Emily Buss : Courses and Seminars
Civil Procedure I
LAWS 30211
Civil Procedure is offered in two parts. Part I meets in the Autumn Quarter and addresses the mechanics of civil litigation, with special reference to pleading, discovery, and trial, including the respective roles of judge and jury. Part II is offered in the Spring Quarter and focuses on the study of the power of particular courts to decide cases (subject matter jurisdiction); jurisdiction of the courts over the person or things before them; the scope and effect of judgments; principles of finality of judgments; and the rules governing joinder of claims and parties.
The student's grade is based on an examination given at the end of each quarter.
Autumn 2012
Emily Buss
Court Reform in the Juvenile Justice System
LAWS 60103
The social scientific literature suggests that adults’ experience in court has important effects on their attitudes about legal institutions and their obligation to obey the law. But little attention has been paid to the developmental effects of adolescents’ experience in juvenile court, despite the fact that young people’s very presence in juvenile court suggests that they are at special risk of developing anti-social attitudes about the law and legal institutions. The aim of this seminar is to study young people’s experience in juvenile court, and to propose a set of procedural reforms designed to enhance the opportunities for positive legal socialization afforded in juvenile court proceedings.
The seminar will span the entire year, meeting roughly three times per quarter, to allow time for ongoing research, collaboration, and writing. Seminar participants will read and discuss leading works on juvenile justice reform, discuss relevant issues with experts in the field, observe juvenile justice proceedings, and collaborate in the development of reforms.
Written work will include shorter “response” papers and one longer paper, which can qualify for substantial writing credit.
Participation is limited to 10 students, and year-long participation is required.
Winter 2013
Emily Buss
Court Reform in the Juvenile Justice System
LAWS 60103
The social scientific literature suggests that adults’ experience in court has important effects on their attitudes about legal institutions and their obligation to obey the law. But little attention has been paid to the developmental effects of adolescents’ experience in juvenile court, despite the fact that young people’s very presence in juvenile court suggests that they are at special risk of developing anti-social attitudes about the law and legal institutions. The aim of this seminar is to study young people’s experience in juvenile court, and to propose a set of procedural reforms designed to enhance the opportunities for positive legal socialization afforded in juvenile court proceedings.
The seminar will span the entire year, meeting roughly three times per quarter, to allow time for ongoing research, collaboration, and writing. Seminar participants will read and discuss leading works on juvenile justice reform, discuss relevant issues with experts in the field, observe juvenile justice proceedings, and collaborate in the development of reforms.
Written work will include shorter “response” papers and one longer paper, which can qualify for substantial writing credit.
Participation is limited to 10 students, and year-long participation is required.
Spring 2013
Emily Buss
Court Reform in the Juvenile Justice System
LAWS 60103
The social scientific literature suggests that adults’ experience in court has important effects on their attitudes about legal institutions and their obligation to obey the law. But little attention has been paid to the developmental effects of adolescents’ experience in juvenile court, despite the fact that young people’s very presence in juvenile court suggests that they are at special risk of developing anti-social attitudes about the law and legal institutions. The aim of this seminar is to study young people’s experience in juvenile court, and to propose a set of procedural reforms designed to enhance the opportunities for positive legal socialization afforded in juvenile court proceedings.
The seminar will span the entire year, meeting roughly three times per quarter, to allow time for ongoing research, collaboration, and writing. Seminar participants will read and discuss leading works on juvenile justice reform, discuss relevant issues with experts in the field, observe juvenile justice proceedings, and collaborate in the development of reforms.
Written work will include shorter “response” papers and one longer paper, which can qualify for substantial writing credit.
Participation is limited to 10 students, and year-long participation is required.
Autumn 2012
Emily Buss
Family Law
LAWS 45001
This course will examine the state's role in recognizing and regulating personal relationships between adults and between adults and children. Specific topics include marriage, other partnerships, friendship, divorce and other forms of dissolution, reproductive rights, child support and custody, and the allocation of childrearing authority among parents, other caregivers and the state. Throughout the quarter, we will compare various legal and social meanings of family and explore assumptions about the family that underlie existing legal regulation.
A student's grade will be based on a take-home final examination or a major paper.
Spring 2013
Emily Buss
Greenberg Seminar: Can You Have It All?
LAWS 95902
The past thirty years have seen a dramatic rise in women’s participation in the workforce, a rise paralleled by a dramatic shift in the composition of our law school class. Feminists cheered these developments and the leveling of the playing field. But a recent series of writings by prominent and successful women have sounded some alarms about work-life balance and what it takes to succeed professionally as well as personally. The issue is a large one for men and women, as well as society as a whole. It is also one you all will soon face directly. Perhaps our basic institutional arrangements, such as what the workplace is, how we measure performance, how we pay, and so forth, need to be rethought to accommodate professional women and a new breed of professional men. Or, perhaps, things are fine just the way they are.
In this Greenberg, we will read books (fiction and non-fiction) and articles about work-life balance, which we hope will provoke a lively discussion on these issues, which affect not only the choices each of us make but also how our society is structured. We will address questions such as: To what extent are the issues faced by men and women the same? To the extent they are different, why are they different? Should employers accommodate those differences, and, if so, how and why? What policy implications flow from our recent experiences with greater gender equality in the workforce?
In the Greenberg tradition, we will meet at our houses. In the spirit of this particular Greenberg, we warn you in advance of interruptions from children, last minutes changes from one house to the other, and possible (unsolicited?) contributions from our professional (one lawyer; one doctor) spouses. Because we are eager to foster a broad conversation that incorporates a range of views with gender as a focus, we hope to achieve rough gender balance in the seminar.
Students wishing to register should email a short statement of interest to both professors by September 14.
Autumn 2012
Emily Buss, M. Todd Henderson
Parent, Child, and the State
LAWS 47101
This course examines the legal rights of parents and children and the state's authority to define and regulate the parent-child relationship. Among the topics discussed are children's and parent's rights of expression and religious exercise, termination of parental rights and adoption, paternity rights, the state's response to child abuse and neglect, the role of race in defining the family, and the legal issues raised by the development of new reproductive technologies.
A student's grade will be based on a take-home final examination or a major paper.
Winter 2013
Emily Buss
