Elizabeth A. Joffe

Phone 503-226-6111 x207
Fax: 503-226-6121

Education

J.D. 1993, University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law
A.B. 1988, with High Honors, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Practice information

Liz specializes in representing labor organizations and their members. She is a founding partner of McKanna Bishop Joffe & Arms LLP, which formed in 2001. Prior to that, she worked for other union-side labor firms in Portland, Chicago, and San Francisco doing traditional labor law as well as plaintiffs’ employment litigation. Liz also worked as a staff attorney for two years for a non-profit disability rights organization.

Liz represents employees and private and public sector labor unions and their members in numerous administrative and civil matters including labor arbitrations, unfair labor practice hearings, representation matters, licensing proceedings, civil service hearings, and federal and state civil litigation.

Liz was a founding board member of the Northwest Constitutional Rights Center, a non-profit organization aimed at protecting the right to dissent. She was a member of the legal team that successfully sued the City of Portland after it pepper-sprayed a large group of peaceful protesters at an anti-Bush demonstration. For her work on that case, Liz and the other lawyers on the team received the Arthur H. Bryant Public Justice Award from the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association in 2005.

Professional Organizations/Activities

AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee
National Lawyers Guild
Oregon State Bar Labor and Employment Section (Executive Committee 2000-2004)
Oregon State Bar Civil Rights Section
Oregon State Bar Disability Law Section

Relevant Employment

McKanna Bishop Joffe & Arms LLP, partner (2001-present)
Bennett Hartman & Reynolds, partner (2000), associate (1997-99)
Cornfield & Feldman, associate (1996-97)
Oregon Advocacy Center, staff attorney (1994-95)
Bennett & Hartman, law clerk (1993-94)
Beeson, Tayer, and Bodine, law clerk (1991-93)
United Auto Workers International, paralegal (1988-90)

Admitted to Practice

State Courts in Oregon and Illinois
United States District Courts in Oregon, Illinois, and Colorado

Publications

"Public Employees and Oregon's Scope of Bargaining," LERC Monograph Series, No. 18, 2007, Co-Authored with Akin Blitz

“The Duty to Bargain in Good Faith: ORS 243.672(1)(e) and (2)(b),” Labor and Employment Law: Public Sector, Chapter 6, (Oregon State Bar Continuing Legal Education Publication, 2002 Revision), Co-Authored with Nancy J. Hungerford and John S. Bishop

“Workers with Disabilities: The ADA and Other Laws,” National Lawyers Guild Employee and Union Member Guide to Labor Law, Chapter 11 (West, 1995), Co-authored with Brian East, Cordelia Martinez, Larry Minsky, and Marilyn Mika Spencer

Pocket Guide to Workplace Rights of Public Employees, California Public Employee Relations Program, Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California, Berkeley (CPER Easy Reference Series, November 1994), Co-Authored with Bonnie G. Bogue