Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Page 3
Two Los Angeles Labor Attorneys Make Switch to Larger Firms
By SHERRI M. OKAMOTO, Staff Writer
Jackson Lewis LLP has hired a new partner in its Los Angeles office, and Dykema announced that it has acquired a new Of Counsel attorney as well.
Labor attorney James W. Michalski left the boutique firm of Epstein Becker Green in order to join Jackson Lewis’ Los Angeles office, while transactional attorney Laura P. Worsinger left Buchalter Nemer to join Dykema’s Employment Practice Group in the firm’s Los Angeles office.
Michalski joined Jackson Lewis in mid-April, and said he is “just about” unpacked and settled in. The former Epstein Becker Green partner expressed “tremendous respect” for his new firm, and said the “larger number of traditional labor lawyers” at Jackson Lewis was helpful to his practice and clients.
Lawrence Stone, managing partner of Jackson Lewis’ Los Angeles office, called Michalski “one of Los Angeles’ most outstanding employment lawyers” who does a “unique combination of traditional labor work, union management and litigation.”
Stone said: “It’s really a perfect fit with our practice,” which is limited to labor and employment law.
In Southern California, Stone opined that many firms have stopped growing their labor and employment departments, and the work is concentrating on a few firms, such as Jackson Lewis. The net result, he said, is that “we’re in a strategic position to pick up work and qualified candidates to do that work.”
Michalski clerked for now-retired Judge John G. Davies of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School. He also teaches employment law and business law at the University of Phoenix.
Worsinger, who joined Dykema on May 1, said she is enjoying her new position. The former senior counsel at Buchalter said that her new title gave her “more authority,” and “greater recognition” of her past experience and expertise.
The main draw for her, she said was Dykema’s national and global practice. “I wanted to be able to expand my practice and assist my clients with respect to issues that arise on a national and global basis, especially trade issues,” she explained.
Many of her clients are in the manufacturing industry, especially the apparel industry, she said, and she encounters many international legal issues, due in large part to global outsourcing. Wosinger opined that she has worked for most of the major apparel manufacturers in the Los Angeles area at one point in time.
She follows in the footsteps of Karin Peterka, another former Buchalter attorney specializing in intellectual property, patents and trademarks, who moved to Dykema earlier this year. Worsinger said she and Peterka had worked together before, and “as a team, we provided full services to a lot of manufacturing and retail clients…. Now we’re together again and can provide the same kind of service.”
Craig Hentschel, managing member of the Los Angeles office praised Worsinger’s litigation and trade regulation expertise in a release, calling her an “outstanding attorney with a wealth of knowledge and experience,” and “a significant addition” to the office. He opined that her background in trade practices would also be valuable to their clients.
Worsinger is a former assistant director for the Federal Trade Commission and staff attorney for J.C. Penney Company, Inc. She received her law degree from UCLA.
Copyright 2008, Metropolitan News Company