Course Schedule

This course is a focused examination of mediation processes. We will take the topics from the Alternative Dispute Resolution course and extend our understanding with practical exercises. The student should leave this course better equipped to represent clients at mediation. This is a skills-oriented course that requires active participation, with the goal of immersing you in the developing realities of mediation.

This course focuses on the acquisition of professional skills necessary to perform two separate roles in the mediation process: legal advocate and mediator. During the course, students will learn the social and political bases for the development of alternative dispute resolution procedures; become familiar with different models of negotiation and mediation; study the legislation that regulates the practice of mediation, especially in Texas courts; increase awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses in communication and negotiation and improve those skills; acquire advocacy skills for representing clients in mediation; acquire the essential skills necessary to mediate interpersonal and legal disputes; and develop a framework for making ethical decisions as a legal advocate or mediator in the mediation process. Students will read textbooks, participate in negotiation and mediation role plays, complete exercises designed to enhance communication and negotiation skills, and prepare a reflective journal. The course is designed to fulfill the statutory minimum requirements in Texas for a basic training course in dispute resolution techniques.

This highly interactive course will examine the use of mediation as a method of dispute resolution. We will learn the statutory and case law governing the use of mediation; study mediation ethics; and practice the skills necessary to be an effective mediation advocate and mediator. Students will observe “real life” mediations conducted by experienced professionals; participate in role playing exercises as mediators, attorney advocates, and parties; and write papers on a selected topic of interest involving mediation. The course is intended to meet the statutory requirement of a minimum of 40 classroom hours of training in dispute resolution techniques.

This course is a focused examination of mediation processes. We will take the topics from the Alternative Dispute Resolution course and extend our understanding with practical exercises. The student should leave this course better equipped to represent clients at mediation. This is a skills-oriented course that requires active participation, with the goal of immersing you in the developing realities of mediation.

This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.

This course focuses on the acquisition of professional skills necessary to perform two separate roles in the mediation process: legal advocate and mediator. During the course, students will learn the social and political bases for the development of alternative dispute resolution procedures; become familiar with different models of negotiation and mediation; study the legislation that regulates the practice of mediation, especially in Texas courts; increase awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses in communication and negotiation and improve those skills; acquire advocacy skills for representing clients in mediation; acquire the essential skills necessary to mediate interpersonal and legal disputes; and develop a framework for making ethical decisions as a legal advocate or mediator in the mediation process. Students will read textbooks, participate in negotiation and mediation role plays, complete exercises designed to enhance communication and negotiation skills, and prepare a reflective journal. The course is designed to fulfill the statutory minimum requirements in Texas for a basic training course in dispute resolution techniques.

 This course is designed to give students an introduction to the real world experience of the dealmaking process, from the first contact between the parties to drafting and negotiating the documents that govern transformational corporate transactions. Over the course of the semester, we’ll break down the main agreements involved in a hypothetical deal with a view to developing a fundamental understanding of how those components interact with the overall business arrangement and deal dynamics. You will analyze and learn to understand how the key provisions of these transaction agreements are negotiated with a view to value maximization for the client and appropriate risk allocation among the parties to a deal. We will also discuss the less tangible aspects of dealmaking that take place outside the four corners of the transaction agreements but are no less important, including the economic and personal motivations of the various parties involved and the psychology and group dynamics of a deal process. As the deal world is an ever changing environment, we’ll look to bring current real world examples into the classroom. Students will engage in-class group practice assignments, including drafting (or “marking up”) transaction documents and preparing issues lists in the context of a prepared fact pattern. Subject matter experts from K&E will be presenting special topics, including financing strategies, navigating deal litigation and public disclosure issues.

 This course is designed to give students an introduction to the real world experience of the dealmaking process, from the first contact between the parties to drafting and negotiating the documents that govern transformational corporate transactions. Over the course of the semester, we’ll break down the main agreements involved in a hypothetical deal with a view to developing a fundamental understanding of how those components interact with the overall business arrangement and deal dynamics. You will analyze and learn to understand how the key provisions of these transaction agreements are negotiated with a view to value maximization for the client and appropriate risk allocation among the parties to a deal. We will also discuss the less tangible aspects of dealmaking that take place outside the four corners of the transaction agreements but are no less important, including the economic and personal motivations of the various parties involved and the psychology and group dynamics of a deal process. As the deal world is an ever changing environment, we’ll look to bring current real world examples into the classroom. Students will engage in-class group practice assignments, including drafting (or “marking up”) transaction documents and preparing issues lists in the context of a prepared fact pattern. Subject matter experts from K&E will be presenting special topics, including financing strategies, navigating deal litigation and public disclosure issues.

This course is designed to give students an introduction to the real world experience of the dealmaking process, from the first contact between the parties to drafting and negotiating the documents that govern transformational corporate transactions. Over the course of the semester, we’ll break down the main agreements involved in a hypothetical deal with a view to developing a fundamental understanding of how those components interact with the overall business arrangement and deal dynamics. You will analyze and learn to understand how the key provisions of these transaction agreements are negotiated with a view to value maximization for the client and appropriate risk allocation among the parties to a deal. We will also discuss the less tangible aspects of dealmaking that take place outside the four corners of the transaction agreements but are no less important, including the economic and personal motivations of the various parties involved and the psychology and group dynamics of a deal process. As the deal world is an ever changing environment, we’ll look to bring current real world examples into the classroom. Students will engage in-class group practice assignments, including drafting (or “marking up”) transaction documents and preparing issues lists in the context of a prepared fact pattern. Subject matter experts from K&E will be presenting special topics, including financing strategies, navigating deal litigation and public disclosure issues.

This course is designed to give students an introduction to the real world experience of the dealmaking process, from the first contact between the parties to drafting and negotiating the documents that govern transformational corporate transactions. Over the course of the semester, we’ll break down the main agreements involved in a hypothetical deal with a view to developing a fundamental understanding of how those components interact with the overall business arrangement and deal dynamics. You will analyze and learn to understand how the key provisions of these transaction agreements are negotiated with a view to value maximization for the client and appropriate risk allocation among the parties to a deal. We will also discuss the less tangible aspects of dealmaking that take place outside the four corners of the transaction agreements but are no less important. Specifically, we’ll discuss the economic and personal motivations of the various parties involved and the psychology and group dynamics of a deal process. As the deal world is an ever changing environment, we’ll look to bring current real world examples into the classroom. Students will participate in both in-class and out-of-class group practice assignments, including drafting (or “marking up”) transaction documents and negotiating key issues in the context of a prepared fact pattern. Subject matter experts from K&E will be presenting special topics, including tax structuring for deals, financing strategies, navigating deal litigation and public disclosure issues.

This course is designed to facilitate the development and refinement of knowledge and skills necessary to fulfill the mitigation function on capital or non-capital defense teams. The goals of the course are to introduce students to roles and responsibilities of mitigation specialists and sentencing advocates and facilitate the development of skills needed to work within interdisciplinary defense settings. The course will take a broad interdisciplinary approach to sentencing advocacy, providing students with an opportunity to learn legal frameworks that govern the presentation and consideration of mitigating evidence. Through both conceptual instruction and low-ratio supervision workshops, students will learn to develop a biopsychosocial history of the client, interview and forge relationships with clients and their family members, identify underlying causes of behavior, and facilitate restorative solutions for the client and community. Learning will culminate in the production of a compelling mitigation presentation.

This course will bring together interdisciplinary teams of social work undergraduate and masters-level students working in combination with UT law students. Given the interdisciplinary nature of mitigation work, a small number of seats will also be reserved for students from other disciplines including communication, education, psychology, sociology, and others. Students from different educational backgrounds and concentrations will work together in small diverse groups to produce and present assignments to the larger class. The course will be taught by a combination of lawyers and practicing mitigation specialists, and will feature guest lectures and presentations by leaders in the mitigation field.

Course Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate engagement, assessment, intervention and evaluation skills relevant to developing mitigating evidence in a capital or non-capital case; this may include document collection, interviewing, consulting with experts and other skills related to biopsychosocial history and investigation.
2. Understand legal frameworks for the presentation and consideration of mitigation evidence.
3. Constructively participate as a member of an interdisciplinary team while: retaining professional identity; brainstorming issues and problems that arise in the defense of criminal cases; and developing strategies to address them.
4. Discuss and work through ethical issues that arise in capital and noncapital cases.
5. Demonstrate how to incorporate multimedia strategies and tools to present the most compelling mitigation presentation in a given case.
6. Encourage creativity and interdisciplinary conceptualization of overarching themes and stories that arise in capital and noncapital cases.
7. Critically examine the context of systemic and structural oppression and other relevant social justice issues on the micro, mezzo, and macro level.

This course is designed to facilitate the development and refinement of knowledge and skills necessary to fulfill the mitigation function on capital or non-capital defense teams. The goals of the course are to introduce students to roles and responsibilities of mitigation specialists and sentencing advocates and facilitate the development of skills needed to work within interdisciplinary defense settings. The course will take a broad interdisciplinary approach to sentencing advocacy, providing students with an opportunity to learn legal frameworks that govern the presentation and consideration of mitigating evidence. Through both conceptual instruction and low-ratio supervision workshops, students will learn to develop a biopsychosocial history of the client, interview and forge relationships with clients and their family members, identify underlying causes of behavior, and facilitate restorative solutions for the client and community. Learning will culminate in the production of a compelling mitigation presentation.

This course will bring together interdisciplinary teams of social work undergraduate and masters-level students working in combination with UT law students. Given the interdisciplinary nature of mitigation work, a small number of seats will also be reserved for students from other disciplines including communication, education, psychology, sociology, and others. Students from different educational backgrounds and concentrations will work together in small diverse groups to produce and present assignments to the larger class. The course will be taught by a combination of lawyers and practicing mitigation specialists, and will feature guest lectures and presentations by leaders in the mitigation field.

Course Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate engagement, assessment, intervention and evaluation skills relevant to developing mitigating evidence in a capital or non-capital case; this may include document collection, interviewing, consulting with experts and other skills related to biopsychosocial history and investigation.
2. Understand legal frameworks for the presentation and consideration of mitigation evidence.
3. Constructively participate as a member of an interdisciplinary team while: retaining professional identity; brainstorming issues and problems that arise in the defense of criminal cases; and developing strategies to address them.
4. Discuss and work through ethical issues that arise in capital and noncapital cases.
5. Demonstrate how to incorporate multimedia strategies and tools to present the most compelling mitigation presentation in a given case.
6. Encourage creativity and interdisciplinary conceptualization of overarching themes and stories that arise in capital and noncapital cases.
7. Critically examine the context of systemic and structural oppression and other relevant social justice issues on the micro, mezzo, and macro level.

This course is designed to facilitate the development and refinement of knowledge and skills necessary to fulfill the mitigation function on capital or non-capital defense teams. The goals of the course are to introduce students to roles and responsibilities of mitigation specialists and sentencing advocates and facilitate the development of skills needed to work within interdisciplinary defense settings. The course will take a broad interdisciplinary approach to sentencing advocacy, providing students with an opportunity to learn legal frameworks that govern the presentation and consideration of mitigating evidence. Through both conceptual instruction and low-ratio supervision workshops, students will learn to develop a biopsychosocial history of the client, interview and forge relationships with clients and their family members, identify underlying causes of behavior, and facilitate restorative solutions for the client and community. Learning will culminate in the production of a compelling mitigation presentation.

This course will bring together interdisciplinary teams of social work undergraduate and masters-level students working in combination with UT law students. Given the interdisciplinary nature of mitigation work, a small number of seats will also be reserved for students from other disciplines including communication, education, psychology, sociology, and others. Students from different educational backgrounds and concentrations will work together in small diverse groups to produce and present assignments to the larger class. The course will be taught by a combination of lawyers and practicing mitigation specialists, and will feature guest lectures and presentations by leaders in the mitigation field.

Course Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate engagement, assessment, intervention and evaluation skills relevant to developing mitigating evidence in a capital or non-capital case; this may include document collection, interviewing, consulting with experts and other skills related to biopsychosocial history and investigation.
2. Understand legal frameworks for the presentation and consideration of mitigation evidence.
3. Constructively participate as a member of an interdisciplinary team while: retaining professional identity; brainstorming issues and problems that arise in the defense of criminal cases; and developing strategies to address them.
4. Discuss and work through ethical issues that arise in capital and noncapital cases.
5. Demonstrate how to incorporate multimedia strategies and tools to present the most compelling mitigation presentation in a given case.
6. Encourage creativity and interdisciplinary conceptualization of overarching themes and stories that arise in capital and noncapital cases.
7. Critically examine the context of systemic and structural oppression and other relevant social justice issues on the micro, mezzo, and macro level.

This course is designed to facilitate the development and refinement of knowledge and skills necessary to fulfill the mitigation function on capital or non-capital defense teams. The goals of the course are to introduce students to roles and responsibilities of mitigation specialists and sentencing advocates and facilitate the development of skills needed to work within interdisciplinary defense settings. The course will take a broad interdisciplinary approach to sentencing advocacy, providing students with an opportunity to learn legal frameworks that govern the presentation and consideration of mitigating evidence. Through both conceptual instruction and low-ratio supervision workshops, students will learn to develop a biopsychosocial history of the client, interview and forge relationships with clients and their family members, identify underlying causes of behavior, and facilitate restorative solutions for the client and community. Learning will culminate in the production of a compelling mitigation presentation.

This course will bring together interdisciplinary teams of social work undergraduate and masters-level students working in combination with UT law students. Given the interdisciplinary nature of mitigation work, a small number of seats will also be reserved for students from other disciplines including communication, education, psychology, sociology, and others. Students from different educational backgrounds and concentrations will work together in small diverse groups to produce and present assignments to the larger class. The course will be taught by a combination of lawyers and practicing mitigation specialists, and will feature guest lectures and presentations by leaders in the mitigation field.

Course Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate engagement, assessment, intervention and evaluation skills relevant to developing mitigating evidence in a capital or non-capital case; this may include document collection, interviewing, consulting with experts and other skills related to biopsychosocial history and investigation.
2. Understand legal frameworks for the presentation and consideration of mitigation evidence.
3. Constructively participate as a member of an interdisciplinary team while: retaining professional identity; brainstorming issues and problems that arise in the defense of criminal cases; and developing strategies to address them.
4. Discuss and work through ethical issues that arise in capital and noncapital cases.
5. Demonstrate how to incorporate multimedia strategies and tools to present the most compelling mitigation presentation in a given case.
6. Encourage creativity and interdisciplinary conceptualization of overarching themes and stories that arise in capital and noncapital cases.
7. Critically examine the context of systemic and structural oppression and other relevant social justice issues on the micro, mezzo, and macro level.

This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom. 

This course is designed to facilitate the development and refinement of knowledge and skills necessary to fulfill the mitigation function on capital or non-capital defense teams. The goals of the course are to introduce students to roles and responsibilities of mitigation specialists and sentencing advocates and facilitate the development of skills needed to work within interdisciplinary defense settings. The course will take a broad interdisciplinary approach to sentencing advocacy, providing students with an opportunity to learn legal frameworks that govern the presentation and consideration of mitigating evidence. Through both conceptual instruction and low-ratio supervision workshops, students will learn to develop a biopsychosocial history of the client, interview and forge relationships with clients and their family members, identify underlying causes of behavior, and facilitate restorative solutions for the client and community. Learning will culminate in the production of a compelling mitigation presentation.

This course will bring together interdisciplinary teams of social work undergraduate and masters-level students working in combination with UT law students. Given the interdisciplinary nature of mitigation work, a small number of seats will also be reserved for students from other disciplines including communication, education, psychology, sociology, and others. Students from different educational backgrounds and concentrations will work together in small diverse groups to produce and present assignments to the larger class. The course will be taught by a combination of lawyers and practicing mitigation specialists, and will feature guest lectures and presentations by leaders in the mitigation field.

Course Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate engagement, assessment, intervention and evaluation skills relevant to developing mitigating evidence in a capital or non-capital case; this may include document collection, interviewing, consulting with experts and other skills related to biopsychosocial history and investigation.
2. Understand legal frameworks for the presentation and consideration of mitigation evidence.
3. Constructively participate as a member of an interdisciplinary team while: retaining professional identity; brainstorming issues and problems that arise in the defense of criminal cases; and developing strategies to address them.
4. Discuss and work through ethical issues that arise in capital and noncapital cases.
5. Demonstrate how to incorporate multimedia strategies and tools to present the most compelling mitigation presentation in a given case.
6. Encourage creativity and interdisciplinary conceptualization of overarching themes and stories that arise in capital and noncapital cases.
7. Critically examine the context of systemic and structural oppression and other relevant social justice issues on the micro, mezzo, and macro level.

This course will introduce students to the different avenues and theories movement lawyers can utilize to conceptualize and achieve social change. Through readings, discussion, engagement with speakers and project development, we will explore past, present, and future movement lawyering strategies and concepts. We will examine the ways social justice lawyers engage with communities, clients, and political causes, as well as the ethical issues that may arise when advocating on behalf of class members with divergent interests. We will discuss the role of law in social change, its effectiveness and limitations. This course will help students articulate goals for movement lawyers and the need to work in partnership with communities, organizers, and policymakers to achieve justice. To that end, discussion will include how legal assistance is funded and delivered; different substantive legal arenas in which movement lawyering is pursued; the civil rights movement; emerging legal scholarship on Afrofuturism; and the diverse ways in which individuals can work in and outside the courtroom.

Professional athletes have had a right of publicity – the right to profit from their name, image, and likeness – for decades.  Until recently, college athletes did not have this right, but recent court cases and state laws have changed this.  This course will analyze the new rights granted to college athletes, how the athletes can benefit from their name, image, and likeness, and how the new rules - including the portal - may change the landscape of college sports.

Professional athletes have had a right of publicity – the right to profit from their name, image, and likeness – for decades.  Until recently, college athletes did not have this right, but recent court cases and state laws have changed this.  This course will analyze the new rights granted to college athletes, how the athletes can benefit from their name, image, and likeness, and how the new rules may change the landscape of college sports.

As the practice of law changes with the rise of technology, deep communications skills will become ever more important and valuable. Whether your practice involves litigation or transactional law, you must be able to communicate effectively to persuade and prevail. We know we need to marshal the facts in order to build a theme and theory, a story, a way to move decision-makers to act, but how, exactly, do we do it? This class borrows from the Creative Problem Solving method but uses it in a unique way, teaching students how to design and develop a process to generate and evaluate narratives to best solve their clients' problems. Students work in small groups to practice and cement these communications skills, receiving direct feedback from highly-experienced lawyers and communications professionals who do this every day. This is truly learning to think and communicate like an expert lawyer. The transferrable skills students acquire in this experiential class provide a framework that will serve them for years as their careers evolve. Pass/Fail. This 1 credit class will meet for five total sessions.

As the practice of law changes with the rise of technology, deep communications skills will become ever more important and valuable. Whether your practice involves litigation or transactional law, you must be able to communicate effectively to persuade and prevail. We know we need to marshal the facts in order to build a theme and theory, a story, a way to move decision-makers to act, but how, exactly, do we do it? This class borrows from the Creative Problem Solving method but uses it in a unique way, teaching students how to design and develop a process to generate and evaluate narratives to best solve their clients' problems. Students work in small groups to practice and cement these communications skills, receiving direct feedback from highly-experienced lawyers and communications professionals who do this every day. This is truly learning to think and communicate like an expert lawyer. The transferrable skills students acquire in this experiential class provide a framework that will serve them for years as their careers evolve. Pass/Fail. This 1 credit class will meet for five total sessions.

This course will survey the bodies of law and government institutions involved in counterterrorism. These include intelligence and surveillance law, criminal law, international humanitarian law (including rules for detention and targeting), public international law and U.S. Constitutional law relevant to the use of military force against terrorist groups, and others. It will also consider contemporary debates over domestic terrorism, online content moderation and mandatory takedowns, and encrypted communications, while enriching these discussions with international comparisons and guest speakers from the world of practice. Students will be evaluated based on a final exam and class participation.

This course will survey the bodies of law and government institutions involved in counterterrorism. These include intelligence and surveillance law, criminal law, international humanitarian law (including rules for detention and targeting), public international law and U.S. Constitutional law relevant to the use of military force against terrorist groups, and others. It will also consider contemporary debates over domestic terrorism, online content moderation and mandatory takedowns, and encrypted communications, while enriching these discussions with international comparisons and guest speakers from the world of practice. Students will be evaluated based on a final exam and class participation.

This course will survey the bodies of law and government institutions involved in counterterrorism. These include intelligence and surveillance law, criminal law, international humanitarian law (including rules for detention and targeting), public international law and U.S. Constitutional law relevant to the use of military force against terrorist groups, and others. It will also consider contemporary debates over domestic terrorism, online content moderation and mandatory takedowns, and encrypted communications, while enriching these discussions with international comparisons and guest speakers from the world of practice. Students will be evaluated based on a final exam and class participation.

This course will provide an introduction and overview of the “new” and expanding use of the traditional tools of economic statecraft -- including sanctions, export controls, and investment reviews -- to protect and defend the national security of the United States against foreign adversaries.  Students will learn how the Treasury and Commerce Departments have joined forces with more traditional national security actors in the Intelligence Community like the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense to advance U.S. national security interests abroad and to isolate and undermine foreign threats.  Students will consider the impact of laws like the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Arms Export Control Act, the Export Controls Reform Act, and the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, as well as other regulations and authorities, and will be prepared to recognize and participate in the growing use of these tools in our post-September 11 world.

No textbook required; course will reference articles and cases.

This course will provide an introduction and overview of the “new” and expanding use of the traditional tools of economic statecraft -- including sanctions, export controls, and investment reviews -- to protect and defend the national security of the United States against foreign adversaries.  Students will learn how the Treasury and Commerce Departments have joined forces with more traditional national security actors in the Intelligence Community like the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense to advance U.S. national security interests abroad and to isolate and undermine foreign threats.  Students will consider the impact of laws like the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Arms Export Control Act, the Export Controls Reform Act, and the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, as well as other regulations and authorities, and will be prepared to recognize and participate in the growing use of these tools in our post-September 11 world.

No textbook required; course will reference articles and cases.