About Alaine Williams

Passionate about defending the rights and livelihoods of workers and their unions, Alaine William has made their representation her life’s work. In recognition of her stature as an authority on public employee labor law, she is frequently engaged as a consultant to other law firms. Her practice focuses on counseling public sector labor unions and protecting the rights of their members around the country. Alaine has argued before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on behalf of clients more than two dozen times and frequently represents clients in state and federal courts in trials and appeals.

In the arena of public influence, Alaine’s contributions include drafting and defending Pennsylvania legislation on behalf of public sector labor unions to require all nonmembers in a bargaining unit to pay fair share fees for benefits negotiated on their behalf, thereby enhancing the economic and political power of public sector unions in Pennsylvania. The legislation ultimately resulted in increased wages, benefits and job security for countless employees throughout the commonwealth. Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME, Alaine has been involved in advising clients throughout the United States on compliance and litigation.

Alaine has also successfully represented 150 disabled state employees who faced termination from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, enjoining the furlough sought by the Commonwealth and saving the employees’ jobs. She won significant legal rulings prohibiting state and local governments from reducing or changing pension benefits for existing employees in Pennsylvania. Alaine was also involved in legal action to stop efforts by the Governor of Pennsylvania to privatize the state lottery, saving workers’ jobs and ultimately millions of dollars of revenue used to fund services for the state’s senior citizens. Other notable achievements include expanding the value and worth of interest arbitration awards for correction officers and court employees in Pennsylvania; filing numerous lawsuits to secure payment for public employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act when legislative bodies have failed to enact budgets, and representing more than a thousand University of Pennsylvania graduate students who chose to unionize following the historic National Labor Relations Board decision in 2000 regarding graduate students at New York University.