Alumni
The Peggy Browning Fund Fellowship Program is currently made up of approximately 500 alumni since its start in 1997. Of that number, 197 alumni, who have graduated from law school programs, are currently working in labor or public interest law. That's nearly 40% of former Peggy Browning Fellows gainfully employed in the field.
If you are a former Peggy Browning Fellow, let us hear from you and be sure to share your news with us!
If you know any of our Alumni and know they have news to a share, encourage them to get in touch with us. Contact Mary Anne Moffa at mmoffa@peggybrowningfund.org or call 267-273-7992.
Alumni Updates - Where are they now?
Briana Beltran, 2009 PBF Fellow at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, works as a Staff ATtorney/Marc Lumer Workplace Tax Justice Fellow, Southern Migrant Legal Services, a Porject of Texas Tio Grande Legal Aid, Inc., in Nashville, TN.
Ellen Berndtson, 2011 PBF Fellow at the Federal Labor Relations Authority, was hired there after her graduation in 2012. She is an Attorney in the FLRA's Washington Regional Office.
Wala Blegay, 2010 PBF Fellow at the AFL-CIO, is an Attorney-Advisor at the NLRB in Washington, DC.
Emma Bond, 2010 PBF Fellow at The Workplace Project, is clerking until September 2014 with Judge Wallach at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Matt Bradford, 2003 PBF Fellow at AFSCME, is now State Representative Matt Bradford, representing the 70th Legislative District in central Montgomery County, PA.
Amanda Bundick, 2012 PBF Fellow at United Steelworkers, will be graduating from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in the spring of 2013 and will be working for the union-side law firm Jubelirer, Pass & Intrieri in Pittsburgh in the fall.
Keith Castaldo, 2007-2008 PBF School-Year Fellow at the Chicago Newspaper Guild, is an Economic Policy Advisor for U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ-08).
Eirik Cheverud, 2010 PBF Fellow at O'Donoghue & O'Donoghue, is a Law Clerk in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, Staff Attorneys Office, in St. Louis, MO.
Katie D'Adamo, 2009 PBF Fellow at the UAW, is now an attorney with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center in Kalamazoo.
Molly Davidson-Welling, 2006 PBF Fellow at Community Legal Services, works at the Pittsburgh union-side law firm Stember, Feinstein, Doyle, Payne & Cordes LLC. Molly clerked at the firm during law school and now specializes in employment, employee benefits, civil rights, and class action cases.
Lisl Duncan, 2007 PBF Fellow at the NLRB Division of Judges in San Francisco, joined the union-side law firm Weinberg, Roger and Rosenfeld in their Los Angeles office in 2008 and now represents labor unions and individuals in labor and employment litigation, including wage and hour class action lawsuits.
Noelle Dwarzski, 2005 PBF Fellow at the UAW, is an Attorney with McKenzie, Rothwell, Barlow & Coughran, P.C., a labor and employment law firm that represents employee benefit plans and their fiduciaries and joint labor-management trust funds, in Seattle, WA.
Mark Floyd, 1999 Peggy Browning Fellow, continues at Mierzwa and Associates, P.A., in Lakeworth, Florida, where he has been since July 2003 He practices traditional union-side labor law and represents public sector unions, particularly fire fighters. Prior to moving to Florida, he had worked for two years at Previant, Goldberg, Uelman, Gratz, Miller & Brueggeman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he primarily represented private sector unions. As a Peggy Browning Fellow, Mark clerked at the Chicago Newspaper Guild Local 34071.
Thomas Frampton, 2011 PBF Fellow at the United Steelworkers, is a Law Clerk for Judge Diane Wood on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Tom Fritzsche, 2007 PBF Fellow at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, is a Skadden Fellow/Staff Attorney, Immigrant Justice Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Atlanta, GA.
Ceilidh Gao, 2012 PBF Fellow at the National Employment Law Project, has accepted a position as an SEIU legal fellow in Washington, DC, starting in the fall of 2013.
Since working as a Peggy Browning Fellow at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in the summer of 2009, Steven Grubbs graduated from West Virginia University College of Law and found employment as a law clerk to administrative judges in the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, in a newly created satellited office in Pittsburgh, PA. Steve told us, "I am from southern West Virginia where coal is king. I actually went to high school only five miles away from the Upper Big Branch mine explosion that happened this spring. Because of this I am very happy to be part of the process that ensures miners are protected and that a safe working environment is maintained. I am sure that having Peggy Browning Fellow on my resume helped me get this job and would like to thank you for providing me with that opportunity." In 2012, Steve moved to Philadelphia to work with SEIU.
Andrew Hamilton, 2004 Peggy Browning Fellow at the UAW – After graduation in the spring of 2005, Andrew began working in the research department of SEIU/District 1199 in Ohio. He reported that this draws heavily on his legal training and prior labor movement experience. He recommends that young lawyers who care about the future of the labor movement should consider strategic campaign research as an alternative to traditional labor law practice.
Katherine Hansen, 2008 PBF Fellow at Change to Win, has been with the union-side law firm Gladstein, Rief & Meginniss in New York City since 2011.
Bruce Harland, 2001 PBF Fellow at SEIU, joined the union-side law firm Weinberg, Roger and Rosenfeld in 2003, where he is now a Shareholder.
Jonathan Harris, PBF 2008 at CASA de Maryland, is a Law Clerk for Judge James Graves, U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit. Prior to his clerkship, he was a Skadden Fellow at the Public Justice Center in Baltimore. He's pleased to report that the unpaid wage lien bill that he drafted and lobbied for during his Skadden project was recently passed; it will likely be the strongest wage lien laws in the country, making it easier for workers to collect unpaid wages by allowing them to put a lien on their employer's property.
Angela Heverling, 2006 PBF Fellow at Community Justice Project/Neighborhood Legal Services, is now Counsel at the National Mediation Board, investigating representation disputes under the Railway Labor Act.
Samantha Hults, 2003 PBF Fellow at NLRB Region 21, is an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Albuquerque.
Burt Johnson, 2005 PBF fellow, is the in-house counsel to the Carpenters Regional Council for Minnesota and the Dakotas. He is looking forward to being active in the labor law community for many years to come.
Sara Johnson, 2007 PBF Fellow, joined the Department of Labor's Honors Program, after clerking for Judge Mary Schroeder on the Ninth Circuit in Phoenix.
William Kampf, 2000 PBF Fellow at the NLRB Region 4, is a Labor & Employment Attorney at Helmer Firedman LLP in Los Angeles, where he focuses on representing individuals in matters related to wrongful termination, discriminatin, harassment, and wage and hour issues.
Alex Kannan, 2009 PBF Fellow at Working Hands Legal Clinic, is an Attorney in the Law Office Office of Ann Ruth Peters, where he assists on immigration law cases.
Laura Karr, 2010 PBF Fellow at the NLRB Division of Judges, is now a Staff Attorney at the United Mine Workers of America in Triangle, VA.
Mami Kato, 2009 PBF Fellow at the UAW, is an Associate at the union-side law firm Sachs Waldman, P.C. in Detroit, where her practice is devoted to the represnetation of labor organizations and related matters.
Andrew Kelser, 2011 PBF Fellow at Community Legal Services, is an Attorney at the union-side law firm O'Donoghue & O'Donoghue, LLP in Washington, DC.
Nate Kilbert, 2010 PBF Fellow at the United Steelworkers, is a Law Clerk to Justice Peter Rubin, MA Appeals Court, Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Zoey Kohn, 2002 PBF Fellow at SEIU, is an Attorney with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the General Counsel, in Portland, Oregon.
Daniel Kuehnert, 2007 PBF Fellow at AFSCME, is Counsel to SEIU Local 73 in Chicago, where he represents the union in arbitrations and administrative hearings.
Ryan Lemmerbrock, 2001 PBF Fellow, is now a principal with the law firm Muskovitz & Lemmerbrock, LLC in Cleveland, Ohio. He has been practicing labor law in Ohio since 2003. Ryan represents both public and private sector labor uions throughout Northeast Ohio in various labor-relations matters, including arbitrations, negotiations, administrative hearings, and general litigation.
Arthur Liou, 2005 PBF Fellow at the Asian Law Caucus, is an Attorney with the union-side law firm Leonard Carder, LLP in San Francisco. He represents public and private sector labor unions, providing advice and advocacy in arbitrations, administrative proceedings, and litigation. In addition, he represents workers in class action wage-and-hour litigation.
Two PBF Alumni, Jeff Macey (PBF 2007) and Rob Hicks (PBF 2003), now work at Macey Swanson and Allman, a law firm in Indianapolis, IN which represents labor uinons and individual employees in all areas of labor and employment law.
Moshe Marvit, 2009 PBF Fellow at the NLRB Division of Judges, currently works as an Attorney-Advisor at the Federal Mine Safety & Health Review Commission. He's also a Fellow with The Century Foundation and the co-author of Why Labor Organizing Should Be a Civil Right: Rebuilding a Middle-Class Democracy by Enhancing Worker Voice. He was a workshop leader at PBF's annual National Law Students Worker's Rights Conference in October 2012.
Lisa Manson, 2011 PBF Fellow at the Int'l Brotherhood of Teamsters, is an Associate at the union-side law firm O'Donnell, Schwartz & Anderson, P.C. in Washington, DC.
William Massey, 2002 Peggy Browning Fellow, spoke at our Dinner Dance in March 2003 about his experience at The Workplace Project. During the summer of 2003 he worked at the New York City law firm of Semel, Young and Norum, which represents the CWA. Since graduating from CUNY School of Law he has been practicing labor law at Gladstein, Reif & Meginniss in New York City, where he is now a Partner.
Shelley Mayo, 2009 PBF Fellow at AFSCME, is an Employee Benefits Law Specialist at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, DC.
Michael McCrossen, 2005 PBF Fellow at the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, is a Criminal Defense Attorney at Rothman & Associates in Miami/Fort Lauderdale.
Joshua Melgaard, 2010 PBF Fellow at the UAW, is a Law Clerk for the Honorable Jeffrey S. Remick in the Minnesota Judicial Branch, Ninth Judicial District.
Michael Melick, 2008 PBF Fellow at United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, joined the union-side law firm of Barr & Camens in Washington, DC in December 2012.
Jeff Nieznanski, 2005 PBF Fellow, works as a staff attorney position with Monroe County Legal Assistance Center, a division of Legal Assistance of Western New York. LAWNY is a not-for-profit law firm which provides civil legal services to low-income clients in a fourteen county region in western New York, providing representation in the areas of housing, public benefits, health, education, consumer, and family law. His primary area of specialty is in representing clients denied Social Security disability benefits and SSI.
Richard Otzel, 2011 PBF Fellow at AFSCME, is an attorney with Mierzwa & Associates in Greenacres, Florida, where he practices traditional union-side labor law and represents public sector unions, particularly fire fighters.
Seyung Park, 2011 PBF Fellow at Community Justice Project, is a Law Clerk in the Liability Management Section of the Arizona Attorney General's Office.
Savina Playter, 2002 Peggy Browning Fellow, is now an attorney with Rodriguez & Fuentes, P.C. in Bronx, NY, a Ph.D. candidate at Walden University, and an Adjunct Law Professor at Marymount College.
Julie Polakoski-Rennie, 2008 PBF Fellow at the Int'l Brotherhood of Teamsters, is a Field Attorney with the National Labor Relations Board in New York City.
Ana Polanco, 2005 PBF Fellow at AFSCME, is a Strategist with Amnesty International in New York City.
Ashleigh Quinn, 2010 PBF Fellow at Sheet Metal Workers' Local Union No. 19, is an Associate with Pond Lehocky Stern Giordano in Philadelphia, PA, where she focuses her practice exclusively on Social Security Disability Law.
Maria Roeper, 2009 PBF Fellow, was hired in the spring of 2010 by the General Counsel's office of the International Association of Machinists. Maria says, "My Peggy Browning experience has helped me get this dream job. I now work for the IAM General Counsel’s office with a set of extremely experienced union attorneys who are very smart. It’s been just a fabulous experience to work with them. We’re fighting to support the lives of working people. Who could ask for anything better?"
Jillian Ryan, 2010 PBF Fellow at Schwarzwald, McNair & Fusco, is an Associate at the union-side law firm Pyle Rome Ehrenberg, PC in Boston.
Amanda Schneider, 2005 PBF Fellow at Community Legal Services, is a Staff Attorney at Children's Legal Alliance, part of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. She advocates primarily in the area of special education law.
Aniko Schwarcz, 2008 PBF Fellow at the National Employment Lawyers Association, is a Contract Attorney at Cohen Milstein SEllers & Toll PLLC in Washington, DC. Aniko works in the civil rights practice group focusing on follow up to the Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes class action lawsuit and other class action employment discrimination litigation.
Michelle Seifert, 2001 PBF Fellow at HERE Local 2, is a Senior Legal Recruiter at the Fillmore SEarch Group in San Francisco.
Evan Shanley, 2011 PBF Fellow at LIUNA, is working at Blake & Uhlig in Kansas City, KS.
Rachel Simon, 2007 PBF Fellow at the Int'l Brotherhood of Teamsters, works at the NLRB's regional office in Minneapolis, MN.
Uri Strauss, 2007 PBF Fellow at Greater Boston Legal Services, is a Staff Attorney in the Housing Unit at Community Legal Aid in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Lauren Stulmaker, 2009 PBF Fellow at The Workplace Project, is an Associate in the New York office of Fragomen, where she practices exclusively in the field of U.S. immigration and nationality law. Prior to joining the firm, Lauren worked in the St. John's Refugee and Immigration Rights Clinic, where she provided legal assistance to individuals seeking asylum or refugee status in the U.S.
Kate Swearengen, whose 2010 Peggy Browning Fellowship was at the New York union-side law firm Kennedy, Jennik & Murray, is an Associate with the union-side law firm Cohen, Weiss & Simon in New York City.
Kathy Szybist, who was among the first Peggy Browning Fellows in 1998, is now working as a Program Analyst for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Chicago, IL. Kathy is also the 2nd vice-president of Local 911 of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and a steward for her union.
Art Traynor, 2006 PBF Fellow at the United Mine Workers of America, returned to UMWA as a Staff Attorney. Among his other duties, Art now mentors new Peggy Browning Fellows there. He credits the Peggy Browning Fund with helping him at every stop in his career, and he is eager to help us share that same help with more students.
Mustafa Unlu, 2007 PBF Fellow at Community Justice Project/Neighborhood Legal Services Association, is Assistant Chief Counsel at the Food and Drug Administration in Washington, DC.
Jason Usher, whose 2010 Peggy Browning Fellowship was at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, continued clerking at the Teamsters during the school year. He is now a Field Attorney with NLRB in Washington, DC. Jason notes, "I am so grateful for the opportunity the Fund has given me."
Jason Valtos, 1998 Peggy Browning Fellow, is a Principal at Osborne Law Offices in Washington, D.C., where he has worked since August 2001. Jason handles traditional areas of labor law, including representing labor unions and trust funds; he has also done pension fund work. Jason has remained active with the Fund and says, "The Peggy Browning Fund opened all the right doors."
Chris Williamson, 2009 PBF Fellow, is a Legislative Assistant for Labor & Mine Safety Issues for U.S. Senator Joe Manchin. Previously, Chris worked for the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. While still in law school, Chris was the original author of a Resolution that was adopted in the West Virginia House of Delegates and the West Virginia State Senate that creates Labor History Week in West Virginia. During Labor Day week, public schools, colleges, and universities are encouraged to teach labor history as a part of their curriculum or to host programs recognizing labor history and the contributions workers have made to society. Chris reports that the West Virginia AFL-CIO was very supportive in helping to create Labor History Week in West Virginia.
Catha Worthman, 1999 PBF Fellow at Community Legal Services, is an attorney with Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker & Jackson, P.C. in Oakland, CA, where she represents employees and retirees in class actions and other multi-plaintiff actions, as well as in individual litigation and administrative proceedings. She joined the firm as an Associate in 2008 and became a Shareholder in 2012. In 2011 and 2012, she was selected as a "Northern California Rising Star" by Super Lawyers magazine.
Gloria Yu, 2000 PBF Fellow at HERE Local 2, currently works at AETNA in Blue Bell, PA as a Medicare Compliance Manager.
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