William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law

Employment and labor law shapes business profitability and worker quality of life, making it central to economic and social policies and to a wide range of legal practice. Saint Louis University School of Law is one of the few law schools to provide a concentration in employment law to prepare students for this dynamic practice area.

Founded in 1987, the William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law offers an extensive curriculum to provide SLU students with the foundation for successful practice in the constantly evolving area of employment law. The center also sponsors programming for students, the practicing bar and academics to foster interaction and up-to-date information about the increasingly complex and rapidly changing landscape of the workplace.

The center's curriculum offers a broad range of courses addressing the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees, including the prohibition of discrimination; establishment of collective bargaining relationships in the private and public sector; regulation of employee benefits, health and safety in the workplace; and arbitration and mediation of labor and employment disputes.

Outside of the classroom, the center offers the Employment Law Semester in Washington, D.C. that provides students with in-depth, practical experience in federal labor and employment regulation and policy enabling them to work nearly full time in a federal agency in the nation’s capital.

In addition, the center and the student-sponsored Employment Law Association offer a variety of extracurricular programs for students that address new legal developments, career opportunities and employment law practice.