Seminar – 2 units. A comparative law class focused on judicial institutions and judicial decision-making around the world. The course will study the following questions: How are cases decided in different legal systems? What can we learn from the way other countries or legal institutions (such as international courts) decide cases? How can the knowledge of other legal systems and methods of adjudication inform the understanding of the US legal system?
Skills - This course is designed to teach students (1) the law that restricts and supports jury selection in criminal law trials (2) the most effective methods of engaging in jury selection (3) how to think critically and strategically about voir dire questioning and juror challenges.
This course will be taught as an accelerated course. Class will meet for first 7 weeks only.
Seminar - 2 or 3 hours. This seminar explores the ways political units in different countries attempt to maintain social order and advance criminal justice. Students examine the people, policies, and institutions responsible for adjudicating alleged criminal law violations around the globe. They also learn about how rules of professional responsibility and legal ethics guide the behavior of the institutional actors who participate in these criminal processes.
Discussion. This course will introduce students to a wide variety of alternative dispute resolution procedures, with an emphasis on negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. Although basic skills and effective strategies for each procedure will be discussed, the course will focus primarily on the laws and policies that affect how the procedures are structured and conducted. Successful completion of the course will prepare students for the widespread availability and growing popularity of ADR in almost every area of modern legal practice.
Discussion - 2 hours. A study of the issues that frequently arise in large complex litigation involving multiple parties and multiple claims. The course will focus on significant trends in modern complex litigation such joinder, class actions, and alternatives to traditional court-based litigation.
Please note: students who have already taken Complex Litigation are not eligible to take this course.
Discussion - 3 hours. A study of the subject-matter jurisdiction of federal courts. The constitutional and statutory grants of authority to federal courts to adjudicate actions arising under federal law or between parties of diverse citizenship are examined in contemporary detail and from the perspectives of history and the Constitution.
Discussion - 2 hours. The course covers fundamental elements of the legislative process, including legislative procedure, the legislature as an institution, lobbying, statutory interpretation, legislative-executive relations, and the Legislature’s constitutional powers and limitations.
Discussion - 3 hours There are roughly 80,000 local government entities in the United States which provide essential services and spend billions of dollars. This course takes a broad approach to state and local government law, both practically and theoretically. Topics to be covered include: federalism, relations between states and localities, governmental liability, zoning, educational equity, and public finance. Readings will be drawn not only from case law and statues, but from history, theory and public policy.
Discussion - A study of how law operates across state and national borders. The topics covered include choice of applicable law in transactions involving multiple jurisdictions, recognition of judgments, and the exercise of jurisdiction. Particular emphasis will be given to conflicts analysis in transnational cases. The course deals with problems practitioners frequently encounter in a wide variety of fields, from commercial law to family law to law in cyberspace.
Discussion - 2 or 3 hours. The emphasis of this course is to provide real world civil litigation experience and prepare students for a remedies bar exam question. The course provides an overview of the most important legal and equitable remedies available in both private and public law contexts. The topics covered include money damages, punitive damages, equitable remedies such as injunctions, contempt, restitution, and specific performance.
