Senate Confirmations Lift Clouds From National Labor Relations Board

The National Labor Relations Board reported last month that it has a full complement of five Senate-confirmed members—for the first time in 10 years. Four new members, all nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed in July by the U.S. Senate, were sworn into office; the upper chamber also confirmed NLRB Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce for an additional five-year term, ending August 2018. The agency released these Member profiles:

Chairman Pearce has served as a member since 2010 and in his current capacity since August 2011. He was a founding partner at Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux and previously a partner at Lipsitz, Green, Fahringer, Roll, Salisbury & Cambria LLP. From 1979 to 1994, he was an NLRB district trial specialist in Buffalo, N.Y. He has served by appointment of the Governor as a Board Member of the New York State Industrial Board of Appeals, and he has taught labor studies courses at Cornell University’s School of Industrial Labor Relations Extension.

Nancy Schiffer was Associate General Counsel to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) from 2000 to 2012. Previously, she was deputy general counsel to the United Auto Workers (UAW) from 1998 to 2000. She also worked as UAW associate general counsel from 1982 to 1998. Earlier in her career, she was a staff attorney in the NLRB Detroit Regional Office and an attorney in private practice. Her Board term runs through December 2014.

Harry I. Johnson, III was a partner with law firm Arent Fox LLP, a position he held since 2010. Previously, he worked at the Jones Day law firm as a partner from 2006 to 2010, and as an associate from 1994 to 2005. In 2011, he was recognized by the Daily Journal as one of the “Top Labor & Employment Attorneys in California.” His Board term runs through August 2015.

Kent Hirozawa was chief counsel to NLRB Chairman Mark Pearce. Before joining the agency in 2010, he was a partner in the New York law firm Gladstein, Reif and Meginniss LLP, advising clients on a variety of legal and strategic issues, including federal and state labor and employment law matters. He was an NLRB field attorney from 1984 to 1986, and a pro se law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1982 to 1984. His Board term runs through August 2016.

Philip Miscimarra was a partner in the Labor and Employment Group of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, a position he held since 2005. Since 1997, he has been a senior fellow at University of Pennsylvania Wharton Business School. Miscimarra worked at Seyfarth Shaw LLP as a partner from 1990 to 2005, and as an associate from 1987 to 1989. His Board term runs through December 2017.