Class Schedule

Anything that happens on or near any body of navigable water is liable to call forth the admiralty jurisdiction of the federal courts and the application of the national maritime law. The practice of admiralty and maritime law is somewhat specialized--admiralty lawyers still like to call themselves "proctors"--but any lawyer who practices in an ocean, river, or lake port city or who handles international transactions of any sort is likely to run into admiralty problems. (Yes, there's tons of admiralty in Baton Rouge, plenty of it in Cincinnati, and probably still a little bit in Ogallala.) England had a specialized admiralty practice, and our Constitution set up admiralty and maritime law as a separate subject in this country by explicitly vesting the federal courts with full (but not exclusive) power over "all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction." Thus, understanding admiralty and maritime law entails some historical inquiries as well as a significant re- education in aspects of constitutional law affecting the division of power between the national and state governments. But the focus of the course is predominantly modern law, and the course materials consist in major part of very recent judicial decisions and oft-litigated statutes. This course delves into issues presented by injuries to maritime workers (including the Jones Act and the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act); injuries to ship passengers and recreational water users; carriage of goods under private contracts of carriage (charterparties) and under bills of lading (including the Harter Act and the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act); collisions between vessels; and the Shipowner's Limited Liability Act. The emphasis is on the present-day problems of maritime lawyers and judges as reflected in current litigation. Since 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court has handed down at least two dozen admiralty decisions. The name "admiralty" may conjure up images of antiquity, but the practice and study of maritime law is a thoroughly modern matter. There are no prerequisites.

Taught as a web-based course. Course meets June 4-July 8.

Legal Writing, Advanced: Litigation is a three-credit, pass-fail course. The course covers documents typically drafted during litigation, including pleadings, discovery requests, motions, and letters. Students will draft a variety of litigation documents and critique documents drafted by others.  Students will also make presentations and engage in in-class discussions and exercises.  During the third credit of the course, students will learn about techniques to revise and edit writing and will practice these techniques.  Attendance is required.

Textbooks listed are hard copies, but electronic versions are fine. Contact me if you need ISBN numbers or assistance locating e-versions.

This course will take a criminal case from its inception through trial, plea or dismissal. Students will perform skills weekly on different elements of the case such as intake evaluation, pretrial motions, plea negotiations, witness preparation and trial. Ethics will also be included. The course is recommended for those with an interest in a career in criminal law, especially those considering employment in either a prosecutor's or public defender’s office.

This course will take a criminal case from its inception through trial, plea or dismissal. Students will perform skills weekly on different elements of the case such as intake evaluation, pretrial motions, plea negotiations, witness preparation and trial. Ethics will also be included. The course is recommended for those with an interest in a career in criminal law, especially those considering employment in either a prosecutor's or public defender’s office.

This course will take a criminal case from its inception through trial, plea or dismissal. Students will perform skills weekly on different elements of the case such as intake evaluation, pretrial motions, plea negotiations, witness preparation and trial. Ethics will also be included. The course is recommended for those with an interest in a career in criminal law, especially those considering employment in either a prosecutor's or public defender’s office.

The class will be a combination of remote and in person exercises.  No student will be required to appear in person, but students will be given the option of doing so on some of the class days.  The hope is to give students the chance to perform in ways that are currently being used in different jurisdictions around the country.    Obviously this is evolving and subject to change.  The plan is also to involve guest appearances by some former students who took this class and are now working in public defender or prosecutor’s offices.

This course will take a criminal case from its inception through trial, plea or dismissal. Students will perform skills weekly on different elements of the case such as intake evaluation, pretrial motions, plea negotiations, witness preparation and trial. Ethics will also be included. The course is recommended for those with an interest in a career in criminal law, especially those considering employment in either a prosecutor's or public defender’s office.

The class will be a combination of remote and in person exercises.  No student will be required to appear in person, but students will be given the option of doing so on some of the class days.  The hope is to give students the chance to perform in ways that are currently being used in different jurisdictions around the country.    Obviously this is evolving and subject to change.  The plan is also to involve guest appearances by some former students who took this class and are now working in public defender or prosecutor’s offices.

Students who have taken LAW 179P, Adv Skills: Criminal Court may not take LAW 179P, Advanced Criminal Law Skills.

This course will take a criminal case from its inception through trial, plea or dismissal. Students will perform skills weekly on different elements of the case such as intake evaluation, pretrial motions, plea negotiations, witness preparation and trial. Ethics will also be included. The course is recommended for those with an interest in a career in criminal law, especially those considering employment in either a prosecutor's or public defender’s office.

The class will be a combination of remote and in person exercises.  No student will be required to appear in person, but students will be given the option of doing so on some of the class days.  The hope is to give students the chance to perform in ways that are currently being used in different jurisdictions around the country.    Obviously this is evolving and subject to change.  The plan is also to involve guest appearances by some former students who took this class and are now working in public defender or prosecutor’s offices.

Students who have taken LAW 179P, Adv Skills: Criminal Court may not take LAW 179P, Advanced Criminal Law Skills.

This course is a broad survey of three main types of legal writing: objective analysis, persuasive analysis, and transactional drafting. The course will also cover many other topics crucial to high-level professional writing: use of forms, advanced legal citation, the plain English movement, advanced grammar and punctuation, document design, legal usage, and editing. Students will receive individual critiques of their writing, and lectures will use model answers and sample critiques.

Advanced Legal Writing Practicum covers writing mechanics, legal analysis, organization, and clarity as well as managing research-and-writing projects. A key focus is on written work for a summer or full-time legal job.

This 2-day course (5.75 hours each day) covers two broad legal-writing topics. Day one covers mechanics: common mistakes in word usage, grammar, and punctuation—and how to avoid and fix them—plus the most challenging advanced topics in the mechanics of legal writing. Key goals are to strengthen your writing credibility and raise your writing IQ. Day two covers broader concepts: concision, persuasion, organization, and revision, as well as some citation and transactional drafting. The course requires pre-class reading and quizzes and a final written project. Pass-fail.

This 2-day course (5.75 hours each day) covers two broad legal-writing topics. Day one covers mechanics: common mistakes in word usage, grammar, and punctuation—and how to avoid and fix them—plus the most challenging advanced topics in the mechanics of legal writing. Key goals are to strengthen your writing credibility and raise your writing IQ. Day two covers broader concepts: concision, persuasion, organization, and revision, as well as some citation and transactional drafting. The course requires pre-class reading and quizzes and a final written project. Pass-fail.

This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.

This 2-day course (5.75 hours each day) covers two broad legal-writing topics. Day one covers mechanics: common mistakes in word usage, grammar, and punctuation—and how to avoid and fix them—plus the most challenging advanced topics in the mechanics of legal writing. Key goals are to strengthen your writing credibility and raise your writing IQ. Day two covers broader concepts: concision, persuasion, organization, and revision, as well as some citation and transactional drafting. The course requires pre-class reading and quizzes and a final written project. Pass-fail.

This 2-day course (5.75 hours each day) covers two broad legal-writing topics. Day one covers mechanics: common mistakes in word usage, grammar, and punctuation—and how to avoid and fix them—plus the most challenging advanced topics in the mechanics of legal writing. Key goals are to strengthen your writing credibility and raise your writing IQ. Day two covers broader concepts: concision, persuasion, organization, and revision, as well as some citation and transactional drafting. The course requires pre-class reading and quizzes and a final written project. Pass-fail.

This intensive, 2-day course (5.75 hours each day) covers two broad legal-writing topics. Day one covers mechanics: the most common grammar, punctuation, word-usage, and stylistic mistakes law students and lawyers make and how to understand them, avoid them, and fix them. Key goals are to strengthen your writing credibility and raise your writing IQ. Day two covers broader concepts: concision, persuasion, organization, and revision, as well as some citation and transactional drafting. The course requires pre-class reading and work, overnight work, and a final written project. Pass-fail.

This two-credit course studies problems faced by litigants in complex matters, including challenges presented by the “American Rule,” evolving class action procedures, joint and several liability rules, attorney and jury bias, electronic data, and statistical evidence.  Time permitting, the class will host guest lectures on practical aspects of managing and conducting litigation.

The goal of this course is to promote strategic and tactical thinking about how to use (or resist) rules governing complex litigation, anticipate complex litigation issues before they arise, and explore other tools that can further client objectives. 

Grading:  Your final course grade will be based on class participation (on-call and volunteer discussion), and a final exam.  Class will be lecture and questions and answer; students will be notified of on-call status prior to the next class.  Students can earn additional credit for constructive class participation and thoughtfulness.  Conversely, students can earn demerits for being unprepared and for non-participation.   The final exam may cover every issue on the syllabus, even if not addressed in class.

Attendance:  Attendance for each lecture is expected.  Repeated, unexcused absences will adversely affect final grades.

Successful lawyers of all types are able to craft solutions to clients’ seemingly intractable problems. Sophisticated clients have already explored solutions with their in-house legal staff before bringing their case or problem to you. Finding solutions requires following a proven process which can be learned, practiced and refined. This is a skills course where students will learn and practice specific skills of design thinking, divergent thinking and ideation to become more agile thinkers and creative problem solvers.

This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.

Successful lawyers of all types are able to craft solutions to clients’ seemingly intractable problems. Sophisticated clients have already explored solutions with their in-house legal staff before bringing their case or problem to you. Finding solutions requires following a proven process which can be learned, practiced and refined. This is a skills course where students will learn and practice specific skills of design thinking, divergent thinking and ideation to become more agile thinkers and creative problem solvers. 1-Hour Pass/Fail Class Schedule: This 1 credit hour class will meet for five total sessions from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. on the following dates: 8/26, 8/31, 9/2, 9/9, and 9/14.

Successful lawyers of all types are able to craft solutions to clients’ seemingly intractable problems. Sophisticated clients have already explored solutions with their in-house legal staff before bringing their case or problem to you. Finding solutions requires following a proven process which can be learned, practiced and refined. This is a skills course where students will learn and practice specific skills of design thinking, divergent thinking and ideation to become more agile thinkers and creative problem solvers. 1-Hour Pass/Fail Class Schedule: This 1 credit hour class will meet for five total sessions from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. on the following dates: 8/28, 9/4, 9/9, 9/11, and 9/16.

Successful lawyers of all types are able to craft solutions to clients’ seemingly intractable problems. Sophisticated clients have already explored solutions with their in-house legal staff before bringing their case or problem to you. Finding solutions requires following a proven process which can be learned, practiced and refined. This is a skills course where students will learn and practice specific skills of design thinking, divergent thinking and ideation to become more agile thinkers and creative problem solvers. 1-Hour Pass/Fail Class Schedule: This 1 credit hour class will meet for five total sessions from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. on the following dates: 8/29, 9/5, 9/10, 9/12, and 9/17..

Course Overview

This course will involve intensive team research projects to identify and catalogue positive culture change developments in prisons and jails across the United States. While correctional institutions remain dangerous places that harm the people who live and work inside them, there are pockets of good things happening in an effort to shift the culture of these facilities and provide a safer and healthier environment. For example, there are a number of prisons that have been trying to implement innovative practices modeled on the Scandinavian correctional system. Other agencies have begun prison arts programs or prisoner-run radio stations, to mention just a few of these kinds of changes. The goal of this project is to track down these types of initiatives, both large and small, and to gather information about them in a single detailed public-facing database so as to enable other jurisdictions, policy-makers, and advocates to be inspired and to use these initiatives as models for change. Our efforts to elevate these initiatives will also serve to support correctional leaders who are trying out new ways to help improve the correctional environment, an uphill battle for many of these directors.

This project is being conducted in collaboration with the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab (PJIL) at the LBJ School. PJIL is a national policy resource center focused on ways to improve the safe and humane treatment of people in custody. Course instructors Michele Deitch and Alycia Welch serve, respectively, as Director and Associate Director of PJIL. The database that our class will be preparing will be published on an online resource website that PJIL is developing.

The first few weeks of the course will involve substantive classes and a few assigned readings to provide students with the necessary background for their research project. After that, the class will function more informally, with regular meetings between student teams and the instructor to ensure ongoing progress. Teams will likely each consist of three or four students. Students will be investigating practices all over the country, and will have the opportunity to speak with experts and practitioners as part of their research.

Although this is considered an “advanced” class, there is no prerequisite for the course.  However, students should be prepared to engage in substantial research and writing, and should be comfortable working in teams on a significant project. While a background in criminal justice or corrections is not required for the class, it would certainly be helpful.

Learning Objectives

Through this class, students will develop skills in conceptualizing, conducting, and completing a significant research project that will be of use to policymakers, corrections practitioners, journalists, and advocates. They will learn how to research and write for a policy audience, and will learn about positive developments in correctional administration and management. Students will also improve their teamwork and project management skills.  

Course Requirements and Grading

Students are expected to attend all classes and team meetings, participate fully in the group work activities, submit work to their teammates in a timely manner, and produce work products that are well-written, accurate, and responsive to the assignments. Each team will produce a variety of work products, including a spreadsheet with details about their findings, short write-ups about each initiative, short reports about the types of initiatives identified, and possibly some other documents as well. Teams may also be asked to conduct an oral briefing about their research.

Students will be graded on the basis of the quality of their individual contributions to the group project, the overall group project (a team grade), and on class participation.  Students will also be asked to submit a self-assessment as well as an assessment of their fellow team members’ participation in the group work.

This course is cross-listed between the LBJ School and the Law School, which will allow for an interdisciplinary approach to this topic.

This is an LBJ School course, cross-listed with the Law School. This course will be taught online. Contact the professor for details.

This course will function much like a one-semester Policy Research Project (PRP) insofar as the focus of the class will be a group research effort guided by the instructor.  The details of the project are still to be determined, but will likely be related to issues affecting women in jail.  More details will be provided as soon as possible.

Course Requirements and Grading

Students are expected to attend all classes and team meetings, participate fully in the group work activities, submit work to their teammates in a timely manner, and use their best efforts to produce work product that is well-written, accurate, and responsive to the assignments.  Written submissions will likely include both a short individual writing assignment and a team-authored report, as well as a self-assessment.

Students will be graded on the basis of the quality of their individual contributions to the group project, the overall group project (a team grade), their individual writing assignment, and on class participation.

Course Overview

This course will involve intensive team research projects focused on various aspects of deaths in custody investigations. Deaths in prisons and jails are sadly all too common and have drawn significant media attention in recent years. A Congressional subcommittee also held an important hearing on this topic in September 2022, which has focused policy attention on the failures of correctional agencies to properly report all deaths in custody to the federal government.

Our class will be researching national practices about three important aspects of deaths in custody:  how investigations of deaths in custody are handled and by whom; public reporting requirements regarding these deaths; and requirements for notifying families about deaths of their loved ones. We will not actually be investigating any of these cases ourselves.

The goal is to produce research and policy documents that will help inform policymakers, practitioners, and advocates about best practices and necessary changes to the way that deaths in custody are handled in order to advance changes to policy and practice that ensure proper investigations of these deaths, learn lessons that can prevent future deaths, provide more transparency about these occurrences, and show more respect for the families of those who have died.

This project is being conducted in collaboration with the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab (PJIL) at the LBJ School. PJIL is a national policy resource center focused on the safe and humane treatment of people in custody. Course instructors Michele Deitch and Alycia Welch serve, respectively, as Director and Associate Director of PJIL.

The first few weeks of the course will involve substantive classes and a few short assigned readings to provide students with the necessary background for their research project. After that, the class will function more informally, with regular meetings between student teams and the instructor to ensure ongoing progress. Teams will likely each consist of four students. Students will look both nationally and internationally for guidance on best practices, and will have the opportunity to speak with experts and practitioners as part of their research.

Although this is considered an “advanced” class, there is no prerequisite for the course.  However, students should be prepared to engage in substantial research and writing, and should be comfortable working in teams on a significant project. While a background in criminal justice or corrections is not required for the class, it would certainly be helpful.

Learning Objectives

Through this class, students will develop skills in conceptualizing, conducting, and completing a significant research project that will be of use to policymakers, corrections practitioners, journalists, and advocates. They will learn how to research and write for a policy audience, and will learn about an important function of corrections management that goes to the heart of what it means to keep people in custody safe. Students will also improve their teamwork and project management skills. 

Course Requirements and Grading

Students are expected to attend all classes and team meetings, participate fully in the group work activities, submit work to their teammates in a timely manner, and produce work products that are well-written, accurate, and responsive to the assignments. Each team will produce a variety of work products, including a short report, a one-pager, and possibly some other documents as well, and may be asked to conduct an oral briefing about their research.

Students will be graded on the basis of the quality of their individual contributions to the group project, the overall group project (a team grade), and on class participation.  Students will also be asked to submit a self-assessment as well as an assessment of their fellow team members’ participation in the group work.

This course is cross-listed between the LBJ School and the Law School, which will allow for an interdisciplinary approach to this topic.

A course focusing on real-life cases and key strategic decisions made immediately before and during trial to position you for success. Nationally renowned trial master, David Beck, will demonstrate, share secrets and teach strategy.  This is an advanced course. Texas Civil Procedure and Advocacy classes are recommended prior courses.

A course focusing on real-life cases and key strategic decisions made immediately before and during trial to position you for success. Nationally renowned trial master, David Beck, will demonstrate, share secrets and teach strategy.  This is an advanced course. Texas Civil Procedure and Advocacy classes are recommended prior courses.