William R. Corbett

Biography

Professor Corbett teaches and writes primarily in the area of labor and employment law. He joined the law faculty of the LSU Law Center in 1991, after practicing in Birmingham, Alabama with Burr & Forman. Professor Corbett has been a visiting faculty member at two law schools: William & Mary during the spring semester 1996, and the University of Georgia for three semesters. He served as Interim Vice Chancellor and then Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs at the LSU Law Center from May 1997 to January 2000. He served as Interim Co-Dean and then Interim Dean of the Law Center from August 2015 to July 2016. Professor Corbett served as Executive Director of the Louisiana Judicial College from 1998 to 2000. He has served as Executive Director of the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel since January 2001.

Courses Taught

Employment Law, Employment Discrimination, Labor Law, Comparative Labor Law, Torts, Relational Torts, Federal Civil Procedure, and Louisiana Civil Procedure

Selected Publications

Law Review Articles

Firing Employment at Will and Discharging Termination Claims from Employment Discrimination: A Cooperative Federalism Approach to Improve Employment Law ___ Cardozo L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2021).

Intolerable Asymmetry and Uncertainty: Congress Should Right the Wrongs of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, ___ Okla. L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2021).

Explorations with Charlie Sullivan, Theorizing a Different Universe of Employment Discrimination, 50 Seton Hall L. Rev. 1283 (2020).

“You’re Fired!”: The Common Law Should Respond with the Refashioned Tort of Abusive Discharge, 41 Berkeley J. Emp. & Lab. L. 63 (2020).

Finding A Better Way Around Employment At Will: Protecting Employees’ Autonomy Interests Through Tort Law, 66 Buff. L. Rev. 101 (2018).

Breaking Dichotomies at the Core of Employment Discrimination Law, 45 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 761 (2018).

Mike Zimmer, McDonnell Douglas, and “A Gift That Keeps Giving,” 20 Employee Rts. & Emp. Pol’y J. 303 (2016).

Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc.: McDonnell Douglas to the Rescue?, 92 Wash. U. L. Rev. 1683 (2015).

What is Troubling About the “Tortification” of Employment Discrimination Law?, 75 Ohio State L.J. 1027 (2014).

An Outrageous Response to “You’re Fired!” 92 N.C.L. Rev. Addendum 17 (2013) (online journal).

Calling On Congress: Take a Page from Parliament’s Playbook and Fix Employment Discrimination Law, 66 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 55 (2013) (online journal).

Unmasking a Pretext for Res Ipsa Loquitur: A Proposal to Let Employment Discrimination Speak for Itself, 62 Am. U. L. Rev. 447 (2013).

Books

Douglas E. Ray, William R. Corbett & Christopher David Ruiz Cameron, "Labor-Management Relations: Strikes, Lockouts and Boycotts" (2d ed. Thomson-West 2004) (with annual supplements).

Roger Blanpain, Susan Bisom-Rapp, William R. Corbett, Hilary K. Josephs & Michael J. Zimmer, "The Global Workplace: International And Comparative Employment Law—Cases and Materials" (2d ed. Wolters Kluwer 2012).

Frank L. Maraist, John M. Church, William R. Corbett, Thomas C. Galligan, Thomas E. Richard & Thomas M. Flanagan, "Tort Law: The American and Louisiana Perspectives" (3d ed. Vandeplas Pub. 2017)

Book Supplements

Frank L. Maraist, Thomas C. Galligan, Jr., William R. Corbett & John M. Church, "Louisiana Tort Law" (2004 ed. LexisNexis) (annual updates)