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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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Advanced Trademarks and Unfair Competition
LAWS 69902
- 01
(2 to 3)
+, m, w, x
This seminar addresses current issues and developments such as the Supreme Court's shaping of trademark law over time; the interplay of trademark, right of publicity, and First Amendment law; dilution and the courts' treatment of property conceptions of trademarks; the effect of commercial practices on trademark doctrine, as exemplified by the keyword debate; utilitarian and aesthetic functionality and other limitations on trademark rights; counterfeiting, contributory infringement, and the online marketplace; and unfair competition and misappropriation conceptions of trade identity rights.
Trademarks and Unfair Competition is a prerequisite for the seminar; otherwise instructors' permission is required.
Enrollment is limited to twenty-five students.
A student's grade is based on class participation and either a series of thought papers for two credits, or a series of short research papers totaling at least 25 pages, or a major research paper, both for three credits.
Winter 2013
Chad J. Doellinger, Uli Widmaier
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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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Buyouts
LAWS 42602
- 01
(3)
m, w, x
In this seminar we will examine going private transactions in which publicly held companies are acquired by affiliates of private equity firms with the participation of the company's management or by controlling shareholders. This is an especially timely topic because management buyouts have become prevalent and controlling shareholder buyouts continue to be controversial. Both types of transactions raise conflict of interest issues because some of the company's directors or officers, who are ordinarily charged with obtaining as much as possible for public shareholders in a sale transaction, are instead attempting to buy the company for as little as possible. We will examine the methods that Delaware law has provided for dealing with these conflicts of interest and whether those methods are likely to be effective. We will also look at a variety of other issues raised by going private transactions, including why they occur, whether they are likely to be beneficial to shareholders in spite of the existence of conflicts of interest, the consequences to society of these transactions and certain conflict and other issues that can arise in these transactions even if they are neither management or controlling shareholder buyouts. Finally, we will examine the role of the lawyers and financial advisors who are involved in these transactions.
Grades will be based on a paper and class participation.
Some of the topics in this course will also be covered less intensively in Mergers and Acquisitions, but that course is not a prerequisite for this course and students may take both courses.
Spring 2013
Scott Davis
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Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking
LAWS 47103
- 01
(3)
m, w, x
This seminar provides a comprehensive, practical introduction to the history and present-day reality of child sexual exploitation, as well as to the interconnected web of domestic and transnational federal laws and law enforcement efforts launched in response to this global challenge. The seminar will use a text written by the professor and a colleague who have the distinctive perspective of two individuals who have spent their careers in the trenches investigating, prosecuting, and adjudicating these intricate and commonly emotional cases. The seminar will offer open debate about child sexual abuse by stripping it of its unhelpful, constricted definitions, and by candidly discussing the state of the law, the criminal justice process, and the treatment of offenders and victims. The seminar examines today's system of federal anti-exploitation laws; the connection between modern communications technologies, such as the Internet, and the rise in U.S. and foreign child exploitation; the unique challenges posed by transnational investigations; organized crime's increasing domination over the commercial sexual exploitation of children; the current state of the U.S. government's transnational anti-trafficking efforts; the myriad international legal instruments designed to enhance transnational enforcement efforts; how, during investigations and trials, to avoid re-injuring the child-victims; the hallmarks of an effective trial strategy; the most promising investigative and trial avenues for the defense; and, what contemporary research tells us about charging and sentencing-related issues, including victimization and recidivism rates.
Taught by federal district court judge, Hon. Virginia M. Kendall. Students will be graded on class participation and a major paper.
Winter 2013
Virginia Kendall
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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
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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
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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
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Collective Bargaining in Sports and Entertainment
LAWS 63903
- 01
(2 to 3)
m, w, x
This seminar examines collective bargaining in the contexts of professional sports and entertainment. The Sherman Act and Clayton Act are studied in light of antitrust exemptions that apply to monopolistic employment arrangements such as the reserve system (its opposite is called free agency), the draft and exclusive rights for a player, eligibility restrictions for star amateurs, and other anticompetitive practices in music, theater, movie, TV, and sports settings. The seminar explores how unions have evolved as potent employee responses to highly restrictive employment practices. The seminar readings examine powerful weapons under the National Labor Relations Act that unions may use to counteract employer cartels in theater, movies, baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and related industries. These weapons include full and partial and intermittent strikes, as well as strike threats. The seminar examines how these bargaining tactics enable rank-and-file employees, and star performers, to share in the wealth that they generate in combination with capital investments made by employers.
The seminar emphasizes writing. Students are assigned weekly question sets, and are expected to submit a seminar paper based on the cumulation of these exercises. Students wishing to take the class for three credits must complete an additional short research paper (10-12 pages). Attendance is required; and unexcused absences may result in a course grade deduction.
Autumn 2012
Michael LeRoy
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Comparative Constitutional Design
LAWS 50102
- 01
(3)
c/l, m, r, w, x
Recent constitutional reconstructions in Iraq and Afghanistan have called new attention to the problems of institutional design of political systems. In this seminar we will examine the design and implementation of national constitutions. In particular, we will address the following questions. What are the basic elements of constitutions? How do these elements differ across time, across region, and across regime type? What is the process by which states draft and implement constitutions? What models, theories, and writings have influenced the framers of constitutions?
In this seminar, we will review the historical roots of constitutions and investigate their provisions and formal characteristics. We will also discuss the circumstances surrounding the drafting of several exemplary or noteworthy constitutions, from various regions of the world. We will then examine particular features of institutional design in depth, and analyze the factors that make constitutions effective and enduring.
Autumn 2012
Tom Ginsburg
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Competition Policy in the European Community
LAWS 75402
- 01
(2 to 3)
m, w, x
This seminar provides an introduction to the law and practice of competition policy of the European Union. It will focus particularly on the economic reasoning behind the design of EU competition law and its application to particular business practices. The seminar first focuses on the objectives of competition policy in the EC including its foundations in a particular economic approach to competition policy known as the ordo-liberal school. It will then cover the major areas of EC competition law including cartels and the exemptions for cooperative behavior; abuse of dominance including essential facilities, tying, bundled rebates, and exclusive dealing; and mergers. It will also examine State aid policy under the EC treaty including the rationale for prohibiting state subsidies of industry and the application of State aid by the European Commission and courts. The seminar will introduce students to the major EU cases, with a particular focus on recent Commission decisions and court judgments, and to efforts to introduce economic reasoning into EU competition law and to move from form-based to effects-based analyses.
Grade will be based on a final in-class examination and an optional paper (to receive 3 credits).
Spring 2013
David Evans
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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
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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
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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
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Computer Crime
LAWS 68402
- 01
(2 to 3)
m, w, x
This seminar will explore the legal issues involved in the investigation and prosecution of computer crime. We will examine how computers and network technologies are challenging settled legal understandings of the Fourth Amendment, the First Amendment, and the laws of electronic surveillance. The first part of the seminar will address the prosecution of substantive computer crime, which falls into two general categories: computer misuse offenses and traditional crimes facilitated by computers. The second part of the seminar will cover computer crime procedure. We will evaluate the statutory and constitutional regimes that govern the investigation of computer crime, including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Wiretap Act, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Our primary source will be a casebook: ORIN KERR, COMPUTER CRIME LAW (2nd ed. 2009). In addition to the casebook, I will be providing supplemental materials as listed in the syllabus.
Students are required to participate in class sessions, prepare discussion papers, and write a paper on an approved topic. Students may opt to write a major research paper for three credits.
Winter 2013
William Ridgway
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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
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Constitutional Law V: Freedom of Religion
LAWS 40501
- 01
(3)
+, w
This course explores religious freedom in America, integrating First Amendment doctrine and broader philosophical antecedents.
It is recommended that students first take Constitutional Law I.
Students who have completed Constitutional Law IV are ineligible to enroll in this course.
Grading will be based on a scholarly paper or a final examination, with class participation taken into account.
Autumn 2012
Jeremy Mallory
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Corporate Governance
LAWS 75001
- 01
(2 to 3)
m, w, x
Through the production of goods and services, innovation, employment and occasional misbehavior, publicly-held corporations in the U.S. exert an enormous impact on the lives of individuals and the economy in general. How (and how well) corporations are governed greatly influences what that impact will be. Since the early 1990s, there has been a significant increase in the attention given to corporate governance by investors, lawyers, academicians, politicians and the press. This seminar will provide students with a deep understanding of applicable legal, regulatory and market influences on corporate governance, an appreciation for the historical development of the current system of governance and insights into current “hot” issues and the continuing evolution of governance. We will discuss critical issues such as for whose benefit is a corporation to be governed and what is the proper balance of decision-making authority between owners and managers. There will be a heavy emphasis on the role of counsel to the enterprise as a whole and on the practical aspects of advising officers and directors, including the coordination of multi-disciplinary teams.
Corporations and securities law courses provide highly desirable background, but are not prerequisites.
Grades will be based upon: a final take-home exam (2 credits), or a final take-home exam plus a 10-12 page research paper (3 credits), or a full-length paper (3 credits). In all instances, class participation will also be taken into account.
Enrollment will be limited to 25 students; MBA students from Booth will be welcome.
Spring 2013
Thomas Cole
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Corporate Governance in China
LAWS 80804
- 01
(3)
m, w, x
China leads the world in economic growth but trails significantly in corporate governance. The government is gradually upgrading the legal and regulatory framework, but progress is slow – and transparency and compliance still vary widely across state-owned, publicly-listed, and private firms. Ethics and social customs, which are central to reform, are even more problematic than structure and proving even more difficult to change. As Chinese stock prices continue to fall, stock market confidence is disappearing, and global investors are demanding reform. Given the SEC’s recent demand to see the work papers of American audit firms in order to protect American shareholders – and China’s continuing need to access to foreign capital markets – Chinese corporate governance is evoking questions of sovereignty and moving to the center stage of U.S.-China relations.
This seminar will address the current status of corporate governance in China as contrasted with Western practices, high-profile cases, contributing factors, and recent trends in reform. The seminar will be highly interactive. For example, one unique portion of the course will involve extensive role-playing of a major crisis scenario, in which students will extensively role-play executives, directors, and regulators.
Grading will be determined by class participation and by performance across three short papers. The first paper will involve a comparison of Chinese and Western corporate governance methods; the second will focus on a recent case and provide analysis and commentary; and the third will require generation of a hypothetical governance crisis, the best of which will be considered for inclusion in a monograph containing future scenarios to be published in 2013.
Autumn 2012
Tom Manning
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Counterintelligence and Covert Action - Legal and Policy Issues
LAWS 70706
- 01
(3)
m, w, x
This seminar will focus on the legal framework for counterintelligence and other instruments of national power that seek to neutralize and/or exploit our adversaries' intelligence activities against US national security interests. Such adversaries may include foreign intelligence services, terrorists, foreign criminal enterprises, cyber intruders, or some combination thereof. The seminar will consider both legal and policy issues raised in efforts to prevent adversarial espionage action -- overt, covert, or clandestine -- targeting US military, diplomatic, and economic interests at home and abroad. The seminar will also explore the role and overlap of covert action, roughly defined as action intended to influence events in another nation or territory without revealing the involvement of the sponsor. Care will be taken to consider less frequently discussed implications for domestic and international economies and markets, as well as the extent to which economic and market considerations motivate policy making or legal decisions. The seminar will include short case studies from the Cold War and post-Cold War eras in the US, Latin America, the Middle East, and the former USSR.
The seminar is designed to minimize overlap with the material covered in The Law of Counterterrorism (LAWS 70704) and National Security Issues (LAWS 70703) by primarily focusing attention on state actors rather than nonstate actors.
Grades will be based upon a final paper, short weekly response papers, and reasonable class participation.
Autumn 2012
Stephen Cowen
