Deborah Karpatkin - Adjunct Professor of Law

Deborah Karpatkin has taught Employment Discrimination Law at Touro Law Center since 2018.  

A New York City-based solo practitioner, Deborah Karpatkin serves clients in a wide range of litigation and transactional workplace matters. Her diverse clients include individuals and small business owners, executives and lower-wage workers, and professionals in health care, law, journalism, and faith-based organizations. Her clients work in corporations, small businesses, and non-profit organizations; the military and the government; technology and finance; and academia and the media.  Her practice areas include administrative proceedings, mediation, arbitration, and trial and appellate work, on issues of discrimination, retaliation, breach of contract, and other workplace-related legal claims. 

Ms. Karpatkin is a trusted advisor to her colleagues and to nonprofit organizations. After nine years on the board of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), where she served as Treasurer and Vice President for Affiliates, she is now a director for NELA’s National Institute for Workers’ Rights. She served for many years on the board of NELA/NY and currently serves on its Legislative Committee. She is co-General Counsel to the New York Civil Liberties Union (ACLU of New York) and serves on the NYC Bar Association’s Sex and Law Committees. 

A graduate of Columbia Law School, Ms. Karpatkin is a frequent presenter at national and local programs on workplace law and military conscientious objector law.  She has published articles on Conscientious Objector law, discharge upgrades for military veterans, the male-only draft registration, and on the applicability of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to the rights of military conscientious objectors.