Eric E Hobbs

Practice Areas

Employment Law, Litigation, Workplace Safety and Health, Traditional Labor Relations, Drug Testing, Leaves of Absence/Reasonable Accommodation, Higher Education, Workplace Investigations and Organizational Assessments, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)

Career

Eric E. Hobbs is a shareholder with and chair of the 50-lawyer Workplace Safety and Health Practice Group of Ogletree Deakins, one of the nation’s leading law firms representing employers in labor and employment matters. He also serves as a member of the firm’s Drug Testing and Manufacturing Industry Practice Groups. In his role as attorney and strategic advisor, Mr. Hobbs engages in a nationwide labor and employment law practice, which includes the representation of employers in traditional labor and employment matters, OSHA and MSHA enforcement and litigation, and employment counseling and litigation.

Mr. Hobbs is a Past Employer Co-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Occupational Safety and Health Law Committee. He is a co-author of and chapter editor for Bloomberg/BNA’s Occupational Safety and Health Law treatise, the “bible” for practitioners and judges in the area, and author of the chapter on occupational safety and health law in the Wisconsin State Bar’s Wisconsin Employment Law treatise. Mr. Hobbs also writes and speaks frequently to employer groups, attorneys and judges around the country. In the Fall of 2018, for a fourth time, he addressed the Commissioners and Judges of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission at its Judicial Conference at the invitation of the Commission’s Chair and Chief Judge. He also testified before Congress on “A More Effective and Collaborative OSHA: A View from Stakeholders” in February of 2018.

In 2014, in recognition of his long and distinguished career, Mr. Hobbs was elected as a fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. That same year, the Pulp and Paper Safety Association presented him with its Outstanding Service Award. Mr. Hobbs also is a Fellow of the Wisconsin Bar Foundation. And, in 2015, the Milwaukee County Commission for Persons with Disabilities established the “Eric Hobbs Award” in recognition of Mr. Hobbs’ 20 years of service as a commissioner, 10 as chairperson.

Professional Memberships

State Bar of Wisconsin

Milwaukee Bar Association

American Bar Association; Immediate-Past Employer Co-Chair, Occupational Safety and Health Law Committee – Labor Law Section

Yellow Belt Certified, Legal Lean Sigma

Chair, Advisory Board, School of Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Board Vice Chair; Chair, Personnel Committee; Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

Chair-Elect, Advisory Board, The Salvation Army – Milwaukee County

Director, Milwaukee Jewish Free Loan Association, Inc.

Director, Meier Clinics Foundation, Inc.

Director, J.K. Lee City Youth Martial Arts Program, Inc., Board of Directors

Immediate-Past Chair, Milwaukee County Commission for Persons with Disabilities

Elder, Eastbrook Church

Education