About this Blog and NWI

Welcome to Minding the Workplace, the blog of the New Workplace Institute.  This blog, hosted and written by David Yamada, is dedicated to news and commentary about work and employment relations.  Dignity at work, workplace bullying, employment & labor law, and psychologically healthy work environments are recurring themes.

The New Workplace Institute at Suffolk University Law School is committed to advancing dignity at work and to public education about workplace bullying, mobbing, and abuse.

Blog Host

David Yamada is a tenured Professor of Law and Director of the New Workplace Institute at Suffolk University Law School in Boston.  David is an internationally recognized authority on workplace bullying, and he is author of model anti-bullying legislation — dubbed the Healthy Workplace Bill — that has become the template for law reform efforts across the country. He also is a leading subject matter expert on the legal implications of unpaid internships.  More recently, he has become a leading proponent of therapeutic jurisprudence, a school of legal theory and practice that embraces psychological insights use the law to advance human dignity. In addition to teaching at Suffolk, he holds numerous leadership positions in non-profit and policy advocacy organizations.

David’s full bio on the Suffolk website may be accessed here.

David’s c.v. may be accessed here.

David’s scholarly articles may be accessed, free of charge, here.

David’s e-mail is dyamada@suffolk.edu.

DISCLAIMER: LEGAL ADVICE

Although this blog discusses legal topics at times, it does so for informational purposes only and should not be construed as providing legal advice.  Those seeking legal advice should consult the Need Help page of this blog. David regrets that he is not in a position to provide individual coaching and legal advice on specific workplace situations.

AFFILIATIONS

David is affiliated with several organizations that are relevant to this blog, the New Workplace Institute, and employment relations in general.  In order to inform readers of pertinent associations, they are listed here:

Workplace Bullying Institute — The Workplace Bullying Institute is the leading North American organization dedicated to prevention of, and responding to, workplace bullying.  It was founded by Drs. Gary and Ruth Namie. David has been an affiliated scholar with WBI since 1998.

International Society for Therapeutic Jurisprudence (ISTJ) — Therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) is a theoretical framework that examines the therapeutic and anti-therapeutic properties of the law and legal systems. David is the founding board chair of the ISTJ, is a regular presenter at TJ programs and workshops, and has published law review articles on TJ themes.

Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies — Human DHS is a global network of scholars, practitioners, and activists hosted by Columbia University that is committed to affirming personal dignity and addressing humiliation in all contexts.  David is a member of its board of directors. HumanDHS awarded him its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.

Americans for Democratic Action — ADA is a national advocacy and policy group founded in 1947 by leading liberals such as Eleanor Roosevelt, John Kenneth Galbraith, Walter Reuther, and Reinhold Niebuhr.  David is the former chairperson of its national executive committee and a current national board member. ADA awarded him its Winn Newman Equality Award for lifetime achievement in 2015.

About the name of the blog: The name Minding the Workplace was inspired by an excellent book, Anthony G. Amsterdam and Jerome Bruner, Minding the Law (2000), in which the co-authors use psychological insights to analyze the work of lawyers and judges. David began his teaching career as an instructor in the innovative Lawyering Program directed by Anthony Amsterdam at NYU School of Law, his legal alma mater.

Guest submissions: Minding the Workplace does not publish guest submissions.