Alumni
The Peggy Browning Fund Fellowship Program is currently made up of 430 alumni since its start in 1997. Of that number, 130 alumni, who have graduated from law school programs, are currently working in labor or public interest law. That's more than one-third of 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?
Andrea Andrade, whose 2010 Peggy Browning Fellowship was at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, has secured an externship with NLRB Region 2 in New York City for the spring of 2011. A third-year student at St. John's University School of Law, Andrea was also elected Secretary of her school's Labor Relations and Employment Law Society.
Ben Basil, who was a Peggy Browning Fellow in 2009 at the Chicago Newspaper Guild, worked during the summer of 2010 with the UAW in Detroit. Ben says, "Even though I am not a PBF Fellow again this year, this is the second summer job that a PBF application has gotten me. Thanks for all your help."
Angie Cowan, 2004-2005 Peggy Browning Fellow at the Chicago Newspaper Guild, and Josiah Groff, 2005 PBF Fellow at United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America in Pittsburgh, both now practice union-side labor law at Allison, Slutsky & Kennedy in Chicago, IL.
2010 PBF Fellow Eirik Cheverud is now in his third year at New York Law School. Eirik says, "The Peggy Browning Fund makes my goal of doing good work on behalf of the workers' movement attainable and enjoyable. Thank you!"
Sean Crotty, who completed a 2010 PBF Fellowship at AFSCME, is completing his thrid year at Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington and hopes to pursue a labor law career in Washington, DC either with a government agency or with a union.
Two Peggy Browning Alumni, Molly Davidson-Welling and Moshe Marvit, work at the Pittsburgh union-side law firm Stember, Feinstein, Doyle, Payne & Cordes LLC. Molly clerked at the firm during law school and now specialized in employment, employee benefits, civil rights, and class action cases. Moshe joined the firm this past spring; he also had a paper on the subject of public employment and equal protection published by the William & Mary Policy Review.
Ryan Dooley, 2008 PBF Fellow, recently married and, having finished his clerkship, is searching for a job in labor & employment law, particularly in the New York City area.
Alexandra (Lexie) Dressman, 2010 PBF Fellow at IUE-CWA, has continued as an intern at the IUE-CWA while she completes her third year at Northern Kentucky Chase College of Law. Lexie is working on her labor and employment law certificate and is currently co-authoring a paper on labor-management relations to be presented at the Warns Institute in Louisville, KY.
Justine Elliot, 2010 Peggy Browning Fellow at Community Legal Services, won the Philadelphia Bar Association's Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Pursuit of Justice Legal Writing Competition. Justine's paper, "Working Above the Law: Why a Legislative Solution to the Hoffman Plastic Compounds Decision is Long Overdue," was published in the Fall 2010 issue of The Philadelphia Lawyer.
George Faraday, 2003 PBF Fellow at the AFL-CIO, has been an attorney with Change to Win for several years and has mentored new Peggy Browning Fellows there.
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.
Dea Franck, whose 2010 PBF Fellowship was at the NLRB Division of Judges in San Francisco, says: "This fellowship changed my life. I want to continue to be a part of this important movement." Dea expects to graduate from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in May, 2011.
Three of our alumni now work with the National Treasury Employees Union. Autumn Gonzalez and Robyn Mabry are in the Washington, DC office, and Will Igoe is in their Chicago office.
Since working as a Peggy Browning Fellow at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in the summer of 2009, Steven Grubbs has 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."
Martin Gutmann, 2010 PBF Fellow at the Community Justice Project in Pittsburgh, is a third-year student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is spending the fall semester interning at the U.S. Department of Labor. He's interested in both labor law and labor-related immigration law.
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.
Jonathan Harris, 2008 Peggy Browning Fellow, was named as a 2010 recipient of the prestigious Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Writing. He won for his CUNY law review article Worker Unity and the Law: A Comparative Analysis of the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Hope for the NLRA's Future.
Darragh L. Inman, who was a Peggy Browning Fellow at AFSCME International Union in 2001, has been involved in labor litigation as well as general civil litigation since joining Kahn, Smith & Collins, P.A., a uinon-side law firm in Baltimore, MD.
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.
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.
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.
Breana Malloy, 2010 PBF Fellow at AFSCME, is now in her third year at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. She hopes to move back to Washington, DC after graduation to pursue a career in labor law. Her ultimate hope is to be in-house counsel for a building trades union.
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.
Jeff Nieznanski, 2005 PBF fellow, works as a staff attorney position with Southern Tier Legal Services, 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. STLS serves a four county region providing representation in the areas of housing, public benefits, health, education, consumer, and family law. The service area is primarily rural and clients face many challenges associated with rural poverty. His primary area of specialty is in representing clients denied Social Security disability benefits and SSI.
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.
Robert Recckia, 2010 PBF Fellow at the Communications Workers of America, is a part-time evening student at St. John's University School of Law and expects to graduate in May 2011. He is a union steward of CWA Local 1104.
Kamil Robakiewicz, who was PBF Fellow in 2010 at the U.S. Department of Labor in Philadelphia, is now a second-year student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. Kamil has a particular interest in the intersection of workers' rights and civil rights.
Maria Roeper, 2009 PBF Fellow, was hired this past spring by the General Counsel's office of the International Association of Machinists. Maria spoke at our event honoring Leo Gerard & Hugh Beins in June, where she noted, "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 is a third-year student at Northeastern University School of Law. In addition to her PBF Fellowship at Schwarzwald, McNair & Fusco during the summer of 2010, Jillian has also completed two internships: one with Magistrate Judge Jeo T. Jordan at the U.S. District Court (Massachusetts) and one with the Massachusetts Division of Labor Relations. Her final internship will be with Pyle Rome in Boston. Jillian is also active in NELA and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Society.
In addition to Steve Grubbs (noted above) and Chris Williamson (noted below), two other Peggy Browning alumni also now work at the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission - Kwame Samuda (PBF 2009) and Rory Smith (PBF 2006). Rory was a law clerk there until recently getting a promotion to the Office of General Counsel.
Blase Schmid, one of four 2010 Peggy Browning Fellows at United Steelworkers, is a student at the University of Michigan School of Law. He expects to graduate in December 2011 and notes: "I am a lifelong labor activist with a particular eye toward the internationalization of the labor movement."
Aniko Schwarcz, 2008 PBF Fellow, is currently pursuing a Masters in Social Work in conjunction with her JD and plans to graduate in May 2011. She notes, "The focus of my social work curriculum is management, social action, and advocacy studies. I am really enjoying my work at the intersection of law and social work, and I hope to use these skills to work in the area of workers rights policy when I graduate." During the summer of 2010, Aniko worked both as a law clerk at the Legal Aid Bureau of Maryland (Farmworkers Unit) and at the Public Justice Center, as their Workplace Fairness Project law clerk.
Renata Yurikov Staff, 2009 PBF Fellow, told us recently that she has secured a position with the Ohio Attorney General's Office as an Assistant Attorney General.
Kate Swearengen, whose 2010 Peggy Browning Fellowship was at the New York union-side law firm Kennedy, Jennik & Murray, is a third-year student at Columbia Law School. Kate is now interning with CWA District 1. She is also the regional co-chair of the Unemployment Action Center, a student-run organization dedicated to the representation of unemployment insurance claimants in New York and Long Island.
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.
Katherine Tarpley, 2010 PBF Fellow at Greater Boston Legal Services, is a second-year student at Northeastern University School of Law. Kate reported that "I had a wonderful time at GBLS and was inspired by the work that the attorneys did with immigrants and workers' rights." Kate will be a law clerk at an immigration firm in San Francisco this winter.
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.
Jason Usher, whose 2010 Peggy Browning Fellowship was at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, has continued clerking at the Teamsters during the school year. 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."
Rebeccah Golubock Watson, 2010 PBF Fellow at the National Employment Law Project in New York, is a second-year student at Brooklyn Law School. Beccah did her undergraduate work at Harvard. She started legal services work in college, when she interned at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute advising ex-offenders. After college Beccah worked at Legal Momentum, working with victims of domestic violence on employment and housing discrimination, and then worked in the New York State Senate.
Chris Williamson, 2009 PBF Fellow, is now working for the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, the independent adjudicatory body that hears cases prosecuted by MSHA and appealed by mine operators. 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.
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