DRI’s Employment Law Committee is a vibrant, active committee that provides
education, shared expertise, professional development and networking opportunities to its
members who are involved in the practice of Labor and Employment Law. These members
include outside counsel, in-house counsel and human resource professionals and claims
professionals from employment practices liability insurance carriers.
The 33rd Annual Employment Law Seminar was held on May 5th through May 7th, 2010
in beautiful Scottsdale, Arizona at the Camelback Resort. Our attendees, both rookies and
veterans raved about the quality and breadth of information and excellent networking
opportunities.
This year’s seminar had something for everyone. Two federal Judges candidly discussed
what employment lawyers do wrong in defending these cases; the Associate Legal Counsel of
the EEOC enlightened us on the initiatives coming out of the EEOC that we will need to deal
with; and in-house labor and employment counsel discussed issues related to alternative dispute
resolution, workplace violence, and special issues facing the public employer.The speakers at
the seminar included some of the most accomplished employment lawyers in the country as well
as top level government and corporate counsel.
Thursday afternoon at the seminar was topped off by one of the Committee’s two annual
business meetings. This provided an excellent opportunity to become acquainted with other
committee members and to become involved in committee projects. The seminar “dine-
arounds,” which are legendary, saw attendees joining each other at area restaurants. After the
program, the Committee’s Young Lawyers hosted a reception which is open to both young and
old alike.
We are enthusiastically planning for the 34th Annual Employment Law Seminar next year
from May 18 to 20, 2011 at the beautiful Westin Kierland in Scottsdale Arizona.
The Committee’s second business meeting will be held at DRI’s Annual Meeting in
October in San Diego, California. During this Committee business meeting we will host a
presentation on a topic important to our members, most likely dealing with social media in
employment settings.
There are opportunities for individuals to publish articles on topics of interest in the
employment law area through writing for either the Job Description, the Committee’s Quarterly
Newsletter, or in For the Defense, DRI’s monthly magazine. There is also considerable
information available through the DRI blog on Employment Law as well as through the
Employment Law “list serve” which any member of the committee can join through the DRI.org
website.
In January 2010, the Committee released a Trial Tactics Compendium outlining the
employment law issues that arise during a civil trial that is a valuable resource for lawyers
preparing employment cases for trial. The March 2010 issue of For the Defense was a dedicated
issue to Employment Law topics and was be chock full of invaluable information.
Opportunities to participate in the Committee abound, and our current Steering
Committee has over 85 members committed to working to increase membership, market our
programs and publications, expand our diversity and respond to legislative and rule making
initiatives. A large percentage of Steering Committee members are new to the leadership of the
Committee and we are proud of our commitment to involving new committee members in our
leadership. If you would like to view the complete Steering Committee structure and see all of
our activity areas, navigate over to the side of this webpage and click on “view leadership”.
Our Employment Law Committee’s 1,300 members invite you to join us on our extraordinary journey.