Public Employee Press

New leadership team in Legal Department

Executive Director Lillian Roberts recently named Mary J. O’Connell general counsel of District Council 37. O’Connell heads the union’s Legal Dept., which works to protect the rights of DC 37, its locals and the union’s 125,000 active members and 50,000 retirees.

“I look forward to the department working as a team to face the challenges ahead,” said O’Connell. “We have an energetic, dedicated staff and together we will do our utmost to work for justice on behalf of our members.”

A DC 37 lawyer for 21 years, O’Connell was associate general counsel until October, when former General Counsel Eddie Demmings retired.

The leadership team in the Legal Dept. is rounded out by Robin Roach, who has been promoted from seniorassistant general counsel to associate general counsel, and Steve Sykes, who has been promoted to senior assistant general counsel.

The three managing attorneys oversee a staff of 11 attorneys and paralegals and represent DC 37 in state and federal litigation, administrative hearings, arbitrations and appeals. They also provide education and training for union staff, representatives and shop stewards.

Roach has been with the Legal Dept. for 17 years. She served as senior assistant general counsel for four years and has represented the union before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Sykes first joined the department as an intern in 2003, while he was in his third year at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. When he graduated, the union hired him as an assistant general counsel. “I am excited about this new opportunity and will continue to work with the leadership and staff to protect members’ rights,” Sykes said.

The Legal Dept. also helps locals with provisions of their constitutions, assists the Political Action and Legislation Dept. with legislative issues, and works with the Research and Negotiations Dept. to draft contract language and negotiate agreements and policies that affect members, working families, the disabled and retirees.