02/28/2008
CONTACT: Melissa Sharp, 202-314-2068
Washington, D.C.--The National Federation of Independent Business Legal Foundation today announced that Maurice Baskin of Venable LLP and Manesh Rath of Keller & Heckman LLP are joining the Legal Foundation's Advisory Board.
"Both Maurice Baskin and Manesh Rath are true experts in employment law and will be real assets to NFIB's Legal Foundation's Advisory Board," said Karen Harned, executive director of NFIB's Legal Foundation. "As employment law issues continue to appear in so many precedent-setting cases in the nation's courts, the expertise of Baskin and Rath will help ensure that the Legal Foundation continues to best serve small business owners."
Baskin is recognized as a leading authority in the field of labor and employment law, with particular emphasis on the construction industry, trade associations, telecommunications, health care, financial services, schools, hospitality, and government contracting. His representation has included many amicus curiae briefs at all levels of the judiciary including the Supreme Court and federal agencies. He has also served as lead counsel in precedent-setting litigation. In 2006, the Washington Business Journal selected Baskin as the Top Washington Lawyer in the field of Employment Contracts.
Rath counsels and represents businesses and associations facing employment discrimination charges, wage and hour claims, wrongful termination lawsuits, 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.
The NFIB Legal Foundation relies on its advisory board, comprised of some of America's leading authorities on law, politics and government, to help guide the foundation in choosing cases to pursue and turns to the board for recommendations on topics for legal advisory material for small business owners. Baskin and Rath join board members:
- Jonathan H. Adler, Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
- James F. Blumstein, Professor of Constitutional Law and Health Law and Policy, Vanderbilt Law School
- Susan Eckerly, Vice President, Federal Public Policy, NFIB, Washington, D.C.
- Cameron Findlay, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Aon Corporation, Chicago
- Robert Gasaway, Kirkland & Ellis, Washington, D.C.
- Sherman "Tiger" Joyce, President, American Tort Reform Association, Washington, D.C.
- Edwin L. Lewis, Vice President and General Counsel, GT Solar, Inc., Merrimack, N.H.
- Pamela F. Olson, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP, Washington, D.C.
- Theodore B. Olson, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Washington, D.C.
- James M. Wickett, Counsel, Hogan & Hartson, Washington, D.C.
Baskin and Rath join the Advisory Board as Keith Cole of General Motors Corporation and Tom Susman of Ropes & Gray end their service to the board of over seven years.
"Keith Cole and Tom Susman have provided valuable advice and have helped the Foundation grow over the past seven years. Although they will be missed, we are excited about the future and the talents that Maurice Baskin and Manesh Rath will bring to the foundation," said Harned.
