Theodore W. Kheel is one of America’s most distinguished professional mediators and one of New York City’s most influential public advocates. An esteemed lawyer and professional arbitrator, he has participated in the resolution of more than 30,000 labor disputes. His approach to identifying common ground and his ability to maintain a voice of reason amid many opposing voices have made it possible for him to settle some of the most difficult labor disputes of the 20th century. 

Kheel has been a member of numerous fact-finding boards appointed by presidents, governors, and mayors. He gained notoriety early in his career for his mediation of a strike against the New York City newspapers. His outstanding talent for getting the parties of a dispute to think in terms of solutions instead of problems has been evident to leaders in the nation’s highest offices, including President Lyndon Johnson, who enlisted his help in mediating a nationwide railroad dispute. In recognition of his long track record in conflict resolution, the New York Times declared him “the most influential peacemaker in New York City in the last half-century,” and Business Week dubbed him the “Master Locksmith of Deadlock Bargaining.”

A former president of the National Urban League, Kheel is also the founder of several foundations in the United States and the Dominican Republic.

In November 1991, Kheel was invited by the Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (“The Earth Summit”) to chair its Committee to Promote the Pledge to Protect the Earth, and to create awareness of and interest in the Conference. It was then that he formed the Earth Pledge Foundation, a nonprofit organization, to support the Conference, which was held in Rio in 1992.

Mr. Kheel is a 1935 graduate of Cornell University, AB, and Cornell Law School, LLB 1937. He has been a member of the New York Bar Association since 1937, and is a member of the American Arbitration Association and the Academy of Arbitrators. He is of counsel to the Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP law firm and the author of the 10 volume treatise, Kheel on Labor Law, as well as a book on the basic principles of conflict resolution, The Keys to Conflict Resolution.