Labor and employment law practice covers a wide range of lawyer practice. Employment lawyers represent employers, unions, individual employees as well as advocate for the public interest through government service and public interest group representation. While much of the practice has a litigation focus, counseling is an important element of many employment lawyers' work.

The Labor & Employment Law Curriculum: 
Labor and Employment Law Course Group   

Employment Law
Employment Discrimination
Labor Law
Pension & Profit Sharing Plans
Workers' Compensation
Labor Arbitration
NLRB Externship

Employment Law is the broadest course in the Labor & Employment curriculum and it covers the spectrum of employment law today, particularly emphasizing the rights of non-unionized employees under state contract and tort law and various federal statutes.

It is preferable to begin your studies with Employment Law, but many students become interested in the field after taking Labor Law Employment Discrimination.

Having taken Employment Law, four different tracks of courses and seminars develop separate areas of Labor & Employment practice.

1. Antidiscrimination Law

Employment Discrimination addresses anti-discrimination laws which prohibit discrimination in employment because of race, color, sex, national origin, alienage, religion, age, disability and sexual orientation. Employment discrimination cases are the most common type of cases on the docket of the federal courts.

The follow-up courses to Employment Discrimination are three seminars that cover employment issues as part of deeper inquiries into Civil Rights Law, Disability Law and Gender & The Law.

2. Union-Management Relations

Labor Law is the basic course in the curriculum that covers union-management relations under the National Labor Relations Act and Norris-La Guardia. The legal treatment of union organizational campaigns, collective bargaining, the role of economic warfare, and collective bargaining agreements are some of the subjects covered.

The NLRB Externship with Region 22 of the National Labor Relations Law has students work on NLRB cases under the direct supervision of NLRB attorneys. While the focus is on union-management relations, the NLRB has been a traditional launching pad for attorneys interested in all of Labor & Employment Law.

3. Pension & Profit Sharing Plans

Pension & Profit Sharing Plans is a separate area of Labor & Employment Law dealing with retirement and other health and welfare plans that employers provide as "fringe benefits" for employees. There is a substantial focus on the taxation issues connected with employee benefits.

4. Worker Safety Law

Workers' Compensation deals with worker injuries and the legal mechanisms to regulate occupational safety and to compensate workers who are nevertheless injured.