Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C.

Address:
Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C.
One Monarch Place
Suite 2000
Springfield, MA 01144

Phone: (413) 737-4753
Fax: (413) 787-1941
Website: www.skoler-abbott.com
Firm Size: 8 lawyers

Primary Contact:
Ralph F. Abbott, Jr.
Email: RalphAbbott@Skoler-Abbott.com

Other Offices:
Thirty Park Avenue
Worcester, MA 01605
Phone: (508) 757-5335
Fax: (413) 787-1941

Attorneys Admitted to Practice In:
Massachusetts
Connecticut
New York

Firm Description:

From its inception in 1964, Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C. has concentrated its practice in the field of labor relations and employment law practicing exclusively for management. The firm serves both public and private sector employers throughout New England and in many other states. The firm's clientele are engaged in all forms of business enterprise, including health care, manufacturing, banking, higher education and non-profit organizations in any matter relating to the employment relationship. The firm has also been approved as defense counsel by numerous insurance companies providing Employment Practice Liability Coverage to employers.

Each of the firm's lawyers has a broad-based background in the resolution of employment-related problems. Generally, each client chooses one attorney who has primary responsibility for their account. However, to enhance greater expertise and efficiency, when it best serves the client's needs, other attorneys might become involved with any specific client. Skoler, Abbott prides itself on its responsiveness to clients and its practice of "preventive labor/employment" relations, where it has long assisted employers in matters arising under the National Labor Relations Act, including representation elections, defending against unfair labor practice charges, as well as collective bargaining and grievance arbitration.

Skoler, Abbott & Presser has extensive experience in defending employers at trials both before administrative agencies and federal and state courts throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut. The firm's attorneys are admitted to practice in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. Over the years the firm has successfully defended employers in virtually every type of employment dispute. While its success rate at trial is outstanding, the firm strongly believes that its greatest litigation successes are not the trial "wins", but rather, the far greater number of times that it has avoided litigation or promptly and efficiently resolved employment-related disputes at the early stages of a lawsuit or administrative charge. This may include use of alternative dispute resolution or creative problem solving. Recognizing that its clients are not in business to "make laws", but rather, that lawsuits are an undesirable drain on a company's resources, the firm attempts to manage litigation from the client's own business perspective, providing expert and cost efficient handling of employment litigation.

The firm provides training in a wide variety of employment-related areas, including sexual harassment, ADA, FMLA, COBRA, Workers Compensation, attendance, hiring/firing issues, and assists clients in developing, reviewing and updating policies and procedures for personnel manuals, guidebooks and affirmative action plans.

Biographies:

Ralph F. Abbott, Jr.

Ralph F. Abbott, Jr. has been a member of the firm since 1975. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Boston College and received his Juris Doctor degree from the Cornell Law School. Mr. Abbott has spent his career representing management in labor relations and employment-related matters. He also assists clients in remaining non-union and representing employers before the National Labor Relations Board. He has extensive experience negotiating collective bargaining agreements and representing employers at arbitration hearings and before other state and federal agencies. Mr. Abbott has been selected for inclusion in the publication The Best Lawyers in America. He is a member of the Labor Lawyers Advisory Committee of CUE (Council of Union Free Environment) and served as its Chairman from 1991-1992, and was the first chairman of Worklaw Network. He is also co-author of Health Care Labor Manual published by Aspen Systems and is a Contributing Editor to the NRLB Law and Practice published by Matthew Bender. He is also the Editor of the Massachusetts Employment Law Letter, a monthly newsletter published by M. Lee Smith Publishers. He has been a former adjunct professor at Western New England School of Law teaching labor law and regularly makes presentations before management groups on labor employment topics.

Jay M. Presser

Jay M. Presser has been a member of the firm since 1977. He has a Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University. He was a cum laude graduate of Harpur College State University of New York at Binghamton. Prior to joining the firm he was a law clerk for the Administrative Judge of the National Labor Relations Board, and subsequently worked as a trial lawyer for the NLRB in its Cincinnati, Ohio office. Mr. Presser taught "Collective Bargaining and Labor Arbitration" as an adjunct faculty member at Western New England School of Law for ten years. He authored The Relationship of Federal Labor Law, State Law Wrongful Discharge Actions, and Other State Causes of Action for the Matthew Bender Treatise Labor and Employment Arbitration. He has been selected for inclusion in the publication of The Best Lawyers in America, and was chosen by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as one of its "Lawyers of the Year." He has extensive litigation experience in state and federal appellate and trial courts, and administrative agencies, as well as arbitration proceedings.

John H. Glenn

John H. Glenn has been a member of the firm since 1979, is a graduate of Hanover College, Cornell University (M.A. in Industrial and Labor Relations), and holds a Juris Doctor degree from Northern Kentucky University. He has been selected for inclusion in the publication The Best Lawyers in America. He is a member of the American Academy of Hospital Attorneys. HHe has spent his career representing management in labor relations. He deals with union organizational campaigns assisting employers at arbitration hearings, as well as in remaining non-union. He also has extensive experience negotiating collective bargaining agreements and representing employers at hearings before the National Labor Relations Board and other state and federal agencies. Prior to joinining the firm, Mr. Glenn was employed by the National Labor Relations Board in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also served for many years as an adjunct professor of Labor Law at Western New England College School of law.

Marylou V. Fabbo

Marylou V. Fabbo is admitted in Masschusetts and Connecticut and has been a member of the firm since 1995. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration magna cum laude from Bryant College and received her Juris Doctor degree magna cum laude from Western New England College School of Law after serving as a Note Editor of the Western New England College Law Review. Ms. Fabbo is the co-author of "Insurance Coverage for Employment Claims in Massachusetts," 18 WNEC L.Rev. 255, 1996. Ms. Fabbo practices employment law with an emphasis on employment litigation, the Family and Medical Leave Act, discrimination, non-competition agreements, the WARN Act and sexual harassment. She previously practiced employment law for Day, Berry & Howard in Hartford, Connecticut.

Susan G. Fentin

Susan G. Fentin joined the firm in 1999 after practicing labor and employment law with the Hartford, Connecticut firm of Shipman and Goodwin, L.L.P. She is an alumna of Wellesley College and a magna cum laude graduate of Western New England Law School, where she served as the Editor in Chief of the Law Review. After graduation, Ms. Fentin clerked for the Honorable John M. Greaney, of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Ms. Fentin is associate editor of the Massachusetts Employment Law Letter and a frequent speaker at seminars on employment litigation issues. She is the author of The False Claim Act ­ Finding Middle Ground Between Opportunity and Opportunism, 17 WNEC L. Rev. 255, 1995. She is admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Timothy F. Murphy

Timothy F. Murphy joined the firm in 2001 after serving as General Counsel to an area labor union and working as an Assistant District Attorney for the Hampden County District Attorney's Office. He is a graduate of Western New England Law School. He is experienced in both labor law and employment litigation. He has taught employment law-related courses at Western New England College School of Law for several years.

Martin Fleisher

Martin Fleisher, an expert in the area of pensions and employee benefits, became of counsel to Skoler, Abbott in 1992. Prior to affiliating with the firm, he was for eight years associated with Kramer, Levin, Nessen Kamin & Frankel, a New York City firm with one of the premier practices in the benefits field. Mr. Fleisher is a graduate of New York University School of Law and Swarthmore College. He has lectured and published extensively on employee benefits law, including regular appearances at programs sponsored by the Practicing Law Institute and the NYU Institute on Federal Taxation's Annual Conference on Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation. Mr. Fleisher is co-author of the Individual Retirement Account Answer Book, Seventh Edition, published by Panel Publications (2001).