Employment Law

This course will address the basic common law and contemporary statutes governing the employment relationship, with an emphasis on their practical application in today's private-sector workplace. Topics to be addressed will include establishment of the employment relationship, wage and hour regulation, conditions of employment, discharge and termination, and non-competition and other post-employment obligations. The course will also include a brief review of unemployment compensation and workplace health and safety issues, as well as an introduction to employment discrimination law. This course will not address traditional labor law nor will it cover issues unique to public-sector employment. Neither will it significantly overlap the Law 452 Employment Discrimination course. Close Window

A study of employee-union-management relations as regulated by the National Labor Relations Act, as amended. Issues considered include the organizational process, representation elections, collective bargaining and picketing activities. Close Window

Administrative law establishes the legal controls over the operation of government and hence it relates to almost every legal practice, from security regulation to social programs to criminal justice. This coure is an introductory examination of the rules and procedures government federal agencies. It explores: (1) the Constitutional background and limitations on agency action, (2) the procedural requirements (from various sources) that an agency must follow, and (3) the doctrines of judicial review that apply whenever a court evaluates agency decisions. Close Window

This course surveys the laws prohibiting discrimination in employment. In particular, the course emphasizes case law under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (race, religion, sex, or national origin), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Students will learn the basic doctrinal frameworks applicable to disparate treatment, disparate impact, and mixed-motives cases and trace their evolution through statutes and judicial decisions. The course also will include brief overviews of remedies for and economic theories of employment discrimination. Employment Law (LAW 456) is not a prerequisite. Close Window

This course is designed for students who are interested in how to effectively incorporate mediation theory into practice. Different models and approaches to mediation will be discussed and students will learn a broad range of skills and techniques through lectures, discussions, video simulations, exercises and role-plays. The process of mediation including convening and preparing for mediation, opening the mediation session, defining the issues, facilitating communication and creative problem-solving, and structuring a mediation will be covered. Skills that are valuable for mediators and advocates such as developing trust and rapport, active listening, formulating questions, gathering information, reframing, and effective interaction for facilitated decision making will be covered. In addition, we will examine legal, ethical and policy issues that arise in the mediation context. Close Window

This course will explore the theoretical and strategic fundamentals of negotiating in a variety of legal situations. The course will be taught in a once-weekly, 2 1/2 hour format and will focus heavily on class exercises and simulations by students working in teams of two, three, or four. The course will cover various issues central to the topic, including the stages of negotiation; psychology of negotiation and related issues such as verbal and non-verbal communication and power and control in the bargaining process; the principal-agent relationship; substantive and strategic differences between unilateral and multilateral negotiations; and the law of settlement. The course grade will be based on (1) student participation in class discussions and exercises; (2) student performance in simulated negotiations; and (3) a final exam which will draw heavily on weekly class discussions of the assigned class materials. Close Window