Jon Holtzman

RPLG Partner Jon Holtzman.

Public Law Group Founding Partner Jon Holtzman will join a panel of police reform experts to discuss “Police Reform: Can Unions and Management Play a Constructive Role?” at the 2021 Annual Labor and Employment Conference. The session will take place on Friday, Feb. 26 from 1:00 to 2:15 p.m.

The panel will focus on the role police unions, arbitration and labor negotiations have played in creating the conditions that have led to calls for reform, and the role that the unions can play in helping to address some of the issues we now face. Some argue that police unions foster a toxic culture in police departments; others believe that poor management practices are the crux of the problem. While the panel is not intended to lay blame, we hope that it can help lead to shared understandings that will encourage positive change through better labor-management communication.

“Labor unions and management can either be roadblocks or facilitators in the changes that we know are coming. Many of the issues involved in police reform are not mandatory subjects of bargaining. But changing the behavior of police departments requires that police officers understand and enact the changes we want to see. Properly understood, the changes needed can be in the interest of both the public and police officers,” said Jon.

Jon will be joined on the panel by Oliver L. Baines III, Chair of the Fresno Commission on Police Reform; Catherine Fisk, Barbara Nachtrieb Armstrong Professor of Law at Berkeley Law School; and Rockne A. Lucia Jr., Founding Principal of Rains Lucia Stern St. Phalle & Silver PC.

The conference will be hosted by the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF), a nonprofit voluntary membership organization of attorneys, law students, and legal professionals in the San Francisco Bay Area. The annual “Yosemite Conference,” which will be held online this year, has long been known as a gathering for thought leaders in the labor and employment field, including plaintiffs and defense lawyers, union and management lawyers. The conference this year will feature five sessions on a wide variety of labor and employment issues.

Registration is required for this event. Renne Public Law Group (RPLG) is a proud silver-level sponsor of the 2021 Annual Labor and Employment Conference to further RPLG’s commitment to the sharing of ideas and insights in hopes of bringing about positive change through local government.

RPLG practices throughout California, advising and advocating for public agencies, nonprofit entities, individuals and private entities in need of effective, responsive and creative legal solutions.