Board of Directors

A partner in King & Greisen, LLP (Denver, CO), Ms. King concentrates her law practice in the areas of civil rights, employment, and anti-discrimination litigation, primarily in the federal courts. She has successfully tried, arbitrated, and mediated hundreds of employment cases on behalf of employees.

Throughout her career, Ms. King has been committed to community service and has performed substantial pro bono work as well as served on numerous nonprofit boards. In addition to being the Institute’s Treasurer since 2008, she is the Vice President of Public Policy of the National Employment Lawyers Association.

Ms. King received her undergraduate degree from Colorado State University in 1983 and her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1987.

She currently serves as the chair-elect of the Section of Labor and Employment Law of the American Bar Association and is a member of the Board of the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association. Ms. Clark served on the Department of Labor’s ERISA Advisory Council from 2009-2012. She has contributed to a number of legal treatises including Bloomberg BNA’s Employee Benefits Law, ERISA Litigation, The Fair Labor Standards Act, and The Family Medical Leave Act.

Ms. Clark is a fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel and a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.

Ms. Clark earned her LL.M. in taxation and labor, specializing in employee benefits law, at Georgetown University Law Center. She earned her J.D. at North Carolina Central University School of Law, where she was a senior editor of the North Carolina Central University Law Review, and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at Marquette University. She is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as numerous federal district courts and circuit courts.

Alicia Haynes practices exclusively in the area of plaintiffs’ employment law in Birmingham, AL. She also serves on the executive boards of NELA-Alabama and the Labor and Employment Section of the Alabama State Bar.

A tenacious trial lawyer for almost 30 years, Ms. Haynes has successfully represented workers from every walk of life in cases involving sexual harassment, hostile work environments, and age, gender, race, and family status discrimination. Ms. Haynes has had two cases heard before the United States Supreme Court, which resulted in favorable outcomes for her clients. One of them, Ash v. Tyson Foods, Inc., in which she represented two African American men who were discriminated against because of their race, significantly changed the standard in employment discrimination cases involving promotion decisions. She is a frequent speaker on trial practice strategy and development.

Wade B. Cowan is a past president of NELA and served on NELA’s Board since 2011. He is a solo practitioner in Nashville, Tennessee, who advises and represents employees in matters involving employment law and civil rights, with an emphasis on employment discrimination and retaliation claims arising under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act. Mr. Cowan is a 1978 graduate of Vanderbilt University and a 1981 graduate of Vanderbilt Law School in 1981. He is a member of the Nashville and Tennessee Bar Associations, and he is a founding member and past President of the Tennessee Employment Lawyers Association.

Patricia A. Barasch, a partner in the law firm of Schall & Barasch, LLC (Moorestown, NJ), served as President of the Institute and from 2010 to 2013, served as President of the National Employment Lawyers Association and was a member of its Executive Board from 2004 to 2015.

Throughout her nearly 25-year career, Ms. Barasch has represented employees in cases involving all types of unfair and illegal employment practices, including claims relating to race, sex, age, and disability discrimination, reasonable accommodation, the Family Medical Leave Act, wrongful termination, breach of contract, retaliation, and non-compete agreements. She has won a number of trial victories against some of the largest corporations in New Jersey, including PSEG, Raytheon, and Harrah’s Casino Hotel.

Ms. Barasch’s accomplishments as an employment lawyer have been recognized repeatedly. In every year since 2005, Ms. Barasch has been named by her peers to the list of “Super Lawyers” in New Jersey in the field of employment litigation-plaintiff. In 2006, South Jersey Magazine chose Ms. Barasch as one of the region’s “Top Women in Business” for her personification of “diligence, success, diversity of talent, and philanthropic spirit that characterizes an outstanding business leader.” In 2002, she was selected as one of New Jersey’s “Top 40 Lawyers Under 40” by the New Jersey Law Journal. Ms. Barasch graduated from Cornell Law School in 1993 and Wesleyan University in 1987. Prior to law school, she worked as a Research Assistant at Harvard Law School where she actively participated in the successful union organizing drive of approximately 3,500 clerical and technical workers across Harvard University.

Maria de las Nieves (Nieves) was influenced from a young age by the work and activism of her single mother who worked to provide health care and educational services in Central Washington’s Yakima Valley, including through work with migrant farmworkers and community organizations. It was this background that created Nieves’ interest in employment law and drew her to her first legal job with mentor and workers’ rights activist Robin Potter, who later became her law partner.

Nieves is a founding partner with the firm Fish Potter Bolaños, P.C. where she represents workers in wage and hour, False Claims Act, and employment discrimination and retaliation cases. Her experience includes representing large class action cases with exceptional results.

Nieves is a 2009 graduate of DePaul University College of Law. She serves on the NELA Board as Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She also chairs NELA’s Low Wage Worker Practice Group. Bolaños is a member of NELA’s Illinois Affiliate, the Illinois State Bar Association, and the National Lawyers Guild’s Chicago Labor and Employment Committee. Nieves serves on the ARISE Chicago Legal Advisory Board and serves on the Board for In These Times Magazine.

Carla D. Brown is admitted to practice in state and federal courts throughout Virginia, the District of Columbia, and Maryland. In 2014, MWELA recognized Ms. Brown as a “Lawyer of the Year—In recognition of outstanding dedication to Civil Rights, Equality, and Justice.” In 2015, 2017, and 2018 the Washingtonian rated Ms. Brown “Top Lawyer” in Plaintiff’s Employment Law. In 2018, LawDragon selected Ms. Brown as a top 500 Plaintiff Employment Lawyer. In 2018, Ms. Brown was selected a member of Virginia’s Legal Elite. Ms. Brown was recognized as a rising star in Virginia Super Lawyers Magazine 2009–2012, a Super Lawyer 2013–2019 (one of the Top 50 Women in Virginia 2015 and 2019), a Washington, D.C. Rising Star in 2013, and a Super Lawyer 2014-2015 and 2017-2018. In 2013, Ms. Brown was invited to membership in The National Trial Lawyers Organization, Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Civil Plaintiff Law.

Bruce A. Frederickson served as President of the Institute from 2008 to 2014 and is a partner in the Washington, DC law firm Webster & Fredrickson PLLC. The firm is perhaps most noted for its 25-year sex discrimination class action, Hartman v. Powell, which settled for a record-breaking $508,000,000 plus more than $25 million for 48 claims tried and decided.

A 1973 Summa Cum Laude graduate of Dartmouth College, Mr. Frederickson obtained his law degree from the National Law Center, George Washington University, in 1976 with high honors.

Mr. Fredrickson is a Past President of the National Employment Lawyers Association and the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association. He is a member of the American Association for Justice, and the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington DC. Since 1986, he has taught trial practice as an adjunct professor of law at the Washington College of Law of the American University.

Donna Lenhoff is a seasoned attorney, advisor, writer, and policy architect who has worked for over 40 years for progressive employment law and policy – as an advocate for women’s and workers’ rights before the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of federal and state government and more recently as a policy implementer within the US Department of Labor (DOL). She has often been profiled for her work, including as part of the Veteran Feminists of America’s Pioneer History Project.

Currently, Donna leads Donna Lenhoff Associates, providing legal and technical assistance to registered apprenticeship (RA) programs and other RA stakeholders on implementing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility requirements. She also serves as Senior Consultant to Chicago Women in Trades (CWIT), advocating for federal policies and operations that promote equitable inclusion of women in construction and manufacturing trades. Appointed by US Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Donna represents CWIT on the Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship.

From 2017 through 2020, Donna worked, first as an employee and then as a consultant, with DOL’s Office of Apprenticeship on implementing the Equal Employment Opportunity regulations that govern registered apprenticeship programs. From 2011 to 2017, she served as Senior Civil Rights Advisor to the Director of the DOL Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).  In that capacity, she led the initiatives to update OFCCP’s Sex Discrimination Regulations and to strengthen OFCCP’s enforcement in the construction industry.

From 2006 through 2011, Donna was the first full-time Legislative and Policy Director of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) and founded NELA’s Washington, DC, office. In that capacity, she pioneered NELA’s Judicial Nominations work, inaugurated its monthly Washington Report, On the Hill, and was a primary author its review of EEOC intake, Workers’ Rights in Jeopardy:  EEOC’s Enforcement of Equal Employment Opportunity Laws Impeded by Inadequate Funding.

Prior to NELA, Donna served as Executive Director of the National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing-Home Reform (now called the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care); taught Employment Discrimination Law as an adjunct law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law; and was Vice President and General Counsel of the National Partnership for Women & Families (formerly the Women’s Legal Defense Fund). 

Ms. Lenhoff’s proudest professional accomplishment was leading the successful, nine-year, multi-strategic campaign for enactment of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993; National Public Radio commentator Ron Elving chronicled her role in Conflict and Compromise:  How Congress Makes the Law (1996). Her areas of expertise include the history, law, and policy of sex-based employment discrimination; work/family policies; and affirmative action and non-discrimination in employment, especially in apprenticeship.  She has written and spoken extensively on these topics.

Ms. Lenhoff received her JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and her BA with Honors in the College from the University of Chicago. She lives in Washington, DC, and Lewes, DE, with her husband Michael Jacobson and slightly goofy Lab-Corgi mix Oliver Stephen Jacobson the First and Only.

Maria Price is currently a Principal at The Raben Group. She has rich experience spanning all three branches of government, where she has developed a keen insight and clear understanding of the inner workings of Washington and the various interests that drive institutional decision-making. She’s known for her extensive relationships among private, public, and nonprofit stakeholders, and for leveraging that network toward advancing shared legislative and public policy agendas.

Prior to joining Raben, Maria served as legislative counsel for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), focusing on issues in the purview of the Senate Judiciary Committee; Homeland Security Committee; Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. She was responsible for developing the legislative strategy for a number of Senator Gillibrand’s signature pieces of legislation and helped lead some of the office’s landmark policy work, including the senator’s trailblazing efforts on sexual harassment, sexual assault forced arbitration, gun trafficking, and voting rights. Maria also managed nominations, contributing to the successful confirmation of a number of presidential appointments.

Earlier in her career, Maria held roles with the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Originally from Dallas, Texas, Maria is a proud graduate of Howard University School of Law and Spelman College, and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Phillis h. Rambsy is an attorney-owner at Rambsy Law PC, a law firm which is based in Nashville, Tennessee. The firm serves clients in Tennessee, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky. Phillis’ legal practice is primarily concentrated in the areas of employment law, representing workers in matters of wrongful termination, discrimination, and harassment. Phillis also represents small businesses and entrepreneurs in general business matters in addition to providing representation to clients in general litigation.

Phillis describes her work as an attorney as something that she does, and not who she is. Although she enjoys the practice of law, she also has many other interests. Phillis is from a long line of educators and has continued the family tradition by serving as a college instructor, teaching courses in English Literature, Writing and Composition, Women’s Studies, and Legal Studies. She is currently an adjunct professor in the Human Resources Management Department at the University of Maryland Global Campus.

When she is not practicing law, Phillis is collecting whiskey and shoes. She is also committed to dedicating her time to supporting those activities that will work toward a liberation of marginalized people. Phillis also tries to indulge in activities which will ensure physical and mental health in a world that is full of never-ending chaos.