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IMPORTANT NOTES:
Not all elective courses and seminars are offered each year.
Several elective courses are offered in the evening division
only in alternate years. Some elective courses are only offered
during the evening hours, beginning at 6:00 p.m. or later.
The law school reserves the right to add, delete, or change
any course, or the credit for any course, or the courses required
for graduation, at any time. Some elective courses and all
seminars and clinical programs have limited enrollments and
may not be available for every student who wants to take them.
Descriptions of courses added to the curriculum after the
publication of this list, and courses for which the description
has changed, are provided in the Registration Bulletin for
each semester.
[Elective Courses] [Litigation
and Practice Skills] [Seminars]
REQUIRED COURSES
Doctrinal Courses
Law 258 Civil Procedure. A study of basic restrictions
upon the procedural systems of both the federal and state
courts, and various aspects of civil litigation in the federal
system. The course focuses on the requirements of due process
as a limitation upon the personal jurisdiction that courts
may exercise over defendants and on the subject matter jurisdiction
of the federal courts imposed by Article III and congressional
legislation. The course also addresses pleadings, challenges
and amendments to pleadings, pretrial discovery, adjudication
without trial, and other procedural issues. Five credit
hours.
Law 275 Constitutional Law. This course provides an
introduction to the fundamental law of the United States as
set forth in the Constitution and developed primarily by the
United States Supreme Court. It addresses Supreme Court review,
separation of powers, federalism, and the protection of individual
rights under the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process and Equal
Protection Clauses. Specific topics include the Commerce Clause,
race and sex discrimination, abortion and the right to privacy,
and the concept of state action. These topics are explored
in the context of the historical and theoretical foundations
of American constitutionalism, including the role of the Supreme
Court in American government and the controversy over different
approaches to constitutional interpretation. Four credit hours.
Law 251 Contracts. A study of issues of contract formation,
interpretation, breach, defenses, and remedies. Contract doctrines
such as "consideration" and "offer and acceptance"
and modern deviations from the traditional model are presented,
as are various defenses to the prima facie case of contractual
obligation. These include the traditional defenses of duress,
misrepresentation, mistake, impossibility, and frustration.
The contract remedies of monetary damages, specific performance,
rescission and reformation are also explored. Among the other
issues that may be studied are the parol evidence rule, the
statute of frauds, and the rights of third party beneficiaries.
Five credit hours.
Law 257 Criminal Law. A study of the general principles
of criminal liability, including the justification of punishment,
general concepts of act and fault, principles of justification
and excuse, the significance of resulting harm, and accountability
for acts of others. Certain specific crimes, such as murder
and manslaughter, are also examined. Modern statutory developments
provide a significant focus for study. Three credit hours.
Law 240 Justice and the Legal System. This course presents
a survey of the United States legal system from the perspective
of justice. We will address issues such as: Is justice part
of the law or are the two fundamentally distinct? What are
the dimensions of justice? How are they reflected in the law?
How can they be used to criticize the law? The course will
bring what leading thinkers have had to say about law and
justice to bear on the analysis of concrete legal problems
encountered by lawyers, judges, and citizens in dealing with
the legal system. Three credit hours.
Law 415 Professional Responsibility. This course is
designed to prepare students to recognize and deal with ethical
issues in the practice of law. Topics investigated include:
conflicts of interest, actual and potential, and the limits
on representation required; confidentiality in the context
of an adversarial system; lawyers' responsibilities as advocates
in and out of the courtroom; ethical problems encountered
by corporate and government lawyers; special problems facing
prosecution and criminal defense lawyers; advertising and
solicitation; and admission to the Bar. Actual and hypothetical
problems are analyzed in light of the Code of Professional
Responsibility and the Model Rules of Professional Conduct,
subjecting both sets of rules to critical analysis. Two credit
hours.
Law 261 Property. An introduction to the law of property.
Topics include: the meaning of ownership, including the right
to exclude and the right to use reasonably; methods of acquiring
ownership; the division of ownership into present and future
interests; landlord and tenant law; multiple ownership; non-possessory
interests and private arrangements for the control of use.
Four credit hours.
Law 253 Torts. An introduction to the basic principles
of liability for harm caused to the person or property of
others. The basic topics covered include the general elements
of the plaintiffs prima facie case (legal injury, tortious
conduct, actual causation and proximate causation), the various
types of tortious conduct (intentional negligence, etc.),
the relevant privileges and defenses that can be raised by
the defendant (e.g. defense of self or others, contributory
negligence, and consent or assumption of risk), and the underlying
principles or policies justifying and limiting liability.
Additional topics may be covered, such as various types of
traditional strict liability (e.g. liability for nuisances
and ultra hazardous activities), an introduction to modern
products liability, vicarious liability, immunities, types
of damages and other remedies, and allocation of liability
among multiple responsible parties. Five credit hours.
Legal Writing Courses
Students who begin law school in Fall 2002 or after are
required to take Legal Writing 1, Legal Writing 2, Legal
Writing 3, Legal Writing 4, and a seminar. (Seminar descriptions
appear later in this publication.) Students who began law
school prior to Fall 2002 are required to take Legal Writing
1, Legal Writing 2, Advanced Research, Legal Drafting, and
a seminar. In lieu of Advanced Research and Legal Drafting,
students who began prior to Fall 2002 may take the combined
Legal Drafting & Research course (see the description
for Legal Writing 4, below).
Law 259 Legal Writing 1. An introduction to legal
analysis, research, and writing through the preparation
of legal memoranda, client letters, and other assignments.
This course emphasizes the basic skills and tools of analysis
and research, and the fundamentals of good writing. Students
research and write legal memoranda and other documents of
increasing length and complexity; develop research skills,
both individually and in group projects; and learn editing
skills and the basics of legal ethics. Students rewrite
several assignments after written comments from and in-person
conferences with the professor. Three credit hours.
Law 260 Legal Writing 2. This course provides additional
instruction in legal research, analysis, and writing, with
a focus on written and oral advocacy. Students write both
a trial and an appellate brief, and are introduced to oral
advocacy through preparing and presenting a mock appellate
argument. Two credit hours.
Law 431 Legal Writing 3. (This course will be offered
beginning in the Fall 2003 semester.) This course provides
an introduction to non-litigation oriented transactional issues
and documents, through shorter assignments than are the norm
in Legal Writing 1 and 2, and on oral communication with colleagues
and clients. One credit hour.
Law 432 Legal Writing 4 (formerly Legal Drafting and Research).
This course focuses on specialized legal research in areas
such as environmental law, intellectual property, labor/employment
law, and international law, and on drafting legal instruments
common to these areas. Students are introduced to research
resources and techniques in the particular area of focus,
as well as in legislative history, administrative materials,
international legal materials, and empirical research. Students
typically will prepare several legal instruments for the specialty
area and may be assigned a major paper in the subject area.
Three credit hours.
Law 422 Advanced Research. (This course will be phased
out after the 2002-03 academic year.) This course focuses
on specialized legal research in areas such as environmental
law and securities law. Students are trained in research resources
and techniques in the particular area of focus, as well as
in legislative history, administrative materials, international
materials, and empirical research. Students typically will
prepare two major and several minor assignments in the specialty
area. Two credit hours.
Law 424 Legal Drafting. (This course will be phased
out after the 2002-03 academic year.) This course focuses
on the fundamentals of drafting legal instruments, tailored
to a given fact situation. Students may choose sections specializing
in such areas as real estate law, commercial law, or general
practice. Students typically will prepare several legal instruments
common to the particular area of law. Two credit hours.
ELECTIVE COURSES
Law 359 Accounting for Lawyers. A study of the basic
principles of accounting and the accounting cycle, including
the interpretation and meaning of financial statements and
the application of these principles to legal problems. Not
open to students who have had more than three hours of undergraduate
accounting; no prior knowledge of accounting is expected.
Two credit hours.
Law 372 Administrative Law. A study of the legal problems
involved in the creation, functioning, and control of government
agencies (other than courts or legislatures) that engage in
rule making or adjudication. Particular attention is given
to the constitutional constraints on agency action, including
those imposed by due process, separation of powers, and the
nondelegation doctrine. The investigative functions of agencies
and the timing, method, and scope of judicial review of an
agency's actions also are covered. Three credit hours.
Law 314 Advanced Criminal Law. This course covers substantive
criminal law issues either omitted from the required criminal
law course or not covered in depth. There will likely be five
main topics: punishment, focusing on the death penalty; defenses,
focusing on self-defense, necessity, duress, and insanity;
inchoate crimes, including conspiracy and solicitation; and
specific crimes, particularly rape and offenses against property.
Three credit hours.
Law 301 Advanced Property: Real Estate Transactions.
This course involves a detailed examination of the legal issues
arising in connection with the purchase and sale of real property.
Topics include: the role of brokers in real estate transactions,
the contract of purchase and sale, instruments of conveyance,
warranties of title, recording acts, title insurance and other
forms of title assurance, warranties of condition and other
forms of quality assurance and the financing and closing of
real estate transactions. The course examines real estate
transactions from a practitioner's perspective, as well as
from a more theoretical standpoint. Three credit hours.
Law 446 Advanced Torts. The first-year Torts course
is limited, mainly by credit-hour-restrictions, to convering
concepts related to attempted recovery for physical injuries
to the person caused by one=s negligence, intentional acts,
or abnormally dangerous activities. In Advanced Torts, students
will analyze actions that seek to protect against intangible
or economic injuries. Among the topics that may be considered
are: Defamation, the Right of Privacy, the Right to Publicity,
Fraud and Deceit, Interference with Contractual Relations,
Interference with Prospective Advantage, Injurious Falsehood,
Malicious Procedution, Abuse of Process, and various Statutory
Torts. In addition, there will be a review of the so-called
Atort reforms@ enacted by Congress and state legislatures
in recent years. Two credit hours.
Law 277 Agency Law. This course addresses basic principles
of agency law, particularly the doctrines associated with
authority, vicarious responsibility, and fiduciary duty. It
also addresses how agency principles and doctrines are applied
in such areas as legal ethics, corporation law, contract law,
civil procedure, criminal law, torts, and constitutional law.
Two credit hours.
Law 363 Antitrust. A study of antitrust law concerning
problems of monopolies, price fixing, horizontal and vertical
restraints on trade and mergers. The major federal legislation
in the field, including the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act,
are considered in detail. Three credit hours.
Law 223 Appellate Courts and Procedure. Appellate courts
make important case law decisions and supervise courts below
them in the judicial hierarchy. This course will examine the
functions of appeals and appellate courts, and the process
of appellate review: appellate jurisdiction, standing to appeal,
timing of review, vehicles for obtaining review, the breadth
and depth of review, and appellate lawmaking. The course also
will consider the structure of our appellate courts, and how
those courts and Congress have responded, and may in the future
respond, to the threat to function posed by the increasing
volume of appeals. The course will acquaint students with
the contemporary role of appellate counsel and with the U.S.
Supreme Court's certiorari policies and practices. Although
federal courts will be the main focus, many of the matters
discussed also will be pertinent to state appellate systems.
Three credit hours.
Law 313 Banking Law. A study of the law of commercial
banking with special emphasis on banking as a "regulated
industry." Among the topics included are the history
and structure of the American banking system and of the federal
regulatory agencies; the regulation of traditional banking
activity, including lending limitations; discrimination based
on sex or marital status; usury; reserve requirements; capital
adequacy; interest limits; the formation of a new bank or
branch; branch banking; management interlocks; criminal liability;
attainment of competitive markets; banks' trust powers; and
failing banks and the FDIC. Three credit hours.
Law 435 Bankruptcy. After surveying the rights of creditors
under non-bankruptcy law, this course focuses on how the Bankruptcy
Code deals with those rights and other relationships involving
the debtor. Topics covered include initiation of bankruptcy
proceedings, the stay and its consequences, definition of
the bankruptcy estate, claims, priorities, exemptions, discharge,
avoidance powers, executory contracts, liquidation, reorganization,
and other issues. Three credit hours.
Law 409 Business Organizations. This course examines
how businesses are organized in the United States and the
variety of legal regulations they face. It considers the different
forms of business organizations, including sole proprietorships,
general and limited partnerships, limited liability companies,
and the various forms of incorporated business enterprises,
with the goal of establishing which form of organization is
best suited for a variety of business goals. The course emphasizes
the rights and obligations of the various parties in the business
relationshipBemployees, promoters, partners, and corporate
officers, directors, investors, and stockholders, as well
as their attorneys. Special focus also is devoted to the question
of control of closely-held corporations. These general themes
are examined in the context of specific corporate issues,
including executive compensation; proxy contests; basic securities
fraud and insider trading; and mergers, acquisitions, and
tender offers. The course also includes an introduction to
basic principles of corporate finance. Four credit hours.
Law 348 Business Planning. A traditional and problem
approach to planning business transactions, focusing on choice
and formation of a business entity, capital formation and
financing, corporate restructuring, and purchase and sale
of a business. The course will examine a cross-section of
substantive law areas in planning and implementing business
transactions. Three credit hours.
Law 369 Civil Procedure 2. This course will complete
the overview of civil litigation in the federal system. It
will focus on judicial supervision of pretrial conferences,
the promotion of settlements, and incentives to settle; the
trialBincluding the Seventh Amendment right to jury trial,
judicial control of the verdict through judgments as a matter
of law, new trial orders, remittitur and additur, different
kinds of verdicts, and juror impeachment of the verdict; the
preclusive effects of judgments; and pre- and post-judgment
remedies. Three credit hours.
Law 265 Commercial Law: Payment Systems. An examination
of the legal regulation of various methods of payment, with
primary emphasis on checks and wire transfers and some consideration
of letters of credit, credit cards, debit cards, stored-value
cards, and cash. The course also deals with promissory notes,
primarily as a means to explore the concept of negotiability.
Coverage includes Uniform Commercial Code articles 3, 4, 4A,
and 5. Three credit hours.
Law 202 Commercial Law: Secured Transactions. This
course is concerned with the structuring and use of transactions
in which personal propertyBautomobiles, computers, rights
to payment, wheat, etc.Bis used to secure business and consumer
debt. It examines the rights of the parties to a secured transaction
(i.e., debtor and creditor) as between themselves and as against
third parties. The emphasis is on security interests created
under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Three credit
hours.
Law 455 Commercial Law: Survey. This course provides
a survey of the Uniform Commercial Code and is designed for
those students who either do not want to take the individual
commercial law courses (Payment Systems and Secured Transactions),
or have not decided whether to take these courses. Commercial
Law is clearly the most significant substantive subject appearing
on the Illinois Bar Examination, appearing on all four parts
of the exam (the Multistate Bar Examination, the Multistate
Essay Examination, the Illinois Essay Examination, and the
Multistate Performance Examination). In light of the above,
it is advisable that students planning to take the Illinois
Bar Examination should have some exposure to the Code. This
course is not a prerequisite for any other commercial law
course. If you take this course, you will be able to subsequently
(or concurrently) take Payment Systems and/or Secured Transactions.
If you have already taken both Payment Systems and Secured
Transactions, you may not take this course. Four credit hours.
Law 458 Comparative Constitutional Law. This course
will begin with readings from three different constitutional
systems on the question of abortion and will focus on the
pros and cons of sharing or borrowing foreign constitutional
law. The relationships between different constitutional systems
and the limitations of comparison and comparative law will
then be discussed more generally. The next section will look
at the role and structure of constitutional courts, in particular
positive and negative claims about judicial review. Finally,
the course will return to individual and group rights focusing
on the question what substantive norms are necessary for a
constitutional system and can such questions be answered across
different constitutional cultures. Prerequisites: Constitutional
Law (please see Professor Harding if you wish to take this
course and are taking Constitutional Law at the same time).
Two credit hours.
Law 430 Comparative Law. This course examines the problems
and issues that arise when a lawyer deals with foreign clients,
foreign lawyers, or foreign law. It focuses on the differences
in substance, procedure, methods, and ways of thinking between
the United States and countries that follow the civil law
tradition (including Europe, South America, and many Asian
and African systems). The course examines the history and
nature of foreign legal institutions and considers the ways
in which lawyers can make use of the experiences of foreign
legal systems in solving legal problems. Three credit hours.
Law 327 Complex Litigation. A study of complex litigation
involving multiple parties and multiple claims. By way of
background, we consider joinder of parties and of claims generally,
and treat transfer and consolidation of civil actions. We
then emphasize all major aspects of class action litigation.
The facets covered include ethical considerations, history
and philosophy, federal subject matter jurisdiction, due process
considerations, requirements for bringing a class action,
notice, settlement, administration of judicial relief, appealability,
binding effect of the judgment, attorneys' fees, and trying
complex cases. This advanced course serves to round out a
student's background in civil procedure, and demonstrates
clearly in what respects and why complex litigation has presented
special problems requiring special treatment. Three credit
hours.
Law 225 Computers and Legal Reasoning. Computer technology
will play an increasingly important role in legal practice,
as the use of computers advances beyond word processing, simple
data retrieval and document assembly systems to encompass
various approaches to representing legal knowledge and modeling
legal reasoning. This course employs a hands-on approach.
Students will (1) learn about and work with the emerging technology,
(2) focus in detail on a self-selected area of law, hopefully
working with a faculty adviser, and (3) gain a deeper, practical
understanding of the nature of law and legal reasoning, through
reflective engagement in the process of attempting to formally
model legal knowledge and legal reasoning in the selected
area of law. Each student will use a provided, easy-to-use
program to develop, through a structured series of exercises,
his or her own legal expert system for the selected area of
law. No computer programming expertise is assumed or required.
The grade in the course will be based on the exercises, the
completed expert system, and a final report which critically
describes and assesses the assumptions, methodology, content
and limitations of the expert system. Three credit hours.
Law 371 Conflict of Laws. A study of the legal problems
that arise when the domiciles of the parties or other significant
facts of a controversy are connected with states other than
that where the litigation occurs. Among the topics included
are: the choice of applicable law, jurisdiction of courts,
the effect of out-of-state judgments, and the rules of decision
applicable in multi-state transactions. International conflicts
are becoming increasingly frequent and important, and thus
the class will include discussion of the international aspects
of each of the three main areas of inquiry (choice of law,
jurisdiction, and enforcement of judgments). Similarly, the
application of these rules in the context of cyberspace is
given attention. Three credit hours.
Law 351 Construction Law. A study of contractual relations
among participants in the construction process; legal disputes
arising out of the bidding and construction process; and the
customs of the construction industry as they relate to legal
problems. There will be some discussion of the bidding process
and bonding requirements. The contractual interrelationships
among the owner, the architect, contractors, and subcontractors
as defined by the "contract documents" and as implied
by law will be fully discussed. Finally, an analysis of typical
construction disputes arising from contract interpretation,
change orders, time problems, and payment issues will be made.
An understanding of how contract, and tort principles discussed
in substantive courses are applied and interrelated within
the construction industry will be derived from the course.
Two credit hours.
Law 378 Consumer Health Benefits. This course is designed
to expose students to some of the legal and policy issues
that confront individuals/consumers in our health care system.
The course will explore the basics of our unique system of
health care financing and delivery, focusing on how that system
affects the consumer/employee/patient. Among the topics that
are explored are employer-provided benefits; managed care;
HMO liability; ERISA preemption; litigating benefit coverage
denials; eligibility, funding, and benefits in the Medicaid
and Medicare programs; COBRA benefits; and health care reform.
There is no exam and students are evaluated on the basis of
a paper and class participation. Two credit hours.
Law 212 Consumer Protection Law. This course will cover
the fundamental causes of action and defenses in current consumer
protection law. The course will examine common law antecedents
of modern consumer protection law, contract and tort-based
causes of action, consumer credit, compulsory disclosure statutes,
consumer contract formation issues, collection and foreclosure
issues, complex litigation issues of federal and state provisions,
civil RICO, qui tam, class actions, and governmental enforcement.
Three credit hours.
Law 405 Copyright Law. This course is a detailed examination
of the entire range of copyright law, including protection
for literary, musical, artistic, and other works of authorship.
The course is centered on a consideration of the 1976 federal
copyright statute, as amended by several recent pieces of
legislation, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(the DMCA). Topics covered include what kinds of work are
protected by copyright, ownership of copyright, and the rights
and remedies provided by copyright law. In addition to exploring
basic questions about the purposes, nature, and scope of copyright
raised by the federal legislation, this course gives special
attention to current controversies concerning the extension
of traditional copyright principles to the online environment,
the legality of peer-to-peer networks, protection for computer
programs, Internet service provider liability, the constitutionality
of new and greater forms of copyright protection, the interaction
of copyright and free speech principles, and the effect of
international treaties upon U.S. copyright law. Three credit
hours.
Law 360 Corporate Finance. This course is intended
to provide a basic understanding of how stocks and bonds are
utilized in the capital formation process, how businesses
raise capital, and how the capital formation process is regulated.
In addition, the course covers some fundamental concepts of
financial analysis and investment techniques. Two credit hours.
Law 344 Criminal Procedure: The Adjudicative Process. This
course and Criminal Procedure: The Investigative Process are
a study of the legal rules governing the operation of the
criminal justice system from investigation to trial. Among
the topics included in this course are: the right to counsel,
transcripts and other aids; discovery and the failure of the
state to disclose; pretrial publicity and change of venue;
the right to a speedy trial; plea bargaining and guilty pleas;
the right to a jury trial and problems of jury selection;
ineffective assistance of counsel; sentencing; entrapment;
double jeopardy; hearings into probable cause; and pretrial
release. Three credit hours.
Law 270 Criminal Procedure: The Investigative Process.
A study of the legal rules, primarily constitutional, governing
the operation of the criminal justice system from investigation
to trial. Among the topics included in this course are: the
meaning of due process; arrest, search, and seizure; wiretapping
and electronic eavesdropping; police interrogation and confessions;
eyewitness identification procedures; the scope and administration
of the exclusionary rules; and grand jury investigations.
Three credit hours.
Law 437 Disability Law. This course examines statutes
and cases concerning people with mental and physical disabilities.
Most of the relevant law has developed in the area of schooling,
insurance, employment, access to public facilities, and estate
planning and guardianships. The course also explores the processes
of administrative and judicial review as they have adapted
to resolve these cases. Preparation of disability cases, the
use of expert witnesses, and the role of attorneys in disability
negotiations also are covered. Two credit hours.
Law 248 Emerging Technologies. Law and the legal system
anticipate and also respond to changes in technology in ways
that may enhance or inhibit the development of new technologies
and new applications of old technologies. This course examines
these changes from a historical perspective using the telecommunications
technologies and regulations as a case study. It then moves
into current technological developments in genetic engineering,
surrogate parenting, interactive cable TV, DNA testing, nanotechnology,
facial recognition technologies, and the like. Legal issues
involving intellectual property, contractual relationships,
constitutional rights of individuals, rules of evidence, negligence,
and products liability will be discussed in the contexts of
a variety of emerging technologies. Questions revolve around
the ways in which the legal system responds to changes with
analogies to the Aknown and understood,@ with fear of the
unknown, with conflict between legal and moral issues, with
new law, and with the attorney=s role in formulating change.
Three credit hours.
Law 353 Employee Benefits Law. A detailed study of
the law governing retirement plans and related fringe benefits.
Attention will be focused primarily on employer-sponsored
pension plans that qualify for favorable tax treatment under
the Internal Revenue Code. Topics include participation and
vesting requirements, taxation of benefit payments, creditor's
rights, the responsibility of plan administrators and trustees,
and discrimination in favor of highly compensated employees.
Three credit hours.
Law 365 Employment Discrimination. An in-depth examination
of the federal law concerning discrimination in employment
on the bases of race, sex, religion, national origin, age,
and disability. Topics covered include: Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act,
the Equal Pay Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Illinois Human Rights Act also falls within the purview
of this course, as does the common law development regarding
wrongful discharge. Three credit hours.
Law 391 Employment Relationships. This course will
focus on the legal relationship between employer and individual
employee. It will cover the common law aspects of that relationship,
particularly contracts and torts. It will then examine statutory
modifications of the common law. Statutes that may be examined
include ERISA, the Civil Rights Acts, whistle-blower protection
legislation, unemployment and workers compensation acts, Fair
Labor Standards Act and OSHA. The course is recommended for
students contemplating a labor law, corporate or general practice.
Three credit hours.
Law 232 Energy Law. This course offers a basic overview
of the legal framework within which the production, distribution
and sale of energy takes place. It is offered as part of the
Program in Environmental and Energy Law but is open to all
students. After a brief introduction to scientific concepts
of energy and the history of energy technology, the course
will survey the major sources of energy. The traditional sources
have been oil, natural gas and coal converted to consumer
products such as electricity and gasoline. Newer sources include
nuclear and solar energy. Each source and delivery system
has its own network of property rules and contract relationships.
National energy policy will be reviewed and the impact of
interregional competition on the regulation of energy will
be studied, as will constitutional and economic concepts affecting
the pricing of energy. Particular emphasis will be placed
on energy issues in environmental law. Three credit hours.
Law 373 Entertainment Law. A general survey of the
legal principles and business customs and usages of the entertainment
industry. Topics include: contract, labor, copyright, trademarks
and unfair competition, privacy and publicity rights, and
constitutional law cases and material involving the motion
picture, live theater, television, music, and print publishing
branches, and the production, distribution and retail sectors
of each branch. Students interested in intellectual property
and those who may represent individuals or entities in the
entertainment industry should consider taking this course.
The Copyright Law course is recommended preparation. Two credit
hours.
Law 426 Environmental Law and Policy 1. This course
examines the scientific, economic, and ethical foundations
of environmental law and policy and introduces the student
to many of the major biodiversity conservation and pollution
control regulatory programs. The role of courts in policing
environmental regulation and decision-making is also covered.
The course will take an interdisciplinary approach, looking
at history, economic theory and analysis, and other disciplines.
The course covers the common law origins of environmental
protection, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered
Species Act, Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act, and Superfund. The course examines the substance
of the Acts and uses them as vehicles for exploring complex
statutory schemes, administrative policy-making, market environmental
controls, the interplay of federal and state environmental
programs, benefit-cost analysis, risk analysis, and environmental
litigation. This is the first semester of a two-semester course
sequence. While it is required for students concentrating
in Environmental and Energy Law, it is open to all students.
The course can be taken without the second semester course.
Three credit hours.
Law 441 Environmental Law and Policy 2. This is the
second semester of a two-semester course sequence. While it
is required for students in the Program in Environmental and
Energy Law, it is open to all students. Environmental Law
and Policy 1 is not a prerequisite. The course emphasizes
the Clean Air Act as a vehicle for exploring complex statutory
schemes, administrative policy-making, market environmental
controls, the interplay of federal and state environmental
programs, benefit-cost analysis, risk analysis, and environmental
litigation. The course will also examine global warming and
the broader concept of climate change. Two credit hours.
Law 414 Estate Planning. An analysis of the various
methods of achieving proper lifetime and testamentary planning,
including the preparation of documents in connection with
estate plans such as wills and trusts. Two credit hours.
Law 311 Estates and Trusts. A study of the law relating
to the gratuitous transfer of property at death and in trust.
The course will examine the formalities required for the execution
and revocation of a will, will contests, the problems incident
to intestate succession, will substitutes, the creation and
enforcement of private express trusts, the creation and enforcement
of charitable trusts, and the use of class gifts and powers
of appointment to introduce flexibility into estate plans.
The course will also explore certain issues of elder law,
such as living wills and health care powers of attorney. Four
credit hours.
Law 273 Evidence. A study of the rules of evidence
and the reasons underlying these rules, with particular emphasis
on the Federal Rules of Evidence. Among the topics included
are: competency and examination of witnesses, including impeachment;
relevancy; the hearsay rule and its exceptions; privileges;
writings; opinion, expertise, and experts; scientific and
demonstrative evidence; and other issues. Three credit hours.
Law 442 Family and Employment-Based Immigration Practice.
This course is designed to familiarize law students with the
practical, hands-on practice of family and employment-based
immigration to the United States. In an increasingly international
world, the ability to obtain and maintain lawful immigration
status in the U.S., permanent and temporary, is very important.
This course will focus on ways foreign-born persons can obtain
permanent immigration status in the U.S. through their family
and/or employment, both from abroad and from within the U.S.
itself. In addition, the course will examine the temporary
statuses available to persons seeking to enter the U.S. to
work or study. There are no prerequisites, but it is recommended
that students enrolling in this course have previously taken
Immigration Law and Policy or have practical experience in
immigration law. Two credit hours.
Law 340 Family Law. A study of the legal problems involved
in the formation, continuation, and dissolution of the relationship
of husband and wife, and the legal problems arising from the
relationship of parent to child. Among the topics that may
be discussed are are engagements; marriage requirements; marital
rights and responsibilities; divorce; property distribution;
child support; maintenance; parental rights; paternity; legitimacy;
custody; adoption; and modern methods of conception. Three
credit hours.
Law 370 Federal Courts. A study of the powers of, and
restraints upon, the federal judiciary, derived largely but
not exclusively from Article III. Specific issues addressed
include: the concept of judicial supremacyB the role of courts
in a representative democracy; Article I tribunals; permissible
congressional control of the original and appellate jurisdiction
and remedial arsenal of the federal judiciary; abstention;
sovereign immunity; and federal review of state court decisions.
Three credit hours.
Law 282 The First Amendment. A study of the constitutional
protection of speech and religion under the First Amendment
of the U.S. Constitution. The course will explore the history
and theory of freedom of speech and religion; the constitutionality
of regulating seditious speech, pornography, hate speech,
and commercial speech; the permissibility of state support
for religion; and other topics. Three credit hours.
Law 403 Forensic Sciences. This course is designed
to familiarize students with contemporary scientific evidence
and expert witnesses. Acknowledged experts will present their
specialties with an eye towards what the lawyer should know
about the scientific area and how to select and utilize an
expert witness. Emphasis will be on topics suitable to both
civil and criminal cases. Topics include: pathology, toxicology,
toolmark and firearms identification, questioned documents,
fingerprints, forensic photography, and the polygraph. Two
credit hours.
Law 407 Futures Regulation. This course will examine
the history of the commodities industry and the Commodities
Exchange Act as amended. It will also discuss the operations
and duties of the CFTC, the NFA, and the commodities exchanges,
including their enforcement and investigatory activities,
their structure and their current and proposed regulations;
the use of the futures markets by hedgers; the jurisdiction
of the CFTC versus the SEC and the states; the registration
requirements of various entities with the CFTC; arbitration
and reparation procedures; the types of records and reports
used by the commodities industry; tax consequences for investors;
forum-shopping and litigation strategies; and how to prepare
a commodities case. Two credit hours.
Law 201 Gender and the Law. This course explores the
relationship between sex inequality in society and sex equality
under the law. The course examines and critiques the validity
of gender-based distinctions in American law in light of their
history, underlying policies, and social context. Specific
topics include, but are not limited to, reproductive rights,
work-family conflict, inequality in employment opportunities,
domestic violence, education, pornography, sexual harassment,
rape, and women in the legal profession. The course emphasizes
relationships between theory and practice, and considers the
intersections of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.
Three credit hours.
Law 298 Genetics and the Law. The current federal Human
Genome Project is attempting to understand the health and
behavioral implications of the 30,000 genes in the human body.
Genetic tests are being offered to let people know if they
are at risk of having a child with a genetic defect or if
they will later in life suffer from cancer or other diseases.
Genetic predispositions are also being investigated for certain
behaviors, such as gay sexual preference, intelligence, and
anti-social behavior. This course will cover the tort law,
family law, constitutional law, criminal law, employment law,
and insurance law implications of developments in genetics.
Three credit hours.
Law 368 Gift and Estate Tax. This course deals with
the federal taxation of gratuitous property transfers during
life and at death and with the techniques for structuring
transactions so as to minimize such taxation. The emphasis
will be on gift and estate taxes, but we will also study the
income taxation of trusts and estates and the generation-skipping
transfer tax. These tax rules will be examined in the context
of the kinds of transactions that give rise to their applicability:
transactions that typically include outright gifts, so-called
"living" trusts, irrevocable trusts, joint tenancies,
powers of appointment, life insurance, and employee benefits.
Three credit hours.
Law 362 Health Care Law. One-eighth of the U.S. economy
involves the delivery and regulation of health care services.
This course addresses the statutory, administrative, and judicial
precedents for regulating health care from the point of view
of patients, health care professionals, and health care institutions.
It covers topics such as informed consent, right to refuse
treatment, medical malpractice, human experimentation, the
regulation of new medical technologies, health care financing,
and health care reimbursement. Three credit hours.
Law 547 IIT Interprofessional Projects (IPROs). Students
may obtain one credit of independent research by joining a
university-wide team to work on projects furnished by industry.
The IPROs offered vary from semester to semester. Recent IPROs
with involvement from the law school have included: Project
Bosnia, where students have helped design computer and telecommunications
packages for linking Bosnian government officials together
through use of intranets, creating internet access for media,
and providing government information on the web; Project Poland,
where students have helped establish a technological infrastructure
that supports the continuing development of the rule of law
in Poland; and the International Rights and Asylum Project,
which used information technology to help educate and inform
attorneys, refugees, and other audiences all over the world
about international human rights. One credit hour.
Law 413 Illinois Civil Procedure. This course focuses
on the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure and the Illinois Supreme
Court Rules. Topics covered include: personal and subject
matter jurisdiction, venue, and pleadings and motion practice,
with an emphasis on how Illinois procedural rules differ from
the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Law 304 Immigration Law and Policy. This course first
explores the historical backdrop to modern immigration law
and policy and the sources of federal power in the area. Additional
topics include immigrant preference categories (employment
and family), other visas, admission and change of status,
removal, issues surrounding undocumented aliens, and current
refugee/asylum policy and procedures. Three credit hours.
Law 561 Independent Research. Research under the supervision
of a member of the faculty. One credit hour per semester.
Law 501 Independent Research in Lieu of Seminar. Research
under the supervision of a member of the faculty leading to
the completion of a substantial paper fulfilling the seminar
requirement. One credit hour per semester.
Law 358 Insurance. Insurance is an increasingly important
tool for the management of risk by both private and public
enterprises. This course provides a working knowledge of basic
insurance law governing insurance contract formation, insurance
regulation, personal, commercial, and professional liability
insurance, and claims processes and disputes. The emphasis
throughout the course is on the link between traditional insurance
law doctrine and modern ideas about the functions of contract
law and public policy. Two credit hours.
Law 281 Intellectual Property for Corporate Lawyers. This
course emphasizes the management of intellectual property.
The intent is to provide the future corporate practitioner
with important information about managing, marketing, selling,
buying, and licensing corporate intellectual property assets
(including patents, trademarks, copyrights, data, trade secrets,
software, know-how, and other types of valuable information),
and limiting corporate liability with respect to those assets.
The course places particular emphasis on software and other
emerging technologies, but will also cover traditional intellectual
property issues. Two credit hours.
Law 249 Intellectual Property Litigation. As intellectual
property becomes more critical to the success and survival
of many businesses, intellectual property disputes become
more frequent and more significant. This course explores the
life cycle of an intellectual property dispute, including
initial client meetings, cease and desist letters, temporary
restraining orders/preliminary injunctions, seizures, deposition
strategies, experts, summary judgment strategies, settlement
negotiations and licensing resolutions, mediations, trials,
damages, and enforcement techniques. We will use cutting edge
intellectual property issues as a vehicle to explore these
issues. Prerequisites: two of the following courses: Copyright
Law, Trademarks & Unfair Competition, and Patent Law.
Recommended preparation: Remedies. Three credit hours.
Law 226 Intellectual Property Trial Advocacy. This
course will explore the stages, issues, and techniques involved
in trying an intellectual property lawsuit. Special emphasis
will be given to the unique procedural and evidentiary considerations
that arise in intellectual property trials. The course will
rely heavily on materials from actual patent infringement,
trade secrets, and other cases. Students will participate
in mock proceedings involving motions in limine, opening statements,
direct and cross examinations, and closing arguments. Students
seeking the Intellectual Property Law Certificate have priority
for this course. Recommended preparation: Evidence and either
Patent Law or Trademarks & Unfair Competition. If you
have taken both Trial Advocacy 1 and Trial Advocacy 2, you
may not take this course. Three credit hours.
Law 387 International Business Transactions. An examination
of the legal environment of business, focusing on the legal
considerations specifically related to transactions having
transnational elements. Among the topics discussed are: national
laws relating to aliens and foreign transactions, the extraterritorial
reach of American laws, international contracts, international
technology transfers, international and commercial arbitration,
and international investment. The respective roles of foreign
law, foreign lawyers, and foreign clients in international
business processes are also considered. Three credit hours.
Law 374 International Capital Markets. This course
examines the international aspects of the U.S. regulation
of banking and securities; the international systems of regulating
banking and capital markets including payments, settlements
and capital adequacy; and the capital markets of the European
Union (particularly U.K., Germany and France), and of Canada,
and Japan. The course covers special instruments and techniques
including Eurodollar deposits, Eurobonds, Global Bonds, international
asset securitization, futures, options, swaps, offshore trusts,
and project finance. Included are materials on second-tier
markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Italy,
Spain, several of the emerging markets such as Mexico, Argentina,
etc. and the special problems of the "offshore"
centers such as Lichtenstein, Cayman Islands, Antigua, Jersey,
and the like. Three credit hours.
Law 235 International Commercial Litigation. This course
will examine international commercial litigation from the
investigation of transnational disputes through the enforcement
of judgments in the United States and abroad. Topics studied
will include, among others, case analysis, jurisdiction over
non-U.S. defendants, service of process on foreign defendants,
obtaining evidence abroad, extraterritoriality, trial of transnational
cases, and enforcement of judgments. International arbitration
will also be examined. The course will be taught from both
an academic and practical perspective, using actual court
documents where appropriate. Three credit hours.
Law 312 International Human Rights. The course involves
both a definition of human rights as well as enforcement procedures
for the implementation of human rights. The historical and
philosophical bases of human rights are examined starting
with the works of various thinkers from the diverse schools,
particularly natural law, positivism, Marxism and the sociological
school. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the
later International Covenants are looked at in terms of the
influences of the various schools. The course addresses the
question of whether there is agreement as to fundamental human
rights. Recent developments and tensions in the field of human
rights, particularly since the increased membership of countries
from the "third world" and socialist bloc countries,
are investigated. This is highlighted by focusing on the later
two covenants of the United Nations particularly the Covenant
on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, which enlarges the
scope of human rights to include welfare, cultural, and economic
rights. Finally, the course focuses on the contribution of
international and non-governmental organizations in the protection
and implementation of human rights. Two credit hours.
Law 236 International Intellectual Property Law and Policy.
This course examines issues of intellectual property law raised
by the exploitation and use of creative and commercial products
in an international environment. General topics covered include:
the negotiation and conclusion by states of different types
of agreements prescribing standards of intellectual property
protection under national law; efforts to create supranational
intellectual property rights; resolution of disputes between
states regarding compliance with obligations imposed by international
intellectual property law (primarily under the dispute settlement
system of the World Trade Organization); the interaction of
trade policy and intellectual property laws; and the private
enforcement of intellectual property disputes involving international
components. Under these general headings, the class will address
both fundamental principles underlying the international intellectual
property system and issues of current interest and debate.
For example, in the latter category, the class will discuss
the extent to which states can ensure access to essential
medicines (such as HIV drugs) through compulsory licensing
of patented drugs; the effect of the Internet on territorial
copyright and trademark laws;institutional reforms designed
to facilitate faster international intellectual property lawmaking;
treaty provisions requiring protection under national law
of technological measures designed to restrict access to copyrighted
works; restrictions imposed upon the availability of so-called
parallel imports; cross-border infringement litigation in
a single court seeking relief against conduct in several states;
extraterritorial protection of intellectual property rights;
and proceedings by trademark owners before ICANN-authorized
dispute settlement panels to recover domain names under the
Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. Prerequisite:
any one of Copyright Law, Trademarks and Unfair Competition,
or Patent Law. This requirement may be waived only with permission
of the instructor. Pass/fail not available. Three credit hours.
Law 383 International Law. This course introduces students
to the key concepts and doctrines of international law. Students
learn the sources of international law such as custom and
treaty, the role of international organizations such as the
United Nations, the bases of international jurisdiction, laws
governing the use of force and the protection of human rights,
and the constitutional structure of U.S. participation in
the international legal system. An understanding of these
core concepts, rules and institutions is vital to more advanced
and in-depth study of world events, such as the Persian Gulf
crisis and war in 1990-91 and the disintegration of the Soviet
Union in 1991-92, and places these events in the context of
the development and application of international law. The
course also examines the development of regional organizations
such as the European Union and North American Free Trade Agreement
and the role the institutions of these arrangements play both
in international and municipal legal systems. Three credit
hours.
Law 384 International Trade. This course involves a
comprehensive study of the international trading system, with
attention to the role of the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade, the IMF, and regional and bilateral trading arrangement
(e.g. the European Union and the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement).
The U.S. legal system with respect to international trade
will be considered in detail, including discussion of constitutional
issues, treaty-making, and Congressional and Executive authorities.
Attention will be given to specific legislation and regulations
involving export and import controls, as well as remedies
against unfair trade practices. Current issues such as the
implications of the EU's 1992 plan, the treatment of nonmarket
economies, trade-related aspects of intellectual property,
trade in services, and controls on the use of economic sanctions
will be analyzed. Three credit hours.
Law 400 Internet Law. This course covers legal and
policy issues raised by the impact of the Internet on existing
law. Topics considered include: freedom of speech, privacy,
intellectual property, trademark and copyright, commercial
transactions, computer crime, and jurisdictional issues. Course
materials are available only on the Internet. It is a prerequisite
of this course that students have a laptop with ability to
connect to the Internet from home and the classroom. Three
credit hours.
Law 456 Juries, Judges & Trials. This course will
look at juries and judges as decisionmakers, but will focus
primarily on the jury. As background, we will examine the
constitutional rights to a civil and criminal jury trial,
and then focus on such features of the jury as venire, voir
dire, peremptory challenges, instructions, deliberations,
and differences in perception. We will consider the scope
of jury authority, including jury nullification, as well as
various models for the proper role of the jury in our society.
There will be a take-home exam at the end of the course. Three
credit hours.
Law 346 Jurisprudence. Many people submit to the law
simply because they believe that the institutions administering
it are just. But what if a law itself is unjust? The duty
to obey law presupposes that laws are both consistent and
just: because they sometime aren=t, difficult cases arise
in which appeals to a higher political morality become necessary
if justice is to be served. But what is this higher political
morality and what is its connection to the institutions we
rely upon to do justice and protect our human rights as well
as to the laws that are actually produced? Is this higher
political morality the morality of our society or something
broader? And, if it is something broader, how do we discover
what it is? In this course, we will attempt to answer these
and other questions by considering the relationship between
legal and political philosophy, showing how the former is
incomplete without the latter. Taking the problem of how to
solve difficult cases as our point of departure, we will look
at the inherent incompleteness of conventional theories of
law with the idea of developing a meta-theory that would enable
judges to decide difficult cases by drawing upon the best
available theory of politics appropriate to the case=s level
of abstraction. By so doing, it is hoped that we will be able
to produce resolutions for some kinds of controversial cases
and open doors to the way we should think about others. It
is also hoped that the course will provide an avenue for a
broad critique of the way legal and political institutions
operate including the way law schools educate and judges actually
decide cases. Two credit hours.
Law 329 Juvenile Law. This course examines federal
and state laws and cases involving juveniles. The Illinois
Juvenile Court Act is covered in depth. Areas covered include
delinquency, neglect, adjudications, dispositions, sentencing
alternatives, social service agencies and constitutional safeguards
for minors. Three credit hours.
Law 380 Labor Law. An examination of the theory and
practice of the law governing the relationships between labor
unions and employers. Among the topics covered are: the historical
background of labor relations law; union organizing and the
law; procedures for the selection of union representation;
the law and process of collective bargaining; strikes, boycotts
and picketing; and grievance and arbitration procedures. Four
credit hours.
Law 401 Land Use. A course exploring land use controls
such as zoning and subdivision regulations as exercised by
local and state governmental units. The course analyzes the
history of land use controls and explores topics such as flexibility
and discretion, improper influence and corruption, alternative
land use control schemes, suburban zoning and racial/economic
exclusion, environmental protection by land use schemes, and
growth control. In the process of exploring land use controls,
the course analyzes the local institutions and procedures,
constitutional issues, and the question of when an improper
taking of property occurs in our legal system. Three credit
hours.
Law 252 Law of Privacy. Privacy may be one of the
most pervasively discussed issues in this decade as a result
of the increased concerns for security in travel, the openness
of the Internet, the consolidation of information in massive
databases both by corporations and by governments, high
incidence of identity theft, and the development of more
and more highly sophisticated Alistening and viewing@ devices.
This class examines privacy as protected by statute B through
a patchwork of privacy acts B and the concomitant freedom
of information requirements of a democratic government,
as developed through tort doctrine in the courts, and as
articulated through the Constitution of the United States
and those of the various states. All aspects of privacy
are considered, including wiretapping, government-required
personal and business information, personal, family, and
reproductive autonomy, the Aright to be let alone,@ and
the right of publicity. Three credit hours.
Law 206 Legislation and the Legislative Process. A
lawyer=s time is increasingly consumed by the study of legislative
materials, even more than the study of common law precedents.
Lawyers must read and interpret statutes in the context of
litigation or when giving an opinion to a client. Moreover,
lawyers have become actors in the legislative process through
lobbying, representing clients before committees, and drafting
legislation (or legislative history). The purpose of this
course is to introduce students to the legislative process
and different theories of statutory interpretation. Course
reading includes cases, statutes, and some secondary sources.
The course examines the contributions made by legal scholars
as well as scholars in other disciplines (literary criticism
and interpretation, critical legal studies, and public choice
theory) and how these theories should or do affect the way
in which courts interpret statutes. Three credit hours.
Law 267 Legislative Advocacy. Corporations, public
interest groups, governmental entities and other business
clients frequently seek advice on legislative matters. Lawyers
need to know how to access and communicate legislative information
to their clients, and be adequately informed about the legislative
process. This course is designed to train students in effective
advocacy techniques to competently present matters to policy
makers and work within the legislative process. The course
is divided into four general modules: the law of politics;
the legislative process; lobbying; and effective advocacy
techniques. In addition to the traditional lecture format,
students will learn through the use of role-playing, research
assignments and a hands-on advocacy assignment involving actual
legislation. Students will learn how to research legislation,
present initiatives to policy makers, and influence the process.
Two credit hours.
Law 334 Medical Malpractice. This course will examine
various topics relating to medical malpractice litigation.
Among the topics to be considered are: pleadings, discovery,
expert testimony, damages, statutes of limitations, res ipsa
loquitur, informed consent and independent contractor issues.
Two credit hours.
Law 255 Nonprofit Law. Nonprofit organizations B including
churches, hospitals, universities, cultural institutions,
social service charities, advocacy groups, unions, trade associations,
and social clubs B make up about 10 percent of the economy.
Their operations and role in society raise important and difficult
issues that cut across a variety of legal fields. In addition,
as Aownerless@ enterprises serving the public good, nonprofits
present challenges for good governance, public oversight,
and appropriate public subsidy. We will study the relevant
aspects of constitutional law, trust and property law, corporate
law, and tax law. Three credit hours.
Law 402 Patent Law. Public policies underlying various
invention protection systems are analyzed as background for
understanding the fundamental concepts of U.S. patent law.
The nature of patentable subject matter in the U.S. and the
statutory requirements of utility, novelty, and nonobviousness
are examined in detail. Students also consider the process
of obtaining and enforcing patent rights. Such consideration
includes an overview of the disclosure, enablement and claim
requirements for a patent application, as well as the scope
of protection granted to the owner of an issued patent. The
interpretation of patent claims is covered, with special emphasis
placed on construing claims under the evolving doctrine of
equivalents. Remedies for patent infringement are also reviewed,
as well as the defense of patent misuse. Three credit hours.
Law 211 Patent Litigation. Students will examine major
issues of substantive law and strategy facing a lawyer involved
with patent litigation. The class sessions will focus on the
leading cases in emerging areas of patent law. Such areas
include infringement under the doctrine of equivalents, the
scope of remedies available to a patent owner, the proofs
required to establish patent invalidity, and the role of a
jury in deciding complex technological issues. The class will
also address procedures for developing and presenting at trial
a credible theme and conducting a coherent program of trial
preparation. Prerequisite: Patent Law. Three credit hours.
Law 284 Patent Office Practice. This course focuses
on the substantive and procedural requirements for preparing
and prosecuting patent applications. Strong emphasis is placed
on drafting patent claims and preparing effective responses
to rejections of applications by the U.S. Patent Office. The
course also covers other aspects of practice before the Patent
Office, including interviews, appeals, and applications for
the reexamination and reissue of a patent. The nature of nonobviousness,
the doctrine of equivalence, and the patent applicant's duty
of candor are reviewed in detail. Patents is a prerequisite.
Three credit hours.
Law 276 Personal Income Tax. A study of the federal
income tax laws as they affect individuals. Major topics include:
identification of income, deductions, exclusions, and credits;
assignment of income; timing principles; capital gains and
losses; and deferral and nonrecognition provisions. Three
credit hours.
Law 271 Practice Before the Federal Circuit. This unique
course will focus on the practice of law before the Court
of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). The CAFC has exclusive
appellate jurisdiction to hear patent cases and appeals from
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as cases involving
several non-patent related issues. Prerequisites: You must
have taken, or presently be taking, Patent Law. The course
materials will be geared to students intending to practice
intellectual property law and to specialize in patent law.
Course Requirements: (1) The course will begin during the
Fall semester but will extend into the early part of the Spring
semester. Students will be required to attend class on Fridays
from 6:00- 7:25 p.m. beginning in early November and running
through late January, with breaks for the Thanksgiving holiday
and over the inter-semester break. (2) Students will be required
to compete in the intramural Giles Rich Moot Court Competition,
submitting an appellate brief and arguing both on and off-brief.
The intramural moot court problem often involves patent law
and occasionally trademark law. Why take this course? This
course will teach you appellate advocacy, both with respect
to how to identify the issues and write a convincing appellate
brief and how to prepare for, and present, a winning oral
argument. Top students in the class will be invited (but not
required) to represent the school in the National Giles Rich
Moot Court Competition. Students taking this course in recent
years placed first and third in the Midwest Regional Competition,
with the first place team advancing to the National Competition
in Washington, D.C. Two credit hours.
Law 350 Products Liability. A study of the source,
development, and limits of the law of products liability,
including theories of liability rooted in negligence, warranty,
and strict liability and the liability of sellers, manufacturers,
and others to users, bystanders, and other parties for "defective"
products. Two credit hours.
Law 280 Remedies. The course addresses the forms of
relief available through the judicial process. Among the topics
covered are equitable remedies such as injunctions and specific
performance; damages; restitution; remedies for injuries to
tangible and intangible property, personal injuries, breach
of contract, and invasions of civil rights. Three credit hours.
Law 377 School Law. This course briefly explores the
historical underpinnings and the sources of state and federal
power relating to an entitlement that we take for granted:
free public education. Additional topics include many issues
that are continually in the news and in the courts: church-state
conflicts (especially school prayer and school vouchers);
desegregation, school financing, student disability accommodations,
free speech issues (both students and teachers); and other
student rights (including locker searches, dress codes, and
due process). Three credit hours.
Law 361 Securities Regulation. A study of the Securities
Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Among
the topics included are: the registration and distribution
of securities by issuers; exemptions from the registration
requirements; offerings by underwriters and dealings; reorganizations;
federal disclosure obligations; regulation of the securities
markets, broker-dealers, proxy rules, tender offers, and civil
liabilities for insider trading, Rule lOb-5 and shout-swing
profits. Three credit hours.
Law 333 Sports Law. This course explores the contract,
labor law and antitrust problems facing professional and collegiate
athletic institutions and athletes. Principles of negotiation
and ethical considerations are also considered. Two credit
hours.
Law 245 State and Local Government Law. In 1805 there
lived a total of approximately 5.3 million people in the United
States B far fewer than the 6 million people who today live
in Massachusetts or any of 15 other States of the Union. In
1828 James Fenimore Cooper, an American born commentator on
American life, took note of the burgeoning population growth
and projected that in one hundred years America's population
might reach "near or quite 100 million." Continue
Cooper, "the first impression that strike the mind is
the impossibility that 100 million people should consent to
live quietly under the same government." Today's population,
of course, is not only much larger but is far more diverse
than Cooper imagined. One of the reasons our country has been
able to grow and still remain united, ironically, is that
under our federal system much political power is decentralized
at the state, local, and other subfederal levels. And that
is what this course is about: the decentralization of power.
The course explores the conflicts inherent in the allocation
of power between the national, state, and local governments.
It tries to answer questions like: Why do we still have states?
What are the maximal powers that states and local governments
have, and should have, to create environments that both shape
and reflect their citizens' desires? In answering these and
related questions the course will look to both law and political
theory. Explored in detail will be many of the constitutional
doctrines that define our country's federal structure. Also
examined will be vital doctrines concerning local government
formation and annexation, statutory and home rule powers,
the relationships between local governments (including city
: suburb), participation in local government, as well as important
issues in revenue raising. Three credit hours.
Law 262 Tax Fraud and Related Crimes. This course focuses
on the elements, defenses, sentencing trends, and emerging
legal issues associated with the major federal tax crimes,
including the most severe, attempted tax evasion. Primary
topics include Internal Revenue Service and Department of
Justice investigative authority, techniques, and prosecution
policies, as well as the government=s substantial forfeiture
power and related crimes such as money laundering. Additional
topics include the interplay with civil tax penalties, an
overview of applicable federal sentencing guidelines, trial
tactics, and select ethical issues. Special attention is devoted
to analyzing the evidentiary proof necessary to sustain the
substantive crimes, and particular strategies that might effectively
weaken or even terminate a pending administrative investigation.
Two credit hours.
Law 310 Tax Planning for International Business. This
course provides an introduction to the U.S. tax structure
that applies to international transactions, i.e., investment
and business undertakings by U.S. persons overseas and similar
undertakings by foreign persons in the U.S. The first part
of the course will use a problem approach to examine the basic
U.S. tax principles governing international transactions (including
a discussion of treaty implications). The second part of the
course will examine strategies in the formation, acquisition,
financing, operation and disposition of international business
activities. Two credit hours.
Law 580 Tax Procedure. This course involves a study
of the procedural aspects of the federal income tax system,
with special attention to the tax controversy process. Topics
include the organization of the Internal Revenue Service,
professional responsibilities in tax practice, returns, statutes
of limitations, interest, civil penalties, audits and administrative
appeals, assessments, refunds, litigation forums, IRS investigatory
powers, and collection procedures. Two credit hours.
Law 428 Taxation of Business Enterprises. This course
examines and compares the federal income tax treatment of
the various forms of business enterprises and their owners.
We begin with the traditional corporation, which is treated
as a taxpayer separate from its owners. Because of the important
changes made by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, we devote the
second half of the course to the "conduit" business
vehiclesBpartnerships, S corporations, and limited liability
companies. Topics covered include: organizing and setting
up the capital structure of the entity; how operations are
taxed; transactions between the entity and its owners; taxable
or tax-deferred sales or termination of the entity, and "exit
strategies" for the owners; and the choice of entity
for various business purposes. Four credit hours.
Law 234 Taxation of Investments. This course covers
the tax treatment of personal and business investment decisions.
We will discuss a variety of assets, including stocks, bonds,
mutual funds, annuities and life insurance, commodities, and
financial derivatives (options, futures contracts, and swaps).
Different tax rules for similar economic activities and assets
influence how you and your potential clients might use these
assets for routine saving, planning for retirement, executive
compensation, saving for education, family wealth transfer,
trading and business hedging. Note: This course is designed
for generalists, although Personal Income Tax is a prerequisite;
if you are considering a business law practice and do not
want to take both this course and Taxation of Business Enterprises,
I recommend that you take Taxation of Business Enterprises.
Three credit hours.
Law 203 Telecommunications Law and Policy. This course
addresses the legal and regulatory aspects of the telecommunications
environment from the development of the telegraph and wireless
communication at the beginning of the Twentieth Century to
the current implementation of innovative telecommunications
technologies today. It explores the latest technologies in
the legal framework of modern society, but with a practical
view toward the changing business landscapes and the nexus
between the law and regulation of business and the policy
considerations for the citizenry. That telecommunications
technologies do not observe national boundaries provides opportunities
to explore some of the policy issues in the international
context. Three credit hours.
Law 416 Trademarks and Unfair Competition. This course
covers the creation, maintenance, and enforcement of trademark
rights, as well as related forms of protection under principles
of unfair competition law. The course includes an examination
of the public policies and economic considerations underlying
trademark law, as well as all the basic issues (such as the
prerequisites to trademark protection, the registration process,
the grounds for excluding signs from protection or registration,
the scope of trademark rights, restraining the distribution
of imitation and counterfeit goods, and remedies available
in trademark litigation). The course will also cover protection
available under the general rubric of unfair competition law
(including prohibitions on false advertising), as well as
publicity rights afforded by state laws. In addition to these
basic issues, the course will address issues of current interest,
such as: protection of non-traditional subject matter such
as product designs or colors; conflicts between trademark
protection of non-traditional subject matter and the copyright
or patent laws; protection of trademark rights against dilution,
and the conflicts with free expression that this and other
protection might precipitate; licensing of trademark rights;
and reconciling the rights of competing users of trademark
terms. Throughout, the course will address the application
of trademark principles in new as well as traditional media,
and will consider the problems raised by online use of trademarks
(in such contexts as metatagging, hyperlinking, sale of keywords,
domain name warehousing, and cybersquatting). Three credit
hours.
Law 246 White Collar Crime. This course focuses on
the federal prosecution of fraud, with a particular focus
on health care fraud, securities fraud, and bank fraud. The
course will also explore civil prosecution of fraud and prosecutorial
discretion in corporate criminal liability. Two credit hours.
Law 398 Workers' Compensation Law. This course will
study the rights and responsibilities of injured employees
and their employers under workers' compensation and occupational
diseases statutes. Third-party actions also are examined.
Two credit hours.
LITIGATION AND PRACTICE SKILLS
Law 575 Alternative Dispute Resolution. This course
provides an introduction to negotiation, mediation, and
arbitration as alternatives to traditional litigation, and
studies the ADR movement in general. The course will combine
lectures and class discussions based upon assigned readings
with a series of increasingly complex simulated exercises,
with the goal of exposing students to the theory and practice
of various ADR techniques. You may not take this course
if you have taken either negotiations or mediation. Two
credit hours.
Law 406 Appellate Advocacy. This is a required course
for new members of the Chicago-Kent Moot Court Honor Society.
The goal of the course is to provide students with advanced
training in appellate litigation, and as such will concentrate
on developing professional skills in brief writing and research,
and oral advocacy. In addition, the course will include an
introduction to various aspects of appellate procedure. Students
will prepare a brief and will be required to participate in
an intramural oral advocacy competition. The Moot Court Honor
Society will choose members for Chicago-Kent's spring interscholastic
competition teams based in large part on students' performance
in this course. Two credit hours.
Law 505 Business Entity Formation and Law 345 Business
Entity Transactions. Business Entity Formation and Business
Entity Transactions are two three-credit business courses
that are offered as part of the Law Offices clinical education
program. Both courses are taught with extensive use of simulation
exercises. Business Entity Formation provides an opportunity
for students to form various types of business entities including
partnerships, limited liability companies and corporations.
In Business Entity Transactions, students implement various
business transactions such as employment and consulting agreements,
shareholder agreements and agreements in connection with the
purchase and sale of a business. In both courses, the students
apply the legal doctrine learned in Business Organizations
and other courses to a series of progressively more sophisticated
simulation exercises and prepare the documents necessary,
in Business Entity Formation, to create and organize the entities;
and in the case of Business Entity transactions, to implement
the various business transactions required by the exercises.
In both courses the students utilize information gathering,
planning, counseling and negotiating skills in the development
of the documents. Each course is three credit hours.
Law 521 Environmental Law Clinic. The Environmental
Law Clinic will help students develop their lawyering skills
by giving them the opportunity to represent individuals and
community organizations with environmental concerns. Students
will interview clients, represent clients in meetings with
corporations and government officials, and represent clients
in court. Cases range from assisting an individual who discovers
she has lead paint in her home to helping communities with
problems arising from active facilities, abandoned sites,
and proposed facilities. The class sessions will provide an
opportunity to observe and practice lawyering skills, develop
an understanding of the key substantive environmental law
areas involved in the clinic's work, and discuss ongoing cases.
Students are required to perform 10 hours a week of fieldwork
for the 3-credit version of the clinic, and 12 hours a week
of fieldwork for the 4-credit version, in addition to the
classroom component. Students are required to perform 5 hours
a week of fieldwork for the 1-credit version. The clinic is
open to 8 students each semester. If a selection process is
necessary, you will be notified regarding the interview process
after you register for the class. There are no course prerequisites
for this clinic. Students must have completed 30 credit hours
to take the Clinic. One, three, or four credit hours.
Law 588 Environmental Law Externship. Students in the
Program in Environmental and Energy Law have the opportunity
to explore environmental opportunities in the public and public
interest sectors. These externships help students develop
their legal research and writing skills and substantive knowledge
of environmental law. Externships are currently available
at several government agencies and public interest groups:
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Office,
the Illinois Attorney General's Office (Environmental Division),
the City of Chicago Law Department (Environmental Unit), the
State's Attorney's office (Environmental Division), the Illinois
Pollution Control Board, the Chicago Legal Clinic, the Lake
Michigan Federation, the Illinois Commerce Commission, and
the Environmental Law and Policy Center for the Midwest. Students
should contact Professor Gross for more information about
enrolling in this externship. Four credit hours.
Law 502-535 In-House Clinical Programs. The eight In-House
Programs of the Law Offices constitute one of the largest
In-House clinical programs in the United States. In six of
the In-House Programs B the Employment Discrimination/Civil
Rights Litigation with some General Practice Clinic, the Criminal
Defense Litigation Clinic, the Health Law Litigation Clinic,
the Mediation and Other ADR Procedures Clinic, the Low Income
Taxpayers Clinic, the Information Technology and Entrepreneurship
Clinic, and the Family Law Clinic B students are given the
option of enrolling for three or four credits. Students who
enroll for four credits put in a minimum of sixteen hours
per week and students who enroll for three credits put in
a minimum of twelve hours per week during the fourteen-week
semester. In the Advice Desk Clinic and the First Defense
Legal Aid Clinic, students enroll for two credits and put
in a minimum of eight hours per week.
Each of the In-House clinical programs provides classroom
as well as field-work instruction to the students enrolled
in that program as part of their weekly hourly requirement.
With permission, students may enroll for a second semester
in each of the In-House programs, with the exception of
the Mediation and Other ADR Procedures Clinic and the First
Defense Legal Aid Clinic. A unique feature of Employment
Discrimination/Civil Rights Litigation with some General
Practice Clinic, the Criminal Defense Litigation Clinic,
the Health Law Litigation Clinic, the Information Technology
and Entrepreneurship Clinic, and the Family Law Clinic is
their fee-generating practice, which enables their student
interns to receive their clinical experience in non-poverty
as well as poverty cases and to have the opportunity to
work in a realistic practice environment.
Students who intern in the Employment Discrimination/Civil
Rights Litigation with some General Practice Clinic work
on employment discrimination disputes and civil rights cases
in the federal and state courts and at administrative agencies;
the work also includes some general civil practice.
Students who intern in the Criminal Defense Litigation
Clinic work on criminal defense matters in the trial and
appellate courts in both the federal and state legal systems.
The program represents clients accused of felonies and misdemeanors
of all types.
Students who intern in the Health Law Litigation Clinic
work on social security/disability matters; Medicare and
Medicaid reimbursement cases; child care/abuse issues and
access to health care matters.
Students who intern in the Mediation and Other ADR Procedures
Clinic engage in training and practice in mediation, arbitration,
and other ADR techniques. They become certified as mediators
and conduct a number of mediations over the course of the
semester. Typical cases include juvenile court cases, criminal
misdemeanor cases, employment discrimination cases, landlord-tenant
disputes, and small claims court disputes. They also assist
the clinical professors in arbitrating cases and drafting
arbitration opinions.
Students who intern in the Low Income Taxpayers Clinic
assist taxpayers with their tax disputes, including collection
matters, audits, appeals and litigation before the Internal
Revenue Service, United States Tax Court, and the United
States District Court.
Students who intern in the Advice Desk Clinic provide interviewing,
counseling and limited representation to indigent defendants
who seek assistance at the Circuit Court of Cook County.
Approximately sixty percent of the cases involve eviction
defense and forty percent involve tort, contract, personal
injury and collection matters. Students are taught interviewing
and counseling techniques and the substantive law needed
to assist these clients. A limited number of students may
enroll for a second semester and provide complete representation
including trial, if necessary, to defendants in Landlord/Tenant
Court who are threatened with eviction.
Student who intern in the Information Technology and Entrepreneurship
Clinic will assist the supervising attorney in providing
start up assistance and other specialized legal services
to small and mid-sized technology companies.
Students who intern in the Family Law Clinic will work
on cases dealing with legal separation, divorce, and child
custody.
Students who intern in the First Defense Legal Aid Clinic
work with an organization that fills the gap in Illinois=
public defender system by providing 24-hour free legal representation
to adults and children in police custody or under police
investigation. The course enables students to see how evidence
is collected and created; how the Chicago Police Department
obtains confessions and questions witnesses; etc. Students
will engage in legislative and community advocacy, and initiate
Section 1983 litigation. Students participating in the course
must be eligible for an Illinois Supreme Court Rule 711
license.
Pre-Trial Litigation for LADR Students Only is open only
to students who are in the Litigation and Alternative Dispute
Resolution (LADR) Certificate Program. A primary goal of
the course is to teach both the mechanics and the theory
of Pre-Trial Litigation, which is the activity in which
civil litigators are engaged for the vast majority of their
lawyering careers. The course also has as its goal to educate
practitioners who will have the capability to solve professional
problems within the indeterminate, real world of the practice
of law. Students will be introduced to the process of developing
professional judgment and making them reflective practitioners
who will have the skills, abilities, and training to attain
success and the highest degree of competence in their professional
lives. In this course students will meet with their Asimulated@
client and interview him/her. Students will conduct both
a legal and factual investigation, which will include research
into the law and the interviewing of potential witnesses.
Students will take part in preparing and filing pleadings,
a discovery plan, written interrogatories, requests for
production of documents, requests to admit facts, and any
discovery-related motions that they deem necessary to fully
prepare their client=s case. Students will also participate
in a simulated deposition. Students will then prepare and
argue a motion for summary judgment. After the defendant=s
motion for summary judgment is denied, students will conduct
a counseling session with their client in preparation for
a simulated negotiation session with opposing counsel. Finally,
the students will take part in the preparation and filing
of a Joint Pre-Trial Order, including a trial brief. The
course will end on the eve of trial with a pre-trial conference
with the judge. The complaint or answer, written discovery
requests, and brief in support of or in opposition to summary
judgment, will take the place of an advanced legal writing
course.
Law 541 Intensive Trial Advocacy 1. This is an intensive
one-week version of Trial Advocacy 1 (see separate description).
The course is offered every August prior to the start of the
Fall semester and every January prior to the start of the
Spring semester. Three credit hours.
Law 560 International Law Moot Court. Preparation of
an appellate brief for the Jessup International Moot Court
Competition. Students must have taken, or be taking concurrently,
the course in International Law. One credit hour.
Law 519 International Rule of Law Externship. The Rule
of Law Externship Program seeks to develop externships in
emerging democracies such as Bosnia, Poland and Macedonia.
Students spend some time prior to the externship familiarizing
themselves with the relevant law of the country in which they
will extern and they then spend two or three weeks in the
country in which the externship placement is situated performing
their assigned tasks. Students receive two externship credits,
graded on a pass/low pass/fail basis. After they return to
Chicago-Kent, students write a scholarly paper on a topic
related to their externship for which they receive graded
credit.
Law 573 Judicial Externship. The Judicial Externship
Program is a four-credit hour program open to second- and
third-year law students with a specified minimum cumulative
grade point average. The program enables students to serve
as judicial externs with participating federal judges in district,
appellate and bankruptcy court. Judicial externs work directly
with the judge and the judge=s law clerks researching, writing
memoranda of law, assisting with the drafting of opinions,
and generally observing and participating in the day-to-day
operation of the court. Students put in a minimum of sixteen
hours per week during the fourteen-week semester. Selection
of an extern is made by the individual judge based upon criteria
established by that judge under the auspices of the law school.
Students must first be accepted into the Judicial Externship
Program before seeking an approved externship placement. Four
credit hours.
Law 503 Justice Web Collaboratory Externship. This
externship provides students the opportunity to explore access
to justice issues, including the use of technology in legal
services, alternative legal services delivery models, e-lawyering,
and pro se litigant assistance. Students work in conjunction
with the Justice Web Collaboratory and its Illinois Technology
Center for Law & the Public Interest (ITC), a statewide
collaboration of legal services providers, whose mission is
to provide low-income individuals with greater access to the
legal system through the use of technology. The externship
allows students to acquire direct client service experience
and to use that experience to assist in the development and
upgrading of innovative web resources for pro se litigants
and the public. Students will split their time between these
two activities and will have the flexibility to choose opportunities
that most appeal to them. Students who have computer and web
design skills will have the ability to utilize those skills.
The direct client service portion of the externship provides
students with experience in assisting self-represented litigants
and/or providing brief legal services to low-income individuals.
Examples of these opportunities include the following: Assisting
pro se litigants at courtBbased help desks; providing legal
advice over telephone hotlines; and negotiating on behalf
of tenants in eviction court. The development and upgrading
of web resources for pro se litigants and the public involves
the following activities: working with expert attorneys selected
from the Illinois legal aid community to build and maintain
the Illinois poverty law web portals (www.itcweb.org); researching,
drafting, and editing of web based legal education materials
and legal forms with instructions for the public; and developing
appropriate user interfaces for web based document assembly.
The externship requires at least 16 hours per week spent on
externship activities. Students can earn additional credit
the following semester by arrangement. Four credit hours.
Law 421 Labor/Employment Law Externship. The Labor/Employment
Law Externship Program is offered through the Labor/Employment
Law Certificate Program. The externship is available to students
enrolled in the Labor/Employment Law Certificate Program during
their last year of law school and is used to satisfy the experiential
learning requirement of the certificate program. The educational
objective of the externship is to provide the student externs
with a well-supervised lawyering experience in labor or employment
law by enabling each of them to extern with a law school-approved
placement. Student externs are placed with a law firm, corporation,
union or governmental agency. Externs spend approximately
fifteen hours per week during the fourteen-week semester at
their designated placements and attend periodic meetings with
the faculty supervisor. Students in the program enroll in
a three-credit field-work course graded on a pass/low pass/fail
basis and a one-credit graded classroom course.
Law 550 Law Review. Preparation of articles and comments
upon current legal and social problems for inclusion in the
Chicago-Kent Law Review. Open only to members of the Board
of Editors and the staff of the Law Review. One credit hour
per semester. (Maximum credit not to exceed five credit hours.)
Law 559 Legal Externship. The Legal Externship Program
is a four-credit hour program open to third-year law students,
and to second-year students by special permission. The externship
student is placed in a private or public, civil or criminal
practice environment. Students put in a minimum of sixteen
hours per week during the fourteen-week semester. Civil law
externs may seek approved placements, under the direction
of designated supervising lawyers, in a variety of civil practice
areas, including taxation, environment and energy, commercial
litigation, health care, medical malpractice, intellectual
property, corporate mergers and acquisitions, and general
corporate law. Criminal law externs work under designated
supervising lawyers at the Offices of the State=s Attorney,
the state Public Defender, the U.S. Attorney, or the Federal
Defender=s office. Students must first be accepted in the
Advanced Externship Program before seeking an approved externship
placement. Four credit hours.
Law 254 Litigation Technology. This course will teach
law students interested in becoming trial lawyers how to integrate
technology into their trial presentations. Students will learn
how to apply principles of persuasion to the creation of courtroom
visuals which they will then present in the trial advocacy
portion of the course. The course will use hypothetical problems
and cases to allow students to develop presentations that
persuade. The course will include computer lab sections, some
lecture, and student participation with instructor critique.
Students will try civil cases and criminal cases. Students
must have completed Trial Advocacy 1 in order to take the
class, and completion of Trial Advocacy 2 will be a definite
advantage. Students should own their own laptop computers
and be prepared to bring them to class every day. The machine
should be Windows-compatible. The class may run longer than
three hours when students try their mock trials. Maximum class
size is 16 students. Three credit hours.
Law 420 Mediation. An exploration of the mediation
process as an alternative to traditional litigation. The course
explores the role of the mediator as well as the role of attorneys
in the mediation process. This is a simulation course in which
students participate in several mediations. Two credit hours.
Law 551 Moot Court Honor Society. Instruction in, and
preparation of, appellate briefs and appellate oral arguments
in intramural and national competition. One credit hour per
semester. (Maximum credit not to exceed five credit hours.)
Law 429 Negotiations. This course examines the negotiation
process engaged in by lawyers. It is intended to increase
a student's understanding of that process and to develop his/her
skills as a negotiator. Experts in various fields discuss
negotiations as they apply in those areas of the law. Students
engage in mock negotiations in a variety of contexts, such
as divorce, real estate, contracts, commercial law, labor
law, and criminal law. Not all instructors cover each of these
areas of substantive law, and different instructors emphasize
different areas of substantive law. Two credit hours.
Law 595 Refugee & Asylum Law Externship. Students
will interview asylum applicants, previously interviewed and
accepted by Heartland alliance=s Midwest Immigrant & Human
Rights Center, to prepare their asylum applications. Each
student will research and write a legal brief in support of
the client=s application for asylum. They will research domestic
and international law as well as country conditions. Each
student will handle at least one asylum case per semester.
Asylum applicants either apply for asylum affirmatively to
the Immigration and Naturalization Service or apply defensively
to the Immigration Court if they are in deportation or removal
proceedings. Students will attend the asylum interview with
their clients and a supervising attorney before the Asylum
Office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Students
who elect to represent an asylum applicant in removal proceedings
will appear before the Immigration Court with their clients
and a supervising attorney. To enroll in the externship, students
must submit their resumes to Professor Gross. Prior immigration
law experience is not required. Fluency in a second language
is helpful although it is not a requirement for the externship.
Three credit hours.
Law 555 Trial Advocacy 1. An introduction to litigation
taught by leading trial attorneys and judges. The course uses
hypothetical cases to teach the student trial preparation,
strategy, and conduct in a courtroom setting. Although the
instructor will demonstrate from time to time, the primary
teaching method is student participation with instructor critique.
Classes often run longer than three hours. Three credit hours.
Law 558 Trial Advocacy 2. An in-depth study and performance
of litigation skills in certain trial settings. The course
is a continuation of Trial Advocacy 1. Classes often run longer
than three hours. Three credit hours.
SEMINARS
(Except where indicated, all seminars are two credit hours.)
Following is a list of seminars that have been offered
recently, although not necessarily every year. Each year
new seminars are introduced and course descriptions for
these are published with registration materials. Seminar
study provides students with an opportunity to work closely
with members of the faculty in their areas of expertise.
Some elective courses are also offered for seminar credit;
where this is the case, it is noted in the registration
materials for the particular semester. Enrollment in all
seminars is limited to fifteen students.
Law 689 Advanced Evidence. This seminar will focus
on the three areas of evidence that matter most in the trial
and appeal of lawsuits, civil and criminal. These areas are:
character, hearsay and confrontation, and expert witnesses.
Class discussion will track the most recent developments in
these areas, focusing on ways to successfully object and respond
to objections at the trial court level. Through the use of
fact situations from reported decisions, we will develop a
realistic and effective approach to evidence law, while exploring
its strengths and weaknesses.
Law 662 Advanced Tax Transactions. This seminar examines
the tax and business planning aspects of mergers and acquisitions,
including taxable and nontaxable transfers of businesses and
real estate. Transactions covered include installment sales,
earn-outs, options, technology transfers, reverse mergers
and like-kind exchanges. Particular attention will be given
to planning whether to use asset sales or stock sales, structuring
financing for acquisitions and techniques for compensating
investors. The seminar will also explore the taxation of partnerships,
S corporations and limited liability companies and their special
application to corporate and real estate acquisitions.
Law 623 Advanced Topics in Business and Corporate Law.
This seminar will explore current issues in securities, business,
and corporate law. Past seminars have covered the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act, shareholder activism and
other aspects of corporate governance, investment banker,
stock analyst, an accountant conflicts of interest, new financial
instruments, and privatization.
Law 604 Biblical and Rabbinic Law: A Comparative Analysis.
If you've ever wanted to know about the legal system of the
Hebrew Bible, as well as the jurisprudential approaches used
by Talmudic and later Rabbinic authorities in interpreting
this ancient text and confronting new problems, then this
is the seminar for you. We will closely examine the relevant
texts and the religious/moral/social/economic/political assumptions
underlying the legal rules in those texts. We will also consider
how those rules were (and are) to be applied and by whom.
The comparative aspects of the seminar will emerge as we address
the ways in which Biblical and Rabbinic law are both similar
to, and vastly different from, American law, particularly
constitutional law and tort law. The seminar has no language
requirement beyond English, since we will be using translated
texts. In addition, this seminar is open to everyone, regardless
of religious belief or non-belief. Your attendance and active
participation in class are essential.
Law 642 Capital Punishment and the Judicial Process.
A review of the constitutional limitations on the death penalty
in America including right to counsel, questions of race and
gender, jury selection, retroactivity, the balance of aggravating
and mitigating circumstances, use of psychiatric experts,
and state and federal habeas corpus proceedings. Federal death
penalty laws and international aspects of capital punishment
will also be explored.
Law 641 Civil RICO. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations Act (RICO) was enacted a generation ago primarily
as a tool for criminal prosecutors to use against organized
crime. Its civil provisions were added to the legislation
as an afterthought and remained largely dormant for a decade.
However, since the early 1980s, civil RICO has become a widely
used B many contend overused B tool in the arsenal of the
sophisticated commercial litigator. Used effectively, civil
RICO=s threat of triple damages, attorney=s fees, and the
stigma of being labeled a Aracketeer@ can bludgeon the opposition
into early settlement of cases that otherwise would linger
in state courts for years. This seminar will examine the history
of civil RICO, and how the federal courts have both facilitated
and circumscribed its vast expansion into general commercial
litigation. An understanding of civil RICO can significantly
affect the analysis a lawyer applies to many commercial/business
cases.
Law 668 Collective Bargaining and Arbitration. This
seminar focuses on the practical aspects of employment law.
In class, students will draft proposals for a labor agreement
and negotiate a labor agreement. The class will also engage
in the following mock arbitrations: an interest arbitration
to determine contract terms, an arbitration concerning discipline,
and a contract interpretation arbitration. Students will prepare
a research paper related to collective bargaining and/or arbitration.
The research papers will be subjects of discussions in class.
Law 648 Constitutional Torts/'1983. This seminar deals
with the important subject of constitutional torts, specifically
42 U.S.C. ' 1983 and Bivens actions, whereby state, local
and federal officials, as well as local governments, may be
held liable in damages when they violate peoples' constitutional
rights. Constitutional torts is a subject that is fascinating
at both a theoretical and practical level. It raises deep
issues of federalism and justice as well as real-world problems
of how to make governments accountable to their citizens without
undermining their effectiveness. Thousands of constitutional
torts cases are filed annually, and they generate considerable
controversy, e.g., Rodney King filed a section 1983 damages
action against Los Angeles and certain of its police officers.
Those who should take this seminar include persons who expect
to do federal litigation of any kind, as well as any students
who hope to clerk for federal or state judges or work for
state and local governments. Not only does the seminar deal
with constitutional law but it also addresses federal courts
issues, damages and injunctive relief and attorney's fees,
among other important subjects.
Law 602 Current Issues in Education Law. This seminar
will focus on some of the most provocative education law topics
of the moment, including First Amendment voucher and school-prayer
issues, Fourth Amendment issues following Columbine, accommodation
and inclusion of children with disabilities (ADA and IDEA),
school funding disparities, and the current state of school
desegregation. In addition, the study of these timely issues
provides valuable insights into the interplay of state and
federal constitutional and statutory law.
Law 624 Current Issues in Environmental Law. This seminar
will address cutting-edge issues in a variety of environmental
law areas. Among the topics that may be addressed are land
use and land transfers, environmental implications of corporate
transactions, facility citing, public participation, environmental
justice, environmental enforcement matters, and Brownfields.
Law 658 Current Issues in Patent Law Seminar. The role
of the US patent system has emerged as a central part of the
United States= economy. But, as technology continues to evolve,
the patent system must also adapt. Business method patents
and patents on human genetic material have provided systemic
challenges to US patent law. Doctrinally, the creation of
the Federal Circuit in 1983 has streamlined much of patent
law but has also resulted in new areas of concern and conflict,
perhaps somewhat muted due to the lack of circuit splits to
identify such issues. This seminar will explore such issues,
including gene patents, business method patents, the intersection
of means-plus-function equivalency and equivalency under the
doctrine of equivalents, and will examine recent and pending
Federal Circuit cases, including the recent invalidation of
the patent on Prozac and the pending en banc decision regarding
prosecution history estoppel.
Law 677 Feminist Theories of the Workplace. This seminar
explores feminist perspectives on the impact of law and legal
norms on the economic status of women as workers, both within
and outside of the home. Emphasizing historical as well as
contemporary concerns, the course integrates theoretical analyses,
doctrinal developments, and practical applications. Readings
are drawn from a variety of sources, both legal and nonlegal.
Substantive topics include sexual harassment, comparable worth,
homework and paid household labor, child care and pregnancy,
affirmative action, and emerging "workfare" policies.
Law 664 First Amendment: Freedom of Speech and of the Press.
This seminar will focus on fundamental topics in the free
speech and free press area, including subversive advocacy,
defamation, privacy, obscenity, pornography, commercial speech,
prior restraint and the public forum doctrine. Students will
receive a thorough grounding in First Amendment theory and
doctrine so that they are equipped to write intelligently
about their paper topics. Class participation is essential.
Please note: this seminar is not open to students who have
taken Professor Nahmod's three-hour First Amendment course
because it will cover much of the same material on free speech
and free press.
Law 615 First Amendment Theory. This seminar will explore
the history and theory of the First Amendment freedom of speech
and press. After examining some of the leading theoriesBwhich
view free expression as essential to individual self-fulfillment,
democratic self-government, and the search of truthBwe will
debate how the First Amendment should apply to a variety of
contemporary issues, including flagburning, pornography, and
hate speech.
Law 618 Government Enforcement of Environmental Laws. This
seminar will give you an understanding of how local, state,
and federal governments enforce violations of environmental
laws. It will also give you insight into how these levels
of government interact in the enforcement of these cases.
You will learn how a case proceeds from the time of its discovery,
to the investigation, to the decision to proceed administratively,
civilly, criminally, or not at all. You will work through
case studies of actual air, land and water pollution violations
from their discovery through their prosecution.
Law 675 International Criminal Law. This seminar explores
three principal areas: (1) international procedural mechanisms
for enforcing national criminal laws (such as the extradition
process and Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties); (2) substantive
international criminal laws (such as war crimes, crimes against
peace, and crimes against humanity); and (3) international
criminal law issues that arise in doing business abroad (such
as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act). Particular attention
will be given to international criminal law issues arising
out of the Bosnian war (including the UN's establishing a
war crimes tribunal). An introductory course in international
law is strongly recommended as a prerequisite.
Law 657 International Environmental Law. Many resource-use
issues transcend national boundaries. Some are recognized
as common issues such as global warming and ozone depletion
and others are discrete transboundary problems such as hazardous
materials spills in international waterways. Still other problems
such as rain forest depletion are both local and global problems.
The seminar explores the international dimensions of environmentalism.
Topics include: existing efforts of the international community
to define a common set of environmental standards by which
individual acts of sovereign nations can be judged, international
law principles of transboundary liability, international environmental
agreements, bilateral environmental agreements and indirect
ways to induce individual nations to act in an environmentally
responsible manner.
Law 686 International Human Rights. The seminar involves
both a definition of human rights as well as enforcement procedures
for the implementation of human rights. The historical and
philosophical bases of human rights are examined starting
with the works of various thinkers from the diverse schools,
particularly natural law, positivism, Marxism and the sociological
school. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the
later international covenants are looked at in terms of the
influences of the various schools. The seminar addresses the
question of whether there is agreement as to fundamental human
rights. Recent developments and tensions in the field of human
rights particularly since the increased membership of countries
from the "third world" and socialist bloc countries
are investigated. This is highlighted by focusing on the later
two covenants of the United Nations, particularly the Covenant
on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, which enlarges the
scope of human rights to include welfare, cultural, and economic
rights. Finally, the seminar focuses on the contribution of
international and non-governmental organizations in the protection
and implementation of human rights.
Law 647 Law and Economics. This seminar will explore
the relationship between micro-economic theory and legal rules.
Students will discuss the role of economic theory in the development
of legal doctrine and critically examine whether courts are
correctly applying economic theory. The course will examine
how the study of economics has affected all areas of law,
including contracts, torts, and criminal law. Students will
also discuss the role of economic theory in lawyering, such
as settlement negotiations. A familiarity with microeconomics
is very useful for the class but is not required.
Law 646 Legal Rights of Children. This seminar examines
the increasing state intervention in family decision-making
with regard to children. Among the topics included are: neglect,
child abuse, dependency, child custody problems resulting
from the dissolution of marriage, the rights of putative fathers
to custody of children, adoption of children, guardianships,
and children's rights in the mental health commitment process.
Law 635 Philosophy of the Criminal Justice System.
What is law? The discussion will contrast the points of view
of the legal positivists, the American realists, and natural
law adherents. The focus will include statutes passed during
the Hitler era in Germany, some civil rights cases, and civil
disobedience cases during the Vietnam war, with references
to Aquinas, Aristotle, Martin Luther King, H.L.A. Hart, Fuller,
Rawls, etc. What is justice? The focus here will be on the
death penalty with references to United States Supreme Court
cases attempting to define justice in the criminal area. This
seminar will also address decision-making in the criminal
area B what legal reasoning models are used.
Law 660 Privacy Rights in Employment. This seminar
focuses on the emergence in employment law of matters affecting
the privacy rights of the individual employee in the private
sector. Topics addressed include drug and alcohol testing,
defamation, the tort of invasion of privacy (and its various
forms), confidentiality of employee communications, including
e-mail, employer rights of search and seizure, and employee
surveillance and monitoring. Legislative developments and
case law in the area will be the subject of discussion in
each class.
Law 656 Public Sector Employees. This seminar will
examine the constitutional, common law, and statutory issues
arising in labor relations and collective bargaining between
governmental units and public employees and their unions.
Particular emphasis will be placed on the essential differences
between labor relations and collective bargaining in government
and that same process in the private sector. Seminar participants
will be expected to write a major research paper on those
differences, exploring whether they are substantial enough
to warrant the adoption of private sector labor law concepts,
and if so, to what extent.
Law 643 Reproductive Technology. Technologies related
to diminishing or enhancing fertility (such as contraception,
in vitro fertilization, cloning, artificial insemination,
and surrogate motherhood) raise issues that cut across a variety
of legal domains. This seminar will explore the constitutional,
tort, and family law implications of the technologies and
attempt to develop appropriate policies for their use. Enrollment
is limited.
Law 651 Sexual Orientation and the Law. Despite recent
efforts by a few states and localities to protect gay men
and lesbians from discrimination or to recognize domestic
partner relationships, society's attitude toward homosexuality
continues to be ambivalent. This is particularly true in the
areas of marriage and childrearing, but it is also true in
a number of states where adult consensual same-sex relations
are still illegal, where no protection is provided against
public or private employment discrimination, or where openly
gay teachers are restricted from teaching in the classroom.
This seminar will establish a theoretical framework for approaching
lesbian and gay issues by critically looking at various conceptions
of homosexuality and society=s purported justifications for
affecting behavior. It will then apply this understanding
to the interaction between gays and the criminal justice system;
discrimination in public and private employment; First Amendment
issues posed by gay students and teachers in public schools
and universities; legal problems faced in same-sex relationships;
and child custody and visitation rights, as well as the ability
to become foster and adoptive parents. While not limiting
itself solely to questions of privacy, the seminar will also
challenge the 1986 Supreme Court decision in Bowers V. Hardwick
and argue that the decision should now be overruled.
Law 649 Tax Policy. This seminar addresses the economic,
political and social theory underlying our current system
of federal taxation. Topics covered include: (1) use of the
tax law to implement governmental policy, (2) analysis of
tax rate structure (progressive versus flat tax), (3) taxation
of home ownership and other non-monetary benefits, (4) capital
gains treatment, (5) the proper taxation of the family unit,
(6) the proper taxation of corporations and other business
organizational forms, and (7) the appropriate role of the
tax lawyer as a participant in the federal tax system.
Law 667 Tort Damages and Tort Reform. This seminar
will focus on the rules, policy arguments, empirical data,
legislative restrictions, and constitutional issues regarding
liability for various types of damages in tort law B e.g.,
economic damages, noneconomic damages, punitive damages, caps
on damages, joint and several liability, proportionate several
liability, and the collateral source rule. There likely will
also be discussion of alternative (non-tort) administrative
compensation schemes. Outside speakers may be invited to discuss
some of these issues.
Law 625 World Trade Organization. This seminar will
examine aspects of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and
its roles. The WTO has become a central feature in international
economic relations, requiring states to follow specified rules
and procedures in regulating the flow of trade across their
borders and in structuring their intellectual property laws.
It has also become a symbol of globalization and a target
for those opposed to that process. The seminar will examine
topics such as the following: the WTO as an organization,
its rule-setting and dispute resolution processes, its objectives
and the prospects for attaining them, and criticisms of the
WTO.
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