Elective Courses

The following courses and seminars have been taught in the last three academic years. They are not necessarily offered every year. Although many similar courses and seminars are taught each year, the nature of the Virginia curriculum allows significant variations in titles and content depending on the interests of the faculty members and students. The following course descriptions are abbreviated. For complete, up-to-date information on current courses, including instructors and number of credits, go to Current Courses.

ACCOUNTING: UNDERSTANDING and ANALYZING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS This course covers the conceptual framework of accounting, specialized accounting terminology, generally accepted accounting standards, and the distinction between financial accounting and income tax accounting. Students learn how components of financial statements such as inventories, plant and equipment, bonds, leases, sales revenues, cost of goods sold expense, and depreciation expense are measured and reported.

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW Much federal law that governs private behavior is the product of administrative agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. This course is an introduction to the special body of law that governs such agencies at the federal level, including the constitutional and statutory constraints on their actions.

ADVANCED ISSUES IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICY This course reviews foundational topics in intellectual property policy, namely intellectual property’s desirable duration and scope, fostering innovation, and the merit of alternatives to the intellectual property system. Students assess the law and current policy suggestions in light of the theory and available evidence.

ADVANCED LEGAL RESEARCH Legal research is a basic part of the practice of most beginning attorneys. While research is changing dramatically with the increased use of online databases and the Internet, an understanding of print resources remains essential.

Advanced Legal Writing The goal of the course is to increase experience and mastery of writing skills that may be used in legal practice. We work on opinion letters, letters to clients, e-mail, legislative drafting, contract drafting and trial court motions and pleadings.

ADVANCED TOPICS IN CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE This seminar examines leading legal scholarship on the criminal process, focusing on topics including: sexually violent predator laws, federal drug kingpin statutes, conspiracy, and federal constitutional limits on sentencing. These topics will be explored through student-led discussions of major appellate cases, which often come from the Supreme Court.

ADVANCED TRUSTS AND ESTATES The course covers restrictions on the power of testamentary disposition; charitable trusts and fiduciary administration, including the duties, powers and liabilities of trustees.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN LAWYERS FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO THE PRESENT This seminar explores the history of the African-American lawyer from the 19th century to the present. Special attention is given to the place of the black lawyer in the African-American community, the relationship of black lawyers to the larger predominantly white legal community, and the role of black lawyers in the Civil Rights Movement.

AGENCY AND PARTNERSHIP This course is an introduction to the legal consequences of people acting on behalf of other people or organizations. The course also serves as an introduction to business organizations other than the corporation, including partnership and limited liability entities.

AIRLINE INDUSTRY AND AVIATION LAW This course is an introduction to the domestic and international airline industry, and the manner in which business responds to legal demands, using the aviation industry as a focal point. Attention is also given to key current issues, including foreign control of airlines and Homeland Security.

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION Traditional litigation is often criticized for its delay, cost and complexity, and sometimes for failing to provide results that satisfy the parties. This course is an overview of alternatives to litigation, including arbitration, negotiation, mediation, mini-trial and others.

Alternative Dispute Resolution: Representing Clients in Mediation Traditional litigation is often criticized for its delay, cost, complexity, and sometimes for failing to provide results that are satisfying to the parties. Increasingly, societies and legal systems are experimenting with techniques that are thought to provide results more in keeping with the parties’ interests than with just their rights, or at least to provide a less costly and more-timely remedy. This course is an overview of dispute resolution processes other than litigation, including negotiation, mediation, mini-trial, and others. Particular emphasis is given to arbitration, its theoretical and statutory foundations, and its procedures. The course examines the role of lawyers in ADR applications and compares various ADR methods with traditional litigation and with one another, particularly regarding effectiveness in a specific context.

An American Half-Century In World War II, the United States combined with the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union to defeat right-wing totalitarian states in Germany, Italy, and Japan. In the much longer Cold War, the United States led a coalition of democracies whose constant pressure eventually transmogrified the left-wing totalitarian menaces of the Soviet Union and China into, respectively, a fractured economic disaster area and an uneasily capitalistic economy with an uncertain political future. This course examines this pair of U.S.-led victories, especially the Cold War. The course emphasizes the role of international law, as well as the interplay between U.S. domestic law and foreign policy.

AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY This course examines the nonconstitutional dimensions of American legal development between the late 18th and early 20th centuries. Topics to be considered may include private law and economic development, crime and punishment, the law of slavery, family law, and immigration and citizenship.

AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY SEMINAR This seminar considers aspects of American legal development between 1865 and 1965, focusing on civil rights, labor law, and corporations, with special attention to changing structures of governmental intervention and legal thought.

AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND THE LAW This course covers 19th- and 20th-century Supreme Court decisions interpreting the 14th Amendment, and examines how law and judicial intervention affect social relations and social movements. Topics include segregation and other forms of status-based discrimination, women’s suffrage, women in the workplace, school desegregation, anti-poverty and anti-war activism, and reproductive rights.

ANTI-TERRORISM, LAW, AND THE ROLE OF INTELLIGENCE In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Bush Administration’s doctrine of pre-empting future attacks, this seminar examines the current posture of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) to supply information on which a decision to launch a pre-emptive strike must be based. Topics include: the IC’s performance in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and the proposals for change that have come out of the two conflicts; the failure to predict the 9/11 attacks; impact of 9/11 on U.S. criminal and immigration law, including the USA Patriot Act; trials against suspected terrorists; and special military tribunals. The seminar attempts to define a role for law enforcement, intelligence, and the courts in dealing with the legal and constitutional disputes that a war against an “ism” presents.

ANTITRUST Antitrust is about much more than simple price-fixing conspiracy, of course. As the celebrated Microsoft case showed, there are a bewildering number of ways that aggressively run firms can run against the antitrust laws. The course considers all of the standard ways—from cooperative pricing to noncooperative refusals to deal.

ANTITRUST AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY This course deals with the doctrinal and practical tension between antitrust and intellectual property law, and the degree to which antitrust law may sometimes constrain the exercise of patents, copyrights, and trademarks.

ANTITRUST PRACTICE This seminar covers antitrust problems involved in dealing with Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission proceedings and in dealing with private suits, including mergers, joint ventures, intellectual property disputes, and international trade matters.

ANTITRUST REVIEW OF MERGERS IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT Students learn how domestic and international mergers and acquisitions are reviewed under the antitrust laws, with an emphasis on U.S. antitrust law. Also include are the extraterritorial application of U.S. merger law, merger control law in Europe, and the problems of mergers that are subject to challenge under the antitrust laws of more than one country.

Appellate Practice This seminar examines the role of appellate courts in and provides a practical introduction to appellate litigation.

Banking Regulation This seminar teaches students the basic concepts underlying the regulation of depository institutions in the United States, and, where appropriate, contrasts the U.S. regulatory approach with that of other countries. The seminar includes a discussion of systemic risk and consumer protection as bases for the regulation of depository institutions (e.g., banks and thrifts), as well as their holding companies and affiliates. There is a specific focus on activity restrictions imposed on depository institutions and their affiliates (including depository institutions’ affiliations with securities and insurance underwriting), as well as lending limits, capital requirements, geographic restrictions, the bank failure process, community reinvestment obligations, privacy concerns and restrictions, and the federal banking agencies’ supervision and enforcement powers. The seminar concludes with a discussion of international banks’ operations in the United States, and U.S. regulation of those activities.

BANKRUPTCY This course explores in detail the legal, theoretical, and practical issues raised by a debtor’s financial distress. Principal emphasis is on how the Federal Bankruptcy Code uses or displaces otherwise applicable law to govern the relationships among debtors, creditors, and others.

BEHAVIORAL ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF LAW Experimental results from the field of cognitive psychology reveal a variety of decision-making anomalies that seem to call into question whether people really behave according to the predictions of rational choice theory, in which individuals pursue their self-interest by using available information to maximize their expected utility. The burgeoning field of behavioral law and economics has developed a wide-ranging and sustained critique of rational choice theory. In this seminar, students read many of the seminal works in this field and consider whether the behavioral approach can improve our ability to design effective legal regulations and to assess how law is likely to influence individual decision-making.

Bioethics and the Law This course explores the intersection among medicine, technology, and the law. Topics include human reproduction and birth (including actions for wrongful birth, wrongful life, and wrongful conception), human genetics and the privacy and ownership of genetic information, death and dying, research involving human subjects, organ transplantation, and public health and bioterrorism.

BUILDING BRIDGES: TRANSPORTATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS AFFECTING INFRASTRUCTURE This seminar examines the application of certain transportation, environmental and land-use laws to the design and construction of large transportation projects, including highways and bridges, airport and rail projects. The course uses as examples current projects in Virginia, including the Woodrow Wilson Bridge crossing of the Potomac River and the extension of the Washington area Metrorail system to Dulles International Airport, as well as projects in other parts of the country. The seminar also examines the recent and growing use of Public Private Partnerships to finance these projects. Students explore the hurdles public agencies must clear in getting projects approved, as well as the tools opponents use to alter or stop those projects.

BUSINESS REORGANIZATION UNDER CHAPTER 11 This seminar focuses on the practical and strategic applications of Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. Legal and tactical considerations confronting debtors and creditors in a business reorganization are analyzed so that students can appreciate the negotiation, litigation and transactional components of a Chapter 11 case.

BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS AND THE SCHOLARLY PROCESS This yearlong seminar is designed for students who are interested in going into law school teaching and also wish to produce significant scholarship in business transactions, including a wide range of financial and commercial contracts. The course is open to 14 students who will be selected based on their demonstrated ability and interest to engage in sustained research

CHILDREN IN THE LEGAL SYSTEM This course examines the many dimensions of legal regulation of children, who have a unique status in law. Topics include: the parental authority over children, children’s rights, reproductive rights, state authority in public schools, state intervention in response to parental abuse/neglect and termination of parental rights, and juvenile delinquency, the juvenile court, and legal responses to juvenile crime.

CHINAS, KOREAS, AND (THE) UNITED STATES This seminar examines international law and U.S. foreign policy relevant to China and Korea. Topics include the status of Taiwan, the Korean War, the accession of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the World Trade Organization, North Korea’s obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, human rights in the PRC, the Law of the Sea regarding various territorial claims in the South China Sea, and U.S. counter-proliferation policy towards North Korea.

CITIZENSHIP AND MEMBERSHIP This short course provides an overview of U.S. citizenship law, including acquisition at birth, naturalization and denaturalization, loss of citizenship, dual nationality, and the history of U.S. doctrine, including the increasing importance of constitutional protections. The course looks briefly at selected international and comparative law issues, including citizenship questions that arise from the breakup of states, and considers deeper questions involving the concept of citizenship and the meaning of membership in a nation.

CIVIL LIBERTIES The seminar discusses selected contemporary problems in civil liberties such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, censorship, religious liberty, rights of privacy, academic freedom, sexual orientation, and alcohol and drug abuse.

COLLOQUIUM IN AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY This reading and discussion seminar covers selected topics in the history and historiography of American law. Topics may include the law of accidents, debtor-creditor relations, Native American rights, judicial review, juvenile justice, immigration and citizenship, legal thought, and the civil rights revolution.

COLLOQUIUM: MARRIAGE IN LAW, CULTURE, AND THE IMAGINATION What does law tell us about marriage, and how does this compare to how marriage is shaped in the cultural imagination? Do law and culture reinforce one another—or are there conflicts? This colloquium studies law relating to marriage (and associated topics, such as love, divorce, paternity, etc.) and explores the place of marriage, as legal, social, and cultural aspiration and means of regulation.

COMMERCIAL LAW: PAYMENT SYSTEMS This course explores the law governing various payments systems, including checks, letters of credit, credit cards, ATM and debit cards, wire transfers, and Internet banking. This course will include some emphasis on litigation strategy and the drafting of agreements to contain risk from the bank’s perspective.

COMMERCIAL LAW: SALES AND SALES FINANCE This course focuses on the basic principles of sales law, including the rights of creditors, owners, and purchasers; warranties of title and quality; performance stage controversies and remedies of buyers and sellers; methods of payment in exchange for goods; and the financing of sales transactions, both domestically and internationally.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS This seminar is an in-depth review of real estate acquisition and development contracts including joint venture agreements, a review of construction and permanent mortgage loan documentation, and a review of various forms of commercial leases.

Communications Law This course surveys the field of electronic communications, from the telephone to broadcast media to the Internet. Communications law is driven by a series of conflicts over control of both a “scarce” resource (indeed, there is a conflict over whether it should be defined as “scarce” at all) and the markets in which that resource is allocated. There are conflicts between firms and between different media; conflicts between competition and monopoly (and the role of regulation and antitrust in creating both); conflicts between free speech and regulation; conflicts between regulators and the companies they regulate; and even conflicts between different regulators (federal, state, and local).

Comparative Constitutional Law Recent years have seen a renaissance of an interest in the comparative possibilities of constitutional law. Just as framers of liberal constitutions 200 years ago were influenced by events in France and America, so constitution-makers in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe, South Africa, and elsewhere have pondered the experience of more established constitutional democracies in framing their fundamental laws. This seminar explores the issues entailed in the drafting and uses of a constitution. To what extent do constitutions reflect universal values (such as human rights), and to what extent are they grounded in the culture and values of a particular people? How much borrowing goes on in the writing of a constitution? In particular, in what respects do the U.S. Constitution and American constitutionalism serve as models for newer democracies? What are the historical, cultural, political, and economic contexts necessary to the success of liberal constitutional democracy?

Comparative Democratic Constitutionalism This course examines the constitutions and constitutional jurisprudence of the United States, Germany, Canada, and South Africa. Each nation has a distinct constitutional text and history, as well as idiosyncratic rules and norms of judicial review. Each strikes a different balance between majority rule and entrenched constitutional rights. And yet each is recognized as a free and open society that is both rights-regarding and democratic. Students in this course engage in comparative constitutional analysis, through study of relevant provisions of each nation's constitution, as well as selected cases and secondary materials. Students examine the historical relationships between these constitutions, and the borrowing that later constitutions have made from earlier documents. The ultimate focus of the course will be on the role that constitutions and constitutional law plays in constructing democratic societies.

COMPARATIVE LAW This seminar introduces the student to different legal systems, especially those in Europe and parts of the developing world. The efforts of formerly communist countries to create new legal systems has provoked a critical review of the achievements and deficiencies of the Anglo-American and Continental legal traditions as well as considerable experimentation with hybrid institutions.

Comparative and International Administrative Law This seminar focuses on two broad topics. First, it acquaints students with administrative law in other nations and regions (such as the European Union). That study demonstrates the many different ways a nation might organize its bureaucracy and the mechanisms to control that bureaucracy. In the study of the European Union, students encounter a still-evolving system of supranational administrative law that must, among other things, confront difficult questions about the relationship between the union and the nation states. Second, the seminar focuses on international administrative law—looking at questions about delegation, process, and transparency as they arise in the context of international organizations.

Comparative Labor Law This course adopts a comparative approach to the study of selected issues and problems in contemporary labor and employment law. Using the U.S. scene as a general reference point, students examine labor law reforms in the European Union, Australia and New Zealand. Topics include the relevance and difficulty of studying labor law from a comparative perspective, labor law as an academic discipline and the notion of labor law autonomy, employee status, unions and other means of employee representation, institutionalized forms of worker participation (works councils, supervisory boards), deregulation and re-regulation, and dismissal protection.

COMPLEX CIVIL LITIGATION This course addresses the dramatic expansion of the role of civil litigation in our society and the accompanying development of new procedural mechanisms for coping with that expansion. The class action is given primary attention.

CONFLICT OF LAWS This course examines the rules and principles that govern the resolution of multi-jurisdictional conflicts of laws in the United States. We consider various theoretical bases for choice of law principles, as well as the principal constitutional limitations on choice of law.

CONGRESS: ITS OPERATION AND RELATIONSHIP TO THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH This course examines the processes of the Congress of the United States, its role under the Constitution, and its relationship with the Executive Branch. Special emphasis is placed upon the nature and pace of procedural change in the modern Congress as matters of institutional significance mandated by both constitutional and precedential requirements and by political realities.

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY I: ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION TO THE CIVIL WAR This course traces the history of American constitutional law development from the Articles of Confederation through the Civil War. Topics to be covered include the framing and ratification of the Constitution, the Alien and Sedition Acts, the landmark decisions of the Marshall Court, the constitutional ramifications of slavery, and various constitutional issues raised by the Civil War.

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY II: FROM RECONSTRUCTION TO BROWN The course begins with the political and legal upheaval that followed the Civil War and concludes with the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education and its immediate aftermath.

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW II: CHURCH AND STATE This course examines the two clauses in the Bill of Rights that define and safeguard religious freedom, the one barring laws “respecting an establishment of religion” and the other protecting the “free exercise of religion.”

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW II: FREEDOM OF SPEECH and PRESS The central theme of the course is the Supreme Court’s determination of the scope of First Amendment expressive freedoms throughout the 20th century and into the 21st. Topics include prior restraint, defamation, campaign finance regulation, obscenity, child pornography, and commercial advertising.

Constitutionalism: History and Jurisprudence This seminar focuses on various ways of thinking about constitutions and constitutionalism—as a restatement of ancient right (the tradition associated with England's Magna Carta), as being based upon a social compact (as in the thinking of John Locke), as reflecting the idea of a “nation” (as in the Turkish and Iranian constitutions), etc. In developing the ways of looking at constitutions, we will draw in part upon the various schools of jurisprudence (natural law, jurisprudence, etc.) as well as upon historical and contemporary sources. We will pay particular attention to important moments in the history of constitutionalism, such as the founding period of the United States and in France, the era of liberalism in 19th-century Europe, the emergence of social and economic rights in the 20th century, etc.

CONSTRUCTING THE DEAL: SELECTED TOPICS IN CORPORATE ACQUISITIONS This short course explores the principal legal issues and also the practical realities of negotiated corporate acquisitions and mergers. Using documents from recent transactions, business deals are analyzed from inception to closing, with the focus on the lawyer's role in each phase of a transaction.

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN THE CONFLICT OF LAWS This short course examines traditional principles of private international law in the context of the global business environment.

Contemporary Political Theory This course provides students with the analytic tools for understanding the structure and role of political philosophy in normative debate. Toward that end, students explore the foundations of contemporary liberalism as it finds expression in the work of John Rawls and other leading contemporary political philosophers, including Ronald Dworkin, Will Kymlicka, Thomas Nagel, Robert Nozick, Susan Okin, John Rawls, Michael Sandel, and R. P. Wolff.

CONTRACT THEORY This short course surveys non-economic theories of contract law (e.g., consent, promise, corrective justice, and historical). The central objective is to discern the implicit or explicit objectives of these theories. Are they trying to explain and justify contract doctrine? If so, what kind of explanations and justifications do they provide? How does their conception of the purpose of contract theory compare to that of economic analysis of contract law?

CONTRACTS II This course is a continuation of the study of basic contract law and theory.

CORPORATE FINANCE This course takes a financial and economic perspective of the corporation. The major topics of the course include: time value of money, discounted cash flow analysis, financial statement analysis and projections, capital markets, market efficiency, cost of capital, capital structure theory and practice, capital budgeting decisions, firm valuation, and option valuation.

CORPORATE FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS This yearlong seminar concerns corporate decision-making in financial transactions. It focuses on governance issues and the allocation of control among the board of directors, management, and other constituencies. Topics include debt and equity financing, venture capital, initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, shareholder activism, executive compensation, spinoffs, and financial distress.

Corporate Law Policy This course discusses works on pressing issues in corporate law policy. Topics include misreporting of corporate performance, the role of gatekeepers, differences between U.S. and Europe and corporate law reforms.

CORPORATE TAX This course deals with the tax problems involved in the formation, operation, reorganization, and liquidation of corporations.

CORPORATIONS This course considers the formation and operation of corporations. It examines the roles and duties of those who control businesses and the power of investors to influence and litigate against those in control. The course also addresses the special problems of closely held corporations and issues arising out of mergers and acquisitions.

CRIMINAL ADJUDICATION This course examines the adjudication of criminal cases from “bail to jail.” Topics include bail and preventive detention, prosecutorial discretion, case screening by preliminary hearing and grand jury, the right to effective assistance of counsel, discovery, the right to jury trial, double jeopardy, guilty pleas and plea bargaining, sentencing, and habeas corpus.

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION This course examines the constitutional doctrines that surround and control the investigation of crime. The primary topics are the law of searches and seizures, police interrogation, and the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE The seminar develops a working familiarity with the law and procedural rules governing conduct of a criminal case at the trial court level, and their practical and tactical application.

CRIMINAL REGULATION OF SEXUALITY This short course explores the criminalization of sexuality historically and within contemporary jurisprudence. Topics include the traditional prohibitions on nonmarital sexuality and sodomy, as well as the evolution of rape doctrine from its origins in early common law up to contemporary reform movements.

CRIMINOLOGY This seminar examines the complex ways in which law is used to regulate the level of individual violence in society. Topics include the uses of criminal law (e.g., deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation), public health law (e.g., gun control, drug and alcohol restrictions), mental health law (e.g., involuntary hospitalization) and tort law (e.g., liability for failure to prevent violence).

CULTURAL PROPERTY This seminar examines the legal regimes that regulate interests in cultural property. Topics include: the repatriation of antiquities, the rights of artists to control or profit from their works, and the enforcement of limitations on access to documents of significant public interest.

CURRENT ISSUES IN FEDERAL TAX POLICY This seminar covers significant federal tax policy issues currently under consideration in the Congress and in political and academic debates.

Current Issues in Patent Law The U.S. patent system is under attack, with reform efforts underway in all three branches of the government. This seminar examines a variety of these reform efforts, including proposed legislation to, among other things, change the United States from a first-to-invent to a first-inventor-to file country and create a post-grant opposition system; recently decided and pending U.S. Supreme Court cases dealing with the standards for granting injunctions and determining the non-obviousness of patent-eligible inventions; and proposed U.S Patent & Trademark Office rule changes that promise to significantly affect important aspects of patent prosecution practice.

CURRENT LEGAL IDEAS This seminar explores the greatest hits in legal thinking over the last several years. Each week we’ll look at an article pushing at the edge of some envelope in legal theory. Law and economics, legal feminist theory, and First Amendment theory are all fair game.

Cybercrime This seminar examines key legal and policy issues associated with cybercrime, which can be defined to include any crimes in which computers and the Internet serve as targets, as storage devices, or as instruments of crime. Because cybercrime can be committed in and from any corner of the world, the seminar focuses principally on U.S. laws and legal materials, but includes relevant legal materials from countries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. It also addresses pertinent international legal issues, in the context of the Council of Europe’s Cybercrime Convention. The seminar first addresses definitions of cybercrime and other background issues, then turns to some of the most prominent issues in the substantive law of cybercrime (e.g., unauthorized access to computers and files, malicious code such as viruses and worms, intellectual property offenses such as software piracy and economic espionage, fraud, "hate speech," and pornography and child exploitation). The remainder of the seminar addresses major legal and policy concerns in the procedural law of cybercrime (e.g., surveillance techniques and technologies, and legal standards for obtaining electronic communications and evidence-gathering).

DEATH PENALTY: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE This short course surveys: the history of capital punishment and movements to restrict its use and then to abolish it; the politics of the abolitionist movement; the influence of international law and the human rights movement; the current scope and use of the death penalty around the world; the evidence regarding the deterrent effect of capital punishment; and alternatives to the death penalty, in particular life imprisonment.

DEFAMATION This short course surveys the common law and constitutional dimensions of defamation law.

DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTIONALISM: A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE This short course examines how several of the obsessions of U.S. constitutional law—including the interpretation and limitation of constitutional rights, theories of state action, and the countermajoritarian problem posed by judicial review—are dealt with or ignored by courts in constitutional democracies like Germany, Canada, and South Africa. The course explores the ways courts reconcile constitutionalism with democracy, and asks whether constitutionalism abroad should affect the development of constitutional law in the United States.

DERIVATIVES AND OTHER EXOTIC FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS (Law & Business) This course is concerned with financial instruments other than common stock and conventional debt securities. The class begins with options and financial futures and then discusses structured preferred stocks, exotic debt securities such as commodity-linked bonds, and swap agreements. Throughout students are concerned with three questions: what is the economic function of these instruments; how are they valued; and how are they treated by the regulatory system? The relevant regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are covered.

DERIVATIVES REGULATION The regulation of derivatives encompasses a wide array of financial instruments and other products that are extensively used by corporations, banks, insurance companies, pension plans, and other institutional investors to enhance profits or control risks. The federal statute and agency for this area are different from those governing the securities markets. This seminar examines what these instruments are, how they are used, and the impact on those activities of the Commodity Exchange Act and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The largely unregulated markets in swaps and over-the-counter options is also covered.

DUTY TO OBEY This course examines debates concerning our moral duty to obey the law. Readings are from contemporary sources in political philosophy and legal theory, and we consider (among other things) arguments concerning consent, fairness, justice, associative responsibilities, civil disobedience, conscientious refusal, violent resistance, and revolution.

ECONOMIC CONCEPTS IN LAW This short course provides a brief introduction to economics to enable law students to engage the economic concepts most commonly encountered in modern legal thought. Primary emphasis is given to fundamental microeconomics, including supply, demand, and equilibrium pricing. Time is also devoted to the most common applications of economics to law, including discussion of market failure and the Coase Theorem.

ECONOMIC EVIDENCE This seminar explores the use of economic evidence to understand and critique the testimony of economic experts. The course develops an understanding of the basic economic and statistical models used in litigation involving topics such as securities fraud, employment discrimination, environmental damages, price fixing, and monopolization, among others.

Ecosystem Management: Law and Policy This seminar addresses the challenges of managing environmental issues in the context of the human-natural systems within which they occur. These challenges include defining the character and scope of ecosystems; establishing the goals appropriate to managing ecosystems; and assessing institutional arrangements to achieve those goals. The inquiry covers diverse problems (from biodiversity loss to watershed degradation and urban sprawl) occurring at multiple scales (from the local to the regional and global). It concentrates on problems that are not adequately addressed by conventional environmental management regimes and on solutions that cut across existing institutional and jurisdictional lines. Readings include emerging theoretical approaches, such as collaborative and adaptive management, and case studies designed to illustrate and test the theories.

EDUCATION LAW AND POLICY This seminar considers law and policy pertaining to public education and examines how educational systems function as tools of socialization and social ordering. Topics include school segregation, school finance, school choice, same-sex schooling, standardized testing, ability grouping, special education, and affirmative action in higher education.

EMERGING GROWTH COMPANIES AND VENTURE CAPITAL FINANCING: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE This course deals with legal and business issues that arise in the context of representing emerging growth technology companies, with a particular emphasis on corporate formation, governance and capital structure, key employee contracts, venture capital transactions and intellectual property.

EMERGING ISSUES: COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA LAW This short course addresses issues in media law, including: federal legislation and FCC media regulations; FCC media ownership deregulation and its impact on competitive markets; FCC oversight of media company mergers; multichannel competition and the impact of mergers in the cable and satellite television markets; and communications law and entertainment programming regulations affecting the marketplace.

EMERGING MARKETS: PRINCIPLES and PRACTICE This seminar explores the legal and regulatory structures affecting foreign investors seeking to participate in the development of “emerging markets,” and in particular in the restructuring of formerly socialist economies.

Employee Pensions and Welfare Benefits This course examines the federal laws governing retirement, health, and other welfare benefits provided through the employment relationship. The class considers several aspects of employee benefits law, but places primary emphasis on the regulation of retirement plans (such as traditional pensions and 401(k) plans) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Topics include substantive employee rights and obligations; standards of conduct for trustees, investment managers, and other fiduciaries; administrative and judicial enforcement procedures; public policy on retirement security; and the economic incentives and disincentives for employers to maintain tax-qualified retirement plans.

EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION This course focuses upon federal statutes prohibiting discrimination in employment on the basis of race or sex, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Employment Law/Employment Law: Contracts, Torts, and Statutes In contrast to the traditional labor law course, which focuses on collective bargaining, this course offers students an introduction to the diverse body of law that governs the individual employment relationship.

EMPLOYMENT LAW: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE This course examines employment law doctrine and theory from a practical perspective. Topics include: the standards governing vicarious liability for employment discrimination and employee torts; the task of designing internal complaint procedures; handling harassment and discrimination complaints and responding to EEOC investigations; problems associated with drafting and litigating severance agreements; FMLA compliance issues; the interactions between the ADA and other statutes; and drafting, enforcement, and preclusion issues surrounding arbitration agreements.

ENTERTAINMENT LAW This course introduces legal, business, and creative issues in film, television, and music production and distribution, and the role of the entertainment lawyer. The class provides an overview of standard contract clauses in film, television, and music contracts and some of the leading cases and legal issues related to those businesses, including celebrity and publicity rights, idea submission and protection, credit and control, budgets and financing, compensation (net vs. gross and profits in films, profits and residuals), licenses and royalties, and limitations on enforcement of personal service contracts.

ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS Environmental policy is rooted in concepts of the value of nature and our responsibility to protect it. Jointly led by an ethicist and an environmental lawyer, this seminar focuses on the ethical dimensions of the choices we make, individually and collectively, affecting the environment.

ENVIRONMENTALISM AND THE SUPREME COURT This short course explores the Supreme Court’s response to the modern environmental movement. Looking at selected decisions from the last 35 years, students examine the Court’s acceptance or rejection of environmentalist beliefs and values and try to discern the sources of the Court’s response. The inquiry includes comparisons to the Court’s treatment of the other great social movement of the last half of the 20th century, civil rights. Constitutional rulings and statutory interpretations are considered.

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW This course gives students a basic grasp of the laws and the concepts that underlie the environmental movement, the legal practice that has grown up around them, and their potential for change. We address both conservation and pollution control.

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW II This course explores federal laws that address the dissemination of toxic chemicals in the environment. These include the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act or Superfund, which assigns liability for the cleanup of contaminated sites and accounts for the bulk of federal environmental litigation, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which establishes “cradle-to-grave” regulation of hazardous waste. The class also explores the regulation of toxic substances in useful products, including the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act. Topics include: how regulators assess the risks posed by toxic substances and hazardous wastes; how best to manage these risks; whether federal laws are providing the right level of protection in the most efficient manner; and the impact of these laws on markets and corporate behavior, including mergers and acquisitions. Although designed together to provide comprehensive exposure to federal environmental regulatory law, Environmental Law I and II are freestanding courses. A student may take either or both, simultaneously or sequentially, as the course schedule permits.

Environmental Law and Federalism This seminar focuses on the real-world impact that “new federalism” is having on environmental law and policy at both the federal and state levels. The course blends discussions of key federalism decisions from the Supreme Court and lower federal courts with case studies modeled on current public policy and political disputes. The seminar may consider federal and state responses to concerns about wetlands depletion, loss of endangered species, air pollution, and global warming.

ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYERING: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE This seminar is about the tasks of lawyers in environmental disputes. The course develops several case scenarios based on actual proceedings. The cases involve a range of parties, including property owners, developers, and environmental groups as well as governmental agencies at the local, state and federal levels. Students draft documents and engage in simulated hearings and negotiations on behalf of clients.

ENVIRONMENTAL LIABILITY LITIGATION This seminar deals with public enforcement of environmental standards and private suits that seek to curb environmental hazards or recover damage for harms.

EQUALITY AND THE LAW This seminar is concerned with the following questions: How does the American legal system attempt to create equality? How does our understanding of equality differ for various protected groups? What is the relationship between constitutional and nonconstitutional rights? To what extent have governmental actions succeeded in creating equality?

ESTATE PLANNING: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE This seminar considers estate planning, with emphasis on sophisticated tax-planning techniques.

Ethical Issues in Foreign Policy The class provides an overview of ethical thinking and examines the ethical implications of four specific foreign affairs decisions, including President Truman’s decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, decisions to “stress” detainees for intelligence in the war on terror, the decision to invade Iraq in March 2003, and the response of the international community to the crisis in Rwanda in 1994.

ETHICS, INTEGRITY, AND AVOIDING “CLUB FED” The short course focuses on real-world ethical issues in the private practice of law and business.

EUROPEAN LEGAL SYSTEMS This course traces the development of European legal systems and methods from Roman law to modern civil codes (Austrian, French, German, Swiss and Russian). It also examines the ongoing process of harmonization of private law in the European Union.

EUROPEAN UNION BUSINESS This short course is an introduction to the main areas of business law in the European Union based on a synopsis of the foundations of the European Union (history, constitution, institutions and the “Four Freedoms”). Topics include the regulation of financial services, corporate law, merger control, and competition law in the European Union, including transactions with a U.S. dimension.

EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN MILITARY JUSTICE In 1776, Congress adopted summary military justice procedures that denied soldiers many of the very rights they were fighting for. Two hundred years later, however, courts-martial generally equal, and in some areas exceed, standards of American civilian justice. This course considers the nature of this evolution. Particular focus is placed on the changing scope of military personal and subject matter jurisdiction, rights and due process accorded to the accused, and the roles of lawyers and judicial review in military justice. Both statutory (the court-martial) and common law (the military commission and military government court) tribunals are considered. The course explores the challenges posed in exercising criminal jurisdiction over complex situations such as the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, before concluding with a comparative analysis of how U.S. military justice stacks up today against both our own civil courts as well as military trials around the world.

EXPERTISE, SCIENCE, AND THE LAW OF EVIDENCE This seminar examines the theoretical and practical questions raised by the use of expert information within the legal system. Topics to be addressed include: standards for the admissibility for scientific evidence; Daubert and its effects; legal, philosophical and sociological conceptions of the expert’s role and the nature of expertise; the competence of the jury to assess expert testimony and possible alternatives to the jury system for complex cases. Specific subject areas may include: forensic science (fingerprinting and handwriting identification evidence); epidemiological evidence and problems of causation; eyewitness identification evidence; DNA profiling; polygraph evidence, and psychological syndrome evidence, among others.

FAMILY LAW This basic offering focuses on legal problems of marriage and marital breakdown and the legal regulation of the parent-child relationship. Substantial time is devoted to economic aspects of marriage dissolution, the establishment and termination of nonmarital relationships, and child support, custody, and adoption.

FEDERAL COURTS This course is about the federal judicial system and its relationship to various other decision-makers, including Congress and the state courts. We examine the jurisdiction of the federal courts, the role of state law in federal courts, and state sovereign immunity.

Federal Criminal Law The course covers federal criminal law, as well as constitutional limitations on the reach of Congress’s power to define federal crimes. The course also covers federal sentencing guidelines and several other controversial federal sentencing policies, including mandatory minimums, harsher sentences for crack cocaine versus ordinary cocaine base, and the recent return of the federal death penalty.

FEDERAL FISCAL AND BUDGETARY LAW The short course deals with the law—constitutional, statutory, and based on practice—that governs spending by the federal government. Topics include the applicable constitutional structural rules, the congressional budgeting process and other aspects of congressional procedure that shape spending decisions, and the norms that govern spending by the executive branch. It also deals with inter-branch interactions on these topics, including, for example, the use by Congress of spending power as a tool to control the executive and a substitute for substantive law-making.

FEDERAL INCOME TAX This course is the introduction to federal taxation. It concentrates the taxation of individuals and covers such topics as the concept of income, income exclusions and exemptions, non-business deductions, deductions for business expenses, basic tax accounting, assignment of income, and capital gains and losses.

Federalism This seminar examines what the Supreme Court has described as “the oldest question of constitutional law” in America: the allocation of authority between national and state governments. It considers the historical underpinnings and political theory of federalism, American constitutional doctrines of federalism, and questions of judicial federalism. Specific topics include the nature and purposes of federalism, institutional responsibility to safeguard federalism, and the relationship between enumerated-powers and state-sovereignty doctrines of federalism. Topics also include the respective roles of federal and state courts in the making and enforcement of federal and state law, and the place of other sources of law (such as international law) in the American federal system. Although the focus of the seminar is on American federalism, the matters examined implicate questions involving international law and comparative analysis.

Federalism: History and Theory From the first session (on the American Revolution) to the last three (on federalism in contemporary constitutional theory), this seminar focuses on the changing nature and sources of American federalism in political thought and constitutional law.

FEDERAL LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCE LAW This course provides an overview of the legal (and non-legal) regimes that govern the acquisition and control of natural resources. The course examines the history of the federal public domain, including the creation of national forests, parks, and wildlife refuges. The course also provides an introduction to the control of specific resources including water, wildlife including endangered species, hard-rock minerals, oil and gas, marine fisheries, and public lands dominated by recreational and/or preservation uses.

FEDERAL TAXATION OF GRATUITOUS TRANSFERS This course is an introduction to the federal taxation of gratuitous transfers made by individuals during life and at death. Federal taxation of estates and gifts and generation-skipping transfers are examined separately and as they interrelate with each other.

Feminist Legal Theory This course provides an intensive introduction to various schools of feminist theory (these may include: liberal feminism, anti-subordination theory, intersectionality, postmodernism, and global feminism) and their legal applications. Materials include theoretical essays as well as legal texts. This course is appropriate for students with no previous experience in feminist theory who would like an introduction to the subject as well as those with a background in literary theory, political theory, or women’s studies who want to think about the legal implications of feminist theory.

FIRST AMENDMENT AND THE ARTS Topics covered include the impact of obscenity laws on the arts, special problems in the display and performance of controversial works, constitutional issues raised by restrictions on government funding of the arts, and current policy issues such as regulating violence in entertainment and on television.

FIRST AMENDMENT FREEDOMS This elective sequel to the required introductory course focuses significantly on First Amendment doctrine and theory including free speech, freedom of the press, and religion.

FIRST AMENDMENT THEORY The seminar devotes a few weeks to an overview of general writing about the freedom of speech, including both philosophical and historical treatments. Then we devote each session to a close critique of a recent law review article on the subject.

FOOD AND DRUG LAW This course considers the Food and Drug Administration, an agency that must combine law and science to regulate activities affecting public health and safety. The class covers the regulation of cancer-causing substances in foods, the use of risk-assessment techniques in regulatory decision-making, the effects of FDA drug approval requirements on research and competition in the pharmaceutical industry, and the ethics of drug testing.

FOREIGN RELATIONS LAW This course examines the law regulating American foreign relations. Topics include the distribution of foreign relations powers among the three branches of the federal government, the status of international law in U.S. courts, the scope of the treaty power, the validity of executive agreements, the preemption of state foreign relations activities, the power to declare and conduct war, and judicial review in foreign relations cases.

Franchise Law This course covers the legal and practical business basics of franchising, including the sales process and disclosure requirements; the relationship of franchising, trademark and antitrust law; structuring of the franchise relationship and the analysis of franchise agreements; contract and other common law concepts that affect the franchise relationship; the legislative process and statutes regulating the franchise relationship at the state and federal level; franchise-related litigation; the impact of the Internet and other technological advances on franchising; and international franchising.

FREE EXPRESSION IN CYBERSPACE This seminar focuses on the rapidly evolving body of law that defines freedom of expression on the Internet. The course addresses potential liability for threats and incitement on the Internet, remedies against digital defamation, the status of obscenity and child pornography in cyberspace, and regulation of commercial speech (including “spam”) on the Internet.

FRENCH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LAW This short course studies the sources of French Law, including the French Civil Code, international sources, and European Convention of Human Rights, as well as the increasing significance of case law and the difficulties in establishing a European Civil Code. Basic principles and new directions in contract law, recent trends in tort case law, and companies are also covered.

Fundamentals of Insurance This course surveys basic insurance concepts and the major forms of insurance coverage. The course is designed to give students the tools to recognize insurance issues when they encounter them in law practice, and to acquaint students with the scope of coverage provided by the principal types of insurance policies covering U.S. businesses.

Fundamental Tax Reform This seminar examines the most prominent fundamental tax reform proposals currently being considered by U.S. policymakers, including the “flat tax,” the progressive consumption tax, a national retail sales tax, a value-added tax, and various reforms of the current income tax system. The seminar provides an opportunity for students to become more familiar with the core policy considerations and implementation difficulties in the design of any tax system. The basic material for the seminar is the 2005 Report of the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform.

GENETICS AND THE LAW This class explores legal issues that arise with new genetic technologies. The course surveys genetic privacy and access to genetic information; the forensic use of genetic information; reproductive issues, including monitoring of genetic diseases and novel techniques of reproduction such as cloning; alteration and ownership of biologic forms; and genetic risks in the context of employment and insurance.

Germs, Guns AND Lead: Public Health Ethics AND Law This seminar explores the legitimacy, design, and implementation of policies aiming to promote the public health and reduce the social burden of disease and injury. Topics include mandatory immunization, screening and reporting of infectious diseases, prevention of lead poisoning, food safety, prevention of firearm injuries, airbags and seat belts, mandatory drug testing, syringe exchange programs, tobacco regulation, and restrictions on alcohol and tobacco advertising.

GERMS AND JUSTICE: INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND THE LAW This course examines the legal issues involved with infectious diseases. It begins with a historical overview of how infectious disease affects law and vice versa, and examines international issues such as access to treatment and medicine, how international agreements affect access, as well as ethical issues involving research in infectious disease with international populations.

Globalization and International Civil Litigation This course examines traditional principles of private international law in the context of the rapidly changing global business environment. Topics include the concept of international jurisdiction, choice of law rules in inter-jurisdictional contracts and in Internet transactions, the implications of electronic commerce for private international law, and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Particular attention is given to the doctrine of forum non conveniens, anti-suit injunctions and provisional and protective measures in international litigation. Students also consider the work of the Hague Conference on Private International Law in these areas.

GOVERNANCE AND CONTROL OF THE MULTI-NATIONAL BUSINESS This short course examines the methods for internal governance and control of the multi-national enterprise with emphasis on internal structure, enterprise culture, local and regional legal regimes, and public opinion and politics.

GOVERNMENT ETHICS: CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, LOBBYING AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE There is increasing concern about the rules governing conflicts of interest, lobbying, and campaign finance. Particularly at the state level, where legislators generally are part-time, conflicts of interest often are hard to avoid. This seminar provides students with a working knowledge of current government ethics laws and rules and an opportunity to explore potential reforms.

GREAT CASES IN BIOETHICS This seminar explores legal cases that stand as signposts in the history of bioethics. Topics include: informed consent; the “right to die”; refusal of medical treatment on religious grounds; sexual sterilization, birth control, and abortion; medical confidentiality; assisted suicide and euthanasia; disabled infants and medical futility; genetic technology; and end of life decisions by surrogates.

HALLMARKS OF DISTINGUISHED ADVOCACY This seminar treats oral advocacy as any effort to persuade any audience of the merits of a cause or proposal and of the credibility of the proponent. Each session consists of an instruction segment and a learn-by-doing exercise.

HEALTH CARE LAW This course surveys the law applicable to health care delivery in the United States. Topics include: treating patients, industry structure, antitrust regulation, health insurance, organ transplantation, Medicare, Medicaid, and more.

HEALTH LAW AND POLICY This course introduces the policy environment that defines the delivery of health care and the practice of medicine in the United States today. It presents legal and medical perspectives on topics such as health system structure and financing, technology innovation, the public health agenda, professional licensure and credentialing, and end-of-life issues. Emerging concerns regarding research on human subjects are discussed and a brief review of physician, hospital and insurer liability is presented. Health reform proposals, especially patient-focused and consumer-oriented initiatives, are evaluated and discussed.

Historic Preservation Law The seminar reviews the structure of historic preservation law and the policy issues regarding the preservation of historic buildings and sites.

HOLOCAUST AND THE LAW This course explores the pursuit of legal justice in the aftermath of the Holocaust. We will study legal responses to the Nazi genocide of Europe’s Jews as they developed in the United States, Europe, and Israel from the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust to the present. Topics include: the Nuremberg Tribunal, German trials of Nazi war criminals, national trials of collaborators, the Kastner and Eichmann trials in Israel, the development of the U.S. Office of Special Investigations, legal efforts for restitution and the restoration of Jewish property, and the recent libel trial in England of an American historian of the Holocaust.

HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY This seminar explores a range of approaches to human rights advocacy, domestic and international, from the perspective of human rights methodology. Students examine diverse tactics, strategies, and venues selected by human rights lawyers and other advocates pursuing similar objectives. We consider the obligations and options of various stakeholders, including states, corporations, NGOs, and individuals. The seminar focuses on strategic choices, including litigation; legislation and policy advocacy; advocacy before the U.N., transnational, regional and national human rights bodies; investigation and documentation; and global human rights campaigns.

IDEAS OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT The principal goal of the course is to develop an understanding of the central ideas of the First Amendment tradition regarding freedom of speech and religious liberty. We read essays and opinions by, among others, John Milton, John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Stuart Mill, Learned Hand, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis, and Alexander Meiklejohn.

IMMIGRATION LAW This course is an introduction to U.S. immigration laws and the procedures used to decide specific immigration-related issues. Attention is given to underlying constitutional and philosophical issues, to selected questions of international law and politics, and to the interaction of Congress, the courts, and administrative agencies in dealing with immigration issues.

INCOME TAXATION OF TRUSTS AND ESTATES This short course studies Subchapter J of Subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code—the Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates. Students examine the ways in which the process of determining income tax liability for these two taxable entities is the same as that for taxing the income of individuals and the important ways in which the process differs. This course is not a substitute for Federal Taxation of Gratuitous Transfers.

INDIAN LAW The legal relationships between American Indian tribes and the national and state governments define a distinctive but growing body of federal law. As tribes seek to exploit both their natural resources and their seeming independence from state and much federal regulation, they are brought into conflict with other citizens. The availability of legal remedies, both for tribal members and others, is a second theme of the course.

INDOCHINA WAR: LEGAL AND POLICY ISSUES Few national security law issues have been more controversial or more misunderstood than America’s tragic involvement in Indochina. The conflict provides a rich case study for examining national security legal and policy issues, including the legal regulation of the initiation of coercion and the conduct of military operations, the role of Congress in the use of military force (e.g., the 1973 War Powers Resolution), and legal regimes governing war crimes and the treatment of prisoners of war.

INSURANCE Insurance is an increasingly important tool for the management of risk. This course provides a working knowledge of basic insurance law governing insurance contract formation, insurance regulation, property, life, health, disability, and liability insurance, and claims processes.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY COLLOQUIUM This colloquium is intended for students interested in cutting-edge intellectual property law and theory. Classes focus on a series of presentations by invited intellectual property scholars and other speakers.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: COPYRIGHT In this course we study the federal copyright statute. Topics include copyright, infringement, fair use, ownership, rights and remedies of copyright owners, copyright protection of computer software, copyright issues peculiar to the Internet, the propriety of reverse engineering of copyrighted computer programs, peer-to-peer file sharing (i.e., Napster), and technological protection measures.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: COPYRIGHT II - ADVANCED TOPICS A course designed for students with a deep interest in copyright and its underlying theory, this class has two halves. During the first half of the semester, the class covers in depth the doctrine and policy of international copyright regulation and digital copyright. The second half operates as a colloquium on copyright (and related intellectual property) theory, with a different intellectual property scholar presenting a paper on a new issue each week.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: INTERNATIONAL PATENT LAW AND POLICY In this seminar students write a paper on an aspect of international or comparative patent law or policy. Topics include: differing world views of patent-eligible subject matter (e.g., patents on human cloning and computer software); issues in multinational patent litigation and forum shopping; the continuing controversy between developing countries and developed countries concerning TRIPS requirements, access to genetic resources/traditional knowledge protection, and further harmonization efforts; and the relevant multilateral treaties (e.g. Paris Convention, Patent Cooperation Treaty, TRIPS, and the European Patent Convention), and impediments to global patent harmonization.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: PATENT This course examines both the theory and practice of patent law. In addition to legal and policy analysis, the course teaches some practical aspects of patent litigation and interpretation.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: PATENT ENFORCEMENT This seminar focuses on practical aspects of patent litigation in federal courts, supported by discussion of relevant case law. Students participate as members of a trial team in a mock patent litigation, concentrating only on pre-trial aspects of the case. The mock litigation takes the class from the initial pleadings through pre-trial preparation. Students draft short pleadings and other documents, work as members of a team, think strategically, and argue motions.

Intellectual Property: A Survey of Patent, Copyright, Trademark This survey course is designed for students who want a general introduction to intellectual property as opposed to those who want to concentrate on one or more of its special subjects. The main focus will be on patent, copyright, and trademark, but with a brief treatment of trade secrets and some common law treatments of intellectual property (e.g., contractual protection via shrink-wrap licenses, tort actions for misappropriation) outside the realm of specially designed property rights.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: TRADEMARK This course covers the law that governs how a distinctive marketplace identity can be legally protected. Topics include: federal and state protection of trademarks, the common law of unfair competition, the federal remedy for unfair competition under section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, and international treaties relating to trademarks.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: TRADEMARK AND UNFAIR COMPETITION This course surveys the theory and the law of trademarks and unfair competition. Topics include the acquisition of trademark rights, registration of trademarks, loss of trademark rights, infringement, false designation of origin, advertising, author’s and performers’ rights of attribution and publicity, dilution, Internet domain names, trademarks as speech, and remedies for trademark infringement.

INTELLIGENCE LAW REFORM This seminar traces the development of intelligence law from the creation of CIA in 1947 to the War on Terrorism. It looks at the USA Patriot Act of 2001 and the recent effort to strengthen intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and the inaccurate intelligence on Iraqi WMD, both administratively and with passage of intelligence reform legislation in December 2005. Students shall answer the question of whether the creation of a Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and a National Counter-Terrorist Center really strengthen the intelligence community’s (IC) performance against the terrorist target and overcome destructive rivalries within the IC. Finally, students decide whether the threat of international and domestic terrorism is primarily an intelligence problem or a law enforcement/military one. The class also examines the propriety and legality of coercive interrogations, pre-emptive incarcerations, and intrusive surveillance in a constitutional democracy.

INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES ON THE QUESTION OF DISCRIMINATION This seminar focuses on perspectives from economics and critical theory on the question of discrimination, particularly in employment settings. It emphasizes the issue of how different perspectives can and should influence how courts tackle employment discrimination cases.

INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF EMPLOYMENT LAW AND LABOR LAW This research seminar will explore topics at the intersection of employment and labor law with international law and business, including international conventions on labor rights, comparative studies of national labor laws, public and private efforts to enforce labor standards around the world, and the extra-territorial application of U.S. employment and labor laws.

INTERNATIONAL BANKING TRANSACTIONS This short course is an introduction to basic international banking products such as loans, deposits, foreign exchange transactions, swaps, options, and documentary credits. Discussions focus on the purpose of these transactions, their workings, legal documentation, and commercial and legal risks.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS This course deals with domestic and international legal regimes that affect or regulate transnational business transactions. Topics include: the finance and capital markets, the regulation of technology transfer and international investment, and competition law.

International Civil Litigation This course examines the issues that arise in international civil litigation, including personal jurisdiction, choice of law, enforcement of judgments, sovereign immunity, and the developing law of human rights. In addition, the course covers arbitration and discovery outside the United States. Across all these issues, the course examines the fundamental question of how the ordinary rule of civil litigation must be modified to take account of foreign interests and international concerns.

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW This course covers the investigation or prosecution of criminal laws in the international arena. It first explores the foundations of international criminal law, then covers in depth two issues central to international criminal law: the extradition of fugitives and international evidence gathering.

INTERNATIONAL DEAL MAKING: LEGAL AND BUSINESS ASPECTS This short course analyzes high-profile transactions in the Asia-Pacific region. Examples include: role playing in-house counsel to the investment bankers for a U.S. $1 billion gas pipeline from Burma to Thailand during a period of U.S. sanctions against the Burmese government, and working through the regulatory steps for Tsingtao Brewery to become the first Chinese company to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

INTERNATIONAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION This seminar focuses on the development of and advocacy before international dispute settlement bodies. It stresses the difference in context and method between advocacy settings and expectations in domestic tribunals in the United States and those settings and expectations in international tribunals. Topics include the importance of the international context for all aspects of dispute resolution, such as negotiation, litigation, and formation of dispute settlement systems.

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW This course examines the legal, political, and scientific aspects of problems of biodiversity and atmospheric pollution that are the subject of international treaties. The course includes a series of simulated international negotiating and drafting sessions aimed at reaching agreement on a climate change treaty.

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL ARCHITECTURE This course focuses on the history and evolution of the market for sovereign debt. There have been numerous proposals for a sovereign bankruptcy court to be established, and the course will examine the viability of some the leading proposals, as well as market alternatives.

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CRIMES This short course looks at the criminalization of financial transactions that may arise in the course of operating an international business. The class focuses principally on U.S. federal criminal law, although the implementation by other countries of international agreements relating to bribery and money laundering will also be considered. The class concentrates on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, money laundering, the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and wire and mail fraud. The course emphasizes the role of private lawyers in advising clients about the prevention of criminal charges and in-house compliance policies, rather than the strategic choices to be made in the course of criminal trials.

INTERNATIONAL AND FOREIGN LEGAL RESEARCH International and foreign legal research employs materials, methods, and strategies that are different from those encountered in U.S. domestic legal research. This course provides a survey of research resources, methods and strategies unique to international and foreign law.

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW This course introduces the theory and practice of international human rights law. Topics include: an introduction to key principles of international law; the philosophical foundations of universal human rights; core international human rights norms; how states incorporate human rights principles domestically; human rights and development; and international systems and procedures for the protection of human rights.

International Ifs in the Long 19th Century The period from 1789 to 1917, sometimes called “the long 19th century” by historians, begins with the French Revolution and ends with World War I and the Russian Revolution. This seminar undertakes a variety of “what if?” speculations associated with crucial events affecting the United States and Europe during this period, with special attention paid to the actual and potential roles of domestic and international law. If Thomas Jefferson had not stretched the Constitution and made the Louisiana Purchase, how would the United States have developed? If Abraham Lincoln had rigorously adhered to the U.S. Constitution, or if France and Great Britain had recognized the Confederacy as a nation-state during the American Civil War, would the Union have survived? If the great powers of Europe had not entered into a series of tightly interlocking treaties of alliance, would World War I have occurred? In the context of developing these and other case studies, the course examines the role of international law and other factors in history, develops a typology of questions to ask in rigorously pursuing associated legal-historical hypotheticals, and debates whether one speculation about an alternative course of events can ever be more valid than any other speculation.

INTERNATIONAL IFS in the Mid-20th Century Every law student is familiar with the “hypo,” a hypothetical fact pattern spun out by a professor to test the applicability of a particular legal rule in an imagined but usually plausible situation. This seminar explores international law in a broader, more historically oriented hypotheticals. What if, for example, the great powers of Europe had paid slightly more, or slightly less, attention to their alliance treaties in July and August of 1914? What if the U.S. Congress had challenged the legal authority of the U.S. President to commit troops to the Gulf War absent compliance with the War Powers Act?

International Investment Law This course examines the substantive law governing international investment, explores how rights and obligations can be enforced in an investment dispute, and considers the proper role of investment law in the international legal system. It also challenges students to become advocates by litigating key issues that arise in investment disputes in a series of simulated mini-arbitrations. “Investor-state” arbitrations often allege breaches of bilateral or multilateral investment treaties and are often heard by tribunals established by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which is part of the World Bank group. These arbitrations raise important questions both about the rights and obligations of international investors (e.g., whether they should have substantive and procedural rights beyond those afforded domestic investors) and about the appropriate mechanisms for resolving investment disputes (e.g., whether the public should have the right to see and participate in what had traditionally been confidential proceedings).

INTERNATIONAL LAW This course is the basic offering in international legal studies. The emphasis is on the interaction between international legal rules, on the one hand, and international politics, domestic politics, U.S. law, and historical factors, on the other hand. Topics include the legal rules governing international trade and the international environment.

INTERNATIONAL LAW IN CONSTITUTIONAL JURISDICTION: A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE This short course examines the incorporation of international law into Russian domestic law, focusing on the current Russian Constitution and the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court. It reviews the Soviet and then Russian constitutional development and explores distribution of authority between branches of power in treaty-making and foreign military deployments.

INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THE SCHOLARLY PROCESS This yearlong seminar is designed for students interested in being a law professor. In the first semester we will read and analyze a variety of law review articles relating to international law. Students then draft an article of publishable quality, presented in class, with the final draft due at the end of the second semester.

International Litigation of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Can the rights to health, education, housing or adequate food be enforced by courts? Long viewed as mere programmatic goals to be realized progressively through political processes and within available resources, economic-social-cultural rights are increasingly being litigated in judicial and quasi-judicial instances at national and international levels. Some of these cases have been successful while others have not. Classic distinctions between economic-social-cultural rights and civil-political rights are being questioned. This seminar seeks to provide the legal and analytical tools to understand why distinctions between rights are unhelpful and why some claims succeed while others fail. The course considers the international normative framework for the legal protection of economic-social-cultural rights, the corresponding obligations assumed by states, the contentious procedures available internationally for the adjudication of individual complaints, and how cases must be framed to survive basic justiciability and admissibility thresholds. The course examines each of these matters through analysis of human rights instruments, procedures, and case law, as well as detailed case studies on the right to health and the right to housing.

INTERNATIONAL TAXATION A survey of the income tax aspects of foreign income earned by U.S. persons and entities, and of U.S. income earned by foreign persons and entities. The principal focus is on the U.S. tax system, but some attention is devoted to adjustments made between tax regimes of different countries through tax credits and tax treaties.

Islamic and Middle Eastern Law This course offers an overview of Islamic and Middle Eastern law, including a historical introduction and major legal subjects in the discipline with a focus on the modern period. Topics include judicial review, constitutional law, obligations, commercial law, family law, human rights and criminal law.

ISSUES IN STATE AND LOCAL TAXATION AND FISCAL POLICY This seminar examines the ways state and local governments tax, spend, and borrow. Specific topics may include treatment of unfunded mandates, financing education, and borrowing for public/private projects.

JAPANESE CONSTITUTION AND ITS AMERICAN LEGACY This short course focuses on the strong American influence on the Japanese constitution drafted in 1946. This course will deal with the extraordinarily complex and compressed process of the drafting of the new constitution; notable American influences on various provisions of the new constitution; how the constitution has fared in Japan for the last 60 years; and how the American legal model is currently influencing Japan’s move for judicial reform.

JUDICIAL ROLE IN AMERICAN HISTORY This course is a survey of leading American Supreme Court judges from the Marshall through the Burger Courts.

JURISPRUDENCE This course introduces the philosophy of jurisprudence, outlining the general legal philosophies of the 20th century, with a particular emphasis on contemporary analytical jurisprudence. Topics include the relationship between law and morality, the nature of legal authority and discretion, theories of rights, the nature of legal interpretation, and the legitimacy of judicial law-making.

JURISPRUDENCE, SEX, AND GENDER This course investigates the bodies of jurisprudence that regulate and construct sex, sexual orientation, and gender in contemporary culture. We study the emergence and development of constitutional and statutory rules concerning classifications based on sex and sexual orientation, and the ways in which they interact with formal and informal gender norms.

JURY TRIALS IN AMERICA: UNDERSTANDING AND PRACTICING BEFORE A PURE FORM OF DEMOCRACY The seminar will immerse students in the world of jury trials, and will examine: the history of our jury and current perceptions of its role; jury selection processes from summoning through voir dire; factors affecting juror performance during the trial; jury management challenges such as increasing juror comprehension in complex litigation and juror privacy; and current policy debates concerning jury proceedings.

LABOR LAW This course surveys union/management relations in the workplace. It includes how unions gain representation rights and how managers oppose them; collective bargaining; strikes, picketing, and boycotts; and individual employee rights vis-a-vis a union.

LABOR RACKETEERING This seminar explores the persistent and pervasive problem of labor racketeering and considers its origins in organized crime and the American labor movement. To understand the legal context, students consider the basic statutory scheme—the LMRDA, Taft Hartley, and ERISA—in which unions, their affiliated funds, and the mob operate; as well as the criminal statutes—RICO, the Hobbs Act, etc.—that have framed the government’s response. The class uses these tools to study the strengths, weaknesses, successes, and failures of the government’s efforts to address labor racketeering, with an emphasis on real-world materials and outside speakers—federal agents, attorneys, and trade union officials—who deal daily with this problem.

Labor Rights in International Law This short course examines the ways that national and international law protect and promote what the international community has identified as "core labor standards": freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively; freedom from discrimination in employment; freedom from harmful child labor; and freedom from forced labor. Case studies consider the effectiveness of different methods of international regulation, comparing the International Labor Organization with other international and national human rights systems, and also with trade-related measures and corporate social responsibility approaches. The course concludes with an assessment of the U.S. level of compliance with its international legal responsibilities to protect workers’ fundamental human rights.

LAND USE LAW This course explores the legal regulation of how land may be used, with an emphasis on the constitutional and environmental dimensions of land use law. Topics include: the basics of zoning and planning, constitutional constraints on land use regulation, “environmental justice” issues, and land use law as environmental regulation.

LAUNCHING THE ENTERPRISE: SELECTED TOPICS IN THE START-UP OF A BIOTECHNOLOGY COMPANY This short course is an introduction to the entrepreneurial process involved in the start-up of a biotechnology company. The course covers the entrepreneur’s evaluation of a scientific opportunity, the business issues in negotiating and drafting a patent license, the key elements of the business plan, and a PowerPoint presentation to potential investors.

LAW AND ECONOMICS This course illustrates the uses–and the limitations–of economic analysis in representative areas of the law, ranging from trial advocacy to abstract legal theory. A structured set of legal problems with significant economic content is used to acquaint the student with those technical economics tools most likely to be of use to a lawyer.

LAW AND ETHICS IN THE PRACTICE OF NEUROLOGY This interdisciplinary seminar addresses legal and ethical issues in neurological care, such as the definition of death, diagnosis of persistent vegetative