NLRB Names Five New Administrative Law Judge

Washington, DC—The National Labor Relations Board announced the appointment of five new Division of Judges administrative law judges to replace the five outgoing judges who will retire at the end of the calendar year.  The new judges, who will transfer to the Board, are existing administrative law judges with the Social Security Administration.
Judges Jeffrey Gardner, Andrew Gollin, Benjamin Green, Kimberly Sorg-Graves, and Elizabeth Tafe will serve as the five new appointees.
Judge Jeffrey Gardner will serve the Division’s New York office.
Prior to his appointment as a Social Security judge, Judge Gardner was in private practice representing clients in labor, employment, and commercial litigation. Earlier in his career, he spent 14 years as a trial attorney with the Board’s regional office in Newark, New Jersey.  Judge Gardner received his B.A. degree from Rutgers College and his J.D. degree, with honors, from Rutgers Law School. He has also taught as an adjunct professor at New York Law School. After law school, he clerked for one year for a judge on the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division. 
Judge Andrew Gollin will serve the Division’s Washington, DC office.
Prior to his tenure at Social Security, Judge Gollin served as a trial attorney in the Board’s office in Milwaukee for almost 14 years.  Before joining the Board, he was an associate in private practice, handling labor and employment law matters.  He received his B.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and his J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from Marquette University.  After law school, he served one year as law clerk to a judge on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District IV. 
Judge Benjamin Green will serve the Division’s New York office.
Before joining Social Security, Judge Green spent 16 years as a trial attorney in the Board’s field offices in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Newark, New Jersey.  Before joining the Board, he spent three years in private practice handling labor and employment law matters.  Judge Green received his B.A. degree from Binghamton University and his J.D. degree from Brooklyn Law School. 
Judge Kimberly Sorg-Graves will serve the Division’s Washington, DC office.
Prior to joining Social Security, Judge Sorg-Graves spent nearly 15 years as a trial attorney in the Board’s Indianapolis, Indiana office.  She received her Bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Indiana University, then pursued her passion for teaching and became a special education teacher.  Following her career in education, she received her J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from the Indiana University School of Law. 
Judge Elizabeth Tafe will serve the Division’s Washington, DC office.
Before being appointed a judge with Social Security, Judge Tafe spent 16 years with the Board in various positions, including as a trial attorney in the Board’s Boston office and also as counsel to several Board members in Washington, DC.  Judge Tafe received her Bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from Harvard University; a Master’s degree in developmental psychology from San Francisco State University; J.D. degree from Northeastern University School of Law and her L.L.M., with distinction, from Georgetown University Law Center. 
About the National Labor Relations Board
The NLRB is an independent federal agency tasked with enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, which guarantees the right of most private sector employees to organize, to engage in group efforts to improve their wages and working conditions, to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative, to engage in collective bargaining, and to refrain from any of these activities. It acts to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions.
With offices in Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco, the Division of Judges is responsible for docketing unfair labor practice cases brought by the Board’s General Counsel on charges filed by unions, employers and individual employees.  The Division disposes of those cases by settlement or by conducting trials and issuing initial decisions, which may then be appealed to the five-member Board and thereafter to an appropriate United States Court of Appeals.