Background

A Saginaw native, Dave has a long history of dealing with labor issues. After graduating from Buena Vista High School, he worked as a line foreman supervisor at General Motors’ Grey Iron Foundry and dealt directly with the United Auto Workers.  After graduating from college, he was hired as a public sector Assistant Department Head during the middle of a 13-week strike with the Teamsters.  While his work experience taught him how to fairly balance the needs of labor and management, he could see that business owners required more aggressive, and better, legal representation.

Career Highlights

• Successfully negotiated hundreds of collective bargaining agreements with national labor organizations in all major industries

• Proven track record of success in maintaining a client’s union-free status and union election wins

• Provided Congressional testimony on labor and employment legislation, as well as expert testimony for civil litigation

• Served as chief trial attorney in public-policy litigation cases challenging the constitutionality of several anti-competitive and restrictive laws involving project labor agreements, prevailing wage, apprenticeship regulations, and discriminatory construction bidding

• Frequent featured presenter at seminars for events and organizations such as the Associated Builders and Contractors, National Labor Relations Board, Bernard Gottfried Labor Law Symposium, Valley Society of Human Resource Managers, and Michigan Association of School Administrators

• Author of numerous published articles on labor and employment law

• Taught collective bargaining and labor arbitration as an adjunct professor at Thomas M. Cooley Law School

• Member of the Michigan State Bar Fellows, and past member of the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Board of Directors of the Workforce Development Board for Michigan Works!

Legal Passion

“My favorite cause is the merit shop philosophy of the Associated Builders and Contractors, a non-union construction trade association that I have had the honor and pleasure of representing for over 25 years.  They are the salt of the earth.  They have just about everything going against them – unions, anti-competitive laws, and a discriminatory legal system – yet they find a way to succeed based on hard work and business savvy.”

Hobbies and Interests

A hotrod enthusiast since high school, Dave builds and restores GM muscle cars.  His favorite is a big block 1965 Corvette that he built from the ground up.  Dave passed on his love for autos to his children – as a Soap Box Derby dad, he helped his daughters win four All-American and two National Championships.

Dave is an avid kiteboarder and boater.  When the weather turns cold, his interest shifts to mountain snowmobile riding.

Dave likes to work hard and play hard.  He treasures vacations and weekend escapes with his family, and enjoys hunting, fishing, and all water sports.