With heavy hearts, the law firm of Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams LLP announces the passing of one of the firm’s founding partners, Charles N. “Chuck” Sweet. A pioneer of public sector labor law in Pennsylvania, Sweet dedicated more than 40 years to advancing the legal practice of public education and labor relations before retiring in 2015. He was 80 years old.
In 1995, Sweet and eight colleagues established one of Pennsylvania’s first private law firms wholly dedicated to education law. His contributions were instrumental in terms of “firsts” for Pennsylvania and helped establish his firm as a leading practice that has since served hundreds of schools and municipalities in the commonwealth.
“Chuck’s skill as a labor negotiator on behalf of school districts was legendary,” said Ellis Katz, his former law partner and close friend. “Both friends and foes recognized his exceptional advocacy skills. He was also incredibly generous with his time in helping others with the myriad of problems faced by lawyers representing school districts.”
Sweet’s accomplishments include:
- Helping establish the first intermediate unit in Pennsylvania.
- Negotiating several of the first collective bargaining agreements under Act 195 of 1970, which established the framework of public-sector collective bargaining and gave public employees and teachers the right to strike.
- Negotiating over 600 collective bargaining agreements.
- Providing insight and suggestions to the General Assembly for Act 88 of 1992, a groundbreaking revision to collective bargaining law
- Serving as chair of the Labor Relations Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and as president of the Pennsylvania School Board Solicitors Association.
Services will be held at a future date.