Advising
Labor and Employment Law
NYU Law has a very strong and diverse program for students interested in labor and employment law. Few schools rival the depth and quality of our instructors and the courses they offer. Our full-time faculty is comprised of the leading scholars and teachers in the field. Samuel Estreicher teaches labor law, employment law, employment discrimination law and appellate advocacy and serves as Chief Reporter of the Restatement Third of Employment Law. Cynthia Estlund is a nationally prominent expert on labor and employment issues, and most recently served as leader of the Obama Administration’s transition team for review of the National Labor Relations Board. Deborah Malamud is a highly regarded scholar of labor and social history, employment discrimination law, affirmative action, and the study of class barriers. Paulette Caldwell’s influential work is in the areas of racial and gender discrimination. Laura Sager, a distinguished litigator of landmark employment discrimination cases, teaches the employment discrimination clinic.Students possibly interested in pursuing their careers in the field should focus on the three basic courses: Labor Law (the study of union organization and collective bargaining), Employment Law (legal rights and protections of employees irrespective of whether they are represented by labor unions), and Employment Discrimination Law (legal rights and protections against workplace discrimination on account of race, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability and other grounds). Every effort is made to ensure that these courses are taught every year.
Interested students also might consider courses in Employee Pension and Health Benefits Law (dealing with ERISA, the overarching federal law in this area), offerings in mediation and negotiation, employee relations in the entertainment industry, a new sports deals course, and seminars in labor law theory, international labor and employment law, and affirmative action. Enhancing advocacy skills is the focus of the Appellate Advocacy Workshop and the Employment and Housing Discrimination Clinic.
Other suggested offerings include courses in Immigration Law, Law of the Welfare State, Antitrust Law, Corporations and Accounting and the Law.
The School is uniquely well placed to draw from the ranks of talented practitioners to teach specialized offerings. These include Laurence Gold, the former general counsel of the AFL-CIO, Judge Kathleen Roberts and Dina Jansenson, leading ADR specialists with JAMS.
The School’s Center for Labor and Employment’s programs throughout the year, including its highly rated Workshop on Employment Law for Federal Judges and Annual Conference on Labor, provide additional opportunities for students to learn from the leading advocates, agency heads and judges in the field.