Rosalind S. Fink
Of Counsel
Phone – (212) 753-5599
Fax – (212) 486-6587
Email – rozfink@igc.org
Email – rfink@brillmeisel.law
Rosalind Fink heads the employment practice at Brill & Meisel, representing both individuals and employers and writing and lecturing frequently on employment law, harassment and discrimination.
During her 24 years at Brill & Meisel, Ms. Fink has counseled over 1000 individuals or employers in employment-related disputes, representing many in negotiations and, if settlement was not possible, in subsequent litigation or arbitration. While most of her cases settle before trial (including Cronas v. Willis Grp. Holdings, Ltd. a class action which settled for over $14 million) she has had several notable victories, including Gallegos v. Elite Model Management. After an eight-week trial, the jury awarded Ms. Gallegos over $5.2 million in compensatory and punitive damages based on her employer’s failure to accommodate her asthma by eliminating secondhand smoke in the workplace, creating a hostile work environment, and terminating her when she complained.
From 1980 to 1994, Ms. Fink headed Columbia University’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action. While at Columbia, she also taught a colloquium at Barnard College, her alma mater, on civil rights and liberties.
After law school, Ms. Fink worked as an associate at Proskauer in the Litigation Department and in the Litigation Bureau of the New York State Department of Law, rising to the position of head of the Constitutional Litigation Group before leaving for Columbia.
EDUCATION
Yale Law School, J. D. awarded 1972
Barnard College, A.B. awarded 1968, magna cum laude with special honors in Government, Phi Beta Kappa
BAR ADMISSIONS
New York State courts
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
United States Supreme Court
HONORARY APPOINTMENTS
Departmental Disciplinary Committee of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, First Judicial Department, 1990 – 1995, 1999-2004; 2007-2012 (arm of the Court that disciplines lawyers).
Planning and Program Committee, Second Circuit Judicial Conference, 1998-2001
DACOWITS (Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services), appointed by the Secretary of the Navy, 1994-1997.
RECOGNITIONS
AV rating, Martindale-Hubbell
Annually chosen as one of the New York Area=s Best Lawyers, New York Magazine and New York Law Journal
Annually chosen as a New York Area Super Lawyer, New York Times Magazine
Annually chosen as a Super Lawyer, New York Times Magazine
Inducted into the Academy of Women Achievers of the YWCA of the City of New York, 1997
Brill & Meisel is annually recognized as among the Best Law Firms in New York City for employment law by US News & World Report.
BAR AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES (selected)
New York County Lawyers’ Association
President, 1997-1998 (first woman president)
Recipient, Boris Kostelanetz President’s medal
Chair, William Nelson Cromwell Committee
Co-chair, Task Force on Judicial Selection
Recipient, Conspicuous Service Award
New York City Bar Association
Education Committee, 1985 – 1988
Civil Rights Committee, 1980 – 1983
New York Inn of Court (affiliated with Citibar)
President, 2010-2011
ABA Back to Business Law
Chair, Ad Hoc Committee on Back to Business Law, 2005-2008
Member, New York Advisory Board, 2005-2008
ABA Direct Women
Member, Advisory Board, 2006-2008
New York State Bar Association
Fellow
Member, House of Delegates, 1991–2008; 2011-2012
Association of Yale Alumni
Representative from the Yale Law School Alumni Association, 1996-1999, 2003-2006, 2012-2015
Yale Law School Alumni Association
Executive Committee, 1996-1999; 2012-2015
RECENT ARTICLES, SPEECHES AND PRESENTATIONS
Panelist, “Impactful Attorneys,” Yale University, April 7, 2018
“Bar NDAs? Not So Fast Please!,” co-author with Shira Scheindlin, New York Law Journal, April 3, 2018
Panelist, “Challenges in the World of #MeToo: Reacting Quickly and Responsibly, Stroock Government Leadership Forum, March 20, 2018
Panelist, “#MeToo and Harassment in the Workplace: A Roundtable Discussion,” Asian American Bar Association of New York and South Asian Bar Association, March 15, 2018
Panelist, “Non-compete Agreements in Employment Contracts,” 2017 Judicial Summer Seminars for judges of the Commercial Division courts throughout New York State
Co-author of chapter on AEmployment, Consulting, and Severance Agreements,@ Commercial Contracts, Strategies for Drafting and Negotiating, (Rossman & Moskin eds., 2d ed. 2013), with annual updates.
Presentation and outline on “Minimizing the Risks of Lawsuits When Terminating Employees,” class on “Competitive Strategy and the Internal Organization of the Firm” at the Yale School of Management, February, 2014
Presentation and outline offering “Some Guidance When It’s Time for a Change” at the October, 2011 conference of the Senior Lawyers’ Section of the New York State Bar Association.
Presentation on AMastering the Complex Art of Negotiating for Women@ and handout entitled AKey Provisions in Private Practice or Institutional Contracts,@ Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, November, 2010.