Course (by Subject Area)

Academics

Coursework at the College of Law combines classroom theory with real-world practice.

Academics

Coursework at the College of Law combines classroom theory with real-world practice.

Upper-Division Courses (by subject area)

Current students may view the master schedule in the College of Law portal to confirm when courses listed below will be offered.

View the first-year courses here.

  • LAW 812 – Constitutional Law – 4 Credit Hours
    • Fundamental principles of American constitutional law: federalism, separation of powers, equal protection of law, and constitutional protection of other fundamental individual rights.
  • LAW 814 – Professional Responsibility – 3 Credit Hours
    • Legal, professional and ethical standards applicable to lawyers.
  • LAW 915 – Conflict of Laws – 3 Credit Hours
    • Jurisdiction, foreign judgments, and conflict of laws.
  • LAW 855 – Criminal Procedure (Adjudicatory) – 3 Credit Hours
    • Pre- and post-trial procedures in criminal case: bail; preliminary hearing; grand jury; prosecutorial discretion; discovery’ speedy trial; plea bargaining; jury trial; and double jeopardy. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
  • LAW 854 – Criminal Procedure (Investigatory) – 3 Credit Hours
    • Police practices and constitutional rights of persons charged with crimes: arrest; search and seizure; identification; interrogation and confessions; electronic eavesdropping; and right to counsel.
  •  LAW 813 – Evidence – 4 Credit Hours
    • Introduces students to the full range of rules governing the admission and exclusion of testimony, documents, and other tangible evidence. In addition to studying the codified rules related to relevance, impeachment, hearsay, opinion testimony, authentication, privileges, and presumptions, the course also deals with the mechanics of proof including the role of the judge and the jury, the proper form of making and preserving objections, and the order and burdens of proof in criminal and civil trials. Will include a problem methodology, applying the evidence rules to hypothetical civil and criminal cases.
      Co-requisite(s): 920 for students electing concentration in advocacy.
  • LAW 862 – Family Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • Survey of laws affecting formal and informal family relationships: premarital disputes; ante nuptial contracts; creation of common law and formal marriage; legal effects of marriage; support obligations within family; legal separation, annulment, divorce, alimony, and property settlements; child custody and child support; abortion; illegitimacy.
  • LAW 814 – Professional Responsibility – 3 Credit Hours
    • Legal, professional and ethical standards applicable to lawyers.
  • LAW 841 – Secured Transactions – 3 Credit Hours
    • Coverage of Uniform Commercial Code Article 9 and relevant Bankruptcy Code provisions dealing with security interests in personal property.
  • LAW 935 – Wills & Trusts – 3 Credit Hours
    • Gifts; will substitutes; nature, creation, termination and modification of trusts; intestate succession; execution, revocation, probate and contest of wills; statutory protections against disinheritance; and introduction to powers of appointment, basic problems of will construction, powers of attorney, and planning for disability and death.
  • LAW 987 – Bar Examination: Law, Skills, and Strategies – 2-3 Credit Hours
    • Provides graduating students with the law, skills, and strategies necessary to achieve success on the bar exam and in the legal profession. The course will survey heavily tested substantive areas of the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) and provide skill and strategy instruction for the MBE, bar essay examinations, and the Multistate Performance Test. Through lecture and formative and summative assessments, students will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for success on the bar exam. Students will learn valuable self-assessment strategies and receive regular feedback from the instructor.
  • LAW 925 – Advanced Appellate Advocacy – 3 Credit Hours
    • Study of appellate practice and procedure, brief writing, and appellate argument. In addition to a discussion of the structure, jurisdiction, and procedure of the appellate courts, the course explores the process of formulating and preserving appellate issues and initiating and executing appeals, including writing a persuasive appellate brief and making an effective appellate argument. Will complete a rough draft and a final draft of an appellate brief and will present an appellate argument in a hypothetical appellate case.
  • LAW 922 – Advanced Trial Practice – 3 Credit Hours
    • This advanced course in trial practice builds on the fundamental skills developed in trial practice by requiring students to apply the skills in more complex cases and introduces students to new skills including witness preparation, use and preparation of expert witnesses, and jury selection. Through the use of more sophisticated case hypotheticals, students learn and practice advanced techniques in direct and cross-examination (including examinations of expert witnesses), engage in witness preparation, and are introduced to the skills used in jury selection and jury instruction.
      Prerequisite(s): 920.
  • LAW 914 – Alternative Dispute Resolution – 3 Credit Hours
    • A survey course on various alternatives to the conventional trial process. It introduces the theories underlying the operation of these processes and the statutory and case law that governs their application. Will involve a significant amount of role-play negotiations, mediations, and other simulated processes with opportunities for feedback from a faculty member and self-evaluation.
  • LAW 990 – Arbitration
  • LAW 921 – Civil Pre-Trial Litigation – 3 Credit Hours
    • Will immerse students in the day-to-day work of civil legal practitioners and assists students in developing a contextual, working knowledge of state and federal rules of civil procedure. While representing hypothetical clients, students engage in pretrial planning and strategy before preparing a litigation plan; researching the facts and the applicable law; drafting and responding to pleadings; drafting and responding to written discovery; preparing for, taking, and defending depositions; and filing pretrial motions and supporting memoranda.
  • LAW 924 – Criminal Pre-Trial Litigation – 3 Credit Hours
    • Introduces the student to the day-to-day work of criminal lawyers. Through the use of hypothetical case files, students are introduced to the basic skills and concepts needed to prepare a criminal case for trial or for plea negotiations. Students conduct preliminary hearings; draft and argue pretrial motions including discovery motions, bail motions, motions based on the charging document, and motions to suppress; and prepare for and participate in a pretrial conference.
  • LAW 923 – Complex Litigation – 3 Credit Hours
    • Advanced civil procedure course dealing with the special problems that arise in litigation involving multiple claims and multiple parties: permissive and compulsory joinder; intervention; disposition of duplicative or related litigation; class actions; discovery in large cases; judicial control of complex litigation; res judicata and collateral estoppel problems.
  • LAW 916 – Federal Courts – 3 Credit Hours
    • Jurisdiction of federal courts; conflicts between federal and state judicial systems.
  • LAW 929 – Interviewing and Counseling – 2 Credit Hours
    • Will introduce and allow students to practice and hone the professional skills involved in interviewing clients and prospective witnesses and in counseling clients. After introduction to the fundamental skills and the conceptual models of interviewing and counseling, students will develop their skills by analyzing, preparing, and performing simulated interviewing and counseling exercises. The students’ performances are recorded, reviewed, and evaluated by their colleagues and their professors. Will also encounter and discuss the ethical issues that arise during interviewing and counseling.
  • LAW 926 – Negotiation – 3 Credit Hours
    • Introduction to skills and techniques that lawyers need to negotiate effectively in both transactional and litigation contexts. Will learn about factors affecting negotiations, including personality styles and verbal and non-verbal communication styles and will be exposed to different negotiation models. After engaging in the important process of negotiation planning, students will perform and record simulated negotiations based upon multiple hypothetical fact patterns. Will complete a post-negotiation evaluation and will review their negotiation with their student colleagues and their professor. Will also attend a series of plenary lectures addressing fundamental concepts in negotiations, including ethical issues that arise during negotiations.
  • LAW 918 – Remedies – 3 Credit Hours
    • Judicial remedies: damages, restitution, and equitable relief; availability, limitations and measurement of various remedies; comparison of contract, tort and property-related remedies.
  • LAW 920 – Trial Practice – 3 Credit Hours
    • A simulation course in which students learn the fundamentals and practice the techniques of preparing and presenting a case to a judge or jury, while confronting the ethical questions associated with trial practice. Using hypothetical case files, students prepare and discuss case theory and theme; prepare and present opening statements, direct examinations, cross-examinations, and closing arguments; and participate in a pretrial conference. During class, the emphasis is on individual performance and critique. Each student conducts a complete trial at the end of the course.
      Prerequisite(s): 813 (except students in advocacy concentration).
      Corequisite(s): 813 for students in the advocacy concentration.
  • LAW 829 – Advanced Business Associations – 3 Credit Hours
    • In-depth study of the legal issues associated with close corporations, public corporations and complex litigation to enforce the legal rights and obligations of constituents in business entities in the context of fiduciary duties, fundamental change and change-of-control transactions, federal and state disclosure obligations, securities fraud, insider trading, and related matters.
      Prerequisite(s): 827.
  • LAW 834 – Antitrust – 3 Credit Hours
    • Federal antitrust laws; monopolization, price-fixing, group boycotts, and anticompetitive practices generally; government enforcement techniques and private treble damage suits.
  • LAW 843 – Bankruptcy – 3 Credit Hours
    • Basic elements of federal bankruptcy law providing relief for insolvent debtors and their creditors through liquidation of debtor assets or reorganization of the debtor. The course may include the following: The effect of bankruptcy law on business transactions and commercial and tort litigation, as well as family law and environmental law matters, a review of state creditor collection law, analysis of claims of creditors (e.g., lenders, tort victims, providers of goods or services), property of the estate used to pay claims, the automatic stay of creditor actions, the bankruptcy trustee’s powers to avoid pre-bankruptcy transfers, and other basic bankruptcy rules. No prerequisites.
  • LAW 827 – Business Associations – 3 Credit Hours
    • Legal problems associated with the formation, operation, combination, and dissolution of unincorporated and incorporated business firms; legal rights and duties of firm participants (principals and agents; partners, joint venturers, limited partners, limited liability partners, and members and managers of limited liability companies; and corporate shareholders, directors, and officers) and others with whom those participants interact in connection with the firm’s business, including attorneys. Introduction to legal issues in close corporations and federal law concerning corporations.
  • LAW 844 – Business Reorganization & Workouts – 3 Credit Hours
    • An examination of reorganization under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code from petition date to confirmation of a plan of reorganization as well as coverage of the use of extensions, compositions, workouts and other non-bankruptcy methods of adjusting the rights or parties to business transactions. Although not required as prerequisites, an understanding of the subject matter of Commercial Law and especially Debtor/Creditor law is strongly recommended. The course satisfies the expository writing requirement.
  • LAW 981 – Business Torts – 3 Credit Hours
    • After the 1980s, there was a significant evolution in the relationship among antitrust, business tort, and unfair competition law. Will focus on the developments in business torts, and in particular, how the law should regulate, promote, or discourage competitive behavior in the marketplace. Will survey the fields of unfair competition, commercial disparagement and defamation, interference torts, the torts of fraud and negligent misrepresentation, misappropriation of trade secrets, and state consumer fraud.
  • LAW 845 – Commercial Leasing – 2 Credit Hours
    • Commercial leasing seminar involves a detailed examination of the substantive and procedural law applicable to commercial leasing, in a practical, practice-oriented course that will include up to six graded, written assignments, of involving hands-on negotiation and documentation of a commercial lease of office space. Other written assignments may include negotiation and drafting of a letter of intent, an expansion rights provision, an extension of term provision, an accounting right for rent provision, a lease review letter, and an industrial tenancy agreement or rider to a commercial lease. Will require close reading and critical analysis of lease provisions, including examining and becoming intimately familiar with the terms of art involved, the motivations of the various parties to the leases involved, and the substantive law that governs their relationship. Grades will be based upon the written work product turned in over the course of the semester with class participation component.
      Prerequisite(s): 842.
  • LAW 837 – Consumer Bankruptcy & Finance Seminar – 3 Credit Hours
    • Covers Title 11, Chapters 7, 12, and 13 and cross-disciplinary materials from economics, sociology, psychology, and similar fields regarding the role of personal finance, consumer finance, and consumer bankruptcy. Satisfies the perspective requirement.
  • LAW 842 – Contract Drafting – 2 Credit Hours
    • Practical fundamentals of drafting contracts of different types. Integrates doctrinal contract law with theory, skills, and ethics; provides multiple opportunities for performance through drafting and other assignments, as well as opportunities for self-evaluation through exercises based upon different factual scenarios that simulate the experience of a lawyer representing a client in a transactional setting; and involves direct supervision of the student’s performance by the instructor as well as a classroom instructional component.
  • LAW 828 – Corporate Finance – 3 Credit Hours
    • Legal issues arising in conjunction with the purchase, sale, and repurchase of securities in capital formation and investment transactions, including: private and public debt, equity, and convertible securities offerings; dividends and other shareholder distributions; and mergers and acquisitions.
      Prerequisite(s): 827.
  • LAW 980 – Insurance – 3 Credit Hours
    • Types of insurance: life, property, health, accident and liability insurance; regulation of insurance industry; interpretation of insurance contracts; insurable interest requirement; conditions, warranties and representations; coverage and exclusions; duties of agents; excess liability; subrogation; and bad faith actions against insurers. Liability insurance defense problems: duty to defend, notice and cooperation issues, and conflicts of interest.
  • LAW 990 – International Bankruptcy
  • LAW 826 – Introduction to Business Transactions – 2 Credit Hours
    • Non-technical introduction to accounting, finance, and the functional relationships among the various actors in business transactions. Analysis of business transactions with view toward needs of business clients. Not available for students with business background.
  • LAW 831 – Mergers and Acquisitions – 2-3 Credit Hours
    • Basic law and practice points governing business combinations through discussion, problem-solving, planning, and drafting. Consideration and exploration of legal and practical considerations involved in making essential structural, drafting, and implementation decisions relating to mergers and acquisitions.
      Prerequisite(s): 827.
  • LAW 841 – Secured Transactions – 3 Credit Hours
    • Coverage of Uniform Commercial Code Article 9 and relevant Bankruptcy Code provisions dealing with security interests in personal property.
  • LAW 830 – Securities Regulation – 3 Credit Hours 
    • Basic structure and operation of the federal securities laws, including legal issues associated with: primary and secondary public and private securities offerings; Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Rule 10b-5 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and other antifraud provisions; periodic reporting and other disclosure requirements; the regulation of proxy solicitations, tender offers, and securities transactions involving officers, directors, and other insiders; and the regulation of stock markets and professional service providers in the securities industry.
      Corequisite(s): 827.
  • LAW 833 – Representing Enterprises – 3-5 Credit Hours
    • Capstone course for concentration in business transactions. Simulated business transactions and completion of major planning drafting project. Transactions vary: formation of new business, acquisition of existing business, development of real estate project, various financing transactions and corporate reorganization.
      Prerequisite(s): 818, 826, 827, 840, 842, 940, and 972.
      Recommended Background: Completion of all courses for concentration in business transactions.
      Comment(s): Up to two of the prerequisites may be taken as corequisites.
  • LAW 990 – Antidiscrimination Seminar
  • LAW 848 – Civil Rights Actions – 3 Credit Hours
    • Litigation to vindicate constitutional rights in private actions against the government and its officials, as well as rights protected by other civil rights legislation: elements of cause of action under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983; actions against federal government officials under the Bivens doctrine; institutional and individual immunities; relationship between state and federal courts in civil rights actions; and remedies for violations of constitutional and other civil rights.
  • LAW 870 – Race and the U.S. Supreme Court – 2 Credit Hours
    • The role of race in the law’s infrastructure can be more adequately understood through the United States Supreme Court decisions that created that infrastructure. This seminar will examine the United States Supreme Court’s decisions on race and racism and how the Court, since Plessy, has struggled with fundamental issues of racial bias, bigotry, and inequality. Will take a neutral, microscopic view of landmark Supreme Court decisions that laid the foundation for the law’s intersection with race. In reviewing the Court’s decisions, students will consider how the Court’s views impacted society’s views of race and racism and, in turn, how society’s views have impacted judicial analysis. Students will study the Supreme Court’s decisions impacting race against the backdrop of history and will analyze how the Court’s rationale affected the society’s progress. In addition to this historical review, students will analyze current literature on race, racism, and anti-racism and will consider whether the tenets of this literature could provide a more equitable means for courts to evaluate issues of race.
  • LAW 863 – Sex, Gender & Justice – 3 Credit Hours
    • Analyzes contemporary legal issues concerning the relationship between sexuality, gender, and the law. Will focus on the relationship between social norms concerning sex and gender and the law, introducing students to the different theoretical and judicial approaches to the legal regulation of sex and gender in our society. Topics include: discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity (in the workplace, schools, the family, and the  military); reproductive rights; the intersectionality of race, gender, and sexuality; sexual violence against men and women; sexual assault on campus; and the role of gender and war.
  • LAW 864 – Poverty, Race, Gender and the Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • In the United States, poverty disproportionally impacts women, immigrants, children, and people of color. Focuses on poverty law through a race and gender lens. Will begin with traditional poverty law topics – exploring definitions of poverty, competing theories about how to address poverty, the evolution of the legal rights of the poor, their access to legal assistance, and the tools that lawyers have used to advocate on their behalf and on behalf of the communities in which they live. Will explore a few topics often seen in Race and the Law or Gender and the Law courses through a poverty lens. In this portion of the course, using a comparative framework, students will have an opportunity to ask whether and how regulatory frameworks and legal rights differ in the context of social support, work and family depending on the economic position of those subject to the legal rules. In the same vein, will provide an opportunity for students to explore how social support, civil and criminal justice systems operate differently in different U.S. communities. Finally, will spend some time looking at social movements and their interactions with legal institutions. Will include readings from law, legal theory, history, public policy, and sociology as well readings from more popular sources. Course requirements include several brief reflection papers, course participation, and working with a small group to design and lead one class period conversation on a course-related topic of the groups’ choosing.
  • LAW 905 – Advocacy Clinic – 6 Credit Hours
    • Supervised fieldwork requiring substantial responsibility for representing clients with various civil and criminal legal problems. Will explore and begin to develop the fundamental professional skills involved in practicing law. Will gain experience interviewing and counseling clients, negotiating with other attorneys, planning for dispute resolutions, trials and hearings, initiating and defending claims, conducting factual investigations and presenting evidence. Will also explore holistic lawyering and systematic solutions to individual legal problems.
      Credit Restriction: May not be taken concurrently with 947, 948, or 949.
      Prerequisite(s): 813.
      Corequisite(s): 814.
      Comment(s): Third-year standing required. Students may not take Advocacy Clinic (905) in the same semester as the Prosecutorial Externship (947), the Public Defender Externship (948), or the Judicial Externship (949). Second semester second year students may be eligible by waiver, space permitting.
  • LAW 951 – Domestic Violence Clinic – 3 Credit Hours
    • Supervised fieldwork requiring students to assume substantial responsibility for representing victims of domestic violence in various civil contexts. Students will explore and begin to develop the fundamental professional skills involved in practicing law. Students will gain experience interviewing and counseling clients, negotiating with other attorneys, planning for dispute resolutions, trials and hearings, initiating and defending claims, conducting factual investigations and presenting evidence.
      Prerequisite(s): 813.
      Corequisite(s): 814.
      Comment(s): Third-year standing required; second-semester second-year students may be eligible by waiver, space permitting.
  • LAW 906 – Expungement Mini-Clinic – 1 Credit Hour
    • The Expungement Mini-Clinic focuses on one of the most significant criminal reentry issues facing people who have been arrested for a crime – cleaning up a person’s criminal record. Students will assist clients with Tennessee’s complex expungement process from conducting the initial interview to preparing the expungement petition. Integrates statutory interpretation, lawyering skills, and ethics through an in-depth study of Tennessee’s expungement statutes, related caselaw, and rules of professional conduct. Will offer a foundation in interviewing, counseling, and advocacy skills. Combines law, theory, and practice through in-class discussions, simulations, and a live-client clinic with professor assessment of all components.
      Corequisite(s): Law 814.
  • LAW 911 – Family Law Mediation Clinic – 6 Credit Hours
    • The Family Law Mediation Clinic focuses on the mediation process, and mediation theory, strategy, tactics, and skills in the context of family relationships. Students study and develop these skills through readings and simulations and through service as mediators in the Knox County Juvenile Court and in other settings. The Clinic has two components: (1) the classroom component of the Clinic, in which students will attend classes that will involve reading assignments, traditional lectures, speakers, simulations, and discussion to prepare for the live- client mediations; and (2) the experiential component, during which student will observe and co-mediate cases with experienced family mediators in the Knox County Juvenile General Sessions Court and scheduled appearances in other settings. The Clinic satisfies Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31’s training requirements (only) for certification as a family mediator.
      Corequisite(s): 814 and 914.
      Comment(s): 914 may be waived based on participation in ABA Representation in Mediation Competition or substantial prior mediation training.
  • LAW 908 – Mediation Clinic – 3 Credit Hours
    • Supervised fieldwork requiring students to assume substantial responsibility for mediating actual legal disputes. Students study mediation process, theory, strategy, tactics and skills through readings, simulations and service as mediators in the Knox County General Sessions Court and other settings. The course includes mediation ethics, the relationship of mediation to other dispute resolution methods, the roles of attorneys in mediation and the writing of mediation agreements.
      Corequisite(s): 814 and 914.
      Comment(s): 914 may be waived based on participation in ABA Representation in Mediation Competition or substantial prior mediation training.
  • LAW 909 – Transactional Law Clinic – 6 Credit Hours
    • Students will learn transactional law skills through the representation of small businesses, nonprofit organizations, community-based associations, entrepreneurs, and artists. Through supervised fieldwork, student attorneys will assume primary responsibility for representing clients with various non-litigation matters. Such matters might include: providing advice regarding legal entity choice and forming the entity; identifying state and local business licensing and permitting requirements; providing advice regarding tax-exempt status; drafting governance documents; negotiating and drafting contracts; advising entities on employment and independent contractor arrangements; and assisting with trademark and copyright registration.
      Prerequisite(s): 827.
      Corequisite(s): 814 and 842.
      Registration Restriction(s): Course is open to third-year and second-semester, second-year JD students only.
  • LAW 953 – Wills Clinic – 4 Credit Hours
    • Supervised fieldwork requiring students to assume substantial responsibility for representing clients in cases involving trusts and estates matters. Students will interview clients, draft wills, living wills, trusts and other documents for clients, and handle occasional probate matters.
      Corequisite(s): 814 and 935.
      Comment(s): Third-year standing required; second-semester second-year students may be eligible by waiver, space permitting.
  • LAW 990 – Advanced Criminal Procedure – Post-Conviction Relief and Appeals
  • LAW 856 – Advanced Criminal Law
    • Examines corporate criminal liability (also commonly known as white collar crime). Deals with selected substantive criminal law and procedural areas important when dealing with business or corporate clients. Course coverage includes the study and application of several federal criminal statutes, and some state common law doctrines.
  • LAW 809 – Criminal Law  – 3 Credit Hours
    • Substantive aspects of criminal law; general principles applicable to all criminal conduct; specific analysis of particular crimes; defenses to crimes.
  • LAW 855 – Criminal Procedure (Adjudicatory) – 3 Credit Hours
    • Pre- and post-trial procedures in criminal case: bail; preliminary hearing; grand jury; prosecutorial discretion; discovery’ speedy trial; plea bargaining; jury trial; and double jeopardy. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
  • LAW 854 – Criminal Procedure (Investigatory) – 3 Credit Hours
    • Police practices and constitutional rights of persons charged with crimes: arrest; search and seizure; identification; interrogation and confessions; electronic eavesdropping; and right to counsel.
  • LAW 990 – Forensics in Criminal Practice
  • LAW 857 – Wrongful Convictions Seminar – 2 Credit Hours
    • Provides students with a contemporary overview and introduction to the literature and issues surrounding wrongful convictions.  The seminar affords students with an understanding of the issues and laws implicated in investigating and challenging convictions.  Serves as an intellectual peek into the wrongful convictions phenomenon. To understand how wrongful convictions may occur we study the current criminal litigation process, including cases and laws on the criminal litigation and post-conviction process. We will study the substantive causes of wrongful convictions and the procedural mechanisms that allow for the litigation of those claims.
  • LAW 990 – Education Law Seminar
  • LAW 846 – Disability Law – 2-3 Credit Hours
    • An overview of disability law with a major emphasis on the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Will focus on many of the policy issues that arise in the area of disability law examining how laws impact the lives of people with disabilities in such areas as employment discrimination, public accommodations, housing, and education, with a particular emphasis on employment discrimination. Will survey relevant cases, statutes, articles, and legal doctrines and explore how this area of law reflects societal attitudes towards people who are perceived as having or not having disabilities. Will introduce students to social science research addressing salient disability issues in contemporary society, in addition to statutes and case law.
  • LAW 897 – Employment Discrimination – 3 Credit Hours
    • Surveys the major federal statutes dealing with discrimination in employment, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Pay Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Considers discrimination based on an employee’s status (e.g., race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age, and disability), sexual harassment, reverse discrimination, and affirmative action. Examines some practical aspects of practice in this area, particularly administrative requirements for pursuing discrimination litigation.
  • LAW 896 – Employment Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • Explores federal and state regulation of the employment relationship. Focuses on state common-law doctrines, particularly the employment ‘at-will’ doctrine and its erosion through contract (e.g., employee handbooks), tort (e.g., fraud and defamation), and public policy claims. Addresses limits on employee conduct, including non-compete agreements and trade secret protections; laws dealing with whistleblowers, retaliation, and workplace privacy; and constitutional protections of employees’ free speech and free association rights. Considers federal legislation on minimum wage and overtime, family and medical leave, and ERISA.
  • LAW 895 – Labor Relations Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • Political, social and economic influences in development of federal labor relations laws; employee rights of self-organization; union and employer unfair labor practices; strikes, lockouts, boycotts, and collective bargaining processes; enforcement of collective agreements; individual rights of employees; federal preemption and state regulation.
  • LAW 956 – Entertainment Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • Role of law and lawyer in entertainment industry. Course content varies. Music industry: music copyright laws; artist/manager relationships; recording contract negotiations; industry labor unions; and performing right organizations.
  • LAW 990 – Sports Law
  • LAW 866 – Environmental Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • Study, through methods of public policy analysis, of responses of legal system to environmental problems: environmental regulation and its alternatives; Clean Air Act; Clean Water Act; National Environmental Policy Act; Endangered Species Act; Superfund; and selected regulatory issues.
  • LAW 867 – Environmental Law Seminar – 2 Credit Hours
    • Selected topics in environmental law.

  • LAW 990 – Energy, Regulation, & Sustainability
  • LAW 990 – Nuclear Law

 

  • LAW 937 – Estate Planning Seminar – 2 Credit hours
    • After a brief consideration of the ethical conflicts that can occur in the estate planning process, the course will focus on drafting two legal documents commonly used in planning for clients with taxable estates, the life insurance trust and the will (the latter employing the Federal Estate and Gift Tax Unified Credit and marital deduction). Class time will be spent on understanding the provisions of these instruments, including the possible interaction of certain clauses. Students are then required to assemble the articles and clauses studied in class into a finished work product and to draft letters to the client and fiduciaries explaining the legal documents. Will seek to simulate the production of legal documents as is typically expected of a beginning lawyer in an established trusts and estates practice, with emphasis on a polished work product, including appropriate communications with clients. Satisfies planning and drafting requirement.
      Grading Restriction: Numeric grading (JD students); A-F grading (other graduate students).
      (RE) Prerequisite(s): 935.
      Recommended Background: 818.
      Comment(s): Limited enrollment.
      Registration Restriction(s): JD students; other graduate students with instructor permission.
  • LAW 862 – Family Law – 3 credit hours
    • Survey of laws affecting formal and informal family relationships: premarital disputes; ante nuptial contracts; creation of common law and formal marriage; legal effects of marriage; support obligations within family; legal separation, annulment, divorce, alimony, and property settlements; child custody and child support; abortion; illegitimacy.
  • LAW 935 – Wills & Trusts – 3 credit hours
    • Gifts; will substitutes; nature, creation, termination and modification of trusts; intestate succession; execution, revocation, probate and contest of wills; statutory protections against disinheritance; and introduction to powers of appointment, basic problems of will construction, powers of attorney, and planning for disability and death.
  • LAW 992 – Field Placement – 1-4 Credit Hours
    • Supervised fieldwork, overseen by full-time faculty, in professional placement selected by student and faculty and structured to maximize the experiential learning of the participating student. Students are required to submit a weekly journal describing and analyzing the experience, and to meet regularly with the supervising faculty member.
  • LAW 949 – Judicial Externship – 4 Credit Hours
    • In this externship, students work as judicial clerks for various state, federal, and administrative law judges. Students are supervised by a faculty supervisor and their assigned judge or judges. After an intensive orientation period in which students discuss jurisdiction and structure of the courts, judicial process, judicial ethics, and judicial writing, students are introduced to the courtroom experience from the perspective of the judge. Will engage in courtroom observations, which are followed by discussions with the judge and conduct legal research and draft memoranda, opinions, and orders at the judge’s request.
      Credit Restriction: May not be taken concurrently with 905, 947, or 948.
      Corequisite(s): 814.
      Comment(s): Third-year standing required; second-semester second-year students may be eligible by waiver, space permitting.
  • LAW 947 – Prosecution Externship – 6 Credit Hours
    • Supervised fieldwork requiring substantial responsibility for the prosecution of criminal cases in state or federal courts. Externship students will attend classes about practical lawyering skills and state and federal practice, procedure, and substantive criminal law. Each student will work under the direct supervision of a full-time, experienced prosecutor as well as other professional prosecutors in the office. May assist in the investigation of crimes, the interview and preparation of witnesses, drafting of relevant documents, negotiation and formal presentation of guilty pleas, presentation of cases to the grand jury and representation of the government in preliminary hearings or trials.
      Credit Restriction: May not be taken concurrently with 905, 948, or 949. May not be taken if student has previously taken 948.
      Prerequisite(s): 813.
      Corequisite(s): 814.
      Comment(s): Third-year standing required; second-semester second-year students may be eligible by waiver, space permitting.
  • LAW 948 – Public Defender Externship – 6 Credit Hours
    • Supervised fieldwork requiring students to practice as a public defender and to assume substantial responsibility for the defense of criminal cases in state or federal courts. Externship students will attend classes about practical lawyering skills and state and federal practice, procedure, and substantive criminal law. Each student will work under the direct supervision of a full-time, experienced public defender as well as other public defenders in the office. Students may assist in the investigation of crimes, the interview and preparation of witnesses, drafting of relevant documents, negotiation and formal presentation of guilty pleas, and representation of the accused in preliminary hearings or trials.
      Credit Restriction: May not be taken concurrently with 905, 947, or 949. May not be taken if student has previously taken 947.
      Prerequisite(s): 813.
      Corequisite(s): 814.
      Comment(s): Third-year standing required; second-semester second-year students may be eligible by waiver, space permitting.
  • LAW 982 – Semester in Residence – 9-11 Credit Hours
    • Student engages in supervised legal work in a professional placement approved by the program’s supervising faculty member. The student, supervising faculty member, and an onsite attorney supervisor will structure the placement to maximize opportunities for the student to achieve career goals and develop knowledge, skills, and professionalism needed in law practice. The student will regularly interact with and receive feedback from the supervising faculty member and onsite attorney supervisor. In addition to enrolling in this course, student must also enroll in Semester in Residence Seminar during the same semester.
      Prerequisite(s): 814.
      Corequisite(s): 983.
      Comment(s): May not be taken concurrently with 905, 947, 948, or 949.
      Registration Restriction(s): Third-year law students only.
  • LAW 983 – Semester in Residence Seminar – 1-2 Credit Hours
    • This seminar is taken by all students while enrolled in the Semester in Residence program. In this seminar, students will develop their knowledge of legal doctrine, lawyering skills, and professional values needed to succeed in practice, with a particular focus on the practice areas in which students are working in their Semester in Residence placements. Assignments to be completed in this Seminar include (but are not limited to) a statement of goals for the Semester in Residence placement, a weekly time sheet, and a weekly journal entry discussing the experience and evaluating the student’s own progress toward meeting the goals of the placement.
      Prerequisite(s): 814.
      Corequisite(s): 982.
      Comment(s): May not be taken concurrently with 905, 947, 948, or 949.
      Registration Restriction(s): Third-year law students only.
  • LAW 962 – Bioethics & Public Health Law Seminar – 3 Credit Hours
    • Course examines the interaction of ethics, medicine and law. Topics vary from year to year, but will focus on Bioethics topics including: defining death; “the right to die” and doctor- assisted suicide; informed consent; defining life; human reproduction, including abortion, sterilization, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, surrogacy, and genetic screening; access to advanced technology; and Public Health Law topics including: the right to health; community health and health disparities; state power and interventions; disease control and chronic disease management; organ donation; health emergencies; and vaccination policy.
  • LAW 965 – Global Public Health Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • Surveys the international public health institutions and the legal framework that impact cross-border health issues.  This course focuses on governance and management of public health issues against the backdrop of the globalization of the world’s economies, cultures, production systems, transnational policies, and increasingly shared environment. This class also examines the significant international legal documents in the context of a number of case studies.
  • LAW 963 – Health Law Finance & Organization – 3 Credit Hours
    • Course gives students an understanding of the organization and financing of health care entities and services within the United States. The major issues explored are (1) the structure of the health care system, including professional relationships, governance issues, and organizational models, (2) the financing of medical care through private insurance and public programs, and (3) access to care in the United States. Topics of coverage will likely include Medicare and Medicaid, private insurance, the Affordable Care Act, ERISA, institutional relationships between entities and providers, antitrust issues, organizational governance and structure, tax issues, and an introduction to fraud and abuse compliance.
  • LAW 966 – Health Care Fraud and Abuse – 2-3 Credit Hours
    • The complex business of health care finance and delivery is increasingly structured by reference to an array of federal regulatory and statutory requirements. Attorneys reviewing relationships among the providers and between providers and payors must be familiar with a number of anti-fraud laws, including the anti-kickback laws, the False Claims Act, and the Stark Law. Examines the application of those laws as they apply to providers; particularly in the context of commercial relationships, regulatory reviews, and criminal investigations and prosecutions. It also will examine the burgeoning areas of provider compliance programs, the use of settlements as enforcement mechanisms, and the changes brought about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
  • LAW 964 – Health Law Regulation & Quality – 3 Credit Hours
    • Course gives students an understanding of the extensive regulatory framework that ensures the quality of American health care. This framework primarily governs the standards of care of both physicians and organizations. Topics of coverage will likely include EMTALA and other legal obligations to provide care, privacy regulations and HIPAA, physician licensing, discipline, and malpractice, informed consent, hospital and managed care liability, other state efforts to regulate health care entities and providers, and rules governing pharmaceutical and device companies.
  • LAW 990 – Immigration Law
  • LAW 990 – Asylum Law
  • LAW 954 – Copyright Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • Considers copyright theory, doctrine, and practice and how the law is changing in response to globalization and advances in information technology. Topics include the subject matter of the copyright, the exclusive rights provided by the Copyright Act, substantive and procedural aspects of infringement actions, and remedies. Satisfies expository writing requirement.
  • LAW 959 – Intellectual Property – 3 Credit Hours
    • Intellectual property and related interests under federal and state law: patents; trademarks; trade secrets; copyright; right of publicity; unfair competition.
  • LAW 990 – Intellectual Property Litigation
  • LAW 889 – International Intellectual Property Law – Credit Hours
    • Intellectual property is increasingly becoming an area of global concern, and practitioners in both intellectual property law and international law need to know how the system operates. Explores the international intellectual property systems, including the various international agreements and institutions as they relate to copyrights, patents, and trademarks, plus some important related doctrines. It also explores some comparative aspects of how these various intellectual property rights are implemented in different countries.
  • LAW – 955 – Patent Law – Credit Hours
    • Covers the major aspects of patent law, primarily as applied in the U.S. Patentability, including patentable subject matter, utility, enablement and written description, novelty, and nonobviousness; infringement; ownership and licensing; and remedies. Emphasizes essential legal principles, useful as background for non-patent lawyers and as a foundation for patent lawyers.
      Recommended Background: Intellectual property course.
      Comment(s): Science or engineering background not required.
  • LAW 961 – Patent Prosecution – 2 Credit Hours
    • Teaches fundamental skills for patent lawyers. Will focus on translating an invention disclosure into the highly specialized language of a patent claim, which requires an understanding of the invention, the prevailing case law, and the patent examination process, as well as an understanding of the scrutiny to which a claim is subjected during litigation. Covers the mechanics of drafting various types of claims and discussing their applicability in various situations, a survey of recent case law from the Federal Circuit that affect patent claim drafting, litigation and Markman claim construction hearings, and the basics of prosecution before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Will have several short written projects, which will include a client interview summary, various exercises describing and/or claiming different inventions, responses to rejections from the Patent & Trademark Office, and written critiques of exemplary claims. These preliminary projects will build up to the final projects, which will be the drafting of a complete patent application.
      Corequisite(s): 955.
  • LAW 958 – Trademark Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • Trademark law is of increasing importance in the modern economy, and this course is designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to trademark law and its changing role in the modern economy. Specifically, the course will examine the theoretical underpinnings of the common-law, statutory, and treaty-based trademark regimes; the rules and strategies for selecting and protecting trade names, trademarks, service marks, trade dress, product configuration, and domain names.; the procedures for registering marks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; and the intersection of trademarks and the law of competition. Throughout the course, we will consider how trademark law mediates the sometimes-competing interests of consumers and brand owners. The major topics are the creation and acquisition of trademark rights (distinctiveness, functionality, use, and registration) and the scope and enforcement of trademark rights (geographic limits, theories of trademark liability, permissible use, and false advertising), with additional attention to internet-related issues like domain name disputes and anti-cybersquatting laws.
  • LAW 890 – European Union Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • Seminar course introduces students to the EU’s burgeoning legal and constitutional processes by exploring “next generation” issues, including the status of fundamental human rights in the EU, the division of powers between member states and the Union, and the EU’s role within the international system, particularly as it relates to questions of foreign policy, security, and development. A survey of the history and evolution of the EU will provide students with a critical understanding of key EU institutions, including relevant treaties, chargers, and decision. Will analyze substantive thematic issue areas, including free movement and other rights related to freedom, security and justice, common foreign and security policy, and EU institution-member state-international community relations. Primary texts, including Court of Justice jurisprudence and other EU institution resolutions and decisions will be considered, as well as the role of other European agencies, and how they interrelate to the primary institutions.
      Grading Restriction: Numeric grading (JD students); A-F grading (other graduate students).
      Registration Restriction(s): JD students; other graduate students with instructor permission.
  • LAW 990 – International Bankruptcy
  • LAW 892 – International Human Rights Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • Examines the norms, institutions, and application of key international and regional human rights regimes. The substance and procedure of the United Nations human rights system (treaty and non-treaty-based mechanisms) and regional human rights systems, including the European, Inter-American, and African systems, will be explored in detail, as well as other treaties and mechanisms related to the development and protection of human rights. Specific topics include individual and group rights, political and economic/cultural rights, the interaction between human rights and trade, globalization, and the war on terror.
  • LAW 886 – International Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • Seminar course introduces the laws, norms, institutions, and procedures that regulate state interactions on the international level. As part of this introduction, students will consider how international law sources, including customary and treaty law, operate in the context of the U.S. Constitution. Various themes to be explored include: state sovereignty, human rights, the law of war and use of force, law of the sea, trade, the environment, and the adjudication and arbitration of international disputes.
  • LAW 884 – Lawyers as Leaders – 2 Credit Hours
    • Designed to help students succeed as new entrants into the legal profession. Topics will include professional leadership, law firm management, bar association service, public service, practical ethics, redefining success, and leaving an enduring legacy. Classes will involve prominent guest speakers and discussion, supplemented with relevant readings. Grading will be based on class participation, three reflection papers, in class exercises, and a professional development plan.
  • LAW 885 – Thriving as a Lawyer – 2 Credit Hours
    • Helps students recognize likely pitfalls in the practice of law, helps students identify and encourage positive changes now that will increase the likelihood of thriving in the legal profession later, prepares students to teach their future colleagues about attorney wellbeing (and the negative effects resulting from a lack of it), and arms students with the scientific theory and research data to support their own practical suggestions for positive changes among our legal institutions.
  • LAW 990 – The Role of General Counsel
  • LAW 873 – American Legal History – 3 Credit Hours
    • Selected topics in American legal history.
  • LAW 877 – Jurisprudence – 3 Credit Hours
    • Critical or comparative examination of legal theories, concepts, and problems: legal positivism; natural law theory; legal realism; idealism; historical jurisprudence; utilitarianism; Kantianism; sociological jurisprudence; policy science; and critical studies.
  • LAW 874 – Re-Examining the Constitution – 3 Credit Hours
    • Why do many Americans revere the Constitution while at the same time dislike the current political system, as if there were no connection between the two? If you could modify the constitutional order in the U.S., how would you do it? In this class, will examine these questions through an in-depth study of framing era documents to better understand why the Constitution was created and the forms of government it was designed to establish. As this class meets the expository requirement for graduation, it is structed to assist you in creating your own original work of scholarship that addresses a current question of constitutional importance.
      Corequisite(s): 812.
  • LAW 815 – Legal Research – 1 Credit Hours
    • Basics of court systems and structures and how they relate to legal sources; types of authorities and their use in the research process; formulation of research plans; basics of researching statutes, cases, and regulations; use of tools for research including indexes, digests, and keyword searching; expanding and updating research; and appropriate use of citations.
  • LAW 824 – Advanced Legal Research – 2 Credit Hours
    • Offers students experience using and comparing a broad range of legal research tools, focusing on digital sources of information, but including print sources and how various sources or formats might be integrated together into a legal research process. Research strategies will also be examined as a component of the course. Primary authorities will be reviewed and non-traditional and traditional secondary authorities will be examined. Students will learn to evaluate research options and strategies, and make efficient and effective choices that best suit a particular legal research situation.
  • LAW 990 – Advanced Legal Research: Administrative Law
  • LAW 822 – Legislation – 3 Credit Hours
    • Interpretation and drafting of statutes, legislative process, and legislative power; comparison of judicial views on legislative process with both realities of legislative process and applicable constitutional principles.
  • LAW 821 – Administrative Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • Administrative agency decision-making processes and judicial review of administrative decisions: procedural standards for informal and formal administrative adjudication and rule-making (attention to federal Administrative Procedure Act); constitutional due process standards in administrative settings; and availability, scope and timing of judicial review of agency actions.
  • LAW 943 – Land Use Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • Private land use controls: nuisance, easements, real covenants, equitable servitude and home owner associations; public land use controls: zoning, subdivision controls, eminent domain, and regulatory takings.
  • LAW 940 – Real Estate Finance Law – 3 Credit Hours
    • Financing devices: mortgages, deeds of trust and land contracts; problems of priorities; transfer of secured interests when debt assumed or taken subject to security interest; default, exercise of equity of redemption and/or statutory right of redemption; mechanics’ and material men’s liens; contemporary developments in areas as condominiums, cooperatives, housing subdivisions, and shopping centers.
  • LAW 941 – Real Estate Transactions Seminar – 2 or 3 Credit Hours
    • Simulated representation of some of the various parties – sellers, buyers, real estate agents, tenants, acquisition lenders, construction lenders, permanent lenders, architects, contractors, subcontractors, consultants, and others – in the acquisition, financing, development, refinancing, leasing, or other use of real estate. Negotiation and drafting of some of the documents that are central to large real estate transactions.
      Prerequisite(s): 940.
  • LAW 942 – Title Law – 1 Credit Hour
    • A practical course in the practice of real property and title law, with special emphasis on drafting documents, searching title to real property, preparation of title opinions, issuing title insurance, reading surveys and drafting legal descriptions, and conducting escrow closings. Will gain a working knowledge of handling a real estate transaction from inception to completion, including the issuance of title insurance. Will engage in closing simulations.
  • LAW 984 – Family and Privacy Seminar – 2-3 Credit Hours
    • Explores various topics related to family and privacy rights. Topics may include adoption, termination of parental rights, marriage and divorce, education (public school, private school, homeschool), reproductive rights, childrearing (including the right to make medical decisions and investigations of child abuse or neglect), poverty and government assistance.
  • LAW 984 – Federal Indian Law – 2-3 Credit Hours
    • Course provides students with an understanding of the foundational doctrine, history, and current trends in Federal Indian law. Using a mix of case law, secondary sources, and newspaper articles, students are given the tools they need to identify and to analyze issues related to Federal Indian law in their legal practice.
  • LAW 883 – Images of the Law – 2 Credit Hours
    • The way lawyers and legal institutions are portrayed in popular media has important implications for litigants, juries, lawmakers, and lawyers. This seminar will look at portrayals of law and the legal profession in television and film, and discuss how those do – and do not – match institutions in the real world, as well as how they influence behavior among both lawyers and non-lawyers. Satisfies the perspective requirement.
  • LAW 875 – The Jury System – 2 Credit Hours
    • Study of the Anglo – American jury. Consideration will be given to the history of the jury; the constitutional provisions governing trial by jury; current issues, including jury nullification, use of the jury in complex cases, and “jury reform”; and depictions of the jury in popular culture. Satisfies the perspective requirement.
  • LAW 881 – Law & Literature – 3 Credit Hours
    • Reading literary works, development of philosophy and reading technique applicable to both law and life.
  • LAW 893 – The Law of Outer Space – 2 Credit Hours
    • Seminar examining the law of outer space, both from an international standpoint (chiefly treaties such as the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, the Liability Convention, etc.) and from a domestic standpoint (chiefly domestic regulatory law as embodied in the Commercial Space Launch Act as amended, and regulations administered by the FAA, Department of Commerce, etc.).
  • LAW 990 – Law of Distilled Spirits
  • LAW 818 – Fundamental Concepts of Income Taxation – 3 Credit Hours
    • Introduction to basic statutory analysis, fundamental principles of federal individual income tax, and pervasive income tax concerns that arise in practice. Federal concept of gross income, pattern of exclusions, exemptions and deductions from gross income used to arrive at tax base; special treatment of capital gains and losses; and rate structure.
  • LAW 972 – Income Taxation of Business Organizations – 3 Credit Hours
    • Survey and comparative analysis of federal patterns of income taxation of partnerships, subchapter C corporations, subchapter S corporations, and limited liability companies; introduction to transactional analysis and business planning. Required written exercises: drafting of portions of partnership agreements, opinion letters, and legal memoranda.
      Prerequisite(s): 818.
  • LAW 990 – State and Local Taxation
  • LAW 974 – Tax Procedure and Practice
  • LAW 975 – Tax Theory – 3 Credit Hours
    • Method and purposes of governmental revenue collection through examination of economic and political theory; comparative analysis of various actual and proposed patterns of taxation: income tax, consumption tax, sales tax, and value-added tax. Required preparation of expository essay on aspect of tax theory chosen by student.
  • LAW 819 – Taxation of Real Property Interests – 3 Credit Hours
    • Surveys the federal income tax issues relating to the sale, exchange, and ownership of real property interests. Among other topics, the course considers methods of accounting, asset depreciation and recapture, the passive activity and at risk rules, and the treatment of installment sales and like-kind exchanges.
      Prerequisite(s): 818.
  • LAW 978 – Transactional Tax Planning – 3 Credit Hours
    • Advanced study of taxation of business organizations: tax treatment of business acquisitions, tax planning for financially troubled entities, and review of recent transactions involving cutting-edge tax planning and shaping changes in law.
      Prerequisite(s): 818 and 972.
  • LAW 990 – Access to Justice Lab
  • LAW 930 – Ediscovery – 3 Credit Hours
    • Introduces students to electronic discovery (ediscovery) in civil litigation. Students will handle every aspect of ediscovery in a simulated case, including participating in a 26(f) conference, drafting and responding to discovery requests, preparing a privilege log, and conducting a document review using ediscovery software. Students will study recent ediscovery cases and other developments in the law. Members of the bench and bar will sometimes participate in class discussions. Each student will make a presentation in which the student will propose a solution to an emerging problem in ediscovery practice. Students must have a laptop computer or other device that meets the requirements necessary to operate the ediscovery software used in the simulated case. (These requirements will be communicated at registration).
      Prerequisite(s): 921.
  • LAW 960 – Internet & Information Privacy Law Seminar – 2 Credit Hours
    • In today’s global digital economy, companies and governments are collecting, storing, and sharing more information on consumers than ever before. In our Information Age of the Internet, smart phones, and smart grids, companies and governments can use the rich data to innovate and address consumers’ needs. But as the collection, storage, and use of consumer information increased, so too privacy concerns have increased. This seminar examines an individual’s right to control his or her personal information held by others. The seminar explores how different types of law seek to address threats to information privacy as new technologies and new institutional practices emerge. The seminar traces through U.S. Constitutional, tort, contract, and statutory law the extent to which citizens’ expectations of privacy are translated into a right to information privacy. The seminar will also consider the feasibility of other jurisdictions’ privacy initiatives, of self-regulatory measures, and of economic market forces to address information privacy concerns.
  • LAW 931 – Social Media Discovery – 3 Credit Hours
    • Examines the discoverability of social media data in pretrial civil litigation, including the different approaches courts take to discovery of content posted to platforms like Facebook or Snapchat. Will also explore the privacy issues involved, the ethical constraints on attorney conduct, and the impact social media has on the litigation process. In addition to learning more about the law of discovery, students in this simulation course will represent a mock client, correspond with opposing counsel, draft and serve discovery requests, and, for the final project, prepare a complete pretrial motion.
  • LAW 932 – Law Practice Technology – 2 Credit Hours
    • Covers the ethical duties surrounding the use of technology in a legal setting. Specific topics include, but are not limited to: ethical obligations surrounding the use of technology; cybersecurity; practice management software; word processing software and other production tools; electronic discovery; information literacy; advanced legal research strategies; and courtroom technology.
  • LAW 957 – Law, Science and Technology – 3 Credit Hours
    • Legal implications of advanced technologies; adaptation of law to challenges posed by new kinds of knowledge and new ways of doing things. Biotechnology, regulation of scientific research, space law, legal issues relating to new information technologies, nanotechnologies, and others designated by instructor.