Course Offerings

This seminar covers current topics in bankruptcy law. For almost all class session, a leading practitioner, judge, trustee, journalist, academic, or other leader in the bankruptcy profession will join us (typically via Zoom). Each invitee will be asked "to pick a problem currently on their desk.” This way, the seminar will cover the topics that are currently occupying the attention of professionals in the bankruptcy field. These topics may range from mass tort bankruptcies, to the Texas Two-Step, to eligibility for the relatively new small business reorganization subchapter of bankruptcy, to fiduciary duty lawsuits in bankruptcy, to the inner workings of the US Trustee Program. The coursework will emphasize class discussion and writing.y law.

Examines legal, ethical, and social problems generated by advances in health, medicine and biotechnology. Some of the issues covered include human cloning and stem cell research, gene-based therapies, death and dying, reproductive technologies, experimentation with human subjects, and societal limits on scientific developments.

This is a two credit hour course taught by Teri Simmons addressing the laws, regulations and policies governing the entry of foreign nationals into the United States for business or employment purposes.

The Business Law Clinic offers students an opportunity to develop essential lawyering skills in a professional, interactive, live-client environment. Supervised students will represent entrepreneurs, small business owners and not for profit organizations that cannot otherwise afford legal services. Services provided will relate to such matters as entity formation, corporate governance, employment and contracts. Students will learn how to interview, counsel, draft and negotiate, and will develop problem-solving, analytical and editorial skills in the context of client projects and reality-grounded class work. In addition to allowing students to learn transactional lawyering skills, the Business Law Clinic will provide clients with quality pro bono legal services, in keeping with the University of Georgia School of Law's commitment to serving the community. Class size will be limited to eight students. The course consists of a seminar and 8-10 hours per week of supervised client projects. Consistent with Law School policy on clinical courses, two credits will be graded and two credits will be pass/fail.

The course will give students experience in researching a variety of business law topics focusing on primary, secondary and transactional materials. The course will also require students to efficiently and clearly communicate the results of their business law research in multiple practical drafting assignments.

This course will focus on negotiations theory, strategy, skills, and style in the context of business transactions as well as business disputes. Students will participate in simulated negotiations and will prepare written assignments and a comprehensive appraisal in lieu of a final exam.

This seminar will involve a practical education about the economics of a private law practice.  Designed to prepare students for the realities of the private practice of law, it will address client fees and retention, ethical issues that routinely arise in the attorney-client business relationship, client service and development fundamentals, law firm management and organizational structures, and how junior lawyers can be the most valuable to their law firms, corporate law departments, or agencies.  The course will involve various publications on law firm administration, economics, and management as well as other case studies and materials.  This course is pass/fail.

Students work with attorneys at agencies which defend individuals charged with capital offenses. In the classroom component, students will discuss work experiences, examine issues in capital punishment, and evaluate special problems which confront the attorney defending a capital case.

An in-depth examination of the legal and social issues surrounding capital punishment. Surveys a variety of legal issues in areas of criminal law and procedure, constitutional law and ethics which confront attorneys in capital cases. The course will encourage students to synthesize the social and legal facets to objectively evaluate the complex issues involved in capital punishment.

Legal and social issues surrounding capital punishment. Surveys legal issues in areas of criminal law and procedure, constitutional law and ethics which confront attorneys in capital cases. Encourages students to synthesize social and legal facets to objectively evaluate complex issues involved in capital punishment. Limited to rising juniors and seniors, except with the instructor's permission.

This clinic trains students to represent victims of child sexual assault or exploitation in tort suits filed against their abusers. The clinic also meets for a two-hour seminar each week during which students will be trained on litigation skills, laws governing child sexual abuse cases, and legislation making these lawsuits possible.

This course provides an overview of the child welfare legal system, dependency law, procedure, and practice. The course is modeled after the National Association of Counsel for Children’s curriculum for best practices in representing children, parents, and state agencies in abuse, neglect, and dependency cases. Course Objectives: To provide an overview of the child welfare legal system. To learn relevant federal laws and U.S. Supreme Court cases. To learn ethical and professional considerations in representing parties in juvenile court dependency proceedings. To understand the various legal parties and their representatives within the system, including children, parents, and state agencies. To learn special topics in practice, including due process, immigration, education, and evidentiary issues. To learn trial and appellate advocacy skills necessary to practice in the child welfare legal system.  Topics in this course will include, among others: An overview of the child welfare legal system An overview of child abuse and neglect Best practices in child, parent, and state agency representation Interviewing and counseling child clients Cultural competency in child welfare practice Ethics and professionalism in child welfare legal practice Trauma-informed lawyering and secondary trauma Federal legislation and U.S. Supreme Court cases relevant to child welfare legal practice Special evidentiary issues System and policy advocacy Special topics such as immigration, due process, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), the commercial and sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), and trial and appellate advocacy.

In this course, students will learn about the child welfare legal system, trauma-informed lawyering, and interdisciplinary collaboration through intensive classroom instruction and participation in a mock trial. The mock trial will be part of the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic Conference. Law students will work with Masters students from the School of Social Work as well as guest lecturers, including judges, attorneys, and licensed social workers. Topics in the course include development of case theory, effective advocacy skills, appropriate professional conduct, and trial preparation, all through a trauma-informed lens. Students will present direct and cross examinations of lay and expert witnesses, opening statements, and closing arguments, and will introduce evidentiary exhibits with appropriate foundation. This course is pass/fail.

This course will focus on the legal status, rights, and disabilities of children in the American legal system. Initial emphasis will be on the condition of children in America, the development of the juvenile and family courts, and the development of children's constitutional rights in the home, in school, and in public. Significant attention will then be given to issues concerning child welfare, medical treatment, and juvenile delinquency. Other subjects that may be covered include status-based offenses and the representation of children. Grading will be based heavily on class participation in addition to a final examination.

This class will survey the ways that Christians have conceived of the relationship between the church and secular government. We will focus on texts that have profoundly shaped western political theory and practice for the past 2,000 years: the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures; Augustine; Aquinas; and Calvin. Other possible topics of study may include the history and role of canon law; private Christian mediation/arbitration; the role of Christian thought in perpetuating slavery and white supremacy in the United States; the racial reconciliation movement in South Africa; the tension between the call to forgiveness and the requirements of justice; Christian pacifism; and Christian critiques of Enlightenment-inspired "individual rights." Students will have the opportunity to satisfy the "capstone" writing requirements.

The objective of this course, in which various governmental and private organizations will provide placements for student externships, is to engage students in three primary learning experiences: direct exposure to the skills and methods of legal practice; focused application of legal concepts to real conflicts; and reflective appraisal of their own abilities, values, and professional goals. In addition to the field work provided by the externships, a clinic seminar will provide a jurisprudential context in which to consider and organize the learning gained in the field. Register for both 5970S (graded portion) and 5971S (pass/fail portion).

The objective of this course, in which various governmental and private organizations will provide placements for student externships, is to engage students in three primary learning experiences: direct exposure to the skills and methods of legal practice; focused application of legal concepts to real conflicts; and reflective appraisal of their own abilities, values, and professional goals. In addition to the field work provided by the externships, a clinic seminar will provide a jurisprudential context in which to consider and organize the learning gained in the field. Register for both 5963S (graded portion) and 5964S (pass/fail portion).

This course covers the lifecycle of a lawsuit in federal court, including the scope and nature of the federal courts' constitutional and statutory authority to decide cases. Topics include statutory and constitutional constraints on judicial power to render an enforceable judgment against a defendant, subject-matter jurisdiction, venue, pleading, joinder, discovery, summary judgment, trial and post-trial motions, and the preclusive effect of final judgments. The course also touches on choice of law, separation of powers, federalism, forum shopping, and the interpretation of Rules, statutes, and constitutional text.

This seminar will examine topics in the emerging law of climate change in the United States, including treatment of scientific evidence, efforts at legislation, regulatory developments, ongoing litigation, the status of the UN framework regime, corporate compliance requirements, and policy pathways toward industrial and economic decarbonization.

(This course was formerly titled History of Common Law) This course, which blends legal history and jurisprudence, surveys the development of the common law in England and in the U.S. We examine the judicial role in the separate contexts of decisional law (where there is no single authoritative statement of the controlling rule) and positive law (where there is a single statement). The biographies of two contested concepts, “stare decisis” and “the rule of law,” help organize and animate the course. Evaluation will be based on a series of essays.

The Community Health Law Partnership Clinic (“Community HeLP”) focuses on interdisciplinary advocacy at the intersection of immigration status and health, including humanitarian and family-based immigration benefits, advocacy on behalf of noncitizen workers and detainees, and public education. Working under the supervision of Professor Jason Cade and clinic staff, students have direct responsibility for all aspects of client representation in cases undertaken by the clinic, including: interviewing and advising clients; conducting research and drafting legal documents; advocating in court proceedings and administrative hearings, and collaborating with legal and medical professionals in the community. Clinic students periodically develop or update training materials for medical providers, legal advocates, and patients, and engage in related systemic policy work. This is a year-long (two-semester) clinic, with 4 credits awarded each semester. The course is structured so that students receive significant supervision, training, and guidance in the first semester, enabling more independent, advanced, and systemic work in the second semester. The weekly seminar component of the clinic provides skills training and substantive instruction in the clinic’s primary practice areas. The seminar also includes clinical “case rounds” designed to develop reflective advocacy, collaborative problem solving, and a framework for skills-transfer across issue areas.

This course surveys approaches to privacy regulation around the globe, including comparing regulatory frameworks and different policy solutions. The course also introduces the major international privacy regulatory and enforcement institutions. Core lecturing will focus on the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and its comparison with US federal and state law. Core concepts include controller/processor, personal data/personal information, data subject/consumer, cross-border transfers, and processing which will be approached through lecture from a comparative perspective.

This course examines the theory and practice of complex multiparty cases. In particular, it examines the major procedural and substantive issues in nationwide class actions and non-class aggregation. Our readings and discussions will focus on class actions (including the requirements for class certification, dueling state and federal class actions, and the strategic implications involved in settlement) and other advanced procedural topics including joinder, multidistrict litigation, phased trials, and preclusion.

A study of criminal process rights that apply during the interaction between law enforcement and individual suspects. More specifically, the course will examine the relationship (and tension) that exists between the law enforcement investigative function and the constitutional guarantees that are designed to safeguard our individual liberties.

This seminar will examine constitutional issues in the context of the military justice system. To that end, you will become familiar with both the constitutional and statutory framework underlying these issues as well as caselaw from federal courts that have analyzed them. Over the course of the week, we will examine questions related to serving as an Article I court within the federal system, particularly jurisdiction. We will also delve into areas of constitutional law that some of you are already familiar with, including aspects of criminal procedure, Due Process, and First and Fourth Amendment jurisprudence, albeit in the military context. The goal of this seminar is to improve your understanding of constitutional issues and help you develop an organized framework for approaching legal problems from the perspective of an appellate court. As such, each topic will begin with the text of the underlying constitutional provision, followed by the text of the relevant statute, and finally the body of caselaw that arises out of the judicial system. From time to time, we may also add scholarly articles and/or advocacy documents that will help put all these issues into context.