Labor Department Top Attorney Nominee Represented Silica Company

By Bruce Rolfsen, Bloomberg BNA

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Labor Department’s Office of the Solicitor, Kate O’Scannlain, once worked for one of the nation’s largest silica sand suppliers, potentially putting her at odds with the department’s ongoing defense of OSHA’s silica rule.

Among O’Scannlain’s private law practice clients at Kirkland & Ellis LLP is U.S. Silica Co., based in Frederick, Md., according a financial disclosure form she filed in early October with the Office of Government Ethics.

In her Oct. 6 recusal letter to the ethics office, O’Scannlain said she “will not participate personally and substantially” in ...