Thomas J. Miles
Assistant Professor of Law
1111 East 60th Street, Room 502
Chicago, IL 60637
phone: 773 834-4163
email: tmiles@law.uchicago.edu

Current Year Courses

• 30611 1 Torts
  The focus of this course, offered over two sequential quarters, is on the Anglo-American system (mainly judge-created) of liability for personal injury to person or property. Special stress is laid on the legal doctrines governing accidental injury, such as negligence and strict liability, assumption of risk, and the duty requirement. The rules for determining damages in personal-injury cases are discussed. Alternative theories of tort liability, e.g., moral and economic, are compared. The student s grade is based on a single final examination.
  Winter (3) 1L
  
  
• 42401 1 Federal Regulation of Securities
  This course covers the basic economic and legal principles of public equity markets. We will look at the public offering (IPO) and private placement process in some detail, paying special attention to the key securities statutes and the complex rules issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission. We will also examine the basic principles of trading, including tender offers, private securities actions, and damages. The economics of finance and capital markets is employed to assist the analysis. Corporation Law is a prerequisite, although it may be taken concurrently. Grades will be based on class participation and a standard final examination.
  Spring (3) +
  
  
• 46501 1 Federal Criminal Law
  This course surveys the substance and structure of federal criminal law. The appropriate scope of federal criminal law and enforcement is a central theme of the course. Topics examined include: federal jurisdiction over crime and offenses that enlarge the reach of federal criminal law such as mail fraud; federal crimes occurring in markets, including illegal markets (such as drug trafficking) and illicit transactions in legal markets (such as securities fraud); federal crimes involving corrupt payments, such as bribery, extortion, and foreign corrupt practices; federal crimes involving concealment, such as false statements, perjury, obstruction of justice, and money laundering; the regulation of criminal activity occurring in and through formal and informal organizations (such as RICO), and the allocation of liability between individuals and organizations; and selected aspects of remedies and punishments under federal criminal law, such as sentencing guidelines, asset forfeiture, and deferred prosecution agreements. The student's grade will be based on class participation and a proctored final examination.
  Autumn (3)
  
  
• 49901 27 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)
  
  

Other courses taught include:

Federal Criminal Law
Torts
Economic Analysis of Law
Workshop on Punishment & Crime