Core Labor & Employment Courses
LAW 414Employment LawExamination of the rights and obligations of employers and employees. This course is far broader than the Employment Discrimination course but covers discrimination only minimally. The wide range of topics covered may include: the status and decline of the employer's traditional right to terminate employees "at will"; employees' rights to sue for termination against public policy or under various statutes, such as whistleblower and anti-discrimination laws; the enforceability as of employment handbooks, letters, and oral communications; minimum/overtime wage claims and other wage-and-hour rights; public employees' constitutional First Amendment and Due Process rights; employees rights to family/medical leave; and the common law of various employee/employer rights and obligations as to, for example, defamation, non-competition/non-solicitation agreements, and privacy rights.
LAW 439
Employment Discrimination
Examination of state and federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including the Equal Pay Act, Title VII, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Rehabilitation Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, reconstruction era civil rights legislation, and executive orders.
LAW 460
Labor Law
Survey of the law of labor relations, including organization and representation of employees, strikes, picketing, boycotts, and collective bargaining.
Labor & Employment Electives
LAW 484Dispute Resolution in the WorkplaceMediation and arbitration have been used for decades to resolve labor disputes in unionized workplaces. In the last 20 years, there has been a major increase in the use of mediation and arbitration to resolve employment disputes in non-unionized workplaces. This course will examines the law, theory, practice and policy for resolving workplace disputes in unionized and non-unionized workplaces.
LAW 438
Employee Benefits
Study of various types of employee benefits, focusing primarily on tax and labor law issues, with some discussion of corporate and securities law issues.
LAW 489
Workers' Compensation
Examination of the legal effects of work-related injuries and diseases, including compensability, employment relationships, causation, medical and legal proof, impairment, benefits, claims procedures, administrative and appellate review, third party suits, insurance, and conflict of laws.
LAW 530
Race, Gender and Economic Discrimination
Study of discrimination against individuals based on racial and gender characteristics within the context of certain economic transactions. Focus on commercial activities in the areas of contracting, lending, and obtaining insurance.
LAW 574-1003
Advanced Legal Research: Labor & Employment Law
This course focuses on advanced legal research methodologies and sources (printed and on-line) related to an individual practice or subject area. Students will prepare a major paper (i.e., "pathfinder") on the sources and techniques of research on the subject.
Other courses recommended for students interested in labor & employment law
LAW 417Alternative Dispute ResolutionAn examination of extrajudicial methods of dispute resolution, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration and mini-trials. Satisfies the Law School's process elective requirement.
LAW 424
Business Torts
Examination of law relating to such business torts as business defamation, product disparagement, interference with contractual obligation, and wrongful discharge.
LAW 500
Advanced Legal Writing
This course engages students in advanced exercises in legal writing. The goal of the course is to deepen a student's command of the writing process and to expand a student's ability to develop, structure, and write legal texts for a variety of writing purposes and audiences.
Relevant workshop (skills) courses, clinical courses, & internship placements
LAW 590 and 591Unemployment Compensation Advocacy Clinic 1 and 2This clinic is operated in cooperation with Legal Action of Wisconsin. The live-client legal clinic provides law-based training for law students and representation of unemployment compensation claimants. Students will receive classroom training for one hour, fifteen minutes per week and additional instruction outside of the classroom. Students will observe and critique at least three unemployment insurance hearings and represent claimants in at least two hearings. Students, under the supervision of an attorney, will engage in client interviews, case development, witness preparation, and representation at the administrative hearings. The second semester component will build in the skills learned in Unemployment Compensation Advocacy Clinic 1.
LAW 550
Public Sector Labor Law
Using primarily Wisconsin law and examples, this course seeks to provide a comprehensive grounding in the legal framework and policy aspects of public sector labor relations and learn-by-doing instruction in the skills and techniques of collective bargaining, mediation, arbitration, and related legal writing. Topics also to be covered include effective client relations, ethical considerations, and open meeting/public record issues.
LAW 589
Mediation Clinic
A live-client, on-campus legal clinic providing law-based training for law students, education about the law for the Milwaukee Community, and legal service to low income residents of Milwaukee.
LAW 553
Workshop in Trial Advocacy
This workshop introduces students to the fundamental skills required of trial lawyers, including formulation of a case theory, jury selection, opening statements, direct and cross-examination, and closing argument. Students will engage in simulated practice exercises and the course concludes with a mock trial.
LAW 556
Workshop in Contract Drafting
This workshop introduces students to the fundamental skills common to drafting and negotiating contracts.
LAW 559
Workshop in Civil Litigation
This variable content workshop addresses issues and skills that are fundamental to civil litigation, including pleading, discovery, evidence and civil motion practice.
LAW 563
Workshop in Pretrial Practice
A professional skills workshop focusing on pretrial practice in civil cases, including client interviewing and counseling, pleading, informal discovery, formal discovery (including depositions, interrogatories, and requests for admissions and for production of documents), and pretrial motion practice.
LAW 594
Supervised Fieldwork
This program provides students with the opportunity to intern with a variety of governmental and public service agencies under the supervision of a faculty member and under the guidance of agency lawyers. Agencies with recent labor and employment law placements: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; the National Labor Relations Board; the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.
