Trump Taps Morgan Lewis Attorney for NLRB General Counsel Post

March 25, 2025, 2:49 PM UTC

President Donald Trump is nominating Crystal Carey, a partner at large management-side law firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, to be National Labor Relations Board general counsel.

Carey’s name was transferred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee for a nomination hearing, according to the Congressional Record made public Tuesday.

Carey has been at Morgan Lewis for nearly seven years, moving to the firm after eight years as an NLRB attorney.

Morgan Lewis has been at the heart of prominent modern labor disputes, representing Amazon.com Inc., SpaceX, Apple Inc., and Tesla. The firm’s attorneys have advanced emerging arguments that the NLRB’s structure is unconstitutional.

Carey has been critical of the Biden-era board, telling NLRB members at a November panel discussion that she believes they’ve attempted to “completely eliminate the rights of employers” to have conversations with workers about the decision to unionize.

The nomination solidifies the administration’s pro-employer swing at the agency.

Acting General Counsel William Cowen took office after Trump fired Jennifer Abruzzo, general counsel during Biden’s term, and her successor Jessica Rutter. Trump is also battling in court over the firing of NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox.


— With assistance from Robert Iafolla.

To contact the reporters on this story: Parker Purifoy in Washington at ppurifoy@bloombergindustry.com; Lillianna Byington in Washington at lbyington@bloombergindustry.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebekah Mintzer at rmintzer@bloombergindustry.com; Genevieve Douglas at gdouglas@bloomberglaw.com

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