To recognize excellence among law school students writing in the area of labor and employment law; and to cultivate the relationship between the Section and future labor and employment practitioners.
Dr. Emanuel Stein enjoyed an enviable national reputation as an outstanding labor arbitrator for more than 40 years and was a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators. Throughout his career he held to the highest ethical and professional standards, strongly believing that the parties wanted the arbitrator to “Call them as you see them, and let the chips fall where they may.”
He served as a public member of the Regional War Labor Board in New York during World War II and the Wage Stabilization Board during the Korean Conflict. Dr. Stein was appointed by President Kennedy to investigate the dispute between Trans World Airlines and its navigators and to a panel to resolve a longshoremen’s strike on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. He also served on various state panels, including one that investigated conditions at New York’s race tracks. He was on the panels of the American Arbitration Association, and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, as well as those of New York and New Jersey.
Dr. Stein’s first love, however, was for the classroom and for teaching a freshman economics course each semester. He taught at New York University, including its Law School, for 44 years, was Chair of its Economics Department from 1955-1967 and Executive Director of the Institute of Labor and Social Security from 1948-1962. He was honored by NYU with the title of Professor of Humanities. Popular with his students, he was an early recipient of the Alumni Federation’s “Great Teacher Award.”
Kenneth Stein, Dr. Emanuel Stein’s son, was an outstanding labor and employment lawyer in his own right until his untimely passing at the age of 65 in 2009. He was a name partner in Benetar, Isaacs, Bernstein, Schair & Stein, and in 2004 assumed the role of Managing Partner of the New York City office of Ford Harrison, which he helped open. An active member of the American, New York State and New York County Bar Associations, an author and columnist, and a highly respected leader in his firm (“a lawyer’s lawyer “), Kenneth Stein was honored with listings in “The Best Lawyers in America” and “Who’s Who in American Law.”
Presented by: Labor and Employment Law Section
Contact: Emily Kurtzner
Submission Deadline: November 30, 2023
Announcement of Winners and Presentation of Awards will be held at the Annual Section Meeting on Friday, January 19, 2024
Award Criteria: Articles must be original from the applicant. Submissions should focus on any timely, compelling aspect of labor and employment law. Only one submission per student.
All articles are to be submitted in the following format: a) submitted by email to [email protected]; b) double spaced; c) on 8-1/2 inch by 11 inch paper, 1 inch margins; d) no longer than 20 pages (exclusive of endnotes); e) citations are to conform to “A Uniform System of Citation” (The Bluebook).
If published by the Section, all articles submitted for the competition become the property of the Labor and Employment Law Section and the New York State Bar Association. No article submitted may be published in any journal or periodical other than the “New York State Bar Journal”, or the “Labor and Employment Law Section Newsletter”, until after announcement of the winner of this competition in January.
Students should include a cover letter with the entry stating your name, mailing address and phone number (both school and permanent), name of your school and year of graduation. Do not include your name or personal information on your paper.
Prize Awarded: 1st place: $3,000 and publication in Section newsletter. 2nd place: $2,000. 3rd place: $1,000.
Dr. Emanuel Stein and Kenneth D. Stein Memorial Writing Competition
New York State Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section 2021
First Place $3000: Taiyee Chien, The University of Chicago Law School
Second Place $2000: Trishala Dessai, American University Washington College of Law
Trishala Dessai
My name is Trish Dessai and I am a J.D candidate American University Washington College. I attended undergraduate at College of Industrial Labor Relations at Cornell University. Labor and employment law is a topic I have been passionate about since high school. My parents are both immigrants from India and have faced the traditional issues most immigrant workers are subject to such as: wage disparity, lack of workers’ benefits, and discrimination. Their experiences inspired me to pursue labor and employment law in order to remedy worker injustices. This summer I worked for Terri Gerstein of the Harvard Law School Labor and Worklife program to conduct research on the effect of the pandemic on gig-economy workers and nursing home workers. This research drove me to write a paper which aimed to cure the gig-economy misclassification conundrum by creating a portable workers’ benefits system. This fall, I am working as a judicial intern for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) where I am learning how to draft summary judgments on complex employment discrimination issues. I serve as a Senior Staffer on the American University’s Legislative Policy Brief and as a Junior Staffer on the Arbitration Brief. During my second year in law school, I am focusing on combining my love for labor and employment law with international law by concentrating on international arbitration, specifically on fair and equitable treatment provisions, and the impact it has on worker protections. My future goal is to work on projects which deal with international labor in relationship to international trade agreements as well.
Taiyee Chien
Taiyee Chien is a JD Candidate at the University of Chicago Law School. During his time in law school, Taiyee has served as a staff and online editor of the University of Chicago Law Review, and has volunteered with various pro bono legal clinics. After graduating from law school this summer, he will join the litigation department of the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Taiyee earned his undergraduate degree, with honors, from Princeton University.