Letitia Silas is a Partner in Conn Maciel Carey LLP’s national Labor • Employment Practice Group. She is a dynamic, engaging, and forward-thinking attorney, business advisor, and strategist with 15 years of legal and business experience in the private and public sectors. Her background includes senior executive, in-house, law firm, and government agency experience as well as broad exposure to a wide variety of legal and business issues spanning a variety of industries including, but not limited to, hospitality, manufacturing, higher education, healthcare, public safety, entertainment, gaming, performing arts, television, radio, and government.

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Letitia helps businesses develop and drive effective strategies to manage complex labor and employee relations, ensure compliance with government mandates and regulations, mitigate legal and reputational risks, tackle legal charges, and establish and maintain a positive brand. Letitia also defends employers in matters before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and other state and federal agencies. 

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Before joining CMC, Letitia was an attorney with the National Labor Relations Board, where she tried complex cases and conducted representation elections. She also completed a detail in the NLRB’s Solicitor’s Office. She continued her career in private practice for a major AM200 labor and employment law firm before going on to Howard University (“HU”) where she served as Senior Labor Counsel and Director of Labor Relations.

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Most recently, Letitia served as the Executive Director of Systemwide Labor Relations for the University of California (“UC”), where she crafted and led labor strategies for a $36 billion enterprise, including 10 university campuses, 5 hospitals, and a national research laboratory, covering 135,000 union-represented employees.  Under her forward-looking leadership, the UC system achieved eight historic collective-bargaining agreements covering over 70,000 employees in just two years.  Her strategic initiatives also restored trust and stability following labor strife and successfully ended a five-week statewide strike while mitigating the organization’s risk of legal, business, and reputational harm.​ 

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In her position at CMC, Letitia assists employers in effectively responding to today’s changing workplace realities, expectations, and demands with a solutions-based approach that employs strategic thought partnership and planning and gives practical advice and counsel. Her services include:​

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• Advising and defending unionized and non-unionized employers in matters arising under the National Labor Relations Act and other applicable state and federal laws.

• Representing employers in unfair labor practice proceedings, representation cases, and arbitration proceedings.

• Serving as Strategic Advisor and Chief Negotiator for management in collective bargaining negotiations.

• Conducting union vulnerability and risk assessments.

• Advising and representing employers in connection with representation petitions and union election campaigns.

• Advising employers on collective-bargaining strategies, contract implementation, and contract administration.

• Strike contingency planning and response.

• Advising on labor implications in merger and acquisition transactions.

• Providing crisis and change management advice and counsel.

• Conducting complex internal investigations.

• Developing labor relations training and compliance programs.

• Conducting employee handbook reviews.

• Conducting wage and EEO compliance audits.

 

Training that Letitia offers includes:

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• Labor Law Fundamentals and Best Practices

• Union Petition Risk Identification and Mitigation

• Managing in a Union Environment

• Negotiation Strategies and Preparation

• Strike Contingency Planning and Response

• Contract Administration and Compliance

• Grievance Processing and Dispute Resolution

• Performance Management

 

Letitia’s insights have been instrumental in shaping the discourse on labor law and workplace matters, evidenced by her contributions to publications like HR Magazine and Law 360 as well as her role as a sought-after panelist at national and international conferences.

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Representative Experience:

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• Advises Boards, Presidents, General Counsels, and C-Suite Executives on employee/ labor/public relations strategies in connection with high-stakes, political labor disputes.

• Advised a major financial institution on labor-related implications in a merger and acquisition transaction.

• Led high-stakes collective-bargaining strategies for a university system comprised of 10 university campuses, 6 medical centers, and a national laboratory.

• Developed strategies for high-stakes negotiations that resolved 8 labor agreements between a university system and the nation’s toughest labor unions in less than two years.

• Developed a strategy that defeated the NLRB’s attempt to designate a major university Pac-12 Conference as joint employers and classify UCLA student athletes as employees.

• Developed strike response strategies for the university system, ensuring continuity of operation, safety, responsible public information sharing, and brand management during a state-wide academic and student worker strike.

• Led strategy that defeated a secondary boycott on a university campus and resulted in an NLRB complaint against a major labor union.

• Developed compliance strategies, protocols, and training materials that resulted in the hospital’s sustainable compliance with three D.C. Circuit Court/NLRB consent orders concerning subcontracting, saving the client $300K+ in fines.

• Developed and administered training programs for hospital leaders in connection with an acquisition deal involving a unionized Level 1 Trauma hospital.