Key to this growth has been the shared commitment O’Donoghue attorneys have with the labor clients they represent—a commitment to advancing the rights and interests of workers in fair wages, workplace safety, pensions and healthcare, skill training, job security and legal protections from unfair treatment.
Over the years, O’Donoghue & O’Donoghue has earned the opportunity to represent a broad spectrum of international, intermediate and local unions. The Firm has long served as general counsel for three international building trades unions and a department of the AFL-CIO. In addition, the Firm has served as counsel on a regular basis, or for special projects, to unions representing asbestos workers, broadcast technicians, communications workers, electrical workers, emergency medical technicians, federal government employees, ironworkers, judges, letter carriers, machinists, pilots, pressmen, stagehands, teachers, teamsters—and still others.
During the 1950s, O’Donoghue & O’Donoghue helped to establish some of the first jointly-administered employee benefit plans in the U.S. construction and printing industries. In the years to follow, the Firm’s employee benefit practice grew extensively to include the representation of national, regional and local employee benefit plans in a wide range of industries. Today, the Firm represents plans of all sizes, from those with fewer than 100 participants to plans with more than 100,000 participants.
In recent years, client interest in the Firm’s knowledge and experience on political and public policy matters has led to the development of a vibrant government affairs practice. O’Donoghue attorneys advise clients on day-to-day public policy concerns at all levels of government. They craft and lobby legislation, help to establish and administer political and legislative funds, and assist clients and their staff with lobbying law compliance. For clients representing workers in the building trades, the firm has been particularly active in spearheading reforms in construction procurement policy—through prevailing wage laws, project labor agreements, responsible contractor policies and best value contracting, and new contractor and craft licensing legislation.
From its earliest days, the Firm has been privileged to fight for working people and the organizations that represent and serve them. The Firm has never wavered in its belief that working people in America deserve strong unions and employee benefit plans. This strong belief, coupled with a tireless commitment to providing outstanding service to our clients, helps explain why O’Donoghue & O’Donoghue has grown into one of the largest and most well known union-side law firms in the United States.