Jeffrey Hynes

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Growing up in West Allis had a significant impact on labor lawyer Jeffrey Hynes.

His world was filled with family, friends, clergy and other role models who were focused on generosity, equal opportunity and social justice, he says.

“I grew up in the hopeful and optimistic times of the 1960s when people seemed to really believe in American democracy and that the work of law could make a positive difference in the country and world,” he says.

“Those influences rubbed off on me big time.”

Jobs in his working-class community showed him firsthand the injustices and inequalities in the workplace. At one job, he recalls how women were separated from men and earned $1 less per hour. He also heard about what happened when workers tried to unionize — they were fired.

That was all he needed to decide that labor law was for him.

“It’s cool to now be in a position doing something I love and also being able to make a living at it,” says Hynes, 48. “In order to succeed in the field, you have to have fire in your belly to take on the injustice and cause of the underdog.”

Hynes, managing partner at Jeffrey S. Hynes & Associates, S.C., in Wauwatosa, specializes in employment discrimination.

His biggest challenge he says is often the law, which doesn’t protect people even if they have been wronged.

“Most injustices aren’t covered by labor laws,” Hynes says. “It’s an agonizing task of telling good people with legitimate grievances that I can’t help them.”

One case that he was able to take involved a pattern maker, who was fired after requesting medical leave.

“It started with simple issue involving whether he met the deadline to file and emerged into a large recovery for him,” Hynes says.

Many of his cases often end with confidentiality agreements that bar him from discussing the cases, he says.

After practicing for 20 years, one of the biggest changes he has seen is clients, he says. He used to represent primarily low-income hourly wage earners. Now, many of his clients are highly successful and well paid.

“It presents a conspicuous and welcome challenge,” he says. “They have higher expectations of the legal system because they haven’t faced setbacks or failures. They tend to want to pursue legal actions more readily than other clients.

When Hynes isn’t working, he enjoys running. He says he’s been a distance runner since he could walk. In law school, he ran six miles before exams. Nowadays, he admits, he’s lucky if he can get in a half hour on the Stairmaster.

Hynes spent the early part of his career at firms in Washington, D.C., and Cleveland. He also served as staff counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, which he says gave him an opportunity to see law from different perspectives.

“I came back to Wisconsin because it’s the most interesting place to practice labor and employment law,” he says. “We have the full gamut: unions and industry as well as a history of progressive laws to protect workers’ rights. And it’s a good place to raise a family.”