NLRB has New Trump Appointed General Counsel
Topics: Legal Information, Union-Management Relations
Yesterday, President Donald J. Trump appointed William B. Cowen as Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board.
Mr. Cowen began his career at the Board in 1979 after graduating law school. He served in various capacities throughout the Agency at both Headquarters and in the field, until he left to enter private practice in 1985. In private practice, he was an attorney and principal of Institutional Labor Advisors, LLC which he founded in 1997. He was also founding member of Cowen and Associates in McLean, VA, which he established in 1996. Prior to this, Mr. Cowen was a partner with Coleman, Coxson, Penello, Fogleman & Cowen, P.C. from 1992 to 1996 and served as an attorney with Thompson and Hutson from 1985 to 1992.
Mr. Cowen was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as a Board Member from January 22, 2002 to November 22, 2002. He then acted as Executive Assistant (Chief of Staff) to NLRB Chairman Robert J. Battista. From 2006 through 2016, Mr. Cowen has served as the Board’s Solicitor. In 2016 Cowen moved from the DMV to Los Angeles and from 2016 through yesterday he served as Regional Director for the NLRB’s Region 21 Office in Los Angeles.
Mr. Cowen holds a B.A. degree in Mathematics from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, graduating in 1976, and he received a Masters of Theological Studies degree from Wesley Theological Seminary in 2005. Mr. Cowen received his J.D. degree from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University, in 1979.
At this point, the appointment is for an interim position. It remains unclear whether President Trump will attempt to have Cowen approved by the Senate for the General Counsel position, which would eliminate the interim nature of the appointment, or whether Cowen is just a placeholder until somebody else can be nominated and confirmed.
In any case, the NLRB remains one member short of a quorum, so unless a new member is appointed and confirmed, or former member Wilcox is able to obtain a court order rescinding Trump’s decision to terminate her, the Board has little power to do much beyond the decisions it makes at the region level.
Stay tuned because activity at the Board, just like many areas of the federal government these days, is changing regularly. We will continue to monitor and report on it here at CalLaborLaw.com.
