JD Courses

This seminar will provide a vehicle for exploring "hot topics" in international law, with the specific focus shifting from year to year.

Explores the principles of ecology using an interdisciplinary approach and field-based work. Course work stresses the inventorying of biotic and physical components of a landscape, examining how these components are distributed, and determining what forces drive these patterns. Topics include interpreting the natural and cultural histories of a landscape, biodiversity conservation, and the scientific method, among others.

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This seminar examines legislative and judicial regulation of the political process.  It stresses two main themes: 1) the ways in which Congress and the state legislatures regulate campaigns, elections, and participants in the political process and 2) the ways in which courts can justifiably intervene in that process.

Examines federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, and sexual identity.  In particular, the course examinesTitle VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and identity.

Examines areas of federal and state labor law which regulate the employment relationship and which provide minimum protection outside of collective bargaining.  Major topics considered include wrongful discharge, post-employment liability, employee privacy, genetic and drug testing, and employee welfare and retirement benefits (ERISA).

Examines key issues in American energy policy and searches for ways to ease the strains which that policy puts upon environmental sustainability. The course reviews fundamental facts about our energy demands and sample regulatory orders and legal writings that address many of those elements from the perspective of a legal review. Background readings will include ethical issues of social justice in siting projects and meeting-or limiting-energy demand, the statutory schemes underlying traditional regulation, and an introduction to wholesale electric markets.

Builds on the course Energy Law and Policy in a Carbon-Constrained World by exposing students to the legal, economic, and structural issues involved in energy regulation and energy markets, focusing on electricity. The course examines the evolution, theory and techniques of monopoly regulation; the current processes for rate setting; and the development of  competitive, market-based alternatives. The course exposes students to the latest approaches to managing the electric grid, to renewable energy strategies and procurement, energy efficiency, demand side management and green markets.

The ENRLC is a public interest environmental law firm.  Student clinicians work on behalf of environmental and conservation organizations under the supervision of clinical faculty.  In addition to work on cases, students attend weekly staff meetings and a weekly seminar.

Explores the range of processes that are used to resolve environmental disputes with particular emphasis on consensual processes such as negotiation and mediation.  Instruction will be based on lectures and discussions of the theory of dispute resolution and environmental law and simulations to practice the skills needed to resolve environmental disputes.

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Provides a broad based introduction to insurance law generally, and more specifically to how environmental issues have forced dramatic changes in the insurance industry, as well as how insurance is a fundamental component of many cases with environmental implications. It will cover the nature and purpose of insurance; different types of environmental insurance products; excess and reinsurance; issues affecting insurers, including tort reform, environmental cleanups, and insolvencies; state and federal regulation of insurers in the environmental arena.

An exploration of the types of environmental risks and issues that are commonly confronted in a variety of business-related transactions such as the acquisition of all a company's stock, asset purchases, real estate deals, leases and financings. Special focus on how the environmental issues in transactions are identified and managed in the course of a deal. The unique environmental issues associated with the purchase and redevelopment of contaminated properties or so-called "Brownfield sites" are also covered.

This course examines the issue of environmental justice from an environmental law perspective and from a civil rights law perspective. It explores how environmental justice issues are framed, addressed, and resolved through litigation and mediation in the U.S. and internationally.

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An introduction to the broader categories of protecting human health and the environment  to both assess the successes and failures of environmental protection in the U.S. and gain more detailed substantive knowledge of several key statutes.

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Examines the fundamental principles of federal gift, estate, and generation skipping taxes, including an introduction to basic estate planning techniques.

Examines gratuitous transfers by intestate succession, wills, trusts, and other techniques; execution and revocation of wills; will substitutes; administration of estates; family survivors' rights; the nature of trusts and fiduciary relationships; powers of appointment; and future interests.

Provides a basic introduction to European Union law, with a focus on the foundational treaties, the key institutions and their interrelationships, and important cases decided by the European Court of Justice.  Students will be given an opportunity to attend lectures by leading EU legal scholars at the University of Trento in Italy.  Special fees and conditions may apply. 

Considers the rules governing the admissibility of testimonial, physical, documentary, and demonstrative evidence in trials and other formal legal proceedings.  Topics considered include relevance, prejudice, competency, hearsay, opinion, impeachment, and privilege.

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Examines the ecological, social and ethical consequences of biological impoverishment and considers various legal and policy options to address the phenomenon of climate change.  The course addressses the extent to which laws like the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and some international laws can be used to address both conventional threats to species as well as the  threat of climate change.

Explores the legal and social issues arising from the development of assistive reproductive technologies. This interdisciplinary course is jointly taught by faculty from VLS and Dartmouth Medical School, and provides an opportunity for VLS and DMS students to share their approaches to the issue.