Linda Gerstel

Adjunct Professor of Law

Linda Gerstel, Esq. MCIArb, is a full- time arbitrator and mediator at GerstelAdr P.L.L.C. and teaches in the area of Alternative Dispute Resolution. Prior to establishing her practice as a neutral, she was a commercial litigator at Anderson Kill.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

She serves as a mediator on a number of court mediation panels, including, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals Mediation Panel, the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York where she mediates employment and breach of contracts matters. She was a member of the Mediators Advisory Committee of the Southern District of New York (2016-2018), a Committee which enhances and develops court mediation programs and mentors and evaluates new mediators. She also serves on mediation panels in New York State Supreme Court and Bankruptcy Court. She is on the International Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR) Panel of Distinguished Neutrals and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (London). She also serves on the American Arbitration Association Complex Commercial Case Panel and served on the AAA Super Storm Sandy Mediation Panel. She is on the FINRA Arbitration Panel. She was a mediator for the Parish Transition Team of the Archdiocese of New York. She is a founding member of the ADR Inclusion Network of the Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution organized by the New York State Unified Court Systems and the New York Regional Chair of Women In Dispute Resolution.

She is an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University Law School (2013-Present) teaching Lawyers as Facilitators and previously, ADR in Africa.  She has been a panelist in the field of ADR Diversity and has taught webinars on Mediation Advocacy and the Fundamentals of Mediating and Arbitrating Intellectual Property Claims. (Fundamentals of Arbitrating and Mediating Intellectual Property Claims, Clear Line Institute (2019) Mediation Advocacy: Skills and Best Practices for Putting Aside Your Trial Gloves, Clear Law Institute (2018); Bridge the Gap, Skills and Best Practices Mediation Advocacy, Lawline, New York Law School (2017)). She was a Clinic Faculty Instructor in Arbitration at Catholic University in Ghana and the Marian Dispute Resolution Centre (Summer 2013). Previously, she was an Adjunct Professor at Baruch College

Litigation

As a litigator, Ms. Gerstel represented clients in a broad variety of practice areas including, contractual disputes, employment and partnership issues, real estate litigation, trusts and estates litigation, creditor's rights, insurance coverage litigation, as well as class action litigation. Ms. Gerstel has also acted as a general counsel to middle market companies and non-profit institutions advising clients on a broad range of business law issues. In noteworthy litigation, Ms. Gerstel has represented plaintiff Holocaust survivors in a landmark class action lawsuit against European insurance companies seeking proceeds of life insurance policies purchased between 1920 and 1945. In addition, Ms. Gerstel was involved in other class actions against German and Austrian enterprises including banks involving claims of forced labor and confiscation of property. She has also represented claimants in litigation against a major oil company in connection with violations of human rights in the Sudan.

Awards and Honors

Ms. Gerstel is rated "AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated," the top rating, by her peers as listed in Martindale Hubbell; New York Women Leaders in Law 2012-Present); (American Law Media); Top Lawyers of New York Area 2012-2015 (New York Magazine); Women Leaders in the Law, Fortune Magazine’s Most Powerful Women in Business (September, 2015).

Pro Bono

Ms. Gerstel has served as pro bono counsel to a number of organizations, including, the New York Center for Law & Justice, Anti-Defamation League, The Fresh Air Fund and Sharsheret.

Publications

General Counsel Guidelines for Navigating in the World of Virtual ADR , Inside , NYSBA(upcoming, Summer 2020); Don't Let a Crisis Go To Waste: Time To Explore Expansion of ODR for ADR, New York Law Journal ( March 17, 2020); Is It A New Era For Arbitrator Disclosures For Repeat Players ?, New York Law Journal (February 5, 2020); Stop ADR Diversity From Falling Through The Cracks: A Checklist Manifesto for General Counsel , Inside, NYSBA , (Summer 2019); Building A Safe Place for Mediation in Arbitration Proceedings , New York Law Journal, (August 5, 2019); The Role of Arbitration Counsel in Ensuring Legitimacy and Efficiency, ( Co- Author with John Feerick), New York Law Journal, ( May 29, 2019); RBG and Jay Z : A Twelve Step Recovery Plan for Increasing Diversity in ADR, New York Law Journal ( January 25, 2019); Blurred Lines: Rethinking the Issues of Consent by Non-Signatories, New York Law Journal (August 3, 2018); The Underutilization of Mediation in New York and What Should be Done About It? NY Dispute Resolution Lawyer (Co- Author with John Feerick,) (Fall 2018); Arbitration Provisions in Loan Agreements: Can a Lender Have Its Cake and Eat it Too? The Secured Lender (December 1996)

Press

• Holocaust Era Insurance Claims; Legislative, Judicial and Executive Remedies, Holocaust Restitution: Perspectives on Litigation & its Legacy, NYU Press (2006);
• U.S. Regulators Enter Holocaust Fray, Wall Street Journal Europe (December 12, 2007);
• Court Rejects Law Designed to Help Holocaust Survivors, NY Times (June 24,2003);
• Court Pressed to Clarify Claims on Lost Policies, Business Insurance (April 17, 2000);
• Settling Accounts, Working Women (February 1, 1999);
• German Group to Investigate Claims of Nazi Victims, New York Times (April 11, 1997);
• Settling Accounts, Working Women (February 1999);
• U.S. Regulators Enter Holocaust Fray, Wall Street Journal Europe (December 12, 1997);
• German Group to Investigate Claims of Nazi Victims, New York Times (April 11, 1997).

Memberships and Bar Admissions: Connecticut and New York Bar Associations

Education Temple University School of Law, JD; Barnard College, magna cum laude, Columbia University, Political Science, BA

Mailing Address