Brian Farkas ’10

Overview

• BA, History and Political Science, Vassar College
• MPA, Public Policy and Nonprofit Management, New York University
• JD, Cardozo School of Law

Brian Farkas (he/him) is a Partner at ArentFox Schiff LLP, a national law firm, where he focuses his practice on complex litigation. He represents clients in state and federal court, as well as in arbitration and mediation proceedings. Before joining ArentFox, he served as a law clerk to a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and as an associate at a midsize litigation firm. In 2023, he was named a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers for Business Litigation. Outside of his law practice, Brian is passionate about education. He is an adjunct professor at Cardozo School of Law, where he teaches courses on arbitration, mediation, and dispute resolution. Multiple graduating classes have voted him “Best Adjunct Professor,” an award he received most recently in 2023. He is also an adjunct professor at the City University of New York (CUNY), where he teaches undergraduate courses on American law, negotiation, and conflict resolution. Brian is a member of the New York City Bar Association, where he serves on the Board of Directors. For the City Bar, he chairs the New Lawyer Institute, which plans career development programming and mentoring to law students and recent graduates. As a student at Vassar, Brian served as Editor-in-Chief of the Miscellany News and Vice President of the student government. As an alum, he has served as President of the Vassar Club of New York, and he now serves on the College’s Board of Trustees.

Advice to Students:

Find ways to serve Vassar every single day. That might involve picking up a piece of trash from the Quad; sending an email to your high school to offer to speak with potential applicants; connecting your roommate with a family member in an industry about which they are passionate; wearing your burgundy Vassar t-shirt in the airport; or making a modest gift to the Vassar Fund in honor of your favorite professor. The point is, you should do something for Vassar each and every day, from this moment forward, for the rest of your life. Vassar is central to our identities, yours and mine. Our success is tied to Vassar’s success. And like any community, you will get from it what you give to it. If you tend to it, serve it, and advance its interests, Vassar will repay you a thousand times over—professionally, personally, and spiritually.