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Rosalyn Heather Richter

  • Adjunct Professor of Law

Rosalyn Richter has her own mediation and litigation practice.  She also has an active pro bono caseload including serving as counsel on cases for clients of Sanctuary for Families.  For thirty years she was a judge in the NYS court system, and her last appointment was as an Associate Justice in the Appellate Division First Department.  She also was a senior counsel at Arnold & Porter from October 2020 to November 2023. 

Prior to becoming a judge, Ms. Richter was Executive Director and a staff attorney at Lambda Legal Defense Fund, an appellate prosecutor and an administrative law judge. She has served and continues to serve on committees in the NYS Court System including the NYS Courts Advisory Committee on Access for People with Disabilities, a committee she chaired for decades.  She is a member of the judicial screening committee for the NY Court of Claims. 

Her work and achievements have been recognized by many bar associations including the International Association of LGBTQ Judges, the National LGBTQ Bar Association, the NY Law Journal (lifetime achievement award), the NYC Bar Association, the NYS Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers Association, the NY Women’s Bar Association and the Jewish Lawyers Guild.

Ms. Richter has taught a seminar at Columbia Law on Access to Justice, in addition to the externship she teaches with Sanctuary for Families.  Prior to teaching at Columbia, she taught at Brooklyn Law School and New York Law School.  She has lectured at conferences across the United States, including judicial training programs, on diversity, domestic violence, disability issues, jury selection, LGBTQ family law and ADR. 

She is a graduate of Barnard College, class of 1976, and Brooklyn Law School, class of 1979.