Beth M. Margolis

Beth Margolis has been a partner at Gladstein, Reif & Meginniss since 1991 and represents unions and employees across the transportation, healthcare, and higher education sectors. She negotiates collective bargaining agreements, advises union officers on governance and day-to-day operational issues, and litigates on behalf of unions in state and federal courts, before administrative tribunals, and in arbitration.

Her higher education practice is especially notable. Ms. Margolis has advised numerous faculty associations on governance procedures, revisions to faculty handbooks, and disciplinary hearings. She has also represented individual professors in tenure, promotion, and disciplinary matters at academic institutions across the Northeast. She served as architect and trial counsel in the precedent-setting case brought on behalf of the faculty, alumni, and students of Adelphi University, which led to the removal of nearly the entire Board of Trustees for breach of fiduciary duty. This landmark case remains a defining moment in higher education governance law.

Ms. Margolis has also litigated significant wage and hour cases on behalf of groups of workers in industries ranging from construction and restaurants to nuclear power plants. In her individual practice, she has represented employees in discrimination cases involving age, sex, and gender identity, and has negotiated numerous employment contracts and severance agreements, achieving favorable outcomes for her clients.

Beyond her litigation work, Ms. Margolis frequently lectures at labor and employment law conferences and speaks at law schools on issues of workers’ rights, governance, and faculty representation. Her contributions to both practice and scholarship make her a respected voice in the labor and higher education fields.

Before joining Gladstein, Reif & Meginniss, Ms. Margolis clerked for the Honorable Dickinson R. Debevoise in the U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, practiced as an associate at Rabinowitz, Boudin & Standard, and taught at New York University School of Law.