The NFIB Small Business Legal Center relies on an advisory board comprised of some of America’s leading authorities on law, politics and government. The advisory board works with NFIB to support small business. Advisory board members are:
Melissa A. Bailey
Shareholder, Ogletree Deakins – Washington, D.C.
Melissa Bailey is the Managing Shareholder for Ogletree Deakins’ Washington, D.C., office. She specializes in employment law and has substantial litigation experience in occupational safety and health matters and regularly writes and speaks on occupational safety and health matters. Lawyers Weekly USA named her as one of the “Ten Lawyers Who Stood Out” because of her involvement with OSHA enforcement and rulemaking.
Maurice Baskin
Shareholder, Littler Mendelson, P.C. - Washington D.C.
Maurice Baskin is a leading authority in the field of labor and employment law. He represented BE&K Construction and Hoffman Plastic Compounds in important NLRB Supreme Court wins. He has served on the Labor Relations Committee of the U.S. Chamber, as well as the Legal Section Council of the American Society of Association Executives. Baskin was named Top Washington Lawyer: Employment Contracts (Washington Business Journal, 2006) and one of the Top 100 Labor Attorneys in the United States (Labor Relations Institute). He is currently with Littler Mendelson, P.C. in Washington, D.C. as a shareholder.
Mark A. Behrens
Partner, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP - Washington, D.C.
Mark Behrens is an experienced practitioner of product liability law and author of numerous articles on tort and civil justice issues in leading national journals. He has taught in law schools and is a member of the Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., counsel to the American Tort Reform Association, and serves on a number of advisory boards including the Federalist Society’s Tort and Product Liability Subcommittee and Washington Legal Foundation Legal Policy Advisory Board.
Susan Dudley
Director, The George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center - Washington, D.C.
Susan Dudley is the director of The George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center, which was established in September 2009 to raise awareness of regulations’ effects and improve regulatory policy through research, education, and outreach. Prior to that, she served as the director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which oversees federal regulatory policymaking. As director, she helped ensure that federal agencies did not promulgate rules that unnecessarily harmed small business and the public at-large. Prior to leading OIRA, she directed the Regulatory Studies Program at George Mason University's Mercatus Center.
James W. Dyke, Jr.
Partner, McGuireWoodsLLP - McLean, Va.
James Dyke is an active leader in the Northern Virginia business community, having served as chairman of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and the Northern Virginia Business Roundtable, among other groups. The former secretary of education for Virginia also served as domestic policy advisor to former Vice President Walter Mondale.
Susan Eckerly
Senior Vice President, Federal Public Policy, National Federation of Independent Business – Washington, D.C.
Susan Eckerly has a strong background in labor and environmental issues gained from her experience working in non-profit organizations, Congress and the U.S. Department of Labor. She serves on the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health.
Leonard A. Leo
Executive Vice President, Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Studies – Washington, D.C.
Leonard Leo serves as the Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society where he manages the projects and publications of the Lawyers Division and oversees the Federalist Society's government, media, and corporate relations. He has participated actively in a number of international forums and served as a U.S. delegate to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights and serves as chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, to which he was first appointed by President George W. Bush in 2004.
Tammy McCutchen
Partner, Littler – Washington, D.C.
Tammy McCutchen represents and counsels management clients in connection with all types of labor and employment matters arising under federal and state law. She is a former Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor, a leading authority on federal and state wage and hour law, and formerly served as Senior Counsel at Hershey Foods Corporation. She is also the current Chair of the Federalist Society’s Labor & Employment Practice Group.
Edwin Meese, III
Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow Emeritus, The Heritage Foundation – Washington, D.C.
Edwin Meese served as the 75th Attorney General of the United States from 1985 until 1988. Prior to serving as the nation's chief law enforcement officer, he held the position of Counselor to the President and was President Ronald Reagan's chief policy adviser. Since 1988 he has held the Ronald Reagan Chair in Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation and is also Chairman of Heritage's Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, which educates government officials, the media and the public about the Constitution, legal principles and how they affect public policy.
Pamela F. Olson
PWC, National Tax Services – Washington, D.C.
One of the nation's foremost tax experts, Pamela Olson served as Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy from 2001 - 2004, providing the Secretary of the Treasury with policy analysis, advice and recommendations relating to all aspects of domestic and international issues of federal taxation, including all legislative proposals, regulatory guidance and tax treaties. Olson has twice been named to the "Tax Business 50," a listing by Tax Business magazine of the 50 most influential individuals in tax worldwide.
Howard M. Radzely
VP & Assistant General Counsel, Boeing – Chicago, IL
Howard Radzely is an experienced attorney and public servant and mastered labor-related legislative, regulatory, and administrative issues in both private practice and during his tenure at the Department of Labor. During Radzely’s federal service, he held the post of Deputy Secretary of Labor as well as Solicitor of Labor, during which time he was deeply involved in major enforcement actions and significant regulatory reforms. He joined Morgan Lewis in 2009, where he advised employers of all sizes on increasingly complex issues and represents companies before trial and appellate courts. He is currently with The Boeing Company.
Manesh K. Rath
Partner, Keller and Heckman LLP - Washington, D.C.
Manesh Rath counsels and represents businesses and associations facing employment discrimination charges, wage and hour claims, wrongful termination lawsuits and OSHA citations, and in most other areas of human resources law. He was the lead attorney as amicus counsel before the U.S. Supreme Court in BCI Coca Cola Bottling of Los Angeles v. U.S. EEOC. Rath has authored employment law articles in several publications, including The Labor Lawyer, South Texas Law Review, Construction Equipment Distributors Magazine, and Inside Supply Management. He is also a co-author of the OSHA book Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook.
Jeffrey A. Rosen
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis, LLP – Washington, D.C.
Jeffrey Rosen is a senior litigation partner and regulatory lawyer with a practice that involves complex business litigation matters. From 2006 to 2009, he served as General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor for the White House Office of Management and Budget, making him the Administration's lead lawyer on regulatory and fiscal issues. He previously served as General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation from 2003-2006, and was a litigator at Kirkland & Ellis from 1982-2003.
Thomas Sullivan
Partner, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, Washington D.C.
Thomas Sullivan has an extensive background representing small businesses before lawmakers and regulators. In his current position at the law firm of Nelson Mullins Riley and Scarborough, Sullivan focuses on legislative and regulatory issues confronting the transportation industry. Sullivan is the former executive director of the NFIB Small Business Legal Center and served as Chief Counsel for Advocacy in the Small Business Administration. As Chief Counsel, he headed a team of attorneys and economists who worked to remove regulatory barriers and to elevate small business visibility within all levels of government.