Valerie Cross Dorn is one of several associate counsels in the Office of University Counsel at Cornell, where she has been litigating cases in federal and state courts since 1994. Her practice areas include federal civil litigation, employment law, education law, intellectual property, veterinary malpractice and associated issues, personal injury defense work, and risk management. She also is the primary attorney handling subpoenas and record requests served upon the university from every corner of the country. She supervises student law clerks working in the office, helps to maintain the office library, guest lectures in classes on a variety of legal topics, and presents preventative training sessions for employees on risk management, contract negotiations, employment issues and intellectual property issues. Ms. Dorn is a certified mediator for the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, where she has also served as an arbitrator in the alternative dispute resolution program. Ms. Dorn is admitted to practice in the New York State courts as well as all four federal district courts, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and United States Supreme Court.
She received her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Syracuse University College of Law, and also earned a Master of Public Administration, cum laude, from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.