Course Schedule
Classes Found
SMNR: Citizenship
- MON 3:45 – 5:35 pm JON 6.257
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
SMNR: Climate Change
- TUE 3:55 – 5:45 pm JON 6.257
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Climate Change
- TUE 3:45 – 5:35 pm TNH 3.127
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Prof. keeps own waitlist
Description
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.
SMNR: Climate Change & Entrepreneurialism
- MON 5:55 – 7:45 pm TNH 3.129
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Climate Change & Entrepreneurialism
- MON 5:45 – 7:35 pm TNH 3.129
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
- MON 6:25 – 8:15 pm TNH 2.124
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Colloquium on Comparative Constitutional Law and Politics
- R. Albert
- Z. Elkins
- R. Hirschl
- WED 3:45 – 5:35 pm JON 5.206
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Colloquium on Comparative Constitutional Law and Politics
- TUE 3:45 – 5:35 pm JON 5.206/7
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
This course offers students the opportunity to interact with some of the leading scholars in constitutional law around the world. Over the course of the semester, six or seven external professors will present recent papers they have written. Students will spend two-week blocks on each paper. In the first week, the class will meet in a traditional seminar format to discuss the paper and the themes it raises. In the second week, the professor who whote the paper will attend our seminar to present her paper to our group, giving students the opportunity to engage with the professor and her ideas directly in a meaningful way. We will repeat this two-week block six times over the course of the semester. All invited scholars will be globally-recognized experts in comparative constitutional law and politics. Their papers will focus on the major questions of our time in relation to constitutional democracy, the separation of powers, and the rule of law. UT faculty in law and other departments will be invited to attend the paper presentations. Evaluation will be based on a final paper written in response to a student's choice of a grouping of presented papers.
SMNR: Colloquium on Current Issues in Complex Litigation
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
SMNR: Colloquium on Current Issues in Complex Litigation
- MON 3:55 – 5:45 pm JON 6.207
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Colloquium on Current Issues in Complex Litigation
- MON 3:45 – 5:35 pm JON 6.257
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Colloquium on Current Issues in Complex Litigation
- MON 3:45 – 5:35 pm JON 6.207/8
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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 paper.
- MON 4:15 – 6:05 pm TNH 3.125
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
The 28525 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 28484 section of this course, which is identical but web-based.
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.
SMNR: Colloquium on Current Issues in Complex Litigation
- TUE 3:45 – 5:35 pm JON 6.206
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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 most of the speakers’ papers, and the critiques typically will be provided to the speaker.
SMNR: Comparative Constitutional Law and Politics
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
SMNR: Comparative Constitutional Law and Politics
- R. Albert
- Z. Elkins
- MON 3:55 – 5:45 pm JON 6.206
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
The objective of this Writing Seminar is to give students the tools to produce their own publishable work in comparative constitutional law and politics. Students will be trained on how to identify and select an idea for a paper, how to write a paper, and how to make a paper presentation. Students will also have the opportunity to learn writing and research tips from, 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. Evaluation will be based on class participation, two response papers (graded pass/fail), one class presentation, one annotated bibliography, one paper outline, and one final term paper.
SMNR: Comparative Constitutionalism
- G. Jacobsohn
- R. Hirschl
- WED 3:00 – 6:00 pm BAT 5.102
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Government
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
This is a Government course, cross-listed with the Law School.
The proliferation of new constitutions in recent years has sharpened interest in a subject that has been around since Aristotle but has not always figured prominently in legal studies. The comparative analysis of constitutions (and related interpretive and structural issues) is now embraced as an essential component of the public law curriculum. This course will explore alternative traditions of constitutionalism, connecting them to the broader political cultures from which they have emerged. It will examine the various shades of meaning underlying political values and moral theories that inform concepts -- for example, liberty, autonomy, equality, and community -- within various constitutional traditions. It will seek to account for the similarities and differences within the constitutional ideas and arrangements in contrasting systems. It will explore the role of constitutional courts in polities with varying conceptions of judicial review and its significance. It will consider alternative approaches to the study of constitutional maintenance and change. It will attempt to clarify the elusive concepts of constitutional identity and revolution. It will look closely at the ways in which foreign experience might illuminate and possibly enrich American constitutional understandings. And it will consider how the comparative approach might contribute to contemporary debates among constitutional theorists.
No prerequisites
Requirements: class participation (20% of grade); a short reflective paper (20% of grade); and a 25-page research paper (60% of grade)
SMNR: Comparative Constitutionalism
- G. Jacobsohn
- S. Levinson
- WED 3:30 – 6:30 pm BAT 1.104
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
The proliferation of new constitutions in recent years has sharpened interest in a subject that has been around since Aristotle but has not always figured prominently in legal studies. The comparative analysis of constitutions (and related interpretive and structural issues) is now embraced as an essential component of the public law curriculum. This course will explore alternative traditions of constitutionalism, connecting them to the broader political cultures from which they have emerged. It will examine the various shades of meaning underlying political values and moral theories that inform concepts -- for example, liberty, autonomy, equality, and community -- within various constitutional traditions. It will seek to account for the similarities and differences within the constitutional ideas and arrangements in contrasting systems. It will explore the role of constitutional courts in polities with varying conceptions of judicial review and its significance. It will consider alternative approaches to the study of constitutional maintenance and change. It will attempt to clarify the elusive concepts of constitutional identity and revolution. It will look closely at the ways in which foreign experience might illuminate and possibly enrich American constitutional understandings. And it will consider how the comparative approach might contribute to contemporary debates among constitutional theorists.
No prerequisites
Requirements: a short reflective paper (20% of grade) and a 25-page research paper (60% of grade). Class participation (20% of grade)
SMNR: Comparative Judicial Politics
- TUE 3:30 – 6:30 pm BAT 1.104
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Government
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
This is a Government course, cross-listed with the Law School.
Courts around the world are becoming more powerful and more deeply involved in setting public policy, deciding important political and social questions, and constraining democratic politics. At the same time, those who should know – and care – the most about this phenomenon, including lawyers, politicians, and political scientists, often operate under mistaken premises concerning courts and law, how politics affects them and how they in turn affect politics. In this course we will try to dispel some of these misunderstandings. We will ask questions like the following: What is behind this global trend? What are courts doing with their newfound powers? When do courts and law have more important consequences for politics and for social change? Perhaps more importantly, is the “judicialization” of politics good, bad or indifferent? And good for whom?
The course examines the role that courts and law play in political systems around the world, including the United States. We begin with an examination of the basic logic of courts and law, and cover such topics as the differences across legal traditions, the creation of constitutional courts, the nature of judicial decision-making, judicial independence, the capacity of courts to produce social change, etc. The ultimate goal is to understand the conditions under which courts are or become consequential actors within the overall social and political system.
The course should be especially relevant to those with an interest in comparative law and legal systems, comparative judicial behavior, the role of courts in politics and social change, and the rule of law around the world. Given the course’s strong institutional focus, the course should also be relevant to those interested in comparative institutional analyses more generally. The readings will include materials on courts around the world, from the US and the rest of North America, to Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
Writing Assignments:
For this course you will produce three kinds of written assignments. You will write two reaction papers, minimum of one or two pages, that react to the readings for a particular day, and provide questions to jump start the discussion. You will write one reflection paper of 5-7 pages on at least one of the conceptual or theoretical questions addressed in the course, that offers some original thinking on these issues, grounded in an understanding and critique of the literature we cover. Finally, you will write a paper of 25 to 35 pages on a topic of your choice that at least points in the direction of a conference/article quality piece of work. You will need to make some original claim in your paper, not just repeat and re-process what is already in the literature. Alternatively, you may write a thoughtful critical review of several recent pieces (say, three books) on a topic – for this, the standard will be theoretical and critical originality. A good critical review will still depend on reading more broadly than what we have on the syllabus, in order to bring all the relevant literature to bear.
SMNR: Comparative Middle East Law
- THU 2:00 – 5:00 pm CAL 22
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Middle Eastern Studies
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
This is a Middle Eastern Studies course, cross-listed with the Law School.
This seminar explores modern legal structures - legislative and judicial - of the Middle East. It introduces students to the process by which traditional Islamic law was transformed into state law in the 19th and 20th centuries CE, by investigating debates on codification, legal modernity, and legal borrowing. With the emergence of the modern nation-states across the Muslim World, many countries accorded constitutional status to Islamic law as “a source” or “the source” of law and some states purport to base their entire systems on versions of Islamic law. The formation of the modern legal regimes in the Middle East was a hybrid product of Islamic and western legal traditions, which raises questions about legal authority, legality, and the creation of modern legal and judicial institutions. The course aims to encourage comparative legal analysis to assess generalizations about law typically formulated with respect to Western legal traditions. The course discusses cases and codes from Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. The topics covered in this course are constitutional law, judicial review, administrative law, obligations, commercial law, family law, human rights, and criminal law.
SMNR: Comparative Middle East Law
- S. Ayoub
- TUE 2:00 – 5:00 pm JON 5.257
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Middle Eastern Studies
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
This is a Middle Eastern Studies course, cross-listed with the Law School.
This seminar explores modern legal structures – legislative and judicial – of the Middle East. It introduces students to the process by which traditional Islamic law was transformed into state law in the 19th and 20th centuries CE, by investigating debates on codification, legal modernity and legal borrowing. With the emergence of the modern nation-states across the Muslim World, many countries accorded constitutional status to Islamic law as “a source” or “the source” of law and some states purport to base their entire systems on particular versions of Islamic law. The formation of the modern legal regimes in the Middle East was a hybrid product of Islamic and western legal traditions, which raises questions about legal authority, legality, and the creation of modern legal and judicial institutions. The course aims to encourage comparative legal analysis to assess generalizations about law typically formulated with respect to Western legal traditions. The course discusses cases and codes from Egypt, Malaysia, Northern Nigeria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. The topics covered in this course are constitutional law, judicial review, administrative law, obligations, commercial law, family law, human rights and criminal law.
SMNR: Comparative Middle East Law
- S. Ayoub
- MON 3:00 – 6:00 pm JON 6.203
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
Cross-Listed This seminar explores modern legal structures – legislative and judicial – of the Middle East. It introduces students to the process by which traditional Islamic law was transformed into state law in the 19th and 20th centuries CE, by investigating debates on codification, legal modernity and legal borrowing. With the emergence of the modern nation-states across the Muslim World, many countries accorded constitutional status to Islamic law as “a source” or “the source” of law and some states purport to base their entire systems on particular versions of Islamic law. The formation of the modern legal regimes in the Middle East was a hybrid product of Islamic and western legal traditions, which raises questions about legal authority, legality, and the creation of modern legal and judicial institutions. The course aims to encourage comparative legal analysis to assess generalizations about law typically formulated with respect to Western legal traditions. The course discusses cases and codes from Egypt, Malaysia, Northern Nigeria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. The topics covered in this course are constitutional law, judicial review, administrative law, obligations, commercial law, family law, human rights and criminal law
SMNR: Competition Law and Health Care
- W. Sage
- TUE 4:15 – 6:05 pm ONLINE
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.
This is an advanced class in health law and policy that explores the role of competition in health care systems that are also highly regulated. Approximately half of the course will consider the interplay of competition and regulation as both a normative and a descriptive matter, including international comparisons. The other half of the course will focus on the application of U.S. antitrust law to the health care system, examining both historical cases and recent or ongoing disputes through readings and conversations with antitrust litigators and enforcers.
SMNR: Congress and the Courts
- WED 2:30 – 4:20 pm TNH 3.115
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
Supreme Court reform is a hot topic today. But what power do Congress and the President have over the Supreme Court -- and when and how should they use that power? This seminar will examine various issues of Court reform, such as term limits and changes in the Court's size. We will also explore ways in which the political branches can and have enhanced the power of the federal judiciary. Throughout, we will consider broader themes, such as the constitutional separation of powers, the influence of partisan politics, and the importance of judicial legitimacy.