F. Curt Kirschner Jr.

Kirschner calls himself a "traditional labor lawyer."

With more than 30 years of experience, Kirschner specializes in looking out for employers' rights, particularly in the health care industry. He has extensive experience in "corporate campaigns" brought by labor unions to gain leverage in contract negotiations.

Kirschner has seen it all from negotiating dozens of collective bargaining agreements, litigating before the National Labor Relations Board and various state agencies and advocating in various ways on behalf of aggrieved employers.

"My focus has been on traditional labor law, but to be effective you have to practice in a lot of different areas because it is very much a cross-practice issue," he said.

He was most recently lead counsel representing several health care providers, including the California Hospital Association and Sutter Health, against Service Employees International Union -- United Healthcare Workers West, the largest health care union in California. The organization sought to gain leverage in contract negotiations through a coordinated campaign to change local laws through ballot initiatives.

"Here, by using local initiatives, they were targeting health care employers more specifically," he said. "It's a new tactic, and one other labor unions have not used."

Kirschner led the effort to challenge these ballot propositions before various city attorneys and superior and appellate courts. Only two of the initiatives sponsored by the union ended up reaching the ballots. They were defeated by voters and nullified the need for lengthy post-election legal challenges.

Kirschner said the union's strategy is "not authorized under the law." On behalf of Stanford Health Care, Kirschner filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board.

"The engagement was particularly interesting and gratifying for me, because it brought together a wide range of different lawyers and practice groups within the firm," he said. "One of the things we do very well is work across practices and offices."

As the chief spokesperson for Stanford Healthcare in its negotiations with a union representing the hospital's nearly 4,000 nurses, Kirschner secured a contract between the two parties in May.

The situation escalated when the union threatened to strike, but Kirschner said "it didn't really send alarm bells" because he has seen it all before. He held firm since he believed both sides were committed to reaching a mutually acceptable agreement.

Kirschner also has extensive litigation experience defending employment lawsuits in state and federal courts. He regularly submits friend-of-the-court briefs on policy issues facing hospital employers, including federal pre-emption of state law, labor board-proposed rule changes and the proposed expansion of federal contractor jurisdiction over hospitals.

-- Winston Cho