Legal Theory and Ethics

Legal History

Discussion - 2 hours.  This course uses history to answer the question, “Why does the United States have the legal system that it does?”  Why do we operate under the common law rather than the civil law?  How have legal rules and institutions changed over time?  The course traces the development of the common law from its origins in medieval England through the twentieth-century.  Topics include the development of substantive doctrine in areas such as property, contract, and torts; the development of civil and criminal procedure; the rise of the jury trial; the role

Professional Responsibility

Discussion - 2 or 3 hours. This course covers the ethical duties of lawyers in a variety of different contexts.  Students will examine topics such as client control over the major decisions in a case, the duty of zealous advocacy, representation of organizations, and the unique role of government attorneys. This course will also cover the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the California Rules of Professional Conduct, which are tested (respectively) on the MPRE and the California Bar Exam.

Legal Ethics and Organizational Practice

Discussion - 3 hours. This course explores the formal rules of ethics governing the legal profession, including the affirmative duties reflected in different states’ Rules of Professional Conduct (RPCs), which, in turn, largely reflect the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. These rules are tested on state bar exams and the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE). We discern how the RPCs in various jurisdictions differ, particularly with respect to the California RPCs.

Tax and Distributive Justice

Seminar - 3 hours. This seminar presents tax policy as an exploration in public finance, politics, special interests, and sociology as well as a reflection of society’s biases, priorities, perceptions of distribution and redistribution, and justice in the most fundamental sense of fairness and opportunity. It embraces the view that tax law is constructed and contingent. And it exposes students to a generation of “critical tax” scholarship, which has been influenced by critical legal studies and its progeny, including critical race theory, feminist legal theory, and queer theory.

Constitutional Law II - First Amendment

Students who have previously taken Law 218, Constitutional Law II, or who plan to take Constitutional Law II for 4 units may not take this course. 

Lecture - 2 hours.  This course principally covers the free speech clause of the First Amendment. The course will cover issues relating to freedom of speech and assembly: focusing on how the protection provided speech changes depending on the kind of speech that is regulated, the location where speech occurs, and the nature of the regulation that limits expression.

Constitutional Law II - Equal Protection

Discussion - 2 hours. Students who have previously taken Law 218, Constitutional Law II, or who plan to take Constitutional Law II for 4 units may not take this course.  Students are not required to have taken Constitutional Law II- First Amendment to register for this course, although priority will be given to those students.  This course focuses on the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Mindfulness and the Law

Seminar - 2 hours.  This seminar will introduce students to the practice of meditation and connect it with readings about the legal profession at three levels: (1) individual stress reduction and self-care for lawyers and law students; (2) interpersonal relations, particularly lawyer-client relations; and the role of the lawyer, including legal ethics; and (3) trends within the profession, including the “restorative justice” and “therapeutic justice” movements.

Corporate Responsibility: Case Studies in (Un) Ethical Leadership

Seminar - 2 hours. This course will examine corporate responsibility and (un)ethical leadership through case studies of contemporary corporate and public institution controversies and lawsuits. For example, case studies may include the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and financial crisis of 2008; Enron and the collapse of Arthur Anderson; breach of privacy issues involving Facebook; and BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill and resulting litigation. We will review business and corporate forms and consider legal and ethical duties owed to employees, shareholders, and the public.

Race, Gender and Inequality

Seminar - 2 hours. Examines gender and race and how they are constructed, contested, and regulated within legal, legislative, and juridical frameworks. Includes interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives across legal, sociolegal, and feminist studies. Topics include education, criminal justice, political representation, health and reproductive rights, privacy, civil rights.