Thomas Kaplan

Thomas joined Barnard Iglitzin & Lavitt after graduating from the University of Washington School of Law in 2022. While he was an undergraduate student in 2013, Thomas had the opportunity to join in the organizing efforts of Familias Unidas por la Justicia, Washington’s first independent farmworker union. It was through his close work with this union over the subsequent years that Thomas became involved in the labor movement, as well as how he would come to know BI&L, which serves as general counsel for Familias Unidas.

Throughout his time in law school, Thomas conducted research at the UW Center for Human Rights on the implementation of the Keep Washington Working and Courts Open to All Acts, Washington’s important but flawed “sanctuary state” laws. As a researcher and teaching assistant at the University of Washington, Thomas was an active member of his union, UAW 4121. Apart from his research, activism, and organizing work, Thomas served for two years as co-president of CHRJ, a human rights-focused non-profit that, among other things, administers a public-interest scholarship in partnership with the Black Law Student Association. He has been recognized with UW Law’s Pro Bono Honors, the Laurel Rubin Farmworker Justice Fellowship, the Jennifer Caldwell Human Rights Research Fellowship, the Judge William H. Fuld Workers’ Rights Advocacy Scholarship, the WSBA Labor and Employment Law Summer Fellowship, and the Samuel L. Basset Scholarship in Labor Relations.

Thomas’ past work spans the fields of immigration law, public defense, electoral campaign organizing, and more. In the summer of 2020, Thomas was brought on as a Peggy Browning Fellow at Barnard Iglitzin & Lavitt, later working at Columbia Legal Services the following summer before returning to the firm as an associate attorney in 2022.