Employment Law Practice focuses on the relationship between employers and employees. As such, the scope of this area of legal practice is vast and covers issues such as wage disputes, workplace safety, discrimination and wrongful termination. Attorneys who specialize in this area of the law may choose to represent either employers or employees, but rarely both, and typically focus on one substantive area of employment law.

What is an example of unfair treatment at work?

For example, a lawyer who works for a large firm that represents business clients will probably handle issues like wage and hour standards (like minimum wages and overtime), family and medical leave laws and work authorization requirements for non-U.S. citizens undertaking temporary, migrant or agricultural work, and employment-related pensions and benefits such as 401(k) plans and workers’ compensation. This type of lawyer may also counsel clients on compliance with state and federal employment laws and review and draft employment, severance, non-compete, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.

In contrast, attorneys who work at plaintiff-side employment firms might take on cases involving a particular set of workplace issues, such as sex discrimination, class action lawsuits against big companies and government agencies, the exploitation of foreign workers and whistleblower cases. For this reason, employment attorneys who specialize in a certain subset of the field are often considered experts on that subject matter, which can make them more valuable in counseling than those who cover all areas of the law. This also means that employment litigators don’t have to spend much time learning new bodies of law, as is sometimes the case with other types of litigation.