-
Abrams Environmental Law Clinic
LAWS 67813
- 01
(1 to 2)
+, a, s, x
The Abrams Environmental Law clinic attempts to solve some of the most pressing environmental problems throughout Chicago, the State of Illinois, and the Great Lakes region. On behalf of clients, the clinic challenges those who pollute illegally, fights for stricter permits, advocates for changes to regulations and laws, holds environmental agencies accountable, and develops innovative approaches for improving the environment. Through clinic participation, students learn substantive environmental law and procedures for addressing concerns through the courts or administrative tribunals. Students develop a number of core advocacy competencies, such as counseling clients, spotting issues, conducting factual investigations, performing practical legal research, advocating through written and oral communications, planning cases, managing time, and addressing ethical issues and dilemmas. In addition, students develop an appreciation for the range of strategic and tactical approaches that effective advocates use. Some matters will be best resolved in front of a judge, others in an adversarial hearing, others through face-to-face meetings with government officials, and others by putting public pressure on a polluter or administrative agency. Any given matter may require the use of one or more of these approaches simultaneously or sequentially, although in general, the clinic will deploy adversarial approaches to help achieve its clients’ objectives.
Students need to take a substantive environmental law at some point when they are in the clinic. They are not precluded from taking the class if they have not yet taken environmental law when they enroll in the clinic and are not able to do so their first quarter due to when courses are offered. Nonetheless, students do need to take an environmental law class (any of the main stand-up class, climate change, or international environmental law) at some point when they are in the clinic.
Winter 2013
Mark N. Templeton
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Abrams Environmental Law Clinic
LAWS 67813
- 01
(1 to 2)
+, a, s, x
The Abrams Environmental Law clinic attempts to solve some of the most pressing environmental problems throughout Chicago, the State of Illinois, and the Great Lakes region. On behalf of clients, the clinic challenges those who pollute illegally, fights for stricter permits, advocates for changes to regulations and laws, holds environmental agencies accountable, and develops innovative approaches for improving the environment. Through clinic participation, students learn substantive environmental law and procedures for addressing concerns through the courts or administrative tribunals. Students develop a number of core advocacy competencies, such as counseling clients, spotting issues, conducting factual investigations, performing practical legal research, advocating through written and oral communications, planning cases, managing time, and addressing ethical issues and dilemmas. In addition, students develop an appreciation for the range of strategic and tactical approaches that effective advocates use. Some matters will be best resolved in front of a judge, others in an adversarial hearing, others through face-to-face meetings with government officials, and others by putting public pressure on a polluter or administrative agency. Any given matter may require the use of one or more of these approaches simultaneously or sequentially, although in general, the clinic will deploy adversarial approaches to help achieve its clients’ objectives.
Students need to take a substantive environmental law at some point when they are in the clinic. They are not precluded from taking the class if they have not yet taken environmental law when they enroll in the clinic and are not able to do so their first quarter due to when courses are offered. Nonetheless, students do need to take an environmental law class (any of the main stand-up class, climate change, or international environmental law) at some point when they are in the clinic.
Autumn 2012
Mark N. Templeton
-
Abrams Environmental Law Clinic
LAWS 67813
- 01
(1 to 2)
+, a, s, x
The Abrams Environmental Law clinic attempts to solve some of the most pressing environmental problems throughout Chicago, the State of Illinois, and the Great Lakes region. On behalf of clients, the clinic challenges those who pollute illegally, fights for stricter permits, advocates for changes to regulations and laws, holds environmental agencies accountable, and develops innovative approaches for improving the environment. Through clinic participation, students learn substantive environmental law and procedures for addressing concerns through the courts or administrative tribunals. Students develop a number of core advocacy competencies, such as counseling clients, spotting issues, conducting factual investigations, performing practical legal research, advocating through written and oral communications, planning cases, managing time, and addressing ethical issues and dilemmas. In addition, students develop an appreciation for the range of strategic and tactical approaches that effective advocates use. Some matters will be best resolved in front of a judge, others in an adversarial hearing, others through face-to-face meetings with government officials, and others by putting public pressure on a polluter or administrative agency. Any given matter may require the use of one or more of these approaches simultaneously or sequentially, although in general, the clinic will deploy adversarial approaches to help achieve its clients’ objectives.
Students need to take a substantive environmental law at some point when they are in the clinic. They are not precluded from taking the class if they have not yet taken environmental law when they enroll in the clinic and are not able to do so their first quarter due to when courses are offered. Nonetheless, students do need to take an environmental law class (any of the main stand-up class, climate change, or international environmental law) at some point when they are in the clinic.
Spring 2013
Mark N. Templeton
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Accounting and Financial Analysis for Debt and Equity Markets and Transaction Structuring
LAWS 79103
- 01
(3)
s, x
This course is designed to quickly introduce you to (or, preferably, refresh your knowledge of) basic financial accounting [first two weeks of class] and then aims to aggressively increase your ability to be a highly sophisticated user of financial statements. After taking this course, you should improve your ability to determine a firm's accounting policy for a particular type of transaction and to determine how that policy choice affects its primary financial statements. You will also learn how to question whether these effects fairly reflect the underlying economics of the firm's transactions. Asking these questions involves an interplay between accounting, economics, finance, law and business strategy. You should therefore greatly improve your ability to use an accounting report as part of an overall assessment of the firm's strategy and the potential rewards and risks of dealing with the firm.
The teaching approach will be a roughly equal combination of lecture time and demanding case applications of the lecture material that will involve group case assignments that will form the basis for in-class discussion of the cases. The technical knowledge acquired from the lecture material is applied to cases where the main goal is to examine how the reported financial statements would differ if the firm had used different accounting policies. The focus is on modifying the reported financial statements in order to obtain the cleanest possible inputs for use in such applications as equity valuation, transaction structuring and credit analysis.
As this will be the first offering of this course, the precise topics to be discussed have not yet been finalized. They are likely to include the accounting for, and interpretation of: revenue recognition, intercorporate investments, organizational structures (e.g., franchising), debt, and leases. Intensive group hand-in cases will be used to illustrate how the flexibility in financial reporting can reflect both the economics of the firm and the incentives of the managers creating the financial statements.
It is strongly recommended that students registering for this course have some prior exposure to accounting course work, at least at the level of Fundamentals of Accounting for Attorneys (LAWS 79112) or Legal Elements of Accounting (LAWS 79102).
Grading will be based on case assignments, short homework assignments, class participation, and a final exam.
Spring 2013
Philip G. Berger
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Advanced Legal Research
LAWS 79802
- 01
(2 to 3)
m, s, x
The purpose of this seminar is to enhance students' knowledge of legal sources and to develop their ability to research the law. The seminar will cover the basic categories of legal research in depth and with a focus on practical skills and efficiency, including statutes, administrative law, legislative history, cases, and secondary sources. This seminar also will address a series of practice areas such as corporate and securities, tax, transactional, federal procedure, and intellectual property, focusing on the substantive resources and practical research skills for each. Upon successful completion of the seminar, students will expand their understanding of research resources in a variety of areas, will improve their skills in using legal research tools, and will develop extensive research knowledge in at least one area from their work on a final research paper.
The seminar will be limited to twenty-five students with priority to third year students.
To receive credit for this seminar, students must complete research assignments (30 percent of grade), submit a research paper on a topic approved by the instructor (60 percent of grade), and attend and participate in course meetings (10 percent).
Students may earn either 2 or 3 credits for this seminar depending upon the number of assignments completed and the length of their final paper (minimum 20 pages for 3 credits; 10 pages for 2 credits).
In the research paper, the student should extensively and comprehensively address sources for researching the topic, discuss successful and less useful techniques, and recommend research strategies.
Autumn 2012
Sheri H. Lewis
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Advanced Legal Research
LAWS 79802
- 01
(2 to 3)
m, s, x
The purpose of this seminar is to enhance students' knowledge of legal sources and to develop their ability to research the law. The seminar will cover the basic categories of legal research in depth and with a focus on practical skills and efficiency, including statutes, administrative law, legislative history, cases, and secondary sources. This seminar also will address a series of practice areas such as corporate and securities, tax, transactional, federal procedure, and intellectual property, focusing on the substantive resources and practical research skills for each. Upon successful completion of the seminar, students will expand their understanding of research resources in a variety of areas, will improve their skills in using legal research tools, and will develop extensive research knowledge in at least one area from their work on a final research paper.
The seminar will be limited to twenty-five students with priority to third year students.
To receive credit for this seminar, students must complete research assignments (30 percent of grade), submit a research paper on a topic approved by the instructor (60 percent of grade), and attend and participate in course meetings (10 percent).
Students may earn either 2 or 3 credits for this seminar depending upon the number of assignments completed and the length of their final paper.
A 20-25 page paper will be required for the 3-credit option for this course, along with 4 research assignments. For the 2-credit option for this course, students will write a 10-15 page paper and complete 2 research assignments. Research assignments will count towards 30% of the final grade; the research paper 60%. Class participation counts for 10%.
In the research paper, the student should extensively and comprehensively address sources for researching the topic, discuss successful and less useful techniques, and recommend research strategies.
Winter 2013
Margaret Schilt, Todd Ito
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Advanced Legal Writing
LAWS 79901
- 01
(2)
+, s, w, x
This course will prepare law students for the working world by honing writing skills for briefs, memoranda, motions and contracts. We will discuss and practice the major principles of legal writing in plain English -- no jargon, no legalese, no anachronistic fluff. In addition to fine-tuning basic and more advanced writing skills, students will learn how to use their writing to win arguments, persuade clients and sharpen their own thinking. The class will function largely as a workshop where we analyze the impact of various writing styles. Regular attendance is essential. Through exercises and group critiques, students will learn to write more succinctly and effectively. Better writers make better lawyers.
The course concludes with an eight-hour take-home examination, which determines the student's grade. Students must complete all assignments before the exam.
This course satisfies the requirements of the Writing Project writing requirement.
Legal Research and Writing is a pre-requisite.
Autumn 2012
Elizabeth Duquette
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Brief-writing and Appellate Advocacy Seminar
LAWS 79905
- 01
(3)
m, s, w, x
This seminar will be devoted to the art of brief-writing and appellate advocacy. Topics will include how to select the best arguments, how to choose a theme and structure the facts and the argument, and how to write the brief in a way that it is clear, concise and persuasive on the first read.
Grades will be based on class participation and two papers -- an opening brief and a reply.
Spring 2013
Michele Odorizzi
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Civil Rights Clinic: Police Accountability
LAWS 90913
- 01
(1)
+, a, s, w, x
The Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project (PAP) is one of the nation’s leading law civil rights clinics focusing on issues of criminal justice. Through the lens of live-client work, students examine how and where litigation fits into broader efforts to improve police accountability and ultimately the criminal justice system.
Students provide legal services to indigent victims of police abuse in federal and state courts. They litigate civil rights cases at each level of the court system from trial through appeals. Some students also represent children and adults in related juvenile or criminal defense matters.
Students take primary responsibility for all aspects of the litigation, including client counseling, fact investigation, case strategy, witness interviews, legal research, pleadings and legal memoranda, discovery, depositions, motion practice, evidentiary hearings, trials, and appeals. A significant amount of legal writing is expected. Students work in teams on cases or projects, and meet with the instructor on at minimum a weekly basis.
Students also take primary responsibility for the Clinic’s policy and public education work. PAP teaches students to apply and critically examine legal theory in the context of representation of people in need. It teaches students to analyze how and why individual cases of abuse occur and to connect them to systemic problems, often leading to “public impact” litigation and other strategies for policy reform. Through our immersion in live client work, we engage fundamental issues of race, class, and gender, and their intersection with legal institutions. We instruct students in legal ethics and advocacy skills. And we seek to instill in them a public service ethos, as they begin their legal careers.
Students are required to complete, prior to their third year, Evidence, Criminal Procedure I, and the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop. Constitutional Law III is also recommended.
Autumn 2012
Craig B. Futterman
-
Civil Rights Clinic: Police Accountability
LAWS 90913
- 01
(1)
+, a, s, w
The Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project (PAP) is one of the nation’s leading law civil rights clinics focusing on issues of criminal justice. Through the lens of live-client work, students examine how and where litigation fits into broader efforts to improve police accountability and ultimately the criminal justice system.
Students provide legal services to indigent victims of police abuse in federal and state courts. They litigate civil rights cases at each level of the court system from trial through appeals. Some students also represent children and adults in related juvenile or criminal defense matters.
Students take primary responsibility for all aspects of the litigation, including client counseling, fact investigation, case strategy, witness interviews, legal research, pleadings and legal memoranda, discovery, depositions, motion practice, evidentiary hearings, trials, and appeals. A significant amount of legal writing is expected. Students work in teams on cases or projects, and meet with the instructor on at minimum a weekly basis.
Students also take primary responsibility for the Clinic’s policy and public education work. PAP teaches students to apply and critically examine legal theory in the context of representation of people in need. It teaches students to analyze how and why individual cases of abuse occur and to connect them to systemic problems, often leading to “public impact” litigation and other strategies for policy reform. Through our immersion in live client work, we engage fundamental issues of race, class, and gender, and their intersection with legal institutions. We instruct students in legal ethics and advocacy skills. And we seek to instill in them a public service ethos, as they begin their legal careers.
Students are required to complete, prior to their third year, Evidence, Criminal Procedure I, and the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop. Constitutional Law III is also recommended.
Winter 2013
Craig B. Futterman
-
Civil Rights Clinic: Police Accountability
LAWS 90913
- 01
(1)
+, a, s, w
The Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project (PAP) is one of the nation’s leading law civil rights clinics focusing on issues of criminal justice. Through the lens of live-client work, students examine how and where litigation fits into broader efforts to improve police accountability and ultimately the criminal justice system.
Students provide legal services to indigent victims of police abuse in federal and state courts. They litigate civil rights cases at each level of the court system from trial through appeals. Some students also represent children and adults in related juvenile or criminal defense matters.
Students take primary responsibility for all aspects of the litigation, including client counseling, fact investigation, case strategy, witness interviews, legal research, pleadings and legal memoranda, discovery, depositions, motion practice, evidentiary hearings, trials, and appeals. A significant amount of legal writing is expected. Students work in teams on cases or projects, and meet with the instructor on at minimum a weekly basis.
Students also take primary responsibility for the Clinic’s policy and public education work. PAP teaches students to apply and critically examine legal theory in the context of representation of people in need. It teaches students to analyze how and why individual cases of abuse occur and to connect them to systemic problems, often leading to “public impact” litigation and other strategies for policy reform. Through our immersion in live client work, we engage fundamental issues of race, class, and gender, and their intersection with legal institutions. We instruct students in legal ethics and advocacy skills. And we seek to instill in them a public service ethos, as they begin their legal careers.
Students are required to complete, prior to their third year, Evidence, Criminal Procedure I, and the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop. Constitutional Law III is also recommended.
Spring 2013
Craig B. Futterman
-
Closing a Deal: Structuring and Documentation of a Secured Loan Transaction
LAWS 71403
- 01
(2)
m, s, x
This seminar will cover the structuring, documentation and closing of a secured loan transaction from the perspective of the secured lender. As counsel for the secured lender we will first consider the best structure for the proposed loans and how both the organization and working capital needs of the borrowers and the underwriting and regulatory constraints of the secured lender influence this structure. We will next assess commitment documentation and syndication. The majority of our time will then be spent analyzing transaction documentation, progressing from the organization of the closing checklist to the negotiation of the credit agreement and finally to the perfection of liens. In this seminar we will discuss not only why transactions and documentation are structured the way they are and the meanings of standard credit document provisions, but also the practical implications for any commercial finance associate living through the transaction.
Autumn 2012
Erin Casey
-
Commercial Real Estate Transactions
LAWS 44801
- 01
(3)
+, s, x
This course will address fundamental legal and business aspects of acquisition and disposition of income producing real property. The materials and class discussion will focus on investment and tax considerations, capital structure, transaction due diligence, typical contract issues and closing matters.
Introductory Income Taxation is a recommended prerequisite.
The grade will be determined by an in-class examination.
Winter 2013
James Rosenbloom
-
Commercial Transactions - Negotiation, Drafting, and Analysis
LAWS 48604
- 01
(3)
s, u, x
This simulation class provides intensive instruction in the negotiation, drafting, and analysis of complex commercial contracts. Students will develop the skills necessary to (i) translate a business deal into clear and concise contract terms, (ii) negotiate and draft various types of commercial contracts across multiple industries, and (iii) effectively and efficiently communicate complex commercial and contractual legal issues to clients.
Grades will be based upon substantial weekly written exercises and productive class participation.
Spring 2013
Seth McNary
-
Complex Litigation
LAWS 52412
- 01
(2)
m, s, x
An advanced civil procedure class, this seminar will introduce students to complex civil litigation, and the various ways available in the federal system to aggregate multi-party, multi-issue, and multi-forum disputes. The class will cover both the theory of the various laws and devices used in aggregation, and also the practical aspects of how those laws and theories succeed (or not) in achieving fair and efficient disposition of disputes. Topics covered will include the various mechanisms for aggregating parties, including joinder, intervention, interpleader, and class actions; relevant venue and consolidation considerations, including multi-district transfer and consolidation; federal jurisdiction and preclusion rules that affect aggregation; and relevant choice of law issues.
Grading will be based on an open-book take-home final examination, with some account taken of class participation.
Spring 2013
Brian Murray
-
Complex Mental Health Litigation Clinic
LAWS 67014
- 01
(1)
+, a, s, w, x
The Complex Mental Health Litigation Clinic teaches litigation skills. Under the supervision of the clinical teacher, students engage in systemic litigation on behalf of indigent, mentally ill clients and not-for-profit mental health organizations under the auspices of the Law School’s Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic. Students may interview clients and witnesses; research and draft pleadings and legal memoranda, including briefs to reviewing courts; conduct formal and informal discovery; negotiate with opposing counsel and others; conduct evidentiary hearings and trials; and present oral argument in trial and appellate courts. Students who have completed sixty percent of the credits needed for graduation will be licensed to appear, under the supervision of the clinical teacher, in state and federal trial and appellate courts pursuant to court rules and practices. In addition to discrete advocacy skills such as cross-examination, discovery planning, and legislative drafting, the course aims to provide students with an understanding of the relationships between individual advocacy tasks and the ultimate goals of clients, and between advocacy on behalf of individual clients and advocacy for systemic change.
See the general rules for all clinical courses for further details concerning enrollment, including the rules governing the award of credit.
The Complex Mental Health Litigation Clinic satisfies part of the writing requirement if substantial written work is completed.
Students will ordinarily be expected to enroll for all six quarters during their second and third years.
Students are required to enroll in both Evidence and Pre-Trial Advocacy during their 2L year.
The grade will be based entirely upon the student's performance representing clients in litigation.
Spring 2013
Mark J. Heyrman
-
Complex Mental Health Litigation Clinic
LAWS 67014
- 01
(1)
+, a, s, w
The Complex Mental Health Litigation Clinic teaches litigation skills. Under the supervision of the clinical teacher, students engage in systemic litigation on behalf of indigent, mentally ill clients and not-for-profit mental health organizations under the auspices of the Law School’s Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic. Students may interview clients and witnesses; research and draft pleadings and legal memoranda, including briefs to reviewing courts; conduct formal and informal discovery; negotiate with opposing counsel and others; conduct evidentiary hearings and trials; and present oral argument in trial and appellate courts. Students who have completed sixty percent of the credits needed for graduation will be licensed to appear, under the supervision of the clinical teacher, in state and federal trial and appellate courts pursuant to court rules and practices. In addition to discrete advocacy skills such as cross-examination, discovery planning, and legislative drafting, the course aims to provide students with an understanding of the relationships between individual advocacy tasks and the ultimate goals of clients, and between advocacy on behalf of individual clients and advocacy for systemic change.
See the general rules for all clinical courses for further details concerning enrollment, including the rules governing the award of credit.
The Complex Mental Health Litigation Clinic satisfies part of the writing requirement if substantial written work is completed.
The grade will be based entirely upon the student's performance representing clients in litigation.
Students will ordinarily be expected to enroll for all six quarters during their second and third years.
Students are required to enroll in both Evidence and Pre-Trial Advocacy during their 2L year.
Winter 2013
Mark J. Heyrman
-
Complex Mental Health Litigation Clinic
LAWS 67014
- 01
(1 to 2)
+, a, s, w, x
The Complex Mental Health Litigation Clinic teaches litigation skills. Under the supervision of the clinical teacher, students engage in systemic litigation on behalf of indigent, mentally ill clients and not-for-profit mental health organizations under the auspices of the Law School’s Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic. Students may interview clients and witnesses; research and draft pleadings and legal memoranda, including briefs to reviewing courts; conduct formal and informal discovery; negotiate with opposing counsel and others; conduct evidentiary hearings and trials; and present oral argument in trial and appellate courts. Students who have completed sixty percent of the credits needed for graduation will be licensed to appear, under the supervision of the clinical teacher, in state and federal trial and appellate courts pursuant to court rules and practices. In addition to discrete advocacy skills such as cross-examination, discovery planning, and legislative drafting, the course aims to provide students with an understanding of the relationships between individual advocacy tasks and the ultimate goals of clients, and between advocacy on behalf of individual clients and advocacy for systemic change.
See the general rules for all clinical courses for further details concerning enrollment, including the rules governing the award of credit.
The Complex Mental Health Litigation Clinic satisfies part of the writing requirement if substantial written work is completed.
Students will ordinarily be expected to enroll for all six quarters during their second and third years.
Students are required to enroll in both Evidence and Pre-Trial Advocacy during their 2L year.
The course includes a mandatory one-hour weekly classroom component during the Fall Quarter of the student’s 2L year for which one credit will be awarded.
The grade will be based entirely upon the student's performance representing clients in litigation.
Autumn 2012
Mark J. Heyrman
-
Constitutional Decisionmaking
LAWS 50202
- 01
(3)
+, m, r, s, w
Students enrolled in this seminar work as courts consisting of five Justices each. During each of the first eight weeks of the quarter, the courts are assigned several hypothetical cases raising issues under either the Equal Protection Clause or the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech and press. Each court must select in advance whether it will focus on equal protection or the First Amendment. All cases must be decided with opinions (concurring and dissenting opinions are, of course, permitted). The decisions may be premised on the legislative history of the amendment (materials on that history will be provided) and on any doctrines or precedents created by the Justices themselves. The Justices may not rely, however, on any actual decisions of the United States Supreme Court. The seminar is designed to give students some insight into the problems a justice confronts in collaborating with colleagues, interpreting an ambiguous constitutional provision, and then living with the doctrines and precedents he or she creates.
Constitutional Law is not a prerequisite for participation in this seminar. Enrollment will be limited to three courts.
Since the members of each court must work together closely under rigid time constraints, it is preferable for students to form their own complete courts.
Students will complete a series of short research papers.
Winter 2013
Geoffrey R. Stone
-
Contract Drafting and Review
LAWS 79912
- 01
(2)
m, s, x
This seminar will serve as an introduction to contracting drafting and how such drafting differs from other types of legal writing. We will start with the basic "anatomy of a contract," discussing the meaning, use and effect of various provisions. The seminar will address not only legal drafting issues, but also how to understand a client's practical business needs in order to effectively use the contract as a planning and problem solving tool. Students will draft and review specific contract provisions, and will learn how to read, review and analyze contracts with an eye toward both legal and business risk issues.
Grades will be based upon class participation, a series of weekly drafting exercises, and a final take-home assignment.
Autumn 2012
Joan E. Neal
