The National Law Journal has named Fordham Law Professor Jennifer Gordon one of 75 ‘Outstanding Women Lawyers,’ female legal professionals who represent excellence in private practice, corporate counsel work, public interest law, legal education, and the judiciary. Gordon’s profile ran as follows:
Jennifer Gordon champions low-wage workers. The International Labor Organization of the United Nations plans a spring release for her report about combating human trafficking, “Global Labour Recruitment in a Supply Chain Context.” She’s helping a Mexican human rights organization develop a pilot program to protect guest workers in the United States. In 1992, she founded the nonprofit Workplace Project in Hempstead, New York. It helped pass a 2007 New York state law boosting penalties for unpaid wages. Her 2005 book, “Suburban Sweatshops: The Fight for Immigrant Rights,” crystallized her theories. Gordon has taught immigration and labor law at Fordham University School of Law since 2003.
Gordon has worked in the field of immigrant rights since the 1980s, when she served as an advocate and organizer for Central American refugees at an organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts, called Centro Presente. In the the 90s, during her tenure as founder and Executive Director at the Workplace Project, Gordon led a successful legal campaign that made New York State wage enforcement law the strongest in the country.
Gordon has received a MacArthur Fellowship and an Open Society Fellowship. She was named Fordham Law’s Teacher of the Year in 2008 and Public Interest Professor of the Year in 2011. She teaches Legislation and Regulation, Immigration Law, and Labor Law as well as advanced seminars on labor, employment, and immigration issues.