Photo by Daniel D’Ottavio

Susan Davis

Partner and Chair of the Firm's Management Committee

Ms. Davis has more than 40 years of experience in the representation of national, regional and local labor unions in all aspects of collective bargaining, litigation, mergers and affiliations, organizing, strategic planning and internal union governance. She currently serves as general or lead outside counsel to unions in the entertainment, sports, health care and public sector arenas. She also serves as the parliamentarian at many of her clients’ governing body meetings and Conventions. As Chair of Cohen, Weiss and Simon’s Management Committee, Ms. Davis has helped shape the firm’s culture and direction. She is skilled in assisting clients with addressing complex strategic, structural, and legal issues. Ms. Davis is a highly skilled negotiator who has committed her career to seeking economic justice for and empowering the members of the unions she represents.

Prior to joining Cohen, Weiss and Simon LLP, Ms. Davis was a clerk for the Honorable Constance Baker Motley in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Ms. Davis is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, a member and former co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Section on Labor and Employment Law Committee on Practice and Procedure under the National Labor Relations Act, and a former member of the Council of the American Arbitration Association. She serves on the AFL-CIO Lawyers Advisory Panel, the Board of Directors of the AFL-CIO Union Lawyers Alliance, and is an Advisory Board Member of both the Cornell University ILR School and the Center for Labor and Employment Law at NYU School of Law. Ms. Davis has been named repeatedly as a Super Lawyer for Employment and Labor Law, one of the Top Women Attorneys in the Metropolitan New York, and a New York Metro Super Lawyer. Ms. Davis was a 2013 Peggy Browning Fund Honoree.

Ms. Davis has written for and lectured extensively at bar association, attorney and union meetings on a wide variety of issues facing unions and their members.

Ms. Davis graduated with honors from the University of California at Berkeley in 1976. She received a law degree with high honors from Rutgers University in 1981, winning the West Publishing Company’s annual jurisprudence award and leading the Rutgers moot court team to the American Bar Association’s national moot court finals.

Practice Areas

Ms. Davis has extensive experience in complex collective bargaining negotiations, union mergers, union restructuring and governance matters, internal union elections and related U.S. Department of Labor investigations. Ms. Davis is a registered parliamentarian and serves as such for her union clients at executive board meetings and conventions. Ms. Davis also represents her union clients as employers in a wide variety of workplace issues.

Education

Rutgers–Newark University Law School, J.D., with high honors
University of California at Berkeley, A.B., with high honors

Bar Admissions

New York
New Jersey
Not Admitted in California

Court Admissions

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
Supreme Court of New York State, Appellate Division, First Department

My Philosophy

I am proud to have spent the last four decades representing and fighting for unions in a broad range of industries. I look forward to continuing to use my expertise to empower and assist my clients with all their needs.

Awards and Recognition

Named repeatedly as a Super Lawyer for Employment and Labor Law
One of the Top Women Attorneys in the Metropolitan New York
New York Metro Super Lawyer
2013 Peggy Browning Fund Honoree
Won the West Publishing Company’s annual jurisprudence award

Industry Affiliations

Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
A member and former co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Section on Labor and Employment Law Committee on Practice and Procedure under the National Labor Relations Act
Former member of the Council of the American Arbitration Association
AFL-CIO Lawyers Advisory Panel
AFL-CIO Union Layers Alliance Board of Directors
Cornell University ILR School Advisory Board

Representative Highlights

Ms. Davis recently represented her union clients as the lead or co-lead negotiator in negotiations with the New York Philharmonic, the New York Metropolitan Opera, and the Broadway League,.

Ms. Davis previously represented union clients in negotiations in the motion picture, television, health care, and transportation industries, as well as in public sector bargaining with the City of New York. Ms. Davis played a key role in the merger of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, as well as the merger of the United American Nurses and the California Nurses Association.

Off the Clock

In her free time
Ms. Davis enjoys hiking, biking, reading, cooking, and pickleball.