Fred B. Jacob Named NLRB Solicitor

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today announced the appointment of Fred B. Jacob as the new Solicitor.  Mr. Jacob brings to the Board over two decades of experience practicing labor law and advising federal agencies on ethics, administrative law and government operations.  He starts at the NLRB today.

Most recently, Mr. Jacob served as Solicitor of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA).  As the FLRA’s in-house counsel, he advised the Authority on the Ethics in Government Act, the Sunshine Act, the Privacy Act, the Freedom of Information Act and general government operations.  He also represented the FLRA before all federal courts, including the Courts of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.  Before joining the FLRA, Mr. Jacob spent seventeen years at the NLRB, working in offices throughout the agency.  During that time, Mr. Jacob rose from briefing attorney to Deputy Assistant General Counsel in the Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation Branch, where he litigated, supervised, or managed hundreds of NLRB cases in the Courts of Appeals.  Mr. Jacob also performed short-term assignments to the Manhattan Regional Office and the staff of then-Board Member Alex Acosta. In addition, while he was a staff attorney, he served as grievance chair of the NLRBPA at Headquarters. 

Mr. Jacob began his career as a clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and then worked as a labor and employment associate for a law firm in Washington, D.C.  Mr. Jacob has taught labor and employment law courses at Georgetown University Law Center and the College of William and Mary School of Law.  He received his B.A. from Brandeis University and his J.D. from William and Mary.  Mr. Jacob replaces William B. Cowen, who became Regional Director for Region 21 in 2016. 

The Solicitor is the chief legal adviser and consultant to the entire Board on all questions of law regarding the Board’s general operations and on major questions of law and policy concerning the adjudication of NLRB cases in the Courts of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.  The Solicitor also serves as the Board’s legal representative and liaison to the General Counsel and other offices of the Board.

Established in 1935, the National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency that protects employers and employees from unfair labor practices and protects the right of private sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve wages, benefits and working conditions.  The NLRB conducts hundreds of workplace elections and investigates thousands of unfair labor practice charges each year.