Collective Bargaining
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW (LAW2478)

FALL
Instructor:
Ira Sills
617-373-2395

This course consists of a collective bargaining simulation exercise in which students participate in the process of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement. Students are divided into teams representing either management or labor and formulate proposals and counterproposals, and attempt to reconcile significant differences between the labor and management positions. Negotiators are required to operate within the context of the applicable statutory framework including the National labor Relations Act, labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Every effort is made to simulate an actual collective bargaining negotiation. Limited to 16 students. (Day and time to be announced.)

Negotiation (LAW2350)
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

FALL, WINTER, SPRING
Instructor: Brook Baker
Brook Baker (Fall and Winter)
617-373-2395

Negotiation is a course in which students study theories of negotiation and apply theories in simulated disputes and transactions, which are then debriefed in class. The course focuses on: 1) negotiation planning, 2) case preparation and evaluation, 3) client counseling and informed client consent, 4) analysis of the bargaining range and principled concession patterns, 5) competitive, cooperative, and problem-solving strategies, 6) information bargaining, 7) ethics, and critiques of negotiation patterns and institutions. Most students are observed at least once in a negotiation session and receive feedback from the instructor. Students are required to keep weekly journals, reviewed by the instructor, addressing their experiences in and thoughts about negotiations. Students are encouraged to internalize habits of analysis, prediction, preparation, and flexibility and to become more self-evaluative for their future negotiating experiences. Limited to 24 students. (Times to be announced.)

Labor Arbitration Workshop (LAW2511)
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

SPRING and SUMMER (2009)
Instructor:
Roger Abrams
617-373-2068

In this workshop, students will explore the important role of alternative dispute resolution in the workplace. Using court and arbitration decisions as well as supplementary materials, students will discuss the relationship between arbitration and the judicial system, a union’s duty of fair representative, issues of arbitrability, evidence and procedure, as well as a variety of substantive contractual issues normally addressed in arbitration, such as seniority, fringe benefits, wages and hours, subcontracting and union security. In particular, the course will focus on “just cause” discharge and discipline cases.

During the course of the quarter, students will draft an arbitration brief based on a transcript of a hearing and participate in an arbitration simulation using witnesses and documentary evidence. Enrollment limited to 24. Although there are no prerequisites, Labor Law I is recommended. (Time to be announced.)

Alternative Dispute Resolution
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

FALL
Instructor:
Sarah Garraty
617-353-2395

Law school courses focus almost exclusively on adjudication as a model for resolving legal disputes, yet only a fraction of disputes actually go to trial. This course exposes students to the many alternatives to trial, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, fact-finding, and hybrid combinations of these methods. After the characteristics of these various models are examined, simulations drawn from a number of different areas (such as family, environmental, commercial, and consumer law) will be used to explore the conceptual, practical, and ethical issues that come up in different contexts. Guest speakers and audiovisual materials will be included. A final paper or final examination will be required. (Tuesday 3:30-6:30 p.m.)