W. James Young

James Young is a Staff Attorney at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, where he represents private- and public-sector employees in state and federal courts, as well as before state and federal administrative agencies. He has also testified before state and federal legislative committees regarding oversight and as an expert witness regarding proposed legislation to protect employee freedom.

Jim was Counsel of Record in and argued Knox v. Service Employees International Union Local 1000 , 567 U.S. 298 (2012), a major Supreme Court decision questioning the foundations of prior decisions permitting public-sector forced unionism ( Abood v. Detroit Bd. of Educ., 431 U.S. 209 (1977)), culminating in the Foundation’s victory in Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018), striking down public sector forced unionism entirely. Previously, Jim was Counsel of Record in and argued Locke v. Karass, 555 U.S. 207 (2009), and Counsel of Record in Prescott v. County of El Dorado, 528 U.S. 1111 (2000) ( cert. granted, vacated, and remanded).

In addition to these Supreme Court cases, Jim has extensive experience litigating class action cases across the nation, and has appeared in scores of federal cases, most as lead counsel, resulting in more than one hundred reported decisions bearing his name, including victories in Cummings v. Connell, 402 F. 3d 935 (9th Cir. 2005); Knight v. Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, 131 F.3d 807 (9th Cir. 1997) (three cases); Johnson v. Lafayette Firefighters Ass’n, 51 F.3d 726 (7th Cir. 1995); Weaver v. University of Cincinnati , 942 F.2d 1039 (1991), further proceedings, 970 F.2d 1523 (6th Cir. 1992); Dixon v. City of Chicago, 948 F.2d 355 (7th Cir. 1991). He has also represented members of the Washington Redskins, in Orr v. National Football League Players Ass’n, 147 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2845 (Va. Cir. Ct. 1994), aff’d, 150 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2191 (Va. 1995), and hundreds of clients before state and federal labor boards.

While earning his law degree from the Emory University School of Law, Jim founded Emory’s Federalist Society Chapter, and hosted programs featuring Harvard constitutional scholar Raoul Berger, then-U.S. Attorney (N.D. Ga.) Bob Barr, and then-Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Clarence Thomas.

He resides with his wife of more than thirty years and their sons (both Eagle Scouts) in Montclair, Virginia, where he has served as a Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader, on the County Human Rights Commission (2009-19), in church leadership (LCMS), and as a Board member and President of the Prince William County Committee of 100.