Curriculum
The following courses have recently been offered, or will be offered in the current academic year. Numbers in parentheses indicate which academic year(s) the courses were offered: 2007-08 courses are coded (8); 2008-09 courses are coded (9); and 2009-10 courses are coded (10).
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 Prof. John Norton Moore on International Law courses |
COURSES
Advanced Topics in the Law of War (JAG) (8,9)
Admiralty (8)
European Legal Systems (8,9,10)
European Union Law (8,9,10)
Foreign Relations Law (10)
Immigration Law (8,9,10)
International Agreements (JAG) (8,9)
International and Foreign Legal Research (8,9,10)
International Business Transactions (9,10)
International Civil Litigation (8,9)
International Deal Making: Legal and Business Aspects (8,9,10)
International Human Rights Law (8,9,10)
International Law (8,9,10)
International Patent Law and Policy (8,10)
International Taxation (8,9,10)
National Security Law (8,9,10)
Oceans Law and Policy (8,9,10)
Presidential Powers (8,9,10)
Refugee Law and Policy (9)
Transitional Justice as a Security Strategy (8)
SEMINARS
An American Half-Century (8,9,10)
Anti-Terrorism, Law, and the Role of Intelligence (8,9,10)
Antitrust in the Global Economy (8,9,10)
Ballots, Baseballs, and Bombers (9)
Climate Change: Science, Policy and Law (8,9,10)
Human Rights Advocacy (8)
Indochina War: Legal and Policy Issues (9)
Intelligence Law Reform (8,9,10)
International Criminal Law (8,9,10)
International Environmental Law (8,10)
International Ifs in the Long 19th Century (9)
International Investment Law (8,9,10)
International Patent Law and Policy (9)
Law and Ethics of Human Subject Research (8,10)
Law of War (9,10)
NAFTA and the Environment (9)
Rights of Indigenous Peoples (9,10)
War and Peace (8,10)
CLINICS
Immigration Law Clinic (8,9)
International Human Rights Law Clinic (8,9,10)
Admiralty (9)
Citizenship and Membership (8,9)
Commercial Law in the Context of the People’s Republic of China (9,10)
Comparative Federalism (9)
Corporate Strategy (10)
Death Penalty: An International Perspective (8,9)
Ethical Issues in Foreign Policy (8,9)
French Public and Private Law (8,9)
Globalization and International Civil Litigation (8,9,10)
International Banking Transactions (8,9,10)
International Financial Crimes (8,9)
International Law and the Two Chinas (9)
Course Descriptions
COURSES
Advanced Topics in the Law of War (JAG SCHOOL) The course provides an in-depth study of specific topics in the law of war, building upon foundations laid during the core instruction. Discussions and readings consider and compare U.S and international perspectives on the law of war including views of U.S. allies, the U.N., the ICRC and NGOs. Topics include sources of contemporary law of war, in-depth consideration of the principles of the law of war and targeting, issues associated with battlefield status, regulation of internal armed conflicts, the interface between human rights law and the law of war, and mechanisms to enforce the law of war. The ICRC’s casebook “How Does Law Protect in War” will serve as the text.
Admiralty This course will examine the basic substantive and procedural doctrines in federal admiralty law and compare them to analogous doctrines in other areas of law. Among the topics to be covered are: jurisdiction in admiralty, carriage of goods by sea, salvage, general average, collision, maritime torts for personal injury and death, and environmental law on navigable waters.
EUROPEAN LEGAL SYSTEMS This course traces the development of European legal systems and methods from Roman law (the classical Roman jurists’ law of property, torts, and contracts as transmitted in Justinian’s Digest) to modern civil codes (Austrian, French, German, Swiss, and Russian). It includes a study of contemporary scholarly doctrine and jurisprudence of the courts. The course also examines the ongoing process of harmonization of private law in the European Union.
EUROPEAN UNION LAW This course offers a comprehensive survey of the constitutional and legal structure of the European Union. After a brief historical introduction, the course explores such fundamental structural features as sources and forms of European Union acts, the role of the Court of Justice and of fundamental rights, as well as current problems in European integration. The course will focus on economic aspects of the Basic Freedoms of EC treaty and secondary community law, including free movement of workers, capital, goods, and services.
FOREIGN RELATIONS LAW This course examines the constitutional and statutory doctrines regulating the conduct of American foreign relations. The topics discussed include the distribution of foreign relations powers between 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 the political question and other doctrines regulating judicial review in foreign relations cases.
IMMIGRATION LAW This course introduces the complex provisions of U.S. immigration laws and the procedures used to decide specific immigration-related issues. Considerable 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 major public policy issues in the immigration field.
International Agreements This elective will provide an in-depth study of the law of international agreements as set forth in international law and U.S. domestic law. The first part will focus on the international law pertaining to the creation, modification and termination of international agreements in U.S. practice, and as codified in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT). The second part will focus on the status of international agreements in U.S. domestic law, the ratification process, and the internal U.S. Government regulations for negotiating and concluding international agreements. The third part will review various treaties directly affecting U.S. military operations, to include Status of Forces Agreements. Students will be evaluated based on a take-home exam and class participation.
INTERNATIONAL AND FOREIGN LEGAL RESEARCH This course provides a survey of research resources, methods and strategies unique to international and foreign law. Topics include public international law (e.g., the law of treaties), private international law (e.g., commercial law), foreign law, as well as selected topics of international interest such as arbitration, human rights, intellectual property, environmental law, and trade law.
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS This course deals with domestic and international legal regimes that affect or regulate transnational business transactions. Topics to be discussed include: institutional relationships; 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 DEAL MAKING: LEGAL AND BUSINESS ASPECTS This is an applied course analyzing high-profile transactions in the Asia-Pacific region, designed for both business and law students and intended to provide insights into the many facets—business, legal, regulatory, and cultural—of cross-border transactions. Students are placed in the negotiating room or at the documenting table and confronted with many issues and choices, including negotiating and documenting the first U.S. government loan to China since 1949, role-playing the legal advisor who must evaluate compliance with China’s investment rules in structuring the then-largest Taiwanese investment in China, role-playing in-house counsel to the investment bankers for a US $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 HUMAN RIGHTS LAW This course introduces the theory and practice of international human rights law, with particular emphasis on the ways in which human rights law is made and used. Topics to be covered include: an introduction to key principles of international law; the philosophical foundations of universal human rights; core international human rights norms and their foundations in the U.N. Charter and other treaties, how states incorporate human rights principles domestically; recent human rights-based challenges to the idea of state sovereignty; the increasing overlap between human rights law and international humanitarian law; human rights and development, and international systems and procedures for the protection of human rights.
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. The course begins with the legal rules that constitute the international politico-legal system, such as the prerequisites and perquisites of a nation-state, the sources of international law, and the formal relationship between international and domestic law. The course continues with the legal rules governing international trade, such as the rules of the European Union and the World Trade Organization. The course concludes with legal rules that regulate the international environment, such as the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. As time permits, the course also covers the legal rules that regulate war, alliances, and weapons, such as the U.N. Charter and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
International Patent Law and Policy This course will provide an introduction to key aspects of the international patent system and to concerns animating a variety of controversies regarding patents in areas such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and software. The value of patents is increasing in many areas while at the same time the scope of patent-eligible subject matter is expanding. We will explore the impact of these forces in the creation of international agreements concerning patents, such as the Paris Convention, Patent Cooperation Treaty, Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, the Convention on Biological Diversity and various bilateral agreements. Against the backdrop of the U.S patent system, we also will consider facets of other national and regional patent systems and the efforts and challenges associated with patent law harmonization efforts on a variety of fronts.
INTERNATIONAL TAXATION A survey of the income tax aspects (1) of foreign income earned by U.S. persons and entities, and (2) 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. The political and economic forces underlying the evolution of these rules are also considered.
NATIONAL SECURITY LAW This course examines the historical development of the international law of conflict management, including the U.N. system and the role of the Security Council. Addressing the lawfulness of using force in international relations, the course discusses the prohibition of war as an instrument of national policy, low-intensity conflict, intervention, anticipatory defense, and other continuing problems. It examines human rights for contexts of violence, looks at war crimes and the Nuremberg principles, and the new international criminal court. It briefly reviews American security doctrine, arms control, the security aspects of oceans law, and then examines in detail the national institutional framework for the control of national security, the national command structure, and intelligence and counterintelligence law. It ends with a review of individual rights and accountability as they interface with national security.
OCEANS LAW AND POLICY The course examines the goals of oceans policy, defining oceans claims and their political, economic, and strategic context. After a brief introduction to oceanography, the course moves into a detailed discussion of the law of the sea, sources of current oceans law, navigation and communication, the economic zone, the continental margin, protection of the marine environment, marine scientific research, boundary disputes and dispute settlement, deep seabed mining, national security and international incidents, and polar policy. In its final section, the course explores national oceans policy, focusing on the Navy, Merchant Marine development, fisheries management and aquaculture, continental shelf development, and coastal zone management.
PRESIDENTIAL POWERS This course considers a variety of issues involving the application of law to the president’s functions. Many such issues are of constitutional stature and fall under the general rubric of separation of powers or checks and balances. Therefore we also examine the powers vested in other branches of government. The course includes a review of some or all of the following: law enforcement (including the institution of the independent counsel); program administration (including the president’s authorities in relation to the so-called independent federal agencies); budgeting and accounting; the line-item veto; executive privilege; impeachment; immunity to suit for the president and other executive officers; authority over foreign affairs and the war powers, including claims to extensive powers in the war against terrorism (e.g., the use of coercive interrogation or even torture); detention of “enemy combatants”; and the chartering of military tribunals to impose criminal punishment. The class considers the major judicial decisions on these subjects, but one objective of the course is to derive an appreciation for how few of these questions have been or could be litigated and thus governed by clear judicial guidance.
REFUGEE LAW AND POLICY This course covers in detail refugee law and the procedures involved in adjudicating claims to political asylum, as well as such topics as: the theory and philosophy of refugee protection, comparative refugee law and procedure, the special dimensions of gender-based persecution claims, U.S. overseas refugee programs, restructuring the asylum adjudication process, "temporary protected status," the role of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, regional and universal treaties concerning refugees, and extradition law (including the political offense exception). Racism and related prejudices have been the source of many refugee movements. Further, the U.N. Refugee Convention and U.S. legal provisions count persecution on account of race (as well as on account of "membership in a particular social group") as a valid basis for political asylum.
Transitional Justice as a Security Strategy The course will investigate the political theories that shape transitional justice and evaluate the empirical track record of prominent examples of these strategies. The course will put a premium on studying case studies and applying their lessons to countries currently facing similar transitions. Case studies will include post-World War II models (Japan, Germany, Greece), Chile and Argentina, post-Soviet Eastern Europe, South Africa, Kosovo, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone/Liberia. In the final weeks, the seminar will apply the lessons from these cases to current accountability debates underway regarding Afghanistan and Darfur.
SEMINARS
Antitrust in the Global Economy This seminar examines the unique phenomenon of global antitrust law, in a world where over 150 countries have antitrust regimes, and a single business decision can affect markets around the globe. We start with common ground, such as the free market foundations of antitrust, developed in the United States and now making their way even to China, multi-jurisdictional cartel enforcement, and the “export” of U.S. private litigation to Europe. We then move on to conflict, examining the dramatically different transatlantic approaches to the Microsoft, Intel and other monopolization cases, uses of antitrust law to both facilitate and hinder international trade, and the different reactions of various antitrust regimes to the 2008-09 global financial crisis. Lecture and class discussion seek to provide a grounding in global antitrust principles, and student papers will explore a particular area in detail. Some prior exposure to antitrust is helpful but not required; the economic principles to be discussed are accessible to all.
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.
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 such future attacks on U.S. soil by striking potential terrorist actors before they can strike us, this seminar examines the current posture of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) to supply the intelligence information on which a decision to launch a pre-emptive strike must be based. We shall examine the IC’s performance in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and the proposals for change that have come out of the two conflicts plus the “intelligence failure” to predict the 9/11 attacks. We shall further examine the impact of 9/11 on U.S. law—criminal, immigration, and under the U.S. Constitution; and the constraints, if any, of international law on the designations of unlawful or enemy combatant; and of President Bush’s decision to constitute special military tribunals to hear the cases of non-U.S. citizens captured outside the United States. Specifically, we shall examine the USA Patriot Act; the Creppy Memorandum closing special immigration proceedings to the press and public; the U.S. military order creating military tribunals; and the Odah, Padilla, and Hamdi cases, currently making their way to the U.S. Supreme Court. We shall also look at the problems presented to American jurisprudence by the Zacarias Moussaoui and John Walker Lindh trials. The seminar will attempt to define a meaningful role for both law enforcement and intelligence faced with the threat on U.S. soil of terrorist acts by sub-national groups, armed with weapons of mass destruction (WMD); and it will sketch what may be a changing role for the courts in dealing with the legal and constitutional disputes that a ceaseless war against an “ism” will present.
BAllots, baseballs and bombers This seminar examines the interaction of legal and non-legal rules in modern U.S. national elections, Major League Baseball and strategic warfare in World War II. The course materials focus on book-length readings and on complex, rules-driven simulations.
Climate Change: Science, Markets, and Policy This seminar will provide multiple perspectives on what many consider the greatest environmental issue of our time and one with far-reaching implications for how we and future generations will live and do business. Our goal will be to explore the linkage between anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and changes in the earth’s climate; the impacts of climate change on environmental conditions and natural resources; and the potential for engaging markets and public institutions to address those impacts. We will start with a review of the science, including projections of climate change under alternative future scenarios. We will then turn our attention to the world’s energy markets, which are responsible directly or indirectly for the great majority of humankind’s greenhouse gas emissions; our particular focus will be on the dynamics of those markets and their capacity for change. We will review the legal regimes now in place that offer some ability to address climate change, our experience under those regimes, and proposals for more robust climate change laws now before the U.S. Congress and international bodies. Finally, we will relate these proposals to what we will have learned about climate change and energy markets in an effort to assess their political viability, fairness, efficiency and effectiveness. No special scientific or policy expertise is required for this seminar. The course may be of interest to students destined for corporate practice as well as those with traditional environmental interests.
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.
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, and to profit from our past mistakes we must first ascertain what really happened and what went wrong. Not only is it useful to review the old Indochina debates in the light of recent evidence (e.g., what really happened in the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964?), but the conflict provides a rich case study for examining a diverse range of broader 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. Both professors teaching the class were actively involved in these issues in and out of government three decades ago and have published extensively on the subject. Past guest lecturers in this seminar have included a former CIA Director, a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a former Marine Corps Commandant, a former prisoner of war and a general in charge of special operations during the war.
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 will decide whether the threat of international and domestic terrorism is primarily an intelligence problem or a law enforcement/military one. The class will examine the propriety and legality of coercive interrogations, pre-emptive incarcerations, and intrusive surveillance in a constitutional democracy.
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW This course introduces students to problems posed by the investigation or prosecution of criminal laws in the international arena. It first explores the foundations of international criminal law, including the bases for criminal jurisdiction. It then covers in depth two issues central to international criminal law, the extradition of fugitives and mutual legal assistance (i.e., international evidence gathering). Coverage includes the criminal procedure and the U.S. constitutional issues implicated in it.
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. Legal analyses focus on the texts of those treaties, but we also examine relevant U.S. domestic law and some international trade law. The course includes a series of simulated international negotiating and drafting sessions aimed at reaching agreement on a climate change treaty.
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 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 Patent Law and Policy This course will provide an introduction to key aspects of the international patent system and to concerns animating a variety of controversies regarding patents in areas such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and software. The value of patents is increasing in many areas while at the same time the scope of patent-eligible subject matter is expanding. We will explore the impact of these forces in the creation of international agreements concerning patents, such as the Paris Convention, Patent Cooperation Treaty, Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, the Convention on Biological Diversity and various bilateral agreements. Against the backdrop of the U.S patent system, we also will consider facets of other national and regional patent systems and the efforts and challenges associated with patent law harmonization efforts on a variety of fronts.
Law and Ethics of Human Subject Research This seminar, specifically designed to be interdisciplinary, is open to graduate students in bioethics, nursing, and public health sciences, law students, and medical school junior faculty and fellows. We will begin with a brief look at the origins of the current system for regulating human subjects research and the ethical and legal frameworks that have evolved to assist with that regulation. We will explore central issues like risk-benefit assessment, informed consent, confidentiality, diversity in subject populations and how subjects are recruited and retained. We will also look into concerns raised by international research such as recruitment of poor and underserved populations and equitable access to the results of the research. We will examine some of the issues raised by new technologies such as genomics and personalized medicine, stem cell research and genetic engineering, nanotechnology and synthetic biology. Finally, we will explore how the changing economics of research creates both conflicts of interest and potentially increased innovation.
LAW OF WAR This course introduces students to the contemporary law of war. Participants will discuss several current issues such as the Bush Administration’s pre-emption doctrine and applicability of the laws of war to the war on terrorism. This course is particularly useful for law students interested in taking the Judge Advocate General’s School Advanced Topics in the Law of War course.
NAFTA AND THE ENVIRONMENT This course will focus primarily on the NAFTA environmental side agreement, known as the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), and the new international institution the NAAEC creates, the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). The course will cover the extent to which the NAAEC may influence the trade/environment debate; issues relating to the CEC’s status as the first regional environmental agency in North America; and the innovative opportunities the NAAEC creates for public involvement. The course also will explore this international institution in the context of domestic environmental enforcement mechanisms and strategies, including the role and use of government and citizen suit enforcement in the United States. The course may include a number of simulation exercises.
rights of indigenous peoples From the United Nations and regional human rights institutions to the World Bank and other international institutions, indigenous peoples have made significant gains in recent decades. This seminar will explore emerging norms and principles of indigenous rights within the international legal framework. We will discuss such issues as the definition and concept of indigenous peoples and rights; tensions between individual rights and group rights; historical discriminatory practices (e.g., removal of children from indigenous communities); indigenous peoples’ land rights, environmental law and the activities of multinational corporations; cultural survival and indigenous peoples’ rights under international trade and intellectual property regimes; and indigenous mobilization and international advocacy.
WAR AND PEACE: NEW THINKING ABOUT THE CAUSES OF WAR AND WAR AVOIDANCE Whatever the focus of your professional career, one issue that ought to be of considerable interest to all citizens is the avoidance of war. This interdisciplinary seminar will explore some of the latest thinking about the causes of international armed conflict and the ways in which future wars might be avoided and peace preserved. This seminar builds upon work they began more than a decade ago as, respectively, the first Chairman of the Board and President of the congressionally-established U.S. Institute of Peace. Recent studies by Yale Professors Donald Kagan (History) and Bruce Russett (Political Science), and by University of Hawaii Political Science Professor Rudy Rummel, will be examined, along with a number of traditional intellectual approaches ranging from international law, arms control, and world federalism, to deterrence theory. This seminar will also explore the newest theory of international relations – “incentive theory” – as developed by Professor Moore in “Solving the War Puzzle.” Case studies of past wars will be examined to test competing theories. Prominent guest lecturers will also take part. Students will be expected to take an active part in discussion.
CLINICS
IMMIGRATION LAW CLINIC This semester-long clinic is offered in conjunction with the Legal Aid Justice Center. Students are assigned several clients and handle at least one complex case involving extensive client interviewing, factual investigation, and legal briefs. Female victims of violence are a priority at Legal Aid. Students may also work with clients appealing denials of applications for status, appealing for special categorization or procedures, or clients who have cases complicated by past criminal or immigration histories. Students are expected to keep office hours at LAJC for half a day per week. Spanish-language ability is a plus. The clinic meets for a weekly seminar for much of the semester. The clinic also covers basic ethics and professional responsibility issues, and skills such as eliciting information from abuse victims and working through cultural and language differences.
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW CLINIC Students gain first-hand experience in human rights advocacy under the supervision of international human rights lawyers. Projects are designed to give students the practical experience necessary to be effective human rights lawyers and to integrate the theory and practice of human rights. Class sessions provide the opportunity to discuss human rights law concepts and lawyering practice, and the legal, strategic, ethical, and theoretical issues raised by the project work. The clinic also provides instruction in international human rights law research and writing skills. The clinic may have one or more adjunct instructors. There is no live-client representation in this clinic.
SHORT COURSES
Admiralty This short course will examine the basic substantive and procedural doctrines in federal maritime law and compare them to analogous doctrines in other areas of law. Among the topics to be covered are: jurisdiction in admiralty, carriage of goods by sea, collision, personal injury and wrongful death, salvage, and piracy. Because of limited class time, the coverage necessarily will be selective, concentrating on the most distinctive and interesting issues in admiralty.
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.
Commercial law in the context of the people's republic of china In this course students look closely at certain areas of Chinese law that directly impact non-Chinese investors that establish companies in China. Such areas include joint venture law, employment law, company law and contract law. Students do not look only at the law, but also at some of the historical and political drivers that shaped it. Finally, there will be a joint venture negotiation exercise that will allow students to focus on the interaction between policy, law and commercial objectives.
Comparative federalism This course examines how federal systems of government accommodate and promote the competing goals of unity and diversity. Today, some two dozen countries are federal, claim to be federal or exhibit the characteristics typical of federations, and about 40 percent of the world’s population lives in such countries. Innovation is apparent in federal systems, with reforms and modifications in mature federations in response to changing demands upon government, and the emergence of new versions of the federal model in countries not previously regarded as federations. The course will build upon a number of themes explored in a program called “A Global Dialogue on Federalism,” a joint venture of the Forum of Federations and the International Association of Centers for Federal Studies.
DEATH PENALTY: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE This short course explores capital punishment in an international context. Topics include: the history of capital punishment and the movement to restrict its use and then to abolish it; the politics of the abolitionist movement, including the arguments and forces that have been at work to achieve successful abolition and those that have been used to resist it, including public opinion; the influence of international law and the human rights movement; the current scope and use of the death penalty around the world, the modes of enforcing it and the legal and moral issues involved in its application, including arbitrariness, discrimination, the “death row phenomenon,” and error; the evidence regarding the deterrent effect of capital punishment; and alternatives to the death penalty, in particular the legal and penal application of life imprisonment.
ETHICAL ISSUES IN FOREIGN POLICY This short course 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.
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.
Globalization and International Civil Litigation This short course examines traditional principles of private international law in the context of the rapidly changing global business environment. Areas covered 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 will be given to anti-suit injunctions and provisional and protective measures in international litigation. The Draft Hague Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters is also considered.
International Banking Transactions This course is an introduction by a former banker and lawyer into basic international banking products and transactions, such as deposits, forwards, futures, swaps, options, project financing and securitizations. Discussions will focus on the purpose of these transactions, their economic / financial workings, legal requirements, documentation and advisory needs and will give an introduction into regulatory aspects driving these transactions. Materials will be provided and will include samples of real-life documentation, landmark cases, negotiation instructions, and other readings. No in-depth financial and/or banking knowledge required.
International Financial Crimes This short course looks at the criminalization of financial transactions that may arise in the course of operating an international business. We will focus principally on U.S. federal criminal law, although the class also will consider the implementation by other countries of international agreements relating to bribery and money laundering. The class will concentrate on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, money laundering, the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and wire and mail fraud. The class will emphasize 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 Law and the Two Chinas Through the lens of an extended crisis / negotiating simulation, this course will examine the role of international and domestic U.S. law in mediating relations between the People’s Republic of China and the authorities on Taiwan.