Dina Kolker

Dina Kolker focuses primarily on public sector labor relations and commercial litigation, working with some of New York City's largest public employee unions. She also has experience with complex commercial litigation on behalf of commercial and labor clients. Ms. Kolker has represented clients in negotiations, arbitrations, administrative proceedings and litigation in a variety of areas in both state and federal court, including labor, employment, contract, pension issues, and constitutional rights. She has been involved in various collective bargaining-related matters, including binding and non-binding contract arbitration pursuant to the Taylor Law and related court proceedings. Ms. Kolker also contributes to Stroock's Public Employee Law Reports bulletins.

• Government Affairs
• Litigation
• Public Sector Unions

Representative matters in which Ms. Kolker has been involved include:

• Representing one of the City's largest municipal union in contract arbitrations and related mediation and administrative proceedings;
• Representing the municipal union umbrella organization in various health benefits and collective bargaining related matters;
• Successfully representing a coalition of unions, community groups, parents and elected officials in challenging the improper closure of schools in violation of provisions of the State Education law;
• Representing a class of some 48,000 current and former public employees and their unions challenging systemic inaccuracies in the calculation of pension benefits amounting to more than $160 million over the course of decades; and
• Successfully representing a municipal union in its contract arbitration seeking to enforce contractual workplace assignment seniority rules in the context of the unprecedented influx of demoted long-time managerial staff.

• Recognized by Chambers New York for Labor & Employment: Up and Coming
• Recognized as "Law Power 100" by City & State 2021
• Received a 2020 Law360 Distinguished Legal Writing Award from The Burton Awards, a nonprofit program associated with the Library of Congress
• Recognized as a “Future Star” by Benchmark Litigation for 2017 and as a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” for 2013-16
• Featured in The New York Times Magazine as one of the top women lawyers in New York State, as recognized by Super Lawyers magazine in its 2013 New York Metro Super Lawyers and “Rising Stars” lists
• Recommended by The Legal 500 United States

• 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
• Member, The Association of the Bar of the City of New York
• Member, New York County Lawyers' Association

• Speaker, “Janus & Beyond: The Future of Public Workers,” The Murphy Institute for Labor Education and CUNY School of Professional Studies, New York, NY, July 26, 2018
• Speaker, The Janus Workshop at The Worker Institute, New York, NY, May 24, 2018
• Panelist, “The Future of Labor and Public Employment: Implications of Janus v. AFSCME, Part 2,” New York, NY, April 19, 2018
• Speaker, “Labor Relations & Employment Law Committee Meeting,” NYCLA, New York, NY, December 7, 2017

• Co-author, "Public Sector Unions Can Survive Janus," ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law, October 2020 
• Co-author, “A Legislative Storm Is Brewing Over NYC 'Rainy Day' Fund,” Law360, March 4, 2020
• “For Public Employees, Speech Is Free, But Is Anyone Listening?” Employee Relations Law Journal, May 2019
• Co-editor, Stroock Reports: Public Employee Law, analyzing developments on issues relevant 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. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit

J.D., cum laude, University of Pennsylvania Law School, 2003

B.S., Cornell University, 2000; Industrial and Labor Relations

Law Clerk, The Hon. Brian M. Cogan, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, 2006-2007