Partner
212.228.7727 ext. 1223
JReif@grmny.com
A founding partner in the firm, James Reif has litigated a variety of matters concerning employee rights and civil rights, primarily in the federal courts and in both the trial and appellate courts. These include minimum wage and/or overtime compensation claims, claims by union members of denials of democratic rights under the Labor-Management Reporting & Disclosure Act and employment discrimination claims. Mr. Reif has litigated cases establishing the right to judicial enforcement of federal prevailing wage laws and the right to recover minimum wages and overtime compensation from entities which neither hire, fire nor pay workers. He has also litigated many cases involving free speech rights of union members and officers.
Mr. Reif has authored several papers concerning wage and hour laws. He has been a frequent speaker at labor law conferences addressing wage and hour issues and other issues pertaining to employee rights. He has provided advice and counsel to many unions concerning the conduct of union elections, financial affairs and other issues pertaining to internal union governance. Mr. Reif has represented scores of witnesses before federal grand juries. He co-authored and edited the leading treatise on the rights of such witnesses: Representation of Witnesses Before Federal Grand Juries (Clark Boardman). He also wrote The Grand Jury Witness and Compulsory Testimony Legislation, published in The American Criminal L. Rev., Vol. 10, No. 4 (1972). Mr. Reif has an AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell.
Mr. Reif received his J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law in 1969 and his B.A. from State University of New York at Binghamton (Harpur College) in 1966. Prior to forming the law firm, he worked at the Center for Constitutional Rights and as a Vista Volunteer attorney in Louisiana.