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.

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.

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.

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.

This course has two aims. On a practical level, we will learn about the differences and similarities, both real and perceived, between different legal orders. We will focus on legal orders within the "civil" and "common" law and try to find out in which way it makes sense to conceive of them as "the Western Legal Tradition". On a theoretical level, we will try to understand what it means to "compare", and how it can help us both to understand other legal systems as well as our own.

A study of the special problems that arise when a case is connected with more than one state or nation. Topics include the applicable law (choice of law), personal jurisdiction, and the recognition and effect of foreign judgments.

A study of the basic rules of criminal procedure, beginning with the institution of formal proceedings. Subjects to be covered include prosecutorial discretion, the preliminary hearing, the grand jury, criminal discovery, guilty pleas and plea bargaining, jury selection, pretrial publicity, double jeopardy, the right to counsel, and professional ethics in criminal cases.

This course in advanced constitutional law is a study of the legal limitations on criminal investigative practices contained in the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments. Topics include search and seizure, arrest, the exclusionary rule, electronic surveillance, the privilege against self-incrimination, interrogation, confessions, and the right to counsel.

Much of the business of governing takes place at the state and local level, rather than on the federal level. Competent attorneys must consider the effect that various state and local actors will have on their clients' interests, whether they represent large corporations, small franchises, or individuals. This course is designed to offer an overview of the issues concerning state and local governance from both a theoretical and practical perspective. The course will acquaint students with the broad issues surrounding state and local government, rather than focus on any particular state or municipality. Among the topics of discussion: state constitutional law, structure, and rights; distribution of authority between federal, state, and local governments; federal, state, and local government coordination and conflict; issues surrounding state and local provision of services and employment; state and municipal governance and oversight, and the role of localism and direct democracy in our constitutional structure. Evaluation will be based on class participation, class exercises, and an examination.

A study of the law of employment discrimination, focusing mainly on the federal law that prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, age, religion, and disability. Issues of both practice and theory are discussed.

Concern about environmental risks has spurred the growth of a complex array of laws and regulations over the past four decades. This course is designed to provide a general introduction to the theory and practice of environmental law, with an emphasis on the major pollution control statutes, especially the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. Some of the recurring themes of the course will be the balance between federal and state authority, the economic justifications for environmental regulation, the distributional effects of environmental policy, the choice of regulatory instruments, and the role of federal agencies. The political backdrop for the development of environmental policy, especially the role of interest groups, political affiliation, and public perceptions, will also be discussed.

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. Professional and graduate students in the Nicholas School who would like to enroll in this course under Environ 835 should contact the NSOE Office of Academic & Enrollment Services, Erika Lovelace, e-mail or telephone 919-613-7459. (The Law School and the law professor teaching this course do not have "permission numbers.") (Professional and graduate students in the Sanford School of Public Policy, or other schools outside the Law School, should also contact the Nicholas School's office of Enrollment Services to enroll in Environ 835.) For undergraduate students, the Nicholas School offers a different course, Environ 265.

A study of legal and policy issues relating to the family. Topics include requirements for marriage, nontraditional families, obligations at divorce, establishing parenthood, and adoption. Grading is based on a final examination, written work relating to completion of a divorce settlement exercise and reflections on current issues in family law, and class participation.

This course examines the constitutional and statutory doctrines regulating the conduct of American foreign relations. Topics include the distribution of foreign relations powers between the three branches of the federal government, the status of international law in U.S. courts, the scope of the treaty power, the validity of executive agreements, the pre-emption of state foreign relations activities, the power to declare and conduct war, and the political question and other doctrines regulating judicial review in foreign relations cases. Where relevant, we will focus on current events, such as the recent lawsuits against China concerning COVID-19, controversies over immigration enforcement, the withdrawal by the United States from various treaties, and uses of military force against alleged terrorists.

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.

This course examines the legal doctrines, theories, and arguments arising out of the free speech and religion clauses of the First Amendment.

This course offers a general introduction to the international legal system and provides a foundation for more specialized courses. Topics covered include the sources, actors and institutions of international law; the application of international law by U.S. courts; adjudication by international tribunals; the extraterritorial application of domestic law; and an introduction to specific topics, such as human rights, international criminal law, international trade and investment, environmental protection, and the use of force.

The course examines the basic principles of labor law: a body of rulings, regulations, and legislative acts governing the rights of workers to form a union and collectively bargain over workplace terms and conditions. It focuses on the major federal legislation in this area - the National Labor Relations Act - as opposed to other laws governing workplace conduct (wage-hour, anti-discrimination, etc.), state laws, or those pertaining to public sector employees. The class covers the history of the Act, who is covered under its provisions, the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board and judicial review of its actions, how unions are formed, collective bargaining, unfair labor practices and the procedures to remedy same, and economic weapons used in labor disputes (strikes, boycotts, lock-outs, etc.).  The class also analyzes labor law from a multi-disciplinary perspective, with attention given to psychology, economic history, politics, and emerging cultural trends (the rise of social media as a means of union organizing, for example). It is taught using a combination of lecture, case analysis, and classroom simulations. It is the goal of this course to provide the student a firm grounding in the basics of labor law, with a practical appreciation of the passions labor conflict generates.

Labor law lends itself to lectures, discussions, and practical exercises, so the course will consist of pre-recorded lectures, Zoom classes, and individual assignments with short follow-up papers. Your participation as evidenced by your papers will count for half of your grade, with a shorter exam accounting for the rest.

This course examines the powers and limits of the law to right those who have been wronged. We will cover different forms of remedies—including money damages, injunctions, and declaratory judgments. We will also explore ancillary remedies or enforcement mechanisms, such as the power of courts to hold parties in contempt. The course spans both private and public law contexts, with specific case studies ranging from school desegregation to the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Ultimately, the goal of the course is to provide an understanding of how the law responds to transgressions of substantive law, and also to provide a richer account of the power of our legal institutions more generally.

An examination of noncommercial property dispositions, both testamentary and inter vivos, including the following topics: intestate succession; wills and will substitutes; creation and characteristics of trusts; powers of appointment; problems in trust and estate administration.

This course will explore selected topics in Law and Politics of American Democracy. We will examine the way the law and other forces have shaped the structure of American political participation, and we will consider alternative directions American democracy might take. Time permitting, we will focus on the right to vote, racial and political gerrymandering, campaign finance, political parties, ballot access, reapportionment/redistricting, and the Voting Rights Act.

What decides legal cases? One obvious answer is: the law. Judges apply the law to the facts of a case and an answer presents itself. This simple understanding of how law and the judicial process work may be true in many cases, but it is not true in all of them. Social scientists have sought to explain judicial decisionmaking by reference to a variety of non-legal factors, including judges' personal characteristics, their caseloads, and their relationships with each other. The social scientific study of courts raises a host of interesting questions.

For example, on a multi-member court like the Supreme Court, does it matter which Justice is assigned to write the opinion, or will the majority (or the whole Court) bargain to the same outcome anyway? If opinion assignment matters to outcomes, how might judges' choices about the division of labor influence the content of the law? How do higher courts ensure that lower courts comply with their decisions? Does the need to police lower courts alter legal doctrine, giving us more bright line rules and fewer fuzzy standards? Similarly, does the fact that certain groups, like the Chamber of Commerce, are repeat players, affect the outcome of cases? Does it affect doctrine? Finally, does it matter who is under the robes? Does the ideology of the judge, or her race or gender, matter to the outcome of cases? (Which cases?) If so, is it possible to predict how judicial characteristics will shape the law? Should our answers to these questions affect how we choose judges?

This course that will examine these questions and many like them. In law schools, these sorts of questions get limited attention: our focus is primarily on the legal doctrine or rules themselves. Social scientists take a very different approach, studying the behavior of judges rather than legal doctrine and trying to understand what accounts for judicial outcomes and the shape of legal institutions. This course will marry the social science literature and the questions it raises to a set of normative problems within the law itself.

 

What is habeas corpus and why has it earned the title of the “Great Writ”?  Habeas corpus allows prisoners to challenge their detentions and it empowers judges to free prisoners that are unlawfully detained.  The writ reaches the most unpopular prisoners: enemies of the state, war criminals, and those convicted of the most heinous crimes.  Due to its historic role as the last resort for prisoners to obtain judicial review, the U.S. Supreme Court has called the Great Writ one that is “indispensable” and one that “indisputably holds an honored position in our jurisprudence.”  Thus, prisoner litigation is the subject of this course, and in particular, the rights and remedies available to prisoners who seek to challenge their detention.

We will use my co-authored casebook: the first to cover federal habeas corpus comprehensively, presenting post-conviction review and executive detention litigation in an accessible way.  It is available on Sakai, along with the rest of our course materials. We will begin with an examination of the writ of habeas corpus, under which federal courts examine whether detentions are authorized.  We will explore the historical evolution of the writ from a common law prerogative writ to the U.S. federal system and the meaning of the enigmatic Suspension Clause of the U.S. Constitution. We will then focus on habeas litigation by state prisoners convicted of crimes.  We will study the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and how it intersects with the key Supreme Court decisions that define the limits and procedures for habeas corpus, including through the doctrines of exhaustion, procedural default, non-retroactivity, and miscarriage of justice innocence “gateway” claims.

In the second part of the course, we will examine the Suspension Clause and how Article III of the Constitution shapes the power of judges to use habeas corpus.  We will explore the use of habeas corpus to remedy unlawful executive detention, including immigration detention, military detention, and national security detention.  We will study recent statutes and Supreme Court decisions relating to persons indefinitely detained or facing military commission trials post-9/11.  We will conclude by studying the intersection of habeas corpus and civil litigation, and with a broader look at the future of habeas corpus.

We will conduct a series of practical exercises based on real cases, during synchronous classes and offline.  Short lectures will often be recorded in advance to focus our synchronous time on engaging with  the material. The goal is for you to understand the doctrine and theory but also develop practical litigation skills, directly applicable to prisoner litigation, and also to litigation generally. Some will be in-class exercises, while others will be written exercises outside of class.  You will be given feedback on your work throughout the semester. Similarly, grading will be based not just on a final  exam, but on class participation (in synchronous classes, in comments on each other’s work, and on the Sakai forum discussion pages), written answers to three review exercises, written comments on classmates’ answer to review exercises, a midterm exam, and a final exam. All midterm and final exam grading is blind.

This is an advanced civil procedure class taught in the Moot Courtroom for those interested in large scale litigation, with an emphasis on practical application and stand-up courtroom 3-minute "mini- oral arguments" on many of the key cases. The course will focus on the problems of large multi-party and multi-forum civil cases and how courts and litigants deal with them. Coverage will include the practical steps litigators need to take as well as decision points at the outset of litigation, joinder devices, especially (but not only) class actions; federal multi-district transfer and consolidation; litigation over the appropriate federal or state forum, coordination among counsel in multi-party cases, ethical issues, big-case discovery problems; ad hoc federal-state litigation coordination; judicial case management techniques and issues; and ways of accelerating or terminating potentially or actually protracted cases, including settlement, alternative dispute resolution, representative trials, mini-trials and claims processing facilities.

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. 

A comprehensive course on the law of literary and artistic property, with emphasis on mastering the technical intricacies of the 1976 Copyright Act and its many complex recent amendments, including the cyberspace rules introduced by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Subject matter treated will include literary characters; musical works; pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works; industrial designs; motion pictures and plays; sound recordings; computer programs and databases. Throughout the course effort is made to clarify the relations between artistic property and industrial property (especially trademarks and unfair competition law) in the United States and at the international level. Students are encouraged to think critically about the unresolved economic and policy issues facing creators and innovators in an Information Age, issues that often reflect a larger, ongoing debate within the framework of the world's intellectual property system, and the course will prepare them for the practice of copyright law at any level.

Corporate Restructuring is the application of skills learned in Corporate Finance applied to real world cases. Since the “real world” changes each year, much of the class is based on current developments in the economy. The course is intended for students planning on entering careers in corporate finance departments of large corporations, banks, consultants involved in mergers and acquisitions, divestitures and spin offs and those students planning on careers in finance and operational restructuring of both large public and private companies and small and growing companies, including venture investments. As the course includes board of director governance of firms, it is intended to introduce students to the role of boards for those students who wish to become members of boards of directors at some point in their careers.

Corporate Restructuring includes both healthy companies and distressed companies and investments. The first half of the course covers board governance of firms, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buy outs and the role of finance and consulting professionals involved in transactions, both domestic and international. The second half of the course covers merger integration, both operational and financial,  and the firm in financial or operational distress. We cover warning signs of distress, financial restructuring, bankruptcy and the emergence from bankruptcy.

The course covers a broad range of industries applicable to today’s environment including but not limited to technology, health care, business services, consumer products and industrials.

This course provides a legal context to business, where applicable, in order to introduce Fuqua students to the legal context of business. As the course permits a limited number of law student enrollment, the course also introduces law students to the business context of law.

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.]

Spring 2021

Format: SUBJECT TO PUBLIC HEALTH GUIDANCE, THIS COURSE WILL BE OFFERED IN A HYBRID FORMAT. Students may choose to attend in person on a rotating basis or to participate on a fully remote basis.

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

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.

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

For Fall 2020, final grades will be comprised of the following:

1. Final exam, open book/open note one day exam: 60%
2. Case study discussion leader: 25%
3. Class participation and current events: 15%

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.

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.

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, student presentations, weekly discussion questions, and a final exam.

This will be a hybrid class with some asynchronous content.  The class will meet from 4:00 PM-6:45 PM on Thursdays in Law 3037, which allows appropriate social distancing for all class members to attend in person, if they chose to do so.  All class sessions will be live on-line to permit synchronous remote participation.  No student’s grade will be impacted by their decision to attend in person, remotely or any combination of the two.  When asynchronous content is provided, students will be required to review the recorded material before class and class length will be shortened proportionately.  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.  Currently the number of law students is capped at 10, but additional students may be admitted depending upon the number of grad students who apply. 

This course focuses on section 1983 of the United States Code, a Reconstruction-era statute that enables private parties to sue any other person who "under color" of law deprives them of the "rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws" of the United States.  Class participants will become familiar with the theoretical, procedural, and practical aspects of civil rights litigation, including constitutional and statutory claims, defenses and immunities, and available remedies, including attorney fees.   Related U.S. Code provisions concerning discrimination in housing, contractual relations, employment, and voting are examined where relevant. Exam-based evaluation.

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.

Spring 2021

Format: SUBJECT TO PUBLIC HEALTH GUIDANCE, THIS COURSE WILL BE OFFERED IN A HYBRID FORMAT. Students may choose to attend in person on a rotating basis or to participate on a fully remote basis.

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

This course concentrates on possible relationships between law and literature. The major themes will be the depiction of law and lawyers in popular and highbrow fiction; the relationship between the interpretation of legal and literary texts; law in utopia and dystopia; crime, punishment and racial justice and the romantic conception of authorship. Fair warning: the course involves considerable reading – but almost all of it consists of works of fiction. For the final exam, which you will have 2 weeks to complete, you will be given a list of very broad essay topics brought up by the books we have read, and will write 2, 2000 word essays on the topics of your choice.

Introduction to basic principles of food and drug laws and examination of how significant doctrines of constitutional, administrative, and criminal law have been elaborated and applied in the food and drug context. The United States Food and Drug Administration has a pervasive role in American society: it is often said that the agency regulates products accounting for twenty-five cents of every dollar spent by consumers. Exploration of the complex interplay of legal, ethical, policy, scientific, and political considerations that underlie the FDA's regulatory authority, its policy-making, and its enforcement activity. 3 units.

Federal Courts is sometimes thought of as the love child of Constitutional Law and Civil Procedure. It takes the Con Law I themes of federalism, separation of powers, and protection of individual rights and develops them in the context of jurisdiction, procedure, and remedies. Most experienced litigators—including criminal and regulatory litigators—consider the course essential.

Federal Courts 1 is the first of a two course sequence designed to provide exhaustive coverage of the material at a very civilized pace. Both parts one and two are three-credit courses ordinarily taken in the Fall and Spring of the same year. They have separate exams that are graded independently. There is no requirement that one take both installments, but it is strongly recommended.

Federal Courts 1 (The Constitution and Judicial Power) focuses on the nature of the Article III judicial power and its place in the constitutional scheme. We begin with the justiciability doctrines (standing, ripeness, mootness, and finality), then move on to Congress's control over federal court jurisdiction and adjudication in non-Article III courts (e.g., bankruptcy courts and administrative agencies). This installment also addresses the relationship between federal and state courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court's power to review state court decisions, the Erie doctrine's restriction on the common lawmaking powers of federal courts, and the implication of private rights of action under federal statutes.

This Fall, Federal Courts 1 will be primarily online. I plan to experiment with some asynchronous lectures, which may be viewed at leisure, combined with some more problem-oriented discussion sections. I am committed to generating as many opportunities to meet in person as we can possibly get away with over the course of the semester, but it’s hard to know what that will look like from the vantage point of mid-summer. The exam will be exactly the same as it always has been: an 8-hour, open-book take-home exam.

Federal Courts is sometimes thought of as the love child of Constitutional Law and Civil Procedure. It takes the Con Law I themes of federalism, separation of powers, and protection of individual rights and develops them in the context of jurisdiction, procedure, and remedies. Most experienced litigators—including criminal and regulatory litigators—consider the course essential.

Federal Courts 2 is the second of a two course sequence designed to provide exhaustive coverage of the material at a very civilized pace. Both parts one and two are three-credit courses ordinarily taken in the Fall and Spring of the same year. They have separate exams that are graded independently. There is no requirement that one take both installments, but it is strongly recommended.

Federal Courts 2 (Public Law Litigation) focuses on litigation meant to vindicate federal statutory and constitutional rights. We begin with the ins and outs of the Federal Question jurisdictional statute, then move on to suits against the government. We address both federal and state sovereign immunity in depth, and we explore civil rights litigation against state and federal officers under 42 U.S.C. 1983 and the Bivens doctrine. We also canvass various statutory and judge-made rules limiting parallel litigation in state and federal courts. The course concludes with an in-depth treatment of federal habeas corpus as a vehicle for judicial review of executive detention and for collateral attack on state criminal convictions.

We will update this description with information concerning the online/in-person format of the course as the Spring semester grows closer.

This survey course examines topics in law relating to gender through a series of different theoretical perspectives. Topics include employment, the family, domestic violence, school sports, sexual harassment, pornography, prostitution, rape, affirmative action, women in legal practice, pregnancy, and sexual identity. Some film is used in class. Evaluation is by an end-of-term exam and three short "reaction papers."

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.

This course will examine the role of the U.S. civil rights movement in the development of U.S. constitutional law. Conventional theories of judicial independence do not define a legitimate role for social movements in the transformation of U.S. constitutional law, but recent advances in legal scholarship have underscored the co-constitutive relationship between law and social movements.  Accordingly, this course will explore how movement participants engaged the U.S. Constitution and how these encounters shaped constitutional doctrine, social institutions, public discourse, and movement participants themselves. We will investigate the processes of mobilization and counter-mobilization and reflect on how the U.S. civil rights movement often spurred constitutional change through means other than constitutionally specified procedures. We will also consider how and why movements fail and will critically analyze rights-based approaches to reform. Course readings will draw from a wide range of historical, sociological, and legal sources.

This 3-credit course will provide an overview of immigration law and policy. It will examine the legal, social, historical, and political factors that 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., 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.

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.

The course explores both the existing tax rules and the widespread policy concerns under discussion in the US and globally about current international tax law.

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.

Legislation is one of the most important forms of law in modern American society. Indeed, it has been said that we are living in an 'age of statutes.' Almost every aspect of legal practice involves construction of statutes, whether defining the jurisdiction of the courts or establishing the norms to which society must conform. In this course, we will examine the legal theory and practice of the making and enforcement of statutes. The course will begin with a study of the legislative process, with special attention to theories that seek to understand why some bills succeed where others fail. The next unit of the course will consider statutes as a unique source of law, comparing them to the common law and the Constitution. We will then move to the heart of the course, which will focus on how judges and other legal actors (agencies, enforcers, etc.) interpret statutes. There will be a take-home final for this course.

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.

Introduction to Legal Theory: Modes of Legal Argument is a 3-credit seminar with enrollment capped at 12, and a final paper that can be used to satisfy the Substantial Research and Writing Project. 

The course will be organized around a set of essential questions, all vital to the ways we argue about the law. The major schools of legal and constitutional interpretation will be explored.  For example, we will discuss formalism and textualism, purposivism, originalism, process theory, economic analysis, realism and legal pluralism. Each of these theories has an answer to the question, what is the right way to interpret a legal text?  Beyond the text, what modes, or forms of argument are permissible, or mandatory, within our legal tradition?   But each of those inquiries depends on deeper questions. Where does law come from? What, if anything, makes it legitimate? It will also deal with some concrete examples in which those modes of legal argument are tested and deployed:  Does the law create the market economy, or is there a pre-existing template for market economies that frames and limit the interpretation of the laws that govern those markets?  The public/private distinction is central to a liberal society: do we have a consistent or principled way of interpreting those boundaries? How should our understanding of law be affected by the fact that we live in a democratic country, a free-market country, a country with a written constitution? We will consider and approach these questions by way of major schools of legal thought, testing the theoretical approaches against  concrete  problems the legal system has had to address, and the shapes these problems take today. 

Requirements:  The class requirements include regular Sakai postings on the readings.  Those who are using the paper to satisfy the Substantial Research and Writing Paper will write a 25-30 page final paper on an approved topic, going through the normal process of first draft, conference and revision.  Those who are not will write a 15 page final paper, either on an approved topic of your choice or on one assigned by the instructor.    No prior exposure to legal theory, philosophy or political theory is required.

This course surveys international intellectual property law as reconfigured by the new universal standards of protection embodied in the TRIPS Agreement (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), which is a component of the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization of 1994. Although some contextual materials on trade policy will be read, the course will not focus on general principles of international trade law. Rather, it will focus on the legal and economic implications of the new international intellectual property standards in the light of prior Conventions, with particular regard to such topics as patents; copyrights and related rights (including software, databases, sound recordings); trademarks; integrated circuit designs; trade secrets; and industrial designs. The new WIPO treaties (Dec. 1996) governing copyright law in cyberspace will also be covered. Other topics will include the interface with antitrust law; the enforcement provisions (i.e., civil and criminal due process); dispute resolution (including all the new WTO decisions on intellectual property); and the overall implications for global competition between developed and developing countries in an integrated world market.

Since September 11, 2001, transnational terrorism has been treated as both crime and war.  Accordingly, the U.S. and other states have targeted members of Al Qaeda and associated forces in major military operations and in surgical strikes, captured and held such persons as law-of-war detainees, and prosecuted suspected members of such groups for terrorism offenses and war crimes, in civilian courts and military tribunals. 

This course will examine these developments in historical perspective, and will analyze their implications for the interstate system (focusing on the law of state responsibility), the law of war (in particular, combatant and civilian status and associated protections), and the structures of the U.S. Constitution governing war, crime, and military jurisdiction.

Students in this clinic will focus on policy work rather than direct client representation. Students will work on policy initiatives aimed at increasing access to quality, comprehensive health care for low-income individuals living with chronic illnesses like HIV/AIDS. The policy work will focus on barriers to access to care and prevention, including implementation of health care reform in North Carolina, funding disparities throughout the Southern US, HIV-related stigma, criminalization of HIV, and access to HIV medications.. Students will work to inform policy recommendations and advocacy strategies at the national, regional, state and county levels in executive, legislative and regulatory arenas. Over the course of a semester, students can expect to accumulate a wealth of hands-on experience in current and emerging health policy issues on the state and federal level. Students will conduct legal and fact-based research to inform policy recommendations, produce in-depth reports, comment letters, presentations to policy makers, and draft legislation or regulatory guidance. Each student will focus on particular policy project(s) and will be required to spend a minimum of 100 hours on their clinic project(s). We will have regular group meetings with students and clinic faculty throughout the semester.

Clinics Enrollment Policy

IMPORTANT:
Instructor permission is required for enrollment in the AIDS Policy Clinic. This course may not be dropped after the first class meeting.

Instructor Permission Required for Enrollment
To enroll in the Clinic, you must have successfully completed at least two semesters of Law School and have instructor permission. It is helpful to have had experience working on HIV/AIDS or other health health policy or related issues, or to have taken AIDS and the Law and/or the AIDS Legal Assistance Project.

Please note: This course is offered only in the fall.  And those wishing to drop the course must do so within three days after the first class.

The course introduces students to appellate advocacy and the appellate process. Students learn about strategies for effective appellate advocacy and refine their advocacy skills while briefing and orally arguing a case to an appellate judge. The central projects entail each student briefing one side of a case (researching and writing) and presenting oral argument for that side, with each student’s brief and oral argument reviewed by an appellate judge. This works as follows.  The entire class will be assigned the same case. Half the class will be assigned to represent the appellant and the other half will be assigned to represent the appellee. Each student will be paired against a student from the opposing side for briefing and oral argument. The class will have a briefing schedule with firm deadlines (deadlines coordinated with the appellate judges). Each student assigned to the appellant side will file an opening brief (the deadline for opening briefs historically has been in the second or third week of October, depending on when oral arguments are held); then each student assigned to the appellee side will file a brief responding to the paired student’s opening brief (that deadline is about a week after the opening brief deadline); then each appellant will file a reply brief (the reply deadline is about a week after the appellee’s deadline and historically has been around the very end of October or early November). Historically in this course the briefing volume limits have been set so that each student has been allotted no more than 10,000 words (a volume limit substantially lower than the limits prescribed by the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure), which amounts to less than 35 pages in double-spaced 12-pt Times New Roman.  Oral arguments occur the week before Thanksgiving.  Each student meets (after oral argument) one-on-one with the judge who reviewed that student’s brief and argument.  For Fall 2020, the arguments and meetings will be via video conference, not in person.

The Appellate Litigation Clinic offers students the opportunity to work on a federal appeal.  Our cases are typically in the Third or Fourth Circuit and have involved a wide range of complex and novel civil and criminal issues.  This Clinic will provide you with the chance to experience what it is like to be an appellate lawyer.  Because appellate practice focuses largely on researching and writing, students in the Appellate Clinic naturally focuses on those matters. Clinic students work in teams to review the trial court record, conduct sophisticated legal research, prepare research memos, draft and edit briefs (typically an opening brief and a reply brief), participate in tactical decision making, prepare the record excerpts for the court of appeals, and prepare for oral argument.  When oral argument is calendared during the academic year, it is expected that a student on the Clinic team for that case will argue the appeal (subject to client permission).  In addition, the Clinic faculty will lead a weekly seminar that will allow for instruction on the appellate process, reflection on case work, and strategic and tactical case planning.

Because of the time needed to handle an appeal through briefing and argument, the Appellate Clinic is a full-year clinic, and students must enroll in both semesters.  Students receive 3 credits in the fall semester and either 2 or 3 credits in the spring semester.  It is expected that most students will receive 3 credits for both semesters, but the credits for the spring semester may be adjusted based on workload.

Students seeking to enroll in the appellate clinic are encouraged to contact Prof. Andrussier before enrolling to discuss, among other things, scheduling. The Appellate Clinic, like our other clinical courses, involves the representation of real clients in ongoing legal matters.  As a result, participation in the Clinic requires students to be flexible with their schedules to fulfill their professional obligations to clients under court-imposed schedules, including possibly during a school break.  For more information about that, please contact Prof. Andrussier.

Enrollment is limited to third-year students (i.e., students enrolling in this clinic must have completed four semesters of law school).  It is helpful (though not required) to have previously taken Appellate Practice.  Students should not enroll in that course and the Appellate Clinic simultaneously.  It is recommended that students enrolling in the Appellate Clinic have completed or be contemporaneously enrolled in the federal courts course.

Important:

• As with other clinics, this course may not be dropped after the first class meeting.
• Appellate Clinic students represent real clients, enter appearances in court as student counsel, and operate under court-imposed deadlines and schedules.  Consequently, clinical work must take priority over extracurricular activities.
• Students must attend the all-day clinic intensive held on a Friday in early September (students in all clinics must attend).

This 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. 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 a minimum of 125 hours of client representation work, but will not be required to attend the class sessions.

This is the basic trial skills course covering Opening Statement, Direct Examination, Cross Examination, Impeachment, Exhibits, Expert Witnesses and Closing Argument. In sections of 12 students per section, students prepare and perform the various skills using simulated problems and case files. After each performance, students receive constructive comments from faculty members who are also experienced trial lawyers. Students also get videotapes of their performances. The course ends with a full jury trial of a civil or criminal case with teams of two students on each side. At the end of the trial, the jury deliberates and students are able to watch the jury as it deliberates.

This is the basic trial skills course which for this semester will be taught virtually except that, conditions permitting, students who wish to try their case in person at the law school can do so.  The course covers Opening Statement, Direct Examination, Cross Examination, Impeachment, Exhibits, Trial Preparation and Closing Argument. In sections of no more than 12 students per section, students prepare and perform the various skills using simulated problems and case files. After each performance, students receive constructive comments both in class and during individual video review meetings with faculty members who are also experienced trial lawyers. The course regularly meets Thursday from 4-7 pm.  However, the first four sessions will be an intensive program with classes Thursday and Friday evenings, and half days on Saturday and Sunday, January 28-31, After the intensive session, regular classes will be held at the time previously mentioned.  The course ends before what would have been spring break, with a full jury trial of a civil or criminal case with teams of two students on each side. At the end of the trial, the jury deliberates and students can watch the jury as it deliberates.

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. 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.

Even without a pandemic, negotiating by electronic means has become a common way of how lawyers do business. This requires lawyers to be versatile and able to negotiate by email, telephone, and videoconference, to evaluate the pros and cons of each, and to select the most appropriate technology (or combination of technologies) given the particular parties and circumstances. Because this course will be offered entirely online, you will get significant practice negotiating by videoconference. You will also have opportunities to negotiate by telephone and email.  By the end of the semester, you will be comfortable negotiating in a digital world.

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.

This course provides an introduction to the relationship between law and poverty, including the relevance of legal doctrine, policy and practice to the significant inequality in income, assets and basic social goods impacting tens of millions of people in the United States.

We will begin by considering historical and contemporary trends in domestic poverty, U.S. social welfare policy, the legal framework under which poverty-related claims have been adjudicated, and the role of lawyers in combatting poverty.

Grounded in poverty data, policy arguments, legal doctrine and practice, we will explore modern government anti-poverty programs and issues such as welfare, work, housing, health, education and criminalization.

We will conclude by considering non-governmental approaches to combating poverty, including market-based solutions and international human rights, with an emphasis on the role of law, lawyers and legal institutions in such efforts.

Drawing on the rich expertise of those in Durham and beyond, we will occasionally be joined by guest speakers. The primary textbook for the course is Poverty Law, Policy and Practice (Aspen/Wolters Kluwer, 2014).

In a workshop led by a faculty member, students will produce an original analytic paper of substantial length (ordinarily at least 30 pages). Papers must involve significant and thorough independent research, be well-written, and provide appropriate sourcing. Participants are free to choose any topic that may be addressed seriously in an article-length piece and that may be written during one semester. Papers produced in the workshop are expected to satisfy the JD or LLM substanial research and writing project requirement.

In the workshop, participants will learn about the conventional features of academic legal writing, conduct research into and hone their topics, write and give each other feedback on first and second drafts, and complete a final draft of their paper. The faculty member leading the workshop will also provide feedback and will, as appropriate to each participant's paper topic, facilitate introductions to other faculty who may be of assistance.

Because of the nature of this course it is exempt from Rule 3-1’s median requirement.  Nevertheless, the expectation is that work produced in the workshop will be very strong.

With mediation now a required step in a litigated case in most state and federal courts, and a preferred approach to conflict resolution in many parts of the world, it is a process that every litigator will no doubt use in practice.  In this advanced experiential seminar, we will explore the fundamentals of mediation theory and practice from the perspective of the mediator, the attorney, and the client.  The majority of class sessions will be dedicated to group exercises and simulated mediations in which we build upon the techniques learned in Negotiation to equip you with skills that will be invaluable whether you want to mediate, represent clients effectively in mediation, or simply be a better negotiator.  You will also have the opportunity to practice persuasive writing as you draft pre-mediation statements, and will learn the essential elements of drafting agreements memorializing your settlements.  By engaging in all phases of the mediation process, you will not only improve your social and emotional competence, you will develop skills that will be useful in client interviewing and counseling, fact development and legal analysis, and a variety of other contexts beyond mediation.

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.

This course analyzes civil suits in U.S. federal courts that raise cross-border, international and foreign legal issues. Specific topics covered include transnational jurisdiction, international forum selection, transborder choice of law, extraterritorial application of U.S. law, federal rules for service of process and discovery of evidence abroad, the special treatment of foreign governments as parties, and recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.

“An international crime,” wrote eminent legal scholar George Schwarzenberger in 1950, "presupposes the existence of an international criminal law. Such a branch of international law does not exist." This course will begin by probing the concept of international criminal law. What does it mean to say that certain conduct constitutes an "international crime"? What are the objectives of such a legal regime? We will then examine the law of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression, as well as “treaty crimes,” such as terrorism offenses. Particular attention will be focused on the question of jurisdiction over such offenses in national courts and international tribunals—and on immunities to such jurisdiction.

The class will meet by Zoom on Thursdays from 4:00-5:30. Each class will begin with 50 minutes of “regular” class time (i.e., lecture, Socratic dialogue, student questions) followed by 30 minutes of oral argument on the “issue of the week,” and will conclude with a 10-minute class discussion of the argument and the issue.

Professor Morris will remain on Zoom after each class for further discussion and/or individual office hours.

Grades will be based on the quality of weekly (3-page) response papers and 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).

A comprehensive introduction to the entertainment industry, this course explores how principles of intellectual property, media law, contract law, labor law and other areas inform the practice of entertainment law.  The course also focuses on learning practical legal and business skills such as structuring, drafting and negotiating financing, development, production and distribution deals in the motion picture, television, theater, publishing and digital media industries.

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.

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.

This course takes students through the legal issues likely to present themselves in the lifecycle of a high growth technology company from inception/incorporation 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. The course is a survey of entrepreneurial law considerations and does not attempt to invoke policy considerations. While the content is similar to Law 534 Advising the Entrepreneurial Client, this does not satisfy the requirements for the JD/LLMLE nor the LLMLE. Students who have taken Law 534 may not take this class.  Business Associations highly recommended as a prerequisite but may be taken as a co-requisite. Final grade based on exam and in class participation.

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.

Collective action problems arise where every member of a group has a choice between alternatives, and if each member acts in a narrowly self-interested fashion or all members are unable to coordinate their actions, the outcome will be worse for all members by their own estimations than it will be if all or some of them choose another alternative.  Collective action problems are caused either by externalities (e.g., a prisoners’ dilemma), or by coordination difficulties (e.g., deciding which side of the road to drive on).  This seminar will examine the extent to which the United States Constitution can be understood as solving collective action problems that arise for the states and as empowering the states themselves and the federal government to solve such problems.  Topics will include:

1. the number and importance of multi-state collective action problems both today and at the time of the creation of the Constitution;
2. collective action theory in the social sciences;
3. the promise and perils of relying on interstate compacts and other agreements to solve multi-state collective action problems;
4. the necessity of federal power to solve such problems and a general examination of how Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution authorizes Congress to do so;
5. the Interstate Commerce Clause and related structural principles (i.e., the anti-commandeering doctrine and the dormant commerce doctrine);
6. the Taxing and Spending Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause;
7. the many other parts of the Constitution that can be explained to a significant extent by the logic of collective action (e.g., the Foreign and Indian Commerce Clauses; Article I, Section 10; the Treaty Clause of Article II; certain heads of federal jurisdiction in Article III, especially diversity and suits between states; the Privileges and Immunities Clause and the Territories Clause, both of Article IV; Article V’s requirements for constitutional amendments; and Article VII’s requirements for ratification of the Constitution);
8. the inability of the collective action theory of the Constitution to explain certain parts of the Constitution, especially the Reconstruction Amendments, which follow a different structural logic;
9. various challenges to the theory (e.g., that partisan polarization and congressional dysfunction undermine federal power to solve collective action problems; that the theory threatens to collapse the text of the Constitution into its underlying purposes; that the theory limits federal power too much (according to legal liberals) or not enough (according to legal conservatives); and that claims about whether collective action is rational or likely to occur are historically contingent and normatively contestable; and
10. why the theory should matter to judges, elected officials, academics in several disciplines, and engaged citizens.

Readings will draw from The Federalist Papers and other Founding materials (e.g., the Articles of Confederation, Madison’s Vices memorandum, various letters of the Founders, the Virginia Plan, and the Constitution); book chapters (by, e.g., Akhil Amar, Jack Balkin, Daniel Farber, Jack Rakove, and Neil Siegel); law review articles (by, e.g., Robert Stern, Donald Regan, Steven Calabresi, Robert Bork, Robert Cooter, Neil Siegel, and Ernest Young); U.S. Supreme Court opinions from the Marshall Court to the present; and select draft chapters of my book manuscript.

Students will be required to write a 30-page research paper on a topic related to the substance of the seminar, which may be used to fulfill the JD SRWP degree requirements, the LLM writing requirement, or the special writing requirement for JD/LLMs. 

Grades will be based on the quality of students’ course participation (40%) and the quality of their research papers (60%).

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.

This seminar will examine the international law of armed conflict, and it focuses on the jus in bello context. Students will consider the rationale for the key concepts of the law of armed conflict, and examine their practical application in various contexts. Case studies (contemporary and historical) will be examined in conjunction with the topics covered. This historical context for the law of armed conflict agreements, the status of conflicts, combatants, and civilians, targeting, rules of engagement, war crimes, are all included among the topics the class will address. Students will be encouraged to relate legal and interdisciplinary sources in order to better understand the multi-faceted interaction between law and war. There is no examination for this course but a 30-page paper (constituting 60% of the grade) is required on a legal topic chosen by the student and approved by the instructor. Students desiring to use the course paper to fulfill Substantial Research and Writing Project (SRWP) and possibly other writing requirements must obtain instructor. The remainder of the grade (40%) is based on the quality and frequency of class participation. Students should be aware that this course may include discussion and visual depictions (still and video) of armed conflict and other acts of extreme violence. The textbook for this course is Gary D. Solis's "The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War" (2nd ed., 2016). This course will only be offered in the spring.

This three-credit seminar will feature weekly presentations (eleven in total) of works-in-progress on a wide range of tax policy topics, by leading tax academics from law schools around the country. The seminar will meet twice each week--first to discuss the paper prior to the arrival of its author, and a second time to discuss the paper with the author. Students will write a reaction paper (of approximately three pages) for each work-in-progress. Grades will be based on the reaction papers and on contributions to the seminar discussions.

Immigration law and criminal law are increasingly intertwined.  From the moment of arrest through completion of any sentence, the criminal justice system functions differently for noncitizens, with significant immigration consequences flowing from decisions at every stage.  Judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys must be aware of these consequences and prepared to address them in the course of criminal proceedings.  Immigration attorneys must be able to advise defense attorneys on the best resolutions for their clients. Lawmakers must account for the results of merging these two systems.

Through readings, discussion, and independent research projects, students will learn to analyze constitutional, statutory, and regulatory provisions concerning immigration, as well as procedural and substantive requirements in criminal proceedings as they affect noncitizens. Participants will also explore the public policy choices surrounding the use of local law enforcement agencies in immigration policing.

Mass Torts is a course designed to introduce students to the theory, practice, and strategy associated with the substantive law, procedure, and resolution of a wide variety of mass tort litigations.  Most mass torts are consolidated by the Judicial Panel on Multi- District Litigation, and the organization of the course is based on the life of a case in MDL: origins, pleadings, referral to a transferee judge, e-discovery, fact discovery, expert discovery, motion practice, test cases, pre-trial hearings, trials, appellate practice, remands, settlement, and claims resolution facilities.  There will also be substantial emphasis on larger themes and issues that are implicated by mass torts in the relationship between federal and state courts, in competing theories of liability and procedure, in the interaction of litigation, bankruptcy, and administrative processes, in the roles of public and private litigation and attorneys, in the respective interests of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of federal and state governments, and in a variety of competing economic, jurisprudential, policy, and practical concerns.  The course will be updated during the semester with emerging developments in currently pending mass tort litigation including opioids, asbestos, and Roundup.  The readings are prepared specifically for this course and will consist of excerpts from judicial opinions, pleadings, briefs, motions, and other original source material as well as excerpts from law review articles, press accounts, and books.  The grade will be based on a take home examination consisting of short answer and essay questions.  

In 2016, few people had ever heard of Bitcoin or blockchain, initial coin offerings were non-existent, and U.S. financial regulatory agencies had yet to react to the emergence of non-bank financial services providers. The FinTech industry has changed dramatically since then: Bitcoin has captured the public imagination and spawned new derivatives products, central banks are considering launching their own digital currency, you can apply for a mortgage on your smartphone, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency proposed a new kind of bank charter specifically for FinTech firms. While many have focused on the technologies underpinning the FinTech revolution, less attention has been placed on how these technologies fit within the current financial regulatory framework. Understanding this framework is critical to the long-term success of any FinTech startup. While technology startups in other sectors may predicate their business on breaking rules and ignoring regulations, such a strategy is sure to fail if deployed by a FinTech firm. This is because the financial industry is heavily regulated by multiple state and federal agencies that often have overlapping authority. Being a successful FinTech firm requires more than just great technology; it also requires an understanding of the laws and regulations applicable to your business.

This course aims to provide you with that understanding. You will learn about the critical legal, regulatory, and policy issues associated with cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings, online lending, new payments and wealth management 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 and how one specific agency, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, proposed a path for FinTech firms to become regulated banks. The course will also address the role FinTech has played during the pandemic; from FinTech lenders administering small business loans, to a Congressional proposal to administer stimulus payments through Federal Reserve digital wallets.  You will also learn the basics of how banks are regulated in the U.S.

If you are unfamiliar with how these new financial technologies work, fear not. We will begin each new course section with a high-level overview of the underlying technology.

Due to the pandemic, course content will be delivered online, but in person office hours will be held for those interested. Class participation will remain a required and graded component of the course. To help facilitate class participation, each student will be required to deliver a company profile presentation during the semester. In addition, each student, as part of a team, will deliver a presentation related to an assigned case study. Class participation will account for 40% of your grade and a final paper will make up the remaining 60%.

This fall-only survey course is designed to provide students, particularly those with no background in the topic, with an overview of the American legal architecture related to the U.S. security enterprise.  The class will also examine related issues that arise "in the news."  It is aimed not only at students considering a career in government or the military, but also for those headed to private practice who appreciate that the U.S.’s $740 billion defense budget, along with $1.9 trillion in defense outlays worldwide, impact virtually all potential clients.

The course includes analyzing the Constitutional structure governing national security matters, and the role played by the three branches of government (with special emphasis on Presidential power).  It will also examine governmental surveillance, the investigation and prosecution of national security cases, as well as First Amendment issues related to national security.  In addition, homeland security issues (to include the domestic use of the armed forces), security-based travel restrictions, public health emergencies, civil-military relations, and the impact of national security issues on business transactions will be reviewed.

The textbook for this course will be Dycus, et al., National Security Law (7th ed., 2020) ISBN9781543806793.  Supplementary materials may be provided as necessary.  The instructors will use episodes from their extensive careers in government to illustrate issues, and offer practical, real-world perspectives.

Although the course will be taught online, we expect to offer in-person office hours and other small-group meetings on campus if possible (with virtual options for students who cannot attend). There is one assigned time block for the course, but the structure of classes may vary, and students may be divided into sections, discussion groups, and panels.

We will have some synchronous whole-group meetings and some class time divided between sections.  The course is expected to include guest speakers (via Zoom).  There may be occasional asynchronous content, including short lectures, podcasts, and some documentary footage. Students will have advance notice of all required participation elements.

Given this is a course in national security, class instruction will likely include written, oral, and visual depictions of physical force and violence—and occasionally extreme representations of the same.

There is no examination for this course, but a 30-page research paper (constituting 60% of the grade) is required on a topic chosen by the student and approved by the instructors.  With instructor approval, the course paper may fulfill the Substantial Research and Writing Project provided all SRWP requirements are met.  The remainder of the grade (40%) is based on the quality and frequency of class participation (which may include short papers).

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.

This seminar will examine the social, political, and legal forces that shape race relations in the United States. Using interdisciplinary materials, participants will engage three core questions:  (1) what would an anti-racist society look like; (2) what should and can be done about the carceral state; and (3) how do we address challenges inherent in concepts like allyship, representation, and intersectionality. The seminar will include a speakers’ series in which leading experts and commentators will assist seminar participants to think through these pressing questions.  Evaluation will consist of class attendance and participation, reflection papers, and a final project directed toward devising solutions. Participation from a diverse group of students is encouraged. 

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.

NOTES ON COVID:
Coursework will be delivered entirely online. Nonetheless, the community that has always developed among the interdisciplinary participants (law, tech-ethics, public policy, etc.) of this course is one of its primary goals and benefits. As such:

1.Online sessions will involve substantial participation in small breakout groups that allow for close collaboration on solving real-world problems; and

2.Participation in synchronous sessions on Mondays from 2:00 to 4:45pm ET will remain a significant % of the final grade assessment; and

NOTES ON COMPLEMENTARY COURSE

Also available this semester is Practicing Law with AI and Big Data.

Seminars organized and led by groups of five or more students, under the supervision of a faculty member. The topics vary according to the students' interests. Law School Rule 3-12 governs the development of ad hoc seminars.

Credits --> Variable.

https://law.duke.edu/registrar/adhoc/

Capstone Projects are intended to be intensive, active learning projects, requiring significant effort in the planning and implementation, as well as preparation of a substantial final written work product. For approval of a Capstone Project, interested students must submit a written proposal. For more information, please visit https://law.duke.edu/academics/capstone/. Variable credit.

The Practicum is the centerpiece of Law and Entrepreneurship LLM Program. During the semester, students work in startup companies, venture capital firms, regulatory agencies, law firms with entrepreneurial practices, and similar organizations. The goal of the program is to expose students to a wide range of entrepreneurial issues in a "real-life" setting. The Practicum goes beyond general coursework to provide specific, useful skills and information. It allows students to address the intersection of legal principles and practical business applications, in the context of entrepreneurship and early state enterprise. Each student joins a legal or leadership team, under the supervision of a mentor who is committed to guiding his or her professional development through the course of the practicum. Through the Practicum, the students are able to be highly competent legal practitioners, savvy business people, effective problem solvers and are skilled in transforming ideas.

This externship is limited to 3L students.  This appellate externship will provide an opportunity to work with appellate lawyers at one or more Federal Public Defender offices operating in different judicial districts within in the Fourth Circuit.  (By federal statute, federal public defender organizations are federal entities, and their staffs are federal employees.  These offices exist to provide legal assistance to people facing federal criminal charges or convicted of federal crimes but who are unable to afford counsel.  These offices litigate against U.S. Attorney offices in their respective districts, and so the United States is an opposing party.)  Appellate work principally entails research and writing, and so the appellate lawyers involved in this externship are responsible for briefing and orally arguing federal criminal appeals to U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  They also may be involved with some matters before the appeal stage, for purposes of providing guidance on substantive law, strategic input, and drafting to preserve issues for appeal.  Appellate lawyers in these offices may also be involved with some post-conviction motions under 28 U.S.C. 2255, compassionate release filings, and filings under the First Step Act.  This is an integrated externship; this means that, aside from the field work with the appellate lawyers, the course has a weekly seminar component, which will be led by Prof. Andrussier.  Outside of that seminar, Prof. Andrussier will also meet individually with each student regularly to discuss the externship and student reflections.

Students will be expected to complete a minimum of 100 hours of field work to receive credit for the externship portion of the course. 

*NOTE: Students may count 2 of the 3 credits towards the JD experiential learning requirement.*

This course surveys the most common types of alternative dispute resolution processes: negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and court-annexed and governmental-agency ADR -all of which have gained wide-spread use as alternatives to traditional litigation. The survey encompasses three perspectives; the advocate's perspective in choosing the most appropriate ADR process in light of the different advantages and disadvantages of the various processes; the third-party neutral's perspective in facilitating or fashioning a just resolution of the parties' dispute; and the policy maker's perspective in utilizing ADR as a more efficient and cost effective substitute for traditional adjudication.

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.

Required Coursework

The 3-credit graded requirements for the course will be:

1. A final paper, about 25-30 pages in length, to be submitted by the Thursday, April 16, 2020 (last day of all classes) (75%); JD writing credit will be given to any JD students who present research proposals (see “Paper” above), approved by me, commit to completing their drafts for class presentation and subsequent comments by me (draft for comments by Friday March 20), and submit their final drafts in response to my comments by Thursday April 16, when all papers will be due.
2. An individual class presentation, of 20 minutes in length (10%), on the early draft of the 3-credit paper; and
3. Overall class participation (15%).The course will be highly interactive and graded on this basis. Class participants, probably in groups of two or three, will take turns in leading the class through the topic for the day (that will be found I the detailed syllabus as soon as it is completed).  Class leaders can use slides or videos or both, and they will be expected to base their material on the assigned readings and subsequent updates.

The course will be highly interactive and graded on this basis.

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.  

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 OCED 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.

This seminar explores the intersection between literary and legal studies, with a particular focus on race and gender. Through literature and some film, the seminar examines the role of law in the structure of conflict, personal relationships, social hierarchy and social change, with attention to privilege, perspective, and voice.  Possible authors include Margaret Atwood, James Baldwin, Octavia Butler, Ava DuVernay, Lorraine Hansberry, Ursula Hegi, Kazuo Ishiguro, Nella Larsen, Gabriel García Márquez, Toni Morrison, Colson Whitehead, and Richard Wright.

Grades will be determined from class participation, weekly response papers, and final paper pursuing a theme from the course.

Originalism is a major school of constitutional interpretation and an important field of study. Legal discussions and public debates regularly feature originalist arguments or criticisms of originalism. To engage these arguments, lawyers and citizens need to weigh the merits of a diverse set of originalist theories. This course is designed to acquaint you with originalist and nonoriginalist arguments; enable you to assess their strengths; and give you an opportunity to sharpen your own views.

The course will be taught as a two-hour weekly seminar, focused on class discussion of the readings. Each student will choose weeks in which to submit short response papers, circulated to all participants via Sakai. Alternatively, students may pursue an independent research project related to originalism, submitting first and final drafts (~30 pp.) in compliance with the upper-level writing requirement. Students choosing this option must obtain the permission of the instructor prior to the close of the Drop/Add period.

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

This course will begin by exploring the historical structure of incentives in music and the changing economics of music production, including the preconditions for thinking of music as "property" and the gradual shift from patronage to a market-oriented system. It will then proceed to examine music's unusually complex and increasingly fraught relationship with copyright law. The fundamental notions of originality and illicit copying are at odds with both functional limitations and long-standing aesthetic practices in music, such as the long history of accepted borrowing. As a result, there is an unusual body of music-specific case law that features intriguing circuit splits, vigorous disputes about expert testimony and prior art, and specialized doctrinal issues. Students will gain an in-depth knowledge of these issues, and their application in prominent cases involving the songs "Blurred Lines," "Stairway to Heaven," and Katy Perry's "Dark Horse," as well as pending disputes over Lizzo's "Truth Hurts" and "Baby Shark," and then apply this knowledge in a mock trial. The course will also cover the complicated licensing schemes that attach to different uses of music, from traditional revenue streams to fresh disputes regarding royalties for new uses such as ringtones and streaming services. This portion will include a discussion of the new Music Modernization Act. Finally, the class will conclude with an in-depth examination of the ongoing debates about how both the law and business practices might adapt to the new musical forms (such as sampling and remixing) and business models (such as do-it-yourself distribution) enabled by digital technology. Throughout the semester, the course will include a special focus on current and ongoing disputes, issues, scholarship, and proposals.

The writing for this course may be used to satisfy the JD Substantial Research and Writing Project Requirement.

This class will examine the regulation of communications media, including newspapers, broadcast media, social media, and internet content generally. Students will consider current events and ongoing debates regarding mainstream media, “fake news,” social media platforms, and leak investigations, while also exploring the historical and jurisprudential underpinnings of First Amendment and media law. In weighing the interests of the free press against competing interests like privacy, security, and reputation, this class will cover topics such as defamation, rights of publicity, privacy, and access to information. Students will learn skills relevant to defending reporters and other members of the press in litigations and advisory matters.