Siler, Jamie G.

Attorney Andrew Houlding focuses extensively on labor and employment law, Native American or "Indian Law" and gaming law.

Mr. Houlding began his career in law after working as an investigative journalist in Connecticut. As a journalist he was on the air with WTNH, Channel 8 TV-News (where he won a pair of Emmy Awards), and for several newspapers including the Connecticut Law Tribune, the New Haven Advocate and the New Haven Journal-Courier, where he broke major stories about the New Haven Police Department's illegal wiretapping operation.

Since he joined Rome McGuigan in 1992, Mr. Houlding has handled dozens of employment matters, representing employers in defense against wrongful discharge and discrimination claims. He has tried multiple employment cases to verdict in state and federal courts and in tribal court. He has also negotiated labor contracts and handled labor grievances and arbitrations.

In the area of Indian Law he has litigated extensively on the subject of state court jurisdiction over matters arising on the reservation of a federally-recognized Indian tribe. Reported cases in this area include: Kizis V. Morse Diesel, et als. 260 Conn. 46 (2002); Davidson v. MTGA, 97 Conn. App. 146 (2006), cert. denied 280 Conn. 941 and Beecher v. Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut, 282 Conn. 130 (2007).

Mr. Houlding has handled labor and employment cases before a variety of administrative agencies, including the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), the U.S. Department of Labor and its Connecticut counterpart; the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the state Board of Mediation and Arbitration; and in the Connecticut Superior Court and in the United States District Court.

Mr. Houlding has also negotiated individual and collective employment contracts and separation agreements between companies and executives. In addition, Mr. Houlding has been retained to conduct investigations on behalf of public and private entities.

Mr. Houlding has been a member of the Connecticut Bar Association's Indian Law Committee since 1998, and has chaired that Committee for the past several years. In that capacity he has organized Continuing Legal Education programs on subjects of interest to Indian Law practitioners, including courses on practice and procedure in tribal courts and in gaming law on Indian reservations. Mr. Houlding is admitted to practice in the Mohegan Tribal Court and Mohegan Gaming Disputes Court, as well as the Connecticut state and federal courts and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Houlding lives in Hamden, CT., just outside New Haven. His wife, Sybil, is a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist in private practice in New Haven. They have two adult children and two grandsons.