Employment Law Workshop: Strategies for Social Change
Spring term, Block M
W 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Mr. Steve Churchill
2 classroom credits LAW-35312A
2, 3, or 4 required clinical credits LAW-35312C
This course will examine how lawyers can effect social change in the workplace, with a special emphasis on advancing the right to be free from workplace discrimination based on protected characteristics such as race and sex. After surveying the relevant law and reviewing empirical information about the nature of civil rights violations, we will evaluate possible strategies for social change, including different modes of litigation, political action, and private agreements. We will consider the advantages and disadvantages of these strategies and discuss what role lawyers play.
All students will have a clinical placement, either at the Employment Civil Rights Clinic of the WilmerHale Legal Services Center or at externships with private firms, advocacy groups, or government agencies (such as the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). Subject to availability, there may be up to three placements extending over the Winter and Spring Terms with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, D.C. All placements will include exposure to some aspect of employment rights and will play an important role in bringing diverse perspectives to the workshop. The workshop will require completion of an individual or group project. Projects could include some combination of empirical research, legal analysis, program evaluation, or other approaches to examining and improving the effectiveness of existing workplace protections.
Enrollment will occur during clinical registration. Please refer to the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs (http://www.law.harvard.edu/academics/clinical) for clinical course registration dates and early add/drop deadlines.