Courses Catalog
sort by course number617 - Advanced Family Law: A Case Study (2 hours)
An in-depth analysis of the legal issues of family relationships, with special emphasis on the complex family law issues, current trends and topics in family law, and the intersection of family law issues with other fields of practice.
642 - Animal Law (2 hours)
A survey of legal, ethical, and policy issues regarding non-human animals. Topics include anti-cruelty laws; medical and scientific research; liability for injuries to, or caused by, animals; hunting laws; and standing for animals. Students will write a paper in this course. Offered on a periodic basis.
538 - Antitrust (2 hours)*
An overview of federal antitrust law or competition law, including laws related to agreements restraining trade (especially agreements between competitors), monopolization and attempted monopolization, unfair trade practices, and merger policy and practice. These topics are relevant to all businesses and their lawyers. The course focuses on learning the fundamentals and a practical approach for counseling clients in this area.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
594 - Bioethics (2 hours)
In this course, students will experience how bioethics principles affect decision-making and strategy in the litigation and legislative processes. Students will act as a court, ethics board, governmental, or administrative agency and participate in simulations or write opinions and legislation addressing emerging legal issues created by society's advancement in medicine and technology, including genetics, medical experimentation and research, reproductive rights and end of life decisions.
657 - Biotechnology Law and Policy (2 hours)
Biotechnology is a major growth industry and both large and boutique law firms are establishing biotech or “life sciences” practice groups. This course surveys a range of legal topics in this field, such as: FDA regulation of drugs and devices, regulation of medical research, products liability, insurance coverage of pharmaceuticals, intellectual property, and genetics. Offered on a periodic basis.
662 - Broker-Dealer Regulation (2 hours)
The purpose of this course is to survey the framework and processes by which broker dealers, who are central participants in the American securities industry, are regulated. Effective and consistent regulation affects the global economy, helping to determine whether people enjoy any financial stability in their everyday lives.
626 - Church, Law, and Ethics (2 hours)
This course intends to acquaint students with the basic principles of private business law that typically apply fairly equally to for-profit and non-for-profit enterprises, including churches. An equal purpose is to expose and examine how churches are treated differently – either more or less demandingly. It is here -- at the points of legal difference -- that we can see how society truly values religion in relation to other interests that compete for the attention, primacy, and recourses of people and government.
643 - Civil Rights Remedies (2 hours)*
Civil Rights Remedies examines ways to redress ongoing inequities based on race, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation. The class in past years has analyzed inequalities in schools, housing, voting, immigration, and criminal justice, but exact topics are determined by current students. Readings will include edited Supreme Court opinions, but most of the readings will be excerpts from books and articles. Grades are based on class participation and a paper (there is a long-paper option for those wishing to satisfy the LAWR IV requirement; students can otherwise choose the option of a short paper and a group project).
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
633 - Classical Rhetoric for Lawyers: The Art of Persuasion (2 hours)
Classical rhetoric is the art of proper persuasion and therefore central not only to the practice of law but to social life itself. Litigation, negotiation, public speaking as well as interactions with clients, colleagues, teachers, students, government, and all others encountered in daily life require proper and effective rhetoric. Such rhetoric is much more substantive than mere style. Its basic principles were refined by the ancient Greeks and Romans who understood its critical role in good citizenship, good government and in the good life. This course will study these basic principles of persuasion and their application in legal arguments, court decisions, famous speeches and other materials and will practice putting these principles into application with the hope of not only improving legal skills but life skills as well. Offered on a periodic basis.
590 - Comparative Constitutional Law (3 hours)
This course will explore questions central to public law issues in the United States and across the world. It will consider the purposes for which constitutions are established, and the processes of constitution-making and constitutional change. Students will write a paper contrasting the constitutional law on a particular topic of a given country with the comparable law in the United States. Weekly films will explore the culture of the countries selected by the students for their papers.
465 - Compliance and Risk Management (2 hours)
The Compliance and Risk Management course will explore a range of topics within the corporate compliance framework. The goal is to provide a focus on the critical components of corporations that rely on compliance and discuss how that translates into opportunities for lawyers. Specifically, the course will focus on the governance structure of compliance and risk management as well as best practices. This will include how programs are operated, monitored, and tested while leveraging case studies and guest speakers. Federal rules will also be utilized to understand the practical application of compliance within organizations so as to enable students to understand the role compliance plays in the overall success and sustainability of an organization.
586 - Copyrights (2 hours)*
This course focuses on the basics of copyright law, including: the subject matter of copyright; how copyright is secured and maintained; the scope of protection; and the duration, renewal and transfer of rights. It also explores enforcement of copyright, the impact of new technologies, and issues relating to access and use of copyrightable subject matter. This course may be used to satisfy the LAWR IV requirement.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
619 - Corporate Finance (2 hours)
A study of the allowable changes in a corporation's financial structure with concentration on the recapitalization of solvent corporations, reorganization of insolvent corporations, and concepts of valuation. This course will emphasize the role that lawyers play in structuring and implementing financial transactions for corporations.
423 - Corporate Governance Law Policy and Theory (2 hours)
This course studies the role of the corporation in society, state and federal corporate law, boards of directors and senior executives, executive pay, corporate takeovers, shareholder voice, corporate compliance, corporate culture, corporate lawyers and other "gatekeepers," corporations and politics, and comparative corporate governance. The course prepares students whose careers will require interaction with business interests and corporate clients.
434 - Critical Race Theory (2 hours)
This seminar explores the centrality of race as a foundational feature of American law. The study is cross-racial, comparative, and proactive, analyzing the converging and diverging experiences of indigenous peoples: Latinas/Latinos, African Americans, and Asian Pacific Americans, as well as different strategies for social justice.
577 - Cross-Border Business Transactions (3 hours)*
A study of a wide range of international transactions, including marketing of goods and services; license or transfer of technology; distribution and franchising; joint ventures; finance and governmental regulation. Various multi-lateral initiatives, such as the Vienna Convention on Contracts for the Sale of Goods, will be discussed. Discussion and analysis of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
* This course may be offered for 2 hours during some years.
452 - Cyber Terrorism, Information Warfare and Countermeasures (2 hours)
This course is intended to introduce the student to the new frontier of digital warfare, either standing alone or accompanied by military operations. The course will consider emerging issues such as classification of cyber-attacks as "force" or as terrorism so as to bring this new form of aggression within the ambit of the existing legal architecture. It will also introduce the student in general terms to the means and methods of digital warfare, defensive and offensive countermeasures, as well as, the current and emerging policies of the US toward hostile cyber operations. If time permits, the course may also include comparative responses other selected countries such as Britain and France.
492 - Democracy: History, Function, Achievements, and Failures (3 hours)
The course will deal with democratic principles, structures and problems including overthrow of democratic regimes fully or in part.
591 - Disability Law (2 hours)
A study of the federal laws regarding the rights of the disabled in housing, employment, education, and federal benefit programs such as Medicaid. We will also touch upon the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
565 - Dispute Resolution (3 hours)
A study of traditional and alternative methods of resolving disputes; use of techniques such as arbitration and mediation will be studied. Negotiation theory and tactics will also be explored. Students who have taken Mediation in the past or who are currently enrolled in or who plan to take Mediation may not register for Dispute Resolution.
448 - Diversity and Discrimination (3 hours)*
From eugenics to sex stereotyping, this writing and skills seminar explores diversity and discrimination through film, media, case law, and law review articles. Topics of coverage include intra-racial use of racial slurs, implicit bias, sex discrimination, sexual harassment, appearance policies, discrimination in coeducation, sex stereotypes, stereotype threat, coping strategies, transgender issues, eugenics, genetic discrimination, accessibility issues, the impact of social media, and other hot topic issues. Students will learn the doctrine and then utilize what they know in a series of short writing exercises and skill simulations. For example, students will learn about the Americans with Disabilities Act and then apply what they know to conduct a mock accessibility audit to determine whether a person with a disability would have full and equal enjoyment of the facility. At the conclusion of the course, students will draft a paper exploring the overarching question of what equality means.
* This course may be offered for 2 hours during some years.
552 - Education Law (2 hours)
In this course you will be exposed to major court decisions that have shaped elementary and secondary education in the US. Although we will at times discuss the legal authority and legal problems faced by private schools and institutions of higher education, the emphasis of the course is K-12 public and charter schools and the unique challenges faced by these governmental entities. A broad range of education law topics will be covered at a very quick pace, including: compulsory education; the establishment clause; local board control; the use of school facilities; desegregation; gender equality; student rights; special education; and the rights of public employees.
650 - Election Law: Gerrymanders and Related Topics (2 hours)*
This course will focus on selected topics related to the legal structure of the political process in the United States. Topics covered will typically include the right to participate in the political process, reapportionment, redistricting, racial and political gerrymandering, the role of political parties, money and politics, legal issues in election administration, and remedies for defective elections. Offered on a periodic basis.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
562 - Employment Law: Selected Topics (2 hours)
Employment Law: Selected Topics is a two-credit seminar-style course in which students study recent developments in key areas of employment law including, but not limited to, discrimination; harassment; retaliation; accommodation; wages and hours; safety and health; labor law; and common-law claims. The course often focuses on circuit splits and recent agency rulings. Each student must write a research paper and make a class presentation on the research.
572 - European Union Law (2 hours)
A survey of the significant laws and policies of the European Community, including the legal and institutional framework, the internal market, competition and environmental laws and an overview of external relations and commercial policy.
352 - FDA Law: Doctrine, Policy, and Practice (3 hours)
This course will introduce students to basic principles of food and drug law and examine how significant doctrines of constitutional, administrative, and criminal law have been elaborated and applied in the food and drug context. The United States Food and Drug Administration has a pervasive role in American society: the agency reports that it regulates products accounting for 20 cents of every dollar spent by consumers. Infused by the instructor's experience of nearly 30 years of legal practice in the field, in both government and industry, the course will also explore the complex interplay of legal, ethical, policy, scientific/medical, and political considerations that underlie FDA’s regulatory authority, its policy-making, and its enforcement activity. "Case studies" will predominate in the curriculum. They are intended to bring the material “to life” – to illustrate the practical experience of lawyers, and FDA's policy and enforcement choices, in the crucible of managing highly challenging regulatory issues.
437 - Food Law and Policy (2 hours)
This course explores the many facets of law and policy affecting food production and consumption. Topics covered include food safety regulation, food labeling and misbranding litigation, seed patenting and GMOS, food access and nutrition assistance, and food justice. The course is cross-listed in the Divinity School and in the Graduate Programs in Sustainability.
584 - Freedom of Religion Under the Constitution (2 hours)*
This course concerns the First Amendment’s two Religion Clauses: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….” These sixteen words are the most disputed and litigated of constitutional issues. The Supreme Court has not read the Religion Clauses literally. The Court has, as Prof. Steven Gey has written, “vacillated between a moderately separationist interpretation of the Religion Clauses and a more lenient approach that permits—sometimes requires—government action accommodating religious belief and practice.
Of course the meaning of a constitutional provision is not coterminous with what the Supreme Court says the provision means. Lawyers are citizens and advocates, and frequently lawyers also are judges and public policymakers. Consequently, any meaningful discussion of the meaning of constitutional norms cannot rely only on what courts have said the Constitution means. Doctrines change, and lawyers are often the catalysts for those changes. This course is designed to examine a discrete interpretive issue: What should the Religion Clauses—i.e., what should the free exercise and anti-establishment norms of the First Amendment—mean in our modern, secular, religiously pluralistic democracy? In that respect, our discussion will often operate outside of the realm of court decision.
We will begin with a look at the major Religion Clauses cases. Some of these you may have covered in Constitutional Law; many you will not have seen before. From there we will consider the (more interesting, perhaps) question of the role private religious belief should play in public policymaking. Specifically, we will consider:
What is the proper role of religious conviction in the policy-making of the liberal state? In essence, this question is: What do the religion clauses of the 1st Amendment mean in contemporary American society, and—specifically to each student—what should they mean?
This question will guide us for the rest of the course.
Once each student has come to her/his position as to this core question, we will consider the following, particularly with regard to the part religious morality has played in shaping the policy of each question:
Capital Punishment
Abortion
Physician-assisted Suicide
Same-Sex Marriage
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
588 - Freedom of Speech, Press and Petition: Selected Topics (2 hours)*
The course will include problems and writing assignments to help students learn new areas (ones we were unable to cover in constitutional law I) and to explore familiar areas in greater depth. Topics that may be covered will include the creation of the media in the Founding Era, a couple of historic controversies as a lens to understand free expression issues, is there a First Amendment freedom of expression right to receive, in the privacy of one's home, sexually oriented materials that meet the obscenity test (e.g., over the computer, cable, etc.), first amendment rights of government employees, free expression and secrecy orders in civil cases, political gerrymanders and the First Amendment, the tension between freedom of expression and other interests in student free speech rights in public schools, and more. Students will be expected to write periodic 3-5 page papers or reflections on the reading or on problems.
To satisfy the LAWR IV requirement, students will need to do a separate paper (topic approved) and comply with other requirements. This will be in addition to the weekly or biweekly assignments.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
647 - Gender and the Law (2 hours)
This course will examine how the law affects women’s lives in a number of different contexts. The class will consider a number of different areas, including but not limited to employment, education, family responsibilities, violence against women, and other issues affecting women’s bodies, including pornography and prostitution. The class will also review a number of feminist legal theories and issues relating to the intersection of gender with race and class. Offered on a periodic basis.
623 - Great Jurists Seminar (3 hours)
Students will write a biography of a justice of the Supreme Court. The first part of the course will examine the nature of history; the second part will consist of studying the justices students have selected. Weekly films will explore the eras of American history the justices represent.
525 - Health Care Law and Policy (3 hours)*
This course introduces students to the structure, financing and regulation of the health care system and proposals for its reform. Legal topics include Medicare, medical staff disputes, health care antitrust, tax exemption, corporate organization, and insurance regulation.
* This course may be offered for 2 hours during some years.
468 - Human Reproduction and the Law (2 hours)
The purpose of this class is to introduce students to the legal and policy issues currently implicated in human reproduction and give them the frameworks necessary to analyze the novel situations that will undoubtedly arise as family structures and reproductive technology evolve. The class will provide both an overview of the current legal landscape, as well as challenge students to think about what the law governing reproduction should be as a normative matter. While sometimes using international law as a point of comparison, the course will focus primarily on US law and policy.
491 - Immigration Policy [Criminal Law] (2 hours)
Overview: This course will look at the history and development of the relationship between criminal law and immigration law, as well as current trends and hot topics.
Topics: The creation and expansion of the removal of noncitizens convicted of crimes; criminalization of immigration violations; recent developments in enforcement; the genesis of the categorical and modified categorical approach in federal criminal law and its application to immigration law; sources of law and research methods; statutory interpretation; crimes involving moral turpitude; immigration reform.
Assessment: Each student will research and write a unique appellate brief based upon real-life fact-patterns, aimed at either the Board of Immigration Appeals or a federal circuit court of appeals. Interim writing goals and exercises will be set. Attendance and participation in class discussions will count for part of the grade.
656 - International Environmental Law (2 hours)*
This seminar will examine and assess the legal regimes nations have developed to address international and global environmental problems, including climate change, ozone depletion, marine pollution, and the extinction of species.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
502 - Jurisprudence (3 hours)
"This seminar explores the foundational beliefs that define our legal system. We will study how leading thinkers have conceived of the law during the Classical Era, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and Modern Times. This class will challenge you to think about thinking."
519 - Law, Literature, and Culture (3 hours)*
The course asks students to reflect on justice by examining ethical and moral issues faced by characters, including lawyers, in literature and film. Study of classic works in law and literature curriculum as well as of less often studied works and several films will give students new tools of analysis and moral perspective.
* This course may be offered for 2 hours during some years.
308 - Legal Project Management (1 hour)
Legal project management (“LPM”) is a practice management method designed to plan, budget, execute, monitor and control a legal engagement, typically involving a litigated or transactional matter. LPM methodologies provide predictable cost while maintaining profitability. LPM as a discipline focuses on developing the tools and skills to proactively scope, plan, budget, execute, evaluate, and communicate about a given undertaking, whether it be litigation or a business transaction.
This course will expose students to LPM, to enable students to achieve certain identified learning concepts. Various texts and materials will be used, including leading LPM applications. We will discuss readings weekly, as well as engage both in and outside of the classroom with case studies and assignments designed to simulate real-practice, LPM tasks.
427 - Legal Writing for Judicial Chambers LAWR III (2 hours)
This course is an intensive writing course that simulates the work of a judicial clerk. Students research, draft, and edit a bench memo, a majority and dissenting opinion in a state appeal, and an order in a federal trial court case. Students also observe an oral argument. Guest speakers (judges and law clerks) address students several times during the semester.
553 - Litigation Drafting LAWR III (2 hours)*
Legal drafting in the litigation setting. Students will be required to draft and evaluate typical litigation documents. This course satisfies the Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research III requirement. Students can take both Litigation Drafting and Pre-trial Practice and Procedure.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
470 - Lobbying Theory and Practice (2 hours)*
Students who complete the course will be exposed to the role of the lawyer lobbyist in the shaping of state and federal public policy. The course is designed to provide students with the historical and legal background of legislative advocacy. Students will gain the practical skills necessary to succeed in the legislative advocacy field. The goals of this course are for the students to understand how to effectively advocate
on behalf of a cause, company or non-profit entity, review laws and regulations affecting lobbying and lobbyists, and comprehend the competitive landscape of public policy. It is the goal of this course to effectively train students in all the essential ideas necessary to become an influential advocate before a state legislature or the United States Congress.
* This course may be offered for 1 hour during some years.
521 - Mass Media Law (2 hours)
This class examines the role of the media and communications in our society and deals with various bodies of law that regulate and impact the media and communications industries, including constitutional law, state tort law, federal and state statutes, and administrative regulations. Subject matter is presented in a multi-media environment.
561 - Mergers and Acquisitions (2 hours)
An in-depth analysis of federal and state regulation of corporate takeovers to include acquisition techniques, legal protection afforded shareholders and others, federal tender offer and disclosure rules, state corporate fiduciary law and anti-takeover statutes. Prerequisite: Business Organizations
566 - National Security and Counterterrorism Law (3 hours)*
This course introduces the student to the rapidly evolving field of national security and counterterrorism/homeland security law, including law enforcement/intelligence operations to prevent acts of terrorism; measures to apprehend, detain and prosecute such perpetrators in civilian and military tribunals. If time permits, the course will also discuss the legal and policy approaches to terrorism/terrorist organizations in other countries such as the UK and Israel among others.
* This course may be offered for 2 hours during some years.
463 - Patent Prosecution Seminar (2 hours)
The seminar focuses on practical application of patent law concepts in preparing and prosecuting patent applications. The course examines patent statutes and United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rules governing patent prosecution as well as court decisions impacting and interpreting patents. In addition to in-class discussions, students will practice writing claims, draft a patent application, a response to an office action, perform a patentability search, and prepare letters to clients relating to patent practice questions.
447 - Perspectives on Law Enforcement: Policing and Prosecutorial Accountability (3 hours)*
This seminar examines the responsibilities and conduct of both prosecutors and law-enforcement officers in the United States. We will cover topics including the role and responsibilities of prosecutors and police officers, various models of policing, forms of prosecutorial and police misconduct, legal claims that victims of such misconduct might bring against prosecutors and police officers, as well as defenses to those claims. We will discuss the merits and disadvantages of discretion in the criminal justice system and the value of mechanisms to constrain that discretion. We will think critically about various models used to hold prosecutors and police officers accountable for their conduct.
* This course may be offered for 2 hours during some years.
507 - Poverty Law (3 hours)*
This course will broadly study American poverty, poverty programs and constitutional, federal, state and municipal laws that directly affect the poor. Students will survey wealth disparities in the U.S. through demographic data relating to income, educational attainment, housing, access to medical care and voting.
* This course may be offered for 2 hours during some years.
460 - Privacy Law (2 hours)*
This course will examine the current legal, political, social and technological aspects of U.S. privacy law. Topics will include: traditional privacy theory and torts; contracts; commercial and financial privacy; medical privacy; cyberlaw privacy (i.e., metadata, cookies, cybersecurity, revenge pornography); governmental privacy (i.e., surveillance, freedom of information, leakers like Edward Snowden); workplace privacy (i.e., algorithmic decision-making, trade secrecy); and international developments (i.e., the European Data Protection Directive, "right to be forgotten").
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
578 - Race and the Law (2-3 hours)*
This seminar is designed to examine concepts of race and racism and how they intersect historically and currently with law in the United States. It is intended to equip students to think critically about legal policy, practice and analysis and how those areas impact race-related concerns. Typical topics have included concepts of race; race and constitutional interpretation; education; desegregation; and voting rights. The grade is based on a final paper that can be used to satisfy the LAWR IV requirement; class attendance and participation in class discussion; and typically, three to five ungraded but required short reflection papers.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
641 - Regulatory Law and Policy (3 hours)
This course, taught as a seminar, examines the advocacy skills that lawyers used in regulatory practice to persuade agencies to adopt actions that their clients favor. Any student who thinks she or he might practice in front of a regulatory agency should benefit from the course. There is no casebook to buy. All readings are posted on Sakai.
480 - Selected Topics in Health Law LAWR III (2 hours)
This writing-intensive course focuses on several hot topics in health law, including public health issues, physician employment contracts, regenerative medicine and the right to try, and telemedicine. The content units will be taught through a series of simulations and case files. The course will meet for once a week for a 2-hour class, during the spring semester. While learning substantive health care law, the students will also draft and/or critique both transactional and litigation-based documents.
7525 - Selected Topics in Health Law [Summer Abroad 2019 - London] (3 hours)
This course presupposes no specific legal, medical, or scientific knowledge and has no prerequisite. The course will introduce selected topics in the area of health law in a comparative manner that will complement other health law courses taught at the law school. The course will also satisfy the requirement for LAWR III or may be used to satisfy LAWR IV. As such, there will be no final exam. Instead, the course will require a couple of short drafting or critiquing assignments prepared in London and a final paper due in late August or early September. The final paper will be a scholarly paper exploring a pre-approved health law topic. The student will, of course, receive guidance in drafting the paper.
This course will explore health care practices and systems in both developed and developing countries. For the developed countries, we will examine different types of health care systems and how they compare to the U.S. with respect to their structure, research and development of new drugs and biologics, public health systems, and overall effectiveness. For developing countries, we will look at the devastating effect of poverty on health, as well as how clinical research trials that originate in developed nations may exploit third-world populations. The students will have a few short drafting or critiquing assignments during the course, and a final paper.
7592 - Selected Topics in Human Rights Law [Summer Abroad 2019 - Venice] (3 hours)
This course presupposes no specific legal knowledge and has no prerequisite. The course will introduce broad issues in the area of human rights and will complement the International Human Rights course taught by Professor Knox. The course will also satisfy the requirement for LAWR III or may be used to satisfy LAWR IV. As such, there will be no final exam. Instead, the course will require a couple of brief reflection papers prepared in Venice and a final paper due in late August or early September. The final paper, if the student desires to satisfy the LAWR III requirement, will be a draft of a human rights claim filed at the European Court of Human Rights. The student will, of course, receive the necessary guidance to draft the claim.
The course will begin with a reading of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” to locate early modern ideas of human integrity and community. We will then study the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the role of Eleanor Roosevelt in bringing the document to signature. We will discuss the European Convention on Human Rights (1950) and several cases decided by the Strasbourg court. We will examine the Nuremberg trials and the birth of the International Criminal Court. Finally, we will look closely at the contemporary human rights issues presented by the refugee and migrant experiences in Europe, and especially in Italy. Since the Venice Biennale will be open while we are in Venice, we will visit the various pavilions, see the ancillary exhibits, and relate our visits to contemporary human rights issues. The reflection papers will focus on the experience of art and how art represents and problematizes human rights.
651 - Sexual Identity and the Law (2 hours)
This class explores a wide variety of issues related to sexual identity and sexual orientation, particularly as those issues continue to push the law to address the wide variations of patterns in which human beings relate. The course looks at the law as it both constricts societal development at times and acts as a catalyst for radical social change at other times.
With the law as the starting point, the overarching questions that define the place of the gay person in American society will be examined. We will consider, among other topics, the regulation of sexuality, sexual orientation, gender roles, the workplace, the intersection of law and religion, same-sex relationships, and parenting. Much of the legal doctrine considered in this course will inevitably be constitutional in nature, including studies of the right to privacy, the First Amendment, and equal protection. The course will also touch on basic employment and family law doctrines as they relate to gay litigants. Apart from the substantive law, our doctrinal discussions will focus on a number of larger themes: the nature/nurture debate and its legal ramifications; the public/private distinction as exhibited in the legal conflicts between free expression and “coming out” and the “right to be let alone”; gender roles and their changing place in society; and the equality/diversity distinction, which arises in the context of assimilation versus difference.
510 - State and Local Government LAWR lV (2 hours)
A study of the law of state and local government, legislative and municipal process, bill drafting and interest groups. Guest speakers include state and local legislators, mayors and elected officials. Study of the role of the lawyer in public process and representation. The new Senator Kay Hagan Award is given to the top three papers in the class.
487 - White Collar Crime (2 hours)
As defined in this course, White Collar Crime means intentional wrongful acts contrary to law or public policy, generally based on deceit or breach of trust, and involving abuse of power, status, or office. The objective of the wrongful acts is usually financial benefit to the perpetrator and financial harm to the victim. Though physical harm is not necessarily intended, it may result from the wrongful acts. Central themes of the course are the societal detriment cased by white collar criminal activities and the pervasive disparity in punishment accorded to white collar criminals as compared to ordinary street criminals. The course will provide an overview of the core federal statutory regime and major federal cases in the field.
