William F. Sheehan
Mr. Sheehan is one of the founding partners of Sheehan Greene Golderman & Jacques LLP. He is a 1971 graduate of Colgate University and a 1974 graduate of Albany Law School. From 1974 to 1978 he served as a New York State Assistant Attorney General.
Mr. Sheehan has been in private practice since 1978, where his areas of concentration have included public sector labor and employment law and zoning and land use planning law. From 1982 to 1987, he was an assistant town attorney and zoning board counsel for the Town of Guilderland.
Mr. Sheehan’s current practice covers a broad array of areas within the public sector labor field, including contract negotiations, interest arbitration proceedings, disciplinary and contract grievances, PERB proceedings and litigation in state and federal courts. His litigation experience includes bench and jury trials on issues involving discrimination, civil rights and the application of civil service law. He has argued appeals at every level of the state court system, including the Court of Appeals. Throughout his legal career, Mr. Sheehan has sought to advance the rights and interests of his public employee clients through creative and aggressive litigation and appellate advocacy on issues such as due process of law, tenure rights, civil rights, the civil service merit system and other areas of administrative and constitutional law.
Mr. Sheehan has been lead union counsel in several interest arbitration proceedings against the State of New York, including the first-ever such case, in 1996. Most recently, Mr. Sheehan was the lead attorney for NYSCOPBA (the union representing New York State Correction Officers) during its contract negotiations with New York State, which culminated in an interest arbitration award issued in March of 2006.
Mr. Sheehan’s representative litigated cases include: Gilligan v. Stone, A.D. 3d 697 (3rd Dept., 2005) (where a large class of state employees who were denied salary increments ultimately recovered several millions of dollars in back payments); Cooper v. New York State Office of Mental Health, 958 F.Supp. 87 (N.D.N.Y., 1997) (holding that a state employee whose position was abolished in a reorganization states a claim for age discrimination where his duties were transferred to a younger employee); Sheerin v. New York State Division of Substance Abuse Services, 844 F.Supp. 909 (N.D.N.Y., 1994) (holding that abolishing a state employee’s position as a subterfuge for firing him without a hearing would violate his due process rights); Friends of Woodstock, Inc. v. Town of Woodstock Planning Board, 152 A.D. 2d 876 (3d Dept., 1989) (where he successfully addressed issues of standing, jurisdiction, timeliness and SEQRA within the context of a high-profile zoning case).
Mr. Sheehan is a member of the Albany County Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association.
email: wsheehan@sheehangreene.com
Mr. Sheehan has been in private practice since 1978, where his areas of concentration have included public sector labor and employment law and zoning and land use planning law. From 1982 to 1987, he was an assistant town attorney and zoning board counsel for the Town of Guilderland.
Mr. Sheehan’s current practice covers a broad array of areas within the public sector labor field, including contract negotiations, interest arbitration proceedings, disciplinary and contract grievances, PERB proceedings and litigation in state and federal courts. His litigation experience includes bench and jury trials on issues involving discrimination, civil rights and the application of civil service law. He has argued appeals at every level of the state court system, including the Court of Appeals. Throughout his legal career, Mr. Sheehan has sought to advance the rights and interests of his public employee clients through creative and aggressive litigation and appellate advocacy on issues such as due process of law, tenure rights, civil rights, the civil service merit system and other areas of administrative and constitutional law.
Mr. Sheehan has been lead union counsel in several interest arbitration proceedings against the State of New York, including the first-ever such case, in 1996. Most recently, Mr. Sheehan was the lead attorney for NYSCOPBA (the union representing New York State Correction Officers) during its contract negotiations with New York State, which culminated in an interest arbitration award issued in March of 2006.
Mr. Sheehan’s representative litigated cases include: Gilligan v. Stone, A.D. 3d 697 (3rd Dept., 2005) (where a large class of state employees who were denied salary increments ultimately recovered several millions of dollars in back payments); Cooper v. New York State Office of Mental Health, 958 F.Supp. 87 (N.D.N.Y., 1997) (holding that a state employee whose position was abolished in a reorganization states a claim for age discrimination where his duties were transferred to a younger employee); Sheerin v. New York State Division of Substance Abuse Services, 844 F.Supp. 909 (N.D.N.Y., 1994) (holding that abolishing a state employee’s position as a subterfuge for firing him without a hearing would violate his due process rights); Friends of Woodstock, Inc. v. Town of Woodstock Planning Board, 152 A.D. 2d 876 (3d Dept., 1989) (where he successfully addressed issues of standing, jurisdiction, timeliness and SEQRA within the context of a high-profile zoning case).
Mr. Sheehan is a member of the Albany County Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association.
email: wsheehan@sheehangreene.com
