RANDALL G. WRIGHT, J.D.
Senior Consultant
Phone: (501) 952-0530
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BACKGROUND SUMMARY:
Twenty six plus years of legal, administrative and executive level experience in matters involving employment law, labor law, human resources and employment benefits. Eight years experience teaching labor law, business law and human relations law and matters related to the field of employment. Experience includes a background in Law, Lobbying, Ethics, Business Ethics, Administration and State Agencies.
Significant experience includes:
Human Relations Law
Employment Law
Workers’ Compensation
Unemployment Compensation Negotiation and Arbitration Processes
Lobbying and ethics
Teaching university-level courses
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
The VMP Group, LLC – Business Consultants 2007-Present
Senior Consultant - Consulting business (13 professionals plus contract associates)
Labor Education Specialist, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, College of Business, November 2002 – present.
• Primary responsibilities include design and presentation of traditional labor education programming, with Labor Education Program (LEP) staff, for local unions in Arkansas and surrounding states and direct assistance to labor unions and worker advocate organizations on questions concerning individual employment rights, labor contract administration and collective bargaining. Topics taught include: arbitration, interpretation of contracts, labor law, steward training, advanced steward training, collective bargaining for local unions, interest based bargaining and grievance mediation, drafting the union contract, local union newsletters, the Internet for local unions, understanding management rights, union leadership, and dealing with conflict in the local.
• Develop course curriculum and materials as well as coordinate state-wide and regional conferences on labor issues.
• Provide technical and legal assistance and research for unions, attorneys, and employees.
• Current special projects include a research project on organizational strategies in the south and record keeping, IAM (?) strike and the Southern Strategy for the Auto Technician field and design and editing of LEP’s Laborline newsletter.
• Member of the Business Ethics Committee, UALR College of Business.
Pulliam and Wright, Little Rock, Arkansas, November , 1997 to November 2002.
• General litigation practice. Provided legal research and produced legal materials for trials, as well as negotiations and arbitrations. Practice concerned civil rights, employment and labor law, contract law, ethics, workers’ compensation and school law. I represented the interests of employees and employers in employment matters, including having held the position of general employment counsel for several companies in Arkansas, including the White River Hospital in Batesville, Arkansas and Sysco Foods in Little Rock.
• Represented clients in court trials in Arkansas and handled appeals before the Arkansas Supreme Court, Arkansas Court of Appeals, and before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• I handled all aspects related to being an attorney as a partner in this firm.
Staff Attorney -Arkansas Ethics Commission May 1995 – November 1997. (Acting Executive Director June 1997 – October, 1997)
• Attorney for the Board of the Arkansas Ethics Commission as well as Investigative official for complaints filed with the Commission.
• Represented the Commission in court and administrative proceedings, as well as presented ethics complaints and investigative reports to Commission.
• Drafted and prepared the first complete set of Rules of the Arkansas Ethics Commission (1996) as well as the companion Rules for Lobbying in Arkansas. Worked with the General Assembly in drafting legislation affecting the Commission (1997).
• Worked with the Arkansas Elections Commission in the handling of procedures for state elections.
• Drafted and pursued complaints against legislators, public officials, judges, lobbyists and other officials covered under the jurisdiction of the Arkansas Ethics Commission.
• For the final four months I was Acting Executive Director of the Commission and handled all duties associated with the position.
Chief Appeals Referee – Arkansas Appeal Tribunal, September, 1989 – April, 1995
• Administrative position. This office was the appeals office with jurisdiction over unemployment benefits appeals. The primary responsibility, much like the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission, was to hold administrative hearings, take and handle evidence and testimony and issue written decisions concerning the entitlement to unemployment benefits for individuals and groups.
• Supervised a staff of 23-25 employees including attorneys and hearing officers.
• Wrote and edited decisions involving unemployment. Acted daily as the primary person responsible for editing decisions (an average of 65 a day).
• As the supervising administrator, I was in charge of all administrative functions associated with this department, including budget, personnel matters, training, legislative, and those other miscellaneous duties. I was the primary spokesperson for the Appeal Tribunal.
• While working there I served as Legal Research Committee Head and Vice-President of the National Association of Unemployment Insurance Appellate Boards (1992-1995).
Attorney – Arkansas Board of Review, May, 1989 – August, 1989
• Provided legal research, reviewed hearing tapes, and produced legal materials for the Chair of the Arkansas Board of Review in matters involving unemployment compensation.
• Wrote and edited decisions for the Chairman of the Board of Review.
Partner – Pulliam, Davis & Wright Law Firm, Little Rock AR 72205 November, 1986 – April, 1989
• Provided legal research and produced legal materials for trials and arbitrations. Practice concerned employment and labor law, and contract law.
• Represented clients in court trials in Arkansas and handled appeals before the Arkansas Supreme Court, Arkansas Court of Appeals, and before the Eighth Circuit Courts of Appeal.
• Wrote briefs and legal memoranda which were submitted to lower courts in state and federal matters, as well as appellate courts in state and federal appeals proceedings.
• While the practice was predominantly one representing plaintiffs in workers compensation and employment matters, during this time, I also engaged in many cases representing employers in matters of contract disputes.
Partner – Youngdahl, Youngdahl & Wright , Little Rock, Arkansas, July, 1985 – October, 1986
• Provided legal research and produced legal materials for trials and arbitrations. Practice concerned employment and labor law, with special emphasis on Workers’ Compensation and Title VII class action litigation. Our firm continued to be a leading labor law firm in the United States and as a partner I handled a variety of matters arising out of collective bargaining agreements.
• Represented clients in court trials in Arkansas as well as the surrounding states and handled appeals before the Arkansas Supreme Court, Arkansas Court of Appeals, and before the Fifth and Eighth Circuit Courts of Appeal. Additionally, during this time, I took on the specialty of workers’ compensation and represented hundreds of workers in hearings before the Workers’ Compensation Commission. My workers’ compensation practice was the largest in the state of Arkansas for any individual attorney.
• Wrote briefs and legal memoranda which were submitted to lower courts in state and federal matters, as well as appellate courts in state and federal appeals proceedings.
Litigation Attorney (Associate) – Youngdahl & Larrison, Little Rock, Arkansas June, 1980 – June, 1985
• Provided legal research and produced legal materials for trials and arbitrations. Practice concerned employment and labor law, with special emphasis on Title VII class action litigation. Was involved in several employment class actions involving claims of discrimination, including nationally prominent litigation against the railroad industry (Missouri Pacific/Union Pacific), Weyerhaeuser, Georgia-Pacific, Champion Paper, Veteran’s Administration, Sunbeam, International Paper, and Nekoosa-Edwards.
• Represented clients in trials, arbitrations, and administrative hearings in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Mississippi, and on appeal in the Arkansas Supreme Court and Arkansas Court of Appeals, and handled appeals before the Fourth, Fifth, and Eighth Circuit Courts of Appeals.
• Negotiated several complex litigation settlements in employment and labor law. Our firm primarily represented labor unions and we were the General Counsel for the International Woodworkers of America, as well as Regional Counsel for the UAW, United Steelworkers, ILGWU, ACTWU, AFSCME, and the Ironworkers. The Youngdahl firm was rated as one of the top 5 labor law Firms in the United States by the National Law Journal. As an associate in a labor law firm with a large clientele, I handled matters involved collective bargaining, contract interpretation, discipline and related matters.
• Wrote briefs and legal memoranda which were submitted to lower courts in state and federal matters, as well as appellate courts in state and federal appeals proceedings.
Law Clerk – Youngdahl, Larrison & Agee, Little Rock, Arkansas
August, 1977 – June, 1980
• Provided legal research and produced memos and motions with respect to substantive and procedural legal issues regarding Labor and Employment Law, Workers’ Compensation and related fields.
• Provided legal research and produced legal materials for trials, arbitrations and administrative hearings.
• Represented clients in administrative matters, such as unemployment compensation cases.
EDUCATION:
J.D., University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR , May, 1980
• GPA: 3.13/4.0
• Class rank: top 15%
• Honor: Associate Editor of the UALR Law Review
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
Member - Arkansas Bar Association and American Bar Association
Member - United Association of Labor Educators
Member and former President of the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Center for Legal Services (1993- present).
SEMINARS & TRAINING:
18 years of teaching seminars in Arkansas and around the nation. Topics have included unemployment compensation, workers’ compensation, employment and labor law, arbitration training, collective bargaining, Civil Rights Acts (Race, sex, age and disability discrimination). Presentations on health law and HIPPA as part of a two day symposium at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Trainer in governmental ethics and lobbying both to private sector audiences and public sector audiences.