Education

University of Washington School of Law (J.D., 2013)

Reed College (B.A., Mathematics, 2005)

Experience

Ben joined Gilbert & Sackman in 2016 and became a shareholder in 2019. Ben is an experienced litigator and negotiator who has practiced and won cases in state and federal courts as well as at the National Labor Relations Board, the California Public Employee Relations Board, and labor arbitrations. In addition to representing labor unions, he also represents and advises multiemployer ERISA plans, LMCCs, and worker centers.

Prior to joining the firm, he was an attorney for the Change to Win labor federation in Washington D.C. where he handled cases before the NLRB and the DOL, as well as developing research to advance local and federal policies that promote collective-bargaining rights among the employees of government contractors. Some of this work was incorporated into President Obama’s Executive Order on Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces. Other past experience includes work for the E.E.O.C. and for labor union locals. Ben believes that collective bargaining is the strongest tool workers have to empower themselves and obtain fair treatment on the job. His longstanding commitment to organized labor and to workers rights has been recognized with scholarships and awards from the King County Bar Association and the Unemployment Law Project.

Some representative cases are:

Oak Valley Hospital District, PERB Decision No. 2583-M (2018)

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S., Inc., 373 NLRB No. 99 (2024) [See also: Reuters Article]

Memberships

• California State Bar

• Oregon State Bar

• District of Columbia Bar

• AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee

• National Lawyers Guild