Biography
Susan Ritz is a partner in the Manhattan law firm of Ritz Clark & Ben-Asher LLP. Ms. Ritz handles all forms of employment-related matters, including advising employees and partners regarding their rights, duties and entitlement to benefits; handling contract, severance agreement and partnership dispute negotiations; and representing employees and partners in negotiations, mediations, administrative proceedings, arbitrations and lawsuits encompassing a full panoply of employment-related issues, with special emphasis on claims of unlawful harassment, retaliation and employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, gender, national origin, age, disability, religion, marital status, sexual orientation and other protected classes.
Ms. Ritz provides neutral mediation services, and conducts impartial internal investigations on behalf of employers into alleged discriminatory conduct. She also advises non-profits and small employers on employment-related issues, reviews and revises Staff Manuals for employers, and represents employers in contract and severance negotiations. She offers harassment and discrimination prevention training to management and employees, as well.
Ms. Ritz has received many accolades, including The Best Lawyers in America (every year beginning 1995), Super Lawyers (every year beginning 2006) and Lawdragon 500. She is rated AV by Martindale Hubbell and was selected for its 2011 Inaugural Edition of the Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers. AVVO.com gives her a rating of ten out of ten. She is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a Senior Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, and was a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers from 2012 - 2022. Ms. Ritz has published articles and lectured widely, including for the National Employment Lawyers Association/NY, Practising Law Institute, ALI-CLE, American Bar Association, College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, New York State Bar Association, New York City Bar Association and at CUNY School of Law. She serves as a pro bono mediator for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Before beginning her law practice, Ms. Ritz served as the law clerk to New York Supreme Court Justice Kristin Booth Glen. Ms. Ritz graduated cum laude from New York University School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden Scholar and a member of the Order of the Coif. She graduated from Brown University with an Honors B.A. in Ethics and Political Philosophy. Ms. Ritz is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts of the state of New York, the Second Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.