Simisola Obatusin

Spring 2014

Year: ILR '14

Cornell Activities/Groups/Affiliations/Leadership Roles:

  • Mentor, Cornell Ladies Achieving Sisterhood and Success (C.L.A.S.S.)
  • Undergraduate Consultant, Center for Teaching Excellence
  • International Teaching Assistant Program
  • Photo Contributor, The Daily Sun

Labor Law Clinic

escribe your research project: I work with Professor Cornell at the Cornell Law School's labor clinic, assisting law students who give clients legal advice and representation. My work mainly consists of providing background research on legal issues that are relevant to union clients, and researching past arbitration decisions, collective bargaining decisions, or ILO rulings to help with a case.

What have you gotten out of the experience so far? I've been able to understand legal issues from a real-world perspective as opposed to an academic perspective. Being able to work with clients who need assistance has made me appreciate legal work as a genuine service that can provide them with a lot of influence in the work place. I've also been exposed to legal issues from different parts of the world when representing international unions, which I've found fascinating. Also, working with law students has been great; they're all really intelligent and give a good perspective on what it is like to be a law student.

Why might other students be interested in pursuing this opportunity? This is an opportunity where you get to learn about a wide variety of legal labor issues. I get to rotate to a new assignment about every two weeks and they are all very interesting. If you're interested in legal issues that relate to labor, then this is the perfect opportunity for you. In addition, it's an amazing opportunity for an undergraduate student to work alongside people who have so much more exposure, experiences and knowledge. There is a lot to learn from them as well as from the work assignments.