If the field of labour law is not yet dead, it now seems widely accepted that it is in dire need of a reconceptualisation, argues the author. 

"Perhaps in the past we might have spoken about the need for new protections for workers, or controls over trade unions," he writes. "We might have spoken about new forms of ‘employee voice’ at the place of work, or the need for more flexible contracts of employment. But as we will see I no longer think that this sort of discussion is pivotal to our most pressing concerns. I think that labour law itself is the central concern and I am sure that this concern is shared by numbers of my labour law colleagues."