Louis Anthony Rodriques

Lou Rodriques is a Senior Lecturer in Law at MIT Sloan, a position he assumed soon after retiring from his partnership at Bingham McCutchen, a leading global law firm with offices in the US, Europe, and Asia.  However, for over 30 years, Lou has been a frequent guest lecturer in MIT Sloan law courses and involved in the design of the Sloan law curriculum. Lou now co-teaches most of the courses that comprise the MIT Sloan law curriculum, including courses focused on employment and career issues, general business law, and legal aspects of digital technologies.

Lou practiced law in Boston for 37 years. During his career, he specialized in Labor and Employment law and General Litigation. As a general litigator, Lou handled a wide array of cases in state and federal court and before administrative agencies, including cases involving intellectual property rights, securities fraud, joint venture disputes, discrimination and sexual harassment, employment disputes of all types, trusts and estates, breach of contract, libel and slander, disputes arising out of mergers and acquisitions, and disputes involving whistleblowing by corporate insiders. As an employment lawyer, Lou advised a wide range of companies on the full range of issues involving their employees, including large multinational corporations, money management firms, hedge funds, life sciences companies, tech companies, and numerous start-ups. He also advised middle managers and executives as they changed careers. Lou also worked on numerous mergers and acquisitions, advising acquirers and targets about employment issues and general litigation risk. Lou conducted or participated in numerous internal investigations involving matters such as sexual and other forms of harassment, theft of intellectual property, securities law violations, and potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

When approaching employment law issues in his MIT Sloan teaching, Lou focuses on the various legal issues faced by companies when managing their employees, as well as by employees and managers at critical junctures throughout their careers. These issues include the enforceability of nondisclosure and noncompetition agreements, privacy at work, harassment and discrimination issues, terminating employees, and managing litigation risk. Students also explore the impact of artificial intelligence, social media and other new technologies at work, and the challenges such technologies pose for existing legal frameworks.

For over 20 years, Lou served as a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics. The Committee provided confidential advice to members of the bar concerning their ethical responsibilities as lawyers. The Committee also published formal opinions on new or complex ethical issues as guidance for the legal community. Lou authored several such opinions.

Lou earned a BA in history from Yale University in 1975, and a JD from Yale Law School in 1978.