Study

A study of the legal framework governing administrative agencies under the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act, with a particular focus on agency rulemaking and adjudication; Presidential power; Congressional control of agencies through statutes and other mechanisms of oversight; and judicial review of agency actions.

This course examines the legal doctrines, theories, and arguments arising out of the free speech and religion clauses of the First Amendment.

This course focuses primarily on the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which governs union organizing, collective bargaining, non-union collective action, and the exercise of economic pressure strategies by employees (e.g., strikes, pickets, boycotts). The NLRA also protects employees who resist or challenge unions.

The course is taught through a simulation in which the professor is the Chief Executive Officer of a company that produces labor law knowledge and employs students who are covered by the NLRA. Students/employees may organize and bargain with the owner over class rules and structure (e.g., content and grading). For instance, the course syllabus is described as an employment handbook that, among other things, states policies that may be the subject of collective bargaining between the professor/CEO and students/employees. In addition, some students may act as corporate counsel and aid the CEO in resisting union organizing and bargaining with the union. Students will not only learn substantive labor law, but also practice the area by, for instance, filing election petitions, filing unfair labor practice charges, raising election objections, appealing regional office decisions, and engaging in collective organizing and bargaining.

Students will be evaluated on the basis of an open-book exam, several papers and class participation.