Washington, D.C., August 15, 2017 — Cozen O’Connor continues to rapidly expand both its national Labor & Employment Department and its Washington, D.C., office with the addition of Barry Kearney, former associate general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), as of counsel in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.
Kearney’s career with the NLRB spanned 46 years, during which he helped decide some of the NLRB’s most difficult and important decisions in the agency’s role in enforcing the National Labor Relations Act.
“Barry has made an indelible imprint on both the practice and study of labor law, through a long and illustrious career at the NLRB and his leadership at the ABA on the Developing Labor Law Committee,” said Joe Tilson, co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor and Employment Department. “We are privileged to be able to work alongside and learn from such a distinguished labor law scholar and practitioner.”
Kearney joins the firm on the heels of major additions to the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice, which has doubled in size, to more than 70 attorneys, since 2015. Just last week, Vincent Candiello, a veteran labor and employment litigator from Post & Schell, joined the firm’s Harrisburg office. Earlier in the year, 22 labor and employment attorneys joined Cozen O’Connor from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney in its Philadelphia office and in a newly opened office in Pittsburgh. With the addition of the Buchanan Ingersoll attorneys, the firm added a new Railway Labor Practice and strengthened its immigration and ERISA/Employee Benefits practices.
Cozen O’Connor has seen similar exponential growth in the last two years in its Washington, D.C., office, where the office has been rapidly expanding to include various practice offerings. With its growth to more than 60 attorneys, the firm moved its office to a new space in 2015.
“We are thrilled to welcome Barry to the Washington, DC., office,” said Barry Boss, managing partner of Cozen O’Connor’s Washington, D.C., office. “Barry’s unparalleled reputation in labor law precedes him and his practice will enhance the reach and capabilities of our expanding team of practitioners.”
In 2015, Cozen O’Connor had one of the nation’s fastest growing L&E departments as it added more than a dozen attorneys to the practice in its combination with Chicago-based Meckler Bulger & Tilson in addition to nationally known Labor & Employment attorneys Susan Eisenberg and Jennifer Williams in Miami and John Ho in New York.
The growth of the Labor and Employment practice and Washington, D.C., office come amid continued strong growth for Cozen O’Connor, which recorded a 10 percent increase in revenue in 2016. That boost is due in part to the extremely active practice in the Washington, D.C., market.
Over the past two years, the firm has made a number of large lateral acquisitions in addition to the Buchanan Ingersoll attorneys, including 50 attorneys in a merger with Chicago-based Meckler Bulger & Tilson, 14 attorneys from the nationally recognized Miami-based intellectual property boutique Feldman Gale, 10 attorneys and government professionals from Dickstein Shapiro launching the nation’s preeminent State Attorneys General Practice, and 10 attorneys from Pepper Hamilton including the “Gold Standard” in Institutional Response and a nationally prominent construction litigation group.
About Cozen O’Connor
Established in 1970 and ranked among the top 100 law firms in America, Cozen O’Connor has more than 825 attorneys who help clients manage risk and make better business decisions. The firm counsels clients on their most sophisticated legal matters in all areas of the law, including litigation, corporate and regulatory law. Representing a broad array of leading global corporations and middle market companies, Cozen O’Connor services its clients’ needs through 26 offices across two continents.
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