Director of the Office of Labor-Management Standard
Jeff Freund is a “recovering” labor lawyer. After graduating from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (1970), clerking for a federal judge (Alphonso Zirpoli of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California – 1970-71) and a Federal Communications Commissioner (Nicholas Johnson -1971-72) and working as a trail lawyer and training director at the DC Public Defender Service (1972-77), Jeff started what would become a 40 plus year career representing labor unions, their members, officers and welfare funds.
Over his four decades of practice, Jeff represented international and local unions in the entertainment, baking, airline, hospitality, newspaper, construction, steel, rail, bus and service industries in negotiations, litigation, and as general counsel. Included among his clients – and central to his love of music and the creative talent that makes music possible – Jeff served as the General Counsel for the American Federation of Musicians. In that capacity, Jeff advised the Union in national collective bargaining with the motion picture, network television, record, and traveling Broadway musical industries, among others. After a few years of “retirement,” in January 2021 Jeff was appointed the Director of the Office of Labor-Management Standards at the US Department of Labor.
In addition to his law practice, Jeff served on the Board of Directors of the National Education Association Foundation and as a Hearing Committee Member and Chair for the DC Board on Professional Responsibility, hearing cases charging lawyers with violations of their ethical responsibilities. Jeff is an avid music fan with 20+ trips to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, countless nights at Blues Alley, the Birchmere, Bohemian Caverns, The Hamilton, Westminster Presbyterian Church Jazz Nights, The Jazz Standard, Dizzies’ Club, the Blue Note and – of course – DC Jazz Festival events.