Amy Beckett became an associate of the firm in July, 2009 with more than ten years experience as a labor and employment lawyer. From 2004 until 2009 Ms. Beckett practiced in Silver Spring, Maryland as a research and writing specialist assisting DC and Maryland employment lawyers focusing on federal employee labor and employment issues. Ms. Beckett previously worked for Katz and Ranzman, an airline labor firm in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Beckett, who received her J.D. from New York University School of Law, and graduated from Mount Holyoke College, launched her law career in the Midwest. After serving as a law clerk to two justices in the Missouri Supreme Court from 1982 to 1983, Ms. Beckett practiced law in Chicago for nine years, including as a litigation associate at Schiff Hardin & Waite from 1983 to 1985; an assistant corporation counsel for the City of Chicago from 1985 to 1989; and from 1989 to 1992 as an associate with the noted public interest firm, Despres, Schwartz & Geoghegan where she handled a number of labor, union democracy, pension rights, and employment discrimination cases. Representative clients included members of a Chicago City College teachers union, the Illinois Nurses Association, and members of several Steelworker, Machinist, Millwright, Carpenter, Boilermaker, and Teamster locals. Beginning in the spring of 1992, Ms. Beckett took off several years from the full time practice of law to raise her family. She lectured in labor law, consulted on employment issues, and handled other legal matters on a part time basis in Chicago from 1992 to 1996, then lived in Melbourne, Australia with her family from 1996 to 1999. Ms. Beckett is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and Maryland, and is an inactive member of the Illinois bar.
