JD Courses

This seminar examines capital punishment as a legal process, using interdisciplinary materials and theory, litigation documents including briefs and recordings of oral arguments, and appellate opinions.  The seminar also employs written narratives, movies, and popular cultural images and artifacts to explore this subject matter. 

Examines CERCLA's broad liability and cost recovery provisions, emergency response and cleanup requirements that extend beyond the usual Superfund sites.  Brownfields, natural resources damages, community involvement, recent Supreme Court decisions and statutory amendments will also be addressed.  The course will examine how parties escape or limit  liability through due diligence, defenses,  pollution prevention, settlement, and cost allocation.

Covers the procedural rules governing civil actions in the state and federal courts, from commencement through appeal, including jurisdiction over parties, joinder of parties and claims, contents of pleadings, pretrial motions and discovery, conduct of trial, post-trial motions, res judicata, collateral estoppel, and conflicts between the state and federal judicial systems.

Using PBS video series "Eyes on the Prize" and companion readings, this course examines the civil rights movement that began in the years before Brown v. Board of Education and continued throughout the 1950's and 1960's.  Provides social, cultural, and historical perspectives on the civil rights movement and the legal developments that grew out of that movement.

This course reviews the various statutory and common law claims being tried in climate litigation, the kinds of remedies sought, and the jurisdictional and evidentiary obstacles that must be overcome.

This seminar explores the ways in which tax systems can effect change in the energy consumption behavior of business, industry, and consumers.  The seminar addresses issues of theory, policy, politics, and law and --while focusing on climate change-- provides students with a framework for understanding how and when to use tax measures to address other environmental problems.

Survey of the law relating to payment systems, with a major focus on the checking system and Articles 3 and 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code and applicable federal regulations. Topics include the laws and rules relating to electronic funds transfers, credit cards, debit cards, notes, letters of credit and similar payment devices. Also included are discussions of suretyship law and various credit enhancement devices. 

Explores how different countries within the Western Legal Tradition understand sources of law, the relationship between codes and cases, and constitutional design, including questions of federalism, judicial review and balance of powers.  The course will study selected aspects of legal systems, focusing on France and Germany, with some discussion of "mixed" common/civil law jurisdictions (e.g. Louisiana, South Africa), as well as some aspects of the European Union.

An overview of the tremendous environmental challenges for the 1.3 billion people in China and the efforts to address them through law and regulation. After an introduction to the political and legal system and cultural background of the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, we will survey the basic regulatory schemes managing air quality, water resources and quality, natural resources, environmental impact assessments, and pending legislation concerning waste management and energy conservation. If there is sufficient interest, we may offer an additional, optional, one-credit session in China immediately following the class, to let students experience firsthand the environmental conditions and lectures and meetings with leading Chinese environmental scholars and activists.

Download 2013 Course Syllabus

Considers the principles used to resolve legal problems when the conflicting laws of two or more jurisdictions might reasonably be applied. The course initially focuses upon the different rules and methodologies used to determine the appropriate choice of law. Constitutional limits on the use of such rules and methodologies are explored in some detail.

A basic course on Constitutional Criminal Procedure, with comprehensive consideration of topics under the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.  Among the topics considered are search and seizure law including probable cause to search and arrest, the warrant requirement and its exceptions, and the exclusionary rule; custodial interrogation, confessions and the privilege against self-incrimination; double jeopardy; the right to counsel and effective assistance of counsel; the death penalty and the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments; lineups and other forms of pretrial identification.

Constitutional Law I:

This course focuses on the historical development of major constitutional doctrines, including the Commerce, Due Process, and Equal Protection Clauses.  The course also studies the process of constitutional decision-making, and explores major techniques of constitutional interpretation. 

Constitutional Law II:

Continues the studies major constitutional doctrines, including the First Amendment, and the processes of constitutional decision-making as well as major techniques of constitutional interpretation. 

Explores the procedural framework governing civil actions to enforce constitutional rights and the actionable elements of the individual rights protected by the Constitution, as well as defenses to constitutional tort liability, including Eleventh Amendment and common law immunities.  Students are required to draft a federal court complaint and to write and orally defend a summary judgment motion brief.

This course examines in detail the requisite elements of a valid contract, while analyzing the effects of contracts on third parties and the impact of outside forces on contracting parties.

A comprehensive introduction to copyright law that examines the historical foundations of copyright and related intellectual property law, U.S. treaty obligations, policies and case law that shape not only the traditional areas of copyright law, but also the often controversial relationship between copyright and technology in the digital age.

Explores legal and financial issues relating to the capital structure and financing of corporations, including various types of securities and the rights and legal relationships among the holders of such securities; and business and legal considerations with respect to dividends and distributions to shareholders.  This course also considers the planning, structure and implementation in connection with mergers and acquisitions, and the role of the business lawyer in corporate transactions. 

This course focuses on the foundation of our system of substantive criminal law, with emphasis upon mental state, responsibility, justification and excuse, inchoate crimes, and liability for the conduct of another.

The course covers a broad range of topics in constitutional criminal procedure law and criminal practice, including topics under the 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th amendments to the U.S. Constitution, federal criminal statutes, and Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The course is designed to provide both a basic grounding in the criminal procedure jurisprudence relevant for the bar exam and an understanding of the application of this jurisprudence to criminal practice.

A basic course on Constitutional Criminal Procedure, with comprehensive consideration of topics under the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.  Among the topics considered are search and seizure law including probable cause to search and arrest, the warrant requirement and its exceptions, and the exclusionary rule; custodial interrogation, confessions and the privilege against self-incrimination; double jeopardy; the right to counsel and effective assistance of counsel; the death penalty and the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments; lineups and other forms of pretrial identification.

Interdisciplinary seminar that combines the study of cultural ecology with legal anthropology. The course examines the historical roots of the current environmental crisis in the development of agriculture, urbanization and industrialization. The course focuses on the political and cultural challenges of climate change in other historical periods and the challenges that global warming presents in different parts of the world.