Course Schedule

This seminar will focus on cutting-edge research in law and economics. In most of the classes, I will host a workshop during which a leading scholar will present a paper. In the weeks in which there is no outside speaker, two groups of students will each present one to the two papers that will be presented by the outside speakers in the next two workshops. All students are required to write short critiques of most of the speakers’ papers. Your critiques will be graded and made available to the speaker.

This seminar will focus on cutting-edge research in law and economics. In most of the classes, I will host a workshop during which a leading scholar will present a paper. In the weeks in which there is no outside speaker, two groups of students will each present one to the two papers that will be presented by the outside speakers in the next two workshops. All students are required to write short critiques of most of the speakers’ papers. Your critiques will be graded and made available to the speaker.

This seminar will focus on cutting-edge research in law and economics. In most of the classes, I will host a workshop during which a leading scholar will present a paper. In the weeks in which there is no outside speaker, two groups of students will each present one to the two papers that will be presented by the outside speakers in the next two workshops. All students are required to write short critiques of most of the speakers’ papers. Your critiques will be graded and made available to the speaker.

This course will be a survey of different topics in legal philosophy and constitutional theory. It will be organized around a series of six workshops each featuring a different scholar, who will present and discuss his or her work. The class will also meet during the weeks when there are no workshops. At those meetings, we will read and discuss materials on the topic of the next scheduled workshop in preparation  for its discussion, and we will also extend the discussions of the previous workshop through short presentations by the members of the class. Written coursework will consist of two papers, each of which will be a critical discussion of ideas presented in one or more of the six workshop papers and discussions.

This course will be a survey of different topics in legal philosophy and constitutional theory. It will be organized around a series of six workshops each featuring a different scholar, who will present and discuss his or her work. The class will also meet during the weeks when there are no workshops. At those meetings, we will read and discuss materials on the topic of the next scheduled workshop in preparation  for its discussion, and we will also extend the discussions of the previous workshop through short presentations by the members of the class. Written coursework will consist of two papers, each of which will be a critical discussion of ideas presented in one or more of the six workshop papers and discussions.

This course will be a survey of different topics in legal philosophy and constitutional theory. It will be organized around a series of six workshops each featuring a different scholar, who will present and discuss his or her work. The class will also meet during the weeks when there are no workshops. At those meetings, we will read and discuss materials on the topic of the next scheduled workshop in preparation  for its discussion, and we will also extend the discussions of the previous workshop through short presentations by the members of the class. Written coursework will consist of two papers, each of which will be a critical discussion of ideas presented in one or more of the six workshop papers and discussions.

Law and Religion in the Modern Middle East is a seminar that examines the laws that govern religion and religious expression in Middle Eastern national constitutions, with a special focus on both the free exercise and establishment clause of Islam as the religion of the state. We shall analyze emerging legal understandings of authority and rights, and explore the interconnections of “religion” and “law”—as traditions of thought as well as sets of practices, modes of relation as well as constellations of values. In this seminar, we will consider what counts as religion for constitutional and legal purposes. Participants will be expected to read academic legal commentary on the formulations of religion in the modern Middle East. The seminar will provide extensive case-law from lower and higher courts addressing issues that affect Muslims, Christians, Jews, and other faith communities. To better situate the classroom discussions, students will read historical, anthropological, and sociological studies on the topics of family law, international religious freedom law, and leading religions’ doctrines and teachings concerning religious freedom.

Law and Religion in the Modern Middle East is a seminar that examines the laws that govern religion and religious expression in Middle Eastern national constitutions, with a special focus on both the free exercise and establishment clause of Islam as the religion of the state. We shall analyze emerging legal understandings of authority and rights, and explore the interconnections of “religion” and “law”—as traditions of thought as well as sets of practices, modes of relation as well as constellations of values. In this seminar, we will consider what counts as religion for constitutional and legal purposes. Participants will be expected to read academic legal commentary on the formulations of religion in the modern Middle East. The seminar will provide extensive case-law from lower and higher courts addressing issues that affect Muslims, Christians, Jews, and other faith communities. To better situate the classroom discussions, students will read historical, anthropological, and sociological studies on the topics of family law, international religious freedom law, and leading religions’ doctrines and teachings concerning religious freedom.

This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.

Law and Religion in the Modern Middle East is a seminar that examines the laws that govern religion and religious expression in Middle Eastern national constitutions, with a special focus on both the free exercise and establishment clause of Islam as the religion of the state. We shall analyze emerging legal understandings of authority and rights, and explore the interconnections of “religion” and “law”—as traditions of thought as well as sets of practices, modes of relation as well as constellations of values. In this seminar, we will consider what counts as religion for constitutional and legal purposes. Participants will be expected to read academic legal commentary on the formulations of religion in the modern Middle East. The seminar will provide extensive case-law from lower and higher courts addressing issues that affect Muslims, Christians, Jews, and other faith communities. To better situate the classroom discussions, students will read historical, anthropological, and sociological studies on the topics of family law, international religious freedom law, and leading religions’ doctrines and teachings concerning religious freedom.

This seminar explores the ways in which American constitutional and statutory law constructs and regulates sexuality and gender. Topics covered will include the appropriate level of judicial review for sexual orientation and gender identity classifications and (2) the extent to which discrimination on either basis constitutes discrimination “because of sex” under the Equal Protection Clause and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We will also explore discrimination in healthcare, education, and public accommodations. We will evaluate the invocation of first amendment protections in the struggle for and against LGBTQ equality. Students are expected to participate actively in each week’s discussion, to submit periodic reading questions, and to complete original research which may take the form of a law story in the model of the Law Stories Series from West Academic Press or a traditional research paper.

In my usage, “legal liberalism” refers to a jurisprudential position on the content and structure of valid legal argument in a society that is committed to instantiating a liberal conception of justice.  I believe that the United State is such a society, know that post-World-War-II Germany is such a society, and think that many other countries are so as well.  Legal liberalism claims that in such societies arguments that examine the concrete extensions of liberalism (of its placing a lexically-highest value on those moral-rights bearers for whom it is responsible being treated with appropriate, equal respect and concern) are not only generically legally valid but are dominant.  Such arguments are dominant in the sense that (1) they control both the legal validity of other modes of argument that legal actors have used to identify the answer to legal-rights questions that are correct, not incorrect, or wrong as a matter of law and the variants of these other modes of legal argument that are valid and (2) with one limited exception, they determine the answer to any legal-rights question to which they are applicable that is correct as a matter of law.

The writing seminar will begin by discussing various moral concepts and delineating two philosophically-informed empirical protocols for identifying respectively the moral category to which a particular society belongs and the moral norm to whose instantiation a particular society of moral integrity is committed.  It will then consider the abstract definition and extensions of liberalism and various non-liberal conceptions of the moral good.  After that, the course will examine the implications of liberalism for the resolution of various contract-law, tort-law, property-law, civil-procedure-law, antitrust-law, and constitutional-law issues in a liberal-moral-rights-based-society.  It will also address various alternative positions on the content and structure of valid legal argument in the U.S. that have been taken by U.S. legal scholars and judges.

Course grades will primarily be based on a paper that students will have to submit by the end of the exam period.  The Lecturer may revise upward the grade of any student whose class-participation was particularly valuable. The paper for this seminar can either (1) analyze in detail the jurisprudential assumptions that teachers of one or two courses they have taken were making and/or that the authors of the textbooks and scholarly articles that were assigned in these courses were making or (2) address from a liberal perspective one or more legal-rights claims and/or their treatment by U.S. judges and legal scholars. Student who choose to write the second type of paper will have to secure advanced approval of the proposed paper from the Lecturer. Students will be expected to submit a draft of their paper no later than three weeks before the end of classes. The Lecturer will then discuss with each student his or her draft.

The germline editing of the human genome will permanently alter our species biologically, in ways large and small. From the standpoint of political, legal, and human rights theory, our seminar asks: How might a liberal democratic community today — marked by value pluralism and aspiring to tolerance for different normative cultures — best regulate the confluence of rapid developments in genetic science and  biotechnology? Our seminar focuses on both the promise of gene manipulation to improve human health and reduce human suffering, and on the dangers that gene manipulation poses to various notions of human dignity and various theories of human nature. In modern secular societies such as the USA, traditional theological or metaphysical conceptions of human nature and human dignity compete with contemporary alternatives: with natural scientific accounts of what our species is, and with social scientific accounts of the individual and social importance of treating members with respect and dignity. These contemporary alternatives deploy post-metaphysical notions of human nature (for example, as a social construct) and with post-theological notions of human dignity (for example, as the decisional autonomy of future persons, held in trust by the current generation). Our seminar asks: How might the American legal system (with inputs from expert medical and bioethical opinion as well as from informed public opinion) plausibly configure decisional autonomy of future persons at the point of genetic manipulation? To answer this question, we will identify resources in in state and federal law (and perhaps in human rights theory as well), toward identifying plausible normative standards for the regulation of human gene editing, for today and in the future.

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

The student will enhance her research skills; improve her writing skills in the scholarly genre; refine her analytic skills through careful reading, analysis, and discursive argumentation in defense of an original thesis in each of her papers; and cultivate her capacity to engage in small group discussion: in developing and conducting one in-class presentation, and in classroom participation more generally. And she will learn a great deal about cutting-edge thinking on the moral and legal challenges of regulating biotechnologies in general and, in particular, the future possible germline editing of our species —— surely one of the most significant challenges for legal thought in the twenty-first century.

GRADING POLICY

Requirements: one 12-page to 16-page paper (based on directed and supervised research in the course materials, addressing one or more issues of legal regulation, either current or proposed) and one in-class power-point presentation of the student's paper-in-progress. The paper itself is due at the end of the semester; the power-point presentation is due in the course of the semester. Presentation will generate thoughtful, critical feedback from the entire class and should be useful to the student's development of her paper. During the semester, the instructor will closely review two rough-drafts of the paper (not graded) and provide written and oral suggestions for improvements in substance and style. Student will submit one final paper, for a grade, revised in light of the instructor’s comments on the first two drafts.

Course grade: 80% of course grade: evaluation of paper; 20% of course grade: one in-class power-point presentation; course grade adjusted for quality of weekly classroom participation.

The germline editing of the human genome will permanently alter our species biologically, in ways large and small. From the standpoint of political, legal, and human rights theory, our seminar asks: How might a liberal democratic community today — marked by value pluralism and aspiring to tolerance for different normative cultures — best regulate the confluence of rapid developments in genetic science and  biotechnology? Our seminar focuses on both the promise of gene manipulation to improve human health and reduce human suffering, and on the dangers that gene manipulation poses to various notions of human dignity and various theories of human nature. In modern secular societies such as the USA, traditional theological or metaphysical conceptions of human nature and human dignity compete with contemporary alternatives: with natural scientific accounts of what our species is, and with social scientific accounts of the individual and social importance of treating members with respect and dignity. These contemporary alternatives deploy post-metaphysical notions of human nature (for example, as a social construct) and with post-theological notions of human dignity (for example, as the decisional autonomy of future persons, held in trust by the current generation). Our seminar asks: How might the American legal system (with inputs from expert medical and bioethical opinion as well as from informed public opinion) plausibly configure decisional autonomy of future persons at the point of genetic manipulation? To answer this question, we will identify resources in in state and federal law (and perhaps in human rights theory as well), toward identifying plausible normative standards for the regulation of human gene editing, for today and in the future.

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

The student will enhance her research skills; improve her writing skills in the scholarly genre; refine her analytic skills through careful reading, analysis, and discursive argumentation in defense of an original thesis in each of her papers; and cultivate her capacity to engage in small group discussion: in developing and conducting one in-class presentation, and in classroom participation more generally. And she will learn a great deal about cutting-edge thinking on the moral and legal challenges of regulating biotechnologies in general and, in particular, the future possible germline editing of our species —— surely one of the most significant challenges for legal thought in the twenty-first century.

GRADING POLICY

Requirements: one 12-page to 16-page paper (based on directed and supervised research in the course materials, addressing one or more issues of legal regulation, either current or proposed) and one in-class power-point presentation of the student's paper-in-progress. The paper itself is due at the end of the semester; the power-point presentation is due in the course of the semester. Presentation will generate thoughtful, critical feedback from the entire class and should be useful to the student's development of her paper. During the semester, the instructor will closely review two rough-drafts of the paper (not graded) and provide written and oral suggestions for improvements in substance and style. Student will submit one final paper, for a grade, revised in light of the instructor’s comments on the first two drafts.

Course grade: 80% of course grade: evaluation of paper; 20% of course grade: one in-class power-point presentation; course grade adjusted for quality of weekly classroom participation.

The germline editing of the human genome will permanently alter our species biologically, in ways large and small. From the standpoint of political, legal, and human rights theory, our seminar asks: How might a liberal democratic community today — marked by value pluralism and aspiring to tolerance for different normative cultures — best regulate the confluence of rapid developments in genetic science and  biotechnology? Our seminar focuses on both the promise of gene manipulation to improve human health and reduce human suffering, and on the dangers that gene manipulation poses to various notions of human dignity and various theories of human nature. In modern secular societies such as the USA, traditional theological or metaphysical conceptions of human nature and human dignity compete with contemporary alternatives: with natural scientific accounts of what our species is, and with social scientific accounts of the individual and social importance of treating members with respect and dignity. These contemporary alternatives deploy post-metaphysical notions of human nature (for example, as a social construct) and with post-theological notions of human dignity (for example, as the decisional autonomy of future persons, held in trust by the current generation). Our seminar asks: How might the American legal system (with inputs from expert medical and bioethical opinion as well as from informed public opinion) plausibly configure decisional autonomy of future persons at the point of genetic manipulation? To answer this question, we will identify resources in in state and federal law (and perhaps in human rights theory as well), toward identifying plausible normative standards for the regulation of human gene editing, for today and in the future.

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

The student will enhance her research skills; improve her writing skills in the scholarly genre; refine her analytic skills through careful reading, analysis, and discursive argumentation in defense of an original thesis in each of her papers; and cultivate her capacity to engage in small group discussion: in developing and conducting one in-class presentation, and in classroom participation more generally. And she will learn a great deal about cutting-edge thinking on the moral and legal challenges of regulating biotechnologies in general and, in particular, the future possible germline editing of our species —— surely one of the most significant challenges for legal thought in the twenty-first century.

GRADING POLICY

Requirements: one 12-page to 16-page paper (based on directed and supervised research in the course materials, addressing one or more issues of legal regulation, either current or proposed) and one in-class power-point presentation of the student's paper-in-progress. The paper itself is due at the end of the semester; the power-point presentation is due in the course of the semester. Presentation will generate thoughtful, critical feedback from the entire class and should be useful to the student's development of her paper. During the semester, the instructor will closely review two rough-drafts of the paper (not graded) and provide written and oral suggestions for improvements in substance and style. Student will submit one final paper, for a grade, revised in light of the instructor’s comments on the first two drafts.

Course grade: 80% of course grade: evaluation of paper; 20% of course grade: one in-class power-point presentation; course grade adjusted for quality of weekly classroom participation.

This writing seminar relies on the fact that the regular session of the 87th Texas Legislature will meet about a dozen blocks from the Law School. The seminar first met in 1971, and has been offered almost every regular session ever since. It is limited to law students currently employed part-time or full-time or otherwise similarly occupied with either the Legislature, e.g., committee clerk, legislative aide, etc., or in a situation related to the legislative process, e.g., working with lobbyists, trade associations, law firms, state agencies, etc. Absent prior arrangement with the professor, only a law student with a legislative connection will be able to complete the requirements of the seminar. Balancing law school and the Legislature is always a challenge and this seminar helps manage that challenge. The first class meeting is Friday, Jan. 29, 2021, and continues roughly thru mid-April. This schedule best accommodates the schedules of students engaged in the legislative process. To the extent that history predicts the future, the legislature will primarily meet on a Mon.-Thur. schedule until at least some of, or most of April. 

The writing task at hand is for the student to prepare a scholarly case study on a pending legislative proposal or topic with significant legal implications subject to approval by the professor. Topics or specific legislative proposals likely to stir debate or advance the law are much preferred, to the exclusion of topics not meeting these criteria. Once a topic is agreed upon, the student investigates the subject, becomes familiar with present Texas law and current nationwide trends, and prepares two drafts of a seminar paper that provide a comprehensive analysis of the proposal. The first draft may be presented to the seminar during the semester, and the final draft will be due after classes end. It is likely, but not absolutely necessary, that the student will be directly involved in the same topic through employment. Although almost all papers will be so generated, the emphasis of the seminar (and of the paper) is legal analysis, including analysis of statutory language and legisltive procedure.

PREREQUISITES. Approval of the instructor. Without regard to 2L or 3L status, who will have a current legislative connection in the Spring 2021 semester will be given absolute preference for enrolling in the seminar. Please apply during pre-registration; and the instructor will contact each applicant. Students who do not intend to work at the legislature but have taken Professor Brady's Legislative Drafting as Public Policy class, Senator Brown's Legislative Process class, or similar coursework with a prior legislative connection who will not be actively engaged in the 87th session may enroll with the approval of the instructor. A student may enroll concurrently in this class and the Legislative Internship.

Exploring Intersections of Legal Theory and Literary Texts

This course delves into the rich intersections between law and literature, exploring how literary texts engage with legal concepts and how legal theory is informed by narrative, metaphor, and cultural representations. Through a multidisciplinary lens, students will critically analyze literary works alongside key legal texts and theoretical frameworks.

The course begins by examining foundational theories of law and literature, tracing the historical development of this interdisciplinary field. Students will then explore thematic connections such as justice, authority, power, ethics, and identity through close readings of selected texts. Literary works from various genres and historical periods will be paired with legal case studies, theoretical essays, and philosophical inquiries to facilitate nuanced discussions and analytical insights.

We will begin by examining foundational theories of law and literature, tracing the historical development of this interdisciplinary field and exploring some of the questions and criticisms that scholars have recently raised as they have sought to justify or reorient the field. With these theoretical frameworks in place, we will next critically analyze literary works and legal texts, emphasizing developing critical thinking skills, honing close reading abilities, and engaging in interdisciplinary inquiry.

Throughout the course, students will engage in seminar-style discussions, participate in collaborative projects, and finish by producing and presenting analytical essays that demonstrate a deep understanding of the complex interplay between law and literature. By exploring how literature reflects, critiques, and shapes legal norms and practices, this course aims to foster a nuanced understanding of law as a cultural and social phenomenon, inviting students to interrogate the boundaries between fact and fiction, legality and justice, and text and context.

Course requirements include a short review (10 pages) of key law-and-literature theoretical texts and a final paper (25-35 pages) for presentation in class.

The seminar will focus on property in law and literature. Fair warning: the course will involve considerable reading. We will read several novels, alongside law review articles and works of literary criticism, that explore the centrality of questions of property in law, literature, and culture. Representative topics include property and personhood, property in persons and things, property rights and the public interest, and property relations, both familial (marriage, primogenture, inheritance) and social. By critically examining how property is conceptualized in law and imagined in literature, we will see how literature uses or responds to legal structures, themes, and analytical techniques, and vice versa. 

Representative literary texts likely to include: Toni Morrison, Beloved; Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice; Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady; Kate Chopin, The Awakening; E.M. Forster, Howard's End; Zadie Smith, On Beauty.

This 3 credit hour seminar will focus on issues and problems associated with “decarbonizing” (reducing or eliminating fossil fuels from) the American energy system.  We will explore various plans that propose relatively rapid, deep decarbonization of the electricity sector, including those proposed by the states of California and New York,  “100% renewable” cities like Aspen, CO and Georgetown, TX, as well as academic proposals for rapid deep decarbonization. We will also look plans to decarbonize the transportation sector, including plans by European cities and nations to eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles within their borders within the next few decades.  The seminar will meet weekly, with the bulk of the student’s grade based upon an individual research paper. 

There are no prerequisites for this seminar, but, students who have taken one or more of the following classes will have an easier time with the readings:  Regulating Energy Production (Spence), Texas Energy Law (Smitherman), or Regulating Energy Markets (Spence).

This 3 credit hour seminar will focus on issues and problems associated with “decarbonizing” (reducing or eliminating fossil fuels from) the American energy system.  We will explore various plans that propose relatively rapid, deep decarbonization of the electricity sector, including those proposed by the states of California and New York,  “100% renewable” cities like Aspen, CO and Georgetown, TX, as well as academic proposals for rapid deep decarbonization. We will also look plans to decarbonize the transportation sector, including plans by European cities and nations to eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles within their borders within the next few decades.  The seminar will meet weekly, with the bulk of the student’s grade based upon an individual research paper. 

There are no prerequisites for this seminar, but, students who have taken one or more of the following classes will have an easier time with the readings:  Regulating Energy Production (Spence), Texas Energy Law (Smitherman), or Regulating Energy Markets (Spence).

This 3 credit hour seminar will focus on issues and problems associated with “decarbonizing” (reducing or eliminating fossil fuels from) the American energy system.  We will explore various plans that propose relatively rapid, deep decarbonization of the electricity sector, including those proposed by the states of California and New York,  “100% renewable” cities like Aspen, CO and Georgetown, TX, as well as academic proposals for rapid deep decarbonization. We will also look plans to decarbonize the transportation sector, including plans by European cities and nations to eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles within their borders within the next few decades.  The seminar will meet weekly, with the bulk of the student’s grade based upon an individual research paper. 

There are no prerequisites for this seminar, but, students who have taken one or more of the following classes will have an easier time with the readings:  Regulating Energy Production (Spence), Texas Energy Law (Smitherman), or Regulating Energy Markets (Spence).

This 3 credit hour seminar will focus on issues and problems associated with “decarbonizing” (reducing or eliminating fossil fuels from) the American energy system.  We will explore various plans that propose relatively rapid, deep decarbonization of the electricity sector, including those proposed by the states of California and New York,  “100% renewable” cities like Aspen, CO and Georgetown, TX, as well as academic proposals for rapid deep decarbonization. We will also look plans to decarbonize the transportation sector, including plans by European cities and nations to eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles within their borders within the next few decades.  The seminar will meet weekly, with the bulk of the student’s grade based upon an individual research paper. 

There are no prerequisites for this seminar, but, students who have taken one or more of the following classes will have an easier time with the readings:  Regulating Energy Production (Spence), Texas Energy Law (Smitherman), or Regulating Energy Markets (Spence).

This 3 credit hour seminar will focus on issues and problems associated with “decarbonizing” (reducing or eliminating fossil fuels from) the American energy system.  We will explore various plans that propose relatively rapid, deep decarbonization of the electricity sector, including those proposed by the states of California and New York,  “100% renewable” cities like Aspen, CO and Georgetown, TX, as well as academic proposals for rapid deep decarbonization. We will also look plans to decarbonize the transportation sector, including plans by European cities and nations to eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles within their borders within the next few decades.  The seminar will meet weekly, with the bulk of the student’s grade based upon an individual research paper. 

There are no prerequisites for this seminar, but, students who have taken one or more of the following classes will have an easier time with the readings:  Regulating Energy Production (Spence), Texas Energy Law (Smitherman), or Regulating Energy Markets (Spence).

This seminar will examine the evolution, future, and unique problems posed by the "mega-settlement" in modern American law. Over the past 40 years, American courts and lawyers have been increasingly challenged by the special difficulties presented by the litigation of mass torts, such as those involving the BP oil spill, Vioxx, asbestos, Agent Orange, the 9/11 attacks, and Roundup. The high-stakes, multibillion dollar settlements of nationwide litigation involving thousands of plaintiffs have forced attorneys (for both the plaintiffs and defendants) and the courts to rethink notions of individual justice, and the zealous and ethical representation of clients. Some of the topics to be covered include: the variety of structures for resolving mass tort litigation, including the "quasi-class action"; the changing role of the court and the proper limits on judicial power; ethical issues confronting attorneys (for both plaintiffs and defendants); how best to compensate attorneys (for both plaintiffs and defendants); and various proposals for reform.

Students should not sign up for this seminar if they do not expect to be able to attend all seminar meetings.

Pre-requisites: Professional Responsibility, which may be taken during the same semester.

Requirements: Research paper (20-25 pages) and three short (3 page) "response" papers on the weekly reading assignment.

This seminar will examine the evolution, future, and unique problems posed by the "mega-settlement" in modern American law. Over the past 40 years, American courts and lawyers have been increasingly challenged by the special difficulties presented by the litigation of mass torts, such as those involving the BP oil spill, Vioxx, asbestos, Agent Orange, the 9/11 attacks, and Roundup. The high-stakes, multibillion dollar settlements of nationwide litigation involving thousands of plaintiffs have forced attorneys (for both the plaintiffs and defendants) and the courts to rethink notions of individual justice, and the zealous and ethical representation of clients. Some of the topics to be covered include: the variety of structures for resolving mass tort litigation, including the "quasi-class action"; the changing role of the court and the proper limits on judicial power; ethical issues confronting attorneys (for both plaintiffs and defendants); how best to compensate attorneys (for both plaintiffs and defendants); and various proposals for reform.

Students should not sign up for this seminar if they do not expect to be able to attend all seminar meetings.

Pre-requisites: Professional Responsibility, which may be taken during the same semester.

Requirements: Research paper and several short "response" papers on the weekly reading assignment.

In this Course, we will explore the concept of "mercy," defined both as inter-personal forgiveness and as reduced punishment effectuated by law. We will cover moral theories of mercy, including the basic tenstion between mercy and retributive justice. We will also study mercy-giving institutions in American law, including prosecutors, judges, juries, and various clemency arrangements. Among other things, there will be units on mass incarceration, the death penalty, and youth. We will also read one or two books/memoirs as case studies in mercy.