Course Schedule

This course introduces persuasive legal writing and oral argument. The course covers building a persuasive legal document using arguments about text, intent, tradition, precedent, and policy. The course also covers other practical legal skills, including consideration of audience and purpose in persuasion, oral communication, and researching to support persuasive arguments.

This course introduces persuasive legal writing and oral argument. The course covers building a persuasive legal document using arguments about text, intent, tradition, precedent, and policy. The course also covers other practical legal skills, including consideration of audience and purpose in persuasion, oral communication, and researching to support persuasive arguments.

This course introduces persuasive legal writing and oral argument. The course covers building a persuasive legal document using arguments about text, intent, tradition, precedent, and policy. The course also covers other practical legal skills, including consideration of audience and purpose in persuasion, oral communication, and researching to support persuasive arguments.

This course introduces persuasive legal writing and oral argument. The course covers building a persuasive legal document using arguments about text, intent, tradition, precedent, and policy. The course also covers other practical legal skills, including consideration of audience and purpose in persuasion, oral communication, and researching to support persuasive arguments.

POLICY MAKING/LEADERSHIP "ADVANCED PUBLIC MANAGEMENT: Policy Making and Leadership The purpose of the course is to expose students to contemporary policy challenges in the national security arena and, in doing so, provide the student a framework for making future decisions across the entire public policy spectrum. Students will be exposed to a variety of geopolitical scenarios and working in conjunction with a “national security team” they will develop a list of options for government leaders. The course goes beyond the theoretical and analytical to understanding exactly how national security policy is made in the most complex and politically sensitive environments. In the scenarios, students will be confronted with the challenges of whether to conduct a drone strike in a denied area, address the development of nuclear weapons in Iran, a potential conflict between Russia and NATO, whether to intervene in a potential Global contagion and several other current international problems. Students will learn to understand the implications of U.S. actions on both international and domestic policy. Throughout the course we will also examine the role of leadership in policy making."

This course is for 3Ls who will be clerking for a federal district or magistrate judge.

On your first day in your new clerkship, you will inherit the responsibility of overseeing a docket of 100 or more cases, all of which have ongoing motion practice, upcoming trial dates, and a lot for a law clerk to do. And most of the things you will need to do are things you have never done before, like preparing a bench memo for a hearing, or an order denying a 12(b)(6) motion. The first few months in a clerkship can be pretty overwhelming. This class is intended to provide you with enough knowledge and insight into the nuts and bolts of a district or magistrate judge clerkship to allow you to hit the ground running on your first day. It covers everything from how to read a docket sheet and find the pleadings in your cases, to drafting a memorandum opinion. It is a two-credit, pass/fail, small and collaborative class.

The purpose of this course is to provide students with a basic background in historic preservation law. Whether you choose to work in the historic preservation field or in another field related to preservation such as architecture, building conservation, planning, archeology, or history, this course will equip you to recognize when legal issues might impact your work, and assist you in achieving a successful outcome.

Course Overview

The United States incarcerates more people than any other country on earth, with more than 1.9 million people in custody on any given day. Prisons and jails are places that cause tremendous harm to the people who live and work in these settings, and it has become increasingly clear that environmental factors contribute to the risks they face. For example, incarcerated people and corrections staff are exposed to extreme temperatures, contaminated water supplies, hazardous chemicals, toxic air quality, and climate-change induced events, such as flooding, wildfires, and other natural disasters. At the same time, the carceral institutions themselves can create hazardous environmental conditions. It is no coincidence that these environmental risks disproportionately impact low-income people and people of color.

This course examines the range of environmental risks in the carceral setting by focusing on specific case studies of environmental harm suffered by incarcerated people in several instances over the last ten years. We will hear directly from people who have been incarcerated who can speak to the impact of these environmental hazards. We will examine some of the practical challenges that arise when it comes to addressing these environmental risks, such as the politics of funding infrastructure improvements, the complexities of the policy development process, and the difficulties of mass evacuations. We will explore the laws and policies in place to protect incarcerated people from environmental impacts, and the gaps in protection that exist. We will also delve into the legal obstacles people in custody face when they seek redress for the environmental harms they have suffered. And we will consider potential strategies and opportunities for advocates seeking to address these challenges.

This course, cross-listed between the LBJ School and the Law School, approaches these issues from a highly interdisciplinary and practical perspective. It will be co-taught by two professors, one with expertise on prison policy and practice and the other with expertise on environmental law. We will also have guest speakers with lived experience relevant to these issues.

Course Requirements This course is dependent upon an informed and lively discussion. Students are expected to attend all classes, do all the reading, and come to class with thoughtful comments or questions about their reading assignments. The course will have a heavy reading load. Class participation is critical and will be considered in grading. There will be two short research and writing assignments and one longer research and writing assignment as the major projects for the course. Students may also be asked to help lead class discussion or to conduct some outside research on a specified week’s topic. Students may be assigned to teams to conduct some of these assignments.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is a specialized class for students who expect to spend their careers (at least in part) representing clients in civil lawsuits. If that's not you, I encourage you to take a different class that will better prepare you for the practice you expect to have. If yo'ure not sure about your future field of endeavor, consider taking the introductory survey course. It's taught every year.

This is NOT an MPRE prep course. From my own experience and that of hundreds of law students, I know that one can pass the MPRE with a week or two of study. Consequently, there's no reason to spend an entire semester getting ready for the exam. But there are good reasons to spend a term studying the law governing lawyers, which you will have to understand and deal with throughout your professional life. Take my word on this: I get calls from lawyers with professional responsibility problems all the time. In this class, you will receive a thorough education in the basics that will both give you a leg up on the MPRE and prepare you to think about the ethical problems you'll encounter in practice.

Attendance is mandatory. Students who miss more than two class sessions will be asked to drop the course. Role will be taken each day.

A survey of interests in land and limited topics involving chattels, estates, cotenancy, landlord and tenant issues, conveyancing, private and public control of land use.

A survey of interests in land and limited topics involving chattels: estates, cotenancy, landlord and tenant issues, conveyancing, private and public control of land use.

A survey of interests in land and limited topics involving chattels, estates, cotenancy, landlord and tenant issues, conveyancing, private and public control of land use.

This class will teach the elements of a federal complaint through the lens of public interest lawsuits versus the government. The goal is for students to be able to strategize a concept and draft a complaint against a federal agency that would meet the requirements to bring suit and survive a motion to dismiss.

Technological innovation is reshaping financial services at a pace that challenges both markets and the law. Accelerating capabilities are disintermediating and disrupting existing business models and enabling the emergence of entrepreneurial new markets, products and participants. But what are the rules for this revolution? Or are there rules? How can lawyers counsel revolutionary entrepreneurs? How do regulators grapple with the associated challenges? This course will provide students a framework to consider these questions. We will use as our focal points two emerging technologies: the development of blockchain distributed ledger applications, and advances in artificial intelligence. Our study begins with an overview of administrative approaches to regulation, and we will use that framework to critically assess the way that regulators have utilized existing authorities to respond to the myriad developments in these fields. Substantive issues will include anti-money laundering, securities and commodities regulation, consumer protection and data privacy. A central theme will be tension between fostering innovation and protecting against risks to market integrity, investor and consumer protection and individual autonomy. We will consider the challenges of developing appropriate regulatory responses to applications of rapidly evolving technologies, and of counseling change agents in an ambiguous regulatory environment. This course is taught by a professor with a 35-year regulatory enforcement career that included positions as a senior SEC enforcement official and as a partner in a global law firm representing clients in defense of enforcement actions, and who has deep experience with these challenges from both perspectives.

This new seminar will examine major aspects of food production and consumption in the  United States, with a consistent emphasis on both market-driven and regulatory features. Special emphasis will be placed on the state-based and regional shaping--regulatory and otherwise--of the life-cycle of industrial-scale food production, from its intensive demands on soil and water; its extensive geographies; and its pollutive atmospheric conditioning to its prevalent end-state as methane-enhancing food waste.

Topics within the scope of inquiry may include, by example: state versus federal authority over food regulation; rising challenges to food safety; fertilizer and pesticide use and their regulation; induced preference formation for food products; "ultra-processed" (or "hyper-processed") foods; MAHA-policy influence; shrinkflation; the science and regulation of "novel" proteins; the use of treated frack water as irrigation water; the biodigestion of agricultural waste; food equity; and locovorism. 

Assessment methods will include a paper requirement. There will be no final exam.

Given the course's inter-disciplinary focus, cross-registrations from other departments will be welcome.

This course is designed to complement the seminar on the federal regulation of food safety being offered by Professor Tom McGarity this term.

This seminar will consider the ways in which different legal regimes and agencies shape innovation in the biopharmaceutical sector,  broadly understood to include therapeutic drugs, medical devices, and combination products such as GLP-1 injectors like Ozempic. Through readings comprised of scholarly articles, policy documents, and book excerpts, we will explore how various bodies of law—including patent, FDA, consumer protection, and antitrust—each influence the development of biopharmaceuticals.  We will consider what constitutes meaningful innovation in the biopharmaceutical sector.  We will study both moments when these systems operate in silos and when they collide, and consider how those dynamics affect innovation in the biopharmaceutical space.

Class discussions will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different institutional approaches and explore what kinds of structures best promote innovation.  The course will also draw on select current events as case studies to illustrate the opportunities and challenges that arise when multiple institutions and domains regulate innovation simultaneously.  Throughout the semester, students shall engage in theoretical, economic, and policy analysis. 

Students will complete a final research paper on a topic agreed upon by the student and instructor.  Class time will also be devoted to instructor-student meetings on paper development as well as to student paper presentations.   No science background is necessary.  There are no prerequisites.

This workshop seminar will focus on cutting-edge research in business law and economics. Most weeks will feature a leading outside scholar presenting a work-in-progress relating to current issues in business law. The range of subject matter includes economically-oriented work on business law, securities regulation, tax, or commercial law. Many of the papers presented will likely deal with normative questions of private ordering versus public regulation, and will examine problems that arise in both the private and public law spheres. Similarly, it is expected that many of the papers will consider social welfare effects, such as the effect of law and regulation on entrepreneurship, innovation, capital formation, and financial markets. Students will be responsible for written assessments of the paper being presented, and will be evaluated based on their writings and their participation in the workshop. Students' critiques may be made available to the speaker.

This seminar will examine historic and contemporary issues of race and the death penalty within American law and jurisprudence. Through this course, students will learn substantive principles; study the growing body of critical legal scholarship covering the matter; and examine the potential (and limits) of the law. By the end of the course, students will be able to analyze the interplay between race and the death penalty; acquire tools to think critically about its legal framework and engage with the role of racialized identities in its use. Utilizing – among other things – case law, statutory interpretation, statistical data, legal scholarship and legislative efforts, the course will undertake the project of grappling with a real-world example of the racialized nature of the death penalty.