Our Notable Alumni

New York Law School alumni are accomplished leaders in every field touched by the law. Some of our most distinguished graduates include:

Judges and Justices

• Hon. John Marshall Harlan ’24, United States Supreme Court Justice
• Hon. Nicholas Tsoucalas ’51, Senior Judge, U.S. Court of International Trade
• Hon. Roger J. Miner ’56, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• Hon. Judith Sheindlin ’65 (“Judge Judy”), New York family court judge, author, and TV personality

Founders of Prominent Law Firms

• Henry Hurlbut Abbott, Class of 1895, of Whitman Breed Abbott & Morgan LLC
• Albert Milbank, Class of 1898, of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP
• William Parke, Class of 1902, of Chadbourne & Parke LLP
• Alfred Mudge, Class of 1905, of Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander
• Alfred Rose, Class of 1910, of Proskauer Rose LLP
• Jacob Scholer, Class of 1910, of Kaye Scholer LLP
• Edwin Sunderland ’13 of Davis, Polk, Wardwell, Sunderland & Kiendl
• Arthur N. Abbey ’59 of Abbey Spanier Rodd & Abrams, LLP
• Steven E. Pegalis ’65 and Stephen E. Erickson ’78 of Pegalis & Erickson, LLC

Government Leaders

• Bainbridge Colby, Class of 1892, Secretary of State under President Wilson
• Mayors of New York City: John F. Hylan, Class of 1897; John Purroy Mitchel, Class of 1901; James J. Walker, Class of 1905
• Robert F. Wagner, Class of 1900, U.S. Senator from New York, 1927 to 1949; author of the National Labor Relations Act
• Kathleen Grimm ’80, Deputy Chancellor for Finance and Administration, New York City Department of Education

Corporate Leaders

• Maurice R. Greenberg ’50, former Chairman and CEO of American International Group (AIG); current Chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr and Co., Inc.
• Zygmunt Wilf ’74, principal owner of the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL
• Kenneth D. Werner ’78, President of Warner Brothers Domestic Television Distribution
• Charles E. Phillips Jr. ’93, President of Oracle, the world’s largest enterprise software company

Pioneers

• Conrad A. Johnson ’13, an immigrant from Barbados who became the first black Republican alderman in New York City
• James S. Watson ’13, a judge and the first African American admitted to membership in the American Bar Association
• Hon. Emilio Nuñez ’27, the first Latino judge in New York City
• Barbara M. Watson ’62, daughter of James S. Watson (above), U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia, the first female assistant secretary of state of the United States

Pulitzer Prize Winners

• Wallace Stevens, Class of 1903, Poet
• Elmer Rice ’12, Playwright

Inventors

• Chester Carlson ’39, inventor of the xerography photocopy process
• Richard E. LaMotta ’75, inventor of the Chipwich ice-cream sandwich; Founder, myStudentBiz Inc