Rutgers School of Law–Newark Alumni Association Annual Gala 2025

 BIO COMING SOON

BIO COMING SOON

Gwynne A. Wilcox was renominated by President Joseph R. Biden and reconfirmed by the Senate on September 6, 2023, to serve a second term as a Board Member of the National Labor Relations Board ending August 27, 2028. Ms. Wilcox previously served as a Member of the Board from August 4, 2021, until August 27, 2023, and she served as Chair of the Board from December 17, 2024, to January 20, 2025.  Ms. Wilcox is the first Black woman to serve on the Board since its inception in 1935 and is also the first Black woman to serve as Chair of the NLRB. 

On January 27, 2025, President Donald J. Trump removed Ms. Wilcox from the Board prior to her term’s expiration in 2028. Ms. Wilcox was the first Board Member to have been removed in 90 years of the Board's inception in 1935. Ms. Wilcox filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in Washington, DC, against President Trump challenging her unprecedented and unlawful termination based upon current statutory law and well-established Supreme Court precedent.  

Previous to her appointment to the Board, Wilcox was a senior partner at Levy Ratner, P.C., a New York City labor and employment law firm. While there, she served as Associate General Counsel of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and as a labor representative to the NYC Office of Collective Bargaining. Prior to joining Levy Ratner, she worked as a Field Attorney at Region 2 of the NLRB in Manhattan. 

Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Wilcox was a Reginald Heber Smith Community Fellow at Middlesex County Legal Services office in New Brunswick, NJ and then continued as a Staff Attorney, handling domestic violence cases and other matters. 

Ms. Wilcox is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. She is the recipient of numerous awards. 
Most recently, Ms. Wilcox was the recipient on February 25, 2025 of a Certificate of Honor from the Rutgers University School-Newark Law School's Minority Student Program, the Association of Black Law Students, Phi Alpha Delta Fraternity, Inc.- Jackson Chapter, the American Constitutional Society and Student Bar Association, celebrating a "trailblazer whose dedication and leadership have elevated the distinction of Rutgers Law School [and] ..honors an unwavering commitment to service, impactful contributions and a role as a guiding force and inspiration for future generations."

In 2023, Ms. Wilcox was recognized by the Rutgers Law School–Newark Minority Student Program (MSP) and was the commencement speaker later that year.

Ms. Wilcox has been the recipient of other awards, including the November 2021 Honorable Bernice B. Donald Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Legal Profession Award by the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section. The award is given to a member, law firm, corporation, organization or academic institution “that has demonstrated leadership in and commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession," the 2017 Syracuse University Chancellor’s Citation for Achievements “in honor of an exceptional career in law and dedication to advancing diversity”; the 2015 Basil Paterson Award at the Amsterdam News Labor Awards Breakfast; the 2015 Brandworkers’ Champion of Economic Justice Award; and the 2009 Peggy Browning Fund Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Prior to joining the Board, Ms. Wilcox was a board member of various organizations, including the Brandworkers; Peggy Browning Fund; Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution of the Cornell University ILR School; Workers Defense League; and the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, now known as the Union Lawyers Alliance. 

Ms. Wilcox had made numerous presentations concerning Board law at many bar associations and other organizations. 

Ms. Wilcox holds a J.D. from Rutgers Law School–Newark and a B.A. from Syracuse University.