Patricia Gatling
Director
Patricia L. Gatling is an attorney with a career spanning the public and private sectors. Her current practice focuses on transportation law, employment law and employee benefits, government relations, litigation, alternative dispute resolution and general corporate matters. As a member of the Transportation Practice Group for current firm, Windels Marx, Ms. Gatling applies her formidable credentials pertaining to access issues, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and state and local human rights laws on behalf of clients seeking wheelchair accessibility, compliance and regulatory strategy, and general corporate advice. Prior to joining Windels Marx as Counsel, Ms. Gatling served as Commissioner of the New York City Human Rights Commission and Chairperson of its 15-member board (2002 to 2015), appointed by Mayor Bloomberg and serving under Mayor de Blasio. The New York City Human Rights Commission enforces the strongest anti-discrimination laws in the country, protecting numerous classes of individuals in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodations. As the Commissioner, she managed a mayoral agency comprised of attorneys and human rights specialists with a budget of $12 million dollars.
Ms. Gatling served as the Deputy Secretary for Civil Rights under New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. She oversaw the operations of the Department of Civil Service, the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations, the Division of Veterans Affairs, the Division of Human Rights, and the Public Employee Relations Board. Ms. Gatling was responsible for a full range of legal, policy, legislative and operational matters affecting civil / human rights and labor issues statewide.
Ms. Gatling is the former First Assistant District Attorney at the Kings County District Attorneys office (Brooklyn, New York) the third largest office in the country. There she managed the legal and administrative operations of an office comprised of 1500 law enforcement professionals.
Ms. Gatling was a Special Assistant Attorney General at The Office to Investigate the New York City Criminal Justice System. While there, she litigated and investigated corruption cases involving public officials, police officers, judges, and corrections officers, specializing in the prosecution of police brutality and death-in-custody cases.
Ms. Gatling worked as a Senior Trainer with John Jay College of Criminal Justice, as part of the U.S. State Department’s International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA). She taught approximately 1,000 senior law enforcement officials from over 100 countries “Human Rights, Human Dignity and the Law” in Botswana, Thailand, Hungary and the Dubai Police Academy in the United Arab Emirates.
She has been a guest at law firms, U.S. companies, foreign governments and academic institutions, speaking / lecturing on issues including diversity and inclusion in employment law, disability access, the U.S. criminal justice system, human rights and security, indigenous peoples rights, public health and civil rights. Ms. Gatling was co-producer of the film, Fighting for Justice: New York Voices of the Civil Rights Movement. She has published articles on criminal prosecution, diversity and inclusion and human rights and security. She also served on the New York City Charter Revision Commission.
Ms. Gatling is currently a member the International Association of Prosecutors and the National Black Prosecutors Association (President – 1994). She is a member of the University of Maryland Francis King Cary School of Law Board of Visitors and the Board of Trustees for the New York Lawyer’s Fund for Client Protection.
