Susan Bisom-Rapp
Susan Bisom-Rapp
Professor of Law
J.S.D., Columbia University;
LL.M., Columbia University;
J.D., University of California, Berkeley, Order of the Coif;
B.S., Cornell University
LL.M., Columbia University;
J.D., University of California, Berkeley, Order of the Coif;
B.S., Cornell University
Phone: (619) 961-4208
E-mail: susanb@tjsl.edu
Professor Bisom-Rapp is an expert on employment discrimination, occupational safety and health, and international and comparative workplace law, who writes and lectures internationally. Her co-authored casebook, The Global Workplace: International and Comparative Employment Law - Cases and Materials (Cambridge University Press 2007), is the first law school text on the subject. The book’s second edition was published in the Aspen Casebook Series by Wolters Kluwer in March 2012. A member of the Thomas Jefferson faculty since 1996, Professor Bisom-Rapp also serves on the international council of the Doctoral Research School in Labour and Industrial Relations at the Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena, Italy. She is a member of the American Law Institute and serves on the Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal’s editorial board. She recently became a faculty affiliate of the University of California - San Diego's Center for Research on Gender in the Professions and a member of the Employee Rights Center's professional advisory committee.
Professor Bisom-Rapp served as Director of Thomas Jefferson's Center for Law and Social Justice from 2004-2008, was a Visiting Associate Professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law in 2003, and has taught law in China and France. As a doctoral student at Columbia University, she was a Wien Fellow and received a dissertation grant from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Before beginning her academic career, Professor Bisom-Rapp practiced workplace law at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in New York City.
Courses include:
Employment Discrimination, Employment Law, Global Workplace Law (International and Comparative Employment Law), Labor Law, Torts.
Scholarships
BOOKS
The Global Workplace: International And Comparative Employment Law – Cases And Materials (with Roger Blanpain, William R. Corbett, Hilary K. Josephs, and Michael J. Zimmer) (Aspen/KLI, 2d ed., 2012)
The Global Workplace: International And Comparative Employment Law – Cases and Materials (with Roger Blanpain, William R. Corbett, Hilary K. Josephs, & Michael J. Zimmer) (Cambridge University Press, 1st ed., 2007)
EDITORSHIPS
Guest Editor, Symposium issue: Decent Work in a Post-Recessionary World, 15 Employee Rts. & Emp. Pol’y J. 1 (2011)
Guest Editor, Symposium issue: The Pedagogy of Global Workplace Law, 25 Int. J. Comp. L.L.I.R. 1 (2009)
Editorial Board Member, Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal, 2008 – present
ARTICLES, BOOK CHAPTERS, AND ARTICLE-LENGTH WORKS
Increasing the Employment Rate of Older Workers: European Objectives and US Lessons, 27 Int. J. Comp. L.L.I.R. 301 (2011)(with Malcolm Sargeant)
Learning from Troubled Times: Pursuing Equality Outside an Anti-discrimination Law Frame by Rethinking the Promotion of Safe Work during the Bush Administration, 45 U.S.F. L. Rev. 603 (2011)
Decent Work, Older Workers, and Vulnerability in the Economic Recession: A Comparative Study of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, 15 Emp. Rts. & Emp. Pol'y J. 43 (2011) (with Andrew Frazer & Malcolm Sargeant)
Puzzling Evidence from a Troubled Time: Rethinking State Promotion of Safe Work During the Bush Administration, 14 Emp. Rts. & Emp. Pol'y J 295 (2010)
What We Learn in Troubled Times: Deregulation and Safe Work in the New Economy, 55 Wayne L. Rev. 1197 (2009)
Fearing Minefields But Finding Goldfields: Teaching International and Comparative Workplace Law in China or Anywhere Else, 25 Int. J. Comp. L.L.I.R. 33 (2009)
Diversity, Equality and Integration: A Workplace Perspective from the U.S.; Conclusion, in Diversity, Equality and Integration: Beyond the Law - A Comparative Study (Roger Blanpain, ed, Vanden Broele Publishers, 2008)
Globization, Equality and Nondiscrimination: An Interdisciplinary Perspective from the U.S. on Diversity Programming, in Global Labour Market: From Globalization to Flexicurity, 65 Bull. Comp. Lab. Rels. 295 (Roger Blanpain and Michele Tiraboschi, eds., 2008)
A Critical Look at Organizational Responses to and Remedies for Sex Discrimination, in Sex Discrimination in Employment: Multidisciplinary Perspectives 273 (with Margaret S. Stockdale & Faye J. Crosby) (Faye J. Crosby, Margaret S. Stockdale & S. Ann Ropp eds., Blackwell, 2007)
How Well Do Internal EEO Alternative Dispute Resolution and Litigation Prevention Measures Advance the Traditional Goal of Anti-Discrimination Law?, 11 Emp. Rts. & Emp. Pol'y J. 139 (2007)
Exceeding Our Boundaries: Transnational Employment Law Practice and the Export of American Lawyering Styles to the Global Worksite, 25 Comp. Lab. L. & Pol'y J. 257 (2004)
Coming to Terms with Zero Tolerance Sexual Harassment Policies, 4 J. Forensic Psychol. Prac. 65 (with Margaret S. Stockdale, Maureen O’Connor & Barbara A. Gutek) (2004)
Gauging Employer Reactions to the First Maternal Wall Suits: Commentary on Keynote Speaker Joan Williams's "Beyond the Glass Ceiling," 26 T. Jefferson L. Rev. 27 (2003)
An Ounce of Prevention is a Poor Substitute for a Pound of Cure: Confronting the Developing Jurisprudence of Education and Prevention in Employment Discrimination Law, 22 Berkleley J. Emp. & Lab. L. 1 (2001)
Fixing Watches with Sledgehammers: The Questionable Embrace of Employee Sexual Harassment Training by the Legal Profession, 24 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 147 (2001)
Discerning Form from Substance: Understanding Employer Litigation Prevention Strategies, 3 Emp. Rts. & Emp. Pol'y J. 1 (1999)
Bulletproofing the Workplace: Symbol and Substance in Employment Discrimination Law Practice, 26 Fla. St. U.L. Rev. 959 (1999)
Introduction to Chapter on Feminism and Popular Culture, in Feminism, Media, and the Law 87 (Martha Albertson Fineman & Martha T. McCluskey eds., Oxford University Press, 1997)
Scripting Reality in the Legal Workplace: Women Lawyers, Litigation Prevention Measures, and the Limits of Anti-Discrimination Law, 6 Colum. J. Gender & L. 323 (1996)
Of Motives and Maleness: A Critical View of Mixed Motive Doctrine in Title VII Sex Discrimination Cases, 1995 Utah L. Rev. 1029 (1995)
Contextualizing the Debate: How Feminist and Critical Race Scholarship Can Inform the Teaching of Employment Discrimination Law, 44 J. Legal Educ. 366 (1994)
The Use of Subclasses in Class Action Suits Under Title VII, 9 Indus. Rel. L.J. 116 (1987)
Presentations
Coordinator and Commentator, Young Scholars’ Workshop in Labour Relations, Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena, Modena, Italy, March 22, 2012
North American Border Wars: The Role of Canadian and American Scholarship in U.S. Labor Law Reform Debates, Rules, Policies and Method: The Legacy of Marco Biagi in Labour Relations Today, Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena, Modena, Italy, March 19, 2012 (presentation with Professor Michael J. Zimmer)
Decent Work, Older Workers and the Recession – The American Experience, Labor and Employment Relations Association 64th Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, Jan. 8, 2012
Mapping Uncertain Geography: Legal Regulation, Unauthorized Workers, Safe Work, and the Grey Zone in the United States, ZOGRIS Project Kick Off: Is There a Grey Area Between Comparable Labour Markets in the South and the North?, Université de Paris - Dauphine, Paris, France, Dec. 8, 2011
Senior Commentator, Sixth Annual Employment and Labor Law Young Scholars’ Forum, Seton Hall University School of Law, Newark, NJ, October 28-29, 2011
What International Law Can Tell Us about the Evolving US Law of Workplace Social Media Use, Challenges of Social Media in the Workplace, San Diego Labor and Employment Relations Association, Annual Meeting and Dinner, San Diego, CA, May 18, 2011
Increasing the Employment Rate of Older Workers: European Objectives and US Lessons, Europe 2020: Comparative Perspectives and Transnational Action, Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena, Modena, Italy, March 17, 2011 (presentation with Professor Malcolm Sargeant)
Deregulation, Safe Work, and Undocumented Workers in the New Economy: An Analysis of Novel Programming for America's Most Vulnerable, Middlesex University School of Business, London, United Kingdom, June 8, 2010
Decent Work in a Post-Recessionary World: Reconceptualizing Flexibility, Employment Protection, and the Regulatory Tools Used to Achieve Those Goals, Rethinking Corporate Governance: From Shareholder Value to Stakeholder Value, Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena, Modena, Italy, March 19, 2010
Learning From Troubled Times: Pursuing Equality Outside an Anti-Discrimination Law Frame By Rethinking the Promotion of Safe Work During the Bush Administration, Annual Jack Pemberton Lecture on Workplace Justice, University of San Francisco School of Law, Keynote delivered at the James R. Browning Courthouse, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, San Francisco, CA, March 4, 2010
Puzzling Evidence from a Troubled Time: Rethinking State Promotion of Safe Work during the Bush Administration, Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, Jan. 9, 2010
What We Learn in Troubled Times: Lessons for Protecting Vulnerable Workers' Safety and Health in the New Economy, International Industrial Relations Association World Congress, Sydney, Australia, Aug. 2009
The Pedagogy of International and Comparative Workplace Law, Association of American Law Schools, Mid-Year Meeting, Workshop on Work Law, Long Beach, CA, June 2009
What We Learn in Troubled Times: Deregulation and Safe Work in the New Economy, Loyola University, New Orleans, School of Law, Faculty Colloquia Series, New Orleans, LA, April 2009
Youth Employment: Developments in Asia, Plenary panel chair and discussant, Labour Productivity, Investment in Human Capital and the Challenge of Youth Employment: Comparative Developments and Global Responses, Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena, Modena, Italy, Mar. 2009
Discrimination, Difference, and Diversity in Organizations, Panel Discussant, The Discoveries of the Discrimination Research Group, Stanford University Law School, Stanford, CA, Nov. 2008
What We Learn in Troubled Times: Lessons for Protecting Vulnerable Workers' Safety and Health in the New Economy, 2008 Colloquium on Labor and Employment Law Scholarship, University of San Diego, Oct. 24, 2008
Providing Voice to Invisible Workers in a Climate of Fear: Is a Capabilities Approach to Occupational Health and Safety Promotion Possible?, Workers Rights Protections in a New World of Work, Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena, Modena, Italy, Mar. 2008
Fearing Minefields, Finding Goldfields: Teaching International and Comparative Workplace Law in China or Anywhere Else, The Global Workplace, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, CA, Feb. 2008
A National Report on Diversity Programming in the United States, International Forum: Diversity, Equality and Integration, Flemish Royal Academy of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium, Sept. 2007
Globalization and Interdisciplinary Workplace Trends, The Global Workplace: Learning from One Another, Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena, Italy, Mar. 2007
How Well Do Internal EEO Litigation Prevention Measures Advance the Traditional Goal of Anti-Discrimination Law?, Joint Program of Alternative Dispute Resolution and Employment Discrimination Sections, Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, Jan. 2007
Judicial Deference in Employment Discrimination Law, Workshop on Judicial Deference, University of Colorado, Boulder, School of Law, Boulder, CO, Aug. 2006
Commentator, Robyn Stryker's The Politics of Social Science in Government Regulation of Equal Employment Opportunity, Social Scientific Perspectives on Employment Discrimination in Organizations Group (SSPEDO), Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, CA, Feb. 2006
A Critical Look at Organizational Responses to and Remedies for Sex Discrimination, Social Scientific Perspectives on Employment Discrimination in Organizations Group (SSPEDO), Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, CA, Nov. 2005
Remedies and Solutions for Sex Discrimination, Nag’s Heart Symposium, Lake Tahoe, CA, Oct. 2005
Author Meets Reader – Gender Myths v. Working Realities by Theresa M. Beiner, Law & Society Association Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV, Jun. 2005
From Bulletproofing the Workplace to Bulletproofing the World? Spreading US Anti-Discrimination Law and Legal Practice, Law & Society Association Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV, Jun. 2005
Work in Progress, Social Scientific Perspectives on Employment Discrimination in Organizations Group, Stanford University Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford CA, Mar. 2005
Personal Reflections in Five Acts, Lawyers Club of San Diego Symposium on “How I Became a Professor and How I Became a Judge: Real Stories of Careers in Law”, California Western School of Law, San Diego CA, Mar. 2005
Welcoming Remarks, Fifth Annual Women and the Law Conference: The Global Impact of Feminist Legal Theory, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego CA, Feb. 2005
Transnational Employment Law Practice and the Exporting of American Lawyering Styles to the Global Worksite, California Western School of Law Faculty Forum, San Diego, CA, Oct. 2004
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