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: Legal Blog Watch

Lawyer on Tap to Lead AFL-CIO

By Robert J. Ambrogi

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Richard L. Trumka, the former coal miner expected to be elected president of the AFL-CIO, America's largest labor federation, at its convention in Pittsburgh next week, is a lawyer who got his start in the labor movement as a staff attorney for the United Mine Workers of America. Trumka, 60, has been AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer since 1995 and was formerly president of the United Mine Workers. But his legal background is often overlooked. As had his father and grandfather before him, he started out as a coal miner at age 19. He continued to mine while he worked his way through Pennsylvania State University. After graduating from Penn State in 1971, he went to Villanova University School of Law, where he earned his law degree in 1974. After law school, Trumka joined the UMWA as a staff attorney in its Washington, D.C., headquarters. He remained there until 1979, when he returned to mine work. In his free time, he did legal work for local families on a pro bono basis, according to his official biography. He also became involved in union affairs and quickly rose through the ranks. In 1981, he was elected to the board of directors of UMWA District...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on September 11, 2009 (boomark / email).