Posters appeared on bulletin boards at the law school in March bearing the countenance of a prominent Philadelphia labor lawyer superimposed on the image of Batman nemesis, The Joker.

Proclaiming "Don't Let this Joker Fool You: Labor Law Inc. Is the Villain," the posters were part of a collective action by students enrolled in the Labor Law class taught by Nancy B.G. Lassen, a partner with the top shelf Philadelphia firm, Willig, Williams & Davidson, and an adjunct professor at the school.

A longtime member of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, Lassen has represented uniformed and non-uniformed public employees, private sector and industrial workers, transportation workers and building trades for more than 25 years.

In addition to teaching students about labor law, Lassen constructed a simulation that put them into the role of workers who face unreasonable demands from an employer. She dubbed the enterprise Labor Law Inc. and made herself president and CEO.

Hoping students would gain insights about the experience of workers whom they might one day represent, Lassen suddenly announced that she would change the format of the final exam for the course. Like a tyrannical employer, she assigned students to committees to draft proposals for a new exam format, only to dismiss their suggestions and forbid them from discussing the matter outside of class.

Lassen was initially disappointed to see the students cave in to her demands.

"They kept trying to negotiate with me," she complained. "I was hopeful that they would rise up and act collectively."

Eventually, the students realized that they were facing constraints like those in the case of Electromation, an Indiana employer who was found to have created company- dominated committees that violated the National Labor Relations Act.

The students drafted an Unfair Labor Practice charge against Lassen, signed authorization cards to form a union - the International Brotherhood of Barristers - and produced posters urging students to "unite" and vote for their Union. The National Labor Relations Board (also played by Lassen) scheduled an election when Labor Law, Inc. refused to honor the employees' request to recognize the Union.

Student Michael Palermo said the exercise brought lessons from the class home in a powerful way.

"Instead of just reading a bunch of hypotheticals and trying to apply the law, we are the hypothetical," he said. "We felt our recommendations to possibly change the format of the test were not taken seriously, and that she had basically put us in these groups for the purpose of dominating us. She violated the NLRA."

Asked the precise date of the election, Palermo kept mum.

"That is confidential," Palermo said. "I really can't say."

Professor Lassen would only say, "events are still unfolding - so we'll see if the Joker laughs last!"