By JENNIFER
LEWANDOWSKI
Reporter Assistant Editor
The Law School has added a new concentration in labor and employment
law to its curriculum for the fall semester in response to increased
demand in the job market for lawyers who are knowledgeable in this burgeoning
field.
"Numerous employment and labor law jobs exist today that didn't before.
It is a rapidly growing field," said Dianne Avery, professor and vice
dean for academic affairs in the Law School and coordinator of the new
concentration.
The continued maturing of civil rights laws over the past few decades
has contributed to the emergence of increased individual rights, Avery
said. Beginning in the 1970s, employees began to bring wrongful discharge
lawsuits based on novel public-policy grounds. A spate of lawsuits filed
during the 1980s by middle managers who had been "downsized" also helped
stimulate the field of employment law. Federal laws have expanded employee
rights as well, and now prohibit sexual harassment and discrimination
on the basis of disability.
Avery, an expert in the area of employment discrimination, said students
who graduate with a concentration in labor and employment law are exceptionally
well prepared when they hit the job market. They could work for government
agencies, nongovernmental associations, in private practice, for labor
unions or as in-house counsel, bringing expertise in such areas as employment
discrimination law, public or private collective-bargaining law, rights
of individual employees, employee benefits, sports and entertainment
law, or workers' compensation law.
"They have a level of understanding and expertise that generalists
simply don't have," Avery said. Upper-division law students who opt
to take the new concentration can select from a myriad of choices for
electives, ranging from civil rights, civil liberties and discrimination
law, to American labor history and public-sector collective bargaining.
Although pursuing a concentration is not mandatory, Avery said UB
law students who choose that pathwhether or not they ultimately commit
to that specific area of law for their careerhave "an edge in that
they have learned a particular field in depth." The skills students
acquire, she said, are "transferable to other fields."
The concentration component "has long been recognized outside of UB
as a strength of our curriculum," she said. "It helps students find
their niche."
The labor and employment law concentration is one of nearly a dozen
concentrations offered by the Law School.