Course Schedule
Classes Found
SMNR: Food Safety Law
- TUE 3:45 – 5:35 pm TNH 3.126
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Food Safety Law
- THU 2:15 – 4:05 pm TNH 2.123
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Food Safety Law
- MON 4:15 – 6:13 pm ONLINE
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.
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.
SMNR: Globalization and Balkanization
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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. Just now, the forces of Balkanization are most prominent, with the UK and Brexit, which will surely lead to 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.. And even in the United States, the idea of secession has been floated seriously in recent months. There is a rich landscape of legal and extralegal questions raised by these events, and by the reciprocal forces of globalization. In this seminar, we will explore that landscape.
SMNR: Globalization and Balkanization
- MON, WED 9:00 – 10:21 am ONLINE
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Short course:
- 1/25/21 — 4/5/21
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.
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. Just now, the forces of Balkanization are most prominent, with the UK and Brexit, which will surely lead to 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.. And even in the United States, the idea of secession has been floated seriously in recent months. There is a rich landscape of legal and extralegal questions raised by these events, and by the reciprocal forces of globalization. In this seminar, we will explore that landscape.
SMNR: Health Justice and the Medical-Legal Partnership
- K. Warren
- MON 3:45 – 5:35 pm TNH 2.138
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
From the redesign of complex medical care to population health management, law and policy inform every aspect of our health care system. Individually and systemically, increasing health equity depends not only on access to medical care for vulnerable populations, but also on addressing the social determinants of health—how the socioeconomic conditions in which people live, work, and play affect health and well-being. One promising approach is medical-legal partnership, which makes lawyers members of the healthcare team to collaboratively improve the health of vulnerable individuals and their families, as well as entire communities, by advocating for rights and reducing barriers. The class takes an interdisciplinary, inter-professional approach, making it valuable to law students and students in social work, nursing, pharmacy, public affairs, business, and medicine. Using interactive lectures, case studies, and simulations, students will learn to recognize and begin to collaboratively consider the relationship among medicine, law, and wellness. Through such topics as poverty and public benefits, safe and affordable housing, effective and appropriate education, and chronic conditions and public health law, we will consider how lawyers and health care providers can jointly engage in creative problem-solving. The class also provides an introduction to (1) the systems of individual and population health in the United States; (2) the role of law, policy, and legal services in informing social determinants of health; (3) diverse professional cultures and responsibilities of interdisciplinary practice; and (4) value-based metrics for evaluating the health and social benefits of legal interventions.
UPDATE: We are pleased to report strong interest in the class among Dell Medical School students, creating special opportunities for real-world collaborative projects with law and social work students. It should be a terrific class!
SMNR: Health Justice, Race, and COVID-19
- W. Sage
- K. Warren
- MON 4:15 – 6:13 pm ONLINE
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.
With continuing demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice, as well as a global pandemic, 2020 has highlighted many of the pervasive, structural issues that drive health disparities and poor health outcomes. Individually and systemically, correcting these inequities depends on addressing what are frequently called the “social determinants of health”—that is, how the socioeconomic conditions in which we live, grow, work, worship, play, and age affect health and well-being. Key to understanding these risk factors is understanding the ways that law perpetuates or exacerbates the social conditions that lead to disparate outcomes and opportunities.
This class will explore COVID-19 through a health justice lens shaped by the medical-legal partnership model and with express acknowledgment of the legacy of race-based policymaking on health and well-being. Using interactive lectures, case studies, and simulations, students will learn to recognize and begin to collaboratively consider the relationship among medicine, law, and wellness. Through such topics as income and generational wealth, housing and utilities, education and employment, legal status, and familial stability, we will consider how law impacts health, and how lawyers and health care providers can jointly engage in creative problem-solving.
The class takes an interdisciplinary, inter-professional approach, making it valuable to law students and students in social work, nursing, pharmacy, public affairs, business, and medicine.
SMNR: Health, Innovation, and the Law Colloquium
- TUE 3:55 – 5:45 pm TNH 3.124
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Healthcare Law & Policy
- WED 3:55 – 5:45 pm CCJ 3.306
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Healthcare Law & Policy
- THU 2:15 – 4:05 pm TNH 3.124
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Healthcare Law & Policy
- THU 2:40 – 4:38 pm ONLINE
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.
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.
SMNR: Healthcare Law & Policy
- THU 10:30 am – 12:20 pm TNH 3.115
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
- Cross-listed with:
- Other school
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
No description text available.Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
SMNR: Higher Education and the Law
- TUE 4:15 – 6:05 pm TNH 3.115
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Higher Education and the Law
- MON 3:45 – 5:35 pm TNH 3.114
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Homeland Security Law
- R. Sievert
- TUE 3:45 – 5:35 pm JON 6.257
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
In the last decade the US Government has undergone its largest reorganization since the New Deal. The laws passed since 2001, as well as the recently created Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Department of Homeland Security along with the modified CIA, FBI and Department of Justice National Security Divisions, will dominate every aspect of American life for years to come. This course examines the changes made in the Intelligence Community, Law Enforcement and Homeland Security establishments as well as the relevant legislation and Executive Orders. The goal will be to understand the changes, but also determine what needs to be improved and modified in the future. Among other matters, the course will cover the Intelligence Reform Act, Patriot and Electronic Surveillance, the FBIs National Security Branch and DOJs National Security Division, the Secure Border Initiative, Airline Transportation Safety Act, Maritime Transportation Safety Act, Public Health Safety and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act, Critical Infrastructure Protection, the National Response Framework and the National Incident Management System and related cases. The grade is primarily based on the seminar paper although extra points are given based on class participation. Students choose a paper topic mid semester and present a brief outline towards the end of the semester.
SMNR: Human Rights and Global Inequality: Law, History, Politics
- K. Engle
- E. Shore
- MON 4:00 – 6:00 pm JON 5.208
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Prof. keeps own waitlist
Description
Political leaders across the spectrum have called economic inequality a defining challenge of our time. This seminar aims to understand the legal, historical, and political drivers and dynamics of deeply entrenched inequality, within as well as across countries. Drawing from a range of disciplines (such as law, history, and international relations) and analytical frameworks (including, but not limited to racial capitalism, critical legal theories, and world systems theory), we will consider how law distributes resources in ways that maintain and reproduce historical patterns of domination, subordination, and accumulation. We will apply these questions to a range of geographical locations as well as to a variety of issues at the intersection of inequality and human rights, including labor, natural resource extraction, and land distribution.
The seminar will be organized around the visits of leading scholars who will come to the Law School to present their research 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 papers provided by visiting scholars, and write a longer, final essay on a topic related to the themes that arise during the semester. The course is open to law students as well as to non-law graduate and professional students with relevant background.
SMNR: Inequality, Labor, and Human Rights: The Future of Work in the Age of Pandemic
- K. Engle
- N. Ebner
- MON 4:00 – 6:00 pm ONLINE
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
This class will be taught online via Zoom.
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.
SMNR: Inequality, Labor, and Human Rights: The Future of Work in the Age of Pandemic
- MON 4:15 – 6:15 pm ONLINE
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
- Prof. keeps own waitlist
Description
This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.
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 resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic confirm 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 in the context of 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 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.
SMNR: Inside Texas Government: How It Really Works
- TUE 3:55 – 5:45 pm JON 6.207
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Inside Texas Government: How It Really Works
- TUE 3:45 – 5:35 pm TNH 2.139
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Inside Texas Government: How It Really Works
- WED 3:45 – 5:35 pm TNH 2.123
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Inside Texas Government: How It Really Works
- TUE 4:15 – 6:13 pm TNH 3.127
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
This course will be taught in person but with the option of remote participation via Zoom. Please note that this course might become online-only in the event that actual in-person attendance during the semester consistently falls below a threshold to be determined in the exercise of reasonable discretion by the instructor and the Student Affairs Office.
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.
SMNR: Inside Texas Government: How It Really Works
- TUE 3:45 – 5:35 pm TNH 3.125
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.
SMNR: Intellectual Property and Technology Policy
- TUE 3:55 – 5:45 pm JON 6.206
Course Information
- Course ID:
- 397S
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Description
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.