Course Schedule

In this course we will examine the nature of disease and its impact on developing and developed societies. We examine the potential security threats posed by diseases like COVID 19 and investigate how nations respond to those threats.  We will review the demographic, economic, political, and social costs of illness for individuals across the life course, institutions, governments, nations, and the world as a whole.  We will learn how disease spreads and how organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and other national and multilateral organizations respond to diseases that do not respect national borders. The class will follow a fairly standard seminar format and consist of readings with group discussion and presentations related to specific areas of health and global security.

In this course we will examine the nature of disease and its impact on developing and developed societies. We examine the potential security threats posed by diseases like COVID 19 and investigate how nations respond to those threats.  We will review the demographic, economic, political, and social costs of illness for individuals across the life course, institutions, governments, nations, and the world as a whole.  We will learn how disease spreads and how organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and other national and multilateral organizations respond to diseases that do not respect national borders. The class will follow a fairly standard seminar format and consist of readings with group discussion and presentations related to specific areas of health and global security.

This course examines the security challenges posed by disease in different nations and regions of the world.  After the Second World war the availability of antibiotics led many to believe that we could develop magic pharmaceutical bullets for all diseases.  The introduction of anti-psychotic and anti-depressant treatments in the 1950s promised cures for serious mental and emotional illness.  Newer versions of those treatments are constantly being developed.  During the 20th Century life expectancy at birth and at older ages increased rapidly in all nations, although significant differences between the developing and developed nations persist.

Although modern medicine has been fabulously successful at treating and even curing acute disease, our initial hope that bacteria, viruses, and fungi could be completely defeated today seems naive.  COVID-19 is only the most recent reminder that we cannot become complacent.  Other disease such as Ebola, Marburg, Chikungunya virus, West Nile, and Hanta viruses are only a few of the diseases with high mortality rates that plague Humanity.  Each year we are introduced to new viruses that arise from animal reservoirs.  Although antibiotics led us to become confident that we could defeat bacterial illnesses, drug resistant strains of old killers pose major risks to humanity.  The scourges of Tuberculosis, syphilis, and other killers threaten the lives of millions of people.

The fear of disease has plagued humanity since the beginning.  The Black Death destroyed huge fractions of the nations of Europe on several occasions.  Disease has often changed the course of human history.  The Spaniard’s conquest of Mexico in the 16th Century resulted largely from the fact that they introduced smallpox into a population without immunity.  The Aztec population and empire were largely decimated. 

In this course we will examine the nature of disease and its impact on developing and developed societies.  In a highly urbanized and globalized world diseases that originate in one locality can within weeks and months become global pandemics.  Pandemics, such as COVID 19, pose serious threats to local and national economies, and can exacerbate existing conflicts among different groups.  Illness, then, represents as serious a potential threat to our personal, family, community, and national security as weapons of mass destruction. 

In this class we will examine the potential security threats posed by diseases like COVID 19 and investigate how nations respond to those threats.  We will review the economic, political, and social costs of illness for individuals, institutions, governments, nations, and the world as a whole.  We will become amateur epidemiologists and learn how disease spreads and how organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and other national and multilateral organizations respond to diseases that do not respect national borders.

Assignments include a policy issue project (40%), case study analyses (20%), and briefings (20%). Attendance and participation are integral parts of the course and will count towards the final grade (20%). 

REQUIRED READINGS TO BE ASSIGNED

This course will treat selected topics in higher education and law. A recurring issue throughout the course will be the extent to which legal doctrines should be modified, if at all, in light of the arguably unique characteristics of colleges and universities. The course should therefore be valuable not just for students with particular interests in higher education and the law; it should also provide an opportunity for detailed study of various aspects of free speech, due process, affirmative action, and employment discrimination. The course will address the First Amendment rights of faculty and students, the relationship between free speech and academic freedom, campus regulations prohibiting “offensive” speech, affirmative action in higher education, tenure, contractual analysis of academic rights, employment discrimination in higher education, and “institutional” academic freedom.

This course will treat selected topics in higher education and law. A recurring issue throughout the course will be the extent to which legal doctrines should be modified, if at all, in light of the arguably unique characteristics of colleges and universities. The course should therefore be valuable not just for students with particular interests in higher education and the law; it should also provide an opportunity for detailed study of various aspects of free speech, due process, affirmative action, and employment discrimination. The course will address the First Amendment rights of faculty and students, the relationship between free speech and academic freedom, campus regulations prohibiting “offensive” speech, affirmative action in higher education, tenure, contractual analysis of academic rights, employment discrimination in higher education, and “institutional” academic freedom.

Students will dissect the strategy of Brown v Board and other successful and unsuccessful movement cases. These will serve as guides as students work in groups to prepare their own movement litigation. This class will combine research, experiential learning and problem solving. Ideal student groups will have representative knowledge of advocacy, procedure, administrative and legislative practice. Students will argue and defend their pleadings and other strategies throughout the semester. 

This is a course about the ideas, historical developments, and places that shaped American natural resource law and policy. We will read excerpts written by the philosophers that influenced the Founding Fathers, as well as writings by influential Native Americans. We will read about the circumstances that led to the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the repercussions of the removal process. Through a review of legal cases, regulations, and treatises, and historical events such as the Gold Rush of 1848, completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, and the Homestead Act of 1862, we will examine the historical and legal framework that underlies public lands policy and the extent to which the framework facilitates or impedes the policy changes needed to address modern challenges, such as climate change and the extreme polarization of the American electorate and policymakers. 

The I-35 corridor has a documented history of incising economic, racial, and social division into Austin’s landscape. Its physical design incorporates infamously dangerous features that threaten the well-being of drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists alike. Limited alternative transit options have contributed to adverse traffic conditions along the route, not least, Austin’s segment of the route.

       I-35 has been due for a comprehensive overhaul for decades. Planning for Austin’s portion of that overhaul is now underway. Will it correct for past deficiencies and improve Austin’s physical and social trajectory or will it do more harm than good? Translated into legal terms, that tangled nest of issues is in litigation right now.

      This Workshop is designed to explore understandings of Austin’s I-35 future pathway through the work of several disciplines on campus, through the citizens’ campaign that has formed up around the I-35 overhaul, through current politics, and through law. Further perspectives will be offered through the experiences of other cities’ efforts to grapple with major highway problems—and the scarred landscapes that, like Austin, these cities have had to confront.

       The course will be offered for 1 credit, pass/fail. It will meet for two and a half weeks on Thursdays and Fridays during February. Students, drawn from several academic units on campus, will be expected to participate actively and will give oral reports at the final class. 1L students are encouraged to join the pool of law students and apply.

In this course you will learn, from organizational meeting through opening trades on the stock exchange, the roles of the company, investment banks and law firms as well as the SEC process, documentation and securities laws involved in completing Initial Public Offerings (“IPOs”). The class will follow the actual SEC filings and IPO documents for New Fortress Energy (NASDAQ: NFE) and Sunnova Energy International (NASDAQ: NOVA), both leading energy transition IPOs completed in 2019.  Both companies remain publicly listed and are often in the news. In addition to NFE and NOVA, the course will include drafting assignments for the hypothetical initial public offering of “LUMI” a transition energy IPO featured in Season 3 of the Max series Industry with Kit Harrington in the role of LUMI’s Chief Executive Officer, Sir Henry Mack.

For new attorneys concentrating on transactional work, IPO assignments are one of the best sources of training for capital markets, private equity, and M&A practices – IPOs serve as a “Rosetta Stone” for the practical application of federal securities laws, providing a crash course into a broad range of disclosure requirements applicable to all publicly traded companies. Private equity firms see IPOs as one of two basic paths for realizing returns for their investors. Public M&A filings are likewise fueled by these disclosure rules and related concepts. Finally, you will also gain insight to the financial importance of IPOs and public company practice to law firm economics.

This is a course in the substantive law regulating immigration to the United States and the regulation of non-citizens in the United States. Topics covered include the constitutional basis for regulating immigration, the roles of federal agencies in immigration adjudication, the immigration and removal (deportation) process, entry, relief from removal, general regulation of non-citizens, the refugee and asylum processes, and new developments. Students should expect to participate in in-class discussions and exercises. The final exam will be open book. LLM students will be required to take the exam; there will be no paper option.

This is a course in the substantive law regulating immigration to the United States and the regulation of non-citizens in the United States. Topics covered include the constitutional basis for regulating immigration, the roles of federal agencies in immigration adjudication, the immigration and removal (deportation) process, entry, relief from removal, general regulation of non-citizens, the refugee and asylum processes, and new developments. Students should expect to participate in in-class discussions and exercises. The final exam will be open book. LLM students will be required to take the exam; there will be no paper option.

This is a course in the substantive law regulating immigration to the United States and the regulation of non-citizens in the United States. Topics covered include the constitutional basis for regulating immigration, the roles of federal agencies in immigration adjudication, the immigration and removal (deportation) process, entry, relief from removal, general regulation of non-citizens, the refugee and asylum processes, and new developments. Students should expect to participate in in-class discussions and exercises. The final exam will be open book. LLM students will be required to take the exam; there will be no paper option.

TEXTBOOKS:

Immigration and Nationality Laws of the United States : Selected Statutes, Regulations and Forms 2022 *    Aleinikoff, T., Martin, David, Motomura, Hiroshi, Fullerton, Maryellen, and Stumpf, Juliet    West Academic , edition: 2022    ISBN: 978-1-63659-890-1    

Immigration and Refugee Law and Policy *    Legomsky, Stephen, Thronson, David, Legomsky, Stephen H., and Thronson, David B.    West Academic , edition: 7    ISBN: 978-1-64020-734-9

This is a course in the substantive law regulating immigration to the United States and the regulation of non-citizens in the United States. Topics covered include the constitutional law aspects of the immigration and removal (deportation) process, entry, conduct of hearings, relief from removal, general regulation of non-citizens, and new developments. In addition, the refugee and asylum process will be discussed. The final exam will be open book. LLM students will be required to take the exam; there will be no paper option.

This is a course in the substantive law regulating immigration to the United States and the regulation of non-citizens in the United States. Topics covered include the constitutional law aspects of the immigration and removal (deportation) process, entry, conduct of hearings, relief from removal, general regulation of non-citizens, and new developments. In addition, the refugee and asylum will be discussed. The final exam will be open book. LLM students will be required to take the exam; there will be no paper option.

The 27930 section of this course will be taught in person but with the option of occasional remote participation via Zoom.  If students require all remote participation, they must register for the 27931 section of this course, which is identical but web-based.

This is a course in the substantive law regulating immigration to the United States and the regulation of non-citizens in the United States. Topics covered include the constitutional law aspects of the immigration and removal (deportation) process, entry, conduct of hearings, relief from removal, general regulation of non-citizens, and new developments. In addition, the refugee and asylum will be discussed. The final exam will be open book. LLM students will be required to take the exam; there will be no paper option.

America incarcerates people at a rate higher than most countries in the world and those incarcerated are disproportionately low-income and from communities that have been historically neglected and oppressed. Course materials will examine how the socio-economic and racial disparities in the population of people incarcerated in America reflects this country’s history of poverty, slavery, and segregation. The course will cover several theories about the drivers of mass incarceration and the legal and philosophical foundations of public defense. This course will explore theoretical, philosophical, and practical elements of indigent criminal defense, exploring questions such as: How do criminal justice theory and practice interact? What can an individual lawyer do to further her client's interests within this context? What is the role of the public defender in criminal justice reform? How does a public defender maintain the long view on mass incarceration and socio-economic and racial inequalities in the criminal justice system while advocating for her individual clients? What roles and tools are available, besides line public defense, for future lawyers to fill and utilize in enacting the promise of Gideon? Weekly reading assignments will explore these topics and students will be required to discuss their reflections during class discussions.

America incarcerates people at a rate higher than most countries in the world and those incarcerated are disproportionately low-income and from communities that have been historically neglected and oppressed. Course materials will examine how the socio-economic and racial disparities in the population of people incarcerated in America reflects this country’s history of poverty, slavery, and segregation.  The course will cover several theories about the drivers of mass incarceration and the legal and philosophical foundations of public defense.  

This course will explore theoretical, philosophical, and practical elements of indigent criminal defense, exploring questions such as: How do criminal justice theory and practice interact? What can an individual lawyer do to further her client's interests within this context? What is the role of the public defender in criminal justice reform? How does a public defender maintain the long view on mass incarceration and socio-economic and racial inequalities in the criminal justice system while advocating for her individual clients? What roles and tools are available, besides line public defense, for future lawyers to fill and utilize in enacting the promise of Gideon? 

Weekly reading assignments will explore these topics and students will be required to discuss their reflections during class discussions.

America incarcerates people at a rate higher than most countries in the world and those incarcerated are disproportionately low-income and from communities that have been historically neglected and oppressed. Course materials will examine how the socio-economic and racial disparities in the population of people incarcerated in America reflects this country’s history of poverty, slavery, and segregation.  The course will cover several theories about the drivers of mass incarceration and the legal and philosophical foundations of public defense.  

This course will explore theoretical, philosophical, and practical elements of indigent criminal defense, exploring questions such as: How do criminal justice theory and practice interact? What can an individual lawyer do to further her client's interests within this context? What is the role of the public defender in criminal justice reform? How does a public defender maintain the long view on mass incarceration and socio-economic and racial inequalities in the criminal justice system while advocating for her individual clients? What roles and tools are available, besides line public defense, for future lawyers to fill and utilize in enacting the promise of Gideon? 

Weekly reading assignments will explore these topics and students will be required to discuss their reflections during class discussions.

The rights of a person charged by the government with a crime are at the heart of the Bill of Rights, enshrined in the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and EighthAmendments. No single “issue” receives more attention in the Bill of Rights than protections afforded someone before they are incarcerated. And yet America incarcerates people at a rate higher than most countries in the world. Course materials will examine how the socio-economic and racial disparities in the population of people incarcerated in America reflects this country’s history of poverty, slavery, and Jim Crow laws and segregation. A public defender stands at this crossroads with her client, and must be prepared to provide zealous representation of her client in this context.

This course will explore both the theoretical and practical elements of indigent criminal defense, exploring questions such as: How do criminal justice theory and practice interact? What can an individual lawyer do to further her client's interests within this context? What is the role of the public defender in criminal justice reform? How does a public defender maintain the long view on mass incarceration and socio-economic and racial inequalities in the criminal justice system while advocating for her individual clients?

Weekly reading assignments will explore these topics, from a variety of perspectives and disciplines, and students will be required to discuss their reflections during class discussions. Students will be provided case studies, where they will be required to analyze and discuss legal and practical strategies for client communications, motions, cross-examinations, and sentencing analysis and mitigation.

The 28025 section of this course will be taught in person but with the option of occasional remote participation via Zoom.  If students require all remote participation, they must register for the 28026 section of this course, which is identical but web-based.

The rights of a person charged by the government with a crime are at the heart of the Bill of Rights, enshrined in the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and EighthAmendments. No single “issue” receives more attention in the Bill of Rights than protections afforded someone before they are incarcerated. And yet America incarcerates people at a rate higher than most countries in the world. Course materials will examine how the socio-economic and racial disparities in the population of people incarcerated in America reflects this country’s history of poverty, slavery, and Jim Crow laws and segregation. A public defender stands at this crossroads with her client, and must be prepared to provide zealous representation of her client in this context.

This course will explore both the theoretical and practical elements of indigent criminal defense, exploring questions such as: How do criminal justice theory and practice interact? What can an individual lawyer do to further her client's interests within this context? What is the role of the public defender in criminal justice reform? How does a public defender maintain the long view on mass incarceration and socio-economic and racial inequalities in the criminal justice system while advocating for her individual clients?

Weekly reading assignments will explore these topics, from a variety of perspectives and disciplines, and students will be required to discuss their reflections during class discussions. Students will be provided case studies, where they will be required to analyze and discuss legal and practical strategies for client communications, motions, cross-examinations, and sentencing analysis and mitigation.

This course covers the central patent law and regulatory questions raised by biopharmaceutical research and development. It will explore how the mix of public and private funding that supports such research and development and the intricate regulatory structure that surrounds drugs and other products affect innovation in this field. Topics examined include conditions for patentability, FDA regulations, and alternative systems for biopharmaceutical innovation.

Insurance is one of the most important tools for the management of risk by both private and public enterprises. Insurance law is a hybrid of contracts and administrative law: parties enter contractual relationships which are regulated by the state. The course introduces students to the core principles and institutions of insurance. We will approach insurance law from a law and economic perspective, aiming to understand how insurance institutions affect economic behavior of insureds, insurers and their lawyers. Broad issues to be covered include fraud, moral hazard, adverse selection and other types of divergence of incentives. We will build on these theoretical issues and attempt to understand the various doctrines developed by common law courts as strategies to deal with these problems. In addition, the course provides knowledge of basic insurance law governing insurance contract formation, the interpretation of insurance contracts, insurance regulation and more, especially in areas such as property, life, health, disability, automobile (including uninsured motorist coverage), professional and liability insurance.

Insurance is one of the most important tools for the management of risk by both private and public enterprises. Insurance law is a hybrid of contracts and administrative law: parties enter contractual relationships which are regulated by the state. The course introduces students to the core principles and institutions of insurance. We will approach insurance law from a law and economic perspective, aiming to understand how insurance institutions affect economic behavior of insureds, insurers and their lawyers. Broad issues to be covered include fraud, moral hazard, adverse selection and other types of divergence of incentives. We will build on these theoretical issues and attempt to understand the various doctrines developed by common law courts as strategies to deal with these problems. In addition, the course provides knowledge of basic insurance law governing insurance contract formation, the interpretation of insurance contracts, insurance regulation and more, especially in areas such as property, life, health, disability, automobile (including uninsured motorist coverage), professional and liability insurance.