Alan M. Klinger

Alan Klinger, Stroock’s Co-Managing Partner and Chair of its Government Affairs and Regulatory Support Group, oversees the firm’s representation of clients that interact with the various levels of federal, state and city government. In this role, he leads the firm’s representation of public sector unions and employee benefits funds.  Formerly Co-Chair of the Litigation Group, he continues to  represents parties in complex civil litigation and has a proven track record of achieving successful results, whether through negotiation or litigation.

Alan provides outside counsel to, among others, the United Federation of Teachers, Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association, DC 37,  Council of School Supervisors & Administrators and New York City Employees Union Local 237 Funds. He also regularly represents the New York City Municipal Labor Committee, a consortium of the City’s municipal unions, in major litigation and amici curiae filings. Alan also acts as pro bono counsel to the Association of State Supreme Court Justices. His government relations work involves representing clients in administrative proceedings, health care and land use.

Alan has been recognized by Chambers USA as an authority in Labor & Employment for his leading role in the representation of public sector unions. He is nationally ranked in The Legal 500 and is perennially highly ranked in City & State’s “Law Power 100” and Benchmark Litigation has named him a “Labor & Employment and Litigation Star” since 2017. Long recognized by Best Lawyers for his work in multiple areas of litigation, including labor & employment, ERISA and land use & zoning, Alan has also been ranked in Super Lawyers. He is a frequent lecturer and co-author on issues relating to labor law and collective bargaining, along with attorney-client privilege/work product doctrine. He has also served as an adjunct professor of civil procedure.

“Alan Klinger is extremely knowledgeable in the law and able to effectively make cogent arguments in court, which are very persuasive. He makes complicated issues clear,” one source tells Chambers USA. “Alan is extremely experienced and politically savvy. He is truly an asset to have in a crisis,” another says. 

Alan is the recipient of the Anti-Defamation League’s Edward Brodsky Founder’s Award for the New York Region as well as having received the Lawyers Alliance for New York’s “Cornerstone Award” for outstanding pro bono legal service for his work on behalf of children. Alan is the Vice-Chair for the ADL's New York/New Jersey Region and Co-Chair of its Lawyers Division along with being a National Commissioner for its parent body.  He also serves as a trustee of the NYU School of Law Foundation, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Partnership with Children, Inc. 

• Employment Compliance Law
• Government Affairs
• Government Affairs & Regulatory Support
• Litigation
• Public Sector Unions & Benefits

Among his many successful cases, Alan has:

• On behalf of public employee unions, successfully arbitrated contract impasse proceedings before the New York State Public Employment Relations Board and the New York City Office of Collective Bargaining; prevailed against the City in “scoping” and contract enforcement proceedings; obtained a judgment against the City and related governmental entities to enforce statutorily mandated inspection and repair of public premises; successfully brought suit against retirement systems and governmental entities accomplishing change in the method for computation of retirement benefits; and submitted amicus briefs on behalf of labor unions in issues of national public import.
• On behalf of an educational institution, prevailed in litigation that allowed the school to take down buildings to construct a new law center in the face of challenges to government approval.
• On behalf of a hospital, enabled it to form a professional affiliation with a major hospital by defeating challenge of a rival hospital. As counsel to the hospital, successfully defended award of government contract to it.

• Chambers USA: New York: Labor & Employment
• Chambers USA: New York: Labor Relations: Spotlight Table
• Chambers New York: Labor & Employment 
• City & State, "Labor Power 100"
• City & State, "Law Power 100"
• City & State, “Law Power 50”
• City & State, “50 Over Fifty”
• Anti-Defamation League, Edward Brodsky Founder’s Award for the New York Region
• Lawyers Alliance, New York’s Cornerstone Award for outstanding pro bono legal service for work on behalf of Partnership with Children, Inc.
• The Legal 500, Nationally Recommended
• Benchmark Litigation, Litigation Star
• Best Lawyers, Labor & Employment, ERISA and Land Use & Zoning
• Super Lawyers, Labor and Employment law

• Honorary member, The Supreme Court Justices Association of the City of New York 
• Honorary member, The Association of the Justices of the State of New York
• Vice-Chair of New York/New Jersey Region & Co-Chair of Lawyers Division, Anti-Defamation League
• Member, 2022 Employment Authority Labor Editorial Board, Law360
• Member, 2021 Employment Editorial Board, Law360
• Member, Board of Trustees, New York University School of Law Foundation
• Trustee, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a non-partisan, non-profit organization created by President Kennedy that seeks to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice under law
• Member, New York University School of Law Center for Labor and Employment Law Advisory Board
• Member, National Commission, Anti-Defamation League
• Trustee, Partnership with Children, Inc., a not-for-profit entity that assists in strengthening the emotional, social and cognitive skills of at-risk children
• Member, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism Board of Directors
• Executive Committee, Lawyers Division, UJA Federation of New York
• Member, Board, New York University School of Law Alumni Association
• Former Chairman, Board of Trustees, New York State Higher Education Services Corp., an agency that assists students in paying for college, providing need-based grants, scholarships and loan guarantees

Alan is a frequent lecturer and co-author on issues relating to labor law and attorney-client privilege/work product doctrine.

• Co-author, "Practice Before the Commercial Division," Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts, Thomson West, Fifth Edition, September 2022
• Co-author, "Public Sector Unions Can Survive Janus," ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law, October 2020 
• Co-author, “Guidance Update: The CARES Act – Implications for Eligible Nonprofit Organizations,” Stroock Special Bulletin, April 8, 2020
• Co-author, "The CARES Act – Implications for Eligible Nonprofit Organizations,” Stroock Special Bulletin, March 30, 2020
• Co-author, "SDNY Deals Blow to Anti-Union Efforts in Fee Clawback Case," Stroock Special Bulletin, January 15, 2020
• Co-author, “Public Sector Pensions Under Attack,” New York Law Journal, November 7, 2016
• Co-author, “Practice Before the Commercial Division,” Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts, Thomson West, Third Edition, September 2013
• Co-author, “The Role Of Strategic Thinking In Legal Training,” New York Law Journal, April 22, 2013
• Co-author, “Employee-Friendly Labor Arbitration Awards Under Attack”; “Transit Workers Union Victorious: Regains Dues-Checkoff and Vindicates Free Speech Rights”; “Appellate Division, First Department: NYC Has No Automatic Right to Appeal from a TRO,” Stroock Special Bulletin, May 2009
• Co-author, “The Taylor Law At 40: Preparing For The Battle Over Reform”; “Garcetti v. Ceballos Two Years Later: How Are Public Employees Faring?” and “Trading First Amendment Rights For Dues Checkoff,” Stroock Special Bulletin, May 2008
• Co-author, “The United States Supreme Court Limits Public Employees’ First Amendment Speech Rights,” Stroock Special Bulletin, August 2006
• Co-author, “Recent Developments in Attorney-Client Privilege and Work Product Doctrine,” Civil Practice and Litigation Techniques in Federal and State Courts, ALI-ABA
• Co-editor, Stroock Reports: Public Employee Law, analyzing developments on issues of critical importance to public sector unions

New York

U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York; U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York; U.S. District Court, Western District of New York; U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey

U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit

U.S. Supreme Court

J.D., New York University School of Law, 1981; Editor-in-Chief, Moot Court Board, 1980–1981

A.B., magna cum laude, Princeton University, 1978

Clerk, Justice Sidney Schreiber, New Jersey Supreme Court