Harry I. Johnson III

From 2013 to 2015, Johnson was a member of the National Labor Relations Board, where he authored influential dissenting opinions that have since been adopted by courts to change the labor law landscape.

"Based on my dissent, for example, Uber drivers are independent contractors under the National Labor Relations Act," he said of a January decision by the board. In SuperShuttle DFW Inc., 367 NLRB No. 74, the board replaced its test for distinguishing between employees and independent contractors, moving to Johnson's view that entrepreneurial opportunity is among the case-by-case factors to be considered in making the distinction.

He saw the reasoning in another of his dissents echoed in the U.S. Supreme Court's Epic Systems Corp. decision last year. "I argued that class action waivers are OK and predicted that the issue would end up at the high court, as it did," he said. "The Epic opinion adopted my argument and some of my language. They didn't acknowledge that it came from me, unfortunately. I would have had it bronzed if they had."

Beyond high policy issues, Johnson is a skilled company-side union contract negotiator. Last winter, he engaged in high-stakes bargaining sessions for client MedStar Washington Hospital Center in the District of Columbia as it hammered out a contract with its nurses' union. About 1,800 nurses were involved with $750 million in wages and other pay incentives on the table.

"It was pressure-packed, and we were under the gun," Johnson said. "The contract needed to be wrapped up with significant changes in an extremely compressed time frame while the prior labor contract was still in effect. The numbers were large because nurses make a lot of money."

Johnson said one challenge was to persuade the union the offer on the table wasn't going to be there long. "These sessions can be very adversarial. There was a terrible relationship with the union stemming from the last contract negotiations, which my team was not involved in."

To smooth the path toward resolution, Johnson said he kept things low key. "I approach negotiations as not being an ego-involved thing. You learn to read the field. They're going to test you, and you have to see what makes sense. You have to withstand the test and maintain credibility. Often what's best for your client is to get along with the union. It can be a work of art."

He said his client was very pleased with the outcome.

Johnson is also among the few labor and employment lawyers in the U.S. who regularly issues videocast presentations on important legal developments -- more than two dozen episodes over the last two years. "Check out my podcasts," he said. "I'm proud of 'em."

-- John Roemer