Groundbreaking Rutgers Law Alumna and Leading Civil Rights Attorney Selected as Commencement Speakers

Rutgers Law is pleased to announce that Gwynne A. Wilcox, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Member and Rutgers Law alumna, will deliver the Commencement address in Newark. She is the first Black woman to serve as a Board member in the history of the Agency. Sundeep Iyer, Director of the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, will deliver the Commencement address in Camden.

Camden's celebration takes place at 12:30 pm on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion (formerly known as the BB&T Center). In Newark, Commencement takes place at 10 am on Friday, May 19, 2023, at the New Jersey Center for the Performing Arts (NJPAC). Both ceremonies will be livestreamed.

Ms. Wilcox participated in Rutgers Law’s MSP program and graduated from Rutgers Law School in Newark in 1978. She has served as an NLRB member since 2021 when she was nominated by President Joseph Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Her term will last until August 2023.

Ms. Wilcox previously worked as a senior partner at Levy Ratner, P.C., a New York City labor and employment law firm. There, she served as Associate General Counsel of 1199-SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and as a labor representative to the NYC Office of Collective Bargaining. Prior to joining Levy Ratner, she worked as a Field Attorney at NLRB Region 2 in New York City. Ms. Wilcox also holds a B.A. from Syracuse University.

As Director of the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, Sundeep Iyer leads the state agency charged with enforcing New Jersey’s civil rights laws. He previously served as Assistant Attorney General and Senior Counsel to Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. In that capacity, he was the Attorney General’s principal advisor on civil rights matters and coordinated department-wide civil rights initiatives. He also worked with the Office of the Solicitor General on appeals involving matters of constitutional law, statutory interpretation, civil rights, and criminal law.

Previously, Mr. Iyer was a Senior Associate at Hogan Lovells US LLP. During his time at the firm, he served as a Special Attorney for the State of Minnesota in the prosecution of the four former police officers charged in connection with the death of George Floyd. He was part of the legal team that obtained a conviction of Derek Chauvin on charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. Mr. Iyer was also part of the litigation team that obtained an injunction against then-President Donald Trump’s travel ban and defended that injunction before the U.S. Supreme Court. He received his A.B. from Harvard College and J.D. from Yale Law School.