Stuart Linnick; Specialist in Labor, Employment Law

Stuart Linnick, an attorney with a national reputation in the fields of labor and employment law, has died of cancer in Los Angeles. He was 55 when he died Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Before coming to Los Angeles and the firm of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp in 1978, Linnick was a labor law specialist with the New York firm of Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin, Krim & Ballon. There he represented both labor and management clients, handling more than 200 arbitrations, 150 organizing campaigns and dozens of collective bargaining negotiations. He also was counsel for the New York Patrolmen’s Benevolent Assn. and special labor counsel for the New York State Emergency Financial Control Board.

In Los Angeles he represented a wide array of prominent clients, particularly in the entertainment, health care and public utility industries.

He was a member of the executive committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Assn.’s labor and employment law section and had served as deputy general counsel to the Kolts Commission, established by Los Angeles County in December, 1991, to investigate charges of excessive force by the Sheriff’s Department.

Nationally, he had served as chairman of the American Bar Assn.’s Committee on the Development of Law under the National Labor Relations Act and as co-editor in chief of supplements to “The Developing Law,” funded by the American Bar Assn. and regarded as the leading treatise on the labor act.

Survivors include his wife, Ruth, a son, a daughter, his father and a sister, who ask that contributions be made to the Stuart Linnick Memorial Fund at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853, where Linnick earned his undergraduate degree.

A memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. Oct. 3 at University Synagogue, 11960 Sunset Blvd., Brentwood.