WILMA B. LIEBMAN
3285D Sutton Place, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20016
202-237-7205 (home)
[email protected]
PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS:
Principal interests relate to public policy, both domestic and international, on issues involving
workers and the emerging workplace, and the enforcement of labor rights and standards.
Significant experience as an advocate and adjudicator in labor law, the practice of collective
bargaining, and labor-management relations. Experience as a federal government official in
mediation and conflict resolution, in managing organizational change, government reinvention
efforts, and workplace change strategies.
WORK EXPERIENCE:
Distinguished Scholar and Visiting Lecturer, Cornell University, Industrial and Labor
Relations School and Industrial and Law School, Ithaca, New York, Fall Semester 2014 and
2015.
Senior Lecturer, Cornell University, Law School and Industrial and Labor Relations School, Ithaca, New York, Fall Semester 2013. Visiting Professor, University of Illinois, College of Law and School of Labor and
Employment Relations, Champaign-Urbana, IL, Fall Semester 2012.
Professorial Lecturer in Law, George Washington University Law School, Washington,
D.C. Spring Semester 2012.
Chairman, National Labor Relations Board, Washington, D.C. January 20, 2009 to August
27, 2011. Appointed by President Barack Obama to head federal agency that acts as a quasijudicial body in deciding cases that allege unfair labor practices by employers or unions and
involve questions of employee union representation. First nominated by President Clinton and
confirmed by the Senate to a five-year term expiring December 2002. Re-nominated by President
Bush and confirmed by the Senate to a term expiring August 2006, and to a third term expiring
August 2011.
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency created by Congress in
1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act, the primary law governing relations
between unions and employers in the private sector of the American economy. The statute
guarantees the right of employees to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers, or
to refrain from such activity. The Agency employs approximately 1600 employees nationwide
and has an annual budget of approximately $262 million.
Member, National Labor Relations Board, Washington, D.C. November 1997-January 20,
2009. Served as member of a bipartisan five member-Board.
Deputy Director, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, Washington, D.C. December
1995-November, 1997. Served as chief operations officer of this independent federal agency
charged with resolving collective bargaining disputes, improving labor-management relations
and promoting alternative dispute resolution. FMCS employs nearly 300 employees in
Washington, D.C. and 75 cities around the nation. Responsibilities included directing agency
operations headquartered in Washington, D.C.; overseeing arbitration, alternative dispute
resolution, international affairs, and labor-management cooperation grants ($1.75 million)
programs; managing implementation of agency Strategic Action Plan and reinvention initiatives;
leading customer research and survey initiatives.
Special Assistant to the Director, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, Washington,
D.C. January 1994 - December 1995. Responsibilities included assisting the national director in
leadership of the organization and its employees, in relations with the Administration, Congress
and the agency’s business and industry and union customers, and in mediation efforts in several
highly visible labor-management disputes; tracking and analyzing trends in collective bargaining
and innovations in labor-management relations. Also served in May 1995 as a member of a
multi-organization Task Force on Alternative Dispute Resolution in Employment and signatory
to “Due Process Protocol For Mediation and Arbitration of Statutory Disputes Arising Out of the
Employment Relationship.”
Labor Counsel, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen, Washington,
D.C., 1990-1993. Served as chief in-house legal advisor to 105,000-member construction
industry union.
Of Counsel, Quasha, Wessely and Schneider, Washington, D.C. (Now dissolved), 1989-1990.
Handled federal court litigation, including Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit, and legislative
issues on behalf of international labor federation representing seamen on international vessels.
Staff Counsel, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and
Helpers of America, Washington, D.C., 1980-1989. Litigated diverse labor matters in federal
courts and before administrative agencies. Extensive appellate brief writing experience,
including Supreme Court amicus briefs. Concentration in National Labor Relations Act,
Railway Labor Act, drug testing and labor/bankruptcy issues.
Field Attorney, National Labor Relations Board, Region 32, Oakland, California, 1978-1980.
Litigated unfair labor practice cases and injunction proceedings in Federal District Court;
investigated unfair labor practice charges and representation petitions.
Attorney, National Labor Relations Board, Division of Advice, Washington, D.C. 1974-1978.
Researched and drafted advisory opinions in cases involving novel, difficult or controversial
legal issues. Appellate litigation of injunction cases.
PUBLICATIONS
Labour Law, Economic Justice and Political Rhetoric: Reflections on the Wagner Act, 38
Queens Law Journal 325 (Spring 2013).
The Editor’s Page, 26 A.B.A.J.Lab&Emp.L. v (2011) (issue devoted to papers presented at
Symposium on the 75th Anniversary of the National Labor Relations Act).
The Revival of American Labor Law, 34 Wash.U.J.L.& Pol’y 291 (2010).
Introduction: Whither the Board? The National Labor Relations Board at 75, 5 FIU L. Rev. 335
(2010).
Labor Law During Hard Ties: Challenges on the 75th Anniversary of the National Labor
Relations Act, 28 Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal 1 (2010).
Values and Assumptions of the Bush NLRB: Trumping Workers’ Rights, 57 Buffalo Law Review
643 (2009).
Labor Law Inside Out, 11 WorkingUSA: The Journal of Labor and Society 9 (2008).
Decline and Disenchantment: Reflections on the Aging of the National Labor Relations Board,
28 Berkeley J. Employment & Labor L. 569 (2007).
The Clinton Labor Board, 16 The Labor Lawyer 43 (Summer 2000) (co-author with Peter J.
Hurtgen).
Conflictive Partnership: A Strategy for Real World Labor-Management Cooperation, Labor Law
Journal, Vol. 47, No. 11, 1996 (contributor).
New Models of Negotiation, Dispute Resolution and Joint Problem Solving, Negotiation Journal,
Vol. 12, No. 2, 1996. (co-author with John Calhoun Wells).
FMCS: Past, Present, and Future, Proceedings of the Annual Meeting, Industrial Relations
Research Association, San Francisco, California, 1996. (contributor)
Employee Participation Programs -- Their Status in Today’s Workplace, Proceedings of the
Orange County IRRA 13th Labor Law Conference, Anaheim, California, 1995 (contributor).
EDUCATION:
JD with honors, National Law Center, George Washington University, 1974.
AB with honors in History, Barnard College, 1971.
BAR MEMBERSHIP:
District of Columbia (1974); Pennsylvania (1974) (inactive).
United States Courts of Appeals for the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and District of Columbia Circuits
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION AND RECOGNITION:
Member, Board of Directors, Economic Policy Institute, elected 2012
Executive Board Member (resigned Dec. 2004), Industrial Relations and Research Association
Elected Member, American Law Institute
Fellow, College of Labor and Employment Law
Working Class Heroine Award, Southern Maine Labor Council, September 2009
The George Washington University Law School Belva Ann Lockwood Alumni Award (April
2009)
Hofstra University School of Law Samuel Kaynard Award for Excellence in the Fields of Labor
and Employment Law (March 2009)
Peggy Browning Fund Award recipient, June 2012
American Rights at Work, Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award recipient, June 2012
National Labor College, Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, June 2012.