By Andrew Cohen
With the AI explosion sparking panic throughout the American workplace, the U.S. wealth gap reaching its widest point in over three decades, and mounting debate over employee misclassification, paid leave laws, and salary range transparency, labor issues have increasingly taken center stage.
At Berkeley Law, growing student interest in such topics intersects with burgeoning possibilities — from faculty experts and new course offerings to journal work and timely research center projects.
“Labor and employment law at Berkeley is really special due to its scope and accessibility,” 3L Katie Chin says. “You can come in with no background knowledge of employment law, like I did. Or, for those who know they’re interested in this area, there are lots of opportunities to take classes on specialized topics like employment arbitration or do research on specific areas of interest in collaboration with the Center for Law and Work (CLAW).”
Chin, who just ended her term as co-editor-in-chief of the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law (BJELL), points to the school’s faculty anchors in the field: Professors Diana S. Reddy and Catherine Fisk ’86, and CLAW Executive Director Christina Chung, who launched the center in 2020. Reddy and Fisk are co-faculty directors of the center with fellow professor Catherine Albiston ’93.
“The word is out that Professor Reddy teaches a fantastic survey course, and people really enjoyed the California Employment Law class Professor Fisk taught last semester,” Chin says. She adds that Chung “has a great relationship with practitioners and scholars in this area, which is invaluable to students who want to do labor and employment work after graduating.”
This semester, Fisk and Reddy co-taught a new New Work Law Colloquium class. Each week, students read a paper about a contemporary labor and employment law issue — then were visited by the author to discuss it. Students confronted topics such as tech developments in AI and workplace surveillance, doctrinal and policy shifts relating to National Labor Relations Act’s future, family and medical leave, and independent contractor status.
Calling the course “a really exciting curriculum development,” Chin says it provides a prime outlet for students “to learn more about current issues and be part of broader conversations in the work law space.”
Meanwhile, CLAW quickly emerged as a hub for cross-disciplinary scholarship, student engagement, and community involvement to address labor and employment issues faced by vulnerable working populations. The center develops law and reforms focused on workers with jobs that do not pay enough for food, housing, and other basic necessities — often exacerbated by pervasive wage violations, inadequate labor protections and enforcement, and lack of access to government programs meant to support workers during times of need.
Half-century celebration
BJELL’s recent 50th anniversary symposium, which focused on immigrant workers, heralded the journal’s impact in the field, highlighted the school’s expanding employment law landscape, and reminded people of the need to center worker needs, partner with other advocacy groups, and organize from the bottom up rather than the top down.
The first panel alone featured Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West President David Huerta, Immigrants Rising Executive Director Iliana Perez, Garment Worker Center Director Marissa Nuncio, and LA Alliance for a New Economy Executive Director Victor Sánchez Jr. Collectively, they have played leading roles in increasing wages for various groups, helping immigrants ascend in higher education, incorporating greater safety protections, and ensuring continued implementation of enacted legal reforms.
Journal Co-Editor-in-Chief and 3L Henry Van Bemmel credits Symposium Editor and 2L Gavin Patchet for “hitting it out of the park with his planning.” This included recruiting various students to moderate the panels, which gave them meaningful contacts with leading lawyers.
“One often overlooked aspect of law journals, especially subject-focused journals like BJELL, is the professional development of its members,” says Van Bemmel, who helped Chin and Patchet spread the 50th anniversary symposium work across multiple editorial board members so more students could make such connections.
Van Bemmel’s increased political engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic spurred a growing passion about class struggle and economic justice. Working for BJELL, first as associate editor and articles editor, immersed him in pathbreaking scholarship, forged relationships with article authors and symposium panelists, and cemented his interest in employment law.
“Berkeley Law stood out in my law school research, in part because it was the only school I looked at with a journal dedicated to work law,” he says. “BJELL is where I feel like I found my community. In fields like this, it can often feel like you’re constantly fighting losing battles. Being in community helps us all stay positive.”
A close-knit cohort
In keeping with the Berkeley spirit, fun and frivolity were also part of the journal mix. In addition to hikes, poker nights, office treats, and a spring banquet, the journal’s Halloween party featured the theme “Fruits of our Labor” — complete with members dressing up as fruits.
“We try to give people a place to get to know each other,” Chin says. “I definitely feel like I’ve built some strong relationships, especially with the people I was working with closely this year.”
Savoring close involvement with the journal’s scholarship at every stage and building close bonds, she says that while keeping the production calendar on schedule posed challenges — like many in the law, student members and article authors are quite busy — producing seminal work on hot-button issues proved highly rewarding. As did learning from renowned experts.
Before joining Berkeley Law, Reddy represented labor unions and workers at the AFL-CIO, Altshuler Berzon, and the California Teachers Association. Fisk has authored award-winning books in the area and done pro bono legal work on many labor and employment law issues, and Chung spent over 20 years in public service and at nonprofits advancing low-wage worker rights. Faculty in the field also include Albiston, Professor David B. Oppenheimer, Professor Christopher Tomlins, and numerous lecturers with leadership experience as practitioners.
One panelist lamented the recent “massive loss of career staff at federal labor agencies,” prompting another one to urge law students in attendance to help fill that void.
“We’ve got to get the next generation of fighters up here,” she said. “I’m in the moment I was created for, but I’ll only be able to do this for so long. We need activist attorneys to get out here and fight these fights. We’ve got to have people who are brave, dedicated, and willing to stand up and stand out.”