Jim Chiodini has spent his entire career – both in and outside the practice of law – down in the trenches fighting for others.

In the labor and employment area, Jim has been involved in hundreds of collective bargaining agreements, grievances, arbitrations, and unfair labor practice actions, representing private- and public-sector members of the Michigan Nurses Association, Michigan Education Association, and local police and law enforcement. He has also appeared before administrative agencies and in state and federal courts on behalf of individuals subject to workplace discrimination, wrongful termination, and whistleblower retaliation. Along with other attorneys at the firm, Jim’s advocacy has resulted in several significant appellate decisions from the Michigan Supreme Court and Michigan Court of Appeals.

Michigan’s agricultural community has also benefitted from Jim’s labor experience. Jim has pursued the rights of apple, cherry, asparagus, and other Michigan crop producers before the Agricultural Marketing & Bargaining Board, and in the courts over fees and payments and constitutional claims under the Agricultural Commodities Marketing Act. In a landmark 2010 decision, Jim succeeded in persuading the Michigan Supreme Court that a distributor’s wrongful withholding of assessments on the purchase price of apples was a statutory violation that required the distributor to pay damages equal to three times the amount of the plaintiff’s losses. Jim also served as a Special Assistant Attorney General in other cases protecting the rights of Michigan commodity producers under state agricultural laws.

Jim’s commitment to the legal and employment rights of working men and women is far reaching. Prior to receiving his law degree, he earned a Master in Labor & Industrial Relations and held various union roles. He also taught labor relations at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School and Lansing Community College.

In his downtime, when he’s not tending to the needs of the 40 acres he calls home, Jim and his wife travel North America on hiking vacations, with a particular fondness for Lake O’Hara in the Canadian Rockies.