Richard R. Rowley, Attorney

Richard R. Rowley serves as Senior Counsel at Cooper Erving & Savage LLP, where he concentrates his practice in the fields of elder law, labor and employment, securities and investment fraud, and litigation.  Mr. Rowley has been acknowledged in the Best Lawyers in America annually for over 20 years.

Mr. Rowley's illustrious career coincided with the development of New York's Taylor Law, which regulates the relationship between State governmental entities, including municipalities.  He represented many of the State leading public sector labor unions in the course of defining the rights and responsibilities of labor under the Taylor Law.  He is a member of the American Arbitration Association's Upstate New York Advisory Council.  Mr. Rowley served in the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps, attaining the rank of Captain.

Some of his reported decisions are as follows:

• Association of Surrogates & Supreme Court Reporters v. State, 79 N.Y.2d 39 (1992) (finding the State could not postpone the employees' pay under the Contracts Clause and the continuing benefits provision of N.Y. Civ. Serv. Law 209-a(1)(e)).
• Auburn Police Local 195 v. Helsby, 46 N.Y.2d 1034 (1979) (affirming Supreme Court's annulment of a determination of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) which held that demands relating to discipline were prohibited subjects of negotiation by public employers).
• E. Ramapo Cent. Sch. Dist. v. E. Ramapo Teachers Ass'n, 69 N.Y.2d 630 (1986) (upholding arbitration award as being within parameters of public policy because additional compensation awarded was not a gift but an allowance for extra work performed).
• Heslin v. Cohoes, 53 N.Y.2d 903 (1981) (finding arbitration award contravened public policy insofar as the Civil Service Law prevented the City from bargaining away its authority to make provisional appointments).
• King v. Carey, 57 N.Y.2d 505 (1982) (the State was barred from making payroll deductions as penalties against the employees for an illegal strike past the statutory limit of 90 days).
• McDermott v. Regan, 82 N.Y.2d 354 (1993) (law changing the method of funding the employees' pension plan was unconstitutional because it altered the funding of benefits before they accrued).
• Morris v. Department of Correctional Servs., 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1704 (N.D.N.Y Jan. 17, 1995) (finding employee failed to show defendants' proffered reason was merely a pretext for discrimination).
• Rigby v. Coughlin, 730 F. Supp. 1196 (N.D.N.Y 1990) (granting the Unions' motion to dismiss because plaintiff failed to point out any deficient actions taken by the Unions).
• Weinbrown v. Board of Education, 28 N.Y.2d 474 (1971) (holding that after a teacher accepted the offer of tenure, it was complete and could not be revoked by the Board of Education).
• In re Williams' Will, 24 Misc. 2d 774 (N.Y. Sur. Ct. 1959) (finding decedent intended the remainder of the trust to vest at once in his three sons with the enjoyment thereof to be postponed).