Course Offerings

The purpose of this course is to provide a brief overview of the elaborate and complex system that has evolved over the past 150 years to regulate the activities of banking institutions. It will provide an overview of the types of financial entities providing banking services in the United States, their powers and authorities, and how they are regulated. It will discuss the major laws that govern banks, and the themes of regulation, including safety and soundness, anti-money laundering and sanctions, and the regulatory enforcement process. It will also address the structure of the payments system in the US, as well as the systems that have evolved for handling bank insolvencies. This class will be graded as Pass/Fail.

In a globalizing world, the range of issues with cross-border implications only expands, from finance to trade, terrorism to food safety, climate change to sports. This upper-level, interdisciplinary course examines how and why different legal regimes have developed to govern these issues, when and why they succeed, and when and why they fail or generate backlash.

This course will provide students with an overview of litigation finance, with an emphasis on topics related to third-party litigation funding for commercial matters in the United States. We will cover subjects such as the principal drivers of demand for litigation finance, historical challenges to third-party funding, and the current state of the industry, including courts’ analyses of litigation funding arrangements and recent efforts relating to regulation. Reading for the class will include a combination of articles, case law, legislation, and expert commentary. By the end of the course, students should have an understanding of the factors that led to the rise of third-party litigation funding, its place in the U.S. legal ecosystem, and practical and professional responsibility-related considerations around litigation finance transactions that can be utilized in their future practices. This class is pass/fail.

This course will introduce MSL students to learning in the law school environment and to core concepts within the American Legal System. Coverage will include structure of U.S governments, judicial and court processes, sources of American law, the role of the lawyer, legal reasoning and analysis, and foundational issues in various legal subject areas.

Islamic finance is an increasingly important sector of the international finance market. No longer limited to the Middle East or Southeast Asia, there is growing interest in this market on the part of non-Muslim customers, investors, and financial institutions, and sharia-compliant financial services and products are currently offered more than 70 countries, including in the U.K. and the U.S. Yet in spite of its dynamic growth and future potential, the Islamic financial industry remains relatively unknown in the United States. This course is designed as an intensive basic introduction to Islamic (or sharia-compliant) finance and banking. It will explore the hows and whys behind the industry, its ethical and legal underpinnings, and how it interacts with the U.S. and other legal systems. No previous familiarity with the field is necessary, and there are no course prerequisites. All readings will be in English. The course is pass/fail.

Superior Court civil litigation clinic representing lower income victims of domestic abuse in obtaining protective orders. Students work as lay advocates and student practitioners to provide direct service to clients including screening and referral, interviewing, counseling, pleading and case preparation, negotiation, and advocacy at final hearings under the Student Practice Act. Class discussion centers on readings in texts and statutes relating to family violence, as well as on theory and practice of lawyering in a litigation/negotiation context. (See description of JURI 4500S for clinic grading policy.) Register for both 5140S (graded portion) and 5141L (pass/fail portion).

This course will consider how political forces may exert themselves on judges, how judges should navigate political issues and public spaces, judges’ ethical responsibilities, and concerns and potential solutions for federal and state judges. Students will read articles on the development of judicial ethics, empirical research on judicial decision-making, and popular-press materials of newsworthy controversies, among other materials. Students will have two essays to complete, one due at the first class session and the second after the final class session. The reading assignments will be frontloaded to allow students to read materials before the class begins and to render the week’s work more manageable.

Rules, Standards, and Discretion — We can array legal norms along a spectrum, from crisp rules (e.g., a marginal income-tax rate specified in the Internal Revenue Code) to fuzzy standards (e.g., the reasonable-care standard in tort). Sometimes, we approach legal-norm application not by stating a norm, but by designating someone to exercise informed, discretionary judgment. This seminar explores the complexities that follow from the foregoing observables. Consider the following illustrative questions: When should a norm designer choose a rule, and when a standard? And does the answer turn on whether the norm designer is a legislature, an executive administrator, or a judicial tribunal? When should a norm applier pull toward the rule end of the spectrum, and when toward the standard end? And does the answer turn on whether the norm applier is an administrator or a judge? How can discretion be squared with the rule of law? Is it more important that discretion be guided by a preexisting framework? Or is it enough that, even if unguided, the discretionary judgment be explained with reasons? Are any rules defeasible? Are all rules defeasible? If so, are there really only standards? Is stare decisis best thought of as a rule, a standard, or a matter of discretion? What difference does the answer make for the rule of law? The works of legal philosopher Frederick Schauer will feature heavily in our readings. Evaluation will be by a semester-long writing project; students can use the project to meet the capstone writing requirement. Whatever your favorite substantive area of law may be, in this seminar you can reflect more deeply on its rules-standards-discretion internal structure by writing your project in that subject-matter area.

Are most trials won or lost by the end of jury selection? This course will focus on the procedural rules of jury selection in state and federal court as well as the role that psychology plays in conducting voir dire. This class is pass/fail.

This course is organized in three distinct parts. Part 1 will explore the historical and legal development of labor arbitration and its relationship to collective bargaining. Part 2 will address common issues including evidence, discipline and discharge, and contract interpretation. Part 3 will consist of three simulated, mock arbitration hearings. In each mock arbitration students will rotate between the roles of union counsel, management counsel, and arbitrator. Counsel will write post-hearing briefs, and arbitrators will write decisions. There is no final exam in this course. Student grades will be based on a combination of class participation (5%), self-evaluations (5%) and the 3 mock arbitrations (25% for the first, 30% for the second, and 35% for the third.) Grades for the mock arbitrations will be based on post-hearing briefs by the advocates and decisions by the arbitrators. This course meets the requirements of a practical skills course and will include a student self-evaluation component to be assigned during the course. There are no required prerequisite courses for the labor arbitration course. This class is capped at 18.

Examines National Labor Relations Act, focusing on history and evolution of labor relations laws, union organizational activity, collective bargaining, economic weapons, the duty of fair representation, and federalism and labor relations.

This course studies labor law through the lens of the entertainment industry, where the collective bargaining relationship between the studios and their unionized employees undergirds almost every facet of “Hollywood.” The actors, directors, writers, and crew of the major television shows and motion pictures you know and love are members of their respective unions. This course will demonstrate how that reality shapes the industry--from the negotiation of the talent agreement to the distribution of the project and everything in-between. At the conclusion of the course, I will provide you with three potential essay topics touching on material covered during the course. You will have one week to draft a three- to five-page essay on one of those topics of your choosing. This class is pass/fail.

The seminar portion of the clinic examines the legal foundations of private land conservation, as well as the policy and environmental basis for this work. Students will explore conservation easements, the role of land trusts, the ecological and public benefits of protected land, and ways to enhance the impact of private conservation.  Law and Ecology Masters students will provide advice and drafting assistance to nonprofits, government agencies, and others on land conservation issues, with an emphasis on supporting private land conservation. Students will research, analyze, and draft transactional documents, reports, and guidebooks; counsel clients; and address policy and ecological challenges.

The course will examine the legal principles and administrative elements of the land development and regulation process, including the basics of planning and zoning.  Additional topics explored include nuisance, eminent domain, environmental regulation, subdivision controls, and urban redevelopment.

Focuses on the relationship between health care providers and patients. Topics include: the treatment relationship, professional liability, licensing, access to care (including EMTALA), quality of care, privacy and confidentiality (including HIPAA), and informed consent.

This course is about the developing role Artificial Intelligence plays in the practice of law. Students will learn about a lawyer’s ethical duty to responsibly utilize technology, the fundamental architecture underlying modern artificial intelligence technology, different ways A.I. can be leveraged in different kinds of legal practice, the areas of law that impact and are impacted by A.I., and best practices for evaluating A.I. enabled tools.

This course will focus on the history and judicial construction of the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment.

Through readings, various media, and classroom discussions, students will learn about social justice in the legal context. Students will compose a reflective journal writing and a written project/class presentation proposing a creative social justice response to a real-world community need or issue identified by faculty and the students.

Can a brain scan tell whether someone is lying, and should that type of evidence be admitted at trial?  Does a criminal defendant’s history of mental illness impact how a judge decides to sentence? Does a plaintiff’s high damage request cause a jury to give a greater award?  Do adolescents’ developing brains mean they have reduced criminal culpability?  We’ll cover these questions and more in this course, which examines how law is affected by both the traditional field of psychology and the emerging field of neuroscience.  Broad topics include judge and jury decisionmaking, the psychological basis of criminal culpability, the psychological justifications for various legal rules & doctrines, and much more. Along the way we’ll discuss how the legal system can and should respond to new insights in psychology and neuroscience. (Note that all scientific material in the class will be presented in an accessible manner, so no previous science background is required.) Grading will be based heavily on class participation in addition to a final paper.

This course explores the Constitution’s structuring of American government. Of particular importance are two key concepts: (1) federalism (that is, the division of power between the central government and the states) and (2) the separation of powers among the three branches of the central government.

This course introduces students to the ways that lawyers, historians, social scientists, and others evaluate the law’s relationship to justice, the state, and democracy, and helps them understand how those relationships have shaped and been shaped by social, cultural, economic, and political ideas and institutions.

Examined in this course will be laws and customs intended to regulate war - not only when and whether law permits resort to armed conflict, but also national and international legal rules and regimes governing how war is to be waged and when actors may be sanctioned for violating those rules.

“Lawyering” covers various strategies and issues that are relevant to a long-term, healthy, and satisfying career in a dynamic profession. Topics may include the business of lawyering, professional-identity formation, cross-cultural competency, legal technology, wellness strategies, and professional communication skills.  The course is pass/fail. JURI 4040 is the first course in a two-part series. Students should expect to register for JURI 4041 in the semester following JURI 4040.

This course is a continuation of JURI 4040, covering various strategies and issues that are relevant to a long-term, healthy, and satisfying career in a dynamic profession. Topics may include the business of lawyering, professional-identity formation, cross-cultural competency, legal technology, wellness strategies, and professional communication skills.  The course is pass/fail.

Learning from Wrongful Convictions will explore some of the main factors that have led to wrongful convictions across the United States. Using actual cases in which the accused has been exonerated, students will develop an understanding of how forensic science, social science, police officers, prosecutors, and defense attorneys have all contributed to various cases of wrongful convictions. Students will then examine what the criminal justice system can do to prevent wrongful convictions in the future and present a paper detailing a proposed solution to one of the issues discussed. Learning will come from readings, class discussions and guest speakers.