Carrie Blackwood

With over two decades of experience in conflict resolution, negotiation, workplace law, training and development, advocacy, inclusion and leadership, Carrie provides practical and effective legal counsel on a variety of matters. Currently, she represents employees and employers in the public and private sector including labor unions, non-profits, and small businesses.

Her employment law work includes disability accommodation, paid family and medical leave compliance, discrimination and retaliation prevention, employee handbook updates, navigation of discipline, discharge and performance, employment and severance agreements, and legal compliance.

As a workplace investigator, Carrie utilizes her extensive knowledge, legal background, public and private sector experience, understanding of union environments, and substantial work in the area of equity and inclusion, to inform and enhance her independent review of workplace discrimination, incompetence, abuse of power, misconduct, and retaliation.

Her Labor relations focus includes arbitration representation, partnership building, unfair labor practice representation, contract negotiations, grievance handling, contract interpretation, and union management.

Carrie welcomes working with employers on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives by first examining workplace policies, procedures and culture, followed by a discussion of opportunities for improvement.

Her deep, practiced, and effective negotiation skills allow reasoned counsel and advocacy in all matters of conflict resolution including litigation settlement, post-workplace investigation coaching, and facilitation of productive dialogue.

She effectively strengthens workplaces by developing and training unions and management on labor relations skills, grievance handling, partnership building, steward training, labor history and legal compliance.

Her experience includes acting as Senior Legal Counsel representing a professional aerospace union consisting of nearly twenty-three thousand professional aerospace workers, over a decade of Lead Labor Negotiator experience, and service as the Director of Training and Development for thousands of public sector professional and technical employees in Washington and Oregon.

In these capacities she supported the resolution of countless workplace conflicts through reasoned counsel, negotiation, advocacy, mediation, administrative hearings, and arbitration including settlement of interest and non-interest arbitration contracts, unfair labor practice disputes, complicated health care agreements, and complex classification compensation wage contracts.

Carrie is a graduate of Fairhaven College’s Law, Diversity, and Justice Program, earned her Juris Doctorate from Mitchell Hamline School of Law with a Labor and Employment Law concentration and a focus on Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Admission to Practice:

–  State of Washington

Washington State Bar Association Appointments:

–  Diversity Committee

Professional Affiliations:

–  Washington State Bar Association

–  Whatcom County Bar Association

–  Skagit County Bar Association

–  Latinx Bar Association

–  Whatcom Women Lawyers

–  WSBA Labor and Employment Law Section

Community Involvement:

– Bellingham City Club Panelist- Sexual Harassment and #Metoo- April

– Washington State Bar Association- Decoding the Law: #MeToo- March

– Law Advocates Volunteer

– Washington State Bar Association Diversity Committee Appointee

– Committee to Elect Judge Cecily Hazelrigg Hernandez