- Email:
- kdauschm@indiana.edu
- Phone:
- (812) 855-0697
- Location:
- Baier Hall 323

Education
- University of Wisconsin B.A. 1978
- University of Michigan M.A. 1981
- University of Michigan J.D. 1981
- University of Michigan Ph.D. 1984
Background
- Elected Member, Bloomington Faculty Council (2016-2020); Member, Indiana University Athletics Committee (2016-2022)
- Associate Dean of Faculty Research (2005-2007)
- Co-chair, IU Center for Law, Society, and Culture (2003-2007)
- Member, American Law Institute Advisory Committee on the Third Restatement of Employment Law (2010-2015); Chair of the Labor Law Group (2005-2010); Secretary, ABA Section on Labor and Employment Law (2008-2010); Chair AALS Section on Law and Economics (2006-2007); Member, Executive Committee of the AALS section on Labor and Employment Law (1990-91, 1998-99); Elected Member, AAUP Nat'l Council (1993-96)
- AALS Scholarly Paper Award (1990); Excellence in Education Award of the Industrial Relations Research Association (2004); Leon H. Wallace Teaching Award (2003); Cynthia Bowman Teaching Award (2003); and Leonard D. Fromm Public Interest Award (1997)
- Associate at Previant, Goldberg and Uelmen, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1985-86)
- Counsel for the Labor-Management Relations Committee, Minnesota House of Representatives, Minneapolis, Minnesota (1982-85)
- Clerk, UAW Legal Department, Solidarity House, Detroit, Michigan (1981)
- Humphrey and Sharfman Fellow(1978-82); Parker Award for Best Dissertation (1984); Elected to the Order of the Coif; Ely Award for Academic Achievement (1978); and Davis Award for Work in Constitutional Law (1978)
Biography
Professor Dau-Schmidt is a nationally recognized teacher and scholar in labor and employment law and the economic analysis of legal problems.
His innovative teaching methods using classroom simulations have been widely featured in publications including the Christian Science Monitor, Chronicle of Higher Education, the Chicago Sun-Times, the National Jurist, and the Indiana Daily Student. In 2003 he was awarded the Leon H. Wallace Award, Indiana Law's top teaching prize, and IU's Sylvia Bowman Award for Teaching Excellence. He received the Excellence in Education Award of the Industrial Relations Research Association in 2004.
He is author of seven books and numerous articles on labor and employment law and the economic analysis of law, and he frequently presents papers at academic conferences and law schools across the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. In 1990 he received the Scholarly Paper Award from the Association of American Law Schools for his work on the economic analysis of the criminal law as a preference-shaping policy.
Dau-Schmidt is involved in faculty governance as an elected member of the Bloomington Faculty Council and a faculty representative on the Athletics Committee. Dau-Schmidt has also been active in law school administration, serving as the Associate Dean of Faculty Research. He was also the Chair or Co-Chair of the law school's Center for Law, Society and Culture and has been an active participant in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) and IU leadership programs.
Involved in several national academic associations, Dau-Schmidt was elected to the National Council of the American Association of University Professors and appointed to serve on the executive and litigation committees of that organization. He is the past chair of the Labor Law Group and has chaired the Association of American Law School sections on the Economic Analysis of Law and Socio-Economics. In addition, he has served in various capacities on the executive committee of the AALS section on Labor and Employment Law and the Industrial Relations Research Association's section on Labor and Employment Law. He is also a founder of the Midwest Law and Economics Association.
Professor Dau-Schmidt has been fortunate enough to be invited to teach at various European and Asian universities, including: Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, Germany; Friedrich-Alexander-Universität in Erlangen, Germany; Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) in Paris, France and Taiwan National University in Taipei, Taiwan. He is also an affiliated faculty member with Peking University's School of Transnational Law in Shenzen, China.
In The Media
- Quoted in "Indiana's tug-of-war: Work remotely or head back to the office?," Herald Bulletin ( 08-31-2023 )
- Quoted in "Indiana's Tug-of-War: Work Remotely, or Head Back to Office?," Public News Service ( 07-17-2023 )
- Quoted in "Indianapolis hospital eliminates noncompete clauses, allows doctors to jump ship," Indiana Public Media ( 06-20-2023 )
- Quoted in "Eskenazi ends noncompetes for doctors amid debate on health care costs," IndyStar ( 06-19-2023 )
- Quoted in "Supreme Court ruling could chill labor strikes," Reuters ( 06-02-2023 )
- Mentioned in "Potential Impact of Supreme Court Ruling on Labor Strikes Raises Concerns," JD Journal ( 06-02-2023 )
- Quoted in "'We're hurting good people': Eli Lilly contractor accused of underpaying IT employees," IndyStar ( 02-28-2023 )
- Quoted in "IU labor expert looks at proposed non-compete ban," Inside Indiana Business ( 01-17-2023 )
- Quoted in "FTC says proposed ban of noncompete clauses would strengthen workers' hand," NBC News ( 01-05-2023 )
- Quoted in "Workplace unrest: Uptick in union membership seen as reflecting shift in workers' attitudes," The Indiana Lawyer ( 08-17-2022 )
- Quoted in "Why Amazon only got a $60,000 fine for a 'serious' labor violation," Mashable ( 03-22-2022 )
- Wrote "Letter: In defense of Judge Galvin in Emma Grace Cole case," Herald Times ( 03-11-2022 )
- Quoted in "Sexual Misconduct Bill Inspired by #MeToo Bound for Final Votes," Bloomberg Law ( 02-03-2022 )
- Quoted in "Indiana business leaders urge companies to prepare for OSHA vaccine mandate," CBS4 News ( 12-20-2021 )
- Quoted in "IU experts say Biden's new vaccine mandates for large businesses protect employees' safety," Indiana Daily Student ( 09-14-2021 )
- Quoted in "Walmart to increase wages by $1 per hour to lure workers to meet the holiday rush," Industry Leaders ( 09-04-2021 )
- Quoted in "As COVID-19 Spurs Workers' Calls For Higher Pay, Kokomo School Staff Continue Union Push," WJCT News ( 08-04-2021 )
- Quoted in "Pandemic unemployment benefits continue," WFHB ( 07-27-2021 )
- Quoted in "Hoosiers will receive back pay for federal unemployment benefits, DWD says," Fox 59 ( 07-13-2021 )
- Quoted in "Retail workers in unions reap higher wages even as U.S. organizers suffer setbacks," Reuters ( 07-09-2021 )
- Quoted in "The wrong way to help workers," New York Daily News ( 07-02-2021 )
- Quoted in "Central Park 'Karen' firing case tests how far employers can go," Bloomberg Law ( 05-27-2021 )
- Quoted in "Here's why 2021 could be a big year for labor unions," WENY ( 02-28-2021 )
- Quoted in "Philly workers are dying of COVID-19. Some miss out on special death benefits," NBC 10 ( 02-11-2021 )
- Quoted in "COVID-19 death of Original Philly Cheesesteak supervisor triggers a lawsuit against meatpacking giant," The Philadelphia Inquirer ( 01-15-2021 )
- Quoted in "The arguments for and against whether companies can be sued for coronavirus outbreaks," The Washington Post ( 12-08-2020 )
- Quoted in "'Wow, this is incredible, horrible': Why some workers are asked to pay back jobless aid," The Indianapolis Star ( 10-14-2020 )
- Quoted in "What to know about COVID in the workplace," South Bend Tribune ( 10-14-2020 )
Selected Works
Congressional testimony
- "Time to Update the NLRB's Election Procedure" (PDF and VIDEO): Testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce in a hearing entitled, "Rushing Union Elections: Protecting the Interests of Big Labor at the Expense of Workers' Free Choice." July 7, 2011, Rayburn House Office Building Room 2175.
- "Protecting Union Free Speech from Unnecessary and Unconstitutional Regulation" (PDF and VIDEO): Testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in a hearing entitled, "The Right to Choose: Protecting Union Workers from Forced Political Contributions." February 8, 2012, Rayburn House Office Building Room 2154.
Publications
- O Brother Where Art Thou? The Struggles of African American Men in the Global Economy of the Information Age, 8 IND. J.L & SOC. EQUALITY 1 (2020).
- The Problem of 'Misclassification' or How to Define who is an 'Employee' Under Protective Legislation in the Information Age, in THE CAMBRIDGE HANDBOOK OF U.S. LABOR LAW: REVIVING AMERICAN LABOR FOR A 21ST CENTURY ECONOMY (Cambridge University Press, Richard Bales & Charlotte Garden, eds., 2019).
- LABOR LAW IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORKPLACE, 3rd ed. (with M.H. Malin, et.al.). St. Paul, MN: West Academic Publishing, 2019.
- The Impact of Emerging Information Technologies on the Employment Relationship: New Gigs for Labor and Employment Law, 2017 CHI. LEGAL F. 63 (2017).
- LEGAL PROTECTION FOR THE INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEE (with M. FINKIN and R. COVINGTON) (5th ed. 2016).
- Labor Law 2.0: The Impact of New Information Technology on the Employment Relationship and the Relevance of the NLRA, 64 EMORY L. J. 1583 (2015).
- Undermining or Promoting Democratic Government? An Economic and Empirical Analysis of Public Sector Collective Bargaining, 14 NEV. L. J. 414-443 (2014)(with Mohammad Khan).
- Promises to Keep: Ensuring the Payment of Americans’ Pension Benefits in the Wake of the Great Recession, 52 WASHBURN L. REV. 393-428 (2013).
- Promoting Employee Voice in the American Economy: A Call for Comprehensive Reform, Principal Paper, Distinguished Speakers Conference, 94 MARQUETTE L. REV. 765 (2011).
- Review of Labor and Employment Decisions from the Supreme Court's 2008-2009 Term, 25 ABA J. LAB. & EMP. LAW 107 (2010) (with Todd Dvorak).
- LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT LAW AND ECONOMICS, Elgar Publishing Co. (with S. HARRIS and O. LOBEL) (2009).
- Men and Women of the Bar: An Empirical Study of the Impact on Gender on Legal Careers, 16 MICH. J OF GENDER & L. 49 (2009) (with M. Galanter, K. Mukhopadhaya, and K. Hull)
- Income and Career Satisfaction in the Legal Profession: Survey Data from Indiana Law Graduates, 4 J. OF EMP. LEG. STUD. 939 (2007)(with J. Stake and K. Mukhopadhaya).
- The Changing Face of Collective Representation: The Future of Collective Bargaining, 29th Annual Piper Lecture, Chicago-Kent University, School of Law, U. CHI-KENT L. REV 903 (2007).
- “The Pride of Indiana”: An Empirical Study of the Law School Experience and Careers of Indiana University School of Law--Bloomington Alumni, 81 IND. L. J. 1427, 1427-78 (2006) (with Jeffrey E. Stake, Kaushik Mukhopadhaya & Timothy A. Haley)
- Lost in Translation: The Economic Analysis of Law in the United States and Europe, in WELTINNENRECHT LIBER AMICORUM JOST DELBRÜCK, Veröffentlichungen des Walther-Schücking-Instituts für Internationales Recht an der Universität Kiel, Band 155, Seiten 131–46 (Klaus Dicke, Stephan Hobe, Karl-Urich Meyn, Anne Peters, Eibe Riedel, Hans-Joachim Schütz & Christian Tietje (Hrsg.), Berlin 2005) (with Carmen L. Brun)
- Economics and Sociology: The Prospects for an Interdisciplinary Discourse on Law, 1997 WIS. L. REV. 389 (1997).
- A Bargaining Analysis of American Labor Law and the Search for Bargaining Equity and Industrial Peace, 91 MICH. L. REV. 419 (1992).
- An Economic Analysis of the Criminal Law as a Preference Shaping Policy, 1990 DUKE L.J. 1 (1990).
Areas of Expertise
- Employment law
- Labor law