Course Schedule

This course will cover current health care business and regulatory issues, including (1) laws prohibiting payments and benefits by hospitals to physicians in exchange for patient admisssions and referrals, (2) whistleblower lawsuits within the health care industry and uncovering and self-disclosing improper health care arrangements, (3) indictment of health care lawyers participating in illegal transactions, (4) prohibitions against the corporate practice of medicine and fee-splitting by physicians, (5) non-competition agreements in the health care industry, and (6) business and contracutal disputes and tortious interference claims between hospitals and physicians and other health care providers.

This course will cover current health care business and regulatory issues, including (1) laws prohibiting payments and benefits by hospitals to physicians in exchange for patient admisssions and referrals, (2) whistleblower lawsuits within the health care industry and uncovering and self-disclosing improper health care arrangements, (3) indictment of health care lawyers participating in illegal transactions, (4) prohibitions against the corporate practice of medicine and fee-splitting by physicians, (5) non-competition agreements in the health care industry, and (6) business and contracutal disputes and tortious interference claims between hospitals and physicians and other health care providers.

This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.

This course will cover current health care business and regulatory issues, including (1) laws prohibiting payments and benefits by hospitals to physicians in exchange for patient admisssions and referrals, (2) whistleblower lawsuits within the health care industry and uncovering and self-disclosing improper health care arrangements, (3) indictment of health care lawyers participating in illegal transactions, (4) prohibitions against the corporate practice of medicine and fee-splitting by physicians, (5) non-competition agreements in the health care industry, and (6) business and contracutal disputes and tortious interference claims between hospitals and physicians and other health care providers.

This seminar will examine historic and contemporary issues of race and the death penalty within American law and jurisprudence. Through this course, students will learn substantive principles; study the growing body of critical legal scholarship covering the matter; and examine the potential (and limits) of the law. By the end of the course, students will be able to analyze the interplay between race and the death penalty; acquire tools to think critically about its legal framework and engage with the role of racialized identities in its use. Utilizing – among other things – case law, statutory interpretation, statistical data, legal scholarship and legislative efforts, the course will undertake the project of grappling with a real-world example of the racialized nature of the death penalty.

This seminar focuses on the growing role of state and federal courts in improving the ability of schools to prepare students for college, the workforce and effective participation as citizens. Students will read court cases, published legal policies regarding education, and proposed legislation related to school reform. The first part of the seminar addresses the trend of increased litigation involving schools, with an emphasis on alternatives to litigation. The second part of the seminar examines the opportunities for lawyers to become personally involved in school reform, particularly in the making of national state and local educational policy. Lawyers as school counsel, school administrators, elected officials, volunteers, experts, and concerned parents all play an important role in improving schools. Students will be expected to write a thoughtful, well-researched legal paper on a contemporary legal problem that schools face. The students' problem-solving skills will be brought to bear on identifying in this paper whether the schools have been presented with real conflicts or perceived conflicts that are based on false choices. Not only is the student expected to carefully describe the legal issues, and apply pertinent legal and scholarly research, this seminar calls on the student to find the right balance between accountability and flexibility, equity and excellence, deference to educators and the court's duty to enforce the laws.

This seminar focuses on the growing role of state and federal courts in improving the ability of schools to prepare students for college, the workforce and effective participation as citizens. Students will read court cases, published legal policies regarding education, and proposed legislation related to school reform. The first part of the seminar addresses the trend of increased litigation involving schools, with an emphasis on alternatives to litigation. The second part of the seminar examines the opportunities for lawyers to become personally involved in school reform, particularly in the making of national state and local educational policy. Lawyers as school counsel, school administrators, elected officials, volunteers, experts, and concerned parents all play an important role in improving schools. Students will be expected to write a thoughtful, well-researched legal paper on a contemporary legal problem that schools face. The students' problem-solving skills will be brought to bear on identifying in this paper whether the schools have been presented with real conflicts or perceived conflicts that are based on false choices. Not only is the student expected to carefully describe the legal issues, and apply pertinent legal and scholarly research, this seminar calls on the student to find the right balance between accountability and flexibility, equity and excellence, deference to educators and the court's duty to enforce the laws.

The 28505 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 28506 section of this course, which is identical but web-based.

This seminar focuses on the growing role of state and federal courts in improving the ability of schools to prepare students for college, the workforce and effective participation as citizens. Students will read court cases, published legal policies regarding education, and proposed legislation related to school reform. The first part of the seminar addresses the trend of increased litigation involving schools, with an emphasis on alternatives to litigation. The second part of the seminar examines the opportunities for lawyers to become personally involved in school reform, particularly in the making of national state and local educational policy. Lawyers as school counsel, school administrators, elected officials, volunteers, experts, and concerned parents all play an important role in improving schools. Students will be expected to write a thoughtful, well-researched legal paper on a contemporary legal problem that schools face. The students' problem-solving skills will be brought to bear on identifying in this paper whether the schools have been presented with real conflicts or perceived conflicts that are based on false choices. Not only is the student expected to carefully describe the legal issues, and apply pertinent legal and scholarly research, this seminar calls on the student to find the right balance between accountability and flexibility, equity and excellence, deference to educators and the court's duty to enforce the laws.

This writing seminar will focus on the substantive and procedural legal issues which relate to the protection of children. The first six classes of the seminar will provide an overview of child protection issues. The first class will include a presentation on child abuse and neglect cases; what it is and what it is not. The distinction between criminal child abuse cases and civil child protection (CPS) cases will be discussed.  The next five classes will cover the duty to report child abuse, the removal of children from their homes, termination of parental rights, systemic problems within the foster care system, the rights of children and their parents in child protection proceedings, and the criminal prosecution of child abuse. The readings for the first six classes are posted on canvas or cites for the internet link and Westlaw are provided in the syllabus and on canvas. Students are expected to read and be prepared to discuss the assigned readings in class. Any changes in the class schedule will be posted on canvas. (Occasionally, the order of topics will alter from the initial outline due to availability of guest speakers. Additional readings and discussion may be supplemented which will include the interplay of the protection of children with other areas of the law such as immigration, education law, and family law. Grades will be based on the 1) outline, 2) first draft of paper, 3) feedback to the class regarding mandatory observation of CPS docket, 4) class participation, 5) in-class presentation of paper, 6) critique of another student's paper, and 7) 25-30 page final paper.

This writing seminar will focus on the substantive and procedural legal issues which relate to the protection of children. The first six classes of the seminar will provide an overview of child protection issues. The first class will include a presentation on child abuse and neglect cases; what it is and what it is not. The distinction between criminal child abuse cases and civil child protection (CPS) cases will be discussed.  The next five classes will cover the duty to report child abuse, the removal of children from their homes, termination of parental rights, systemic problems within the foster care system, the rights of children and their parents in child protection proceedings, and the criminal prosecution of child abuse. The readings for the first six classes are posted on canvas or cites for the internet link and Westlaw are provided in the syllabus and on canvas. Students are expected to read and be prepared to discuss the assigned readings in class. Any changes in the class schedule will be posted on canvas. (Occasionally, the order of topics will alter from the initial outline due to availability of guest speakers. Additional readings and discussion may be supplemented which will include the interplay of the protection of children with other areas of the law such as immigration, education law, and family law. Grades will be based on the 1) outline, 2) first draft of paper, 3) feedback to the class regarding mandatory observation of CPS docket, 4) class participation, 5) in-class presentation of paper, 6) critique of another student's paper, and 7) 25-30 page final paper.

This writing seminar will focus on the substantive and procedural legal issues which relate to the protection of children. The first six classes of the seminar will provide an overview of child protection issues. The first class will include a presentation on child abuse and neglect cases; what it is and what it is not. The distinction between criminal child abuse cases and civil child protection (CPS) cases will be discussed.  The next five classes will cover the duty to report child abuse, the removal of children from their homes, termination of parental rights, systemic problems within the foster care system, the rights of children and their parents in child protection proceedings, and the criminal prosecution of child abuse. The readings for the first six classes are posted on canvas or cites for the internet link and Westlaw are provided in the syllabus and on canvas. Students are expected to read and be prepared to discuss the assigned readings in class. Any changes in the class schedule will be posted on canvas. (Occasionally, the order of topics will alter from the initial outline due to availability of guest speakers. Additional readings and discussion may be supplemented which will include the interplay of the protection of children with other areas of the law such as immigration, education law, and family law. Grades will be based on the 1) outline, 2) first draft of paper, 3) feedback to the class regarding mandatory observation of CPS docket, 4) class participation, 5) in-class presentation of paper, 6) critique of another student's paper, and 7) 25-30 page final paper.

This writing seminar will focus on the substantive and procedural legal issues which relate to the protection of children. The first six classes of the seminar will provide an overview of child protection issues. The first class will include a presentation on child abuse and neglect cases; what it is and what it is not. The distinction between criminal child abuse cases and civil child protection (CPS) cases will be discussed.  The next five classes will cover the duty to report child abuse, the removal of children from their homes, termination of parental rights, systemic problems within the foster care system, the rights of children and their parents in child protection proceedings, and the criminal prosecution of child abuse. The readings for the first six classes are posted on canvas or cites for the internet link and Westlaw are provided in the syllabus and on canvas. Students are expected to read and be prepared to discuss the assigned readings in class. Any changes in the class schedule will be posted on canvas. (Occasionally, the order of topics will alter from the initial outline due to availability of guest speakers. Additional readings and discussion may be supplemented which will include the interplay of the protection of children with other areas of the law such as immigration, education law, and family law. Grades will be based on the 1) outline, 2) first draft of paper, 3) feedback to the class regarding mandatory observation of CPS docket, 4) class participation, 5) in-class presentation of paper, 6) critique of another student's paper, and 7) 25-30 page final paper.

This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.

This writing seminar will focus on the substantive and procedural legal issues which relate to the protection of children. The first six classes of the seminar will provide an overview of child protection issues. The first class will include a presentation on child abuse and neglect cases; what it is and what it is not. The distinction between criminal child abuse cases and civil child protection (CPS) cases will be discussed.  The next five classes will cover the duty to report child abuse, the removal of children from their homes, termination of parental rights, systemic problems within the foster care system, the rights of children and their parents in child protection proceedings, and the criminal prosecution of child abuse. The readings for the first six classes are posted on canvas or cites for the internet link and Westlaw are provided in the syllabus and on canvas. Students are expected to read and be prepared to discuss the assigned readings in class. Any changes in the class schedule will be posted on canvas. (Occasionally, the order of topics will alter from the initial outline due to availability of guest speakers. Additional readings and discussion may be supplemented which will include the interplay of the protection of children with other areas of the law such as immigration, education law, and family law. Grades will be based on the 1) outline, 2) first draft of paper, 3) feedback to the class regarding mandatory observation of CPS docket, 4) class participation, 5) in-class presentation of paper, 6) critique of another student's paper, and 7) 25-30 page final paper.

The 21st century has been hailed the “century of the city”. The figures behind this label are mind boggling, considering that the world’s urban population has increased nearly thirtyfold since the early 1900s. This shift marks an unprecedented transformation of the organization of society, both spatially and geopolitically. This seminar offers an opportunity for students to engage with recent legal and social science scholarship concerning this global trend. Among the issues covered are the constitutional law and politics of city status in unitary and federal countries in the so-called “Global North” and “Global South”; the “right to the city” and its interpretations; self-empowerment attempts by cities (e.g. human rights cities, sanctuary cities, urban citizenship, participatory democracy); cities, city-networks and the transnational order; and the law and politics of the urban-rural divide. Evaluation will be based on participation, two short comment papers, and a final seminar paper.

The class sessions of the seminar will be devoted to various aspects of acquiring and maintaining United States citizenship. Subjects such as derivative citizenship, denaturalization, expatriation, so-called "anchor babies," and other subjects will be explored. Papers can be on any topic agreed upon between the student and faculty member.

The class sessions of the seminar will be devoted to various aspects of acquiring and maintaining United States citizenship. Subjects such as derivative citizenship, denaturalization, expatriation, so-called "anchor babies," and other subjects will be explored. Papers can be on any topic agreed upon between the student and faculty member.

The 28515 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 28487 section of this course, which is identical but web-based.

The class sessions of the seminar will be devoted to various aspects of acquiring and maintaining United States citizenship. Subjects such as derivative citizenship, denaturalization, expatriation, so-called "anchor babies," and other subjects will be explored. Papers can be on any topic agreed upon between the student and faculty member.

This seminar will explore emergent legal, policy-based, social, political, and moral responses to present-day climate destabilization, known as a "threat multiplier" within and across institutions and fields. Rather than lean into the problematics of climate predictions and our obligations to affected future generations, we'll concentrate on understanding the challenges that climate change is beginning to wreak on a presently-affected generation: yours.

Our collective gaze is likely to focus on such arenas of concern as the state of climate science; health science, policy, and law and the human body's heat thresholds; climate mitigation under the lenses of climate diplomacy, climate politics, and the energy transition; legal and equitable theories of recovery for present damage, injury, and harm; green community planning and climate pledges and insurance-driven red-lining threats; and the hopes, promises, and pitches of climate tech and geoengineered solutions.

Learning will be enhanced by multi-disciplinary readings and other materials, by vigorous in-class discussion, and by expert guest-participants.

I welcome students from a diversity of fields and programs into the class! 

Class members will write one very brief paper, due early in the term, and a research-based paper,  format-appropriate to the student's field, at the end. The latter may be a collaborative work by two or more students and it may embody a creative design, a social

purpose, or a publication aim.

Reasonable attendance will be required and no AI-assistance will be allowed.

     This seminar aims to explore a clutch of topics that represent just a few of the severe and accelerating disruptions to conventional societal arrangements and institutions being instigated or worsened by climate change. Those I have chosen for this Spring’s course engage in immediate terms with fields that include-- and often multiply intersect with-- law; environmental engineering; community and regional planning; public health; public policy and private governance; and the economics of global trade. Problem analysis together with solutions-pathways will be our primary modes of address. Our main gear of operations will involve a focus on challenges that are coming to afflict not only future generations but yours.

     Specific issues for dissection may include the energy transition and next-gen fuels; risk management in the public and private sectors (droughts, floods, extreme heat, private residential insurance); environmental justice for front-line communities; the dam crisis and the re-design of fisheries and waterways; the burdensome economics of “fast” industries such as fashion and furniture; the biodiversity crisis (and why it matters); the global food crisis and its relationship to industrial agriculture and trade; and the professional ethics of lawyers.  Students who enroll in the seminar before the term begins will be invited to vote on the inclusion of one or more of these.

     Learning will be enhanced by the inter-disciplinary mix of our class’s membership, by diverse readings and other materials, by vigorous discussion, and by expert guest- participants.

     Students will write brief analytic papers and one creative one and a brief paper at the end of the term. Students may write collaboratively as pairs, groups, or teams at least once, so long as each person’s contributions are separately identified.

This seminar is designed to explore a selection of the accelerating issues and problems that the systemic challenges of climate change are bringing about in what many are calling the Age of the Anthropocene. Our efforts will be both normative and practical, as we  consider critiques of legal and other forms of address based on convention, tradition, and stationarity and as we explore emerging efforts in the public and private sectors to inspire and to generate new responses across institutions and fields.

     Topic coverage will include some of the most monumental of these challenges, within such spheres as the energy transition, food production, human migration, biodiversity, and the public health, but will also sample subjects responsive to management on a more local or regional scale, such as environmental justice, transport, wildfire management, and, possibly, sports. We’ll also consider a project in the very early stages of formation that’s being designed to develop newly participatory, democratic networks of governance.   

    The seminar’s methods will emphasize discussion, including team-led discussion; contributions to group learning based on the mix of disciplinary studies of our student members; and guest presentations by people with special expertise. For the writing component of the seminar: Students may write in one of two different formats. Each student will choose which to use:

                 Choice A: Each student will write a total of four brief discussion/reaction papers during the semester in response to each of four units of readings, plus a brief paper based on light research due at the end of the term on a topic of the student’s choice, subject to instructor approval, linked to climate change; or,

                Choice B: A  student may write a conventional research paper due at the end of the term on a subject of her or his choice, subject to instructor approval,  linked to climate change.

                 As to both choices: The final paper may be on a subject not covered during the term.

                 As to Choice B: Students may co-author a paper. And the instructor may offer some topic possibilities from which students can choose, if they’d like.

    The seminar intends to provide a gathering place for millennials to collect and form views and understandings concerning the existential risks that climate change poses to the lives of ordered opportunity that your generation expects to lead. It will attempt to provide some  valuable opportunities to respond.

Entrepreneurial enterprises have been working to beneficially address the causes and effects of climate change for some time in fields such as clean energy, drug development, agricultural sciences and a wide variety of industrial fields. Many of today’s entrepreneurs hear the call for start-ups charting mitigation approaches, adaptation strategies, or perhaps even remedies, to climate change. Arguably a problem itself caused by entrepreneurs – how many tons of greenhouse gases can be traced back to innovative new businesses through history deploying the combustion engine, steam turbine and Haber method? - an argument can be made that harnessing the same forces to address it will be one of our most effective response strategies.

This course focuses on the nexus of entrepreneurialism and climate change, a scope that includes special legal, policy, technical and business issues as well as standard entrepreneur business law and practice topics. It is designed for Law students interested in supporting and working with entrepreneurs, and/or in being one him- or herself, but it also is structured to be suitable for McCombs and LBJ School students. The course covers the following subjects: 1) entrepreneurialism and climate change, in particular the historical and future relationships between the two; 2) technical, scientific and policy background on climate change (UN IPCC, National Climate Assessment, Paris Agreement etc.); 3) legal issues of climate change and business, including tort/regulatory exposure, SEC disclosures and social good vs. shareholder duties; 4) historical precedents of entrepreneurialism as a response to crises; and 5) basics of new venture creation and practice, including business plan drafting and investment pitching.

The class culminates in a final assignment in which each student writes a business plan for a venture of his or her choosing, where the plan must be designed to both present a compelling investment opportunity and also beneficially address climate change adaptation and/or mitigation. Grading is based on several short writing assignments, the final project and class participation.

Entrepreneurial enterprises have been working to beneficially address the causes and effects of climate change for some time in fields such as clean energy, drug development, agricultural sciences and a wide variety of industrial fields. Many of today’s entrepreneurs hear the call for start-ups charting mitigation approaches, adaptation strategies, or perhaps even remedies, to climate change. Arguably a problem itself caused by entrepreneurs – how many tons of greenhouse gases can be traced back to innovative new businesses through history deploying the combustion engine, steam turbine and Haber method? - an argument can be made that harnessing the same forces to address it will be one of our most effective responses.

This course focuses on the nexus of entrepreneurialism and climate change, a scope that includes special legal, policy, technical and business issues as well as standard entrepreneur business law and practice topics. It is designed for Law students interested in supporting and working with entrepreneurs (and/or in being one him- or herself) but it also is structured to be suitable for McCombs and LBJ School students. The course covers the following subjects: 1) Background on entrepreneurialism and climate change, and the historical relationship between the two; 2) Technical background on climate change (UN IPCC, National Climate Assessment, Paris Agreement etc.); 3) Legal issues of climate change and business, including tort/regulatory exposure, SEC disclosures and social good vs. shareholder duties; 4) Historical precedents of entrepreneurialism as a response to crises; and 5) Basics of new venture creation and practice, including business plan drafting and investment pitching.

Grading is based on class participation, several writing assignments and the final project, which requires each student to write an abbreviated "business plan" for a new business venture of their choosing that will beneficially affect mitigation and/or adaptation to climate change.

The 28520 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 28483 section of this course, which is identical but web-based.

Entrepreneurial enterprises have been working to beneficially address the causes and effects of climate change for some time in fields such as clean energy, drug development, agricultural sciences and a wide variety of industrial fields. Many of today’s entrepreneurs hear the call for start-ups charting mitigation approaches, adaptation strategies, or perhaps even remedies, to climate change. Arguably a problem itself caused by entrepreneurs – how many tons of greenhouse gases can be traced back to innovative new businesses through history deploying the combustion engine, steam turbine and Haber method? - an argument can be made that harnessing the same forces to address it will be one of our most effective responses. This course focuses on the nexus of entrepreneurialism and climate change, a scope that includes special legal, technical and business issues as well as standard entrepreneur business law and practice topics. It is designed for Law students interested in supporting and working with entrepreneurs (or in being one him- or herself) but it also is structured to be suitable for McCombs and LBJ School students. The course covers the following subjects: 1) Background on entrepreneurialism and climate change, and the historical relationship between the two; 2) Technical background on climate change (UN IPCC and Paris Agreement); 3) Legal issues around climate change and business, including tort/regulatory exposure, disclosure requirements and social good vs. shareholder duties; 4) Historical precedents of entrepreneurialism as a response to crises; 5) Basics of new venture creation; and 6) Survey of ventures targeting climate change. The course will culminate with each student crafting an abbreviated new venture proposal responsive to issues covered in the class.

This Writing Seminar will expose students to the latest cutting-edge ideas and research methods in constitutional studies. Students will be given the tools to produce their own publishable work in comparative constitutional law and politics. Students will be trained on how to make a paper presentation in advance of presenting their drafts near the end of the term. Students will also have the opportunity to engage with the work of (and have dinner with) leading scholars in the field, who will visit this Writing Seminar to present their works-in-progress, eager for student reactions and feedback. Evaluation will be based on class participation, two response papers (graded pass/fail), one class presentation, and one final term paper.

This is a colloquium-style writing seminar on cutting-edge research and issues involving complex litigation.  In most of the classes, we will host a workshop during which a leading scholar, typically from another University, will present a paper on which the speaker is currently working.  Students are required to write short critiques of each of the speakers’ papers, and the critiques typically will be provided to the speaker.  Students receive detailed comments from both professors on each of their papers. 

This is a colloquium-style writing seminar on cutting-edge research and issues involving complex litigation.  In most of the classes, we will host a workshop during which a leading scholar, typically from another University, will present a paper on which the speaker is currently working.  Students are required to write short critiques of each of the speakers’ papers, and the critiques typically will be provided to the speaker.  Students receive detailed comments from both professors on each of their papers.