David Ross

  • Lecturer in Law

David Ross is a lecturer at Columbia Law School, where he teaches negotiation theory and skills. He has previously taught and lectured on mediation and arbitration at New York University School of Law, Cornell University School of Labor/Industrial Relations, Brooklyn Law School, and Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He is a former member of the National ADR Training Faculty of Pepperdine University School of Law based in Malibu, Calif. He has trained lawyers for the New York City Bar Association, Électricité de France, American Corporate Counsel Association, United States Attorney General’s Office, American Bar Association, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Practicing Law Institute, and law firms throughout the country. Ross has conducted training sessions for public and private organizations, including United Airlines, the McGraw-Hill Companies, Cosmair, American International Group, Inc., and the Rainforest Alliance.

An active mediator for 20 years, Ross has successfully resolved hundreds of two-party and multiparty disputes. Recognized as a leading employment mediator, Ross has mediated all types of employment cases, including class-action lawsuits, with issues involving allegations of harassment and discrimination based on age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, and race. Ross also has experience resolving commercial, construction, environmental, franchise, partnership dissolution, personal injury, and securities cases. Prior to becoming a full-time trainer and mediator, he was a civil litigator at the New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

Ross has authored several articles on alternative dispute resolution, including “Strategic Considerations in Choosing a Mediator”, in the Employment Dispute Resolution Journal, 2000, “The Role of Feelings in Mediation” in Dispute Resolution Alert, February 2011, and "Advanced Negotiation Skills for Lawyers", ABA Press, 2013. He also served as an editor for a leading textbook on negotiation Beyond Winning: Negotiating to Create Value in Deals and Disputes, Harvard University Press, 2000.

He earned his J.D. from NYU Law School and his LL.M. from Columbia Law School. Ross earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia, during which time he spent one year as a visiting scholar at Cambridge University in England.