Laurence E. Gold
Of Counsel

Laurence E. Gold concentrates his practice on helping labor unions, advocacy and charitable organizations, political organizations, political services providers, candidates and others succeed in the political, legislative and issue arenas.  For the first portion of his legal career, Mr. Gold practiced labor and employment law on behalf of labor organizations.  Separately from his practice at the firm, Mr. Gold serves as Associate General Counsel at the AFL-CIO.

Mr. Gold was chosen by a coalition of litigants to argue before the United States Supreme Court in McConnell v. FEC.  In this 2003 case, the most important campaign-finance decision in a generation, Mr. Gold argued on First Amendment grounds against a law restricting independent public communications by labor unions and nonprofit organizations.   Mr. Gold has authored amicus curiae briefs in numerous other Supreme Court campaign-finance cases. 

Mr. Gold frequently defends clients facing complaints before the Federal Election Commission and state election agencies.  He is also a regular speaker before organizations about political and lobbying law compliance, and assists clients in training their staff to navigate federal and state laws that affect their advocacy work.

Education:

• Amherst College, B.A. 1975
• Cornell Law School, J.D. 1980

Bar admission:

• United States Supreme Court
• United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits
• District of Columbia Court of Appeals

Prior professional experience:

• Associate General Counsel, AFL‑CIO (on-going)
  
• Associate General Counsel, Laborers’ International Union of America
• Partner, Connerton, Ray & Simon

Activities:

• Member, American Bar Association, Advisory Commission to the Standing Committee on Election Law (2000-05)
• Co-Chair, Labor Relations Section, District of Columbia Bar, 1992-94, and Member, Labor Relations Section Steering Committee, 1991-97 (elected positions)
• Member, American Bar Association, Sections on Administrative Law; Labor and Employment Law; Taxation; and Litigation
• Member, AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee
• Member, Board of Directors, Peggy Browning Fund

Publications:

• The Rules of the Game: An Election Year Guide for 501(c)(3) Organizations, (Alliance for Justice, forthcoming 2009) (co-author)
• “Employer-Employee Committees: A Union Perspective,” in Kaufman and Taras, eds., Nonunion Employee Representation: History, Contemporary Practice, and Policy (M.E. Sharpe 2000) (co-author)
• The Capricious Lure of Labor Law Deregulation, 89 W. Va. L. Rev. 883 (Fall 1987)