This course covers several subject areas not covered in depth in the basic trial practice course: voir dire, witness preparation, expert witness examination, and case planning. Students will perform exercises in each of these areas. They will try two cases during the semester. The last trial is an advanced civil case that serves as their final exam and requires the use of courtroom technology. Prerequisites: Evidence and Trial Practice.
Experience in the preparation, research, and writing of an appellate brief and in oral argument before an appellate court. Participation in the intramural Stanley Moot Court competition is an option in the Fall. This course satisfies the Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research III Requirement.
In this clinic, which lasts for both semesters of the 3L year, students work in pairs and represent real clients in various appellate courts. The supervising attorney is their professor. In addition to representing clients, students learn about advocacy skills and various aspects of appellate practice, using reading materials, some lecture, and class discussions. They help other pairs through brainstorming and judging practice oral arguments. Students also visit the Supreme Court of the United States to attend oral argument and meet with court personnel. Prerequisite: Appellate Advocacy
This course focuses on legal drafting in the business setting. Students will be required to draft and evaluate typical documents including corporate documents, loan and purchase contracts, partnership agreements, and employment agreements. This course satisfies the Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research III Requirement.
This course examines distributed ledger/blockchain technologies and computational law, and the related evolving regulatory environment. Topics covered include cryptocurrency use and regulation, legal forensic analysis of tokens, ethereum-based smart contract governance frameworks, patent strategy, and the professional responsibility considerations when working in a space that is popular, but not well understood. Students will learn about distributed ledger technologies and even get an introduction to programming a decentralized game. No previous programming experience is needed for this course, but a willingness to read and reread and discuss technical documentation and literature is essential. The course will conclude with a final packet of coursework for grading purposes.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
This course focuses on the negotiation and drafting of commercial real estate leases from the initial letter of intent stage to the final lease closing. Items studied and drafting exercises include: (1) letters of intent, (2) brokerage agreements, (3) commercial leases and lease provisions at various levels of the negotiation process, (4) subordination, nondisturbance and attornment agreements, (5) estoppel certificates, and (6) lease memoranda. The course covers various forms of commercial leases, including ground leases, retail leases, subleases, and license and occupancy agreements. This course also focuses upon professionalism and ethics in the negotiation and drafting process. In addition to learning applicable law, students receive regular evaluation of substantial drafting and negotiation assignments typical of those encountered in actual practice. The negotiation and drafting skills learned in this course apply to other areas of commercial practice. Prerequisite: Property 111.
The work of this clinic is primarily transactional. Students will assist clients at various stages in the business development process, with an emphasis on business, housing, and institutional support in economically disadvantaged segments of the community.
* This course may be offered for 4 hours during some years.
Course description pending.
This “best practices” course introduces students to commercial law and to the structuring, negotiation, drafting, and review of common commercial agreements. These agreements include: (1) non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, (2) employment agreements, (3) services agreements, (4) agreements for the sale of goods, and (5) lending and security agreements. In addition to exploring applicable law and theory, students analyze, draft, redline, and actively discuss actual commercial contracts. In so doing, students explore both the specific effects of various contractual provisions and the potential broader commercial implications of such provisions. If not taken to satisfy LAWR III, this course will also satisfy the Practical Skills requirement. This course is a writing course with no exam. Contracts I and II are prerequisites.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
This experiential course is ideal for prospective law clerks or future litigators who wish to learn more about the perspective behind the bench. It explores the purpose and function of a law clerk, the nature and structure of the judiciary, how to apply for and obtain a clerkship, and most importantly, how to perform it well. Topics of discussion include judicial ethics, chambers confidentiality, docket management, courtroom decorum, professionalism, judicial drafting, and other issues that law clerks commonly encounter. Among other things, students draft an 11-Day memo, bench memo, and judicial opinion. The course also includes Lunch & Learn events with federal judges, field trips to the U.S. Supreme Court, FBI, etc., and visits from guest speakers, including a prosecutor, in-house counsel, DOJ attorney, and partners at prominent law firms.
* This course may be offered for 6 hours during some years.
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 reigster for Dispute Resolution.
The course will allow students to learn about the real work of environmental law and policy through a combination of intensive training on the skills needed to work with clients and grappling with environmental law and policy matters with which clients need help. At the commencement of the semester, students’ classwork will focus on lawyering skills and the basics of administrative and environmental law through two Saturday intensives. During the course of the semester, a weekly, two-hour class meeting will build upon these skills and include practitioners from industry, private practice, government, and non-profits. In addition, this weekly meeting will serve as a touch-point for learning and sharing with other students how their representation of clients is progressing, what concerns and issues are arising, and what learnings they are taking away. Students will be expected to put 10-12 hours of effort into the clinic per week in keeping with the 4 credit requirement. They will keep timesheets and a journal of their experience.
Open only to students who have completed Law 690. This continuation of the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic in the fall semester allows students to focus on active Clinic matters that need support during the fall semester. Students will work on Clinic matters and meet to discuss their progress with the Clinic Director and each other.
A student may receive 1 or 2 pass/fail credits for an externship with an unpaid judge or law-related placement of the student’s choosing, subject to the approval of a faculty supervisor whom the student has enlisted. The student will submit a statement of goals to the faculty supervisor and will meet with the supervisor on the goals before the externship begins. For a one-hour externship, the student will meet with the supervising faculty member for one hour each week of the semester (for a total of 15 meeting hours); for a two-hour externship, the student will meet with the supervising faculty member for two hours each week (for a total of 30 meeting hours). For a 1-hour externship during the school year, the student works at the placement for a minimum of 30 hours; for a 2-hour externship, 60 hours. For an externship during the summer, those hours are doubled for a total of 60 and 120 hours, respectively. The student will write a minimum of bi-weekly reflection papers as well as a final paper. At the end of the externship, the student will also submit to the supervisor a sample of the student’s work for the placement.
* This course may be offered for 2 hours during some years.
This is the field placement component of a part-time externship program and is paired with the Externship Lecture course. Total credits between Externship Placement and Externship Lecture will total either 6 or 10. The number of credit hours awarded to an individual student will determine the hours of work required at the field placement and meet or exceed the ABA standards. In accordance with ABA guidelines, students work at a placement under a supervising attorney. C-LAW 300.
* This course may be offered for 8 hours during some years.
This course focuses on the laws regarding the status, treatment, and disposition of human remains. We are in the midst of a "death revolution" in the United States - cremation rates are rising fast and traditional funeral service providers are under stress. This course examines these trends and the role that the law is playing in shaping and responding to social norms and economic realities. Students will engage in significant legal research and writing in this course, "representing" a non-traditional funeral services provider and analyzing the provider's ability to operate under existing laws.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
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 3 hours during some years.
Students who have completed the Innocence & Justice I course are allowed to take this course in order continue working on the innocence cases on which they in the prior semester, and to continue the interdisciplinary study of the causes of and remedies for wrongful convictions. Students will meet for one class hour per week and for one hour a week with instructor to examine and complete field work assignments.
In this interdisciplinary course, students will examine the legal, scientific, cultural and psychological causes of wrongful convictions. They will apply this knowledge to actual cases by reviewing and investigating claims of actual innocence by inmates and, where appropriate, pursuing legal avenues for exoneration and release from prison. Students will meet for two class hours per week and for one hour a week with instructor to examine and complete field work assignments.
This course provides students with hands-on opportunities to assist clients with transactional intellectual property matters. Student services include advising clients on basic intellectual property principles, drafting contracts (or contract provisions) that affect intellectual property rights, prosecuting copyright and/or trademark applications, and preparing policy documents and guidelines. In addition to direct client representation, students will attend a two-hour seminar, and meet with the clinic faculty supervisor to discuss fieldwork each week. Intellectual Property is a prerequisite.
Course description pending.
* This course may be offered for 2 hours during some years.
A clinical study of law from the viewpoint of the bench offered only during the summer. The student works as a judicial extern for a state or federal judge. Students will observe trials, conferences and hearings and research law and procedure under the judge's direction. A student must have completed their first year of law school in order to participate. Due to scheduling concerns permission must be obtained from the professor before registering for this course.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
Course description pending.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
A study in the conception, development, and management of a contemporary law practice. Students will engage in various projects under simulated business conditions and client pressures.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
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.
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 570 Pre-trial Practice and Procedure.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
This is the field placement component of the Litigation Externship and is paired with the Litigation Externship Course. In accordance with ABA guidelines, students work at a placement under a supervising attorney. The placement may be criminal, civil, or a combination of both. C-LAW 603.
* This course may be offered for 4 hours during some years.
Law schools classically prepare attorneys to represent clients by teaching the law, theory, procedures, and, skills necessary to prepare for and try cases in court. This approach is based upon the underlying assumption that our legal system works best when disputes are determined by an impartial judge or jury after a zealous presentation of the facts and law by the attorneys for all parties.
Instead, this mediation practice class is based upon the assumptions that: 1) most parties know what is in their own best interest; 2) if given the opportunity and tools, most litigants are able to solve their own problems and 3) litigants are generally more satisfied when they are involved in determining the outcome of their cases instead of the results being dictated to them by a judge or jury.
The course will focus on mediation as a method of dispute resolution from the perspective of attorneys representing clients at mediation as well as from the perspective of mediators facilitating mediated settlement conferences. Students will participate in simulated mediation sessions.
This course is 50% lecture and 50% practical skills. Local attorneys assist me by observing students in simulations, guiding and advising students' in-class work and adding to students' practical knowledge from their own legal careers.
This course follows the required curriculum of the 40-Hour training that NC attorneys receive in partial satisfaction of the requirements to become North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission (NCDRC) Certified Mediators. The NCDRC has approved this course as commensurate to that which practicing attorneys receive.
Passing students receive a certificate of completion which they may present to the NCDRC in their fifth year of law practice in satisfaction of Rule 8A of the Revised Rules for Superior Court Civil actions.
Students who have taken Dispute Resolution in the past or who are enrolled in or who plan to take the Dispute Resolution course may not register for Mediation.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
This experiential clinic course focuses on the attainment of fundamental lawyering skills through direct client representation and advocacy, with a particular emphasis on problem solving and legal remedies to address health-harming legal needs. Through collaboration with healthcare providers, students will identify legal issues that negatively contribute to the health of low-income patient-clients and develop a comprehensive, interprofessional strategy to overcome barriers to health justice. Fieldwork also include case rounds: facilitated conversations about student casework with their peers.
This experiential clinic course focuses on the attainment of fundamental lawyering skills through direct client representation and advocacy, with a particular emphasis on problem solving and legal remedies to address health-harming legal needs. Through collaboration with healthcare providers, students will identify legal issues that negatively contribute to the health of low-income patient-clients and develop a comprehensive, interprofessional strategy to overcome barriers to health justice. Seminar topics educate students about fundamental lawyering skills and substantive law essential for the cases students will work on over the course of their time in the clinic.
Seminar in advanced appellate advocacy involving research and drafting of briefs and presentation of oral arguments as a member of an interscholastic moot court team. Students may repeat this course for a maximum of two hours credit.
This course offers students a comprehensive overview of current NCAA rules, policies, enforcement procedures, and the manner in which they are applied at the Division I intercollegiate level. Students study NCAA rules and policies and NCAA infractions and judicial decisions that interpret these rules. Students also examine materials that offer differing perspectives on the NCAA regulatory system. Student performance is assessed on the basis of written memos and in-class presentations that evaluate case studies. Students are given a short final exam. The course is co-taught by Professor Timothy Davis and Dr. Todd Hairston, Wake Forest University's Associate Athletic Director for Compliance.
This course explores the theory and practice of negotiation skills across multiple disciplines of legal practice. Through negotiation simulations, class readings and lectures/discussion, it seeks to prepare students for one of the most vital components of being a practicing attorney -- the ability to properly represent your client's interests within the inevitable context of give-and-take in legal negotiations. Communication skills for litigators are highlighted.
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.
A student may receive 1 or 2 hours of credit for an unpaid externship related to the subject matter of a doctrinal course. The faculty member and a practicing lawyer or other professional supervise the student in a practical experience “extending” the course. The faculty member may limit the number of students eligible for the Practicum Extension in a given semester. The extension may be available for a course taken currently or in a past semester. A student may enroll in the Practicum Extension more than once if the underlying subject areas for the different Practicum Extensions are substantially different, as determined by the Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. The student submits a statement of goals to the faculty supervisor and meets with the supervisor on the goals before the externship begins. The student writes a minimum of bi-weekly reflection papers as well as a final paper. For a 1-hour externship during the school year, the student works at the placement for a minimum of 30 hours; for a 2-hour externship, 60 hours. For an externship during the summer, those hours are doubled for a total of 60 and 120 hours, respectively. At the end of the externship, the student submits to the supervisor a sample of the student’s work for the placement.
* This course may be offered for 2 hours during some years.
This course exposes students to the fundamentals of civil pre-trial litigation with an emphasis on equipping participants for the real world practice of law. By working through a hypothetical case, students learn about litigation strategy and case analysis while practicing foundational lawyering skills including drafting pleadings, motions, and discovery; interviewing clients and witnesses in formal and informal settings; conducting oral arguments; and engaging in a mediated settlement conference. The class has a heavy practical focus and includes regular written assignments and in-class exercises.
This course teaches the law and practice related to investment fraud, market manipulation, and insider trading. We give extensive coverage to both civil litigation and government enforcement. Approximately one third of the course is extremely practical exercises intended to teach essential skills for complex litigation. The remaining time uses lecture and problems to teach the complex doctrine.
* This course may be offered for 4 hours during some years.
Specialized project(s) falling under the purview of one or more of the clinical programs offered at Wake Law.
* This course may be offered for 4 hours during some years.
This is the field placement component of a full term externship program and is paired with the Externship Lecture course. Total credits between Semester in Practice and Externship Lecture will total 13. The number of credit hours awarded to an individual student will determine the hours of work required at the field placement and meet or exceed the ABA standards. In accordance with ABA guidelines, students work at a placement under a supervising attorney. C-LAW 300.
* This course may be offered for 11 hours during some years.
This course deals with lawsuits against federal, state and local governments, with special emphasis on Section 1983 suits and immunity doctrines. Course readings will draw extensively on actual case files and documents. This course fulfills the Practical Skills requirement.
This course is currently available only in the summer. The director of the externship designates one or more cities in North and South Carolina, usually including Charlotte, NC, and offers the students externships in a designated practice area. The practice areas vary from summer to summer. Students meet weekly with the director to integrate and apply the doctrinal insights received elsewhere in the law school curriculum and in the subject matter of the field placements. The course fulfills the practical skills requirement.
Unprecedented opportunities welcome this coming generation of practitioners and jurists in the wake of the Great Recession. This timely course is co-taught by two practicing intellectual property and corporate law attorneys who built a law firm from scratch during the Great Recession. They will share their experiences of utilizing cutting-edge technologies to build a firm that is able to stay lean while garnering national recognition and accolades. The goal of this course is to foster innovative and critical thinking in law students so that this generation of legal minds may go on to start their own firms, startups, legal service companies, or lead existing law firms and companies into the 21st century. Among the subjects explored in this course are technologies for legal practice management, artificial intelligence, data analytics, blockchain technologies, legal smart contracts, data security, online alternative dispute resolution systems, and alternative legal careers and business models. Actual practitioners and CEOs of successful post-Recession companies and law firms will be guest lecturers.
This course offers a lot of client interaction in a fast growing field of law. Students handle court-appointed guardianship cases, health law issues (especially Medicaid), consumer law matters, and prepare wills and powers of attorney. Each student has his or her own caseload. For student FAQs see http://elder-clinic.law.wfu.edu/student-faqs/. Note that this class has a two hour group session which will meet TWICE a week for the first half of the semester and then not again until the last week of the semester. The second class of the week is on Fridays at a time that works for all the students. Check with the Professor if you have questions about this.
The Trade and Development Clinic is a transaction focused clinical offering that provides students a forum to identify, practice and refine the following skills:
* Recognizing and applying core business law concepts
* Reviewing and drafting contracts
* Understanding international transactions and financing
* Client interviewing and advising
* Practicing with cultural competency
We will work with cooperatives, development intermediaries and NGO's in Central America or Mexico to assist them in navigating the legal and business issues that come up when exporting products to the U.S. or accessing capital from the U.S.. Our principal focus will be small hold farmers and the entities that support them. This iexperiential course that places students into supervised practice. As part of our work, you will have the option to travel to work directly with our clients in Latin America. Locations will be in Mexico or Central America. C - LAW 411.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
A series of lecture/discussion and lab classes devoted to the study of examining witnesses and trying cases that includes the following topics; pretrial motions, jury selection, opening statement, direct and cross-examination, impeachment, laying foundations for exhibits, and closing arguments. Students learn how to separate fact from argument, how to mine and polish facts, and how to examine witnesses and introduce exhibits, which are critical skills in both depositions, and trials. Each element of trial is studied in discrete weekly lecture/discussion and lab classes that culminate in a final mock jury trial with a presiding judge and jurors in the box. Prerequisite: Evidence.
A series of classes and simulations devoted to the study of trial techniques, followed by a final mock jury trial. Prerequisite: Evidence.
During this semester-long experiential course, students will represent low-income former servicemembers and veterans in a range of legal proceedings. The clinic primarily represents North Carolinians who are seeking potentially life-saving health care and compensation benefits for service-connected disabilities, but who have been unable to access such benefits because of the nature or characterization of their military discharge. Almost all clinic clients were separated from the military because of minor misconduct that was related to behavioral health conditions that were incurred or aggravated during military service. Unfortunately, these conditions were highly stigmatized and widely misunderstood until recent years, which led to an inequitable dismissal from military service for tens of thousands of North Carolinians. Clinic students are on the front lines of correcting those mistakes and injustices.
A continuation course to the 637 Veterans Legal Clinic I. Students continue to represent low-income former service members and veterans in a range of legal proceedings. Many students continue working on the cases they worked on from the prior semester. Students having completed 637 Veterans Legal Clinic I may request permission from the instructor to register for the class.
