Courses

• LAW JD 867: Health Law
  This class introduces the significant laws regulating the US health care sector, particularly the finance, organization and delivery of health care through our blended system of public & private insurance. Health law offers a privileged role to experts, particularly physicians, but simultaneously recognizes that health professionals and institutions are prone to decision making that generates enormous agency costs. These laws are generally responsible for the growth of health law as a recognized specialization in legal practice, while health care represents nearly one fifth of US economic activity. We also discuss health policy in the context of cost, quality and access, with some international comparisons. Some of the work in the class will be assigned in teams with class presentations. A final examination will be offered.
• LAW JD 868: Moot Court
  The second component of the First Year Research and Writing requirement is participation in the J. Newton Esdaile Appellate Moot Court Program in the spring semester. Students conduct research, draft a brief and present a case in oral argument before a panel of moot-court judges made up of faculty, lawyers and students.
• LAW JD 869: Immigration Detention Clinic (C)
  This clinical course will cover issues of detention in the immigration context, including federal detention standards and release from detention through bond and parole. The class will receive training in know your rights presentations and visit local detention facilities to provide intake and assistance to individuals in immigration custody. The class may also provide limited representation in bond proceedings before the immigration court. Prerequisite: Immigration Law (JD968) and Evidence (JD831). NOTE: This clinic satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement.
• LAW JD 870: Patent Law
  The basic questions in patent law are: why should society permit the grant of an exclusive property right in information relating to an invention? Who should be given the right? What is the scope of the right? How should the right be enforced? What disclosure duties should be placed on the patent holder? We will concentrate on these legal issues without getting mired in discussions of the technical details of particular inventions. Students without a technical background are welcome and encouraged to enroll.
• LAW JD 871: Trusts, Wills & Basic Estate Planning
  Examination of the rules governing intestate and testate distribution of property including formal requirements governing execution, alteration and revocation of wills; requisite elements of express trusts and requirements for their creation; resulting trusts and constructive trusts; special rules relating to charitable trusts and spendthrift trusts; rules concerning construction of wills and trusts; and general rules governing administration of decedents' estates and trusts.
• LAW JD 872: Financial Reporting for Lawyers
  Understanding financial statements and reports. The objective of the course is that students will be able to read and understand the four financial statements and the 10-k annual report. Emphasis is placed on understanding the nature and meaning of the reports, as well as the relationship to the underlying transactions. Other topics include: basic accounting principles, US GAAP versus IFRS, financial statement analysis, the relationship of the financial statement information to covenant documents, and accounting gamesmanship. RESTRICTION: Not open to students who have had more than one three-hour college course, or its equivalent, in accounting.
• LAW JD 873: Civil Procedure
  Examines the structure and function of civil procedure and the requirements of due process of law.
• LAW JD 874: Advanced Legal Writing and Editing Workshop (S)
  The purpose of this seminar is to provide students with the opportunity to improve their writing skills. Students will prepare a variety of practice related documents based on a single fact pattern. Some legal research will be necessary, but the emphasis will be on writing, not on research. Students will also have the opportunity to edit other students' papers, with the goal of improving their own writing skills. The class is designed primarily for those students who will not have the writing and editing opportunities provided by membership in a law school journal, but who, nonetheless, are interested in improving their writing skills. Actors will perform a scenario for the class, from which students will extract the pertinent facts. From this fact pattern, students will draft an inter office memo, a letter or memo to a non lawyer client, and a trial or appellate brief. Students will edit each other's papers and then will write a second draft of each of their documents. Students will be graded on the basis of their written work, editing work on their classmate's papers and on their classroom performance. There will be no final exam. NOTES: This seminar does not satisfy the Upperclass Writing Requirement. This seminar satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 876: Property
  Conceptual analysis and underlying policy considerations in basic property law.
• LAW JD 878: THE COLOR LINE (S)
  This seminar examines the "color line" in American law and society from the 17th century to the present time. English settlers who assumed the right to claim land on this continent regarded themselves as civilized Christians and Native Americans as savage heathens. That view was transformed into a white supremacist color line when the settlers created a race-based system of slavery. After the colonies became independent, they incorporated the color line in all levels of the law. Discrimination against Irish and Chinese immigrants and Mexican-American citizens was accompanied by a revised color line. Although slavery was abolished, the US abandoned "reconstruction" of the former slave states, accepted a new system of racial domination known as Jim Crow, and tolerated the lynching of African Americans. The racial standing of Catholics and Jews from Southern and Eastern Europe was questioned, and a revised color line was imposed on immigration. The color line was at work when the US annexed Hawaii, colonized Puerto Rico, made Cuba a protectorate, subdued the Philippines and intervened throughout Latin America. Only recently, the federal government renounced white supremacy and began enforcing civil rights -- despite massive, violent resistance. The resulting nation is a different place, but the color line's legacy remains, e.g., in de facto segregation and gaps between whites and blacks in housing, health, education, employment, unemployment, income, and wealth.. The first month of the seminar will be devoted to an overview of that history. During that time each seminar participant will select a research topic about an unfamiliar aspect of that history or a current issue related to the color line. A list of suggested topics will be provided along with an annotated bibliography. Seminar participants will present the results of their initial research in the remaining weeks. Topics may be developed independently, but all topics must be approved. Conferences will be scheduled to discuss possible topics and the development of chosen topics. For the presentation, each seminar participant will submit a research plan early on and a draft outline of the presentation in advance. The term paper may be on the topic selected for presentation or a different topic (also subject to approval). A complete and polished draft (4,000 words) will be submitted, and will be revised in light of comments received on the draft. (Rev. 5/21/11) ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 880: European Union Law
  The course begins with the legal history of European integration and with an analysis of the institutional foundations of the European Union. Classes then focus on trade within Europe. Students learn about free trade and its many constraints in the Old Continent. This part of the course includes units on Competition Law (antitrust) and intellectual property. The course emphasizes the impact of trade and legal harmonization upon culture, human rights and social policies. The study of external relations of the Union follows, with particular attention to US-EU relations.
• LAW JD 881: Alternative Dispute Resolution
  One of a lawyer's primary tasks is to resolve disputes. Most controversies are never decided by a court but instead are settled by agreement. The ability to negotiate and mediate effectively is therefore crucial for litigators as well as lawyers practicing in other contexts. This course focuses on the processes of negotiation and mediation, and to a lesser degree on arbitration and dispute resolution design. It uses a mixture of discussion, short lectures, role-playing and video to give students an introduction to the theory and practice of alternative dispute resolution, including how to use these processes effectively on behalf of clients. NOTE: This course satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement.
• LAW JD 883: Securities Regulation
  This course offers an introduction to federal securities regulation under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. We will focus on the mandatory disclosure regime for public companies, exemptions from registration, the duties of participants in securities transactions, securities fraud, and core concepts such as the definition of a security and materiality. PREREQUISITE/COREQUISITE: Corporations is suggested but not required.
• LAW JD 884: Research and Writing Seminar
  Small-group instruction in legal research and writing, with emphasis on developing legal research techniques, writing abilities, and legal problem-solving abilities. (Required First Year, fall semester.)
• LAW JD 885: Research and Writing Seminar
  Small-group instruction in legal research and writing, with emphasis on developing legal research techniques, writing abilities, and legal problem-solving abilities. (Required First Year, spring semester.)
• LAW JD 886: Law and Sports (S)
  This seminar will survey a range of legal issues presented by sports in America. There are no pre-requisites. However, students should be prepared to learn and apply basic principles of antitrust law and labor law. Intellectual property law, constitutional law, administrative law, anti-discrimination law, contract law and tort law also will be applied. Topics will include the regulation of the professional sports labor market. The course also will treat the regulation of agent representation of athletes, the regulation of sports franchises and sports leagues, and the regulation of intercollegiate sports, with special attention to the NCAA. Students may satisfy the Upper-class Writing Requirement or write several shorter papers. Grades based on papers and class participation; no examination. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 887: Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders
  Federal income tax considerations have major implications for planning in the corporate area. This course focuses on income tax issues in transactions between corporations and shareholders, including distributions, exchanges, reorganizations and capital contributions. PREREQUISITE: INTRODUCTION TO FEDERAL INCOME TAXATION.
• LAW JD 889: Introduction to Federal Income Taxation
  The income tax is a pervasive feature of life in the United States and lawyers encounter tax issues in virtually every field of practice. This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of the federal income tax, and its impact on a wide range of matters, including employment, tort claims, divorce, retirement, and especially business activities and investments of all types. Topics include: the concept of income, determination of gross income, allowance of deductions and the determination of taxable income, identification of the taxpayer, taxable periods and timing, the determination of gain or loss (including realization and recognition) from dealings in property, the concept of income tax basis, and the process of change in the tax law.
• LAW JD 890: National Security and Foreign Relations Law (S)
  This course will examine the framework of constitutional, statutory, and international law, which both authorizes and constrains the U.S. government's conduct of foreign relations and national security policy at home and abroad. We will cover, among other issues, (i) the respective powers and roles of each branch of the federal government in the realm of foreign relations and national security law; (ii) the use of force; (iii) selected counter-terrorism issues and controversies; and (iv) individual liberties and civil rights in wartime; (v) issues raised in transnational public litigation, including international human rights litigation and actions involving foreign states; (vi) the role and limits of treaties in the U.S. constitutional system; and (vii) extraterritorial application of the Constitution.
• LAW JD 892: Torts
  Principles of civil recovery for injury, including strict liability, negligence, and the intentional torts, with emphasis on the social, economic, and moral underpinnings of the doctrines.

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