International, Comparative, and Foreign Law

International Arbitration

Discussion - 2 hours. This course will provide students with an introduction to the theory and practice of international arbitration--the preferred method of dispute-resolution in international business.

Women’s Human Rights

Seminar - 2 hours. Satisfies Advanced Writing Requirement. This seminar will provide an overview of the international legal and institutional system for the protection of women’s human rights.  We will look at the material both from an academic perspective and from the point of view of the practitioner.  Particular areas of focus will include the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), violence against women, sexual and reproductive rights, women’s economic rights, and the work of women’s human rights defenders, as

Asylum and Refugee Law

Seminar - 3 hours.  This seminar will cover some of the bedrock legal principles that inform U.S. asylum and refugee laws, policies and practices in the last 50 years. Informed by international norms, the U.S. adopted its domestic legal regime in this area of law in the 1980s. Through significant advocacy and litigation, asylum and refugee protections expanded over decades to include victims of persecution by non-state actors. The U.S. also retracted important protections based on national security, fraud, floodgate concerns, and most recently, pandemic.

International Arbitration and Investment Law

Seminar - 2 hours. Arbitration has emerged as the principal method for resolving international disputes arising from cross-border commercial transactions and private foreign investment. This seminar offers an opportunity to study international arbitration involving States, individuals, and corporations; it covers both international commercial arbitration and investment treaty arbitration.

Corporate Integrity and Responsibility

Seminar- 2 hours. The course explores familiar topics of corporate governance, including, directorial duties, managing agency behavior, corporate transactional practices, from a corporate integrity perspective - especially, of those related corporate social responsibility and anti-bribery/corruption regimes of US, EU and select Asian jurisdictions.

Final Assessment: Take-home exam
Grading Mode:  Letter Grading

Comparative Telecommunications Law

Discussion - 2 hours. Students will learn the basics of the telecommunications industry, the key issues facing policy-makers in designing telecommunications regulatory systems (e.g. licensing, universal service, economic regulation, relationship with antitrust law), the various ways in which different jurisdictions have chosen to address these issues, and the motivations behind those choices.

Comparative Forced Displacement

Seminar - 2 units. Forced displacement is a phenomenon that can occur within a nation’s borders or across international borders. By far the largest trend of forced displacement is internal. Under international law, a person’s crossing of an international border is legally significant. Refugees (and asylum seekers) especially are protected by important international treaties, including the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.

Current Controversies in Intellectual Property Law

Seminar - 2 units. This course examines controversial topics in intellectual property law and policy across a wide range of issues, from technology, to the arts, to social justice, in their national and international dimensions.

Co-requisite: Law  296 Copyright, or Law 274 Intellectual Property, or Law 274A International Intellectual Property Law.

Treatymaking: International Agreement Negotiations

Discussion - 3 hours. This course will be a semester long negotiation simulation intended to produce a multinational convention on a topic that is timely and meaningfully contributes to real-world discourse on the subject matter.  We will begin by introducing the fundamentals of treaty and international agreement practice under U.S.

International and Comparative Intellectual Property

Discussion - 3 hours. This course examines the international regulation of intellectual property rights and explores the place of the United States in the international IP community. We will discuss international treaties and legal harmonization efforts, legislation and case law from different jurisdictions, and the role of technology.

Pre-requisite: Completed or simultaneously enrolled in Law 274 Intellectual Property, and/or Law 296 Copyright is required.
Grading Mode:  Letter Grading
Final Assessment: Exam