Courses
The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.
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LAW JD 947: Sex Crimes (S)
Over the last few decades, the public has become increasingly concerned about sexual crimes. In addition to harsher punishments, several civil, collateral consequences have become common such as indefinite commitment and registration. This class will explore how sexual offenses are dealt with in the criminal justice system and the underlying reasoning for the heightened attention, including morality, statistical data, and psychological/scientific evidence. We will discuss the limitations, if any, that govern collateral consequences such as indefinite civil commitment and registration (e.g. Constitutional restrictions, scientific uncertainty). The class aims to challenge preconceived notions of sex crimes and sex offenders through case law, guest speakers, academic literature, and real life scenarios. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing requirement with the approval of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. PRACTICUM OPTION: A limited number of students may apply to enroll in the Sex Crimes Practicum (JD962). **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 948: Regulation of the Immigrant Experience (S)
Recent census data informs us that there are approximately 40 million immigrants living in the United States. About 11 million of these immigrants are undocumented or otherwise in the country illegally. The rest of the country remains divided on their feelings regarding the immigrant population, with about half believing that immigrants "strengthen the country because of their hard work and talent, while 41% [believe them to be] a burden because they take jobs, health care and housing." (Information in this paragraph obtained from Most Illegal Immigrants Should Be Allowed to Stay, but Citizenship is More Divisive (Pew Research Ctr., Washington, D.C.), Mar. 28, 2013.) This course will investigate the life of an immigrant in American society from a legal perspective. Students will learn how immigrants, both documented and undocumented, interact with various sections of the American system. The goal is to assess various ways in which an individual's immigration status affects access to important rights and benefits accorded to citizens and analyze the legal rationale for existing limitations. We will examine these issues through the use of law review articles, court cases, existing and proposed legislation, newspaper articles, empirical studies, and governmental and private organizational position papers. Topics may include an investigation of an immigrant's access and limitations in primary and secondary education, public benefits, the court system, employment, voting, as well as modes of immigration policing by both federal immigration authorities and state police. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 16 students. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing 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 950: Homicide Investigations and Trials: Theory and Practice (S)
This seminar will focus upon the substantive law of homicide, as well as the practical aspects of actual homicide investigations and trials: crime scene interpretation; DNA analysis; autopsies and related forensic evidence; expert testimony, particularly in the area of psychiatry and criminal responsibility; jury considerations; ethical concerns; and the role of the media. Students will have the opportunity to study actual murder cases, visit local crime laboratories and courtrooms, and learn prosecution, defense, and judicial perspectives on various contemporary issues arising in murder investigations and trials. NOTES: This class does not satisfy the upper-class writing requirement. OFFERING PATTERN: This class is not offered every year. Students are advised to take this into account when planning their long-term schedule. ** 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 waitlist for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment. -
LAW JD 954: Corporate Counsel Externship Fieldwork
This CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. This is the companion fieldwork component for students enrolled in the Corporate Counsel Externship: Seminar. Students will work at legal offices of for-profit and nonprofit companies in unpaid or paid placements. Students will receive 3-9 variable P/F credits for working at their placements. Each credit requires 50 hours of work over the course of the 13-week semester (averaging 4 hours per week). COREQUISITE: Corporate Counsel Externship Seminar (JD 896). NOTE: Students who enroll in this externship may count the credits towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. -
LAW JD 956: Information Privacy Law
The collection, use, storage, and sharing of personal data has become increasingly important throughout society, from commerce to government and from health care to finance. For good reason, we call this the Information Age. Recall the countless high-profile privacy and data security controversies you have heard about in the last year: location tracking; inaccurate credit reports causing lost jobs; data breaches, hacking and identity theft; and government surveillance. Law has responded with a dizzying array of new rules -- and a rapidly growing area of professional specialization for attorneys. This course serves as an introduction to the emerging law of data privacy. By the end, you will be well grounded in many challenges facing any enterprise, public or private, that collects, processes, uses, and stores personal information. In addition to knowledge of constitutional, statutory, and common law rules as well as federal and state enforcement activity, we will learn about the policy questions that arise in this dynamic area, the legally relevant questions to ask when assessing information practices, and some of the many nonlegal models of information governance. You will gain a basic understanding of data privacy regulation in other countries, particularly the European Union. All students will benefit from more sophisticated knowledge about an issue that appears in the news every single day. But there are significant professional payoffs too. Major law firms have organized entire practice areas devoted to privacy and data protection law. In the last seven years the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), a key trade association in this space, more than tripled in size to 12,000 members. These trends mean that law school graduates will have increasing job opportunities in data privacy and security law. Meanwhile, in many other practice areas -- such as securities, labor and employment, health, advertising, and the list goes on -- familiarity with privacy and security law has become a major asset. Plus, the issues are fascinating and fun. If nothing else, you can have great conversations at parties. -
LAW JD 958: Effective & Ethical Depositions (S)
The purpose of this seminar is to teach students how to take and defend effective and ethical depositions. The course involves both a simulated deposition component and a professional responsibility component. Simulated Deposition Course Component: Students will be divided into firms representing either the Plaintiff or the Defendants in a gender discrimination and defamation case brought by an attorney who has been denied partnership. The students will prepare and perform depositions of lay and expert witnesses and gather experience with obtaining and developing facts, preserving testimony, and the uses of depositions. Professional Responsibility Course Component: The simulated context offers the opportunity to explore several professional responsibility issues that arise naturally in deposition practice. These issues emerge largely because of the dual professional roles of an attorney: zealous representative and officer of the court. Some of the more timely issues involve proper witness preparation, improper witness coaching, inadvertent waiver of privilege, and abusive tactics. Writing and Performance Requirements: Each week students will write a short one or two page comment on the professional responsibility issues raised in class. At the end of the course, students will perform a videotaped deposition rather than take a final written exam. NOTE: This class may be used to satisfy the Professional Responsibility requirement, credits toward Experiential Learning requirement, or the upper-class writing requirement. This class may not be used to satisfy more than one requirement. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 12 students per section. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ** 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 959: International Business Agreements: Negotiating, Structuring and Drafting (S)
This seminar will provide an overview of the private dimensions of negotiating and drafting international business agreements, and specifically on the contractual aspects. Students will gain hands on experience in structuring, drafting and analyzing various international business agreements and documents including global joint venture agreements and privatization provisions, sales, distribution and franchise agreements, international development agreements, share purchase agreements, letters of intent and technology licensing agreements. The design of the class will assist students in identifying critical legal issues and techniques likely to affect the outcome of international business negotiations including protecting against political, economic and legal risks. Emphasis will be placed on the important differences between international and domestic agreements from the American law perspective. Grades will be based on class participation and a final research paper. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing 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 962: Sex Crimes Practicum
THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have applied to and been accepted to the Sex Crimes Practicum. Students receive credit for completing a sex-crimes related project -- either litigation or policy-oriented -- as a supplement to the Sex Crimes seminar. Projects will vary in scope and content based on student interest and the number of students enrolled. Project topics include sex crime policy, the identification and tracking of constitutional challenges to civil laws, and work on pending cases such as registration hearing, civil commitment trials, or criminal appeals. Throughout the semester, students will work under the supervision of Professor Eric Tennen. Practicum students must attend six class meetings with Professor Tennen. Students receive either 1 or 2 graded credits depending on the nature of the project and the anticipated workload. NOTE: This clinic counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. PRE-/CO-REQUISITE: Sex Crimes (JD 947), or equivalent work experience or academic foundation, determined on a case-by-case basis by the instructor. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. -
LAW JD 963: Civil Litigation and Justice Program: A2J Skills & Professional Responsibility
THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Access to Justice Clinic of the Civil Litigation and Justice Program. This seminar examines the larger societal context of students' fieldwork representing poverty-law clients in family, housing, employment, and disability cases. Students will actively analyze and address the intersections of the legal system with the multiple systemic barriers their clients face (e.g., gender, race, class, disability). In addition to the skills and legal knowledge relevant to representation of clinic clients, seminar discussions and projects will focus on proposed solutions to the systemic challenges faced by those clients, and situate them within current theories of law as a tool for social justice. NOTE: This course counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. This class may be used to satisfy the Professional Responsibility requirement, in which case credits for the class may not be counted towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. -
LAW JD 964: Patent Litigation
This course will examine all aspects of U.S. patent litigation, beginning with pre-filing considerations such as standing, venue, and jurisdiction, and ending with the appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Particular attention will be given to pleadings, claim construction, discovery, and motion practice, as well as the methods of proving invalidity, unenforceability, infringement and damages. The course will also consider trial preparation techniques, trial practice, the role of technical experts, and the remedies available in patent cases. Although the focus will be on patents, we will explore the similarities and differences between patent cases and other types of IP cases, such as copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets. The first portion of each class will cover case law and statutes, and the second portion of each class will include student presentations to allow a discussion of practice skills. Students will be evaluated based primarily on a final exam and their written submissions with respect to at least two in-class presentations that each student will be assigned throughout the semester (e.g., a Markman presentation or mock argument on a motion to transfer). No scientific or technical background is required to enroll in this seminar, and there are no formal prerequisites, although prior or concurrent exposure to civil procedure and to patent law (such as through the Patent Law course or the Intellectual Property course) will be helpful. -
LAW JD 965: Civil Litigation: A2J Skills II
THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Access to Justice Clinic of the Civil Litigation and Justice Program. This seminar continues the coursework of the fall semester in examining the larger societal context of students' fieldwork representing poverty-law clients in family, housing, employment, and disability cases. Students will actively analyze and address the intersections of the legal system with the multiple systemic barriers their clients face (e.g., gender, race, class, disability). In addition to the skills and legal knowledge relevant to representation of clinic clients, seminar discussions and projects will focus on proposed solutions to the systemic challenges faced by those clients, and situate them within current theories of law as a tool for social justice. NOTE: This course counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. -
LAW JD 968: Immigration Law
This class will cover the immigration laws of the United States, including the administrative and regulatory framework of the United States agencies charged with enforcing U.S. immigration laws. The topics covered by this course include the power of the Congress to regulate immigration; the effect of politics on immigration policy; nonimmigrant and immigrant visa classifications; the law of asylum; the intersection of immigration law and criminal law; grounds of removal from the United States; relief from deportation, immigration court representation and access to justice; and the law of naturalization and derived citizenship. -
LAW JD 969: Law & Regulation of Cannabis (S)
This seminar will examine the burgeoning field of law surrounding the use, sale, and production of cannabis. Possible topics include federal versus state power to regulate cannabis, the substantive criminal laws regarding cannabis, and a variety of other issues such as banking, tax, and environmental laws that impact the cannabis industry in the United States. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ** 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 970: Mass Inequality and Social Trauma (S)
This interdisciplinary seminar offers a deep exploration of large-scale forms of inequality, the social trauma they create, and the possibility of legal and political solutions. A persistent difficulty in American culture and jurisprudence is a refusal to conceive of structural and intergenerational harms against disfavored groups. The goal is to not only find conceptions of equality that might be suitable, but also to reason from injustice to justice. Special attention will be paid to connections between inequality and the political economy. Among the historical episodes to be discussed: Reconstruction as a missed opportunity at transitional justice; the expulsions of Chinese migrants and their families from the West Coast; white riots and other forms of terror visited upon freed persons and their allies; the shame and silence that surrounded the internment of Japanese Americans; the policy of separating migrant children from parents; and periodic roundups of the poor. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ** 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 972: Professional Responsibility for Business Lawyers (S)
A survey of the laws and ethical rules that govern and regulate lawyers in corporate and transactional practice. Topics may include client identification in forming and dissolving business entities, representing close corporations and partnerships, investing in clients (including taking stock in lieu of legal fees), negotiation, representing public companies, the role of in-house counsel, conflicts of interest, and the future of regulating legal services in the US and globally. Students will write a 20 page research paper and give a brief oral presentation of their topic. NOTE: This class may be used to satisfy the Professional Responsibility requirement or the upper-class writing requirement (limited). This class may not be used to satisfy more than one requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ** 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 973: Civil Litigation and Justice Program: Pretrial Advocacy/Pro Resp.
THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Civil Litigation and Justice Program. Pretrial Advocacy is the companion fall classroom component for students in the Civil Litigation and Justice Program IRL and fall ERC clinics. Pretrial Advocacy is taught in groups of roughly 14 students with two clinical professors per group. Classes are devoted to learning the theories of practice for use in the field, reinforced by activities and simulations in which students practice skills through role play. NOTE: Students who enroll in this component of the clinic may count the credits towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement or the Professional Responsibility requirement. It may not be used to satisfy more than one requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. -
LAW JD 974: Civil Litigation and Justice Program: Trial Advocacy
THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Civil Litigation and Justice Program. Trial Advocacy is the companion spring classroom component for students in the Civil Litigation and Justice Program IRL and spring ERC clinics. Trial Advocacy is taught in groups of roughly 14 students with two clinical professors per group. Classes are devoted to learning the theories of practice for use in the field, reinforced by activities and simulations in which students practice skills through role play. NOTE: This course does not count towards the Professional Responsibility requirement. NOTE: This course counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. -
LAW JD 975: International Human Rights Clinic (C)
THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the International Human Rights Clinic. Students in the Clinic work on policy issues on behalf of institutional clients that represent refugees, forced migrants, immigrants, and stateless persons. Students work on long-term human rights projects such as: working with NGOs in advocacy in the UN human rights system or in regional organs (e.g. Inter-American and European human rights bodies); advocating for durable solutions to statelessness and citizenship deprivation in the Middle East; and organizing workshops and presentations to major stakeholders around the world. Students conduct legal and factual research and outreach to partners and project strategy development, and prepare written reports and submissions to international and regional agencies. The clinic fieldwork may include international travel. PRE/CO-REQUISITE: International Human Rights (LAW JD 991). NOTE: The International Human Rights Clinic counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. -
LAW JD 976: Corpfintech Law & Policy (S)
Corporate and securities law are dynamic fields constantly responding to economic, political, and social developments. Financial innovations like Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, initial coin offerings, and online gaming platforms force reexamination of existing legal doctrines like the definition of a security. Algorithmic trading and artificial intelligence challenge our notions of the meaning of knowledge/intent/scienter for purposes of securities fraud. Populist pressures revealed in episodes like GameStop alter our thinking about market manipulation. The rise of environmental, social, and governance investing, and the increasing emphasis on human capital management and diversity, equity, and inclusion prompt reassessment of the meaning of fiduciary duty. Increased shareholder concentration and crossownership raise antitrust concerns. This seminar will examine how corporate and securities law cope with highly-dynamic market developments. Throughout the course, we will develop an understanding and appreciation for the increasingly complex role of corporate law and lawyers in navigating an almost infinite range of challenges facing their clients, the legal system, and 21st century capitalism itself. Students will also have some input on the topics covered. PREREQUISITE: Corporations LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing 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 977: Aggregate Litigation (S)
A thorough consideration of the law of class actions and other forms of aggregate litigation, including under the Multidistrict Litigation Act. Topics will include class certification, class settlement and other forms of settlement, the coordination of aggregate litigation, and aggregation and arbitration. The materials and treatment will be trans-substantive, relevant to products liability, securities, employment and consumer litigation. Several short papers on course readings will be required. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing requirement.
