National Labor Relations Board
The Honors Program of the National Labor Relations Board provides attorneys with superior records who have just completed law school or a judicial clerkship with opportunities to work directly with the presidentially-appointed Board Members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB is the independent agency vested by Congress with preeminent authority to administer the law governing relations between employers and unions in the private sector.
Honors Program attorneys can look forward to participating in the review of unfair labor practice decisions issued by administrative law judges and representation election rulings issued by Agency hearing officers and regional directors, which are on appeal to the Board Members in Washington , D.C. The cases are intellectually challenging and require strong analytic, research, and writing skills. They also offer a rewarding opportunity to sharpen oral and written communications skills, and to assist the Board in interpreting its statute and resolving policy differences. Honors Program attorneys will obtain valuable experience from which they will benefit throughout their careers in labor and employment law, and derive the satisfaction of making an important contribution to public service.
The Honors Program attorneys will be assigned to the offices of individual Board Members, and they will also be assigned on a rotational basis to the Office of Representation Appeals, the Office of the Solicitor, and/or the Office of the Executive Secretary. The rotational assignments will occur during the attorney's first two years of service. At the conclusion of that two-year period, attorneys will be placed in an office that is mutually agreeable to both the attorney and a specific Board office to the extent possible.
It is the responsibility of the attorneys assigned to a Board Member to assist the Board Member by reviewing the hearing record and the parties' briefs on appeal in the cases to which they are assigned, researching and analyzing the issues, and presenting written recommendations as to their resolution directly to the Board Members. The issues are then deliberated in meetings either with the attorney's own Board Member, or with all of the Board Members who will be participating in the case. Ultimately the attorney drafts a decision for the Board Members for dissemination to the public reflecting the Board's disposition of the case.
Attorneys assigned to the Office of Representation Appeals present directly to the Board Members recommendations on whether to approve regional director decisions relating to recent or upcoming NLRB representation elections. These decisions raise issues involving such matters as the voting eligibility of classes of employees. Attorneys prepare legal memoranda analyzing the issues, and orally present their recommendations to the Board. The attorneys also draft decisions and orders for the Board Members.
Honors Program attorneys may also be assigned to the Office of the Solicitor. The Solicitor is the Board's chief legal officer and advises it on a broad range of questions of law and policy arising from its administration of the National Labor Relations Act. Attorneys handle assignments as varied as advising the Board on interlocutory-type appeals in ongoing unfair labor practice administrative hearings, and making recommendations to the Board on whether to seek or oppose certiorari before the United States Supreme Court with respect to the review of a Board decision by one of the U.S. federal circuit courts of appeals.
Further information concerning the work of these offices can be found in the Honors Program Handbook (Honors Program Handbook). Candidates interested in being considered for an entry-level attorney position under the Honors Program must submit applications for consideration no later than October 15, 2008. We invite you to apply by clicking on (Honors Program Application).