Advocating for Workplace Justice

Peggy Browning Fund fellowships give students opportunities in union-side labor law

-By Jared Servantez

Students from law schools across Southern California had the chance recently to learn about breaking into union-side labor law and advocating for workplace justice.

The Peggy Browning Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring the next generation of advocates for workers’ rights, selected USC Gould to host a workshop about the opportunities available to law students to make a difference in labor law, from working with local unions to joining the law firms that represent them. The workshop was one of several that the Career Services Office will host throughout the year to prepare Gould students for various careers in law.

Recent UCLA Law graduate Travis West met with students about the benefits of a Peggy Browning Fund Fellowship for working in union-side labor law.

“We want to showcase for students that there are many paths for students and graduates to pursue,” said Rachel Kronick Rothbart, Associate Director of Career Services.

“There’s never before been a more urgent need for union-side lawyers and activists,” said Laurie Traktman ’91, partner and shareholder with the law firm of Gilbert & Sackman. “Income inequality is now at the forefront of the 2016 elections, which is quite exciting because it hasn’t been for many decades. It’s enormously hard work, but it is definitely fun and rewarding.”

Traktman’s firm is one of many organizations throughout the country that hire first- and second-year law students who have been honored with summer fellowships by the Peggy Browning Fund. The fellowship program provides students with stipends and places them in highly competitive summer positions with unions, worker centers, the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, the Federal Labor Relations Authority and union-side law firms.

Traktman said the benefits of a Peggy Browning Fellowship for a student interested in a career in union-side labor law are excellent. Although the program is competitive, she believes students who earn the fellowship have a sizeable advantage in the job market after law school.

“When we get Peggy Browning Fellows apply, we’re so excited, because we don’t have to question that person’s commitment to the movement. We know they’re there already, because once you learn about it, you become passionate, and if you don’t become passionate after you learn about it then you’re not going to pursue it,” she said. “That’s a big deal in our line of work. We’re looking for people who are committed.”

Travis West, who graduated from UCLA School of Law in 2013 and is now an associate at Gilbert & Sackman, told students that although employers in union-side labor law will expect a lot from them, they can expect to have opportunities to do things that many of their Big Law colleagues in entry-level positions often don’t.

“In the last two years I’ve done arbitrations, argued motions in state and federal court, done rulemaking through the state and federal government, participated in meetings, been on camera a couple of times, been on picket lines, helped people with TROs, done some property law, set up a corporation – all kinds of crazy stuff,” West said. “When you’re learning things and expected to take on a lot of responsibility from the get-go, it really motivates you to learn how to learn, to learn how to figure out how to do things that you might not know how to do and be able to do them confidently.”

Clare Pastore, who moderated the discussion, said when she was a student at Yale Law School, she was not initially aware of the many opportunities for recent graduates in fields like union-side labor law.

“I thought the world was Big Law firms, starving public interest lawyers, and a few public defenders,” Pastore said. “It is really easy in law school to feel like, ‘Well, there are three paths, I’d better get on one of them,’ but I just don’t think that’s the way the world is. Even within the field of people interested in workplace justice, we’ve heard about all kinds of different opportunities. There’s a huge variety of all kinds of jobs.”

The Peggy Browning Fund is currently accepting applications from 1L and 2L students for summer 2016 fellowships. Applications, deadlines and other relevant information can be found at www.peggybrowningfund.org/fellowships.