Todd A. Lyon

Todd Lyon is a partner in the firm's Portland and Seattle offices and co-chair of the firm's Labor Relations Practice Group. He has been a labor lawyer for over 20 years, representing public and private sector employers in labor negotiations, collective bargaining, grievance and interest arbitrations, strikes/lockouts, relocation and closures, work jurisdiction disputes, and other litigation involving employment law and benefits. Todd has also successfully litigated before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and state labor boards in both representation and unfair labor practice hearings.

He has developed and implemented union awareness, strike operations and impasse contingency plans. He regularly assists clients in responding to union organizing campaigns and developing labor strategies to avoid campaigns altogether. This work includes successfully defending against multi-site organizing blitzes and card-check neutrality campaigns.

Todd formerly represented labor organizations in both Chicago and Seattle. Drawing from this union-side experience Todd provides a unique perspective to the advantage of his employer clients. Due to his experience in representing parties on both sides of the labor spectrum, the American Arbitration Association has certified him as an Employment Law Arbitrator to adjudicate employment disputes.

Todd is a skilled negotiator who bargains pro-employer collective bargaining agreements. He has negotiated dozens of labor agreements for employers, covering construction, aerospace, manufacturing, warehousing, food processing, transportation, hospitality, healthcare and public sector employers. He regularly assists clients with the interpretation of collective bargaining agreements and disciplinary matters so as to avoid grievances. However, if the grievance is advanced to arbitration, Todd has conducted hundreds of arbitration hearings with superior results concerning virtually every aspect of contract interpretation, discipline, union security, and interest arbitration.

Additionally, Todd has led management training sessions focused on investigating disciplinary misconduct, effective discipline, union awareness, responding to grievances, contract interpretation, and employment discrimination.

Todd is a regular speaker at industry conferences, continuing legal education programs, universities, law schools, and client training programs. An avid researcher and writer, Todd’s work has appeared in various labor publications. For example, since 1998, he has been a Chapter Editor of The Developing Labor Law, the nation's leading labor law treatise. Todd has also served as a Chapter Editor for Oregon's public sector labor law treatise, Labor and Employment Law: Public Sector.