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Search and explore Duke Law's wide variety of courses that comprise nearly every area of legal theory and practice. Contact the Director of Academic Advising to confirm whether a course satisfies a graduation requirement in any particular semester.

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NOTE: Course offerings change. Faculty leaves and sabbaticals, as well as other curriculum considerations, will sometimes affect when a course may be offered.

JD/LLM in International & Comparative Law

JD/LLM in Law & Entrepreneurship

International LLM - 1 year

Certificate in Public interest and Public Service Law

Areas of Study & Practice

Clear all filters 136 courses found.
Number Course Title Credits Degree Requirements Semesters Taught Methods of Evaluation

130

Contracts 4.5
  • JD 1L
  • IntlLLM NY Bar
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam
  • Class participation

An examination of the formation and legal operations of contracts, their assignment, their significance to third parties, and their relationship to restitution and commercial law developments; the variety, scope, and limitations on remedies; and the policies, jurisprudence, and historical development of promissory liability.

200

Administrative Law 3
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM NY Bar
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Environ Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam

A study of the legal framework governing administrative agencies under the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act, with a particular focus on agency rulemaking and adjudication; Presidential power; Congressional control of agencies through statutes and other mechanisms of oversight; and judicial review of agency actions.

202

Art Law 2
  • JD SRWP, option
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM writing
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Final Exam, option
  • Research paper option, 25+ pages
  • Class participation

This course will cover a number of intersections between the law and the people and institutions who constitute the world of the visual arts, including artists, museums, collectors, dealers, and auctioneers. The course will also cover non-legal material geared to shaping practices of art market participants, such as codes and guidelines adopted by art-museum associations, as well as some relevant literature from other academic disciplines. Specific topics will include: (1) contexts in which a legal institution must determine whether a particular object is a work of "art" or art of a particular type; (2) artists' rights, including statutory and non-statutory moral rights and resale rights; (3) problems of authenticity; (4) the legal rights and duties of auctioneers, art dealers, and other intermediaries; (5) the legal structure of art museums, including issues of internal management and governance; (6) stolen art, including objects looted during World War II; and (7) developments in law and industry practice relevant to "cultural heritage," the association of particular objects with particular places or societies.

Students will be required to participate in class discussions, and will have the option of writing a 25-30-page research paper OR taking a take-home exam. Paper topics must be approved by the instructor, who will be glad to make suggestions (some of which will involve local field research).

There are no prerequisites for the course. Although some background in intellectual property (copyright and trademark law) would be helpful, none is required. A set of readings will be distributed prior to the first meeting of the class. Before then, a complete updated syllabus will be posted.

203

Business Strategy for Lawyers 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) required
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Final Exam
  • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 5-10 pages
  • Class participation

This course presents the fundamentals of business strategy to a legal audience. The course is designed to introduce a wide variety of modern strategy frameworks and methodologies, including methods for assessing the strength of competition, for understanding relative bargaining power, for anticipating competitors' actions, for analyzing cost and value structures, and for assessing the potential for firm growth through innovation. Although the case studies will span a variety of different industries, there will be an emphasis on high technology firms. The ideas in this course have relevance to anyone seeking to manage a law firm, advise business clients, engage in entrepreneurship, or lead a large company.

The class sessions include mainly case discussions coupled with some traditional lectures. The lecture topics and analytical frameworks are drawn from MBA curriculums at leading business schools. The cases are selected primarily for their business strategy content and secondarily for their legal interest. We will be hosting a number of general counsels who will discuss the GC's role in the strategies of their own companies.

Students enrolled in Business Strategy must (a) have previously taken or be concurrently enrolled in Analytical Methods OR (b) have taken an undergraduate course in economics. Students that currently hold an MBA or are enrolled in the JD-MBA program may not take this course. THIS IS A FAST TRACK COURSE.

205

Antitrust 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam

This course covers the fundamentals of United States antitrust law as well as the underlying legal and economic theory. Topics include (i) horizontal restraints of trade such as cartels, oligopolies, and joint ventures; (ii) monopolization and the conduct of dominant firms; (iii) vertical restraints of trade between suppliers and customers such as resale price maintenance, territorial and customer restrictions, tying arrangements, exclusive dealing contracts, bundled and loyalty pricing; (iv) mergers; and (v) the intersection between antitrust and other areas of law, such as procedure, intellectual property, and the First Amendment.

A final exam will be offered.

206

International Arbitration 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Final Exam

In today's global economy, parties to cross-border commercial transactions increasingly choose to resolve their disputes through arbitration. This course introduces students to the law and practice of international arbitration. Among other things, the course will consider the formation and enforcement of arbitration agreements; the conduct of arbitral proceedings; the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards; the international conventions, national laws, and institutional arbitration rules that govern the arbitral process and the enforcement of arbitration agreements and awards; the strategic issues that arise in the course of international arbitration proceedings; and the practical benefits (and disadvantages) of arbitration.

207

Sports and the Law 3
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Final Exam

Sports occupies a central place in modern society. It constitutes a significant sector in the economy and an important form of cultural expression. This course examines the legal relations among the various parties in sports at both the professional and amateur levels. Particular attention will be given to the importance given to the maintenance of competitive balance and its impact on traditional notions of competition that apply in other business settings. Contracts law, antitrust law, and labor law provide the essential core for the investigation of issues in this course. In addition, this course seeks to provide an informed perspective on the financial and business structures that define the industry.

210

Business Associations 4
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) required
  • IntlLLM NY Bar
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam

This course surveys the law providing ground rules for the organization, internal governance, and financing of corporations and other forms of business associations such as partnerships and limited liability companies. Topics include limited liability, fiduciary duties, shareholder voting, derivative suits, control transactions, mergers and acquisitions, public contests, and trading. The emphasis throughout is on the functional analysis of legal rules as one set of constraints on business associations, among others.

231

Ethics in Action: Large Law Firm Practice 2
  • JD elective
  • JD ethics
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM NY Bar
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Simulated Writing, Litigation
  • Group project(s)
  • Oral presentation
  • Practical exercises
  • Class participation

Large, multi-jurisdictional law firms face complex issues of regulation and professionalism. Managing and solving those issues require high-level analytical, written, and presentation skills. As in practice, quality written analysis will be paramount, and students will need to perform individually as well as working together with a team.

235

Environmental Law 3
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Environ Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam
  • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 5-10 pages
  • Class participation

This course examines the laws governing interactions between human activities and the environment.  These include the laws governing the air, water, toxic chemicals, hazardous waste, resource use, biodiversity and ecosystems, and climate change.  The course focuses on the U.S. legal system, with some comparative analysis of the law in other countries and international regimes.  The course assesses key features of these environmental laws, including the rationales for environmental protection (e.g. ethical, economic); the choice of regulatory policy instruments (e.g. standards, taxes, trading, information disclosure); and the roles of different levels of government (e.g. local, state, national, international), branches of government (e.g. legislative, executive/administrative, judicial), and non-governmental actors.  We will study how these laws handle key questions such as:  (i) How serious a problem is it?  (ii) How much protection is desirable, overall and regarding distributional impacts?  (iii) How best to achieve this protection?  (iv) Who decides and acts upon these questions?  The course helps develop critical skills including statutory and regulatory interpretation, regulatory design, policy analysis, case law analysis, and litigation strategy.   This course, Law 235, is intended for professional and graduate students, and is also cross-listed as Environ 835 in the Nicholas School of the Environment.  Law students (e.g. JD, LLM, SJD) should enroll in Law 235, while students from outside the Law School (e.g. MEM, MPP, MBA, MA, PhD) should enroll in Environ 835, and may contact the Nicholas School registrar, Erika Lovelace, e.love@duke.edu , with any questions about enrollment.  (The Law School and the professor teaching this course do not have “permission numbers.”)  For undergraduate students, the Nicholas School offers a different course, Environ 265.

238

Ethics and the Law of Lawyering 2
  • JD elective
  • JD ethics
  • IntlLLM NY Bar
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam
  • Reflective Writing
  • Practical exercises
  • Class participation

This course examines in detail the "law of lawyering" relating to such issues as the formation of the attorney-client relationship, confidentiality, communications with clients, conflicts of interest, regulation and discipline of attorneys, and numerous other areas relating to the lawyer's role in American society. In addressing these issues, we will consider the extent to which the law governing lawyers derives from the concept of a learned profession, as well as the degree to which the ethics of lawyering may differ from personal ethics and morality. While particular attention will be paid to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, the class will also examine other sources of relevant law, including the Restatement (Third) of the Law Governing Lawyers, court decisions and rules, statutes, and administrative regulations.  Grading is based on a final examination, written work relating to casebook problems and reflections on current issues in legal ethics, and class participation.

 

240

Ethics and Professional Responsibility 3
  • JD ethics
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • Fall 22
  • Final Exam

Professional Responsibility (3 credits) takes an in-depth view of ethical issues relating to the practice of law that are confronting the legal profession. The course studies the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct (“Model Rules”), relevant cases, and other sources of authority that govern the conduct of lawyers. The objective for this course is to develop an understanding of the field of the laws governing lawyers. The primary goal of this class is to give you experience applying the Model Rules and other pertinent laws to various factual scenarios (both real and hypothetical) so that when ethical issues arise during the course of law practice (and they will!), you are able to identify them and reflect on whether you need to adjust your behavior to ensure compliance with your professional obligations. This is a survey course, so we will learn a little about various sources of the law governing lawyers, but we will not focus deeply on any particular concept. The primary method of assessment will be an in-class examination at the conclusion of the semester.

244

The Business and Economics of Law Firms 1
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM NY Bar
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Reflective Writing
  • Group project(s)
  • Practical exercises
  • Class participation

This course will provide students with an enhanced and vital understanding of law firms as business entities in a competitive and global market. Based on feedback from employers, interviews with hundreds of lawyers and published accounts from law firm leaders, it is clear that technical legal ability will be necessary but not sufficient to excel in the practice of law or any business endeavor in coming decades. The topics will be explored through the review and analysis of literature, statutes, and case studies, and will include a basic financial analysis of the operations of law firms. Assignments will be collaborative and will simulate the client advisory process allowing students to gain experience providing legal advice and business recommendations. Associate Dean and Senior Lecturing Fellow Bruce Elvin will lead and organize the seminar, with senior law and business leaders serving as guest lecturers many weeks.

255

Federal Income Taxation 4
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam

An introduction to federal income taxation, with emphasis on the determination of income subject to taxation, deductions in computing taxable income, the proper time period for reporting income and deductions, and the proper taxpayer on which to impose the tax

In planning their course schedules, students should keep in mind that Federal Income Taxation is a prerequisite for most other federal tax courses, including corporate tax, partnership tax, international tax, and the tax policy seminar.  For this reason, students who might want to take one or more advanced tax courses are strongly encouraged to take Federal Income Taxation during their second year of law school.

260

Financial Accounting 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Final Exam

Many attorneys are required to evaluate financial data, notably financial statements from corporations, on a regular basis. The need is not limited to corporate attorneys; indeed litigators in securities, antitrust, malpractice, or general commercial litigation frequently must analyze financial information. This course serves to both introduce basic accounting principles and practices and their relationship to the law, as well as to study a number of contemporary accounting problems relating to financial disclosure and the accountant's professional responsibility. Students with accounting degrees, MBAs or who have taken more than a couple of accounting courses are not permitted to enroll. Also, Business Essentials may not be taken concurrently with this course.

261

Financial Valuation 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 24
  • Group project(s)
  • Project(s)
  • Class participation

This class aims to prepare students to conduct financial valuation and to advise those doing so. Financial valuation techniques—interpretations of financial performance that allow one to assess value—are central to how investors allocate capital, how investment bankers advise companies, how risk is managed, how companies make strategic decisions, and many more parts of the business world. And the manner in which these analyses are conducted has critical implications for the legal work that follows. This class will make students critical consumers of financial analysis, preparing them to anticipate and address the legal consequences of analytical and strategic decisions. We will begin by establishing basic finance and accounting concepts necessary to understand the tools we will use throughout the course. Then we will turn to the standard valuation techniques that are now ubiquitous in the daily work of corporate advisors. Next, we will consider the financial and legal issues that arise in connection with an initial public offering. We will then turn to a second transactional type heavily depending on valuation analysis: a merger. Finally, we will close the course by giving extensive consideration to the finance, advisory, and legal implications of a leveraged buyout. The class employs a case study of current events, with the goal of giving students financial and legal fluency in the standard transactions that now comprise much corporate practice.

Students will be assessed on the basis of class participation, one individual and two group projects.

270

Intellectual Property 4
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) required
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam

This course provides an introduction to copyright, trademark, and (to a lesser extent) patent law and trade secrecy. It does not require a technical background of any kind.  The course begins with an introduction to some of the theoretical and practical problems which an intellectual property regime must attempt to resolve; during this section, basic concepts of the economics of information and of the First Amendment analysis of intellectual property rights will be examined through a number of case-studies. The class will then turn to the law of trademark, copyright, and patent with a particular emphasis on copyright, developing the basic doctrinal frameworks and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each. We will focus in particular on a number of areas where the theoretical tools developed at the beginning of the class can be applied to actual problems involving a full panoply of intellectual property rights; these areas include intellectual property on the Internet, the constitutional limits on intellectual property, and innovation, monopoly and competition in the technology sector. The overall theme of the course is that intellectual property is the legal form of the information age and thus that it is important not only for its enormous and increasing role in commercial life and legal practice, but also for its effects on technological innovation, democratic debate, and cultural formation. Much of our doctrinal work will be centered around a series of problems which help students build skills and learn the law in a highly interactive setting. You can also download the casebook for the class here – for free – to give you a sense of the topics that are covered. 

285

Labor Law 3
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam
  • Class participation

This course focuses primarily on the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which governs union organizing, collective bargaining, non-union collective action, and the exercise of economic pressure strategies by employees (e.g., strikes, pickets, boycotts). The NLRA also protects employees who resist or challenge unions.

The course is taught through a simulation in which the professor is the Chief Executive Officer of a company that produces labor law knowledge and employs students who are covered by the NLRA. Students/employees may organize and bargain with the owner over class rules and structure (e.g., content and grading). For instance, the course syllabus is described as an employment handbook that, among other things, states policies that may be the subject of collective bargaining between the professor/CEO and students/employees. In addition, some students may act as corporate counsel and aid the CEO in resisting union organizing and bargaining with the union. Students will not only learn substantive labor law, but also practice the area by, for instance, filing election petitions, filing unfair labor practice charges, raising election objections, appealing regional office decisions, and engaging in collective organizing and bargaining.

Students will be evaluated on the basis of an open-book exam, several papers and class participation.

287

Principles of Commercial and Bankruptcy Law 4
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM NY Bar
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Final Exam

This is an introduction to the principles and concepts of commercial law and bankruptcy and their interplay. It is intended to provide a solid conceptual and practical grounding in all of the basic commercial and bankruptcy law issues that you are likely to encounter in your practice.

The course starts with a brief overview of the more innovative aspects of sales law, and then introduces such basic commercial law concepts as negotiable instruments, letters of credit, funds transfers, and documents of title. The course then focuses on secured transactions under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), including the concepts of security interests, collateral, perfection and priority, and foreclosure. That brings in the natural interplay with such fundamental debtor-creditor aspects of bankruptcy law as property of a bankrupt debtor’s estate, automatic stay of foreclosure and enforcement actions, use by a debtor of property subject to a security interest and adequate protection of the secured party’s interest, rejection and acceptance of executory contracts, bankruptcy trustee’s avoiding powers including preferences and fraudulent conveyances, post-petition effect of a security interest, set-offs, and subordination. The course also introduces basic corporate reorganization and international insolvency principles.

 

288

Consumer Bankruptcy & Debt 2
  • JD SRWP, option
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM writing, option
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Reflective Writing
  • Research paper option, 25+ pages
  • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10-15 pages
  • Oral presentation
  • Class participation

This course uses consumer bankruptcy as a lens to study the role of consumer credit in the U.S. economy and society. The class will focus on the key aspects of the consumer bankruptcy system, including who files bankruptcy, what causes bankruptcy, the consequences of bankruptcy, and the operation of the bankruptcy system. We will discuss each of these issues in the larger context of consumer debt and consumer law, and will also cover the foreclosure crisis, student loans, and issues related to debt, race, and gender. The readings will come from law and non-law sources, including the work of a variety of social scientists.

Due to substantive overlap in material, students may not concurrently enroll in Law 288: Consumer Bankruptcy & Debt and Law 586: Current Debates in Bankruptcy Law. However, if you've taken one of the courses in a previous semester and wish to take the other, that will be permitted. Students may not enroll in both Law 288: Consumer Bankruptcy & Debt and Law 555: Law and Financial Anxiety without instructor permission. 

298

Ocean and Coastal Law and Policy 3
  • JD SRWP, option
  • JD elective
  • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM writing, option
  • IntlLLM Environ Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Reflective Writing
  • Research and/or analytical paper
  • Group project(s)
  • Oral presentation
  • Class participation

This course explores laws and policies that affect decisions on United States ocean and coastal resources. We examine statutes, regulations, attitudes, and cases that shape how the United States (and several states) use, manage, and protect the coasts and oceans out to – and sometimes beyond – the 200-mile limit of the Exclusive Economic Zone. We cover government and private approaches to coastal and ocean resources, including beaches, wetlands, estuaries, reefs, fisheries, endangered species, and special areas.

302

Appellate Courts 2
  • JD SRWP
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • PIPS elective
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Research paper, 25+ pages

This course will examine the practices and powers of American appellate courts, with a particular emphasis on the federal courts of appeals.  Our discussion will focus on the goals of these institutions and the extent to which individual components of the appellate decision-making process—including oral argument and opinion-writing—further those goals.

We will begin with an overview of the function of appellate courts—why they were created and what we expect of them today.  We will then move to the specific components of appellate adjudication, including mediation, briefing, oral argument, and judgment, as well as the personnel who contribute to the adjudication process.  Finally, we will consider the ways in which the appellate courts have been affected by an increasing caseload, and proposals for alleviating the strain on the courts.

Ultimately, the goal of the course is to expose you to how appellate courts operate and the purported goals of these institutions.  Over the course of the semester, you should also be evaluating what you think are the fundamental objectives of appellate review and whether the current structure of the courts allows them to meet those goals.

Evaluation in the course will be based on a final research paper, which may be used to satisfy the SRWP.

304

Big Bank Regulation 4
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 23
  • Final Exam

Banking has evolved rapidly in just a few years. Global trade and investment have been supported and promoted by an emerging global financial system. This has in turn encouraged the growth of giant universal banks, based in the United States, the United Kingdom, mainland Europe, China and Japan. Most modern banks of any significant size (greater than $100 billion in total assets) have transnational and often truly global operations, but they also create major new risks and regulatory challenges. The debate over big banks and "too big to fail" concerns continued to be an important public policy concern in the 2016 Presidential election campaign and is certain to be so for the 2020 election. Since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, the largest in a long run of domestic and international crises since the Great Depression of the 1930s, a new Dodd-Frank framework has been emerging. This framework has fundamentally changed the way in which such financial institutions are regulated. After more than a decade of reform, however, the framework remains controversial, at least in the United States, and executive and congressional efforts to reverse the Dodd-Frank and Basel models were deployed under the previous Administration, with some success. This controversy has now become more complicated in light of actions taken by the Treasury Department and the Fed to address financial and economic difficulties inflicted by COVID-19. Climate change is also starting to have a deep impact on financial markets, and this in turn is shaping some of the actions of regulators and banks. The walls between the three main sectors of finance - banking, securities and insurance - have broken down, yet at their core banks continue to be somewhat unique in their functions and the challenges they present for financial stability.

This course will review all the domestic and international regulatory developments since the Global Financial Crisis, focusing on the established and emerging regulatory architectures and systems, both domestic and international, currently proposed reforms, and future challenges and prospects for global and domestic financial reform. 

 

306

Corporate Crime 4
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Final Exam
  • Class participation

This course serves as an introduction to the field of corporate crime, which now covers a large realm of government and law firm practice. The course will give students a first exposure to: (1) the contemporary practice in federal government agencies and medium to large corporate law firms of investigating, sanctioning, and representing corporations and their managers and employees involved in potential criminal violations (and certain civil analogues), and the law that governs those processes; and (2) the debate in the public policy realm over whether, why, how, and when the criminal law should be applied in the corporate and business context.

This field is large, complex, and developing rapidly. This course therefore can cover only a selection of topics, and will emphasize policy and the need to confront gaps and uncertainty in doctrine. As there is no unitary body of black letter law in this field, students should not expect this to be that form of law course. Coverage is likely to include mail and wire fraud, perjury and obstruction of justice, securities fraud (including insider trading and accounting fraud), the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, corporate criminal liability, grand jury powers and procedure, representation of entities and individuals, the Fifth and Sixth Amendments in the corporate context, plea and settlement agreements, and sentencing.

The materials consist of a self-published text available in bound book form for approximately $30 through Amazon, or in pdf form at no charge from the course website. There may be occasional handouts. Assigned readings average 30 pages per class meeting, with less case law and more fact-based practice documents, problems, and commentary than with a typical case book. The grade will be based primarily on a floating take home exam, with some weight given to class participation.

307

Internet and Telecommunications Regulation 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 23
  • Final Exam
  • Class participation

This course will examine the regulation of technology, and specifically the technology of Internet and telecommunications. We will examine the possible application of antitrust law and more specific forms of regulation, and will consider pending policy proposals. We will also examine the constitutional (principally First Amendment) constraints on any such regulation.

316

Intro to Cyber Law and Policy 2
  • JD elective
  • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM writing, option
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Reflective Writing
  • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10-15 pages

This course will provide an introduction to the dynamic and evolving field of cyber law and policy.  The course will be team-taught by multiple instructors with expertise in various government and industry sectors. The goal is to introduce students to the legal and policy frameworks that guide lawyers and decision-makers in a world of rapid technological change, with a primary emphasis on cybersecurity and privacy. We will discuss today’s threat landscape and approaches to data breaches, cybercrime by state and non-state actors, and cyberwarfare. We will also consider the legal and policy issues surrounding the collection and use of personal data, with a focus on both domestic and international data privacy protections. Other topics will also be explored, such as the impact of emerging technologies and markets (e.g., machine learning, digital currencies, platform media) and the ethical responsibilities of lawyers. Real-world case studies will be employed to allow students to weigh in on some of the most pressing issues of our time.   This course is introductory in nature and no technical background is necessary.

Note: Students who have taken Law 609, Readings in Cyber Law with Stansbury, may not take Law 316, Intro to Cyber Law. 

319

Analytical Methods 2
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) required
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Final Exam
  • Practical exercises
  • Class participation

Lawyers face non-legal, analytical issues every day. Business lawyers need to understand a business in order to represent their client properly. Litigators need to judge the best route in adopting a litigation strategy. Family lawyers routinely need to value a business. Environmental lawyers need to understand economic externalities. Social lawyers need familiarity with financial instruments that have positive and negative attributes. Students taking this course will find it foundational in running a business, advising a business, or litigating business matters that go beyond the strict letter of the law. In this sense, this is not your standard doctrinal law school course. Rather, it is designed to give students the tools necessary to interact with the business community and run a company or firm.

The areas of focus include:

  • Decision Analysis, Games and Information: We will explore a standard technique that has been developed to organize thinking about decision-making problems and to solve them.
  • Accounting: Basic accounting concepts will be introduced, and the relationship between accounting information and economic reality will be examined.
  • Microeconomics: This unit presents basic economic concepts--the operation of competitive markets, imperfect competition, and market failures--that are necessary to this understanding.
  • Statistics and Artificial Intelligence: We will address the basic statistical methods, including regression analysis, as well as issues that commonly arise when statistics are used in the courtroom. We will also have a brief introduction to statistical learning, which forms the basis for machine learning and artificial intelligence.

This basic introductory survey course is aimed at students who have only a basic background in math (basic high school algebra) and may have majored in humanities and social science as an undergraduate.

320

Water Resources Law 2
  • JD SRWP
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM writing
  • IntlLLM Environ Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Research paper, 25+ pages

This survey course examines the legal and policy issues governing water quality and resource allocation in the United States. Students will be introduced to both the Prior Appropriation systems of the western United States and the Reasonable Use systems dominating the eastern states. We will study key laws that affect water quality and quantity, including the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and others.  Students will also explore emerging issues in water policy, including the regulation of "forever chemicals," protection of wetlands, and mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, among other policy issues.  Throughout the course, students will study how environmental justice relates to water resource management.

321

The Law and Policy of Innovation: the Life Sciences 3
  • JD SRWP
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM writing
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Reflective Writing
  • Research paper, 25+ pages
  • Class participation

This course analyzes the legal and policy regimes that shape the introduction of new products, processes, and services in the life science industries. Innovation in biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, health services, and health care delivery is central to the heavily regulated life sciences sector, and thus the sector offers a window into multiple intersections of scientific innovation, regulatory policy, and law.  Innovation in this sector is also shaped by multiple bodies of law (e.g. intellectual property law, FDA law, federal and state-based insurance and professional regulation, antitrust, tax), each with its own private and public constituencies, and therefore offers an opportunity to assess how different bodies of law approach the common issue of innovation.  Although this course focuses on innovation in the life science industries, this focus will produce lessons for innovation policy in other regulated and less-regulated industries. 

322

Copyright Law 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam

This is a comprehensive course in copyright law. We will examine the legal rights that cover works of creative expression such as literature, music, film, photography, visual art, and software. The class will cover some of the fundamental pillars of the world of creative expression in which we all live—the economic and legal architecture of our culture. This is because copyright’s rules provide the economic incentives that influence our creative output as well as part of the legal framework that shapes our communications technology. The broad impact of copyright law means that it is of importance to a wide range of legal practice and not merely to the specialist. No technical background is needed.

323

Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization 2
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Final Exam

The course will focus on the process by which a corporate debtor reorganizes under the provisions of Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. Prior familiarity with bankruptcy principles and debtor-creditor law is not required. These will be incorporated in the course as it unfolds. Some familiarity with business organization is helpful but not necessary.

The subject will be covered primarily from three perspectives: the underlying business and economic dynamics that lead both to the debtor's financial crisis and to its potential to rehabilitate through a plan of reorganization; the supervision of a debtor by the bankruptcy court; and the reality that virtually all commercial transactions and financial contracting occur in the “shadow” of bankruptcy law and its potential to alter rights and obligations.

Topics to be covered include historical, Constitutional, and policy issues underlying Chapter 11's provisions and goals; overview of basic business structures and transactions bearing on Chapter 11 reorganization; alternatives to avoid Chapter 11; the powers and oversight role of the bankruptcy court and the obligations and governance of a corporate debtor when under the protection of the bankruptcy court; the major phases of a Chapter 11 case from initial filing to consummation of a plan of reorganization (e.g., formulation of a business plan and the plan of reorganization, claims procedures and classification, plan disclosure and voting, plan confirmation, discharge, and consummation); recovery and disposition of assets in Chapter 11, including asset sales, and avoidance remedies; and numerous special topics encountered in Chapter 11 practice.

 

325

Corporate Finance 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Final Exam
  • Practical exercises
  • Class participation

This course is designed to familiarize law students with the principles of corporate finance. In the world of corporate finance, the distinction between lawyers and investment bankers has blurred. Whether negotiating a merger agreement, acquisition, or divestiture, rendering a fairness opinion, preparing for an appraisal hearing, litigating securities class action or derivative suits, issuing new securities, taking a firm private via an LBO or public via an IPO, corporate lawyers and investment bankers work side-by-side. Lawyers with an appreciation of the basics of corporate finance gain a distinct advantage. This course will also provide important tools for litigators to work with financial expert witnesses and calculate damages.

Topics include: the time value of money; the relation between risk and return; the workings and efficiency of capital markets; behavioral finance; valuing perpetuities and annuities; valuing corporate securities (stock, bonds, and options); valuing businesses as a going concern; optimal capital structure and dividend policies; debt covenants and other lender protections; derivatives; and the application of these principles to legal practice.

[This course serves as a prerequisite for Corporate Restructuring and Venture Capital and Private Equity, two courses offered at the Fuqua School of Business and cross-listed in the Law School.]

326

Corporate Taxation 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam
  • Class participation

A study of the provisions of the Internal Revenue code governing the tax effects of the major events that occur in the life span of a corporation, including the taxation of distributions to shareholders and the formation, reorganization, and liquidation of corporations.

No papers are required, but class participation is expected. Students interested in taxation should take this course; it also has application to general corporate practice (mergers and acquisitions).

It is strongly recommended that students take Business Associations before taking Corporate Taxation

Federal Income Taxation is a prerequisite (waivable at the discretion of the instructor for a student with a comparable tax background acquired in some other way).

327

Energy Law 3
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Environ Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Final Exam
  • Class participation

The course will examine the legal framework governing energy production and consumption in the United States, and policy approaches for balancing energy needs with other societal goals. The course will include three main modules: (1) electricity sector regulation; (2) energy resources for electricity generation; and (3) oil and gas law. Key themes will include:

(1) The historic origins of public utility regulation;
(2) The major U.S. laws that govern energy production and use;
(3) The distinct roles of the federal and state governments; and
(4) Efforts to manage competing societal interests

Final grades will be comprised of the following:

  1. Final exam, open book/open note one day exam:
  2. Case study discussion leader: 
  3. Class participation and current events: 

The case study will be a group project where students will be assigned a case study. The group will lead the class discussion and exercise on the case study. In addition, each student in the group will prepare a 3-page policy brief that advocates for an outcome to a decision maker. The grade will be based on both the group discussion and the policy brief.

Students will also be responsible for submitting discussion questions on the readings and short reflections on current events weekly. Students must submit questions for at least 10 weeks.

329

Education Law 2
  • JD SRWP
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • PIPS elective
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Research paper, 25+ pages
  • In-class exercise
  • Class participation

Education Law: Constitutional, Statutory, and Policy Considerations. This seminar introduces students to the legal standards that govern public schools in the United States. Constitutional topics include the right to a public education, the financing of public schools, desegregation and equal opportunity of students, limitations on student speech, school discipline and the right to due process, religion in schools, and privacy rights of students. Statutory topics include federal laws such as the Every Student Succeeds Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Title IX, and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act. Policy topics include school reforms, such as charters and vouchers, and the ongoing inequities in US public schools, and the school-to-prison pipeline, and recent restrictions on classroom curricula. A research paper is required; successful completion of the paper will satisfy the Substantial Research and Writing Project Requirement. A course pack will be used in lieu of a textbook, supplemented with materials posted on Sakai.

331

Introduction to Privacy Law and Policy 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam
  • Class participation

This course on privacy law and policy examines the ways in which the United States’ legal framework recognizes privacy rights or interests and balances them against competing interests, including, among others: freedom of speech and press, ever-expanding uses of big data, national security and law enforcement, medical research, business interests, and technological innovation. The course will address the ways that torts, constitutional law, federal and state statutes and regulations, and societal norms protect individual privacy against government, corporations and private actors in a variety of areas including: employment, media, education, data security, children’s privacy, health privacy, sports, consumer issues, finance, surveillance, national security and law enforcement. The course will also consider the significantly different approach to information privacy in the European Union and the importance of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which became effective May 2018.  The course may also address briefly privacy issues and laws in an additional country, such as China, for purposes of further comparison.  Students will gain a broad understanding of the breadth, diversity and growing importance of the privacy field.

333

Science Law & Policy 3
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Environ Cert
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Final Exam
  • Reflective Writing
  • Practical exercises
  • In-class exercise
  • Class participation

What are the government policies that support science? How is science regulated and controlled? What can science contribute to law and policy? How do the states, the federal government and international agencies interact to set science policy? How do disparate regulations and law impact research and translation? How is scientific research funded? These questions and more will be explored by looking at the interaction of law, science, and policy. The class is a mix of law, ethics and science students, and learning how to talk to one another in a common language is an important element of the course. Classes will include consideration and analysis of cases studies. There are no prerequisites for the course and there is no requirement that students have either graduate or upper-level undergraduate training in the sciences. Course evaluation (i.e. your grade) will be based on class participation and a final exam.

All MA, PhD and JD/MA students should register under BIOETHIC 704 – approval of professor is required. All law students (other than JD/MAs) should register under LAW 333.

335

Private Equity and Hedge Funds 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Final Exam
  • Practical exercises
  • Class participation

The alternative asset classes of private equity and hedge funds represent a significant and growing share of investment activity worldwide and are at the center of many of the most pressing current issues in finance and financial law. While traditionally lightly regulated, both areas have received increasing regulatory attention since the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. Both also figure prominently in major ongoing debates concerning financial stability, market efficiency, corporate governance, financial innovation and complexity, and even income inequality. This course introduces private equity and hedge funds from the perspectives of finance, regulation, and legal practice, covering the foundational issues of securities, tax, organizational, and fiduciary law that they raise. Students will learn the basic regulatory framework applicable to fund structuring, fund managers and sponsors, fund offerings, and fund investments, and gain experience with the key agreements among the parties involved. In addition, the course will critically assess the current regulation of private equity and hedge funds and proposals for reform. Through reading materials, course discussions, guest lectures, and group work, students will gain insight into the perspective of fund managers, advisors, investors, those who transact with such funds, and those who regulate the fund industry.

Prerequisites: Students must have previously completed or be concurrently enrolled in Business Associations or an introductory course on business organizational law/company law taken at another law school (whether in the U.S. or abroad). Prior coursework in securities regulation and taxation may be useful, but is not required.

Grading: The course grade will be based on: (i) a final examination, (ii) class participation, and (iii) quizzes, problem sets, or other short assignments.

336

A Practical Introduction to Mergers & Acquisitions 2
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam
  • Group project(s)
  • Class participation

This two-credit course will consider and analyze corporate mergers and acquisitions and the process of initiating and completing a corporate acquisition. Topics covered will include the structures commonly used in M&A transactions (and the factors affecting choice of deal structure); strategies employed by the acquiring party and the target firm in negotiating an acquisition and the differing roles played by the various parties involved in a transaction; the different types of agreements and other documents an attorney will encounter and negotiate over the course of a transaction; the critical role of information in M&A deals; conducting due diligence; the elements, structure and key terms of a typical acquisition agreement; the roles and responsibilities of management, Boards of Directors and shareholders in connection with transactions; securities laws affecting transactions; an introduction to private equity M&A; acquisition financing; and getting the transaction to closing.

340

Estate and Gift Taxation 2
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • Spring 24

A study of the rules governing federal taxation of gratuitous wealth transfers. The course will examine the trio of related federal taxes: the estate tax, the gift tax, and the generation-skipping transfer tax, as well as the policies, history, and concepts involved in the taxation of wealth transfers.

Pre-req: Federal Income Taxation or other experience working with statutory language and regulations is recommended

347

Health Care Law and Policy 3
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • PIPS elective
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Final Exam
  • Class participation

A survey of the legal environment of the health services industry in a policy perspective, with particular attention to the tensions and trade-offs between quality and cost concerns. Topics for selective study include access to health care; private and public programs for financing and purchasing health services; the economics of health care and health care costs; the role of professionalism versus the new commercialism in health care; the legal and tax treatment of not-for-profit corporations; regulation of commercial practice in professional fields; fraud and abuse in government programs; the application of antitrust law in professional fields; the internal organization and legal liabilities of hospitals; public regulation of institutional providers, including certification of need; personnel licensure; private personnel credentialing and institutional accreditation; liability for medical accidents; legal liabilities associated with the administration of health benefits; and public regulation of managed-care organizations. Study of the diverse legal problems encountered by a single industry, particularly one as important, complex, and intrinsically interesting as health care, may appeal to students generally interested in public policy and in law and economics as well as those with specific interests in the health care field.

349

Indigenous Justice 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
  • PIPS elective
  • Spring 24
  • Reflective Writing
  • Midterm
  • Project(s)
  • Class participation

This course will not be a survey course covering all aspects typically covered in American Indian Law courses. Rather the course will focus on the intersection between justice and law for American Indian Tribes in matters relating to natural and cultural heritage and resources. Some global perspective is also introduced. Seminar topics which will be the subjects of readings, videos, and reflection/discussion include: indigenous culture, law, and politics; federal power over tribal relations and trust responsibilities; select Supreme Court cases on natural and cultural resources; and federal statutory and regulatory authorities implicated in the context of natural and cultural resource disputes. 

351

U.S. Immigration and Nationality Law 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • PIPS elective
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam
  • Practical exercises
  • Class participation

This course will provide an overview of immigration law and policy. It combines a study of constitutional law, statutory interpretation, and administrative regulations. We examine the constitutional law governing noncitizens as they seek to enter and remain in the United States as well as the statutory provisions governing humanitarian protection, family-based and employment-based migration. We also discuss the immigration consequences of criminal convictions, the obligations of criminal defense attorneys to advise noncitizen clients, and the intersection of criminal and immigration enforcement systems.

The course explores the legal, social, historical, and political factors that have constructed immigration law and policy in the U.S.  In examining these various factors, the course will analyze several inherent conflicts that arise in immigration law, including, among other things, the tension between the right of a sovereign nation to determine whom to admit to the nation state and the constitutional and human rights of noncitizens to gain admission or stay in the U.S., the power of the executive branch to set and change immigration policy, issues that arise between noncitizens and citizens of the U.S. with regard to employment, security, and civil rights and the tension between the federal and state governments in regulating immigration law. Students will participate in a mock removal proceeding and will complete hypothetical immigration problems that illustrate the application of constitutional, statutory, and regulatory immigration law.

353

Equity Valuation and Advanced Financial Statement Analysis 3
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • Fall 21

Valuing a business—big or small—is often a central focus of leading legal, banking, investment and business institutions.

  • It drives whether a company does an acquisition or sale.
  • It is often a key component in damages in litigation.
  • It guides how managers make disclosures in private transactions and public filings.
  • At its most macro level, it drives the policy of governments.

This course provides students with the tools to understand valuation principles, coupled with the depth of accounting necessary to understand the drivers of that valuation—all using the rigor of Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) materials.

Whether working at a bank, a law firm, a prosecutor's office, an agency or an investment manager, many graduates find themselves without the skills needed to understand the value of entities and their financial statements. Those who have these skills are highly valued and often end up running corporations, law firms, and agencies.

This is a high-level course for those with experience in corporate finance and accounting. It is designed to give the advanced student a deeper dive into important concepts relating to equity valuation and financial statement analysis. Familiarity with numbers is essential.

The areas of focus include:

  • Equity Valuation Process
  • Discounted Dividend Valuation
  • Free Cash Flow Valuation
  • Market-Based Valuation: Price Multiples
  • Residual Income Valuation
  • Financial Reporting Mechanics
  • Financial Reporting Standards
  • Advanced Topics in Understanding the Income Statement
  • Advanced Topics in Understanding the Balance Sheet
  • Advanced Topics in Understanding the Cash Flow Statement
  • Financial Analysis Techniques
  • International Standards Convergence
  • Financial Statement Analysis: Applications
  • Inventories
  • Long-Lived Assets
  • Income Taxes
  • Long-Lived Liabilities and Leases
  • Employee Compensation: Postretirement and Share-Based Intercorporate Investments
  • Multinational Operations
  • Evaluating Financial Reporting Quality

Course Materials

The two primary texts are Equity Asset Valuation, 4th Edition (CFA Institute Investment Series), by Pinto (Wiley, 2020), and International Financial Statement Analysis, 4th Edition (CFA Institute Investment Series), by Robinson (Wiley, 2020). Handouts and problem sets will be distributed in class. Problem sets will be graded.

Course Requirements

1. Class Attendance and Preparation

Students are expected to attend all sessions. You should read appropriate materials prior to class.

2. Problem Sets

Problem sets will be assigned throughout the class. Most of these will be graded. Some problems will not be graded and will be done in teams.

3. Examinations

There will be a three-hour mid-term examination on the Equity Valuation section of the course and a three-hour final examination on the Financial Statement Analysis section.

4. Grading

Final course grades will be determined by the following allocation:

  • 25% Class Participation
  • 25% Problem Sets
  • 25% Mid-Term Exam
  • 25% Final Exam

5. The Honor Code

You are expected to follow the Duke University Honor Code. Specific issues concerning homework and the final examination will be discussed in the first class meeting.

6. Prerequisites

One of the following courses (or their equivalents): Corporate Finance, Accounting, or Financial Information. Exceptions can be made by the instructor.

358

Structuring Venture Capital and Private Equity Transactions 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Group project(s)
  • Practical exercises
  • Class participation

In the world of venture capital and private equity, there is no difference between a good business person and a good lawyer. They both must know capitalization structure and law, and they both must know tax and accounting.

Many never achieve this mastery, and those who do only get there after many years of practice. This course helps the law and business student drive to the top of their game sooner and more effectively than their peers from other institutions.

The goal is to focus on the formation of deals. We look at the business reasons that parties come together, we look at the business reasons that deals fail to meet expectations, and we look at the business reasons that deals work. This is especially important in private equity and venture capital deals, where exit strategies have to be anticipated from the very outset of a deal.

 

360

International Taxation 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Final Exam

This course covers the basic rules governing the U.S. income taxation of international business and investment transactions. After a brief explanation of basic American income tax concepts, the principal rules of taxation relating to income of American taxpayers that is earned abroad, and the income of foreign taxpayers that is earned in the U.S., will be described and discussed. The course will then focus on how the United States’ rules interact with taxation systems in other countries, exploring the concepts of source of income and residence of the taxpayer, and their role in the tax rules relating to international trade. The course will also include consideration of the role of bilateral tax treaties as a means of promoting crossborder investments and international trade through the avoidance of international double taxation. The OECD model treaty will be examined as an illustration of the interaction between double tax treaties and domestic regulations. The course will also describe and discuss the role of transfer pricing in tax avoidance efforts by business taxpayers, especially U.S. multinational corporations.  Finally, the course will explore recent developments in the international effort to reduce tax-base erosion and income shifting among taxing jurisdictions.

361

International Trade Law 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Environ Cert
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam
  • Class participation

International trade and the World Trade Organization attract a lot of attention and debate. Why do almost all economists say that liberalizing trade flows is a good thing? Why do politicians – even ones who purportedly support free markets – often rail against import competition and "unfair trade"? How does trade liberalization interact with other public policy choices such as protecting the environment or promoting the economic development of poor countries? In this course, we will examine why the WTO exists, how it developed from the GATT and how it fits in the international economic order (Part I). The course will offer you an in-depth, practical knowledge of substantive WTO law drawing heavily on case law. It will address the basic principles of trade in goods and trade in services, as well as some of the more specialized WTO agreements on, for example on trade remedies (subsidies, anti-dumping and safeguards). From a more procedural side, the course will pay close attention to the unique WTO mechanism for the solution of global trade disputes, with special reference again to recent and ongoing cases (Part II). It will conclude by examining U.S. trade law – particularly the widely-used trade remedies laws – and assessing not only the practice of international trade law in the United States, but also whether these laws actually achieve their supposed policy objectives (Part III). Although this course will necessarily address key principles and theories undergirding the international trade law system, one of its driving themes will be the actual practice of this discipline in the United States and at the WTO. The course will be graded based on class participation and an open-book final exam.

367

Advanced Topics in Administrative Law 2
  • JD SRWP
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • PIPS elective
  • Research paper, 25+ pages
  • Class participation

The objective of this course is to provide students the tools to delve deeper into policy questions that are currently arising in administrative law: What is the purpose of the administrative state?  How is it serving the public?  What are the costs and benefits of agency specialization and independence?  To what extent is public participation helpful in maintaining accountability?

Because administrative agencies are decision-making bodies that are not directly accountable to the electorate, accountability is often achieved by encouraging public participation, transparency, and notice.  This course will explore these themes in the context of selected administrative law topics.  Example topics include: agency capture, independence of administrative law judges, over-specialization of agency-specific precedent, preclusion of judicial review, public participation in rulemaking, the Freedom of Information Act, policy-making through adjudication, and informal agency action.  For certain topics, we will focus on one or two illustrative agencies (e.g., EPA, NLRB, PTO, IRS, VA, etc.).  Reading materials will include textbook excerpts, cases, and legal scholarship.  A previous administrative law course is preferred but not required.

Each class will consist of a background lecture followed by an interactive discussion of the policy issues raised in the reading.  The course will be taught as a two-hour weekly seminar, focused on class discussion of assigned readings. Students will complete one 25–30 page research paper that can be used to satisfy the upper-level writing requirement.  Students will also present their research papers to the class towards the end of the semester.

369

Patent Law and Policy 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to patent law and policy. No technical background is required. The course begins by addressing the history of patents as well as the policy arguments for and against using patents as a mechanism for inducing innovation. Following this introduction, students learn the basics of patent drafting and prosecution, patent claims, and claim construction. The class then addresses in depth the central patentability criteria of subject matter, utility, nonobviousness, and disclosure. Other topics of importance that are covered in the class include: the relationship between patents and other forms of intellectual property protection, particularly trade secrecy and copyright; the intersection of patent and antitrust law; the role of the two major institutions responsible for administering the patent system, the Patent and Trademark Office and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; and the role of patents in the two major industries of the knowledge-based economy, information technology and biotechnology.

379

Partnership Taxation 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam
  • Class participation

This course is an introduction to the U.S. federal income tax treatment of business entities that are classified as partnerships and their partners under Subchapter K of the Internal Revenue Code. The course will examine the tax rules that govern the lifecycle of a partnership, including formation of the partnership; allocation of the partnership’s income among its partners (and limitations on shifting income, gain or loss among partners); distributions of cash or property by the partnership to its partners; the treatment of liabilities of the partnership; sales of partnership interests; grants of partnership interests as compensation; and liquidation of the partnership.

384

Securities Regulation 4
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) required
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam

A study of the federal and state securities laws and the industry they govern with emphasis on the regulation of the distribution process and trading in securities; subjects dealt with include the functions of the Securities and Exchange Commission, registration and disclosure requirements and related civil liabilities, "blue-sky" laws, proxy solicitation and reporting requirements, broker-dealer regulation, the self-regulatory functions of the exchanges, and the regulation of investment companies.

387

Securities Litigation, Enforcement, and Compliance 3
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • Spring 23
  • Final Exam
  • Class participation

This survey course is designed to acquaint you with the theoretical as well as practical aspects of federal securities litigation, enforcement, and compliance, which is a dynamic area of legal practice with a number of developments occurring on multiple fronts. This course will address the massive financial frauds at Enron, WorldCom, and other large companies that occurred as the twenty-first century dawned.  It also looks at the scandals that culminated in the 2008 financial crises, which led to Congress’s enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.  Additionally, it will look at more recent developments in the securities law area.  In short, this course will provide the grounding needed for you to enter a securities litigation, enforcement, or compliance practice.

389

Insurance Law 2
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 24
  • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 15-20 pages
  • Group project(s)
  • Class participation

Insurance is a trillion dollar per year industry and serves significant social and economic functions across society. Insurance is premised on the fundamental concepts of risk management and risk transfer. Attorneys specializing in a wide-variety of practice areas should appreciate the importance of insurance when advising on commercial transactions and seeking to resolve all types of disputes. This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of basic insurance law concepts, particularly in the context of Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance, the most common type of liability insurance maintained by businesses of all sizes and in all industries across the United States. Students will gain a practical understanding of insurance theory and the significance of insurance in risk management and risk transfer; the business of insurance, including the roles of the various players and the nature of various insurance products; principles of insurance contract construction and application; and some of the more frequently disputed insurance coverage issues in the context of CGL insurance policies. The course will also cover basic regulatory concepts and London Market/Bermuda Market-specific topics, as well as the emergence of specialty-related insurance products (cyber, media, pollution liability, etc.)

The final exam will be in the form of a take home writing assignment – it will consist of researching various insurance coverage issues and writing an opinion memorandum to a client (10-12 pages; open book/research using Westlaw/Lexis). Students will have at least a week to prepare.

390

Structuring and Regulating Financial Transactions 2
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM NY Bar
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Final Exam

The principles applied in structuring financial products in the commercial context reflect a balance of the interests of corporate stakeholders and the rights of third parties. This course will examine these principles with the goal of equipping the student with a base of knowledge that would be readily applied in a finance practice of a commercial law firm. Focusing primarily on traditional syndicated debt finance and securitization transactions, we will examine evolving market conventions that influence debt terms, the rights and expectations of stakeholders in distressed situations and bankruptcy, and the regulatory and compliance structure governing the issuance of these obligations. As part of this process, we also will explore the structuring of letters of credit, derivative transactions, debtor-in-possession financing, and other related financial products.

393

Trademark Law and Unfair Competition 2
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Final Exam

This class offers an introduction to the law of trademark and unfair competition. Whether or not students intend to specialize in trademark law, a basic understanding of its rules will better enable them to advise clients who wish to protect their own marks, as well as those facing claims that they have infringed someone else’s mark. No technical background is needed. Trademarks include brand names and logos, and can also extend to other features that identify the source of a product for its consumers – including colors, packaging, and design – when they meet certain requirements. The course will begin with the requirements for obtaining trademark protection: distinctiveness, use in commerce, special rules for trade dress, and various bars to protection such as genericity and functionality. It will then cover confusion-based trademark infringement, secondary liability, anti-dilution, statutory and common law defenses, false advertising, and cybersquatting. Could a Utah theme park called “Evermore” stop Taylor Swift from calling her album “Evermore”? Did Lil Nas X’s Satan shoes infringe Nike’s trademarks? With the proliferation of craft brews, are we running out of brand names for beer, particularly pun-based “hoptions”? The course will address these and other pressing questions.

400

Health Justice Clinic 4-6
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • PIPS experiential
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Reflective Writing
  • Practical exercises
  • Live-client representation and case management
  • Class participation

This clinical course focuses on people living with serious illness. Student attorneys are the primary legal representatives for clients living with HIV, cancer, and other serious health conditions. Students may also work on policy or community education projects related to health and the law. Under faculty supervision, students handle cases that help clients access health coverage (Medicaid), income (disability benefits.) Students counsel transgender clients seeking legal name changes, gender marker updates, and gender-affirming care. Students may also advocate for individuals to access quality healthcare across different systems: folks in jails and prisons requiring substance abuse treatment or hospice care, for example, or parents and caregivers in the family regulation system who need mental healthcare. In assigning cases, faculty strive to honor students' interests.

Students engage with clients from diverse backgrounds whose lives have been disrupted by serious illness, including people living in poverty, those who have experienced the financial toxicity of illness, members of the LGBTQ community, and people struggling with substance use disorder or mental illness. The clinic trains students to represent clients in their immediate legal problems and also develops students’ understanding of where structural and systemic changes are necessary.

In addition to extensive client interactions, students will engage with health care providers, social workers, government officials, and other professionals. Students interview and counsel clients and witnesses, draft briefs and legal memoranda, analyze medical records, collaborate with other professionals, including medical providers and social workers, interview and prepare affidavits for medical providers and other witnesses, conduct fact investigations and legal research, and as needed, represent clients in administrative and other hearings. Interested students may have the opportunity to engage in public speaking through presentations to medical providers, social workers, or client/community groups.

The Health Justice Clinic is appropriate for students interested in any practice area, as the skills employed are applicable to all areas of law. The Clinic may be particularly relevant for students who will work in health law, disability law, poverty law, or any administrative law field. Graduates of the clinic also report that it was especially helpful in their careers in public policy, government, and for developing a focus for their pro bono work in large firms.

Classroom work consists of an intensive training at the beginning of the semester as well as a weekly, two-hour seminar focusing on substantive law, lawyering skills, professionalism, the health care system, social safety net, social determinants of health, and the role of race in health disparities. Students work closely with clinic instructors and enjoy a uniquely supportive mentoring and learning experience. Students work on cases with a partner and have a weekly team meeting with the clinic faculty. Clinic faculty prioritize each student's professional development and encourage the development of a work-life balance that will be essential in law practice.

The Health Justice Clinic is offered on a variable credit basis, 4-6 credits.

Clinics Enrollment Policy

Important:

Students are required to attend the clinic intensive training session. Students who have previously completed a clinic may skip some portions of the intensive.

International LLM students who wish to enroll in a clinic must seek the permission of the clinic's faculty director prior to the enrollment period. Permission is required to enroll but permission does not constitute entry into the clinic.

Ethics Requirement

Students are required to have instruction in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct prior to, or during, enrollment in the Health Justice Clinic. Examples of ethics classes that meet the requirement include Ethics in Action: Large Firm Practice (LAW 231), Ethics of Social Justice Lawyering (LAW 237), Ethics and the Law of Lawyering (LAW 238), Ethics and the Law of Lawyering in Civil Litigation (LAW 239), Criminal Justice Ethics (LAW 317) and Ethics in Action (LAW 539).

401

Advanced Health Justice Clinic
  • JD elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • PIPS elective
  • PIPS experiential
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Live-client representation and case management

Available to students who wish to participate for a second semester in the Health Justice Clinic. Students enrolled in advanced clinical studies are required to participate fully in the case work portion of the clinic, performing 50 or 100 hours of client representation work, depending on number of credits selected (50 hours = 1 credit; 100 hours = 2 credits), but will not be required to attend the class sessions. Consent of Director of Clinic required.

409

Entrepreneurship Immersion 1
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • Summer 2018
  • Summer 2019

Entrepreneurship Immersion provides students with concentrated exposure to the legal, business and regulatory aspects of early-stage company formation. The class takes place in the summer before 2L year for all JD/LLMLE students. The practical application of entrepreneurial skills is paired with classroom instruction each day in the range of business and legal issues likely to be encountered by practitioners. The course addresses the major areas each start-up must consider, from the various perspectives of company founders, investors, customers, and lawyers who represent each constituency.

416

Children's Law Clinic 4-5
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • PIPS elective
  • PIPS experiential
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Practical exercises
  • In-class exercise
  • Live-client representation and case management
  • Class participation

The Children’s Law Clinic provides students with an opportunity to represent low-income children and parents on issues relating to the social determinants of health, including education, public benefits, and access to adequate healthcare. Students will work in teams on case assignments that could involve client interviewing and counseling, negotiation, informal advocacy, and litigation in administrative hearings or court. There will also be opportunities to engage in policy and community education projects. With training and supervision from clinic faculty, students will act as the lead attorneys for the matters on their caseload allowing them to develop critical professional skills such as case strategy development and time management. In the weekly two-hour seminar, students will engage in interactive practical skills training, learn substantive law, and analyze the broader systemic injustices that impact children and families. Students work on clinic cases approximately 10-12 hours a week, for a minimum of 100 hours (4 credits) or 125 hours (5 credits) of legal work during the semester. There is no paper and no exam. Students must be in at least their second semester of law school to enroll in the clinic due to state student practice rules. Students must meet the legal ethics graduation requirement either before or during enrollment in the Children's Law Clinic.

Important:

  • This course may not be dropped after the first class meeting.
  • Students MUST be able to attend the day-long clinic intensive training session to enroll in this course.
  • International LLM students who wish to enroll in a clinic must seek the permission of the clinic's faculty director prior to the enrollment period. Permission is required to enroll but permission does not constitute entry into the clinic.

Ethics Requirement

  • Students are required to have instruction in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct prior to, or during, enrollment in the Children's Law Clinic. Examples of ethics classes that meet the requirement include Ethics in Action: Large Firm Practice (LAW 231), Ethics of Social Justice Lawyering (LAW 237), Ethics and the Law of Lawyering (LAW 238), Ethics and the Law of Lawyering in Civil Litigation (LAW 239), Criminal Justice Ethics (LAW 317) and Ethics in Action (LAW 539).

417

Advanced Children's Law Clinic 3
  • JD elective
  • PIPS elective
  • PIPS experiential
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Practical exercises
  • Live-client representation and case management

This two or three credit course is available to students who have participated in one semester in the Children's Law Clinic, and wish to participate for a second semester. Students may enroll only with approval of the Director of the Clinic. Supervisors will work with advanced students to develop an advanced experience that meets the interests of both the students and needs of the clinic. Students enrolled in advanced clinical studies are required to participate fully in the case work and/or policy portion of the clinic, performing a minimum of 100 hours (2 credits), 125 hours (3 credits) or 150 hours (4 credits) of client representation work, but will not be required to attend the class sessions. A classroom component is available for students using advanced clinic to satisfy their experiential learning requirement.

427

Community Enterprise Law Clinic 4
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • PIPS experiential
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Group project(s)
  • Practical exercises
  • Live-client representation and case management
  • Class participation

Operating like a small private law firm, this clinic will provide students interested generally in business law practice and/or in specializing in working with nonprofit organizations with practical skills training in many of the core skills required in any transactional legal practice, including interviewing, counseling, drafting and negotiation. Under the supervision of the clinical faculty, students will represent low-income entrepreneurs, as well as a wide variety of nonprofit organizations engaged in community development activities. In their cases, students will have the opportunity to work on a wide variety of legal matters for their clients. These may include entity formation (both for-profit and nonprofit); obtaining tax-exempt status for nonprofit clients and providing ongoing tax compliance counseling; negotiating and drafting contracts; and representing clients in community development transactions. All enrolled students will be required to provide a minimum of 100 hours of legal work per semester and to participate in weekly group training meetings.

Clinics Enrollment Policy

Important:

  • This course may not be dropped after the first class meeting.
  • Students MUST be able to attend the day-long clinic intensive training session to enroll in this course.
  • International LLM students who wish to enroll in a clinic must seek the permission of the clinic's faculty director prior to the enrollment period. Permission is required to enroll but permission does not constitute entry into the clinic.

Ethics Requirement

Students are required to have instruction in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct prior to, or during, enrollment in the Community Enterprise Law Clinic. Examples of ethics classes that meet the requirement include Ethics in Action: Large Firm Practice (LAW 231), Ethics of Social Justice Lawyering (LAW 237), Ethics and the Law of Lawyering (LAW 238), Ethics and the Law of Lawyering in Civil Litigation (LAW 239), Criminal Justice Ethics (LAW 317) and Ethics in Action (LAW 539).

428

Advanced Community Enterprise Clinic 2
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • PIPS elective
  • PIPS experiential
  • Spring 21
  • Group project(s)
  • Practical exercises
  • Live-client representation and case management
  • Class participation

This two-credit course is available to students who have participated in one semester in the community enterprise clinic and wish to participate for a second semester. Students may enroll only with approval of the Director of the Clinic. Placements may be available in the event that the clinic is not fully enrolled with first-time participants, and in exceptional situations, when the clinic director determines it would be in the best interest of the clinic to make an exception to the usual maximum enrollment. Students enrolled in Advanced Clinical Studies are required to participate fully in the case work portion of the clinic, performing 100-120 hours of client representation work, but will not be required to attend the class sessions.

441

Start-Up Ventures Clinic 4
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • PIPS experiential
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Group project(s)
  • Practical exercises
  • Live-client representation and case management
  • Class participation

The Start-Up Ventures Clinic represents entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses and social ventures on a variety of matters related to the start-up process, including formation, founder equity and vesting, shareholder agreements, intellectual property protection and licensing agreements, commercialization strategies, and other issues that new enterprises face in their start-up phases.

The course incorporates client representation with a seminar and individualized supervision to provide students with a range of opportunities to put legal theory into practice and to develop core legal skills such as interviewing, client counseling, negotiation, and drafting. Students in this course will, among other things, have the chance to deepen their substantive legal knowledge in entrepreneurial law and business law more generally, while at the same time developing critical professional skills through the direct representation of start-up businesses and entrepreneurs. 

Important:

    • See Clinics Enrollment Policy
    • This course may not be dropped after the first class meeting.
    • Students MUST be able to attend the day-long clinic intensive training session to enroll in this course.
    • International LLM students who wish to enroll in a clinic must seek the permission of the instructor prior to the enrollment period. Permission is required to enroll but permission does not constitute entry into the clinic.
  • Business Associations and Advising the Entrepreneurial Client or Start-Up Law are recommended but not required.

Ethics Requirement

Students are required to have instruction in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct prior to, or during, enrollment in the Start-Up Ventures Clinic. Examples of ethics classes that meet the requirement include Ethics in Action: Large Firm Practice (LAW 231), Ethics of Social Justice Lawyering (LAW 237), Ethics and the Law of Lawyering (LAW 238), Ethics and the Law of Lawyering in Civil Litigation (LAW 239), Criminal Justice Ethics (LAW 317) and Ethics in Action (LAW 539).

441A

Advanced Start-Up Ventures Clinic
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • PIPS elective
  • PIPS experiential
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Group project(s)
  • Practical exercises
  • Live-client representation and case management
  • Class participation

The Advanced Start-Up Ventures Clinic is for students who have already completed a semester in the Start-Up Ventures Clinic (Law 441) and wish to continue their experiential education in the start-up space, whether it be a to-be-determined project on a specific area of entrepreneurial law, or working with a specific client or in a specific industry. Typically, the course is two credits and permission to take the Advanced Start-Up Ventures Clinic must be approved by the Clinic Director. 

443

Environmental Law and Policy Clinic 4
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Environ Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • PIPS experiential
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Group project(s)
  • Practical exercises
  • Live-client representation and case management
  • Class participation

The Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic is an interdisciplinary clinic that represents non-profit community-based and environmental organizations throughout the region to address a wide variety of environmental concerns in a variety of different venues. Students work in interdisciplinary teams and engage directly with clients to develop legal and advocacy strategies, conduct site-based assessments, develop legislative and regulatory proposals, and participate in community outreach and education efforts. Students also may engage in litigation, regulatory, and policy proceedings as case needs dictate. Skills training is conducted in weekly seminars and case management meetings and emphasizes client counseling, legal and policy advocacy, networking and working with experts. Although the mix of topics addressed varies among semesters, common themes include environmental justice, climate change, water quality, natural resources conservation, endangered species protection, sustainable agriculture, public trust resources, and environmental health. Clinic faculty make an effort to honor student preferences for case assignments, consistent with case needs and each student’s objectives for professional growth and development.

Clinic Enrollment and Credit Policies

To enroll, law students must have completed their 1L year; Nicholas School students may enroll after their first semester with permission from the clinic's directors. International LLM students may enroll during their second semester with permission from the clinic's directors. Variable credit (4-6 hours) is allowed for law students with permission from the clinic’s directors.

Although not a prerequisite, students are encouraged to have completed Environmental Law, Ocean and Coastal Law and Policy, and/or Administrative Law prior to enrollment.

Ethics Requirement for Law Students

Students are required to have instruction in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct prior to, or during, enrollment in the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic. Examples of ethics classes that meet the requirement include Ethics in Action: Large Firm Practice (LAW 231), Ethics of Social Justice Lawyering (LAW 237), Ethics and the Law of Lawyering (LAW 238), Ethics and the Law of Lawyering in Civil Litigation (LAW 239), Criminal Justice Ethics (LAW 317) and Ethics in Action (LAW 539).

Important to Note: This course may not be dropped after the first class meeting. Students MUST be able to attend the day-long clinic intensive training session to enroll in this course.

443A

Advanced Environmental Law and Policy
  • JD elective
  • PIPS elective
  • PIPS experiential
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Group project(s)
  • Practical exercises
  • Live-client representation and case management
  • Class participation

This variable-credit (2-4 credits) course builds on the training and work of the EL&PC and offers students the opportunity to develop case leadership and deeper client relationships. Students enrolled in the Advanced Clinic are required to participate fully in the case work portion of the clinic, performing at least 100 hours of client representation work (or more, depending on credit hours), and are required to attend weekly case management meetings. In addition, Advanced students must attend two discussion sessions with other advanced clinic students that will be scheduled after the start of the semester. Instructor permission and successful completion of one semester of clinical work are required to enroll.

445

Immigrant Rights Clinic 4-6
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • PIPS elective
  • PIPS experiential
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Reflective Writing
  • Live-client representation and case management
  • Class participation

The Immigrant Rights Clinic engages students in the direct representation of noncitizens and community organizations in litigation, community outreach, and policy advocacy. Students will work in teams to represent individual clients in litigation matters, such as removal proceedings in immigration court, administrative or federal appeals, or other legal claims, as well as work with community-based organizations in advocacy projects or outreach and education campaigns. Through a mix of individual and organizational representation, students will develop an integrated approach to promoting the rights of immigrants. Direct representation of individual clients will require students to develop skills in fact-development, client interviewing, affidavit drafting, expert opinion development, testimony preparation, legal briefing, and case planning that combines client narratives with long-term appellate strategies. In working with organizational clients and partners, students may gather data and produce policy reports; develop accessible legal resources for immigrant families and their allies; and collaborate with grassroots organizers, policy-makers, pro bono counsel teams, and national advocacy groups.

Students are directly responsible for these cases and take the leading role in defining advocacy goals and strategies with their clients. Through the clinic, students can build their litigation skills and develop a better understanding of how to engage in immigrant rights campaigns. The Immigrant Rights Clinic combines a substantive weekly seminar, case work, and weekly case supervision and instruction meetings. It is a one-semester course offered in both the fall and spring semesters and students will have an Advanced Clinic option.

Clinics Enrollment Policy

This course may not be dropped after the first class meeting. International LLM students who wish to enroll in a clinic must seek the permission of the clinic's faculty director prior to the enrollment period. Permission is required to enroll but permission does not constitute entry into the clinic.

445A

Advanced Immigrant Rights Clinic
  • JD elective
  • PIPS elective
  • PIPS experiential
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Reflective Writing
  • Live-client representation and case management
  • Class participation

This course is available to students who have participated in one semester of the Immigrant Rights clinic and wish to participate for a second semester. Students may enroll only with approval of the Director of the Clinic.

460

Negotiation for Lawyers 3
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM writing, option
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Reflective Writing
  • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 15-20 pages
  • Practical exercises
  • Class participation

For lawyers in every type of law practice, the ability to negotiate effectively is an essential skill.  As a lawyer, you will negotiate when you try to settle a lawsuit, close a merger, or arrange a plea bargain.  You will negotiate with counterparts, clients, and co-workers.  You will negotiate with service providers and the “system” – the court, the government, or your community.  And, you will continue to negotiate with your friends and family.  In this highly interactive seminar, we will explore the theories, skills, and ethics involved in legal negotiation.  With limited exceptions, in each class you will participate in a role-play simulation of increasing complexity, experiment with new techniques, and then reflect on what negotiation strategies worked best for you.  Over the course of the semester, in addition to in-person exercises, you will have opportunities to negotiate by email, telephone, and videoconference, and to evaluate the pros and cons of each so you understand how to select the most appropriate medium given the particular parties and circumstances.  Through this process, you will not only gain insight into your own negotiation style, you will develop the toolkit you need to approach each new negotiation with confidence. 

Because of the nature of the course, the amount of information delivered during the first class period, the importance of participating in the first role-play simulation during the first class period, and the typical waitlists for enrollment in the course, attendance at the first class is absolutely required.  A student who fails to attend the first class without prior consent of the instructor will forfeit his or her place in the class.  (Working for an additional week in the summer and call-back interviews are not acceptable excuses for missing the first class.)  Students who are on the waitlist for the course are encouraged to attend the first class, and those who do will be given preference to fill open slots in the class.  There is a shortened drop period for this course so that students who are waitlisted can enroll before the second class occurs.  Thus, students may drop this course without permission only before the second class. 

Because of the similarities between this course and the negotiation course taught at the Fuqua School of Business, a law student may not receive law school credit for both courses.

 

465

Patent Claim Drafting and Foundations of Patent Strategy 1
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 24
  • Practical exercises
  • Class participation

Scope of patent protection is controlled by definitions of the invention known as patent claims. The role of intellectual property protection in the economy has caused attention to be given to the precision of claim drafting. Focus on skills used in patent claim writing across a variety of technical fields and developed through exercises, problems, and competitions. Discussions of client counseling and patent application drafting in conjunction with the skill-oriented sessions provide a background in the practical issues that control the approaches taken to claim writing, as well as a basis for discussion during particular problems. This course is especially useful for students interested in patent preparation, prosecution, and litigation, or corporate law involving intellectual property transaction.

Students are required to attend the first class in order to remain enrolled in it.

475A

Law & Policy Lab: Data Governance 2
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Simulated Writing, Transactional
  • Reflective Writing
  • Group project(s)
  • Class participation

In an age where nearly every organization collects and uses data, lawyers must be data-savvy. Modern data challenges ask clients to navigate legal, technical, and mission considerations, often all at once. Machine learning and artificial intelligence add still more questions, even as organizations race to realize data’s potential.

This course focuses on data governance: how organizations and communities make decisions about data, code, and their missions, and the wide-ranging impact of those decisions. Students will learn about three foundational data governance models: how companies protect and manage access to data; how data is shared and reused for research purposes; and how public datasets are assembled and managed. The course will feature simulations and interactive exercises to help students apply these models and skills to real-world scenarios.

At the end of the class, students will gain an understanding of how the law defines and regulates data, and how regulatory frameworks for data differ from field to field. They will also gain foundational knowledge in organizational and multi-stakeholder governance, and how good governance principles might apply to data. Finally, they will gain experience designing and applying governance models for organizations and multi-stakeholder collaborations.

No technical background is necessary to take this class. The first few weeks will include an introduction to data, databases, and governance best practices. 

476

Ethical Technology Practicum 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 23
  • Group project(s)
  • Oral presentation
  • Practical exercises
  • Class participation

Technological developments have greatly outpaced the legal, ethical, and policy developments in many areas of emerging technology.  As a result, these developments raise important questions on the legal and policy frameworks and practices most appropriate to build an ecosystem of trust that will help ensure citizens and other stakeholders that these innovations will benefit them and are being developed and deployed in an ethical, safe, reliable and responsible manner.  Policymakers and other stakeholders around the globe are grappling with these questions.  As the policy discussions unfold, organizations also are developing their own practices for operationalizing trustworthy or ethical technology.  To do this, organizations often assemble cross-functional teams and develop policies and practices to guide their organization, drawing on myriad sources such as existing and proposed laws, “soft law,” and other resources.  When it comes to the development of individual or novel technologies or platforms, those teams often include ethical guidance to inform “ethics by design” that can help direct developers, and the development of products themselves. The goals of this Practicum are to provide (a)the foundational legal, ethical, and policy frameworks, drawing upon the growing body of existing and proposed laws, ethics by design approaches, and other literature and resources, and (b) practical experience working in a cross-functional team to help an organization design a plan to help manage ethical development of an emerging technology or technological platform in their portfolio. Students will be evaluated on various steps in developing their plans, working with their client, their completed plan, and presentation of their work. 

478

Real Estate Transactions and Litigation 3
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Simulated Writing, Transactional
  • Practical exercises
  • Class participation

Students will be introduced to the core types of real estate transactions practicing attorneys are likely to encounter, with a particular focus on how certain issues and relationships common to such transactions first impact document negotiation and later often lead to disputes and litigation. The course will explore these transaction types through actual case studies to identify and reinforce key business considerations, areas of friction and disagreement, and transactional/litigation strategy. Class meetings will include either a group or individual exercise on transactional drafting, negotiation or litigation strategy on which students will be graded. The course will conclude with a final simulation in which students will be given fact patterns regarding a hypothetical transactional dispute and asked to: (i) “mark-up” and revise select contract provisions from a selection of the various transactional types studied during the course; and (ii) evaluate and analyze the issues most likely for dispute.

500

Arbitration: Law and Practice 3
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • Fall 20
  • Reflective Writing
  • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10-15 pages
  • Oral presentation
  • Class participation

Special COVID Note:
This course will be conducted synchronous online via Zoom during the scheduled class time; it will also be recorded.

This course will examine the substantive law of arbitration during the first half of the term using excerpts from the textbook Arbitration: Cases and Materials by Huber & Weston (3rd Edition, LexisNexis) and focus thereafter on the development of practical skills for conducting an arbitration presentation. The textbook excerpts will be posted on Sakai. The class will be limited to a maximum of 18 students. Grading will be based upon class participation, the submission of written arbitration briefs, and the oral presentations of arbitration arguments/evidence.

It is anticipated that students will be offered a choice among three or four arbitration problems from which they will pick one problem for briefing and oral presentation. Some problems are susceptible to being handled by teams for claimant and respondent, while others can be handled individually. The problems may deal with such diverse claims as construction, medical malpractice/products liability, and employment discrimination, among others. At least one problem available for selection will address international commercial arbitration issues, taken from the current problem being used for the Willem Vis Arbitration Moot, which is an international law school competition.

506

Alternative Dispute Resolution 2
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • IntlLLM NY Bar
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Reflective Writing
  • Practical exercises
  • Class participation

This survey course will provide you with a comprehensive overview of the various alternatives to traditional litigation that are used to resolve civil disputes, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, collaborative law, and other innovative processes. It is designed primarily for students who wish to gain a basic understanding of the variety of dispute resolution processes available when representing a client. Each week, you will have the opportunity to explore the theoretical basis for and practical operation of different ADR processes through class discussion and in-class exercises. We will also discuss ADR and culture, ODR, drafting ADR clauses in contracts, and dispute resolution system design. Required coursework will include readings, participating in in-class exercises, preparing entries in a weekly conflict resolution journal, and an end-of-semester project. By the conclusion of the course, you should be able to assist a client in choosing the most appropriate ADR process in light of the advantages and disadvantages of each, and will better understand a third-party neutral’s role in facilitating or fashioning a just resolution of a dispute. 

510

Legal Interviewing & Counseling 2
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • PIPS elective
  • Fall 20
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Reflective Writing
  • Practical exercises
  • In-class exercise
  • Class participation

This course will provide students a framework for effective client interviewing and counseling, skills which are foundational to successful lawyering. While lawyers must master substantive and procedural law to gain the confidence of their clients, they must be able to exercise effective communication skills in “real time.”  Legal Interviewing and Counseling will help students learn to plan effective interviewing and counseling sessions, to identify and solve problems collaboratively with clients, and to further develop their abilities to effectively communicate difficult legal and factual information. This course seeks to further understanding of a broad range of communication skills, to facilitate client decision making and implementation of solutions, to manage the professional relationship, and to navigate common ethical issues that arise in the context of legal interviewing and counseling. Structured in-class simulation exercises will allow students to develop and practice these skills in real-world contexts . While each of these skills will be developed over the entirety of any lawyer's career, Legal Interviewing & Counseling aims to help students to jumpstart this development and to gain additional tools needed to ensure effective client relationships when they enter practice. Students will be evaluated on their participation in structured, in-class simulation exercises and discussions; video-taped skills exercises done outsides of class; guided self-assessments; guided reviews of other students' simulation exercises; and a final capstone simulation interview and counseling projects. Students will be required to attend class regularly and to participate consistently in all exercises. Students will be assessed on a C/NC basis. 

514

Research Methods in Administrative Law 2
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • PIPS elective
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10-15 pages
  • Oral presentation
  • Short Research Assignments
  • Class participation

This course focuses on administrative law research, including federal regulations, the federal rulemaking process, documents produced by federal agencies such as “no action” letters and guidance documents, and research into the enabling legislation and related legislative process. It will also cover research into legislative and regulatory stakeholders, demonstrating tools to discover information on companies, lobbyists, and individuals, with the goal of facilitating student research expertise in addressing administrative law issues in practice. Classwork will be supplemented by discussions with current practitioners in the regulatory field, demonstrating real-world issues faced by administrative lawyers.

515

Contract Drafting for the Finance Lawyer 2
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Practical exercises
  • In-class exercise
  • Class participation
  • Variable by section

Contract Drafting is an upper-level course that teaches basic practical skills in contract drafting through written drafting exercises. The exercises will be done both in and outside of class, and extensive peer and instructor editing will be used. While the skills taught will be basic, they will also be translatable to more sophisticated contracts, such as those that Duke Law students can expect to see and draft in practice. The course will be a combination of lecture and in-class drafting and editing exercises, with an emphasis on the exercises. There will be pre-class reading assignments from the text, possibly supplemented with other outside reading. Some drafting exercises will be assigned to be done outside of class for subsequent in-class editing. Grading will be on the basis of these written drafting assignments, the quality of editing others' drafts, and class participation.

519

Contract Drafting 2
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Fall 20
  • Spring 21
  • Fall 21
  • Spring 22
  • Fall 22
  • Spring 23
  • Fall 23
  • Spring 24
  • Practical exercises
  • In-class exercise
  • Class participation
  • Other

Contract Drafting is an upper-level simulation course that teaches basic practical skills by having students work “in role” as lawyers undertaking various drafting tasks in a series of exercises. While the skills taught will be basic, they will also be translatable to more sophisticated contracts. The course will feature lectures, class discussions, and in-class business issue-spotting and drafting exercises, with an emphasis on the exercises. There will be pre-class reading assignments from the text, sometimes supplemented with other outside reading, including various sample contracts. Some exercises will be group projects, and regular peer feedback, along with feedback from the instructor, will be a feature. Grading will be on the basis of written drafting assignments, at least one graded peer-feedback assignment, and class participation.

Students who take Law 519 Contract Drafting may not take Law 522 Contract Drafting: The Next Generation.

520

Climate Change and the Law 2
  • JD elective
  • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Environ Cert
  • PIPS elective
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Reflective Writing
  • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 5-10 pages
  • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 15 pages
  • In-class exercise
  • Class participation

This 2-credit seminar will examine global climate change and the range of actual and potential responses by legal institutions – including at the international level, within the United States and other countries (such as Europe, China, and others), at the subnational level, and at the urging of the private sector.

We will compare alternative approaches that have been or could be taken by legal systems to address climate change: the choice of policy instrument (e.g., emissions taxes, allowance trading, infrastructure programs, technology R&D, information disclosure, prescriptive regulation, carbon capture & storage, reducing deforestation, geoengineering, adaptation);  the spatial scale; the targets of the policy and criteria for deciding among these policy choices.  We will examine actual legal measures that have been adopted so far to manage climate change:  international agreements such as the Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992), its Kyoto Protocol (1997) and Paris Agreement (2015), plus related agreements like the Kigali Amendment (on HFCs) and ICAO (aviation) and IMO (shipping); as well as the policies undertaken by key national and subnational systems.  In the US, we will study national (federal) and subnational (state and local) policies, including EPA regulation under the Clean Air Act, other federal laws and policies relevant to climate change mitigation, state-level action by California, RGGI states, and North Carolina. We will also explore litigation involving tort/nuisance civil liability and the public trust doctrine to advance climate policy. 

Questions we will discuss include:  How effective and efficient are the policies being proposed and adopted? What actions are being taken at the local, national and international levels, and which reinforce or conflict with one another?  Can current institutions and legal frameworks deal with a problem as enormous, complex, long-term, uncertain, and multi-faceted as climate change?  What roles do scientific research, technological breakthroughs, and economic realities play in shaping legal responses?  How should the legal system learn from new information over time? How should we appraise the United Nations climate negotiations, and are there other models for international cooperation?  How should principles of equity, just transitions, and intergenerational justice guide efforts to address climate change? Should greenhouse gas emitters (countries, businesses, consumers) be directly liable or responsible for climate change impacts and compensate victims for their losses?  What is the best mix of mitigation and adaptation policies?  How will climate policy be influenced by geopolitical changes such as the rise of China?  How should the law address extreme catastrophic risk?  How should geoengineering be governed? What is the best path for future climate policy? 

Students must read the assigned materials in advance of class, and participate in class discussion. Each student will submit a short (5-6 page) paper, addressing the week's readings (and adding outside research), for three (3) of the 12 class sessions (not counting the first class session). A sign-up sheet will be circulated at the beginning of the course for students to select the 3 topics/class sessions for which they will submit these 3 short papers (so that these papers are spread across the semester). In addition, each student will write a longer research paper (15 pages), due at the end of the semester. Grades will be based on: 33% class participation, 33% the 3 short papers, and 33% the longer paper.

525

Artificial Intelligence Law and Policy 2
  • JD SRWP
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM writing
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • Spring 22
  • Research paper, 30 pages
  • Oral presentation
  • Class participation

Artificial intelligence is on a tremendous growth trajectory and is being developed, adopted and used for many purposes throughout society.  From a legal and policy perspective, AI presents many interesting and complex issues because the technological developments have greatly outpaced the legal, ethical, and policy developments.  One of the important questions centers on what legal and policy frameworks and practices are appropriate to build an ecosystem of trust that will help ensure citizens and other stakeholders that artificial intelligence will benefit them and is being developed and deployed in an ethical, safe, reliable and responsible manner (the “Legal and Policy Framework Question”).  Policymakers and other stakeholders around the globe are grappling with this Legal and Policy Framework Question.  As the discussions unfold, organizations also are designing their own practices for operationalizing trustworthy or ethical artificial intelligence.

The goal of the seminar is to give students a foundation in the emerging AI laws and policies and insight on the broader process of how laws and policies need to adapt for significant technological changes.  This seminar will explore in detail several approaches currently being considered to answer the Legal and Policy Framework Question, including regulatory approaches, standards, soft law, and self-regulation. As the students study various approaches, they will be asked to consider several sub-questions, such as (a) how the AI legal and policy framework should be calibrated to address risk, (b) the extent to which the framework should be sector specific or apply across industries, (c) which frameworks enable society to capitalize on AI’s benefits and mitigate potential risks, and (d) what is the optimal level of cross-border harmonization and how best to achieve it.   The course also will explore certain other legal issues arising in connection with AI, such antitrust and competition law and intellectual property and proprietary rights matters.

529

Corporate Governance 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Reflective Writing
  • Group project(s)
  • Class participation

Corporate governance is a major policy issue in business regulation, and has increasingly become headline news in recent political debates. This course will discuss the major debates in corporate governance, the challenges for designing an optimal system for governing corporations, and the increasingly important role of lawyers in these policy debates. To that end, the course may host guest speakers with various backgrounds that have unique experience in corporate governance matters. The course will focus on a range of issues. For example, is shareholder activism by hedge funds and other institutional shareholders good for shareholder value, or does it promote short-termism? Are CEOs paid too much, and should their compensation be regulated? Do anti-takeover devices entrench managers or promote long-term strategic growth? Does state competition for corporate charters lead to a race to the top or the bottom? In discussing each of these topics, this course will consider whether corporations are best regulated by the government or market discipline. As part of the course, students will acquire the skills to review empirical studies, and evaluate the implications of these studies for legal policy and corporate practice. Business Associations is a prerequisite for this class (except for LLM students who are taking Business Associations in the same semester).

530

Entertainment Law 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntllLLM IP Cert
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Project(s)
  • Class participation

Law 530 (“Introduction to Entertainment Law”) introduces students to the practical aspects of working as a lawyer in the entertainment industry.  The course explores the legal issues encountered in the production, marketing and distribution of literary, musical and artistic properties and the negotiation and drafting of related contracts, to provide a comprehensive, “nuts and bolts” introduction to working as an entertainment lawyer.  The course focuses on learning practical legal and business skills such as dealmaking, drafting and negotiating financing, development, production and distribution agreements in the motion picture and television industry, as well as management and agency agreements, live performance agreements, and highlights technology and digital media concerns.  Law 530 will also examine current disputes and litigations that affect the entertainment industry, how intellectual property rights are acquired and transferred, and how relationships within the entertainment industry are structured. The goal of this course is for students to gain knowledge of the types of contracts that are negotiated within the industry, and to apply traditional legal principles of intellectual property, contract law, media law, and labor law to entertainment industry-specific agreements and/or disputes.  The final course grade will be based on (i) class attendance and participation (25%), (ii) drafting and negotiating assignments (50%), and (iii) a final project, which will include an oral presentation and a written project on a specific legal issue related to the entertainment Industry (25%).

531

In House Law Practice 2
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • IntlLLM Business Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Reflective Writing
  • Group project(s)
  • Oral presentation

This course explores the substantive and procedural aspects of inhouse law practice. Class sessions often include guest general counsels to survey in-house legal topics, engage with real world challenges, discuss current relevant events, and distill best practices for the role. Students will have team-based interdisciplinary project assignments that draw from topics discussed in the class, reflecting real-world scenarios and providing legal representation experience. Guest general counsels are typically leading practitioners who engage with the class from a variety of perspectives, ranging from Chief Legal Officers of Fortune 50 companies to general counsels who helped grow entrepreneurial startups into household names.

The course is designed for any student interested in inhouse practice – those who wish to work in a law firm or governmental role and interact with inhouse counsel, those who would like to practice inhouse, and those who are interested in exploring different career paths.  It is intended to provide law school students with an understanding of and practical skills for inhouse practice, legal issues unique to that role, and practical issues that face inhouse lawyers. 

20%: Reflection Message Board Posts
Each student will publish five brief message board posts during the semester reflecting upon insights or thoughts of interest from guest general counsel presentations.

30%: Memo
Student assume the role of attorney with an inhouse legal department and prepare a 5-page memo responding to a fact pattern and scenario; the memo provides an opportunity to demonstrate legal analysis and practical approaches to the issues.  They will also record and upload a five-minute presentation of their memo's findings to the "general counsel" of the company.

40%: Project
Halfway through the semester, students divide into teams of 4 persons. Each team will receive a fact pattern for a significant business-level-event problem which they will analyze and present their findings, legal analysis and recommendation to the CEO and board of directors for said company.

10%: Class Engagement

No prerequisites are necessary.

532

Venture Capital Financing 3
  • JD elective
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM NVE Cert
  • Spring 21
  • Spring 22
  • Spring 23
  • Spring 24
  • Group project(s)
  • Practical exercises
  • Class participation

This class will focus on the legal and economic structure of venture capital transactions and will familiarize students with the legal agreements used to document these transactions. Using lectures and in-class exercises, students will learn the function of the most common transaction documents, the economic and/or legal purpose of the provisions contained within these documents and alternative approaches to address specific situations. Throughout the semester, students will work on a simulated transaction to gain experience in negotiating and drafting documents with an emphasis on meeting client objectives. Students will be evaluated on the basis of class participation and written assignments.

533

Government Enforcement and Global Corporate Compliance 2
  • JD elective
  • JD experiential
  • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
  • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
  • Fall 21
  • Fall 22
  • Fall 23
  • Practical exercises
  • In-class exercise
  • Class participation

Students will learn about white collar criminal law principles, today’s climate of government enforcement against corporate wrongdoing and the important role that compliance programs can play in preventing, detecting and resolving those compliance issues.  The course will involve substantive lectures and classroom exercises.  The Foreign Corruption Practices Act (FCPA) will be utilized as the substantive basis to discuss the various principles and conduct the practice simulations. The FCPA will also help demonstrate the global nature of white collar and compliance and the legal issues multi-national corporations face. 

Students will engage in classroom exercises to develop skills frequently used in practice – analysis, drafting materials, preparing for and conducting interviews, and developing a work plan.  Students will learn to advise a client on dealing with a government enforcement action, conduct a global internal investigation, and build a corporate compliance program.  This learning combination of substantive lectures and doing simulation exercises regarding “real world” issues will provide students with practical skills in an area that is in high demand for lawyers.

534

Advising the Entrepreneurial Client 3
  • LLM-LE (JD) elective
    • Group project(s)
    • Practical exercises
    • Class participation
    • Other

    The goal of Advising the Entrepreneurial Client is to prepare students to assist in the representation of a start-up venture/angel backed company. This course takes students through the legal issues likely to present themselves in the lifecycle of a typical technology company from inception/incorporation through acquisition (the typical liquidity event). Advising the Entrepreneurial Client exposes students to the types of issues, questions and documentation that they encounter and the lawyering skills that they need as a lawyer for an entrepreneurial venture. The course is a survey of entrepreneurial law considerations and does not attempt to invoke policy considerations.

    Students are graded on class participation, weekly group homework, and three major drafting assignments.

    Class is open to students pursuing the LLM in Law & Entrepreneurship.  Students not in this program should consider Law 540: Startup Law: Representing the Company.

    535

    Corporations and American Democracy 2
    • JD SRWP with add-on credit
    • JD elective
    • LLM-LE (JD) elective
    • IntlLLM writing, option
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • Spring 24
    • Reflective Writing
    • Research and/or analytical paper(s) option, 10-15 pages

    Lawyers, scholars, business executives, and ordinary people have consistently asked a fundamental question: what is the role of the corporation in society? One way of answering this question is to look to corporate law and consider corporate purpose and its accompanying debates. Yet another way of answering this question involves debates around corporate personhood, especially as they arise in the context of corporate constitutional rights. At bottom, we are continually confronted with the same questions: What rights does the corporation have? How should government regulate the corporation and the power it wields? What is the role of the corporation in American democracy specifically? What does it mean for corporations to engage in social and political activism? Should they do so at all? This course will explore these questions from both a public law and private law perspective, including the ways in which corporate governance can respond to some of these questions. In doing so, this course will bridge a gap between constitutional law and corporate law by focusing on where the doctrines intersect. Students will analyze case law, scholarly literature, and selected popular and practitioner-focused readings in this space.

    Throughout this course, there are two overarching questions that we will consider: (1) What should corporate decisionmakers be mindful of when it comes to corporate social and political activity, including the assertion of corporate constitutional rights? and (2) What does the assertion of corporate constitutional rights mean for American democracy and its survival?

    The course will be taught as a two-hour weekly seminar, focused on class discussion of assigned readings. Students will complete five three-page response papers and one final fifteen page paper. For an additional credit, students may also fulfill their SRWP requirement with this seminar with my permission and receive an additional credit that counts as an independent study on a credit/no-credit basis.

    540

    Startup Law: Legal Considerations for Entrepreneurs and Counsel 3
    • JD elective
    • IntlLLM NVE Cert
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • Fall 20
    • Fall 21
    • Fall 22
    • Fall 23
    • Final Exam
    • Class participation

    This course takes students through the legal issues likely to present themselves in the lifecycle of a high growth company from inception through acquisition (the typical liquidity event). Startup Law exposes students to the types of issues, questions and documentation that they encounter as a lawyer for an entrepreneurial venture, but also looks at legal and business concepts from the perspective of the entrepreneur. Students will be exposed to a wide variety of legal issues, including but not limited to, intellectual property, securities, entity formation, business operations, human resources, and tax. The course is a survey of entrepreneurial law considerations and will discuss policy considerations as the material and current events dictate. Students who have taken Law 534 may not take this class. Business Associations is highly recommended as a prerequisite but may be taken as a co-requisite. Final grade is based on a final exam and in class participation.

    541

    Nonprofit Organizations 3
    • JD elective
    • LLM-LE (JD) elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • PIPS elective
    • Fall 20
    • Fall 21
    • Fall 22
    • Fall 23
    • Final Exam

    The subject of the course is the diverse sector of the economy composed of nonprofit organizations. The topics to be covered include their economic function, governance issues, the tax laws covering them, abuses of their special status, and policy issues regarding them.

    545

    Urban Legal History 3
    • JD SRWP
    • JD elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM writing
    • Fall 22
    • Fall 23
    • Research paper, 25+ pages
    • Class participation

    Urban Legal History is a research seminar which will focus on the legal issues relating to Durham's political, social, and economic development. The class will involve intensive study of primary and secondary materials, and will require students to produce substantial (45 page) research papers.

    548

    Antitrust Course Plus 0.5
    • JD elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • Spring 22
    • Spring 23
    • Reaction Papers
    • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10 pages

    The half-credit add-on seminar will constitute a review of current litigation and FTC/DOJ initiatives that highlight antitrust policy today, including the Biden Executive Order on Competition (and its aftermath).  A special focus will be on antitrust policy towards the digital platforms and the assorted major cases against Google, Facebook and Amazon.  Classes will be more participatory, akin to seminar discussions, than the 3-credit core antitrust class.  Students will submit a final paper, consistent with the obligations of a half-credit seminar, on a topic of their choosing related to contemporary – and future – antitrust policy.  The course will be open to students who have completed or are concurrently enrolled in the core Antitrust course (LAW 205)

    549

    Corporate Counseling and Communication 2
    • JD elective
    • JD experiential
    • LLM-LE (JD) elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM writing
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • IntlLLM NVE Cert
    • Spring 21
    • Spring 22
    • Spring 23
    • Spring 24
    • Final Exam
    • Practical exercises
    • In-class exercise
    • Class participation

    The goal of this class is for students to develop skills working with sophisticated clients on complex issues that lack easy answers and to simulate the practice of law in a way that a young associate is likely to experience it whether at a large law firm or in a small legal office. The primary focus is interviewing and counseling business clients and drafting client-related communications.

    The first part of the class is split into five two-week segments. In the first week of each segment, the class will study a legal issue and prepare to interview the client. Then, one student interviews the client about a simulated scenario in a conference call as the rest of the class observes.  After the call, the class assesses the legal issues and strategies for responding. Students must then decide what advice to give.

    In the second week of each segment, the class evaluates potential responses and prepares to advise the client. Another student counsels the client as the class observes. The focus of the class is on client communications, legal strategy, and developing professional skills, and students will gain exposure to the types of issues commonly faced by corporate counsel, including contract negotiations and potential claims.

    Students will also practice working in a law office environment by sending emails to the professor that simulate reports to a supervising attorney and by submitting timesheets showing work they have completed. The final three weeks focus on a 15-page paper that will require independent research on a complex legal topic assigned by the professor. Through these exercises, students will learn to speak confidently with experienced business executives, collect information efficiently from busy professionals, and deliver practical, business-oriented legal advice orally and in writing.

    550

    Legal Issues of Cybersecurity and Data Breach Response 2
    • JD elective
    • JD experiential
    • LLM-LE (JD) elective
    • IntlLLM NVE Cert
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntllLLM IP Cert
    • PIPS elective
    • Fall 20
    • Fall 21
    • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10-15 pages
    • Practical exercises
    • Class participation

    This course will cover the dynamic and rapidly evolving legal field of cybersecurity and data breach response.  The course will focus on the workflow during the aftermath of any sort of data security incident, a rapidly growing legal practice area, where legal professionals have emerged as critical decision-makers. Every class will begin with a 15-20 minute discussion of current events.  The course will be broken up into two parts.   The first part of the course will cover the foundation of the legal aspects of data breach response, in the form of traditional discussion.  The second part of the course will involve a fictional fact pattern/simulation of a data security incident at a financial firm, with student teams conducting various tasks, with “real-life” outside legal experts playing various roles.  The tasks will include: intake; board briefing; law enforcement liaison; federal/state regulatory interphase; insurance company updates; and vendor/third party/employee briefings.

    557

    Space Law / Law of Mars 2
    • JD SRWP, option
    • JD elective
    • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
    • IntlLLM writing
    • Spring 24
    • Reflective Writing
    • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10-15 pages
    • Class participation

    This course will address the past, present and future of space law – from its origins five decades ago, to the current era of explosive growth in spacefaring, to potential future human settlements on Mars and other planets.  How well does current space law govern this expanding arena, and what kinds of new governance regimes are needed?  The Outer Space Treaty (OST) was signed in 1967 when space exploration was just beginning and focused on the Cold War rivalry between the US and USSR.  Today, 114 states are parties to the OST (with smaller numbers having signed its related accords on registration, liability, and other topics), and space activities are booming.  Missions to the Moon have now been undertaken by the US, Russia, EU, China, India, and Israel, and missions to Mars by the US, EU, China, and the UAE.  The US and Japan have each excavated materials from asteroids and brought samples back to Earth.  In 2022, the US and EU launched DART, the first ever asteroid deflection test. Thousands of satellites are now orbiting the Earth, with many more to be added soon – for scientific, navigation, weather, military, intelligence, communications and commercial uses – including many operated by private actors such as SpaceX/Starlink and Amazon/Blue Origin.  Non-state actors are developing their own terms for space rules.  New space law is being developed, such as the Artemis Accords (2020; signed by 29 countries as of 2023), and the US statute on space resource ownership (2015).  States and private actors are mulling plans to settle human communities on the Moon and Mars.  Is the OST still adequate?  What new approaches are needed?

    We will investigate what current laws say about these efforts, and what will or should be the legal rules and norms for future missions and settlements off the Earth.  Among the challenges for space law today are:  reducing dangerous space debris in Earth orbit, and environmental impacts of launches; defining property rights to space resources, and liability for harm, thus motivating investment while avoiding resource depletion and ensuring equitable access; managing international space relations, space-based energy systems, climate engineering, and avoiding war in space; defending against large asteroid collisions and space weather; protecting against harmful contamination of the Earth and of other planets; considering whether to terraform other planets; and charting the legal rules for potential human settlements on the Moon, Mars, or other off-Earth locations (including laws for accidents, crimes, health, environment, marriage, divorce, citizenship, etc.).  Envisioning and debating future space law off-Earth may also offer a useful lens for reforming laws on Earth today.  And we will discuss who should decide these laws – e.g., each government that sends settlers, or each private company, or an international agreement, or the settlers themselves in their new home.  

    Students will write short and medium length papers (no exam).  Enrollment limited to 16 (grad/prof students outside the Law School may enroll if ‘space’ allows).  No prerequisites. 

    561

    Tax Policy 2
    • JD elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • Spring 21
    • Spring 22
    • Spring 23
    • Spring 24
    • Reaction Papers
    • Class participation

    This two-credit seminar will feature presentations (eight in total) of works-in-progress on a wide range of tax policy topics, by leading tax academics from law schools around the country. Although this is a two-credit seminar, it is scheduled for three hours per week on the weeks in which it meets. The first meeting will be February 6. Students will write reaction papers (of approximately three double-spaced pages) for seven of the eight works-in-progress. (Each student can choose which week not to write a reaction paper.) Grades will be based on the reaction papers and on contributions to the seminar discussions.

    571

    Future of Contracts 2
    • JD elective
    • LLM-LE (JD) elective
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • IntllLLM IP Cert
    • Spring 23
    • Spring 24
    • Simulated Writing, Transactional
    • Practical exercises

    What does it take to thrive as a transactional attorney today and tomorrow? Future of Contracts aims to expose students to current issues in the digital transformation of legal services—e.g. harnessing data, facilitating operations and project management with design and technology, applying artificial intelligence to key functions, etc.—in order to help our approaches to transactional law and contracts practice be “future friendly.”

    There is no question that a sea change is underway and that new are key forces for change. Legal professionals are increasingly turning to accessible and impactful technologies that help them achieve better outcomes and offer higher value through data-driven analytics and insights, higher efficiency and productivity, and greater and more equitable access. Students interested in preparing for tomorrow should be exposed to this world as much as possible.

    With guest experts and current materials, the focus of all deliverables will be on realistic experiences of being a transactional attorney today and tomorrow. Graded work product will include a series of individual and team assessments—of legal tech companies, modern business challenges, and opportunities for greater access to justice.

    Class will meet on a regular schedule except that one class will be canceled in order for students to take part in the Duke Center on Law & Technology’s Future of Contracts Design Derby. That will likely happen on Friday 23 February 2024. If registering, please calendar that date. (see story from 2023 Future of Contract Design Derby: https://law.duke.edu/news/students-seven-law-schools-participate-2023-future-contracts-design-derby/)

    No textbook required.

    573

    Shaping Law And Policy: Tools And Trends Of Health Care Advocacy 2
    • JD elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM writing
    • PIPS elective
    • Fall 20
    • Fall 21
    • Fall 23
    • Reflective Writing
    • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 15-20 pages
    • Class participation

    This seminar will examine how legal advocacy shapes law and public policy at the federal level, with an evolutionary focus on the strategic use of litigation and regulation opportunities to develop various legal doctrines. It will draw upon case histories of public interest litigation, administrative law advocacy, legislative development, and popular opinion strategies. Each weekly seminar will focus on one or two legal concepts that resonate beyond health law alone but have been developed and adapted by the various tools of health care advocacy. It will trace progression from an initial foundational case to more contemporary echoes in litigation and regulation. Topics will include the commerce power and federal mandates, standing, severability, statutory interpretation, federalism, antitrust application to health care professions, judicial review of administrative practices and policies, waivers and administrative discretion, public health mandates, ERISA, information transparency, religious freedom, and the power of the purse. Our class will examine how attorneys and their allies can play either offense or defense, or even switch roles, as the stages of policy debates shift. It will include an introduction to a host of contemporary issues in health law and policy that carry broader lessons for other advocacy efforts. The seminar will provide a balanced representation of competing viewpoints while showing how respective sides can engage in various regulatory and litigation activities to advance, negate, or alter the status quo. Study of the diverse and often-shifting legal problems encountered by a single industry, particularly one as important and complex as health care, may appeal to students generally interested in public policy and in law and economics, not just health care, as well as those interested in sharpening their skills in legal advocacy through involvement in litigation and administrative rulemaking. Relatively early selection of potential paper topics is advised.

    575

    Securities Litigation and Enforcement in Practice 2
    • JD elective
    • JD experiential
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • Spring 21
    • Fall 21
    • Practical exercises
    • In-class exercise
    • Class participation

    This two-credit experiential course will focus on the analytical, writing and presentation, and interview skills frequently used in practice while also introducing students to the general statutory and regulatory frameworks governing securities litigation and enforcement.  Litigating private securities claims and defending SEC enforcement actions are an important component of most sophisticated litigation practice; these actions have high stakes, and are almost inevitable for many corporate clients.  Writing assignments and presentations will be drawn from one hypothetical class action problem, and one hypothetical enforcement action problem.

    576

    Agency Law in a Changing Economy 2
    • JD SRWP, option
    • JD elective
    • IntlLLM NY Bar
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM writing
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • Spring 21
    • Spring 22
    • Spring 23
    • Spring 24
    • Research paper, 25+ pages
    • Oral presentation
    • Class participation

    Agency law encompasses the legal consequences of consensual relationships in which one person (the “principal”) manifests assent that another person (the “agent”) shall, subject to the principal’s right of control, have power to affect the principal’s legal relations through the agent’s acts and on the principal’s behalf. As the principal’s representative, an agent owes fiduciary duties to the principal. Agency doctrine applies to a wide range of relationships in which one person has legally-consequential power to represent another, populating the category, “agent,” with a variety of exemplars: lawyers, brokers in securities and other markets, officers of corporations and other legal entities, talent and literary agents, auction houses, and more. Usually, agency relationships contemplate three distinct persons: agent, principal, and third parties with whom the agent interacts, with legal consequences for all three. Agency law also governs the relationship between a principal and its agents, including its employees. The pervasiveness of agency means that its implications remain relevant despite changes in business structures and economies more generally.  This seminar covers the legal doctrines that make agency a distinct subject with in the law, in particular those differentiating agency from general contract and tort law. It also covers a number of contemporary examples in which agency doctrine may—or may not—apply with significant consequences. These may include the status of Uber drivers and other actors who perform services via platforms; the duties of commodities brokers, including merchants in financial derivatives products; the consequences of imputing an agent’s knowledge to the principal; agency as a vehicle for the imposition of vicarious liability; and the consequences for the agent and third party when a principal is undisclosed, unidentified, or undetermined.

    The seminar will meet weekly with assigned readings. Each student will write a research paper on a topic to be chosen with the instructor’s consent and will make brief presentations to the seminar as work on the paper proceeds

    577

    Emerging Issues in Sports and the Law 2
    • JD elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM writing
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • Spring 24
    • Reflective Writing
    • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10-15 pages
    • Class participation

    The course will examine the regulation of NCAA athletics and the enforcement of NCAA rules. It will examine in detail several high profile NCAA cases including those involving Penn State, Miami and UNC-Chapel Hill.

    581

    Blockchain, Fintech Law and Policy 2
    • JD SRWP, option
    • JD elective
    • LLM-LE (JD) elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM required
    • IntlLLM writing
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • Fall 20
    • Spring 22
    • Spring 23
    • Spring 24
    • Research paper, 25+ pages
    • Class participation
    Updated: November 12, 2021

    The Internet, the increased power of computing and new technology are driving the decentralization of all aspects of the global economy, including financial services. Today, we can surf the Internet, download apps, listen to music, shop, send money to friends and family, manage our financial accounts, and buy bitcoin – all from our smartphones.

    For decades, banks had been one-stop shops for financial services. Financial technology firms (fintechs), leveraging the sharing of personal customer bank account data, have quickly emerged to unbundle aspects of financial services and rebundle them on platforms. The pace of platformization has picked up since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, yet financial laws and regulations have not kept pace. Data protection laws were passed in the 1970s long before the advent of fintech services and products, and customer liability protections do not fully extend to nonbank-provided mobile payment transactions.

    Meanwhile, money is making a leap in evolution. From commodity-based currencies to fiat-based currencies that support commercial bank money and mobile payments, we now see an emergence in cryptocurrencies beginning with Bitcoin launched in 2009. Questions about whether central banks should issue their own form of digital currency became more pressing when Facebook announced its plans in 2020 to issue a digital currency: Libra. Now central banks around the world are exploring issuing central bank digital currencies or CBDCs. These developments raise important questions of how best to design CBDCs and what kinds of personal data can be collected on users transacting in CBDCs.

    New technologies such as blockchain are driving further innovation in financial services. After the advent of native cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum with high price volatility, stablecoins were developed with the goal of being more “stable”. However, it is uncertain under US laws or regulations if these digital assets are commodities, securities, or currency. These blockchain technologies are driving decentralization of financial services, and perhaps the largest legal and policy question of all is how should decentralized finance, or DeFi, fits in our current framework of laws and regulations.

    This course aims to provide you with an understanding of legal and policy issues raised by tech-driven financial innovation. You will learn about the critical legal, regulatory, and policy issues associated with cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings, online lending, new payments technologies, and financial account aggregators. In addition, you will learn how regulatory agencies in the U.S. are continually adjusting to the emergence of new financial technologies.

    This course will be delivered online.  Students will be assessed on class participation and a 25-30 page research paper. This paper may not be used to satisfy the JD SRWP requirement without permission.  The paper will satisfy the LLM writing requirement.

    585

    Philanthropy, Voluntarism and Not-For-Profit Law and Management 3
    • JD elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • PIPS elective
    • Spring 21
    • Spring 22
    • Spring 23
    • Spring 24

    The scope of this seminar is as broad as the idea of the voluntary society itself, with particular attention to the American version thereof. The central question is the extent to which, and how, a large number of people of varying ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds, living together in a country, state or city, organized into representative governments, should - can - rely on voluntary action by willing citizens to fulfill both their own individual needs and the needs of the respective communities in which they live. To explore that question requires us to examine alternative allocations of responsibility for solving particular problems - voluntary, not-for-profit, for-profit, joint public/private, publicly encouraged/subsidized, and publicly coerced - along with examples, reasons, and theories for particular forms of organization. We will need to probe what it is that motivates donors and volunteers to give money and time, and to assess not only their effectiveness in solving problems but also the comparative praiseworthiness of their respective motives. Charitable and corporate foundations, as well as the tax-exempt organizations to which they and other donors contribute, are part of the inquiry, especially as to their goals, decision rules, governance, and public accountability. We will try to compare the experience of other countries with that of the U.S. in these regards, and we will continuously examine the framework of public policy that embodies public judgments about the desirability of allocating some part of the burden of social problem-solving to voluntary organizations alone or in partnership with public organizations, as well as the tax policies that are crafted to facilitate such problem-solving policies. Cross-listed with PPS280S.

    586

    Current Debates in Bankruptcy Law 2
    • JD SRWP, option
    • JD elective
    • LLM-LE (JD) elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM writing, option
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • PIPS elective
    • Spring 21
    • Spring 22
    • Fall 22
    • Spring 24
    • Reflective Writing
    • Research paper option, 25+ pages
    • Class participation

    Is bankruptcy broken?  For some years, many academics and practitioners have argued that the nation's business and consumer bankruptcy systems are outdated or otherwise not fit for their intended purpose.  The course will examine selected topics in bankruptcy law relating to this theme (but focusing most heavily on chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code).  Key reading materials will include recent major reports proposing reforms to bankruptcy law, as well as excerpts from the scholarship and leading judicial decisions.  We will consider questions including: what is bankruptcy for? Is it simply a procedural remedy for enforcing substantive rights that exist independent of the bankruptcy case, or an opportunity more fairly to redistribute assets (or losses)? Is bankruptcy special?  Should be Bankruptcy Code be read like any other statute, or do we need special principles for bankruptcy law, and broad equitable powers for bankruptcy courts, to encourage businesses and consumers to reorganize?  We will use case studies like the Purdue Pharma opioid-crisis bankruptcy to assess this.  In the final, consumer bankruptcy component of the course, we will grapple with the reality that most consumer reorganizations are unsuccessful and consider whether the current system strikes the appropriate balance between debtors’ rights and creditors’ protection. 

    We will begin each topic by covering the relevant features of bankruptcy law, and you do not need to have taken a bankruptcy class to take this seminar. The objective of the seminar is to provide insight and into and allow for debate of bankruptcy theory and policy; in the process, we will consider the extent to which abstract theories of bankruptcy hold up in the real world, and the topics we cover will include issues of pressing interest to current bankruptcy practitioners. 

    Students will be required to participate in class discussions. Students may complete either a series of reflection papers examining the reading materials and topics discussed, or one longer 25-30 page paper designed to satisfy the SRWP. 

    Due to substantive overlap in material, students may not concurrently enroll in Law 288: Consumer Bankruptcy & Debt and Law 586: Current Debates in Bankruptcy Law. However, if you've taken one of the courses in a previous semester and wish to take the other, that will be permitted. 

    587

    Race and the Law 3
    • JD elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • PIPS elective
    • Spring 21
    • Fall 23
    • Final Exam
    • Class participation

    This course will examine the social, political, and legal forces that shape race relations in the United States. Students will engage competing visions of racial equality through law by examining major civil rights issues such as affirmative action, voting rights, and mass incarceration. This course will also highlight the limitations of law in racial reform and will consider the ways in which law can perpetuate race, gender, and class hierarchies. The course’s readings will draw from a wide range of interdisciplinary materials. Evaluation will be based on class participation and an examination.

    590

    Risk Regulation in the US, Europe and Beyond 2
    • JD SRWP
    • JD elective
    • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM writing
    • IntlLLM Environ Cert
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • IntllLLM IP Cert
    • Fall 20
    • Fall 21
    • Fall 22
    • Spring 24
    • Research paper, 25+ pages
    • Class participation

    Faced with myriad health, safety, environmental, security and financial risks, how should societies respond?  This course studies the regulation of a wide array of risks, such as disease, food, drugs, medical care, biotechnology, chemicals, automobiles, air travel, drinking water, air pollution, energy, climate change, finance, violence, terrorism, emerging technologies, and extreme catastrophic risks. (Students may propose to research other risks as well.)

    Across these diverse contexts, the course focuses on how regulatory institutions deal with the challenges of risk assessment (technical expertise), risk perceptions (public concerns and values), priority-setting (which risks should be regulated most), risk management (including the debates over "precaution" versus benefit-cost analysis, and risk-risk tradeoffs such as countervailing harms and co-benefits), and ongoing evaluation and updating.  It examines the rules and institutions for risk regulation, including the roles of legislative, executive/administrative, and judicial functions; the challenge of fragmentation and integration; the roles of oversight bodies (such as judicial review by courts, and executive review by US OMB/OIRA and the EU RSB); and the potential for international regulatory cooperation.

    The course examines these issues through a comparative approach to risk regulation in the United States, Europe, and beyond (especially those countries of interest to the students in the course each year).  It examines the divergence, convergence, and exchange of ideas across regulatory systems; the causes of these patterns; the consequences of regulatory choices; and how regulatory systems can learn to do better.

    This is a research seminar, in which students discuss and debate in class, while developing their own research.  We may also have some guest speakers.  Students' responsibilities in this course include active participation in class discussions, and writing a substantial research paper.  Students’ papers may take several approaches, such as analyzing a specific risk regulation; comparing regulation across countries; analyzing proposals to improve the regulatory system; or other related topics.

    This course is Law 590, cross-listed as Environ 733.01 and PubPol 891.01.  Graduate and professional students from outside the Law School should enroll via those Environ and PubPol course numbers, and may contact the Nicholas School registrar, Erika Lovelace, e.love@duke.edu, or the Sanford School registrar, Anita Lyon, anita.lyon@duke.edu, with any questions about enrollment.  (The Law School does not use “permission numbers.”)

    591

    Development Finance 1
    • JD elective
    • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM Environ Cert
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • Fall 20
    • Fall 21
    • Fall 22
    • Fall 23
    • Reflective Writing
    • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10-15 pages
    • Class participation

    The Course will

    • Provide an overview of development challenges in Low and Middle-Income Countries and the shared global responsibility under the UN Agenda 2030 to reconcile economic, social, and ecological objectives.
    • Focus on the roles of and partnerships between actors of development finance, such as government agencies, multilateral development banks, foundations, NGOs, and the private sector, particularly social entrepreneurs and impact investors.
    • Familiarize students with development finance instruments, such as budget aid, grants, loans, and blended finance mechanisms.
    • Address critical views on aid effectiveness.
    • Highlight policies in developed countries incoherent with the objectives of development assistance.

    Requirements for one credit:

    • Two 3-page essays: the first to be submitted on or before September 14, 2023 (15% of final grade); the second to be submitted on or before October 5, 2023 (15% of final grade)
    • One 10-page paper to be submitted on or before December 1, 2023 (40% of final grade)
    • Active participation in class discussions (30% of final grade)
    • There will be no final exam

    Requirements for a second credit (optional):

    • Online presentation to professor of approx. 25 minutes
    • Topic in the field of Development Finance proposed by student
    • Time of presentation between November 6th and 24th, 2023 (date to be determined by student and professor)
    • Written outline of presentation and bibliography to be submitted to professor no later than three days prior to presentation.
    • Grading: pass/fail

    591P

    Development Finance Project Credit
    • JD elective
    • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM Environ Cert
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • Fall 22
    • Fall 23
    • Research and/or analytical paper
    • Oral presentation

    When concurrently enrolled in LAW 591 Development Finance Project, a student may enroll in this additional credit.

    Requirements for a second credit:

    • Online presentation to professor of approx. 25 minutes
    • Topic in the field of Development Finance proposed by student
    • Time of presentation between November 6th and 24th, 2023 (date to be determined by student and professor)
    • Written outline of presentation and bibliography to be submitted to professor no later than three days prior to presentation.
    • Grading: pass/fail

    592

    Frontier AI & Robotics: Law & Ethics 3
    • JD SRWP, option
    • JD elective
    • LLM-LE (JD) elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM writing
    • IntlLLM Business Cert
    • IntllLLM IP Cert
    • IntlLLM NVE Cert
    • Fall 20
    • Spring 21
    • Spring 22
    • Spring 23
    • Spring 24
    • Reflective Writing
    • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 20+ pages
    • In-class exercise
    • Class participation

    Robots, with us for several generations already, were long confined to narrow uses and trained users, assembling our vehicles and moving our products behind the scenes. In recent years, robotic tools have begun to step out of the back room and take center stage. Even more, these tools are fueled by constantly advancing artificial intelligence and machine learning tools that allow them to participate in the world of the mind as much as the world of muscle. Are we ready? Probably not. In order to capture the full opportunities and benefits of AI & robotics, surely our legal systems and ethical frameworks must evolve. We must find ways to ensure that human-robot interactions occur in ways that are safe and are consistent with our cultural values. We must take care that our policies and laws provide artificial intelligence tools with the direction we need without quashing or hindering the innovations that could improve our lives.

    The course will bring together three core areas: (1) law, (2) ethics, and (3) applied technology. Because frontier technologies challenge existing legal regimes and ethical frameworks, this course and its assigned project encourage law, ethics, and policy students to interact with networks of experts who are actively thinking about ethical technology development and with technology policy networks that explore the social implications of a world increasingly inclusive of AI.

    Beyond time spent for class preparation and in-class time, each student in Frontier AI & Robotics: Law & Ethics will be required to complete a substantial research-based Report that demonstrates a deep, research-based understanding of a topic about which the student shall become knowledgeable such that he/she could take part meaningfully in and contribute to present-day discussions of law, policy, and ethics in the topic area. This Report may qualify for the JD SRWP degree requirement or the International LLM writing requirement upon permission of the instructor.

    NO PRIOR EXPERIENCE WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE OR TECHNOLOGY IS NEEDED FOR THIS COURSE.

    598

    Family Creation: A Non-Judicial Perspective 2
    • JD elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • PIPS elective
    • Spring 21
    • Reflective Writing
    • In-class exercise
    • Class participation

    This seminar will focus on the role of the legislative and administrative process in family creation. We will examine situations in which a child born in one family becomes part of another through mechanisms such as adoption, foster care, or surrogacy. Particular attention will be given to intercountry adoption and surrogacy, which raise complex issues of law and policy, including those relating to the definition of family, state sovereignty, immigration and citizenship, human rights, and ethics and transparency. Not all countries participating in intercountry adoption and surrogacy are subject to relevant international treaties, and even where treaties are in effect, implementation has been characterized by conflict and delay. At the local level, regulation through oversight of private agencies, adoptive families, and third party intermediaries has been uneven. Throughout our examination of these issues, we will focus attention on the ways in which race and class have shaped policy, often in ways that harm families and children.

    This seminar aims to give students the opportunity to understand the policymaking process by closely examining what has transpired in the field of family creation in the last 15-20 years, and considering what the future may hold, both within the U.S. and abroad. Students will be expected to explore and understand the intersection between policy, treaty, and national law, as well as the interrelationship between the legislative and administrative processes. Because the seminar will examine not only the law within the U.S. but that in other countries, students will be able to explore the differences in culture and policy that exist nation to nation and consider how those differences affect these inherently international issues relating to family creation.

    Readings will draw from the United States and international sources and will include existing and proposed legislation, existing and proposed administrative regulations, treaty provisions, court decisions interpreting these sources, academic and journalistic writings, and audiovisual materials.

    619

    Readings: Commercial Law and Society in Historical Perspective 1
    • JD elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • Fall 23

    Fraud, mortgage crises, banking regulation, tax evasion – these are bywords of our time but, of course, such concepts and concerns have a long history. Many of the foundations of modern law regarding property and obligation were laid in English courts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries –a period of remarkable commercial expansion, imperial overreach, and stock market plunges. How did developments in legal procedure and doctrine shape the course of socio-economic change in the modern age? And what kinds of impacts did commercialization and colonization have on English law in an era of expanding empire?

    Readings will explore such questions through study of the development of the Anglo-American law of contract, mortgage, bankruptcy and trust.  Readings will also include works on the history of colonialism, labor law, welfare, and slavery. In examining some exemplary cases and works of historical analysis, we will consider the different social, political, economic and cultural contexts within which seminal legal changes occurred.

    Requirements include class participation and completion of short response papers. 1 credit (graded on a credit/no credit basis). No exam or final paper, however students may, if they wish, receive 2 credits upon successful completion of an additional 15-page paper. Variable Credit.

    636

    Food, Agriculture and the Environment: Law & Policy 2
    • JD SRWP
    • JD elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM Environ Cert
    • PIPS elective
    • Fall 20
    • Fall 21
    • Fall 22
    • Fall 23
    • Reflective Writing
    • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10-15 pages
    • Oral presentation
    • Class participation

    “Food,” “agriculture,” and the “environment” are distinct American mythologies tied to our basic physical needs and imbued with significant cultural meanings. They are also deeply entwined. We all eat three or so times a day, and each of those meals arrived on our table at the very end of a dizzying journey through our national—and increasingly global—food and agriculture system. It’s a system that causes startling environmental harms; think water and air pollution, pesticides, greenhouse gases, non-human animal welfare, deforestation, soil depletion, wetlands destruction, fisheries collapse, and on and on. Yet notions of “agricultural exceptionalism” exempt agriculture from many of our nation’s environmental laws.

    Undergirding the system are the people who help put food on our tables. The food and agriculture system depends on immigrants who toil in the field and on slaughterhouse lines even as it romanticizes the Jeffersonian ideal of the solitary yeoman. It co-opts the knowledge of Black, Indigenous and people of color under terms like “sustainable” and “regenerative” without reckoning with land theft, enslavement, or the patterns of discrimination and land loss that persist today.

    This course will survey how law and policy created and perpetuate the interrelated social, economic and environmental iniquities of our modern food and agriculture system. More optimistically, we will study how law and policy can address systemic issues and move us toward values of equity and environmental justice, conservation, restoration, community health and economic sustainability. We will pay special attention to the federal farm bill, which is due for reauthorization in 2023.

    Course format and expectations: Students will be expected to stay up on all readings, participate in weekly discussion boards, prepare several presentations and written assignments throughout the semester, and engage in the seminar each week. As a final assignment, each student will write a 10-15 page law or policy paper on a topic that they will develop in consultation with the rest of the class and the instructor. There will be an additional, optional opportunity to visit a local farm.

     

    644

    Bass Connections 1-3
    • Other

    About Bass Connections

    Bass Connections is a university-wide program that offers graduate and undergraduate students immersive research opportunities through more than 60 year-long project teams each year. On Bass Connections teams, graduate and professional students, postdocs, and undergraduates work together with faculty and outside experts to conduct cutting-edge research on important issues such as health inequality, environmental sustainability, human rights, educational opportunity, and medical ethics.

    Teams generally work together for nine to 12 months. Participating students usually receive academic credit (see below for crediting options for Law students), although students in specialized roles may sometimes serve in a paid role.  

    Team members blend their diverse skills and expertise, allowing students of all levels to learn and contribute. Their work results in policy recommendations, journal articles, new datasets to inform future research, health interventions, novel modes of delivering social services, prototypes, museum exhibits, future grants, and more.

    Opportunities to Participate in 2023-2024

    For more information about how to apply, please visit the Bass Connections website. Details about other 2023-2024 project teams open to law students are available here.

    Crediting Options for Law Students

    Law students who are interested in participating in Bass Connections have the following crediting options:

    • Teams led by a Duke Law Faculty Member: If a Duke Law faculty member leads a Bass Connections team, Law students are eligible to receive Law School credit (up to three credits per semester). Upon being accepted to join a team, students must apply for approval to receive Law School credit by documenting the law and policy work (research, drafting, etc.) they will be undertaking as part of the team and the amount of time they will spend on the project. Such students should contact Dean Lacoff or James Lambert.
    • Teams without Duke Law Faculty Members: Some Bass Connections team are grappling with legal matters but do not include a Duke Law faculty leader. While Law students are encouraged to participate on these teams, students would not be eligible for Law School credit. Such students could opt to use their non-Law credit, noting that each student is only permitted three such credits. Students may also petition the Law School’s Administrative Committee for permission to apply up to three additional credits. Such appeals must demonstrate the rigor of the project and the connection to legal matters. Students interested in participating in these projects should contact Dean Lacoff or James Lambert.
    • Other options: Some students participate on Bass Connections teams in a paid capacity, particularly if they are serving in a leadership/project management role on the team. Each team is structured differently. It is at the discretion of faculty team leaders whether they offer paid roles. Law students may not earn academic credit if they are paid for their work.

    Some students also participate on Bass Connections teams in an extra-curricular capacity because they are passionate about the topics, see sufficient professional benefits to participation, and/or because the topic aligns with their own research/career interests.

    In some circumstances, Duke Law students may also document leadership or other skill development through a Bass Connections team experience that may count toward the professional development graduation requirement. Please contact a career counselor if you are interested in pursuing this option.

    Benefits of Participation for Professional Students

    Project teams offer professional students an exciting opportunity to apply coursework to a concrete problem, access professional development resources, expand academic and professional networks, and build career-enhancing skills to stand out on the job market. Professional students play a crucial role on Bass Connections teams, often serving as subject area experts, project managers or sub-group leaders, and mentors for undergraduates. In recognition of the important leadership role that professional students play on teams, Bridget Eklund JD’ 21 was awarded the 2021 Bass Connections Award for Outstanding Mentorship

    Bass Connections teams offer professional students the opportunity to plan and implement complex projects, work in teams, mentor and lead others, and communicate across boundaries to find solutions to complex challenges – skills that are crucial for successful careers in almost any field.

    Duke Law Participation and Testimonials

    Past Law students have participated on a wide range of teams, including those working on issues related to ethics, the environment, privacy and security, intellectual property, labor, health, and education.

    Among many research outcomes, these teams have:

    • collaborated with federal and state policymakers on Medicaid reform;
    • developed cybersecurity guidelines to protect individuals’ and families’ personal data;
    • examined incentive-based approaches to endangered species conservation on private lands;
    • explored how governments and professional associations set and enforce codes of ethics in competitive industries such as law, athletics and business;
    • produced documentary films on the environment and peacebuilding in post-conflict zones; and
    • written policy proposals to inform animal waste management practices in the United States.

    Here’s what a few Duke Law alumni have had to say about their Bass Connections experience:

    The best thing about my Bass Connections project was that, much like in the real world, the “problem” we sought to address had never been answered – it was not an assignment generated to test a skill set, but rather a totally open-ended question.
    -
    Anna Johns Hrom JD ’16, PhD ’18 (Law Clerk, U.S. Courts)
     

    As a result of having worked with a multidisciplinary team, my writing changed and improved my goal of reaching wider audiences…Back in Brazil, my experience with Bass Connections is also informing how I am building and leading teams of researchers and policy analysts.
    -Daniel Ribeiro, SJD ’18 (Prosecutor, Ministério Público of the State of Rio de Janeiro)
     

    Through Bass Connections, I had the chance to meet with highly specialized practitioners that have been doing fascinating work on environmental peacebuilding. The [experience] also gave me an opportunity to step out of my usual activities…and do things I had little experience with, like drafting a script for a documentary or thinking about how certain images might help communicate the environmental impact of armed conflict in different regions of the world.
    -Xiao Recio-Blanco, SJD ’15 (Director of the Ocean Program, Environmental Law Institute)
     

    Bass Connections provided [our team] with an opportunity to work across disciplines to solve a complex and multifaceted problem and to develop a meaningful solution to that problem—one that has the potential to have tangible benefits in the real world. It is exactly the type of opportunity that I had been looking for when I decided to apply to Duke in the first place: to take my education beyond the classroom to make a difference in the wider world.
    -Matthew Phillips JD ’20 (Founder, Phillips Admissions)

     

    646

    Center for Public Research and Learning (CPRL) Integrated Externship 13
    • Other

    In partnership with Columbia Law School’s Center for Public Research and Learning (CPRL), Duke Law offers an integrated externship to spend a semester in New York in an interdisciplinary leadership development program in public education policy that combines a live-client project, an academic seminar on structural change in public education, professional skills development, and networking and job opportunities. CPRL student projects serve school districts, education departments, non-profit organizations and foundations driving transformational change in public education and improved outcomes for all children.

    647

    Research Tutorial: Marine Species at Risk in a Changing Atlantic 3
    • JD elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM required
    • PIPS elective
    • Fall 22
    • Research and/or analytical paper
    • Oral presentation

    Professors Michelle Nowlin and Steve Roady are working with colleagues at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia and the Environmental Law Institute to organize a workshop that will take place on November 3-4, 2022 at the Duke in D.C. office.  The workshop, Transboundary Marine Species at Risk in a Changing Atlantic: Taking Stock of Canadian and US Scientific and Governance Responses, Enhancing Future Cooperation, will bring together marine scientists, government experts, and legal scholars to assess the population and recovery status of species at risk of extinction due to habitat degradation, incidental impacts of commercial activities, and climate change; compare national approaches to species management and protection; assess the effectiveness of existing agreements; and  explore ways to improve bilateral and regional cooperation and address changes in migration patterns as the ocean warms.  This Research Tutorial provides students at the Law School and the School of the Environment with the opportunity to engage with experts and contribute to this workshop.  Students would conduct legal research and literature reviews and develop case studies that they would present at the workshop.  Students also would attend the full two-day workshop, serving as rapporteurs of the different sessions, and then work with the workshop’s steering committee to produce a report of the proceedings.

    At the federal level, the regulatory regimes for the management and conservation of ocean life forms present different issues in the USA and Canada.  As a general rule, this country’s environmental laws provide more robust protections than those in Canada.  At the same time, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans has been more aggressive than its US counterpart (the National Marine Fisheries Service) in efforts to limit damage to such species as endangered whales.  The ability of these two agencies to work cooperatively in a constructive fashion is growing in importance as climate change is driving more ocean species to shift the balance of their activities from one side of the USA/Canada border to the other.  With specific species (e.g., the right whale, the blue whale, and the American eel) as the focus of case studies, students in this tutorial would engage in comparative analyses of the differing regulatory approaches in the two countries and endeavor to formulate suggestions for improvement. 

    Enrollment requires instructor permission, and applicants should have both interest in this field and some background in/academic focus on marine species, international or environmental law, and government policy/governance.   Students interested in applying for the course should submit a short (250-500 word) statement of interest about why they would like to enroll in the course and highlighting coursework and/or experience. Statements should be sent to Professor Roady sroady@duke.edu, no later than 4 pm on Friday, June 17.  Students will be notified before the first registration window opens on Tuesday morning so that you can factor the seminar into your semester credit load. 

    677

    Duke Law in DC: Rethinking Federal Regulation 4
    • JD SRWP
    • JD elective
    • PIPS elective
    • Fall 20
    • Fall 21
    • Fall 22
    • Fall 23

    This course is open to students participating in the Duke in DC integrated externship program (LAW 679: Duke Law in DC Externship). The Rethinking Federal Regulation course is a graded 4-credit weekly class that focuses on trends in regulatory philosophy, competing models for regulation, the nature of administrative rulemaking and enforcement of rules and regulations, and some of the sources of regulatory dysfunction. Students will develop critical analysis skills that are necessary to evaluate federal regulatory law, and will produce a 30-page final paper for the course. This course is open to second and third year law students, by permission only. For more information, please visit https://law.duke.edu/curriculum/dukedc/.

    679

    Duke Law in DC Externship 9
    • JD elective
    • JD experiential
    • PIPS elective
    • PIPS experiential
    • Fall 20
    • Fall 21
    • Fall 22
    • Fall 23

    This 9-credit externship is one of three components of the Duke Law in DC experience, which also includes a seminar course and a substantial research paper. With the support of the Externship Administrator, students seek and secure a full-time externship position with a non-profit or government agency or office in Washington, DC. Duke Law in DC externship students have the opportunity to gain substantial hands-on experience in order to advance their academic and professional development while working under the supervision of an attorney on high-quality real-life work assignments.

    Under the Duke Law Externship Program, a student must complete 50 hours of externship per externship credit; Duke Law in DC requires 450 hours of externship to be completed between the first day of classes and the last day of exams each semester. Students are required to submit bi-weekly reflection papers and hours logs to the Externship Administrator and course professor. Students will be graded on a credit/no credit basis, based on successful completion of the required externship hours and diligent submission of reflection papers and hours logs.

    The Duke Law in DC externship program is open to second- and third-year law students, by permission only.

    Please follow this link for details and rules governing externships: http://law.duke.edu/about/community/rules/sec3#rule3-25

    9 credits / credit-no credit grading basis

    707

    Statutory Interpretation Colloquium 2
    • JD SRWP
    • JD elective
    • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
    • IntlLLM writing, option
      • Reflective Writing
      • Research paper, 25+ pages

      The objective of the course is to introduce students to important issues concerning the theory and doctrine of statutory interpretation through exposure to cutting-edge legal scholarship. The colloquium will feature bi-weekly presentations of works-in-progress by leading scholars of statutory interpretation, legislation, and administrative law. In the week preceding each presentation, students will read and discuss foundational materials (a mix of academic commentary and case law) on topics related to the work-in-progress.

      Students may opt to prepare six short (5-10 page) papers in response to each work-in-progress, which would be due in advance of the presentation and used to stimulate discussion. Alternatively, students may write one longer research paper (roughly 30 pages) dealing with a topic of their choice related to the themes of the class. Students who take the latter option may use the colloquium to satisfy the upper-level writing requirement.

      710

      Derivatives: Financial Markets, Law and Policy 3
      • JD elective
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • IntlLLM Business Cert
      • Spring 21
      • Fall 21
      • Final Exam
      • Class participation

      Modern capital and financial markets rely on a wide variety of complex instruments, including Treasury securities, structured debt and equity instruments, and derivatives of various kinds.  Public awareness regarding these instruments has grown since the Financial Crisis of 2008 because they are thought to have played an important role in both the rapid growth of financial markets (“financialization”) and their destabilization.  Yet these instruments and the role they play in modern markets remain little understood.  A basic understanding of these instruments has now become important in modern financial law practice and any discussions on financial policy and regulation.

      This course will review the workings of derivative instruments in the capital markets and how such instruments themselves are used.  The relationship between banking and capital markets, and between government and the private markets, will be explored, as will the most important legal and fiduciary responsibilities involved.  While not highly technical, the various principal types of government securities and derivatives will be examined. 

      Warren Buffet once called derivatives “weapons of mass financial destruction.”  We will consider the numerous public policy issues relating to derivatives, their role in the Crisis of 2008 (and more recent financial distress such as the Eurozone crisis and the US debt ceiling controversy), the history of attempts to regulate these instruments, and the current regulatory structure.

      Final grades are based on a final exam and in class participation.

      713

      Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship 2-3
      • JD SRWP, option
      • JD elective
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • IntlLLM writing option with additional credit
      • IntlLLM Business Cert
      • Spring 21
      • Fall 21
      • Spring 23
      • Final Exam
      • Research paper option, 25+ pages
      • Class participation

      In recent years, there has been growing pressure on profit-seeking corporations to address social problems, such as inequality and climate change. This class will critically evaluate the law and policies underlying recent developments that have allowed or required firms to take on a more active role in social and environmental issues. The class covers a range of topics, including the economic structure of nonprofit firms, the debate on corporate purpose and the profit-maximization norm, the rise of ESG investing, the proliferation of new legal hybrid forms, recent developments in the law of managerial fiduciary duties, the role of microfinance and fair trade in promoting development, and tax and subsidy policies to encourage corporations to pursue social goals, including the recent Opportunity Zone program. The inquiry will focus primarily on what types of structures best align investors’ interest in profit-making with different social purposes. 

      To be enrolled in the class, students must either take Business Association in the same semester, or have taken it in the past.  

      Student enrolled in the three-credit option need to write a research paper (in satisfaction of the JD Substantial Research and Writing Requirement or the International LLM Substantial Research Paper Requirement) in addition to doing the take-home exam.  The additional credit will count towards the Independent Study Research Credit Limit (Rule 3-12).

      The take-home exam will be comprised of questions relating to a real or imaginary business structure or transaction that involves social issues.

      714

      Coastal Resilience in the Face of Climate Change 2
      • JD elective
      • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • IntlLLM writing, option
      • IntlLLM Environ Cert
      • PIPS elective
      • Spring 21
      • Spring 22
      • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 15-20 pages
      • Group project(s)
      • Class participation

      This seminar will provide students an opportunity to engage closely with emerging law and policy issues associated with the need to increase coastal resilience in the face of climate change.  The recent experiences of both North and South Carolina with Hurricane Florence have highlighted the need for coastal communities to address a wide range of issues associated with climate change.  In addition to designing approaches to increase resilience when faced with storms and rising sea levels, these issues include: (1) information-gathering (via maps, drones, and scientific research about coastal/ocean processes); (2) law and policy refinements (via statutes, regulations, and guidance); and (3) possible litigation to develop useful common law doctrines relevant to the tidelands and the public trust.  Through the use of current cases and policy issues under debate in coastal communities, students will work together to research the most salient questions presented by these issues.  They will analyze relevant facts, laws, policies, socio-economic considerations, and local ordinances, and prepare proposed solutions to these questions in the form of advisory memos and recommendations.  

      716

      Cybersecurity and National Security Law and Policy 3
      • JD elective
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • Fall 21
      • Fall 22
      • Reflective Writing
      • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10-15 pages
      • Group project(s)
      • In-class exercise
      • Class participation

      The acquisition, management, analysis, dissemination, and security of data are increasing important issues for individuals, commercial enterprises and governments.   New technologies create a more connected and personal digital society.  Every day, transactions engaged in by individuals generate ever expanding amounts of personal information, including credit card transaction information, purchasing histories, bank and other financial transaction information, location information, health information, real property ownership information, information relating to interactions with the criminal justice system, information shared on social media and other types of information.  Not only is the volume of personal information escalating rapidly; much of it is revealed in on line transactions, enabling it to be acquired for multiple uses, and much resides on servers and storage media where it can be accessible or potentially accessible to commercial enterprises and government agencies. New cybersecurity risks are demanding responses from governments as they address attacks on critical infrastructure, election interference and the potential for manipulation of the data used to train artificial intelligence tools.

      In both the commercial sector and the government sector, the legal and policy issues associated with data, cybersecurity and surveillance are growing in importance.   Discussion of these issues in either sector cannot ignore the others, because the issues frequently intersect.  They also transcend national boundaries. For example, in President Obama’s proposals to revise government policy towards signals intelligence collection, he states that such policies implicate “the cooperation we receive from other nations on law enforcement, counterterrorism, and other issues; our commercial, economic, and financial interests, including a potential loss of international trust in U.S. firms and the decreased willingness of other nations to participate in international data sharing, privacy, and regulatory regimes …”[1]  This intersection of issues creates particular challenges for existing constitutional, legislative and international governance models.

      In the government sector, increased risks such as nation state cyber threats now create new priorities to add to those efforts spurred by the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.  Combating and preventing terrorist and cybersecurity attacks relies heavily on the collection of information through electronic surveillance.  The tension between these efforts and individual privacy creates frictions that are forcing reconsideration of existing methods of mediating these interests.  This tension then creates challenges for long accepted ideas of nation state use of signals intelligence interception and other information gathering operations (such as the gathering of intelligence about potentially hostile governments).  Similar reconsideration is occurring in the commercial sector, where consumers’ desire for confidentiality in the data that relates to them can conflict with markets for information and commercial and entrepreneurial interests that wish to take advantage of such data to provide new goods and services that consumers value.  


      [1] Presidential Policy Directive/PPD-28, p. 1 (January 17, 2014).

       

      722

      International Business Law 3
      • JD elective
      • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • IntlLLM Business Cert
      • Fall 20
      • Fall 21
      • Fall 22
      • Fall 23
      • Final Exam

      The goal of this course is to provide students with a broad overview of how international rules shape global commerce. It will serve as a foundation in international law for students who never plan to take another international law course but also serve as a roadmap of the possibilities for international law study (and careers) for students who want to do more with international law. The course begins with private, cross-border contracting, then moves on to public international law agreements as well. We start with conflict of law rules as well as international treaties designed to coordinate contract law (CISG). From there we dive into the world of private international arbitration, including questions of when state should not permit international arbitration. The course will also covers torts claims, particularly under the Alien Torts Claims Act. We will examine the Bhopal litigation before moving on to some of the cases that have been brought against major oil companies by citizens of developing countries. At that point, the course pivots towards more public law issues that govern international transactions. We look at the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as well as the OECD Anti-bribery Convention. Finally, we turn to the major treaty regimes on economic subjects, including multilateral trade agreements and the network of bilateral investment treaties.

      GRADING: Grades are based on an exam.

      738

      Financial Law and Regulation: Practitioner's Perspective 2
      • JD elective
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • IntlLLM Business Cert
      • Spring 22
      • Reflective Writing
      • Class participation

      Every aspect of financial law and regulation depends heavily on its daily practice.  The environment changes all the time, and the scope of regulatory discretion, at every level of government (state, federal and international) is so large that successful practitioners must understand the current trends in regulatory thinking and practice.  This course will allow students to dive deep into a different aspect of modern financial regulation every week by bringing in prominent alumni practitioners who are experts in specific areas of the field.

      The course will be structured as follows:

      1. Six 4 hour components, focusing on specific aspects of financial practice according to the expertise of the teacher. Lee Reiners will hold an opening 2 hour class session.
      2. Taught by a series of expert practitioners, who will spend two days at the school. Classes will be held on Thursday and Friday.
      3. The course is a seminar based on a compilation of readings provided during the course.
      4. Students will be graded based upon class participation and six, 1,500-word, writing assignments pertaining to each of the six topics discussed by our guest lecturers.

      Likely topics to be covered include:

      • Derivatives regulation
      • High frequency trading
      • FDIC resolution and the insurance fund
      • Volcker Rule and Regulation W
      • Bank capital requirements

       

      Class will run from Feb 15th to April 5th and will consist of 13 class sessions that are 2 hours long. Seven class sessions will be on a Friday morning from 9-11am and 6 class sessions will be on Thursday afternoon from 4:00pm to 6:00pm.

      741

      Climate Change and Financial Markets 2
      • JD SRWP, option
      • JD elective
      • LLM-ICL (JD) elective
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • IntlLLM writing
      • IntlLLM Environ Cert
      • IntlLLM Business Cert
      • Spring 22
      • Spring 23
      • Spring 24
      • Research paper, 25+ pages
      • Oral presentation
      • Class participation

      This course will focus on one of the most important elements in combatting, adapting to and mitigating the impact of climate change, namely the role of finance.  We will review the status of climate change science to gain an understanding of the challenge facing all of us.  Recognition and commitments by governments, including most particularly the United States, China, and Europe, will then be reviewed, before we consider the multiple linkages between finance and climate change, including the adverse impact of cryptocurrency.

      Against this introduction the course will then delve into the various dimensions of financial markets and the players involved.  This is important to understand the broad ranging impact and opportunities for addressing climate change.  Once the markets and market participants are understood, the course will review the diverse roles of government agents and regulators, each of whom can have a far-reaching impact in shaping the markets and market behavior.  We will also assess the recognition of the challenge by financial market participants and their actual and potential responses to it.

      A particularly thorny area is that of market analytics.  Many market operators claim to be “green,” but at this point the methods for determining the veracity of the claims remain very underdeveloped and often contradictory.  We will consider what has still to be done before we can really evaluate the “green” performance of firms and funds.  We will also face the real challenges that such firms face when trying to adapt.

      The course will conclude with an assessment of the overall state of financial markets as one of the most important arenas in the struggle to meet the great challenges posed by climate change.

      745

      Trade Secrecy: Doctrine, Policy, Frontier Issues 2
      • JD SRWP, option
      • JD elective
      • LLM-LE (JD) elective
      • IntlLLM writing
      • IntllLLM IP Cert
      • Spring 23
      • Research paper, 25+ pages
      • Research paper option, 25+ pages
      • Oral presentation
      • Class participation

      This seminar introduces trade secrecy doctrine and examines the most important policy contexts in which trade secrecy are arising today. No background knowledge is required. However, students must be prepared to be quick studies of various areas of technology and law. Of the various U.S. intellectual property regimes, trade secrecy is perhaps the most doctrinally elusive. Historically a common law tort that also borrowed from property and contract, trade secrecy has become codified in state, federal, and international regimes. The codification of trade secrecy doctrine has coincided with increasing recognition that it is often the most important mechanism by which firms protect returns on innovation and/or business investment. Notably, trade secrecy (and secrecy more generally) is becoming increasingly important not only for private firms, but also for national and regional innovation and security strategies. This seminar begins with an introduction to the trade secret doctrinal canon (including a discussion of how trade secrecy intersects with patent, copyright, and data exclusivity protection). It then discusses empirical evidence on uses of trade secrecy. Next, it considers various policy contexts, ranging from cybercrime and data regulation to employment and public administration. The seminar concludes by examining frontier technology areas in which trade secrecy plays a prominent role. These include machine learning and biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

      754

      IP Transactions 2
      • JD elective
      • LLM-LE (JD) elective
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • IntlLLM Business Cert
      • IntllLLM IP Cert
      • Spring 21
      • Spring 22
      • Spring 23
      • Spring 24
      • Final Exam
      • Class participation

      Patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets are the currency of an innovation economy. Each of these forms of intellectual property may be bought and sold, licensed, or used as security. How each is used will depend on the business context; the needs of a start-up company being far different from those of a multinational corporation. This course will focus on intellectual property transactions in various business contexts, including: maximizing value and assessing risks; using intellectual property in financing start-ups; protecting trade secrets; employment issues related to intellectual property; intellectual property licensing; and intellectual property in mergers, acquisitions and bankruptcy.

      760E

      Practitioner's Guide to Employment Law 1
      • JD elective
      • JD experiential
      • LLM-LE (JD) elective
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • PIPS elective
      • Spring 21
      • Fall 21
      • Fall 22
      • Fall 23
      • Reflective Writing
      • Practical exercises
      • Class participation

      This a practitioner’s skills course.

      It is designed to introduce students to practitioner skills against a backdrop of some of the main employment law issues that arise on a frequent basis in the American workplace.

      Using a variety of approaches to instruction including mock exercises, outside speakers, writing exercises (such as drafting communications to government agencies or corporate clients), and drawing from current developments in the law, the student will become familiar with basic concepts underlying employment law and, equally importantly, the practice skills involved in delivering legal advice and counsel about the issues presented.

      While the focus will be on representing an employer, students will explore issues from the perspective of the employee and compliance enforcers. Through this course, students will attain practical familiarity with providing legal advice which can be applied in any business context.

      760L

      Practitioner's Guide to Labor Law 1
      • JD elective
      • JD experiential
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • PIPS elective
      • Spring 21
      • Fall 21
      • Spring 22
      • Reflective Writing
      • Practical exercises
      • Class participation

      This course is designed to provide a practical overview of the main labor law issues that arise in the U.S. workplace. Using a variety of approaches of instruction including mock exercises, outside speakers, writing exercises and analysis of current events, the course will familiarize students with not just the basic concepts underlying the broad range of labor law but cover more advanced topics. As such, the course is appropriate both for students who have taken Labor Law and those new to the topic. To a certain extent, the class topics will be “collectively bargained,” meaning students will actually bargain over class material with the Professor, much as what happens in a union-management relationship.

      Class will meet seven times through the semester.

      764

      Privacy in a Post-Dobbs World: Sex, Contraception, Abortion and Surveillance 2
      • JD elective
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • IntlLLM writing
      • PIPS elective
      • Fall 23
      • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10-15 pages
      • Oral presentation
      • Class participation

      This two-credit seminar will examine the extent to which the criminalization of abortion in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), together with 21st century surveillance, compromises or eliminates the physical, decisional, and informational privacy of women and people who can become pregnant.

      We will review the history of the Supreme Court’s contraception and abortion cases and carefully read Dobbs. We will learn about the historical criminalization of abortion and pregnancy outcomes in the US and related surveillance. We will then examine current state laws criminalizing abortion, defining a fetus as a person, and creating civil liability schemes, and discuss how these laws affect privacy. We will learn about the laws that protect (and fail to protect) privacy in our modern information economy and consider the ways privacy law intersects with abortion law. In this context, we will consider both commercial surveillance and surveillance by law enforcement.  Other topics will include: the privacy implications of medication abortion and the current litigation that threatens its continued availability in the US; the extent to which providers, aiders and abettors, and women who self-manage abortion may be subject to prosecution in ban states; the increasing legal conflicts between shield states and ban states; the effects of criminalization on the privacy of the physician-patient relationship and the associated disincentives for seeking reproductive health care; the implications of laws purporting to control, limit or prohibit access to or dissemination of information about abortion in ban states; and attempts to affect or restrict individuals’ movement within and between states to obtain care.

      Both privacy and abortion law are rapidly changing environments in the United States, and attention to current developments in both arenas will be part of the class. We will make every effort to address and incorporate developments as they occur. Assignments will include interactive online comments and responses about the readings, a research project and presentation on the developing law in a particular state, and a writing assignment. There is no final exam.

      This course is not open to students who took Law 611.45 - Readings: Privacy in a Post-Dobbs World in Fall 2022.

      767

      Advanced Legal Research Workshop 1
      • JD elective
      • JD experiential
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • Spring 22
      • Spring 23
      • Fall 23
      • Practical exercises
      • Class participation

      This one-credit fast- track advanced legal research workshop will provide students with hands-on research practice across a spectrum of topics, using assignments designed to simulate legal practice in a real-world setting. In addition to primary legal sources, students will practice using litigation documents and analytics products, statutory interpretation and legislative history materials, corporate and contract drafting resources, regulatory materials, interdisciplinary and data research resources, intellectual property materials, and legal history and jurisprudence resources. In-class exercises and take-home assignments will be based on current and recent legal disputes illustrative of those matters students are likely to encounter in practice. Ethical and efficient research methods will be emphasized. Students should come away prepared to tackle research in a variety of legal work settings, including law firm, court, or public interest practice. Successful prior completion of LARW or equivalent is required.

      773

      Research Methods in Business Law 2
      • JD elective
      • JD experiential
      • LLM-LE (JD) elective
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • IntlLLM Business Cert
      • Spring 21
      • Spring 22
      • Spring 23
      • Spring 24
      • Final Exam
      • Practical exercises
      • In-class exercise
      • Class participation

      This advanced legal research seminar will introduce students to specific sources and strategies for researching a variety of business law topics, such as corporations, securities, and commercial bankruptcy. We will cover key primary and secondary sources for business law research: state and federal cases, statutes, regulations, and other administrative materials; subject-specific secondary sources; company disclosure documents; and sources for factual company and industry research, among others. The course will emphasize research processes, strategies, and evaluation of sources in a changing information environment. Students will develop their research skills through a variety of hands-on exercises simulating research assignments in practice. Grades will be based on review questions, research exercises, class participation, and a take-home final exam.

      775

      Corporate Ethics 1
      • JD elective
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • IntlLLM Business Cert
      • Fall 20
      • Fall 21
      • Spring 23
      • Spring 24
      • In-class exercise
      • Class participation

      This course is a one-credit seminar taught in two-hour blocks that focuses on the important role played by the corporate ethics office and its relationship with senior management and the board of directors of a corporation to ensure an ethical corporate culture. As we have learned through a series of corporate scandals starting with Enron and continuing through the events that contributed to the financial crisis of 2008, a review of today’s headlines would suggest that work remains to be done in many organizations to maintain an ethical corporate culture. This course will explore some of the critical factors behind the corporate scandals of the past, changes in the regulatory environment that address various aspects of those scandals, and the structure and scope of responsibility of today’s corporate ethics office as necessary to address these challenges. The course is designed to be highly interactive, and a number of in-class exercises will be assigned to assist students in becoming familiar with some of the dynamics faced by the corporate ethics office. The course will not have an exam.

      777

      Deal Skills for the Transactional Lawyer 3
      • JD elective
      • JD experiential
      • LLM-LE (JD) elective
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • IntlLLM Business Cert
      • IntlLLM NVE Cert
      • Spring 21
      • Spring 22
      • Simulated Writing, Transactional
      • Group project(s)
      • Practical exercises

      This course is designed to prepare students for transactional law practice by introducing them to the process of structuring, negotiating, documenting and closing a corporate acquisition transaction.

      The course is highly interactive.  Students will be assigned to “firms” that represent the parties to a hypothetical M&A transaction.  During the term, you will advise your client regarding deal structure, prepare due diligence requests and a due diligence report, draft an acquisition agreement, and negotiate the terms of the deal with counsel for the other party.  The negotiation exercises will take place “live” in class and will be videotaped.  The professor will provide written feedback on drafting assignments and negotiations to help students refine their deal-making skills.

      Topics covered will include:

      • Common transaction structures and the factors that affect choice of deal structure
      • Strategic and tactical approaches to negotiating an M&A transaction
      • Conducting a due diligence review
      • How to review contracts and other due diligence documents
      • Effective drafting techniques for the transactional lawyer
      • Understanding the “business deal” and translating it into contract language
      • The role of representations & warranties, covenants, conditions precedent and  other provisions found in the typical acquisition agreement
      • Preparing for and conducting a closing

      778

      Law & Entrepreneurship 2
      • Fall 20
      • Fall 21
      • Fall 22

      This perspectives course serves as an anchor for the LLM in Law & Entrepreneurship (LLMLE) program. In addition to giving students a theoretical framework through which to understand the relationship of entrepreneurship and law, the course will feature regular opportunities to learn directly from entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial lawyers.

      779

      Well-Being, Happiness, and Lawyering 1
      • JD elective
      • IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
      • Spring 21
      • Spring 22
      • Spring 23
      • Spring 24
      • Reflective Writing
      • Research and/or analytical paper
      • Class participation

      You’ve heard it before: “Don’t be a lawyer. Lawyers are miserable people.”

      Research has continuously shown that lawyers (and law students) experience depression, overwork, dissatisfaction, substance abuse, and psychological distress more severely and at a rate much higher than that of other high-stress professions. In a real sense, lawyers take on the worries of their clients.  It is possible to be a diligent (or even great) lawyer and still maintain well-being and happiness?

      In this class, participants will join the growing movement to better define and address that question. Participants will read a survey of the ever-growing theoretical and empirical research on lawyer well-being from both legal academia and positive psychology. In particular, participants will aim to develop a broad perspective of the well-being issues in the legal industry. In doing so, participants will be asked to look for flaws and outliers in the perspective described above – after all, some lawyers are, in fact, happy people. Participants will discuss why that is, and consider whether “happiness” should be an expectation or achievable goal for the average lawyer.

      Each participant will be asked to imagine a legal industry in which its well-being problems, while likely never solvable, are at least minimized. To that end, in addition to two reflection papers, each participant will be challenged to outline an article, program, idea, or other contribution to thought leadership that will help ameliorate one or more of the legal industry’s well-being problems.

      Along the way, this work should be beneficial to each participant’s own well-being and development of a functional – and possibly even happy – professional identity.

      This class is a one-credit, pass-fail seminar that will meet eight times for 90-minute sessions. It is open to 2L, 3L and LLM students, with an enrollment cap of 25.  Reflection papers, project work, and class participation will be required.

      In Spring 2024, the class will meet January 12, January 26, February 9, February 23, March 22, March 29, April 5, and April 12.

      Course Credits

      Semester

      JD Course of Study

      JD/LLM in International & Comparative Law

      JD/LLM in Law & Entrepreneurship

      International LLM - 1 year

      Certificate in Public interest and Public Service Law

      Areas of Study & Practice