Employment

Employment law offers a mix of litigation and counseling. In large firms, the litigation work tends to dominate and it is unusual for a large firm to maintain a purely counseling position. Employment attorneys also can support corporate deal teams on due diligence and drafting of executive employment agreements and handbooks.

Counseling can be rewarding because the attorney can encourage the client to resolve employee issues in an equitable and efficient manner. Defense-side litigation can be rewarding because many employee suits are frivolous.

Complex regulatory schemes, evolving laws and differing state provisions provide some intellectual challenge.

These attorneys can become experts in a discrete area of law.



Many employment lawyers provide training to clients and their employees.

Labor

This is a subset of employment law that deals mainly with labor unions and unionized employees.

The work here is governed by the National Labor Relations Act, though the decisions are often affected by politics.

The day-to-day practice involves a heavy counseling component as well as quasi-litigation. Cases are usually arbitrated or handled by an administrative law judge, which allows for fewer formalities and rules than ordinary litigation. Elections, picketing, and grievances can be intense.

Personal campaigns against client representatives are not unusual. Election and campaign work allows attorneys to be creative and to work with other professionals (such as public relations people, etc.).