Harry J. Secaras

Harry J. Secaras is a Shareholder with Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.   Mr. Secaras counsels and represents employers throughout the country in labor matters, employment law issues (including issues arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Occupational Safety and Health Act) and employment-related litigation in federal and state courts and before federal, state and local administrative agencies.  He possesses extensive experience before the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and other federal and state investigative agencies.

Mr. Secaras has negotiated more than 50 collective bargaining agreements for employers and employer associations across the country.  Recently, Mr. Secaras negotiated collective bargaining agreements on behalf of an association comprised of more than 100 privately owned nursing and rehabilitation facilities in Illinois, an association of residential construction employers in Illinois, and a privately owned trucking company employing more than 1500 bargaining unit employees at multiple locations across the United States and Canada.  Mr. Secaras has represented employers before the National Labor Relations Board in more than 25 representation cases and in more than 50 unfair labor practice matters.  He has tried several unfair labor practice cases before NLRB administrative law judges and has defended employers in federal court in appeals from NLRB Final Orders and when the NLRB has sought injunctive relief under Section 10(j) of the NLRA.

Mr. Secaras often represents employers in contract interpretation and discipline grievance and arbitration matters.

Mr. Secaras is a member of the American Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association and the Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois.  He serves on the ABA’s Employment Law Section Subcommittee on Policies and Procedures under the National Labor Relations Act, is a member of NLRB Region 13’s Policy and Practice Committee, and served as President and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois.  He currently is a member of the Board of Directors for the Hellenic Bar Association Foundation.  Mr. Secaras is a Chapter Author and Senior Editor of the ABA publication How To Take A Case Before the NLRB.

Mr. Secaras is a member of the faculty for the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Outreach (Continuing Education) where he teaches the course Labor Relations Training for Managers and Supervisors in a Union Setting: An Advocate’s Perspective.  Mr. Secaras has taught this course since 1997.

Mr. Secaras is a 1989 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law and College of Commerce and Business Administration (JD/MBA) and holds a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois.  He is admitted to practice in Illinois and before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the Sixth Circuit, the Seventh Circuit and the Eleventh Circuit and before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in which he is a member of the Trial Bar.