See all the Homecoming weekend events.<\/a><\/aside><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\u00a0When Amy Rosenberger \u201985<\/strong> received word she was the recipient of the Alum of the Year Award for 2022, she thought she had misread the letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cI had to read it twice,\u201d said Rosenberger, who graduated with a BA in English and minors in sociology and theater arts. \u201cI never expected to receive such an honor, and when I think of those who\u2019ve been named in prior years, it\u2019s more than a bit overwhelming .\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She may have been incredulous about receiving EMU\u2019s honor, but members of the selection committee were not. They, along with Rosenberger\u2019s colleagues, clients, and law professionals recognize the positive impact this labor and employment lawyer has made for more than 25 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amy Rosenberger in 2020. (Courtesy photo)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nHer most recent honor is among the most prestigious: In 2021, she was elected as a Fellow of The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. The non-profit professional association honors leading lawyers nationwide for achievement, advancement, and excellence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeing elected as a Fellow of The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers is one of the greatest honors a labor and employment lawyer can achieve,\u201d Rosenberger said, \u201cand I am humbled to be included in this distinguished group.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A partner in the Philadelphia law firm Willig, Williams & Davidson, Rosenberger lists the following career highlights <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Representing labor unions and employees including government service, healthcare, K-12 and higher education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Supporting workers and unions in arbitration and litigation; organizing drives and collective action; and pursuing fair contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Teaching skills to workers to negotiate confidently with employer representatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Serving on the appellate team that obtained the Pennsylvania Supreme Court\u2019s affirmance of a $4.04 million plaintiff\u2019s verdict in an employee\u2019s breach of contract claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Enforcing an interest arbitration award for a corrections officer bargaining unit before the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board and prevailing on appeal, resulting in recovery of more than $3.6 million to the affected employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Serving as president and board member for the Philadelphia Chapter of Labor and Employment Relations Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Member of the AFL-CIO Union Lawyers Alliance (formerly Lawyers Coordinating Committee) since 1995, serving on the board of directors for three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America, 2016 to present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Selected to the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers list, Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters), 2017 to present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attorney Amy Rosenberger in her office at the Philadelphia law firm Willig, Williams & Davidson in 2019. (Photo by Jon Styer)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nRosenberger enjoys the variety of responsibilities in her work. \u201cIt\u2019s a mix of litigation, negotiation, strategic planning, education, and by its nature, the law is always evolving and so there is always something new to learn and to adapt to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learning how to navigate and adapt to the traumatic challenges of the pandemic were issues Rosenberger and many of her clients dealt with in 2020. Essential workers, including educators, health care and transit employees, faced a barrage of concerns, such as contacting the virus and bringing it home to their families, as well as working long hours in stressful conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think we are only beginning to see the impact of all of this on our workforce,\u201d Rosenberger said. \u201cThere are many who are changing careers as a result, or who have retired earlier than they had originally planned, and we are seeing the impact in worker shortages in all sorts of fields.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Typically, Mennonites do not choose a career in law, Rosenberger said. \u201cWhen I went to college, and when I graduated, I knew that I wanted to find work helping others, but I wasn\u2019t sure exactly how. The thought of becoming a lawyer never occurred to me. I don\u2019t think I ever met a lawyer until I was an adult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rosenberger credits EMU\u2019s Washington Study Service Year (WSSY), now the Washington Community Scholars\u2019 Center, for giving her a year of \u201cimmense personal growth,\u201d she said, adding that being taken out of her comfort zone and being exposed to different societal and political issues \u201copened my eyes to a world of options for meaningful work that I hadn\u2019t previously considered.\u201d The core curriculum of WSSY still informs her work as an attorney \u2014 \u201cespecially the sociology coursework that explored concepts of servant leadership and psychology curriculum that focused on interpersonal relations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After graduation, Rosenberger worked for a few years in legal support staff roles, but still wasn\u2019t thinking of law as a career option. \u201cIt was really when I went to work for a firm that represented unions and employees that I saw a legal career as something that fit with my values, and that I would find personally and intellectually rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1995, Rosenberger completed her education at Northeastern University School of Law. Competition in a traditionally male-dominated career could be challenging for female attorneys starting out at that time, she said, but she had an early advantage. \u201cI found a position right out of law school, in a firm [Willig, Williams & Davidson] that is majority women-owned, and I\u2019ve worked there ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The more senior women attorneys were \u201cexcellent advisors,\u201d Rosenberger said of her mentors. \u201cThey invested their time and energy in training me and identifying opportunities for me to develop skills and expertise as well as helping me to find leadership roles within our profession. I have tried to follow their example to \u2018pay it forward,\u2019 both within and outside my firm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So how does a successful lawyer relax from her busy life of service? Rosenberger enjoys traveling (especially to national parks), spending time with family, and gardening. \u201cI find it relaxing and meditative to work in my big backyard vegetable garden, to harvest food and preserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, no matter how demanding her career is, serving others gives value to her life. \u201cOften the greatest joy in my work comes in what may seem like the small victories, but not to the employee involved,\u201d Rosenberger said, noting examples of her experiences helping employees get pay increases or overturning unfair discipline that resulted from favoritism. \u201cWorking with labor unions allows me to do that, because under a union contract, there are more avenues to ensure fairness for all employees than in the non-union workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EMU’s 2022 alumni awards will be presented at the Oct. 7-9 Homecoming and Family Weekend celebration. Recipients include Dr. Joseph Gascho ’68 and Camila Pandolfi ’12. \u00a0When Amy Rosenberger \u201985 ... read more about EMU 2022 Alum of the Year: Amy Rosenberger \u201885<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,5583,17562,5595,60,5597,14145,12632],"tags":[],"feature":[17427,17426,17241],"class_list":["post-52523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-campus-community","category-digest","category-history","category-homecoming","category-liberal-arts","category-peacebuilding-and-development","category-wcsc","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nEMU 2022 Alum of the Year: Amy Rosenberger \u201885 - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/emu-2022-alum-of-the-year-amy-rosenberger-85\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EMU 2022 Alum of the Year: Amy Rosenberger \u201885 - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EMU’s 2022 alumni awards will be presented at the Oct. 7-9 Homecoming and Family Weekend celebration. 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