People sometimes question what it means for Northeastern to have a focus on social justice and public interest law. When answering this question, many focus on the requirement that students complete at least one public interest co-op and the required first year course, Lawyering Skills in the Social Context (LSSC). However, every once in a while, there is a class or a professor whose approach to the subject reminds me why Northeastern is a different kind of law school (at least on its best days).

Monday was my first day of Employment Law with Professor Karl Klare, one of NUSL’s most beloved professors and also one of the field’s oft-cited practitioners, http://www.leiterrankings.com/faculty/2007faculty_impact_areas.shtml#Labor. We began the semester with a look at some statistics, specifically, the number of people in the U.S. workforce, and the number of employees who are in unions. Prof. Klare next moved on to even more sobering numbers – the disparity in pay between men and women, between white employees and minority employees. We examined the shockingly low national minimum wage (barely $10,000 a year for an individual, and just over $20,000 for a family of four) and the staggering reality that few people could afford to rent an apartment, stock their fridges, or raise a family on this pay.

To some this may seem an obvious place to start. But to others, this focus on the employee and not the employer is a radical departure from traditional law school courses on employment law. Don’t get me wrong, we focus on the employer as well, and important questions about what the government can and should be expected to provide, and what burden should fall on the employer. However, we start with looking at the millions of Americans who are employees, and what it looks like to be part of the ever-growing U.S. workforce.

Granted, this sort of focus doesn’t happen as often as many here at NUSL wish it would. And, then again, it happens more often than other students want. In my opinion, it’s a remarkable part of what is unique about NUSL and a welcome reminder of why I chose to go here. Regardless of whether you are going to work for employers or employees (or, yes, both!), I can see no benefit as a lawyer, an advocate, or a voter, in burying your head in the sand about the state of the American worker.