Carey Butsavage

cbutsavage@butsavage.com

Carey Butsavage is the founder of Butsavage & Durkalski, P.C., and has been practicing law for four and a half decades.  He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from Denison University with honors in 1972 and graduated from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1976.

After law school, he served as a staff counsel to a National Labor Relations Board Member.  He left the government in 1979 and went into private practice in union-side labor law. He is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and Maryland.  He is admitted to the bar in the District Courts of Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the Middle District of Pennsylvania.  He is also admitted to and has argued cases before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, and District of Columbia Circuits. He has an active practice in legislative and political affairs and represents unions and related groups in both the public and private sectors on a variety of issues, including arbitration and federal litigation.

Carey has worked extensively in both the public and private sectors on innovative ways to organize new employees and to expand membership opportunities in already-organized workplaces.

Carey has published numerous articles and appeared on dozens of panels to discuss the areas of law in which he practices.  He emphasizes how workers can empower themselves by exercising their legal rights.

John Durkalski

jdurkalski@butsavage.com

John Durkalski provides general counsel legal services to unions, nonprofit organizations, and political action committees. He counsels local, national, and international unions and nonprofits on all aspects of their operations. This includes providing counsel to organizations regarding day-to-day matters such as labor and employment issues and regulatory compliance. He also litigates on behalf of unions and other organizations in state and federal courts, before administrative agencies, and in arbitration. He maintains an active practice assisting organizations and public officials in drafting legislation that advances the public good across a range of policy areas.

John is a graduate of Oberlin College. He earned his juris doctor with a certificate in law and public policy from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, where he was the John Fanning Labor Law Scholar. During law school, John worked as a law clerk to Senator Edward M. Kennedy in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee’s Labor Policy Office. He also served as Senior Note and Comment Editor on the Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy.

John is a member of the Union Lawyers’ Alliance, AFL-CIO, and serves as Program Co-Chair of the ABA’s Technology in the Practice and Workplace Committee. He has spoken and presented papers at many professional conferences on labor and employment law, and his article on flexible work policies was published in the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law.

He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Maryland.

Jon Cakmakci

jcakmakci@butsavage.com

Jon Cakmakci provides general counsel legal services to unions and non-profit organizations. This includes providing legal advice relating to employment law, union organizing, arbitrations, contract negotiations and administration, drafting legislation, and settlements. Jon has also represented organizational and individual clients in actions in state and federal courts, before administrative agencies, and before arbitrators.

Prior to joining Butsavage & Durkalski, Jon was a labor relations attorney for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association in Washington DC. Prior to NATCA, Jon worked at an employee-side law firm in Detroit, where he represented individual employees and unions in actions in court, administrative agencies, and before arbitrators in a variety of employment and labor law issues. 

Jon is a graduate of Western Michigan University and Wayne State University Law School. During law school, Jon worked as a legal extern at the National Labor Relations Board in Detroit and as a legal intern at the United Auto Workers International Union. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Michigan.