David Wolf is a California labor and employment law attorney whose career spans almost 40 years of advice and counsel, administrative law and trial work, including scores of labor arbitrations. David is licensed to practice law in all California state courts, as well as California’s Northern District and Eastern District federal courts, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Tax Court. David has also practiced extensively before the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) in its Regions 16, 19, 20, 21, 31, 32, and Subregion 36 as well as California’s Public Employment Relations Board (“PERB”).  David worked in various legal capacities before founding his own private law practice, including as General Counsel, Assistant General Counsel, Labor Relations Director, and Law Firm Shareholder. He has represented public school districts, community colleges, private educational institutions, hospitals, cities and special districts.  In the period following the Great Recession, David served as labor relations counsel to well over half of California’s trial courts, negotiating layoffs, furloughs, wage freezes, and the like, securing a large portion of $60,000,000 in urgently needed cost savings for California’s Judicial Branch.  In 2013, David was a lead attorney in labor negotiation “cooling off period” litigation involving one of the largest bus-only public transportation districts in the United States. In 2014, he opened his own practice in Berkeley, California where he continues to practice mainly in the areas of labor and employment law.  His practice still includes traditional labor law (union-management relations), labor and employment law advice and counsel, and related litigation.  In addition to municipal clients, private for profit / small businesses, and private not for profit corporate clients, David has represented and continues to represent plaintiffs in wrongful termination, employment discrimination, retaliation, and employee benefits cases.

One of David’s more recent victories is in Bullock v. City of Antioch, No. A161029, 2022 Cal. App. LEXIS 394 (Ct. App. May 6, 2022), certified for publication. David was also the lead school attorney in and Fremont Unified District Teachers Association v. Fremont Unified School District (1996) PERB Case No. SF-CE-1809 [20 PERC Par. 27127]; United Public Employees, Service Employees Union, Local 790 v. Fremont Unified School District (1994) PERB Dec. No. 1036 [18 PERC Par. 25041]; and Fremont Association of Counselors and Psychologists v. Fremont Unified School District (1994) PERB Case No. SF-CE-1587 [18 PERC Par. 25092], PERB Order No. HO-U-568 [18 PERC Par. 25109].  Over the years, David has been a guest lecturer on labor and employment law and related topics at Saint Mary’s College, Golden Gate University, Sacramento State University, San Jose State University, as well as a speaker at the annual meetings of the California School Boards Association, the California Council of School Attorneys, the American Corporate Counsel Association, the National Academy of Arbitrators, the American Hospital Association, the Northern California Human Resources Association affiliated with the Society for Human Resources Management, and the Bar Association of San Francisco (“BASF”). David is the past Chair and Vice Chair of BASF’s Legal Ethics Committee and remains an active committee member for over 10 years.  David is also a member of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (“APRIL”).

David is a graduate of both California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo (highest honors) and Cal State East Bay (formerly Cal. State Hayward). He received his Juris Doctorate at the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento in 1986 and was admitted to the California State Bar that year. In 1979, he passed the German language examination at Karls Ruprecht Universität Heidelberg and matriculated as a regular full-time student in West Germany where he studied for nearly two years before returning to Cal Poly to complete his BA in Political Science with minors in German language and international relations.  At CSU East Bay, David received a BA in German language with a German literature minor.  In law school, David was the President of the International Law Society and was an editor and staff writer on the Comparative Law Yearbook, and he was published in Significant Developments in Private International Law, Volume 8, 1984, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands - ISBN 90-247-2966-1; Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 79-649337; and Significant Developments in Private International Law, Volume 9, 1985, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands - ISBN 90-247-3350; Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 79-649337.  David is the proud father of two college graduates, Ben and Hannah.