Course Schedule

The seminar on Food Safety Law will explore evolving concepts of food safety as implemented through federal regulatory programs. During the first eight weeks, seminar participants will read and discuss books and articles on risk assessment and risk management generally and on three regulatory programs aimed at ensuring food safety. After an introductory session on concepts of risk assessment and risk management in the context of risks posed by infectious microorganisms and chemical contaminants in food, the seminar will focus upon the following regulatory programs: (1) the Department of Agriculture's food safety and inspection program for beef; (2) the Environmental Protection Agency's program for establishing pesticide tolerances in foods, with a particular focus upon the risks that pesticides pose to children; and (3) the Food and Drug Administration's program for ensuring food safety and approving food additives, with a particular focus on that agency's program for regulating genetically modified foods. During the remainder of the semester, seminar participants will present seminar papers on a wide variety of topics related to food safety. Participants may draw paper topics from a wide variety of subject matter areas, including federal regulatory programs, state regulatory programs, and tort law.

The seminar on Food Safety Law will explore evolving concepts of food safety as implemented through federal regulatory programs. During the first eight weeks, seminar participants will read and discuss books and articles on risk assessment and risk management generally and on three regulatory programs aimed at ensuring food safety. After an introductory session on concepts of risk assessment and risk management in the context of risks posed by infectious microorganisms and chemical contaminants in food, the seminar will focus upon the following regulatory programs: (1) the Department of Agriculture's food safety and inspection program for beef; (2) the Environmental Protection Agency's program for establishing pesticide tolerances in foods, with a particular focus upon the risks that pesticides pose to children; and (3) the Food and Drug Administration's program for ensuring food safety and approving food additives, with a particular focus on that agency's program for regulating genetically modified foods. During the remainder of the semester, seminar participants will present seminar papers on a wide variety of topics related to food safety. Participants may draw paper topics from a wide variety of subject matter areas, including federal regulatory programs, state regulatory programs, and tort law.

The seminar on Food Safety Law will explore evolving concepts of food safety as implemented through federal regulatory programs. During the first eight weeks, seminar participants will read and discuss books and articles on risk assessment and risk management generally and on three regulatory programs aimed at ensuring food safety. After an introductory session on concepts of risk assessment and risk management in the context of risks posed by infectious microorganisms and chemical contaminants in food, the seminar will focus upon the following regulatory programs: (1) the Department of Agriculture's food safety and inspection program for beef; (2) the Environmental Protection Agency's program for establishing pesticide tolerances in foods, with a particular focus upon the risks that pesticides pose to children; and (3) the Food and Drug Administration's program for ensuring food safety and approving food additives, with a particular focus on that agency's program for regulating genetically modified foods. During the remainder of the semester, seminar participants will present seminar papers on a wide variety of topics related to food safety. Participants may draw paper topics from a wide variety of subject matter areas, including federal regulatory programs, state regulatory programs, and tort law.

This seminar will address issues of free speech and academic freedom at universities. Students will do original research on a subject chosen in consultation with the instructor, write a paper of 25-40 pages due about a month before the end of classes, present and receive reactions to their papers in class, and submit a revised paper at the end of the semester.

This seminar will address issues of free speech and academic freedom at universities.  Students will do original research on a subject chosen in consultation with the instructor, write a paper of 25-40 pages due about a month before the end of classes, present and receive reactions to their papers in class, and submit a revised paper at the end of the semester. 

In our time, the nation state has been under pressure from above, where the forces of globalization are leading to the creation of transnational structures of governance and allegiance, and from below, where the forces of secession in the name of self-determination may threaten to break up once durable national structures. The forces of Balkanization have been most prominent in the UK, with Brexit creating internal pressures of secession by Scotland, North Ireland and Wales, and serious complications on the border between North Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In Spain, meanwhile, the Catalan independence movement continues to fester. Once a progenitor of much of the modern trend towards multinational cooperation, the United States has in recent years been a force of resistance and disruption to global arrangements. There is a rich landscape of legal and extralegal questions raised by these events. In this seminar, we will explore that landscape. Among other topics, we will discuss the tension between democracy and globalization; the role of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and the World Bank; the legitimacy of international courts and arbitration; the rise of English as the lingua franca around the world; the relevance of comparative law in constitutional adjudication; and the political and legal issues involving secession.      

Guns and drugs: This seminar will traverse the litigation landscape of harms to communities resulting from the actions of the firearms industry and harmful pharmaceuticals. The first half of this seminar introduces the tort theory of public nuisance and describes the changing landscape of 21st century mass tort litigation involving public harms – including lead paint, opioids, e-cigarettes, climate change, and environmental pollution. We will explore the novel theory of public nuisance that lawyers and local governments have used to receive compensation from those who have created public nuisances. We will discuss the origins and evolution of the theory of public nuisance from the twelfth century into modern-day American jurisprudence. We will survey the conflicting judicial decisions rooted in common law and statutory interpretation and evaluate the competing arguments for and against the expansion of public nuisance law. The first portion of the course will focus on applications of public nuisance theory to resolve mass torts relating to lead paint, opioids, vaping, and environmental pollution. We will examine the competing theories arguing in favor of and in opposition to the expansion of public nuisance theory to address and remediate modern community harms. The text for this portion of the seminar is Linda S. Mullenix, PUBLIC NUISANCE: THE NEW MASS TORT FRONTIER (Cambridge University Press 2024). The second half of the course comprehensively addresses the changed legal landscape concerning the ability of governments and private citizens to sue gun industry defendants for contributing to and sustaining the gun violence epidemic in the U.S., Mexico, and Latin America. The discussion canvasses federal and state efforts to regulate firearms through gun control measures, arguing that these regulatory measures have proven ineffective to stem the tide of gun violence. We will then examine the Congressional enactment in 2005 of the Protection of Legal Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) that immunizes the firearms industry from civil liability for gun violence harms. We will discuss the extent to which PLCAA has frustrated the ability of plaintiffs to hold the firearms industry accountable through litigation. We will discuss the theory that recourse to robust consumer protection and mass tort litigation provides the optimal avenue for holding the firearms industry accountable. The analysis highlights three inflection points in the history of gun industry accountability: the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, the Connecticut Sandy Hook Elementary School litigation, and the very recent nine states’ enactment of consumer protection and public nuisance firearms statutes. These innovative statutes have created an avenue for firearms litigation that overcomes the firearm industry’s historical immunity from suit anchored in PLCAA. The text for this portion of the course is Linda S. Mullenix, OUTGUNNED NO MORE: THE NEW ERA OF FIREARMS ACCOUNTABILITY (Cambridge University Press 2025). This is a writing seminar. Each student in the seminar will be required to complete three papers during the semester. Students will choose the weeks in which they wish to submit papers. Each paper will analytically present and discuss issues or debates relating to the weekly reading assignments. Each student, at the beginning of the semester, chooses the paper topics and timing of the papers.

This colloquium-style writing seminar takes on legal issues at the heart of health and innovation. We’ll explore and evaluate cutting-edge research. The first two classes will introduce students to the necessary background law and policy issues—health law and innovation 101. For the rest of the semester, students will engage with works-in-progress by six of the leading scholars in the field. We will discuss and evaluate the paper together and then host workshops where these scholars will present their papers. Students are required to submit discussion questions for each of the papers. Students will research and write 3 ten-page scholarly critiques of papers. Students will ask questions, deliver critiques, and make suggestions for improvement in conversation with the speakers. Professors will provide detailed comments to students on each of their papers.

This colloquium-style writing seminar takes on legal issues at the heart of health and innovation. We’ll explore and evaluate cutting-edge research ranging from drug pricing and regulation to corporatization of healthcare to assisted reproduction. The first two classes will introduce students to the necessary background law and policy issues—health law and innovation 101. For the rest of the semester, students will engage with works-in-progress by six of the leading scholars in the field. We will discuss and evaluate the paper together and then host workshops where these scholars will present their papers.  Students are required to write concise scholarly critiques of each of the  papers, which will be provided to the speaker. Students will ask questions, deliver critiques, and make suggestions for improvement in conversation with the speakers. Professors will provide detailed comments to students on each of their papers.

This class will focus on a variety of subjects relating to the delivery of health care services, including patient safety and health care quality, regulation of health care providers, and the payment system. Readings will be of diverse types, including articles published in law reviews, medical journals, and other outlets; empirical studies; popular writings; and even news articles and blog columns. Because students are required to make in-class presentations and submit short papers, space is limited and attendance is required.

You will be required to read Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much For Health Care by Professor Silver and David Hyman, a professor at the Georgetown Law Center.  Professor Silver receives no royalties on sales of the book, the price of which is extremely low.  Americans are overcharged for health care, but students will not be overcharged for taking this course.

Disclosure:  

In this class, we will debate issues of health care policy robustly.  Students who have strong opinions on these issues, whether because of their religious faith, culture, personal experiences, or other reasons, are hereby informed that all beliefs may be challenged on all available grounds, including lack of scientific support, excessive cost, and immorality.  Examples of practices that may be discussed, criticized, and debated openly in class include female genital mutilation, male circumcision, faith-based healing of children with treatable diseases, honor killings, abortion, prohibitions on contraception and sex outside of marriage, drug laws, policies requiring rape victims to marry their abusers, and mask and vaccine mandates.  If you have strong beliefs on these or other health care matters that you do not wish to have questioned or criticized, you should not take this class.

This class will focus on a variety of subjects relating to the delivery of health care services, including patient safety and health care quality, regulation of health care providers, and the payment system. Readings will be of diverse types, including articles published in law reviews, medical journals, and other outlets; empirical studies; popular writings; and even news articles and blog columns. Because students are required to make in-class presentations and submit short papers, space is limited and attendance is required.

You will be required to read Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much For Health Care by Professor Silver and David Hyman, a professor at the Georgetown Law Center.  Professor Silver receives no royalties on sales of the book, the price of which is extremely low.  Americans are overcharged for health care, but students will not be overcharged for taking this course.

Disclosure:  

In this class, we will debate issues of health care policy robustly.  Students who have strong opinions on these issues, whether because of their religious faith, culture, personal experiences, or other reasons, are hereby informed that all beliefs may be challenged on all available grounds, including lack of scientific support, excessive cost, and immorality.  Examples of practices that may be discussed, criticized, and debated openly in class include female genital mutilation, male circumcision, faith-based healing of children with treatable diseases, honor killings, abortion, prohibitions on contraception and sex outside of marriage, drug laws, policies requiring rape victims to marry their abusers, and mask and vaccine mandates.  If you have strong beliefs on these or other health care matters that you do not wish to have questioned or criticized, you should not take this class.

This class will focus on a variety of subjects relating to the delivery of health care services, including patient safety and health care quality, regulation of health care providers, and the payment system. Readings will be of diverse types, including articles published in law reviews, medical journals, and other outlets; empirical studies; popular writings; and even news articles and blog columns. Because students are required to make in-class presentations and submit short papers, space is limited and attendance is required.

You will be required to read Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much For Health Care by Professor Silver and David Hyman, a professor at the Georgetown Law Center.  Professor Silver receives no royalties on sales of the book, the price of which is extremely low.  Americans are overcharged for health care, but students will not be overcharged for taking this course.

Disclosure:  

In this class, we will debate issues of health care policy robustly.  Students who have strong opinions on these issues, whether because of their religious faith, culture, personal experiences, or other reasons, are hereby informed that all beliefs may be challenged on all available grounds, including lack of scientific support, excessive cost, and immorality.  Examples of practices that may be discussed, criticized, and debated openly in class include female genital mutilation, male circumcision, faith-based healing of children with treatable diseases, honor killings, abortion, prohibitions on contraception and sex outside of marriage, drug laws, policies requiring rape victims to marry their abusers, and mask and vaccine mandates.  If you have strong beliefs on these or other health care matters that you do not wish to have questioned or criticized, you should not take this class.

This class will focus on a variety of subjects relating to the delivery of health care services, including patient safety and health care quality, regulation of health care providers, and the payment system. Readings will be of diverse types, including articles published in law reviews, medical journals, and other outlets; empirical studies; popular writings; and even news articles and blog columns. Because students are required to make in-class presentations and submit short papers, space is limited and attendance is required.

You will be required to read Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much For Health Care by Professor Silver and David Hyman, a professor at the Georgetown Law Center.  Professor Silver receives no royalties on sales of the book, the price of which is extremely low.  Americans are overcharged for health care, but students will not be overcharged for taking this course.

Disclosure:  

In this class, we will debate issues of health care policy robustly.  Students who have strong opinions on these issues, whether because of their religious faith, culture, personal experiences, or other reasons, are hereby informed that all beliefs may be challenged on all available grounds, including lack of scientific support, excessive cost, and immorality.  Examples of practices that may be discussed, criticized, and debated openly in class include female genital mutilation, male circumcision, faith-based healing of children with treatable diseases, honor killings, abortion, prohibitions on contraception and sex outside of marriage, drug laws, policies requiring rape victims to marry their abusers, and mask and vaccine mandates.  If you have strong beliefs on these or other health care matters that you do not wish to have questioned or criticized, you should not take this class.

This class will focus on a variety of subjects relating to the delivery of health care services, including patient safety and health care quality, regulation of health care providers, and the payment system. Readings will be of diverse types, including articles published in law reviews, medical journals, and other outlets; empirical studies; popular writings; and even news articles and blog columns. Because students are required to make in-class presentations and submit short papers, space is limited and attendance is required.

The only required book for the class is Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much For Health Care by Professor Silver and David Hyman, a professor at the Georgetown Law Center.  Professor Silver receives no royalties on sales of the book, the price of which is extremely low.  Americans are overcharged for health care, but students will not be overcharged for taking this course.

This seminar will address topics in higher education law. Students will do original research on a subject chosen in consultation with the instructor, write a paper of 25-40 pages, receive reactions to their papers, and submit a revised paper at the end of the semester. Initial classes will review background readings. Subsequent seminar sessions will consist largely of student presentations of their ongoing research and discussion of that research by the entire class. Students may take both the course and the seminar.

This seminar will address topics in higher education law. Students will do original research on a subject chosen in consultation with the instructor, write a paper of 25-40 pages, receive reactions to their papers, and submit a revised paper at the end of the semester. Initial classes will review background readings. Subsequent seminar sessions will consist largely of student presentations of their ongoing research and discussion of that research by the entire class. Students may take both the course and the seminar.

Over the past decade, concerns about the “future of work” have preoccupied scholars, policymakers, NGOS, and international organizations. Many forecast massive job displacement caused by advances in automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, and digitization. As formal labor’s share of national income continues to shrink around the world, informal employment, underemployment, and non-waged work increasingly characterize the lives of many. Silicon Valley tycoons, Marxist critics, far-right populists, and even a long-shot U.S. presidential candidate have all predicted the end of work as we know it. Soaring rates of unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic confirmed even the gloomiest prognoses, albeit for different reasons than anticipated.

This seminar will study these and other prognoses of the future of work as well as proposals for responding to them, in light of deeply entrenched inequality within and across countries. Drawing from a range of disciplines such as law, sociology, history, and economics as well as analytical frameworks including racial capitalism, world-system theory, and distributional analysis, we will consider how the valorization and definition of “productive labor” allocates resources in ways that maintain and reproduce historical patterns of racialized, gendered, and neocolonial domination, subordination, and accumulation. We will pay special attention to the role of law and legal advocacy, including international law, in both perpetuating and responding to unequal distribution.

We will apply our study to a range of geographical locations as well as to a variety of policies addressing labor precarity. To what extent are these policies based on nostalgia for certain figurations of work and workers (organized around the formal workplace)? How might they impede our ability to imagine other, perhaps more equitable, forms of livelihood? We will consider possibilities for thinking beyond productive value in ways that more equitably distribute wealth and resources, such as guaranteed basic income, the concept of rightful shares, and reparations.  

These issues are particularly salient as we continue to analyze the effects of and even look beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, we will attend to ways in which the coronavirus has laid bare the unequal distributive effects of global capitalism while at the same time making what previously seemed to some as radical programs (such as basic income payments and support for gig workers) relatively acceptable, at least for the moment.

The seminar will be organized around the visits of leading scholars (see biographies at the end of the syllabus) who will present their research to the university community in a public forum. Students will spend roughly two weeks considering work by each speaker as well as related scholarly materials.

Students are expected to participate actively in class discussions, write short critical responses to assigned reading by visiting scholars, and write a longer essay on a topic related to the themes that arise during the semester. Readings for the seminar will come from a variety of disciplines. The seminar is open not only to law students but to non-law graduate and professional students with relevant background.

This seminar, “Inside Texas Government: How It Really Works,” furthers the public service mission of The University of Texas School of Law by endeavoring to help law students who aspire to become lawyers who practice law in and around Texas state government, or enhancing the understanding of those students who are just interested in politics and government. The School of Law already offers courses that deal with the legislative branch of the Texas state government and how to navigate it, and virtually every class at the School of Law studies the judicial branch and decisions made by it and their impact. However, there is no course offering that specifically focuses on the executive branch and its interaction with the other two branches of Texas state government, especially the legislative branch. This seminar seeks to provide such a focus. The course teacher, Adjunct Professor Randy Erben, possesses unique expertise, experience, and perspectives into state government. He served as Gov. Abbott’s first legislative director, has run two state agencies, was a registered lobbyist with a broad variety of clients for over 20 years, and currently serves as a commissioner on the Texas Ethics Commission. The course will study the constitutional and statutory powers of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, and other officials and agencies. Class topics include legislation (including legislative procedure, special sessions, emergency proclamations, and vetoes); separation of powers; the state budget; state agency regulations; appointments to boards and commissions; litigation; orders, proclamations, and opinions; and other topics. This seminar reviews and analyzes the powers and duties of the various executive branch offices and applies them to real-life situations. The seminar consists of fourteen classroom seminar sessions, covering the specific mechanisms the various executive branch agencies utilize to project power within the constitutional, statutory, and regulatory limitations constraining them.

This seminar, “Inside Texas Government: How It Really Works,” furthers the public service mission of The University of Texas School of Law by endeavoring to help law students who aspire to become lawyers who practice law in and around Texas state government, or enhancing the understanding of those students who are just interested in politics and government. The School of Law already offers courses that deal with the legislative branch of the Texas state government and how to navigate it, and virtually every class at the School of Law studies the judicial branch and decisions made by it and their impact. However, there is no course offering that specifically focuses on the executive branch and its interaction with the other two branches of Texas state government, especially the legislative branch. This seminar seeks to provide such a focus.

The course teacher, Adjunct Professor Randy Erben, possesses unique expertise, experience, and perspectives into state government. He served as Gov. Abbott’s first legislative director, has run two state agencies, was a registered lobbyist with a broad variety of clients for over 20 years, and currently serves as a commissioner on the Texas Ethics Commission.

The course will study the constitutional and statutory powers of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, and other officials and agencies. Class topics include legislation (including legislative procedure, special sessions, emergency proclamations, and vetoes); separation of powers; the state budget; state agency regulations; appointments to boards and commissions; litigation; orders, proclamations, and opinions; and other topics.

This seminar reviews and analyzes the powers and duties of the various executive branch offices and applies them to real-life situations.

The seminar consists of fourteen classroom seminar sessions, covering the specific mechanisms the various executive branch agencies utilize to project power within the constitutional, statutory, and regulatory limitations constraining them.

This seminar, “Inside Texas Government: How It Really Works,” furthers the public service mission of The University of Texas School of Law by endeavoring to help law students who aspire to become lawyers who practice law in and around Texas state government, or enhancing the understanding of those students who are just interested in politics and government. The School of Law already offers courses that deal with the legislative branch of the Texas state government and how to navigate it, and virtually every class at the School of Law studies the judicial branch and decisions made by it and their impact. However, there is no course offering that specifically focuses on the executive branch and its interaction with the other two branches of Texas state government, especially the legislative branch. This seminar seeks to provide such a focus.

The course teacher, Adjunct Professor Randy Erben, possesses unique expertise, experience, and perspectives into state government. He served as Gov. Abbott’s first legislative director, has run two state agencies, was a registered lobbyist with a broad variety of clients for over 20 years, and currently serves as a commissioner on the Texas Ethics Commission.

The course will study the constitutional and statutory powers of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, and other officials and agencies. Class topics include legislation (including legislative procedure, special sessions, emergency proclamations, and vetoes); separation of powers; the state budget; state agency regulations; appointments to boards and commissions; litigation; orders, proclamations, and opinions; and other topics.

This seminar reviews and analyzes the powers and duties of the various executive branch offices and applies them to real-life situations.

The seminar consists of fourteen classroom seminar sessions, covering the specific mechanisms the various executive branch agencies utilize to project power within the constitutional, statutory, and regulatory limitations constraining them.

This seminar, “Inside Texas Government: How It Really Works,” furthers the public service mission of The University of Texas School of Law by endeavoring to help law students who aspire to become lawyers who practice law in and around Texas state government, or enhancing the understanding of those students who are just interested in politics and government. The School of Law already offers courses that deal with the legislative branch of the Texas state government and how to navigate it, and virtually every class at the School of Law studies the judicial branch and decisions made by it and their impact. However, there is no course offering that specifically focuses on the executive branch and its interaction with the other two branches of Texas state government, especially the legislative branch. This seminar seeks to provide such a focus.

The course teacher, Adjunct Professor Randy Erben, possesses unique expertise, experience, and perspectives into state government. He served as Gov. Abbott’s first legislative director, has run two state agencies, was a registered lobbyist with a broad variety of clients for over 20 years, and currently serves as a commissioner on the Texas Ethics Commission.

The course will study the constitutional and statutory powers of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, and other officials and agencies. Class topics include legislation (including legislative procedure, special sessions, emergency proclamations, and vetoes); separation of powers; the state budget; state agency regulations; appointments to boards and commissions; litigation; orders, proclamations, and opinions; and other topics.

This seminar reviews and analyzes the powers and duties of the various executive branch offices and applies them to real-life situations.

The seminar consists of fourteen classroom seminar sessions, covering the specific mechanisms the various executive branch agencies utilize to project power within the constitutional, statutory, and regulatory limitations constraining them.

This seminar, “Inside Texas Government: How It Really Works,” furthers the public service mission of The University of Texas School of Law by endeavoring to help law students who aspire to become lawyers who practice law in and around Texas state government, or enhancing the understanding of those students who are just interested in politics and government. The School of Law already offers courses that deal with the legislative branch of the Texas state government and how to navigate it, and virtually every class at the School of Law studies the judicial branch and decisions made by it and their impact. However, there is no course offering that specifically focuses on the executive branch and its interaction with the other two branches of Texas state government, especially the legislative branch. This seminar seeks to provide such a focus.

The course teacher, Adjunct Professor Randy Erben, possesses unique expertise, experience, and perspectives into state government. He served as Gov. Abbott’s first legislative director, has run two state agencies, was a registered lobbyist with a broad variety of clients for over 20 years, and currently serves as a commissioner on the Texas Ethics Commission.

The course will study the constitutional and statutory powers of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, and other officials and agencies. Class topics include legislation (including legislative procedure, special sessions, emergency proclamations, and vetoes); separation of powers; the state budget; state agency regulations; appointments to boards and commissions; litigation; orders, proclamations, and opinions; and other topics.

This seminar reviews and analyzes the powers and duties of the various executive branch offices and applies them to real-life situations.

The seminar consists of fourteen classroom seminar sessions, covering the specific mechanisms the various executive branch agencies utilize to project power within the constitutional, statutory, and regulatory limitations constraining them.

Science and innovation are crucial drivers of economic growth and provide some of humanity’s best hopes for addressing a variety of social, political, and even existential problems. This seminar considers the ways in which different legal regimes and proposed reforms to legal regimes, including IP laws, might help or hinder innovation and scientific progress. Assigned readings will include background material on IP as well as articles by leading scholars. Each student will be expected (1) to participate in class discussion; (2) to complete short writing assignments of about 125 to 250 words that respond to assigned readings; (3) to write a term paper to satisfy the seminar writing requirement; (4) to provide written comments on a classmate’s draft term paper; and (5) to make an in-class presentation of the student’s own paper project. Neither technical training nor any specific course is a prerequisite.

Science and innovation are crucial drivers of economic growth and provide some of humanity’s best hopes for addressing a variety of social, political, and even existential problems. This seminar considers the ways in which different legal regimes and proposed reforms to legal regimes, including IP laws, might help or hinder innovation and scientific progress. Assigned readings will include background material on IP as well as articles by leading scholars. Each student will be expected (1) to participate in class discussion; (2) to complete short writing assignments of about 125 to 250 words that respond to assigned readings; (3) to write a term paper to satisfy the seminar writing requirement; (4) to provide written comments on a classmate’s draft term paper; and (5) to make an in-class presentation of the student’s own paper project. Neither technical training nor any specific course is a prerequisite.