of Oregon's civil rights laws and partnered with Oregon's business and labor communities to strengthen workforce development efforts.

James "Nick" Browning

CPA, Manager, Lindquist LLP. James "Nick" Browning, CPA, is a manager in the Portland office of Lindquist LLP. He has five years of experience with audit, accounting and tax services, including three years of specialized experience with audits of employee benefit funds and not-for-profit organizations. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. Nick graduated from Miami University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting.

Tom Chamberlain

President, Oregon AFL-CIO. After serving in the U. S. Air Force, Tom became a fire fighter with the Portland Fire Bureau in 1977. He was elected to the Executive Board and became the Local's Secretary-Treasurer in 1996. He soon became Vice President and then President of the Oregon State Fire Fighters Association. In 1998, Tom was elected President of Local 43. After one more term, Tom was hired by Tim Nesbitt as Organizing Director for the Oregon AFL-CIO before becoming Senior Policy Analyst for Governor Kulongoski. Tom became President of the Oregon State AFL-CIO in October 2005.

Barbara Diamond  

Attorney, Diamond Law.  Barbara graduated from NYU School of Law in 1983 and came to Oregon to serve as a law clerk to Oregon Supreme Court Associate Justice Hans Linde. She then worked as an associate at Kulongoski, Durham, Drummonds & Colombo, and then as a partner at Bennett & Hartman. In 1994 she helped found Smith, Gamson, Diamond & Olney, a labor law firm emphasizing public sector labor law. In 2008 she founded Diamond Law.

Former Chair, Oregon Employment Relations Board.  Paul earned his law degree from Lewis & Clark College in 1982.  After law school, he clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Gus J. Solomon.  From 1984 until 2003, Paul was in private law practice where he specialized in labor, employment and election law representing various Unions.  He has published articles on collective bargaining, labor law and arbitration through the Oregon State Bar and other entities.   In 2003, the Governor appointed Paul as a member of the Oregon Employment Relations Board.  Paul was appointed and served as Board Chair from April 2004 until October 2005. He was reappointed as Board Chair in March 2007.

Giles Gibson

Attorney, Giles Gibson Law. Giles' practice is focused on Union-side and plaintiff-side labor and employment law and general civil litigation, including wage and hour and class action cases. He regularly counsels Union and employees in labor and/or employment law matters, and represents them in court, in arbitration, and before administrative agencies. A former Union organizer himself, Giles takes a particular interest in helping Unions organize new employees groups, whether through conventional National Labor Relations Board elections or otherwise.

Nelson Hall

Attorney, Bennett Hartman Morris & Kaplan.  Nelson was born in Crescent City, California, and raised in Brookings-Harbor, Oregon. He graduated from Oregon State University in 1977, attended graduate school at Bowling Green State University on a teaching assistantship, and then went on to earn his law degree from Northwestern School of Law in 1985. Nelson served on the Workers’ Compensation Board for five years including two years as Board Chair. He is a partner in Bennett, Hartman, Morris & Kaplan.  Nelson’s practice emphasizes personal injury, including wrongful death and medical/dental malpractice, third-party liability and ELA cases, workers’ compensation, employment and labor (Union) law.

Ronald Hooks

Regional Director, NLRB (Region 19). Ron Was appointed Regional Director of the Seattle Regional Office effective March 26, 2012. He is a graduate of LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis and Rutgers University School of Law in Newark, New Jersey. Ron began his NLRB career in 1972 as a Field Attorney in Region 26 and left the NLRB the following year to work in the private sector. He returned to the agency in 1974 as a Field Attorney in the Fort Worth, Texas Regional Office (Region 16). Ron eventually became the Regional Attorney in Memphis in 1992 and then served as the Regional Director in Memphis (Region 26) for twelve years before coming to Seattle.

Elizabeth A. Joffe

Attorney, McKanna, Bishop, Joffe & Arms. After graduating from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1988, Liz worked at the UAW International in Detroit. Liz then attended the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1993. During law school, she worked with a Union-side firm in San Francisco and co-authored a Pocket Guide to Workplace Rights of Public Employees. Since finishing law school, Liz has worked as a staff attorney at the Oregon Advocacy Center, a disability rights organization, and with Union firms in Portland and Chicago. Liz is one of the founding partners of McKanna Bishop Joffe & Arms which formed in 2001. The firm focuses on representing labor Unions and their members in disputes with employers.

Anil S. Karia

Of Counsel, Tedesco Law Group. Anil joined the firm of Mike Tedesco as Of Counsel in 2009. He is a graduate of Reed College and the University of Oregon School of Law. Anil is licensed to practice law in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. Anil specializes representing public safety organizations, including the Portland Police Association, in all aspects of their labor relations.

Howell Lankford

Arbitrator and Mediator.  After graduating from Reed College, Howell had a few real jobs and then became a lawyer in 1977.  He was an administrative law judge for Oregon ERB for five years and became a full time arbitrator in 1984.  (On a personal note, I, Norman Malbin, want to disclose that I have both won and lost cases before Arbitrator Lankford.)

Richard F. Liebman

Attorney, Barran Liebman.  Although he is a management attorney, Rick is quick to point out that he has represented a number of Unions in their capacity as an employer. Rick has been representing employers in labor and employment law since 1972. He received both his undergraduate and J.D. degrees from the University of California at Berkeley.  He is former chair of the Tri-County Affirmative Action Association and the Oregon State Bar’s Labor Law Section.  He is management editor of the Oregon State Bar’s book and a supplement entitled Labor and Employment Law, and has been an instructor in EEO law at Portland State University’s Professional Development Center for 20 years.  He has been listed in the Best Lawyers in America (1995-present) and was selected as their Oregon Labor and Employment Attorney of the Year in 2010 and 2012, and listed as an Oregon Super Lawyer (2008-present).

Norman Malbin

General Counsel, IBEW Local 48. Norman graduated from the University of Denver in 1971 and Northwestern School of Law – Lewis & Clark Law School in 1985. After working for two Union law firms (1986-1989) he established his own firm in 1989 and remained there until 1998 when he closed his practice and went to work as General Counsel for IBEW Local 48. Norman founded the Oregon Labor Law Conference and has served as its principle planner and moderator since its inception.

Sharon Maynard

Attorney, Bennett Hartman Morris & Kaplan. Sharon moved to Oregon in 1992 after obtaining her law degree that same year from Albany Law School. Her first job as a lawyer was for Metropolitan Public Defender (MPD) where for over eight years she handled felony and misdemeanor criminal matters.   During her last year and a half at MPD she represented allegedly mentally ill persons in civil commitment proceedings. It was this experience that ignited an interest in representing disabled persons. In 2001, Sharon changed her practice from criminal law to Social Security Disability law focusing her entire practice on representing claimants who have been denied benefits. Sharon represents claimants applying for either Social Security Disability (SSD) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). She is a frequent speaker on Social Security disability, speaking both to claimants and medical providers.

Richard McCracken

General Counsel, UNITE HERE. In addition to being General Counsel to UNITE HERE, Rich is partners in two firms, McCracken Stemerman & Holsberry and Davis Cowell & Bowe. He is also the principal outside counsel to the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association and is counsel to the Nevada State Federation of Labor. Rich’s work has been concentrated in comprehensive strategic campaigns, especially in support of organizing. As a result, the cases he has handled include landmarks in securities and corporations law, as well as labor law, in the supreme courts of the United States, California, Nevada, and Oklahoma, and the United States appeals and district courts. His emphasis, however, has been not so much on litigation but on helping to design powerful new techniques that conform to and make use of the law but do not involve litigation.

Gene Mechanic

Attorney, Mechanic Law Firm. Gene is a Portland attorney who represents private and public sector local and international Union clients in contract negotiations, organizing campaigns, complex litigation, political and legislative campaigns, and internal Union affairs. He is also currently advising clients on the 2010 health care reform legislation. Gene has authored many articles on labor, employment, and employee benefits law and is a frequent speaker on these subjects at national and international conferences. He is a former chairperson of the Oregon State Bar Labor and Employment Section and Board member of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee.

Gary Namie

Workplace Bullying Institute. Dr. Gary Namie is widely regarded as North America’s foremost authority on Workplace Bullying. He is a social psychologist with two decades of university teaching experience in psychology and management. He is co-author of The Bully-Free Workplace and The Bully at Work. He also writes academic journal articles and book chapters. In 2007 and again in 2010, Dr. Namie wrote, and Zogby conducted, the largest-ever, scientific survey of Workplace Bullying in the United States yielding the most frequently cited statistics on the topic. He is the U.S. Workplace Bullying movement founder and leader since 1997. He established the Workplace Bullying Institute. He has been tapped for 1,100 TV, radio, magazine, and newspaper interviews as the go-to expert by Business Week, the New York Times, National Post, Macleans, NRP, and CBC.

Barry Omahen

CPA, Managing Partner, Lindquist LLP. Barry began his accounting career after graduating in 1976 from St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana. He has since specialized in serving the audit, accounting, and reporting needs of labor organizations, employee benefit plans, and other not-for-profit entities. As the chairman of the firm’s Accounting and Audit Services Committee, Barry is the primary quality control reviewer. He has reviewed hundreds of labor organization audits. He also helped develop the Lindquist Compliance Awareness Program which evaluates an organization’s operations, internal controls and compliance with the regulations of the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service. Barry is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and he is a past member of the AICPA’s Employee Benefit Plans Committee. Barry is also an active member of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP).

David Rosenfeld

 Attorney, Weinberg Roger & Rosenfeld. David Rosenfeld has been practicing Union law since 1973. He has argued many important cases before the U S Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court, various federal and state courts of appeal and the NLRB. His book entitled Offensive Bargaining and the strategies he has developed have been used by Unions throughout the country as effective weapons against anti-union employers. One of the things David likes most about being a Union lawyer is helping Union officials be more offensive, aggressive, and effective in dealing with difficult employers.

Mike Tedesco

Attorney, Tedesco Law Group.  Mike has over 30 years of experience handling labor and employment disputes. He has successfully conducted hundreds of labor arbitrations in the private and public sectors. He is a practitioner before the National Labor Relations Board and the Employment Relations Board of the State of Oregon, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Oregon Law School, and a Senior Adjunct Facility Member at the Labor Education Research Center at the University of Oregon.

Lane Toensmeier

Attorney, Lane Toensmeier Law Office and Of Counsel at Snyder and Hoag. After moving to Portland in 1995, Lane began his career in the labor movement as a Union organizer with SEIU Local 503, OPEU. For 12 years, Lane represented workers in both the public and the private sector by negotiating collective bargaining agreements, representing Union members through grievance procedures and preparing cases for arbitration. Lane has extensive bargaining experience in collective bargaining and training staff of Unions. Lane graduated from the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio in 1991. He graduated from the Willamette College of Law in 2012.

See information about past speakers.