Labor & Employment Law

Law Student Union Summer Inspires Next Generation of Labor Lawyers

By James Parks

The next generation of labor lawyers spent this summer learning firsthand what it?s like to work on the front lines of union organizing campaigns and the many problems workers face when they try to form a union.

Nine law students spent 10 weeks as AFL-CIO Law Student Union Summer (LSUS) interns working with labor lawyers across the country. During the program, which ends Aug. 6, students were involved in community outreach, member mobilization, corporate research, legislative campaigns and general litigation, canvassing, planning and implementing solidarity-building activities and participating in meetings and home visits.

For Krysten Skogstad, her experiences this summer fired up her passion for justice. The soon-to-be third-year student at Washington University Law School in St. Louis, spent most of her internship working with UNITE HERE! Local 226 in Las Vegas, helping workers at the Stations Casino exercise their freedom to join a union. She says:

While I gained a tremendous amount of legal knowledge this summer, the highlight has been working with and learning from some of the top organizers and researchers in the country. I am leaving with a strong understanding of labor?s legal needs and an even stronger sense of community. I am proud to be part of the Stations Casino campaign and proud to be part of the movement!  Si se puede!

Kyle Mohr, who attends the Ohio State University Law School, says he, too, gained more than just legal experience working with the Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Local 21 in San Francisco.

The LSUS program allowed me to ?gather invaluable community organizing and “union-lawyer” skills The LSUS program has without doubt been the most enjoyable portion of law school this far.

 Mohr says he spent his summer participating in and contributing to first contract negotiations, coordinating signature-gathering for a local revenue measure, and participating in an ongoing labor coalition working to defeat a ballot measure that will attack public employees’ pension and healthcare systems.

For Sarah Ruhlen, who worked with the AFT in Burlington, Vt., the experience was ?amazing.? The Indiana University School of Law student says:

LSUS has been an amazing chance to learn what it?s like to be in-house counsel for a union local.  I?ve experienced the day-to-day triumphs and failures of an active union at all stages, from organizing a new industry to renegotiating long-standing contracts.  I couldn?t have gotten this first-hand knowledge any other way.

In addition, interns worked with the Clean Car Wash Campaign in Los Angeles, two UAW locals and the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU).

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on August 05, 2010 (boomark / email).