This course will be a study of state constitutions. In today’s legal world, state constitutions are more important than ever. They may protect rights that are not protected by the federal constitution and, subject to the federal constitution's Supremacy Clause, may provide greater protection for rights and liberties that are also protected by the federal constitution. The highest court of each state has the final prerogative to interpret the provisions of its state constitution. This course will consider the interpretation of state constitutions and state constitutions as the source of both negative and positive rights.
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.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
This is an introductory course on Environmental Justice Law. Although no federal environmental justice laws have been enacted, federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have made efforts to work with other federal agencies to integrate environmental justice into policies and practices. Environmental justice theory and practice begins with the recognition that environmental goods (such as clean air and water) and environmental harms (such as toxic waste) are not always distributed equitably among populations. This course will examine the various bases for these disparate impacts and will look for solutions grounded in law, policy, and practice.
* This course may be offered for 3 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.
In this course, we will attempt to come to grips with the right to keep and bear arms as a matter of law. We will do so by thoroughly examining the constitutional history, theory, and practice of gun rights and regulation in the United States. We will cover the foundational Supreme Court cases as well as the broader historical and political debates in which they are embedded, and the theoretical questions they raise. Our goal is to understand both the relevant legal doctrine and the context in which that doctrine is embedded.
Freedom of conscience and freedom of religion are two distinct but often conflated rights, both of which have been integral in United States legal and political discourse since before its founding. This course will examine the history of these rights and invite students to ask why these legal protections exist, what presuppositions led these protections to be structured as they are, and whether they might profitably be restructured in the future. As part of this course, we will examine theoretical underpinnings of what the conscience is understood to be and how it fits into a general “moral anthropology” (the latter loosely defined as an understanding of how persons determine right and wrong). The tension between personal and communal conceptions of the conscience will also be explored.
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.
* 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.
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.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
Starting with the premise that law derives from social norms and customs, and that law can shape these norms and customs as well; this course will compare how the laws around land ownership and land use flow from social norms and power structures and reflect the people who made them. We will use Venice and Miami as case studies in the diverse ways civil and common law countries approach land use and climate change adaptation.
As a matter of baseline knowledge, law students should have a better understanding of business entities and our complex economy. The purpose of this class is to give students a working knowledge of essential concepts in business. The class focuses on teaching useful intellectual skills associated with a working knowledge of accounting, financial statement analysis, finance, valuation, capital structure, financial instruments, capital markets, corporate transactions, operations, and business strategy. The course concepts are interconnected and their mastery serves two purposes: (1) to better appreciate a business client’s legal problems; and (2) to better appreciate concepts seen in other upper-level courses such as Business Organizations, Securities Regulation, Corporate Finance, Bankruptcy, Taxation, Business Planning, Mergers & Acquisitions, and any other business-related course. Students taking this course cannot also enroll in Law and Accounting. Students with significant prior business experience or exposure may only enroll with permission of the professor.
This course will examine the current legal, political, social and technological aspects of US 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 , freedon 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.
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.
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.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
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 2 hours during some years.
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.
This course offers an overview of the historical, legal, and policy framework for food and agriculture in the United States. Agricultural and food laws and regulations play a vital role in determining both the health outcomes for our nation and the level of environmental impact to shared natural resources such as air, water, soil, and biodiversity. The course discusses federal environmental statutes in the context of food and agricultural production, and provides an introduction to the U.S. Farm Bill, pesticides, farmed animal welfare, genetically modified foods, food access, food safety, and labeling schemes.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
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."
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
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 3 hours during some years.
Course description pending.
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.
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.
Explores the development and use of artificial intelligence as it applies to legal institutions, analyzing legal cases involving artificial intelligence, and evaluating legal frameworks for regulating artificial intelligence.
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.
This course is a study of the policy and constitutional underpinnings of the U.S. Patent System including consideration of economic justifications; exploration of basic requirements of patentability including patentable subject matter, novelty and non-obviousness; overview of U.S. Patent Office procedures; exploration of patent infringement standards and procedures including claim construction, determination of liability, defenses and remedies; and consideration of the role of patents in business transactions and licensing.
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.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
We examine current cases and litigation documents involving the major federal anti-discrimination statutes. Each student writes a research paper and makes a class presentation on the research.
* This course may be offered for 2 hours during some years.
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.
This course examines the legal issues associated with technology, with a particular focus on the Internet. Among other topics, the course covers primers on the technical underpinnings of the internet, the regulation of Internet access and domain names; contract formation, execution and enforceability; jurisdiction and choice of law; speech; intellectual property focus; artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and the Internet of Things. A background in computer science and/or intellectual property law is not required. Note that the treatement of secruity/cybersecurity concerns is light in this run of the course; it is anticipated that students will take a course focused on cybersecurity law in addition to this course.
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 3 hours during some years.
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.
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 to 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.
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.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
This seminar is intended for students who are already familiar with the main contours of intellectual property law and would like to explore the subject further. During the semester students will explore in-depth a variety of material (such as law review articles, book chapters and other media) related to the selected topic. Each student will research and write an academic paper related to the selected topic. The draft of the paper will be presented and discussed in class. Students will then produce a final version of the paper, with an aim of producing a paper of publishable quality. Prerequisite: Any one of the following courses: Intellectual Property Survey, Copyright Law, Patent Law, Trademark Law, or the IP Clinical course.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
Introduces U.S. housing law and policy with a focus on low and moderate income tenants as well as homeowners. Examines the history of housing policies and problems, public housing and federally subsidized housing, habitability and code enforcement, foreclosure, gentrification, eviction, and fair housing law. Students will develop an understanding of the legal, social, and historic underpinnings of contemporary housing challenges, and how these insights inform advocacy strategies to promote housing justice.
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.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
Intimate relationships are deeply personal, yet they are also subject to extensive state regulation. Laws attempt to balance the desires of individuals and the needs of society. But that can often be challenging. How should the state safeguard people’s ability to pursue personal happiness, while at the same time ensure that individuals behave responsibly towards others? Can the government stay out of private spaces and simultaneously protect individuals from oppression and abuse? Is it possible for the law to recognize a variety of intimate relationships without privileging some over others? This course will take up these and other questions, asking how, when, and why the state regulates intimate relationships. Students will discuss the tradeoffs that these regulations require between the rights to privacy, autonomy, and equality. The course will consequently both provide an overview of current regulatory frameworks as well as challenge students to think about what the law should be as a normative matter.
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.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
This course, taught as a seminar, examines the advocacy skills that lawyers used in regulatory practice to persaude 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.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
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.
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.
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.
The course will teach and compare French, American, and EU tort doctrine in a variety of areas such as (1) pure economic loss (both in negligence and intentional torts like fraud/intentional interference with contractual relations, etc.); (2) liability for traffic accidents, specifically autonomous vehicles; (3) product liability (including artificial intelligence); (4) liability for violations of privacy; (5) liability in tort between contracting parties (the borderline between tort and contract law); (6) damages/punitive damages; (7) governmental immunity; and (8) systemic topics such as contingency fees arrangements, the payment of legal fees, public advocacy, access to justice, and the various ethical and justice concerns that arise in each country’s approach. Learning objectives include not only helping students gain an understanding of tort doctrine in these jurisdictions but also developing the skills necessary to apply and critique the doctrine to the facts of new cases. Special attention will be brought to critiquing American tort law from a European perspective—what are we getting right/wrong? What societal goals are we sacrificing that Europeans have embraced? Vice versa? What are the relative merits of structural differences in access to justice, procedural requirements, jury v. bench trials, extensive judicial opinions, etc.? We will also explore ethical and character issues to which each system gives rise.
* This course may be offered for 3 hours during some years.
