Paul Tobias made you feel like an old friend and trusted colleague from the first moment you met him.  His relentless energy, positivity, and enthusiasm for our work—and for bringing people together—in its way stood in sometimes stark contrast to the nature of what we do.  Representing workers is not easy.  Many of our clients need counsel because they are dealing with some of the most difficult, many times traumatic, experiences of their lives.  No one seeks out an employment lawyer when things are going well.  Courts are hostile to employment claims and employers more hostile still.  Most lawyers who have committed their careers to this calling tend to work as solo practitioners or in small firms, and routinely face down far better-resourced, more powerful adversaries.  The odds often are stacked against us, and it is why a community like NELA—the community that Paul Tobias did so much to build, grow, sustain, and embody—is so vital. 

Paul’s singular ability to organize, to inspire, to motivate, and to advocate was channeled into NELA—his DNA is NELA’s DNA.  He had the rare capacity to elevate those around him, and to lead the group to be something greater than the sum of its … Read More

Words are inadequate to express what Paul Tobias means to me, The NELA/Institute Family, and the cause of employee rights. No one who met Paul could ever forget him. His ready smile, welcoming demeanor, hearty handshake, and genuine interest in people made them feel special, like a long-lost friend.

I will always be grateful to Paul for trusting me with his “baby,” and giving me the opportunity of a lifetime to serve as NELA’s Executive Director. Not only did we have a deep professional relationship, we also had a profound personal bond. He was my mentor, friend, and champion. I affectionately called him “Boss.” 

As I think about my 27 year partnership with Paul, memories abound. Paul took time from his busy law practice to call me to check in and ask if I needed his help with anything. He began these calls on a weekly basis when I first started at NELA, and they became monthly as the years passed by. Among the many precious memories I have of Paul are his handwritten notes of encouragement to me; singing “New York, New York” karaoke-style and dancing together at NELA Galas to raise funds to support the DC Office; the … Read More

Everything already said about Paul is so true and I was happy to be with him and NELA almost from the very beginning. I’m fortunate to be able to add something new. I was lucky to play tennis with Paul a few times. Unfortunately for me he never wanted to play doubles; he was a very good singles player. Over the course of time, I was victorious in one set, when we played on a grass court at La Quinta. Paul immediately switched us to the clay courts where, at least with me, he was unbeatable. But even though he was quite competitive, he played with joy, good humor and excellent sportsmanship. If the ball I hit was close to the line, he would call it in. The only thing he wouldn’t do was give me a handicap of a couple of points a game. His tennis play mirrored everything else he did in his life and for me it is just one of my fond memories of being with him. He leaves a wonderful legacy.… Read More

Paul was not only a driving force in advancing employee rights in the workplace, but he was also a driving force for new and aspiring attorneys looking to do secure justice for all workers. I am and will always be proud that my first job as a lawyer was a Paul H. Tobias Fellow with the Employee Rights Advocacy Institute for Law & Policy. As his namesake fellow, I would have long conversations on the phone with Paul where he would impart his enthusiastic thoughts on how to further fill in the gaps of legal representation for workers and how to motivate a new generation of employee rights attorneys. Even though he had a fellowship named after him, Paul was not stopping his work as an employee rights advocate—he wanted us to carry the mantle of employee rights advocacy together. I learned from Paul that there is always more to be done to advance the rights of workers. His ceaseless spirit to achieve workplace justice that was a needed antidote for me, and I’m sure many other new attorneys, who hold an undue amount of cynicism about our profession. But Paul taught me that, together, employee rights lawyers could be … Read More

I remember Paul Tobias more for his cheerful, positive, confident attitude toward life than for anything else. Maybe a decade ago, at a Florida NELA gathering at the Radisson Hotel at Indialantic Beach, I got up early to catch the sunrise over the Atlantic. The breakfast room was perfectly positioned to catch it and had just opened. One of our speakers, Lew Maltby, who has made quite a mark in American employee rights, joined me. Paul Tobias, whom I didn’t know well enough to call Pete, had to swim a few laps in the hotel pool before he joined us. We had a memorable conversation. Two things stick out. Paul had taste enough to share my affection for an old-school no-frills Florida beach front-hotel with modest amenities but all the basics. Also, Paul wanted me to be sure to know that the founding of NELA was in Florida, in Wesley Chapel. There was some kind of an ABA event that those interested in forming an employee-rights group would be attending anyway. So they had a sort of rump session and started NELA, though I think he said they called it PELA — Plaintiffs Employee Rights Association. .

Years later, in … Read More

In 1978 I was living in Ohio.  I was the Executive Director of Women’s Law Fund, a not-for-profit legal organization and grantee of the Ford Foundation established to eradicate sex discrimination in employment.  The Law Fund was handling a number of Title VII cases in the Southern District of Ohio and Title VII litigation, generally, was on the increase, especially in Cincinnati.  At that time there were not many attorneys who were familiar with the special problems presented by Title VII cases.  Pregnancy discrimination and the BFOQ exception were still live issues under Title VII.   I decided that it would be a wise use of the limited funds in the Law Fund’s budget (and beneficial to the Cincinnati bench and bar) to sponsor a day-long conference in Cincinnati dealing with sex discrimination and related federal legislation.  I arranged for practitioners and judges to speak on various topics and allowed sufficient social time during lunch for the participants to get to know one another.  One of the practitioners who attended that conference was Paul Tobias.

Near the end of the conference Paul approached me with an idea: “This was great!  You need to hold conferences like this across the country and … Read More