Workplace Law
As a workplace lawyer, you must navigate the host of laws that regulate the employment relationship under statutes and the common law. Workplace lawyers tend to represent either employees or employers in workplace disputes. However, the representation lines may become blurred for some workplace lawyers who represent smaller businesses and their employees.
Most employees and their employers have questions about how to comply with the law when the working relationship starts to fray. Workplace attorneys commonly work on many of the following issues:
- Wage and hour claims
- Sexual harassment policies
- Employee handbooks
- Safety violations
- Race discrimination
- Employee benefits
- Union organizing campaigns
- Employee privacy matters
- Accommodating disabilities
Core Courses
If you want to focus on workplace law, you will need to take these courses.
- Employment Law
- Employment Discrimination
- Labor Law
Recommended Courses
Here are some courses you should also consider. You should choose courses that interest you or that will further your career objectives.
- ADR in the Workplace Seminar
- Employment Mediation Clinic
- Labor Negotiations Workshop
Related Courses
You should also consider taking one or more of the following courses that may help you in the practice of workplace law.
- ADR Survey: Negotiation, Mediation & Arbitration
- Negotiation Theory & Practice Practicum
- Mediation Clinic
- Immigration Law
- Administrative Law
- Civil Rights Litigation
- Civil Evidence Workshop
- Civil Motion Workshop
- Advanced Torts
- Federal Income Taxation
- Bankruptcy
- Remedies
- Entertainment Law
- LARW III: How the Deals Get Done
- LARW III: Contract Drafting
- LARW III: Litigation Drafting
- LARW III: Appellate Drafting
- The Business Negotiator
- Agency & Partnership
- Family Law & Benefits Clinic
- Sports Law
- Trial Advocacy Practicum
Externships
Students interested in workplace law have participated in prior externships with
- The Law Offices of Zoe Courtney,
- American Airlines,
- Littler Mendelson P.C., and
- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
To learn about current workplace law externship opportunities, contact Externship Program Director Cecily Becker at cbecker@law.tamu.edu.
Internships
Summer internships have historically been possible through a program sponsored by the Dallas Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section. In the spring, the DBA’s Labor and Employment Section has interviewed and selected interns for summer positions with:
- the United States Department of Labor (Dallas),
- the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Dallas), or
- the National Labor Relations Board (Fort Worth).
Students who are enrolled or have taken employment/labor related courses or have relevant business experience in human resources or labor relations have been encouraged to apply. Over the last several years, this program has resulted in the placement of several students at each of the three agencies over the summer. A few of these students have obtained subsequent employment with these agencies after graduation. To learn about current workplace law internship opportunities, contact the Assistant Dean of the Office of Career Services, Arturo Errisuriz, at aerrisuriz@law.tamu.edu.
Mentoring Programs
The Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, through its Young Employment and Labor Lawyers Committee, is developing a program to pair up attorneys in the Dallas-Fort Worth area who practice labor and employment law with students at the law school interested in labor and employment law as a career.
Student Advocacy Teams
Students interested in workplace law have previously participated on one of our advocacy teams sent to the Wagner Labor Law Moot Court competition, the ABA Labor and Employment Student Mock Trial competition, and various Dispute Resolution competitions where workplace issues were addressed. To learn about current workplace law advocacy team opportunities, contact Advocacy Director Jennifer Ellis at jellis@law.tamu.edu.