David M. Prouty, Member of the National Labor Relations Board, announced today the appointment of Fred B. Jacob as his Chief Counsel. Member Prouty will begin his second five-year term as a Board Member on August 28, 2026.  Mr. Jacob replaces David I. Goldman, who is returning to his prior position as an NLRB Administrative Law Judge.

Since 2018, Mr. Jacob has served as NLRB Solicitor, the chief legal advisor to the entire Board on its general operations and on major questions of law and policy concerning the adjudication of NLRB cases in federal courts. From 1997 to 2014, Mr. Jacob worked in offices throughout the NLRB, primarily as an attorney, supervisor, and Deputy Assistant General Counsel in the Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation Branch. Prior to his appointment as the NLRB’s Solicitor, Mr. Jacob spent four years as Solicitor of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, where he represented the FLRA before all federal courts and served as the FLRA’s in-house counsel. Mr. Jacob also clerked for the Honorable Karen J. Williams on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and worked in private practice.

Mr. Jacob teaches labor law at the George Washington University Law School and has published articles on the intersection of labor and administrative law in the Boston College Law Review, the U.C. Law Journal, and the Administrative Law Journal. Mr. Jacob received his B.A. from Brandeis University and his J.D. from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary. He is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.

Member Prouty commented: “Fred Jacob has been an outstanding Solicitor for the Board and its various Members for many years. I am extremely thankful and fortunate that he will now be part of my staff as we continue to work to enforce the Act and the principles of worker rights for which it stands. At the same time, I want to publicly thank David Goldman for his dedicated service and wise advice as my Chief Counsel since 2021, and I wish him the best as he takes up his duties anew as an Administrative Law Judge.”