Al's legal career has been related substantially to matters of a trial and appellate litigation nature with the majority of that work involving matters in the federal judicial system and labor and employment matters. His private practice work, following a clerkship with one of the United States District Judges for the Southern District of Ohio and as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, has involved predominantly civil litigation and appeals, with some periodic involvement in criminal law matters either through the representation of private clients or court appointed representation.

Al has served as a delegate to and is a Life Member of the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference. His litigation work has included matters related to labor and employment issues, federal and state government regulation, constitutional issues, antitrust, fraud, commercial controversies and tort and general litigation cases.

His representation in these various matters has led to several precedent setting decisions and has involved appearances on a regular basis in federal and state trial and appellate courts and before federal and state administrative agencies in Ohio, West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia. In addition to the litigation aspect, his practice has involved counseling clients, negotiation of complex agreements, and the submission of "comments" and proposals on behalf of clients on various proposed regulations and rules of practice and procedure for federal and state administrative agencies.

Al served as special counsel for the Governor and the majority leaders of the Ohio House and Ohio Senate (who had a different political party affiliation from each other) in multicase challenges to the holding of the 1982 primary and general elections for Congressional seats under the revised Ohio statute specifying the Congressional district boundaries after the 1980 decennial census.

Al has been selected, by joint management and union agreement, to serve as an arbitrator in labor contract interpretation matters and has been an editorial contributor to Elkouri & Elkouri's How Arbitration Works. He also has been selected to serve as a continuing member of the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution's "Panel of Distinguished Neutrals" and has been listed 25 consecutive years in Best Lawyers®. He was named the Best Lawyers® 2014 Columbus, Ohio Employment Law – Management “Lawyer of the Year” and was recognized as a "Client Service All-Star" in a survey conducted by the BTI Consulting Group of Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is recognized by Ohio Super Lawyers® and has lectured and given seminar presentations and training programs nationally in the areas of federal practice and procedure, federal litigation, general civil litigation, labor and employment law, and law firm management and economics topics. Furthermore, Al served as the firm's first managing partner from 1988 to 1996.

Al serves by appointment from the President of the University as a member of the Advisory Council of the University of Notre Dame Law School.