Charles represents unions and multiemployer benefit plans in New York and New Jersey and serves as local counsel to numerous international benefit funds. Charles advises multiemployer benefit plans on all plan matters, including compliance, plan design, administration and fiduciary issues. Charles litigates ERISA matters in federal court, including withdrawal liability. Charles also litigates labor and employment cases, including numerous high profile class actions.
Charles graduated with honors in 1986 from Lehigh University and received his J.D. in 1989 from Fordham University School of Law, where he was a member of Fordham Law Review. Charles spent five years as a litigation associate at the prestigious Wall Street law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, where he worked on numerous high profile cases, including the first hexavalent chromium exposure case ever taken to trial, and litigation arising out of the 1989 Exxon Arthur Kill oil spill. In 1994, Charles and Lloyd Ambinder co-founded Virginia & Ambinder, LLP, as a firm dedicated to advancing the rights of America's workforce.
Charles lectures on withdrawal liability and other Taft-Hartley benefit plan issues for educational organizations. He has frequently presented at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans’ Annual Conference and other seminars conducted by the IFEBP. In 2022, Charles was inducted as a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Charles is the author of Upgrading Collection Practices, Employee Benefit Issues, The Multiemployer Perspective, 2002, Volume 44, International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, and Communications Workers v. Beck: Supreme Court Throws Unions Out on Street, 57 Fordham Law Review 665. Charles is a member of the New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania bars.
Charles is a member of the Fordham University School of Law Small to Midsize Law Firm Dean’s Advisory Council and the Elon University Parents Council. Charles also serves on the Board of the Savannah Music Festival.
Areas of Practice
- ERISA Litigation
- Wage and Hour Law—Employee/Plaintiffs
Bar Admissions
- New York
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- U.S. District Court Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court Northern District of New York
- U.S. District Court Western District of New York
- U.S. District Court District of New Jersey
- U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit
Education
- Fordham University School of Law, New York, New York
J.D. – 1989
Law Review: Fordham Law Review, Member, 1988 – 1989 - Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
B.A. – 1986
Honors: With Honors
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Fellow, College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
- National Lawyers Guild, Labor and Employment Committee, Member
- AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee (LCC)
Past Employment Positions
- Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Associate, 1989 – 1994
