The NLRB General Counsel has issued a memorandum setting out those cases and issues he wants sent from the regional offices to the Division of Advice in Washington, DC. The Division of Advice, as the name suggests, is the arm of the General Counsel’s office which provides legal advice to the General Counsel and to the Regional Directors in the form of Advice Memoranda. Depending on the issue, the General Counsel may be personally involved in formulating those memoranda.
The Division of Advice performs a key function in the General Counsel’s office, since it addresses all the cutting edge and unresolved issues presented to the agency. It assists the General Counsel in addressing those issues and fashioning a consistent nationwide prosecutorial policy on them. The Division of Advice also assists the agency in identifying cases and developing arguments where the General Counsel wants to propose that the Board make a change in existing law. Indeed, as you go through this memorandum, you can identify those areas where there appears to be an interest in overruling or augmenting Board legal precedent, as well as in adapting Board law to new developments in the law and in the workplace.
Virtually every NLRB General Counsel has issued a mandatory advice submission memorandum, so this is nothing unusual. But General Counsels may differ in what they want sent to the Division of Advice, so this memorandum offers an interesting insight into the thinking and priorities of General Counsel Griffin.
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