2.0 Credit Hours  

This class is currently not available for credit in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, and South Carolina.  

Recent Labor Department (DOL) regulations interpreting the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) are going to present a number of new issues for law firms and their clients. Whereas law firms were once able generally to avoid the LMRDA's disclosure requirements so long as lawyers avoided direct contact with their client's employees, under DOL's new interpretation of the law, firms offering labor-relations services will now have to publicly report any assistance they provide to employers if “an object” of the services, whether directly or indirectly, is to persuade employees about their rights to form a union. Triggering disclosure under the LMRDA results in corollary filing obligations for a client and generally requires law firms to disclose the receipts for their entire labor and employment law practice in an annual report. This course will provide an overview of the LMRDA's reporting mandates and detail how DOL's revised interpretation of the “advice exemption” may affect law firms that offer labor-relations advice and services. In addition to discussing the basic reporting requirements under the new standards, the faculty will discuss the tensions this reporting regime creates with the various ethical obligations of a practitioner, such as the attorney-client privilege and the duty of confidentiality.     (A pre-recorded replay of the May 12, 2016 class)