Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 24, 2026

Jackson Lewis

Jackson Lewis P.C. is an American law firm that specializes in labor and employment law and assisting companies in facilitating immigration. It has a reputation as one of the top U.S. union-busting practices.

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Jackson Lewis P.C.
HeadquartersNew York
No. of offices611
No. of attorneysOver 11252
Major practice areasLabor and Employment2
Key peopleKevin G. Lauri (Firm Chair) Samantha N. Hoffman (Firm Managing Principal)
RevenueIncrease US$486.1 million (2020) 3
Profit per equity partner$634,000 (2020)3
Date founded1958
Company typeProfessional Corporation
Websitewww.jacksonlewis.com

Jackson Lewis P.C. is an American law firm that specializes in labor and employment law and assisting companies in facilitating immigration. It has a reputation as one of the top U.S. union-busting practices.45

Jackson Lewis is organized into 20 practice groups6 and 19 industry groups.7 The majority of these groups are focused on labor and employment law, but the firm also has expertise in healthcare and collegiate and professional sports law. Practice and industry group members are spread across all of the firm's offices. The firm has over 1125 attorneys and 61 offices, including its Puerto Rico office.1 The firm is a founding member of L&E Global Employers’ Counsel Worldwide, an alliance of workplace law firms in 20 countries.8 The firm is led by a board of directors, and its current chair is Kevin G. Lauri.9

History

Jackson Lewis was founded by Lou Jackson and Robert Lewis in 1958. The firm's first office was opened in New York City in 1958. It opened its second office in Los Angeles in 1977.2 The firm's period of most rapid growth was between 2006 and 2015. In 2013, Jackson Lewis opened its first office outside of the continental US in San Juan, Puerto Rico.2

In 2018, the firm partnered with “ROSS Intelligence” to utilize its legal research AI.1011

Union avoidance

Jackson Lewis is one of the four largest management-side union avoidance law firms in the United States,12 and has been "retained to offer legal advice to many employers who have succeeded in winning NLRB elections or in averting union elections altogether."13 The firm has represented thousands of employers in National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) cases13 and in 2024 accounted for 3.6% of all NLRB case share with an estimated revenue of $49.6 million dollars from employer representation according to the Economic Policy Institute.14 In 1971, Jackson Lewis partners published the book "Winning NLRB elections: Avoiding unionization through preventive employee relations programs",15 a foundational handbook for successful prevention of unionization in workplaces.16 In 2011, the firm formed the L&E Global Alliance with five Europe-based management-side labor firms, offering specialization in cross-border corporate union campaign services on 6 continents in 25 jurisdictions.12

EnerSys anti-union campaign and lawsuit

In the 1990s and 2000s, Jackson Lewis received media attention after a protracted anti-union campaign on behalf of EnerSys, a battery manufacturing company in South Carolina. The company retained Jackson Lewis in 1994 to lead an anti-union campaign after workers petitioned for unionization. After a protracted 8-year campaign delaying recognition and eventually de-recognizing the union, EnerSys was accused of 120 violations by the NLRB, including charges of firing union leaders, spying on workers, and closing parts of the factory in retaliation. The company paid $7.75 million dollars to the NLRB, and in turn sued Jackson Lewis for malpractice and "engineering 'a relentless and unlawful campaign to oust the union.'" Jackson Lewis, in turn, accused EnerSys of attempting to avoid payment to the law firm, to which it owed $270,000 in legal fees. The case between EnerSys and Jackson Lewis was settled outside of court in 2004.161718

Other anti-union campaigns

Jackson Lewis represented AT&T/NCR in an aggressive cross-state anti-union campaign in the early 1990s.19 More recently, in the 2010s and 2020s, the firm has attracted media attention for representing higher education institutions against union efforts by faculty and graduate students, such at the University of New Mexico, University of New Hampshire, Barnard College,5 and Howard University.20

Practice groups

Jackson Lewis' practice groups include:6

  • Advice and Counsel
  • Affirmative Action, OFCCP and Government Contract Compliance
  • Class Actions and Complex Litigation
  • Collegiate and Professional Sports
  • Corporate Diversity Counseling
  • Corporate Governance and Internal Investigations
  • Disability, Leave and Health Management
  • Employee Benefits
  • ERISA Complex Litigation
  • Immigration
  • International Employment
  • Labor Relations
  • Litigation
  • Privacy, Data and Cybersecurity
  • Restrictive Covenants, Trade Secrets and Unfair Competition
  • Trials and Appeals
  • Wage and Hour
  • White Collar and Government Enforcement
  • Workplace Safety and Health
  • Workplace Training

Awards

In part for its role in creating “workthruIT”, a web-based, self-service labor and employment law compliance application,2122 Jackson Lewis was recognized as the “2018 Innovative Law Firm of the Year” by the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA).

References

References

  1. "Office locations". 31 October 2022. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2026.
  2. "Firm's "About Us" page". Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  3. "Jackson Lewis Law Firm Profile". Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  4. "Jackson Lewis: The Law Firm at the Forefront of Union Busting". LaborLab. 2023-04-18. Archived from the original on 2026-07-03. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
  5. "Union Busting on Campus: Jackson Lewis and Higher Education Anti-Unionism".
  6. "Firm practice groups". 26 October 2022. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2026.
  7. "Firm industry groups". 26 October 2022. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2026.
  8. "L&E Global". Archived from the original on 31 October 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  9. "Firm leadership". 26 October 2022. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  10. "Jackson Lewis P.C. Partners with ROSS Intelligence on Firm-Wide Artificial Intelligence Initiative". 15 March 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  11. artificiallawyer (2018-03-15). "Legal AI Research Co. ROSS Intel Bags US Firm Jackson Lewis". Artificial Lawyer. Archived from the original on 2020-11-09. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  12. Logan, John (2019). "The new union avoidance internationalism". Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation. 13 (2): 57–77. doi:10.13169/workorgalaboglob.13.2.0057. ISSN 1745-641X. Archived from the original on 2025-08-07. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  13. "Labor Relations - Jackson Lewis". www.jacksonlewis.com. 2026-06-18. Archived from the original on 2026-05-26. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  14. "U.S. employers spend more than $1.5 billion annually on union avoidance". Economic Policy Institute. Archived from the original on 2026-06-18. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  15. Jackson, Louis; Jackson, Lewis, Schnitzler & Krupman, eds. (1997). Winning NLRB elections: avoiding unionization through preventive employee relations programs (4th ed.). Chicago: CCH. ISBN 978-0-8080-0195-9.
  16. Logan, John (2006). "The Union Avoidance Industry in the United States". British Journal of Industrial Relations. 44 (4): 651–675. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8543.2006.00518.x. ISSN 1467-8543. Archived from the original on 2023-09-21. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  17. Greenhouse, Steven (2004-12-14). "How Do You Drive Out a Union? South Carolina Factory Provides a Textbook Case". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2023-02-06. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  18. Barkan, Ross (2017-03-30). "Why Are "Progressive" Democrats Taking Money From This Union-Busting Law Firm?". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on 2025-11-19. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  19. Nissen, Bruce (1998-09-01). "Fighting the Union in a "Union Friendly" Company: The AT&T/NCR Case". Labor Studies Journal. 23 (3): 3–32. doi:10.1177/0160449X9802300301. ISSN 0160-449X.
  20. Medium, Seattle (2022-03-21). "Howard Faculty Hold Rally And Threaten Strike If Union Negotiations Fail". The Seattle Medium. Archived from the original on 2023-10-18. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  21. "workthruIT". 10 April 2017. Archived from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  22. "Jackson Lewis Bets on Automating Compliance Tasks". Retrieved 19 February 2019.
External links