Labor Law Clinic

Catalog description

The Labor Law Clinic will provide students a practical opportunity to learn labor law, while making meaningful contributions to the labor movement and working people. This clinic will combine a substantive classroom component with practical experience. Students will advise labor unions and workers on a variety of legal issues that surface during the semester and may have the opportunity to represent unions in different forums. Students will communicate directly with union representatives and will be required to sort through the facts, research the issues, and provide information and advice. Students will routinely draft legal memoranda, prepare and file pleadings and briefs as required. Students may have the opportunity to represent unions at hearings, mediation or arbitration. Students may also be required to observe a hearing before the National Labor Relations Board, Public Employment Relations Board or an arbitration. Students have also been invited to observe the collective bargaining process. A small number of students will have the opportunity to dedicate their clinical time to international labor law. Interested students can support the work of nonprofit organizations or global union federations with ongoing cases or projects. These projects occasionally involve a short period of field work outside of the country, typically in Latin America.