Center for Labor and Employment Law

The School of Law’s Center for Labor and Employment Law is a forum where students, practitioners and scholars come together to explore the practice and theory of labor and employment law. Central to the Center’s mission and offerings is the importance, and sanctity, of doing good work in the world. The Center strives to show students, by engagement and example, that they can be successful practitioners who also give back to their communities.

Students gain a strong foundation for this work through the Law School’s comprehensive labor and employment law curriculum that includes classes and externships in the public and private sectors. They also have the opportunity to engage with labor and employment law professionals at a range of conferences, symposia, workshops and other programs hosted by the Center each year.

With the generous support of alumni and friends, the Center provides hands-on opportunities for students to gain practical skills, relevant experience, and professional connections through scholarships, fellowships, networking events and competitions.

Executive Committee of its Board of Advisors:

• Michael A. Simons, Dean and John V. Brennan Professor of Law & Ethics
• Evan Barough, '87, Senior Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Labor; Adjunct Professor
• Michael Borelli '01, Borelli & Associates
• Patrick Boyd ’00, Partner, The Boyd Law Group
• Frederick Braid, '71, Partner, Holland & Knight
• Paul Butler, '89, Partner, Akin Gump Straus Hauer & Feld
• Courtney Chikvak '14, Associate Director Labor Relations, New York City
• James M. Darby, '84, Arbitrator & Mediator
• Karen P. Fernbach, '77, Regional Director, National Labor Relations Board; Adjunct Professor
• Reverend Patrick Flanagan, Professor of Theology and Religious Studies
• Jeffrey B. Fannell ’96, Professional Players, Agent and Former Counsel, Major League Baseball Players Association and Adjunct Professor of Law
• John Furfaro, '80, Partner, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
• Vanessa Delaney German '12, Senior Labor Counsel, Pepsi
• Denis Hughes, President (Ret.), New York State AFL-CIO
• Amanda Jaret '13, Staff Attorney, Officer of the Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board
• Steven Johnson, '00, Employee Relation Lead, Amazon
• David Marshall, Counsel, Locke Lord
• Michael Masri, '95, Partner, Meltzer Lippe
• Robert Nobile ’84, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw; Co-chair of the Center
• Terry O'Neil, '70, Member, Bond Schoeneck & King; Adjunct Professor
• Gene Orza, '73, Counsel (Ret.), Major League Baseball Players Association
• Mark Pedretti ’92, Partner, Reed Smith
• Troy Rosasco, '89, Partner, Turley Redmond Rosasco & Rosasco; Adjunct Professor
• Ana Shields, '03, Shareholder, Jackson Lewis; Co-chair of the Center
• Michael Van Aken, Vice-President Coca Cola
• Alyssa Zuckerman '13, Associate, Lamb & Barnosky

With this integrated foundation, students leave St. John’s well prepared to be excellent labor and employment lawyers of impeccable moral and ethical character.

While the Center prepares St. John’s students for leadership in, and service to, the labor and employment law community, it also stands as an exciting and invaluable resource for practitioners and scholars throughout the world. Over the years, it has sponsored major international labor and employment law conferences in Dublin, London, and Cambridge University.

Read more on the blog, Labor and Employment Law Forum.

To learn more about the Center for Labor and Employment Law’s offerings and its work in the local and global communities, please contact us. To support the Center and its initiatives, please visit the Law School's online giving page or contact the Office of Alumni Relations and Development at [email protected] or 718-990-5792.

Message from the Executive Director

Welcome to the Center for Labor and Employment Law

Anchored by the Center for Labor and Employment Law, the Labor Relations and Employment Law program is thriving at the St. John’s School of Law. We offer at least four directly relevant courses each semester, coordinated to enable day and evening students to explore a full range of curricular offerings.

New courses include, Protective Legislation for Workers, examining workers compensation, safety and health, social security, unemployment insurance, and compensation through wage and hour federal and state regimes. Our dispute resolution and sports law programs offer additional depth. Academic professional excellence is recognized via more than a dozen partial tuition merit scholarships for rising second and third year law students.

Some benefactors, ranging from Local 30 of the International Union of Operating Engineers to Coca-Cola, provide compensated summer employment in addition to merit scholarships. Our co-curricular programs are closely integrated, ranging from international conferences and symposia in Dublin, the University of London, and Cambridge University, to distinguished guest speakers at the Law School ― including four Chairs of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a Solicitor General of the United States, AFL-CIO Presidents, and Cesar Chavez, founder of United Farm Workers of America. Our annual Management Lawyers Colloquium is approaching its 20th year.

Our Curriculum

The Center’s work and offerings are firmly grounded in the Law School’s thorough and carefully designed labor and employment law curriculum. Each year, second- and third-year students can take:

• Labor Law
• Employment Law
• Employment Discrimination
• Protective Legislation for Workers
• Labor and Employment Arbitration
• Public Sector Labor and Employment Law
• Pensions and Benefits Law (ERISA)
• Directed Research Paper Supervision
• Selected Issues in Labor and Employment Law

Students can also elect to take related courses within the dispute resolution curriculum, as offered in cooperation with the Law School’s Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution. 

• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Interviewing and Counseling
• Negotiation
• Representing Clients in Mediation

To complement this coursework, students can apply the critical and analytical skills learned in the classroom in real-world contexts through supervised externships in labor and employment law. Extern opportunities include placements at the National Labor Relations Board, the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Labor.

Student Opportunities

Student Scholarships

Students and graduates of the Law School are well represented at major management, union, and employee rights law firms throughout the nation. They also hold positions in government agencies and elsewhere in the public sector. Preparing students to engage in beneficial and rewarding work in labor and employment law is the hub and heart of the Center’s mission. To meet this goal, the Center strives to expand on scholarship opportunities generously provided by the Law School’s graduates over the years.

The Law School’s partial tuition, academic merit labor and employment law scholarships include:

• The Dorothy Day Scholarship – Founded in 1997 and underwritten substantially by Robert J. Nobile ’84, a senior partner at Seyfarth Shaw.
• The Vincent A. Cino Scholarship Program in memory of Alan C. Becker – Initiated by Craig Roberts ’97, Ana Shields ’03, and Christopher Valentino ’00 of Jackson Lewis, this scholarship is awarded each fall to an outstanding second-year student intent on a career in labor and employment law.
• The Boyd Scholarship – Funded through the generosity of Patrick Boyd ’00, senior partner of the Boyd Law Group, this scholarship supports the summer employment of a law student committed to employee rights.
• The Coca-Cola Enterprises Scholarship for Excellence in Labor and Employment Law - Through the leadership of Steve Johnson ’00 and Michael R. Van Aken ’99, this scholarship funds summer employment with the corporate labor and human resources functions of Coca-Cola Enterprises.
• The Pedretti Scholarship – Mark Pedretti ’92, a New York-based partner at Reed Smith, inaugurated this scholarship to support the work of a Junior Fellow at the Center.

Scholarships like these help St. John’s law students excel in their chosen field of labor and employment law. Student fellowships and competitions provide other avenues for success in the field. Here are some recent student achievements. Please contact us to learn more about the many student opportunities offered through the Center for Labor and Employment. We also welcome your inquiries about the ways in which you can help the Center provide these opportunities.

Contact Us

David Marshall
Director, Center for Labor and Employment Law
Dorothy Day Professor of Law
St. John's University School of Law
8000 Utopia Parkway
Queens, NY 11439
718-990-6019
[email protected]