Employment Law as If People Mattered: Bringing Therapeutic Jurisprudence into the Workplace

Florida Coastal Law Review, Vol. 11, p. 257, 2010

Suffolk University Law School Research Paper No. 09-38

34 Pages Posted: 27 Aug 2009 Last revised: 7 Jul 2010

Date Written: August 26, 2009

Abstract

During the past 20 years, scholars and practitioners drawn to therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) have produced a substantial body of work, with mental health law, criminal law, family law, and legal education being focal points for examination under a TJ lens. Employment law, however, has been conspicuously underrepresented in TJ-inspired scholarly and law practice literature. This essay, emerging from a 2009 symposium on TJ hosted by Florida Coastal School of Law, is built on the premise that employment law scholars and lawyers, as well as the public at large, would benefit by applying a TJ perspective to the law of the workplace, and it suggests some framing concepts drawn from psychology and related disciplines to guide future research, analysis, and practice. Relational psychology, trauma theory, and social work principles are among the ideas examned. The essay also applies these ideas to the challenges of representing employees and employers, using workplace bullying as a specific scenario for discussion.

Keywords: employment law, employment relations, therapeutic jurisprudence, law and psychology, workplace bullying

Suggested Citation

Yamada, David C., Employment Law as If People Mattered: Bringing Therapeutic Jurisprudence into the Workplace (August 26, 2009). Florida Coastal Law Review, Vol. 11, p. 257, 2010, Suffolk University Law School Research Paper No. 09-38, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1462406

David C. Yamada (Contact Author)

Suffolk University Law School ( email )

120 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02108-4977
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,030
Abstract Views
4,883
Rank
40,266
PlumX Metrics