Course Schedule

This course addresses the law of privacy and personal data protection under two dominant, but quite different, legal regimes. In this course, we will review privacy fundamentals – principles, risks, and harms - within the U.S. legal framework, including federal consumer, financial, and health privacy laws, and historical and emerging state laws. We will discuss and evaluate important aspects of the evolving U.S. legal framework and the EU GDPR (and other, recent European data laws), taking into account unique challenges posed by the evolution of digital data technology such as biometric data processing, breach response, cross-border data transfers, technological automony, and artificial intelligence.

This course addresses the law of privacy and personal data protection under two dominant, but quite different, legal regimes. In this course, we will review privacy fundamentals – principles, risks, and harms - within the U.S. legal framework, including federal consumer, financial, and health privacy laws, and historical and emerging state laws. We will discuss and evaluate important aspects of the evolving U.S. legal framework and the EU GDPR (and other, recent European data laws), taking into account unique challenges posed by the evolution of digital data technology such as biometric data processing, breach response, cross-border data transfers, technological automony, and artificial intelligence.

This course addresses the law of privacy and personal data protection under two dominant, but quite different, legal regimes. In this course, we will review privacy fundamentals – principles, risks, and harms - within the U.S. legal framework, including federal consumer, financial, and health privacy laws, and historical and emerging state laws (and recent applicabliity to workforce privacy). We will discuss and evaluate important aspects of the evolving U.S. legal framework and the EU GDPR, taking into account the unique challenges posed by the evolution of digital data technology, including data aggregation, analytics, biometrics, breach response, and artificial intelligence.

This course addresses the law of privacy and personal data protection under two dominant, but quite different, legal regimes. In this course, we will review privacy fundamentals – principles, risks, and harms - within the U.S. legal framework, including federal consumer, financial, and health privacy laws, and historical and emerging state laws. We will discuss and evaluate important aspects of the evolving U.S. legal framework and the EU GDPR, taking into account the unique challenges posed by the evolution of digital data technology, including data aggregation, analytics, biometrics, breach response, and artificial intelligence.

The process of forming and capitalizing private equity and venture capital funds is a foundational first step to an understanding of how private companies are financed globally. Over the course of the semester, students will develop an understanding of each player in the fund formation process (e.g. limited partners, general partners, lawyers, placement agents, etc.), each party’s leverage points, and how each party is necessary for a successful fundraise. We will also walk through all of the necessary documents in a fundraise (e.g. limited partnership agreements, private placement memorandum, side letters, etc.) and, through the use of example provisions, learn the various negotiation points that each party is focused on.

The process of forming and capitalizing private equity and venture capital funds is a foundational first step to an understanding of how private companies are financed globally. Over the course of the week, students will develop an understanding of each player in the fund formation process (e.g. limited partners, general partners, lawyers, placement agents, etc.), each party’s leverage points, and how each party is necessary for a successful fundraise. We will also walk through all of the necessary documents in a fundraise (e.g. limited partnership agreements, private placement memorandum, side letters, etc.) and, through the use of example provisions, learn the various negotiation points that each party is focused on.

The process of forming and capitalizing private equity and venture capital funds is a foundational first step to an understanding of how private companies are financed globally. Over the course of the week, students will develop an understanding of each player in the fund formation process (e.g. limited partners, general partners, lawyers, placement agents, etc.), each party’s leverage points, and how each party is necessary for a successful fundraise. We will also walk through all of the necessary documents in a fundraise (e.g. limited partnership agreements, private placement memorandum, side letters, etc.) and, through the use of example provisions, learn the various negotiation points that each party is focused on.

The process of forming and capitalizing private equity and venture capital funds is a foundational first step to an understanding of how private companies are financed globally. Over the course of the week, students will develop an understanding of each player in the fund formation process (e.g. limited partners, general partners, lawyers, placement agents, etc.), each party’s leverage points, and how each party is necessary for a successful fundraise. We will also walk through all of the necessary documents in a fundraise (e.g. limited partnership agreements, private placement memorandum, side letters, etc.) and, through the use of example provisions, learn the various negotiation points that each party is focused on.

The process of forming and capitalizing private equity and venture capital funds is a foundational first step to an understanding of how private companies are financed globally. Over the course of the week, students will develop an understanding of each player in the fund formation process (e.g. limited partners, general partners, lawyers, placement agents, etc.), each party’s leverage points, and how each party is necessary for a successful fundraise. We will also walk through all of the necessary documents in a fundraise (e.g. limited partnership agreements, private placement memorandum, side letters, etc.) and, through the use of example provisions, learn the various negotiation points that each party is focused on.

This class is intended to be interesting and fun, and to encourage you to explore an interesting corner of the world  through the lens of your experience in studying and thinking about law.  It will be a learning experience for all of us.

The basic idea is that while we study only governmental legal systems (or in the case of international law, a system of rules that means to emulate  governmental legal systems), we are surrounded by private systems of rules which we could think of as eccentric legal systems. If we think of private systems of rules in this way, we may be able both to understand them better and to learn things from them that may improve our understanding of governmental legal systems. I want to set you loose to find and study the private system of your choice.

I have in mind the broadest possible range of private systems of rules. Here are just a few examples:

• The cattle farmers of Marin County who have their own rules of trespass, repair and remuneration.
• The lobster fishermen of Maine, who sawed in half the boat of one of their cohort who violated their rules about the location and ownership of traps (I’m not sure whether they sawed the boat length-wise or width-wise).
• Sports leagues, with their external rule-making and adjudication, and their internal games.
• Informal pick-up basketball games, some of which are populated by very serious players and precise rules, but no referees.
• Organized churches with elaborate rules and hierarchies.
• The internal content of some religions, in which figures like the devil seem to be part of an enforcement mechanism.
• Street vendors and how they enforce their respective locations and territories.
• The actual Mafia, or the fictive Mafia of the Sopranos or of the Godfather series. Other organized criminal organizations, like the drug cartels.
• Home owner associations.
• Large companies; trade unions.
• I’m not sure what to think about this, but possibly complex insect colonies like honeybees…there is a fascinating book called Honeybee Democracy, which is about the extraordinary process by which hives of bees choose new homes.

I am just scratching the surface. But I hope the point is obvious: I mean to encourage consideration of as wide and as imaginative a variety of systems of rules as possible from which you will choose one to study.

The class will be divided into four phases.  In the first phase we will discuss common features of governmental legal systems. In the second phase we will read some studies of private systems of rules. In the third phase we will discuss your project, helping you choose and focus your research. In the fourth phase, you will present your early findings to the group.

The class will not be graded on the curve. Your grade will be based on class participation and on your paper describing and analyzing the private system of rules you study.

The one semester, two credit course will examine the basics of the Fifth Amendment privilege as well as each of the evidentiary privileges recognized in federal courts.  The course will examine why the societal benefits achieved by allowing persons to exercise their respective privileges outweighs the evidentiary value of introducing privileged information into evidence.  We will examine which person or party owns and may invoke each privilege, how each privilege can be lost or abused, and how lawyers must strive to protect their client’s privileges and avoid impinging on the privileges held by others. Students will examine how non lawyers often misconstrue and demean a person’s exercise of their respective privileges.    A course in Evidence is a pre- or co-requisite. While the course may be of primary interest to students intending to be civil litigation attorneys, prosecutors or criminal defense attorneys, students with non-litigation interests will also benefit from the issues discussed during the course.   

The final evaluation will require students to prepare a bench memorandum for a hypothetical federal district court judge analyzing constitutional and evidentiary privilege disputes that will be described in a factual record.

This bench memorandum should be 12 to 15 typed written pages.  Students will be given two weeks to prepare the memorandum.  Students will be permitted and encouraged to do legal research, to use spell and grammar check but will not be permitted to use AI.

Privileges: the one semester, one credit course will examine the basics of the Fifth Amendment privilege as well as each of the evidentiary privileges recognized in federal courts, the societal benefits achieved by their recognition, which person or party owns and may invoke the privilege, how each privilege can be lost or abused, and how lawyers must protect their client’s privileges and avoid impinging on the privileges held by others.  A course in Evidence is a pre- or co-requisite. While the course may be of primary interest to students intending to be litigation attorneys or prosecutors, students with non-litigation interests will also benefit from the issues discussed during the course.    

This course will consider the federal rules of civil procedure (and comparable state procedural rules) through the lens of lawsuits involving the orbit of the former President of the United States (FPOTUS). Although the title of this course includes the word “politics” this will not be a partisan course. Class discussions will not involve elections or political parties. Instead, the focus of the course will be on the ways civil procedural rules were and continue to be key in lawsuits involving the FPOTUS, the January 6 Committee, and other civil defendants who served in the prior administration or otherwise are linked to the FPOTUS.

If you hated civil procedure, this is not the course for you. The class will discuss disputes ranging from service of process, affirmative defenses, motions to dismiss, sanctions, and the range of entities that can resolve disputes in civil litigation (masters, magistrates, judges, arbitrators).

Students will spend the first half of each class session in small group discussions. So if you do not like working in small groups and you do not want to spend time talking about civil procedural rules, this is not the class for you.

Course materials will be of diverse types and may include media clips, one popular press book, court pleadings, law review articles, and news articles (or blog entries). There are no exams for this class and evaluation is based on a series of short written assignments and Canvas postings.

This course approaches the subject of professional responsibility as a study of how society regulates the legal profession and the conduct of lawyers. First, we study the organized regulation of the profession, which includes the following topics: (1) the admission of lawyers, (2) the establishment of the legal services monopoly through unauthorized practice of law statutes, (3) the state and federal systems for disciplining lawyers, and (4) the clients. Second, we study the regulation of the conduct of individual lawyers through the transactional perspectives: (1) formation of the attorney- client relationship, (2) performance of the representation, and (3) termination of the relationship. We also spend significant time examining the three contexts of regulating lawyers' conduct: (1) the disciplinary committee, (2) the private malpractice action, and (3) judicial regulation as part of the lawyer's representation of a client. Although we discuss the Model Code and the Model Rules, this course does not focus on the rules of professional responsibility as the sole source of ethical guidelines. The course should prepare you for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam; however, it is more useful as an introduction to identifying and resolving ethical problems in practice. In addition, it is your first introduction to the practice of law as a profession. Student grades are assessed through an in class exam with objective questions and essay questions; a 5 page outside paper, and completing the multiple choice questions in the Casebook Plus online module.

This course approaches the subject of professional responsibility as a study of how society regulates the legal profession and the conduct of lawyers. First, we study the organized regulation of the profession, which includes the following topics: (1) the admission of lawyers, (2) the establishment of the legal services monopoly through unauthorized practice of law statutes, (3) the state and federal systems for disciplining lawyers, and (4) the clients. Second, we study the regulation of the conduct of individual lawyers through the transactional perspectives: (1) formation of the attorney- client relationship, (2) performance of the representation, and (3) termination of the relationship. We also spend significant time examining the three contexts of regulating lawyers' conduct: (1) the disciplinary committee, (2) the private malpractice action, and (3) judicial regulation as part of the lawyer's representation of a client. Although we discuss the Model Code and the Model Rules, this course does not focus on the rules of professional responsibility as the sole source of ethical guidelines. The course should prepare you for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam; however, it is more useful as an introduction to identifying and resolving ethical problems in practice. In addition, it is your first introduction to the practice of law as a profession. Student grades are assessed through an in class exam with objective questions and essay questions; a 5 page outside paper, and completing the multiple choice questions in the Casebook Plus online module.

This course will introduce students to core concepts and doctrines in the field of professional responsibility. It will touch on all of the subjects needed to prepare for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. The class will be taught through case examples and problems. Students will take an in-class examination. This course fulfills the Professional Responsibility requirement for graduation. 

This course will introduce students to core concepts and doctrines in the field of professional responsibility. It will touch on all of the subjects needed to prepare for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. The class will be taught through case examples and problems. Students will take an in-class examination. This course fulfills the Professional Responsibility requirement for graduation. 

This survey course on lawyers' professional responsibilities is centered on two premises: (1) The practice of law is a business as well as a profession, and economic incentives therefore matter; and (2) more than 90 percent of all lawsuits settle. Thus, we will give special attention to the economic aspects of the attorney-client relationship and the various incentives that existing ethical Rules provide both lawyers and clients. We will also pay particular attention to a wide range of ethical issues surrounding the settlement process. The course will cover approximately 85% of the material that is typically tested on the MPRE. In previous years, students all reported feeling well prepared for, and doing well on, the MPRE. This course fulfills the Professional Responsibility requirement for graduation. The exam format will be an in-class, 3-hour, exam consisting of 2-hours of objective questions (multiple choice and true-false) and a one-hour, word-limited essay question. The exam will be closed note, closed internet, but open "Professional Responsibility Rules."

This survey course on lawyers' professional responsibilities is centered on two premises: (1) The practice of law is a business as well as a profession, and economic incentives therefore matter; and (2) more than 90 percent of all lawsuits settle. Thus, we will give special attention to the economic aspects of the attorney-client relationship and the various incentives that existing ethical Rules provide both lawyers and clients. We will also pay particular attention to a wide range of ethical issues surrounding the settlement process. The course will cover approximately 85% of the material that is typically tested on the MPRE.  In previous years, students all reported feeling well prepared for, and doing well on, the MPRE.  The "short course" format, with our final class meeting scheduled for November 3, means that the course will be completed prior to the November 13/14 MPRE testing dates. This course fulfills the Professional Responsibility requirement for graduation. The exam format will be an in-class, 3-hour, exam consisting of 2-hours of objective questions (multiple choice and true-false) and a one-hour, word-limited essay question.  The exam will be closed note, closed internet, but open "Professional Responsibility Rules."

This course will introduce students to core concepts and doctrines in the field of professional responsibility. It will touch on all of the subjects needed to prepare for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. The class will be taught through case examples and problems. Students will take an in-class examination. This course fulfills the Professional Responsibility requirement for graduation. 

This course approaches the subject of professional responsibility as a study of how society regulates the legal profession and the conduct of lawyers. First, we study the organized regulation of the profession, which includes the following topics: (1) the admission of lawyers, (2) the establishment of the legal services monopoly through unauthorized practice of law statutes, (3) the state and federal systems for disciplining lawyers, and (4) the clients. Second, we study the regulation of the conduct of individual lawyers through the transactional perspectives: (1) formation of the attorney- client relationship, (2) performance of the representation, and (3) termination of the relationship. We also spend significant time examining the three contexts of regulating lawyers' conduct: (1) the disciplinary committee, (2) the private malpractice action, and (3) judicial regulation as part of the lawyer's representation of a client. Although we discuss the Model Code and the Model Rules, this course does not focus on the rules of professional responsibility as the sole source of ethical guidelines. The course should prepare you for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam; however, it is more useful as an introduction to identifying and resolving ethical problems in practice. In addition, it is your first introduction to the practice of law as a profession. Student grades are assessed through an in class exam with objective questions and essay questions; a 5 page outside paper, and completing the multiple choice questions in the Casebook Plus online module.

This course will introduce students to core concepts and doctrines in the field of professional responsibility. It will touch on all of the subjects needed to prepare for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. The class will be taught through case examples and problems. Students will take an in-class examination. This course fulfills the Professional Responsibility requirement for graduation.