Two New Faculty Hires Deepen the Law School's Strength in Labor & Employment Law

Two recently hired faculty members will strengthen Minnesota Law's nationally recognized expertise in labor & employment law.

Professors Charlotte Garden and Matthew Bodie—both of whom have taught and written extensively on labor and employment issues—will join the Law School's faculty this summer.

Garden is professor of law and co-associate dean for research at the Seattle University School of Law, where she teaches Labor Law, Employment Law, Constitutional Law, Appellate Litigation, and Legislation & Regulation. Her scholarship focuses on the intersection of work/labor/technology and the Constitution. Her articles have appeared in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Emory Law Journal, Boston University Law Review, George Washington Law Review, Fordham Law Review, William & Mary Law Review, and the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, among others. She is a co-author of two leading labor & employment law casebooks: Modern Labor Law in the Private and Public Sectors (Carolina Academic Press) and Employment Law Cases and Materials (Foundation Press).

Bodie is the Callis Family Professor of Law and co-director of the William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law at Saint Louis University School of Law.  He teaches contracts, employment law, labor law, and information privacy law. His scholarship is centered on the employment relationship and the economic, legal, and social connections between workers and firms. His articles have appeared in the Boston University Law Review, Maryland Law Review, Washington University Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, and Virginia Law Review, among others. His book, "Reconstructing the Corporation: From Shareholder Primacy to Shared Governance," was published by Cambridge University Press in 2021. He also served as Reporter for the American Law Institute’s Restatement of Employment Law.

Professor Stephen Befort '74, who took emeritus status last year but continues to teach at the Law School, is one of the nation’s leading experts on labor and employment law. He has taught at the Law School for 40 years.

Professor Emerita Laura Cooper, who has retired from teaching, is a distinguished scholar in the fields of labor law and workplace dispute resolution who helped establish the Law School's national reputation for labor and employment law excellence. 

Professor Amy Monahan, who teaches and writes in the areas of federal taxation and employee benefits law, is faculty chair of the Law School's Labor & Employment Law Concentration.