Employment Law Concentration

Understanding how the law impacts workplace operations and the employer and employee legal relationship is crucial for professionals who deal with employment law in their daily duties. As part of the online Master of Legal Studies (MLS), Master of Laws (LL.M.) in U.S. Law and dual LL.M. in U.S. Law and Transnational Legal Practice programs, the Employment Law concentration will help you understand the legal processes regarding employment contracts, wages, recruiting and hiring, discrimination practices and compliance audits.

Through the Employment Law concentration, you not only gain specialized knowledge of employment law but also develop negotiation skills that will help improve your ability to manage difficult situations in the workplace such as employee contract negotiations, employer-employee disputes and employee termination.

If you are interested in learning more about the online programs and the Employment Law concentration, request information today.

Who Should Pursue an Employment Law Concentration?

Professionals who could benefit from the Employment Law concentration include:

  • HR managers who oversee the recruiting, interviewing and hiring of new employees
  • Entrepreneurs starting their own business who need to ensure compliance with employment law and draft employment contracts
  • Social advocates who represent clients dealing with issues of discrimination or wrongful termination and work within the legal system to find solutions

Concentration Requirements

To pursue the Employment Law concentration, you must be enrolled in the online MLS, LL.M. in U.S. Law or dual LL.M. program and complete 9 credits from the predefined courses below. Employment Law and Negotiation are required, but you may select either Business Associations, Contracts or Corporate Compliance as your remaining 3-credit course. These credits count toward the total credits required for each program.

Employment Law (Required)

This course is designed to introduce students to U.S. employment law including laws, rules and regulations related to types of employment, hiring and firing practices, prohibited discriminatory practices, employee wages, hours and benefits requirements, and various governmental processes and procedures. This course is an experiential course in which students will have multiple opportunities to apply legal theory to practical, real-life settings.

3 CREDITS

Negotiation (Required)

Students in this course learn the skills of negotiation through simulations, lectures and exercises in which they negotiate and observe their classmates and experts negotiate. Class members conduct at least three negotiations during the course — a sales contract, a retainer agreement between an attorney and a client, and a complex multiparty dispute. In addition to the simulations and discussion of the readings, there is instruction on drafting agreements and individualized advice about further steps to improve negotiation skills.

3 CREDITS

Business Associations

This course is a survey of the law of business associations, emphasizing corporations and issues and problems relating to corporate governance. The course covers publicly and closely held corporations, the organization of business associations, the distribution of power, and control between management and shareholders, with a focus on the fiduciary duties of directors and officers. In this regard, students explore the developing notions of fiduciary duties to shareholders and other stakeholders. The course explores the rapidly evolving nationalization of corporate governance standards and its implications. The course further focuses on practical application of the material by applying the fundamentals of corporate organization through collaborative class exercises.

3 CREDITS

Contracts

This course is designed to introduce students to U.S. contracts. Contracts are vitally important in understanding U.S. law as they are the foundation of corporate law and cover areas such as employment, loans and credit. In addition to learning principles behind U.S. theories of contractual obligation, the course is intended to provide instruction in “how to succeed” in a U.S. law school class.

3 CREDITS

Corporate Compliance

What causes companies to break the law? How do we incentivize them not to? Who should we blame when they do? These are the core questions of corporate compliance and the focus of this class. Rather than reading several court decisions, this class will work primarily from case studies of recent compliance failures. Our goal will be to study what went wrong at the company level and whether the relevant laws are effectively designed to prevent the misconduct. We will also cover theories of regulatory enforcement and punishment. This course will be interesting for those considering compliance positions as well as those interested in regulatory agency and corporate defense practice.

3 CREDITS