One Team.
Making your mission ours.
We place a strong emphasis on teamwork, which enables us to leverage the breadth and depth of knowledge of all our attorneys, paralegals, and staff.
Philip H. Gerner III
Partner, Chicago
ph: 312-332-7760, ph: 515-390-7090
Email: pgerner@robbins-schwartz.com
Practice Areas: Education, Employee Benefits, Labor & Employment, Litigation
Philip H. Gerner III
Philip H. Gerner III counsels and represents school districts and community colleges in collective bargaining negotiations, and Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board proceedings, teacher evaluations, remediations and dismissals, employee discipline and discharge issues, grievance arbitration, and other labor and employment issues. Phil has represented educational employers in labor arbitrations, unfair labor practice hearings, tenured teacher dismissals, and Illinois Department of Human Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission proceedings. Phil has successfully handled a number of appellate court appeals on issues of significance for educational employers, including short-term employee bargaining unit exclusion standards, teacher evaluation plan bargaining obligations, and reduction-in-force of tenured teachers.
As a Partner of the firm, Phil’s greatest asset is counseling clients how to successfully navigate difficult labor and personnel issues His ability to provide practical, effective solutions to challenging legal and personnel problems is based upon his many years of experience in education and labor law. His skill in working effectively with negotiation teams to devise and execute strategies that fulfill the board’s critical objectives is a hallmark of his strength as an attorney.
Awards
- Illinois Leading Lawyer, Employment and School Law, 2004-2012
Education
- J.D., Washington University School of Law
- B.A., cum laude, St. Lawrence University
Admitted to Practice
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- Supreme Court of Illinois
Organizations
- Chicago Bar Association
- Illinois State Bar Association
- Illinois Council of School Attorneys
Recent Publications
- “Collective Bargaining During COVID-19” IASA Leadership Matters Magazine (2021)
- “Hot Topics in Collective Bargaining,” IASB.COM, IASB (2014)
- Contributing author, “Labor Relations: Contract Administration Including ULPs,” Illinois School Law, IICLE (2005, 2010 and 2012)
- “Collective Bargaining Implications of the Performance Evaluation Reform Act of 2010 (SB 315) and the Education Reform Act (SB 7),” UPDATE Magazine, Illinois ASBO (2011)