Born in 1948, Warren Adler grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. He studied at Harvard University where he majored in Medieval History. After graduating from Harvard University in the spring of 1969, he attended the University of Michigan Law School, where he decided to become a lawyer focusing on labor because of the school’s reputation and his desire to work with people. In 1972, he graduated and began work at Pine Tree Legal Services in Skowhegan, Maine for a year. He then passed the bar in California and practiced law for five years before beginning work at the DGA in November 1978.
Adler began his tenure with the Guild as an Associate General Counsel. His duties focused primarily on contract enforcement, but after he was promoted to executive within the organization, his responsibilities extended to handling grievances and arbitrations. In 1981, he was promoted to Assistant Western Executive Director and was given new responsibilities including serving as liaison to the Western AD/UPM Council and Western AD/SM/PA Council.
In 1998, he became Associate National Executive Director, the Guild’s second highest professional staff position. Throughout his 32 years of service, he participated in 11 Basic Agreement and FLTTA negotiation cycles and served as a trustee of the DGA Pension & Health Plans and Assistant Directors Training Program. He also worked as liaison to the Women’s Steering Committee, African American Steering Committee, and Latino Committee. Adler was responsible for negotiating the first diversity provisions in Guild history, now codified in Article 15 of the DGA Basic Agreement.