Kate Griffith

Dr. Kate Griffith is the Jean McKelvey-Alice Grant Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Diversity, and Faculty Development at Cornell’s ILR School. She holds an affiliate role as an associate member of the Cornell Law Faculty and is a Research Fellow at NYU’s Center for Labor & Employment Law. Her research focuses on the intersection of immigration and workplace law, particularly for low-wage workers. A co-author of the seminal textbook Labor Law: Cases, Materials, and Problems, she has been widely published in top journals like California Law Review and Law & Social Inquiry. Recognized nationally for teaching excellence, she received Cornell’s Stephen H. Weiss Junior Fellow award (2018) and multiple MacIntyre Awards for exemplary teaching.

Before academia, Griffith was a Skadden Fellow at the Workers’ Rights Law Center and a law clerk for Judge Rosemary Pooler of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Her legal education at NYU School of Law included distinguished scholarships (Root Tilden Public Interest, Sol D. Kapelsohn Prize) and global research as a Rotary and Fulbright Scholar in Mexico and El Salvador. Her work bridges labor law, immigration policy, and social justice, emphasizing marginalized workers’ rights.

Griffith’s recent scholarship critiques joint-employer liability frameworks, advocates for worker centers’ legal recognition, and examines immigration policy’s impact on labor markets. Her 2023 article Centering Race in Studies of Low-Wage Immigrant Labor highlights systemic racial inequities. She frequently contributes to policy debates, including critiques of DOL’s proposed joint-employer rules and defenses of worker-center legal rights.

• Education: J.D., NYU School of Law (cum laude, Root Tilden Scholar)
• Professional Activities: Research on labor migration, policy analysis of gig economy, and advocacy for immigrant worker protections

Her awards reflect both scholarly and pedagogical impact, including being named “Most Influential Faculty Member” by Merrill Presidential Scholars (four times). Griffith’s interdisciplinary approach integrates legal scholarship with practical advocacy, shaping modern labor law discourse.