Loretta M. Gastwirth

Loretta M. Gastwirth is an independent Arbitrator and Mediator serving parties in New York, the Northeast, Florida and throughout the United States.  She was formerly a Partner at Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone, LLP practicing in the firm’s Litigation, Labor & Employment and Construction groups and serving as Chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group. Her practice most often involves commercial, contract, insurance, intellectual property, trade secrets, securities, employment, business ownership, real property, commercial, industrial and residential construction, domestic and international arbitration and mediation, and specialty areas in Indian Gaming Law and Qui Tam False Claims Act actions. Loretta has been recognized in the 2026 edition of Best Lawyers in America in Arbitration. Long Island Business News has also named Loretta as one of the Top 50 Business Women on Long Island in 2005 and 2013 and “Who’s Who” in Women Professional Services in 2010 and 2021. In 2018, Loretta was honored by the Long Island Press as a Long Island Power Woman in Business.

Loretta has become well known for her work in mediation and arbitration – i.e., alternative dispute resolution (ADR). She serves as an arbitrator and mediator on the New York and Northeast rosters of the Commercial (including large and complex disputes), Construction, Employment and Consumer panels of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and the ICDR (the AAA’s International Centre for Dispute Resolution). Loretta is also a Mediator for the New York State Supreme Court, New York, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester County Commercial Divisions. Loretta has served as an arbitrator or mediator in over 300 cases including acting as a Chairperson of a number of three member panels and serving as an emergency and consolidation arbitrator.  In recognition of her skills as an arbitrator, Loretta was invited to become a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, an elite group of commercial arbitrators dedicated to providing a meaningful contribution to the profession, the public, and to the businesses and lawyers who depend on commercial arbitration as a primary means of dispute resolution. Loretta has provided continuing education lectures to attorneys on mediation and arbitration. Loretta’s “inside” experience as a seasoned litigator and trial lawyer, brings invaluable insight to her role as an arbitrator and mediator.

Loretta started her career at Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett litigating large securities fraud matters. She moved to a premiere entertainment litigation firm, representing such clients as Mick Jagger, Luther Vandross and Leona Helmsley and engaged in complex litigation and arbitration at Phillips Nizer Benjamin Krim & Ballon and later, Meltzer Lippe.

Loretta was a Notes and Comments Editor for the Cardozo Law Review, graduated magna cum laude from both the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and University of Albany – State University of New York, School of Business.  She had the honor of clerking for U.S. District Court Judge Jerry Buchmeyer in Dallas, Texas, who was voted Best District Court Judge by the American Law Journal her clerkship year.

Loretta is Chair-Elect of the New York State Bar Association, Dispute Resolution Section, a former Co-Chair of the Domestic Arbitration Committee, and a Fellow of the New York Bar Foundation.  She is a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and Co-Chair of its Education Committee. Loretta is a former Chair of the Nassau County Bar Association ADR Committee and a former member of its Advisory Council for its Mediation and Arbitration Panels. She is also the former Chair of the Executive Committee of the Cardozo Alumni Association, consisting of over 14,000 alumni.