Law

Labor and Employment Law Concentration

The Labor and Employment Law Concentration allows students to explore and demonstrate their interest in workplace law. Students pursuing the concentration will be prepared to represent workers, unions, employers, and government agencies; work in the public or private sector; work as in-house counsel, or provide individual advocacy.

Recent graduates have obtained jobs at the nation’s leading labor and employment law firms; union‑side and management-side practices; federal and state agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and state civil rights commissions; and in‑house counsel positions in major corporations and nonprofit organizations. Students’ post‑graduation opportunities are geographically and substantively diverse.

Requirements

All students admitted into the J.D. or LLM programs are eligible to enroll in the concentration program.

All the requirements below are subject to modification based on availability or other circumstances. Additional experiences may be approved by the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, in consultation with the Labor and Employment Law Concentration Faculty Advisor.

Requirements for the Labor and Employment Law Concentration include:

For J.D. students:

  • 22 credit hours of labor and employment law courses, with a grade of “C” or better
  • A labor or employment law research paper
  • Practical labor- or employment-law-related experience. Up to five (5) credits earned for this experience count toward the 22 credit hour requirement.
  • Participation in the Labor & Employment Law Society
  • Attendance at four (4) events sponsored by the Labor & Employment Law Society or another University of Cincinnati Donald P. Klekamp College of Law event where the topic is labor or employment law

For LLM students:

  • 10 credit hours of labor and employment law courses, with a grade of “C” or better
  • Participation in the Labor & Employment Law Society
  • Attendance at two (2) events sponsored by the Labor & Employment Law Society or another UC Klekamp College of Law event where the topic is labor or employment law

Labor & Employment Law Courses and Seminars

Each semester, full‑time faculty members teach a wide range of foundational labor and employment law courses and policy seminars. The Labor & Employment Law Concentration also utilizes adjunct faculty, who are experienced practitioners, to provide a selection of professional skills courses and seminars as available.

Required Core Offerings

Each J.D. student must take (1) Labor Law, (2) Employment Law or Employment Discrimination Law, and at least two additional core classes, which include the following (course numbers listed where available):

  • BCL-7015 Labor Law
  • BCL-7024 Employment Law
  • IRTS-7005 Employment Discrimination Law
  • GOVT-7001 Administrative Law
  • OSHA/ Workplace Health & Safety (if offered)
  • Public Sector Employment Law (if offered)

Each LLM student must take two of the core courses listed above, so long as one of those courses is Labor Law, Employment Law, or Employment Discrimination.

Electives

The remainder of the 22 credit hours for J.D. students and 10 credit hours for LLM students may come from any required offering not already taken or courses from the Elective Course offerings. These Electives include the following courses and seminars (course numbers listed where available):

  • GOVT-7001 Administrative Law (if not used as a core)
  • Advanced Labor Law
  • AI and the Law (with workplace applications)
  • Legal Perspectives on AI: Ethics, Regulation, and Liability
  • BCL-7023 Business Associations
  • IRTS-7001 Civil Rights Litigation
  • Collective Bargaining & Arbitration
  • IRTS-5001 Constitutional Law II
  • PROP-7003 Copyright Law
  • SPCL-7003 Disability Law
  • BCL-7024 Employment Law (if not used as a core)
  • IRTS 7005 Employment Discrimination Law (if not used as a core)
  • BCL-2078 ERISA and Employee Benefit Law
  • FLSA / Wage & Hour Law
  • Government and Internal Investigations
  • Human Rights Law
  • In-House Counsel: Introduction to the Role of In-House Counsel in Modern Organizations
  • PROP-7028 Informational Privacy / Workplace Privacy
  • Immigration Law
  • PROP-7011 Intellectual Property Law
  • LITG-7045 Mediation
  • LITG-7023 Negotiations
  • OSHA / Workplace Health and Safety (if not used as a core)
  • Public Sector Employment Law (if not used as a core)
  • LITG-7026 Remedies
  • SPCL-7011 Sports Law
  • Workers’ Compensation Law

Publishable Paper or Blog Post

J.D. students must submit a labor or employment law paper or blog post of publishable quality for review and approval by the Labor and Employment Law Concentration Faculty Advisor. However, the Labor and Employment Law Concentration Faculty Advisor need not be the faculty advisor for that paper. Papers completed for a labor or employment law seminar, an independent research project, or a journal note/comment or blog posting can satisfy this requirement. Up to three credits earned for this paper count toward the 22 credit concentration requirement.

Labor- & Employment-Law-Related Externships

Experiential learning is a critical component of the Labor & Employment Law Concentration for J.D. students. Second‑ and third‑year law students can gain first‑hand legal experience in the labor and employment field by completing a labor or employment law externship or a judicial externship. Both types of externships allow students to earn academic credit. This requirement does not apply to LLM students.

Students are regularly placed in the following organizations within the Cincinnati community, for example:

  • National Labor Relations Board (Region 9)
  • Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
  • Corporate in‑house employment counsel offices
  • Local union legal departments
  • Ohio Civil Rights Commission
  • U.S. Department of Labor
  • U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, Civil Rights or Labor Divisions
  • Ohio Attorney General’s Office
  • Nonprofit worker‑advocacy organizations
  • Cincinnati Municipal Court / Hamilton County Courts (employment-related dockets)

In addition to these externships, students are also regularly placed in hospital legal departments. Because hospitals are among the region’s largest employers, their legal departments regularly handle employment-related matters, making them valuable placements for students interested in management-side practice.

Concentration students must gain supervised experience in a labor or employment law practice setting. Students are encouraged to satisfy this requirement by enrolling in the externship program and completing either a judicial or legal externship.

Life of the College

  • Membership in the Labor & Employment Law Society at the UC Klekamp College of Law and regular attendance at their meetings as specified above under Requirements.
  • Participation in and attendance at events sponsored by the Labor & Employment Law Society or another UC Klekamp College of Law event where the topic is labor or employment law, as specified above under Requirements.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the Labor & Employment Law Concentration, students should be able to:

  • Explain the structure of the United States labor and employment law system, including the legal relationships among workers, unions, employers, agencies, and courts.
  • Explain constitutional foundations of labor and employment law, including federalism, freedom of association, and limits on governmental regulation of the workplace.
  • Identify and explain statutory and regulatory frameworks governing the workplace, including the NLRA, FLSA, Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, OSHA, ERISA, and related state laws.
  • Explain legal doctrines governing workplace rights and accountability, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour law, collective bargaining, and arbitration.
  • Explain employment and professional regulation in workplace institutions, including workplace discrimination law, credentialing, and discipline of professionals.
  • Conduct legal research and interpret legal authorities governing the workplace, including statutes, regulations, agency guidance, case law, and collective bargaining agreements.
  • Represent and advise clients on legal issues affecting workers, unions, employers, public agencies, and related organizations.
  • Evaluate ethical principles and policy considerations shaping labor and employment law, including workplace democracy, economic inequality, and the future of work.
  • Begin developing a professional identity consistent with the expectations of the Supreme Court of Ohio’s Commission on Professionalism and the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct.