Separate Donation Made to Support NYLS’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program and Establish Annual Edelman and Townley Lecture
New York Law School (NYLS) is proud to announce a new scholarship established by Howard C. Edelman ’82 and Rosemary A. Townley, Ph.D. (’91 Brooklyn Law School), which will support students in NYLS Pro, the part-time evening division program, who have an interest in a labor and employment law career.
Edelman and Townley are labor and employment law arbitrators and mediators who graduated from their respective schools through the evening law programs and appreciate the responsibilities and challenges of part-time evening division students. They want to ensure these students have opportunities to launch fulfilling and important careers in labor and employment law, including mediation. The support provided by Edelman and Townley will help those students who work full-time while attending NYLS.
In addition, Edelman and Townley have made a separate donation to support NYLS’s nationally recognized Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program, a cutting-edge area of practice that continues to rapidly grow. This includes establishing an annual Edelman and Townley Lecture, featuring preeminent ADR leaders. The first will take place at NYLS on September 18, 2024, at 5:30 p.m., presenting Monu Singh, Deputy Chair of Dispute Resolution for the New York City Office of Collective Bargaining.
“Howard and Rosemary are pre-eminent in the field of non-judicial dispute resolution. We are not just grateful but privileged to be the recipient of their generosity. We look forward to the first Edelman Lecture,” said F. Peter Phillips ’87, Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Law and Director of NYLS’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Skills Program.
Howard Edelman has been a labor and employment law arbitrator since 1982. He has presided over 6,000 hearings during that time. He serves as a permanent arbitrator in over 100 collective bargaining agreements, including Consolidated Edison and Utility workers, New York City Department of Education and District Council 37, Nassau County and Civil Service Employees Association, National Grid, and Transport Workers Union, and Baumann Bus Company and Teamsters.
Rosemary Townley is the Principal of Townley ADR and has been a full-time independent arbitrator-mediator for the past 30 years. She is a member of various arbitration panels of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) including Class Actions, Commercial, Employment, Individually Negotiated Employment Contracts, Large, Complex Cases and Commercial Disputes. She is a member of the three-person NYS Public Employment Relations Board and Past Chair of the Labor and Employment Section of the NYS Bar Association. She has also accepted cases, both as a solo arbitrator and as a panel member, from the AAA International Centre on Dispute Resolution.