TO: Students Enrolled in or Interested in the Certificate Program
in Labor and Employment Law
FROM: Professor Martin Malin, Program Director,
Mary Rose Strubbe, Assistant Director and
Francine Soliunas, Executive Director
DATE: April, 2011
RE: Certificate Program Requirements
This memo details the requirements for the Certificate in Labor
and Employment Law. Because we cannot promise which courses
will be taught each semester, and because you may wonder whether
a particular course fulfills the elective or seminar requirement,
please feel free to e-mail us, to stop by our offices, or to
make an appointment to talk about any questions you have.
We urge you to view the certificate program as value added.
It is not a substitute for a broad-based legal education. You
should plan to take a number of basic courses, such as Business
Organizations, Evidence, Personal Income Tax, Commercial Law,
and Estates and Trusts. Each member of the faculty has his or
her personal list of the "essentials" or "what
every lawyer should know." Consider the viewpoints of several
faculty members, and the recommended list of courses, in deciding
what to include in your plans.
A. Requirements for the Certificate
To earn the Certificate in Labor and Employment Law, you must
take a total of seven courses. Two of the seven - Legal Writing
IV and a seminar - satisfy parts of your upper class writing
requirement.
There are four basic courses that every student in the certificate
program must take: Labor Law, Employment Relationships, Employment
Discrimination, and Legal Writing IV-Labor/Em-ployment Law.
Students who take the Legal Writing IV Equivalency are not required
to take Legal Writing IV - Labor/Employment Law, but must contact
Professor Strubbe, because students taking the Legal Writing
IV Equivalency are required to audit certain classes in Legal
Writing IV - Labor/Employment Law to qualify for the certificate.
Students must also satisfy a Practicum requirement by taking
either the four credit-hour Employment Law Clinic, a Labor/Employment
Law Externship, or Employment Litigation. The practicum requirement
should not be satisfied until your final year of law school.
(You may be interested in taking Employment Law Clinic during
your second year of law school. While you are certainly permitted
to do so, and will likely learn much from the experience, Clinic
will not fulfill the Practicum requirement unless you take it
for four credit-hours during your last year of law school.)
Each student must take an additional labor/employment law elective. If you have any questions about whether a particular course
offering satisfies the elective requirement, please contact
Professor Malin, Professor Strubbe, or Dean Soliunas. Finally,
each student must take a labor/employment-related seminar. Seminars
are taken in your final year of law school. Therefore, do not
register for a seminar until your final year in law school.
(You are permitted to take a seminar during your second year
of law school, but neither the school nor the Certificate program
will count it as the seminar required for graduation.)
Note: You may not take the certificate requirements on a pass/fail
basis except for courses that are only offered pass/fail (such
as Labor/Employment Law Externship).
B. Information about Practicum Options
Labor/Employment Law Externship: is offered only in the fall.
The externship involves a commitment of 15 hours per week to
your externship placement and a one hour classroom component.
Fortunately, the demand for our externs exceeds the supply and
we are usually able to place students in the type of externship
they desire, such as a management, union or employee-plaintiff
law firm; in-house with a union or employer, or a government
agency. Because students find it difficult to work part-time
while externing, we have a pool of scholarship money available,
based on financial need, for students in the externship program.
Contact Professor Soliunas for more information.
Employment Litigation class: will be offered only in the fall,
in the evening. Employment Litigation is designed to simulate
working with a client in an employment discrimination suit.
Employment Law Clinic: is offered fall, spring and summer. The
certificate program has four reserved slots in fall and spring
semesters and two in summer term in the Clinic, with Professors
Richard Gonzalez and Laurie Leader. You must take Employment
Law Clinic for four credits to use it to fulfill the practicum
requirement.
C. Guidance for Registration Depending on Where You Are in Your
Law School Career
Current First Year Day Students: If you are a day student entering
your second year of law school, we encourage you to take Labor
Law, Employment Relationships, Employment Discrimination and
Legal Writing IV- Labor/Employment Law during your second year
of law school. This will position you well for your practicum
in your third year. Labor Law is offered only in the fall semester
in 2011-12 and is offered day and evening. Employment Relationships
is offered in the day in fall 2011 and will be offered in the
evening in spring 2012. Employment Discrimination is offered
in the evening in fall 2011 and will be offered in the day in
spring 2012.
Current First Year Evening Students: If you are an evening student
entering your second year of law school, the courses you are
required to take in the fall will not allow you to take Labor
Law. We encourage you to take Employment Relationships or Employment
Discrimination in the fall and to plan to take either Legal
Writing IV-Labor/Employment Law or Employment Discrimination
or Relationships in the spring. Employment Discrimination is
offered in the evening in fall 2011 and will be offered in the
day spring 2012. Employment Relationships is offered in the
day in fall 2011 and will be offered in the evening in spring
2012.
Current Second Year Evening Students: If you are an evening
student entering your third year of law school, you should take
those core courses that you did not take in your second year
so that you will be in a good position for your practicum in
your final year.
Current Second Year Day and Third Year Evening Students: You
should take your practicum next year. If you wish to take Labor/Employment
Externship or Employment Litigation, you must take it in the
fall. Neither is offered in the spring. You should also take
a seminar in the labor/employment field. Finally, you should
plan to complete any other certificate requirements, such as
your elective, that you have outstanding.
Electives and Seminars: Among the offerings in fall 2011, Workers
Compensation will satisfy the elective requirement and Privacy
in Employment Law will satisfy the seminar requirement. In spring
2012, we expect to offer Public Sector Employment (seminar),
International and Comparative Employment Law (may be taken as
a class or a seminar) and Disability Law (may be taken as a
class or a seminar).
Questions or Additional Information
Please contact the Program Director, Professor Martin Malin
(e-mail mmalin), Assistant Director, Professor Mary Rose Strubbe
(e-mail mstrubbe), or Executive Director, Francine Soliunas
(e-mail fsoliunas).
