Lisa Bernstein
Wilson-Dickinson Professor of Law and Co-Director, Institute for Civil Justice
1111 East 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
phone: 773-834-2881
email: lbernst621@aol.com

Current Year Courses

• 48601 1 Advanced Contracts: Sales in Practice
  This course, which is designed for both LLM students who have taken contracts or commercial law in their home country and JD students interested in a more in-depth understanding of sales transactions, examines Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, the law that governs the sale of goods. After a brief overview of the quasi-historical and jurisprudential roots of the Code, we will go through the Code's rather complex rules, while exploring the modes of statutory analysis employed by courts interpreting the Code and reflecting on the best ways to draft and structure commercial agreements to avoid potential pitfalls. The course also takes up selected topics in negotiation and dispute resolution, (arbitration, mediation, wisemen provisions and other types of verification intermediaries), as these topics apply to entering into, performing, and resolving the disagreements that arise during the course of a sales contract. Readings will include a mix of cases, practical commentary, academic articles, and on occasion, articles from the popular press. Students will be graded on the basis of short assignments and a 1.5 hour open-book exam. A limited number of students who want to do a substantial writing project in lieu of the exam may do so with the consent of the professor.
  Spring (3)
  
  
• 49901 3 Independent Research
  Second- and third-year students may earn course credit by independent research under the supervision of a member of the faculty. Such projects are arranged by consultation between the student and the particular member of the faculty in whose field the proposed topic falls.
  Autumn (3)
  
  
• 78711 1 Workshop: Legal Scholarship
  This multiquarter workshop is designed for students interested in developing either an existing paper (in need of substantial revision) or new research into a publishable article. In the Autumn quarter the course will be run as a faculty mini-workshop for Chicago area scholars to present their work, allowing the class to comment on their scholarship and learn about presentation skills. In the Spring Quarter the class will function as a workshop for students, enabling them to present their papers. In preparation for each meeting, students will submit short (2-3 page) critiques of the author's paper. Along the way, during the Autumn and Spring quarters, the professors will work with each student to get his/her piece into publishable shape. The student's grade is based on the weekly papers, participation, and (for students enrolled in the two quarter sequence) the quality of the final version of their long paper. Students may receive substantial writing credit in this course, and LLMs interested in teaching or getting to actively participate in a scholarly workshop where they have extensive opportunities to speak and hone their skills in critiquing legal argument. FALL ONLY option: This seminar is designed to give the students the experience of participating in a faculty workshop. Each week young scholars from around the country will present a work in progress and unlike other workshops where the faculty does most of the questioning, the students will question the speakers (and write a two page paper setting out their questions and comments). The presentations will be followed by feedback that will enable students to learn how to present academic work and select a publishable topic for their research. LLMs interested in teaching are welcome.
  Autumn (3) a
  
  

Other courses taught include:

• Law and Social Science
• Corporations
• Legal Academy
• Advanced Corporate Law: Theory and Practice
• Academic Law