Course Schedule

The scope of this class is both domestic and international and crosses multiple disciplines and fields of law. The course touches many aspects of the processes of creating art, buying and selling it, using it, or displaying it in a museum. Additionally, the course covers the more nefarious legal issues in art and cultural property, including forgery, theft, illegal movement, and art in war, focusing on art stolen in the Holocaust.

Many law school courses deal with the role of the “outside” lawyer in counseling clients and, often, representing clients in a litigation setting. This course deals with the compliance function—described by one author as the function that establishes and confirms “conformity between . . . action and a rule or standard,” the latter being determined by law, regulation or an organization’s policies.  The compliance role within an organization principally focuses on avoiding problems (and resultant crises for the organization) by establishing policies designed to ensure that personnel conform to legal and regulatory requirements, counseling personnel when questions arise and establishing “early warning” systems to detect and respond to instances of possible malfeasance. It is also one of the organizational roles currently providing the most employment opportunities for lawyers—a law degree (or bar admission) may not technically be required to serve as a compliance officer, but it is increasingly seen by organizations as desirable, and is often becoming a requirement. The course will examine the role of the compliance function within a corporation or other organization and its relationship to other organizational roles and to regulatory agencies.  It will also examine a number of current or recent situations in which problems—crises for the organizations involved—have been uncovered and will consider how more effective compliance programs might have unearthed them earlier, in time to avoid the crisis. Quite often (and contrary to the popular image), the best service a lawyer can perform for her client, but one that is invisible to public awareness, is to foresee a potential issue and adopt changes that avoid its occurrence. This course will provide some of the tools useful in that endeavor. The course is offered as a seminar for up to 16 students and will require a final paper submission (in lieu of an exam), as well as a short mid-course paper to provide an opportunity for earlier feedback. Course materials will be provided by the instructor and there will be no casebook..

This course will cover current health care business and regulatory issues, including (1) laws prohibiting payments and benefits by hospitals to physicians in exchange for patient admisssions and referrals, (2) whistleblower lawsuits within the health care industry and uncovering and self-disclosing improper health care arrangements, (3) indictment of health care lawyers participating in illegal transactions, (4) prohibitions against the corporate practice of medicine and fee-splitting by physicians, (5) non-competition agreements in the health care industry, and (6) business and contractual disputes and tortious interference claims between hospitals and physicians and other health care providers.

This writing seminar will focus on the substantive and procedural legal issues which relate to the protection of children. The first six classes of the seminar will provide an overview of child protection issues. The first class will include a presentation on child abuse and neglect cases; what it is and what it is not. The distinction between criminal child abuse cases and civil child protection (CPS) cases will be discussed.  The next five classes will cover the duty to report child abuse, the removal of children from their homes, termination of parental rights, systemic problems within the foster care system, the rights of children and their parents in child protection proceedings, and the criminal prosecution of child abuse. The readings for the first six classes are posted on canvas or cites for the internet link and Westlaw are provided in the syllabus and on canvas. Students are expected to read and be prepared to discuss the assigned readings in class. Any changes in the class schedule will be posted on canvas. (Occasionally, the order of topics will alter from the initial outline due to availability of guest speakers. Additional readings and discussion may be supplemented which will include the interplay of the protection of children with other areas of the law such as immigration, education law, and family law. Grades will be based on the 1) outline, 2) first draft of paper, 3) feedback to the class regarding mandatory observation of CPS docket, 4) class participation, 5) in-class presentation of paper, 6) critique of another student's paper, and 7) 25-30 page final paper.

For most of their history, credit cards have been largely unregulated. That changed in 2009 with the passage of the CARD Act, which directly regulated their substantive terms for the first time. Credit cards are receiving even more scrutiny from the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In this seminar, we will examine how these changes have affected the credit industry and the consumers who borrow from it. Questions to be considered include: Has regulation decreased the supply or increased the price of credit? Have the new laws helped consumers, or have they negatively restricted consumer choice? What provisions have been most and least effective? What lessons can we apply to other consumer credit relationships? And perhaps most importantly, are these laws an aberration in the history of a free-market product, or is regulation the future of credit cards? We will also briefly touch on credit card fraud and the conflicts between credit card issuers and merchants. We will read a variety of materials, including CFPB publications about the agency's latest enforcement actions. Grades will be apportioned as follows: 50%, final papers; 25%, students' first draft of their papers; and 25%, class paritipcation. 

Course Overview Few policy issues have had as big an impact on the Texas political or social landscape as criminal justice, and fewer still have such a hold on the popular imagination. Yet it is only in the last decade or so that debate about criminal justice policy has started to take account of the financial and social costs of our state's incarceration policies. Time and again, public officials at all levels and in all branches of government find themselves confronting the thorny problems presented by the policy choices the state has made in the criminal justice arena, and by constantly shifting political winds. This course will force us to go beyond the simplistic debates between "tough on crime" and "soft on crime" rhetoric, and confront the hard policy questions that mirror the daily challenges faced by policy-makers and public officials. For example, how can policy- makers safely and effectively downsize our massive prison system? What role does race play in the criminal justice system, and how should public officials take into account the impact of criminal justice practices on minority communities and families?  How can legislators protect the public from people who have committed serious or violent crimes, especially while facing immense budget pressures? Should the pretrial bail system be based on a person’s risk or their ability to pay money bail? Should any limits be placed on judicial or prosecutorial discretion? When is it appropriate for a court to intervene to improve prison or jail conditions? What steps should policy-makers take to protect people in custody from unsafe conditions of confinement? What forms of external oversight should exist when it comes to prison operations? Are humane prisons possible? Although the course will have a heavy focus on Texas' criminal justice policies and practices, we will often refer to the experiences of other states and other countries to examine a range of practices in this field and to explore alternative options for developing policy.

Goals Students in this interdisciplinary seminar (cross-listed between the LBJ School and the Law School) will gain a firm understanding of the key criminal justice policy challenges facing public officials. Students will begin to appreciate the complexity of these issues; understand how both good and bad policies are developed; understand the financial and social costs of criminal justice policy decisions; recognize the extent to which criminal justice issues have an impact on almost every aspect of government; and explore the relationship between law, constitutional requirements, the administration of justice, and public policy. Students will also learn practical policy research and writing skills.

Course Materials, Outside Speakers, and Legislative Hearings Each topic will be examined critically through a wide range of readings, including empirical studies, essays, books, statutes, legal cases, and official reports, as well as podcasts and videos. The reading load can be very heavy at times, but it is all interesting material. If possible, we will seek to visit prison and/or jail facilities to learn about life inside these facilities and hear from people with lived experience. We may have guest speakers such as a national expert/advocate, a prison agency official, and a person who was formerly incarcerated, all of whom have been deeply involved in policy-making or practice in this area. We also will take advantage of any legislative hearings or Sunset Commission hearings scheduled during the semester to observe the policy development process.

Additionally, there will be a major national conference on deaths in custody taking place at the LBJ School during the semester (chaired by the instructor), and students will have the opportunity to observe and network with some of the speakers.

Course Requirements This seminar 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. Class participation is critical and will be considered in grading. Students will be required to undertake an original research project on a topic of their choice and to write a 10-page issue brief about their topics.  Additionally, students will write two policy memos on designated criminal justice issues. (A writing assignment related to the conference on deaths in custody may be substituted for one of the policy memos.) Students will also submit an ungraded reflection essay.

This three credit seminar course will focus on the environmental impacts and resulting legal and international issues arising from the exploration, development, production and transportation of energy sources. Students will first gain a general knowledge of the primary energy sources and environmental impacts of national and world wide energy production through a survey format. Topics will include environmental, political and geo-political impacts of oil and gas exploration and production, bio-fuels production, coal generation, nuclear, wind and solar power. The course will then transition into the development of a working knowledge of the legal and administrative structure of Texas and Federal environmental law.  We will analyze the primary energy sources utilized in Texas and specifically review the impact of the winter storm of 2021. We will also focus on issues involving fuels for mobile sources and transportation and delivery of fuels as well as disposal of fuel by-products. Students will have an opportunity to utilize the Texas regulatory and legal structure to develop a knowledge of the basic framework of State authority and the conflicts and interplay between State and Federal law. The course will then focus on various specific energy development projects, with some emphasis on Texas and the Gulf Coast, to gain a practical understanding of the legal and administrative processes involved in dealing with environmental consequences of energy production and delivery. We will then delve into the myriad foriegn policy issues and conflicts involved in energy production and climate change policies.  Students will complete the semester by writing and presenting a seminar paper.

This is a one-semester, three-unit course which meets once a week for 100 minutes. We will take a 10-minute break after the first 50 minutes. This course is not restricted 3L students though there is some preference given; second-year law students are welcome. The casebook ("CB") is Abrams, Beale, & Klein, Federal Criminal Law and Its Enforcement (6th ed. 2015), and the 2018 Supplement. The supplement is free and will be posted on Canvas.  There are two copies of the textbook on reserve at our library. A used copy of either is also acceptable. Please check Blackboard ("BB") every week for reading and writing assignments. There is no final exam for the course, your grade will be determined by the quality of your class participation and your six written and two oral projects. We will discuss all aspects of investigating, charging, trying, sentencing, and appealing federal criminal charges. We will take attendance, and we expect each of you to attend and to participate in every class discussion. If you plan to miss a class, you must clear it with one of the professors first. If you miss a class unexpectedly, please call or e-mail us as soon as possible. You must also complete all written and oral projects, on time. Each late assignment will be docked one-half a letter grade for each day, unless we approve the extended due date in advance. You will frequently do the pertinent reading and begin projects at home, and then we will devote some class time to working on the projects in groups and discussing the results. The topics and the schedule may be adjusted to accommodate student interest and speaker schedules.

Interns enrolled in the internship program at the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas or the Austin Federal Public Defender Service are encouraged to enroll in this seminar, and will be guaranteed admission if they request it. 

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

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

Exploring Intersections of Legal Theory and Literary Texts

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

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

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

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

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

The seminar will cover topics not usually covered in patent law courses. For the first eight weeks, the course will address advanced topics and new developments in the law. The topics will be addressed in more depth than in typical courses and will include policy considerations. There will likely be one guest speaker that will present on a special topic. For the rest of the term, the students will select topics, choose the readings, and lead the discussion. Topic selection will require instructor approval. Students will also be expected to write a term paper on the same topic as the one chosen for presentation. Prerequisites: It is recommended that the student be concurrently taking or has taken a course that includes patent law (which could be a survey course). This Seminar used to require such a course as a prerequisite. In recent years, a number of students without that prerequisite have taken the course and have participated in class discussions, and otherwise performed as well as people who had the prerequisite. Thus, the prerequisite has been removed. If you have not had patent law or a survey that covers patent law, you will need to do some extra reading to understand the topics we are talking about in class. Those in this position should contact the instructor a few weeks prior to the start of classes for some recommended treatises.

In this seminar we will explore the various mechanisms through which the public can regulate and shape the conduct of local police. We will consider the role of both federal and state constitutional law, as well as litigation more broadly in addressing police misconduct (including the role of attorneys and plaintiffs, immunity doctrines, and financial incentives that shape municipal decision-making). We also will consider the role of other actors, including state legislators and state oversight agencies (e.g. licensing boards and state attorneys’ general); local oversight bodies; municipal insurers; and the federal government. Readings will include scholarly articles, judicial opinions, investigative reports, and proposed and enacted policies and legislation. Students are expected to participate actively in each week's discussion, to submit periodic reading reflections/questions, and to complete original research which may take the form of either a traditional seminar paper or a policy brief.

Financial regulation is the principal tool used by the public or official sector to achieve or approach financial stability and market integrity. The events of 2023 and 2020-21, and the impact of the financial cataclysms of 2008-10,  prove that in times of severe stress (whether or not fundamentally economic or financial) the functioning of and support by financial regulation is both objectively and subjectively central.   It's also notable that  regulation can stifle important ways in which finance can making funding available to meet the needs of a population and the innovation that enables the financial system to address the needs of the real economy.  This seminar reviews the structure and operations  of financial market regulation--specifically securities, derivatives (or swaps), banking, and systems to inhibit money laundering and terrorist (or "threat") financing. We will concentrate on United States regulatory systems, but we will -- as we must-- examine the international regulatory regimes and the cross-border effects of regulation. Know it or not, or like it or not, regulation of financial markets touches and changes every aspect of our economic lives. (Paying rent and buying groceries and obtaining cash from an ATM and obtaining funding for nonprofit organizations are parts of those economic lives, as are public and private issuances of securities, and multibillion dollar finacings.) This topic includes cryptocurrency, blockchain records, fintech, public-sector support for markets and issuers, and consumer credit regulation, all of which we will discuss during the class as time permits. This is not a substitute for a securities regulation course but, then, securities regulation is not a prerequisite for this class. A major paper will be required at the end of the course. Course grades are determined by class participation,  the paper, and a short writing assignment to be completed in the first part of the course.  (Class participation may include some short, narrow quizzes that are calibrated to assess the general  achievement of learning outcomes.)  Consistently with a recognition that the topic has broad application, the course materials come from many sources (some of which may be surprising) and are in different media. That having been said, one requisite for the course--by no means a formal one, but a real requirement-- is that the students have an interest in learning about the area.  And, notwithstanding the language that precedes this sentence, the instructor is pretty casual. 

This seminar will study contemporary cases and controversies involving Remedies (i.e., what an injured person receives after liability is determined or presumed). The seminar will build on topics you likely covered in your torts and contracts classes (measuring damages, restitution) and some topics that you may not have studied in detail (rescission, injunctions) though you may have addressed in other classes. We will also explore topics you may never have viewed as being a remedy (attorney’s fees), defenses to remedies (unclear hands, mitigation), and topics you may never have studied though you likely have seen mentioned in cases you have read in other classes (contempt and declaratory judgments).

The seminar will focus on remedies that have been implicated in lawsuits involving the former President of the United States (FPOTUS) and people in his orbit. While the title of this course includes the word “politics” this will not be a partisan course and class discussions will not involve election law or political action committees. Instead, we will consider the types of remedies that plaintiffs have sought (or have been awarded) in lawsuits involving FPOTUS+ orbit.

Evaluation for the seminar will be based on a series of assessments, including class participation, Canvas postings, and a final paper (including a first draft).

The criminalization of abortion in many U.S. states following the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has disrupted the presumed divide between reproductive rights and criminal law, with many in each field now attempting to familiarize themselves with the other. Reproductive justice scholars and advocates, however, have long been working at the intersection of these fields—considering the impacts of the overcriminalization and surveillance of poor communities of color on a variety of pregnancy outcomes. They have also identified multiple ways that criminal law, mass incarceration, and other institutional mechanisms such as the child welfare system impede not only the right not to have children but to have them and to raise them in safety and with dignity.

This seminar will use a reproductive justice lens to consider the criminalization of reproduction, broadly understood—historical and contemporary, local and global. It will be organized around the work of leading scholars who will present their research to the university community in a public forum as part of the course. Students will read work by each speaker as well as related scholarly materials.

Students are expected to participate actively in class discussions, engage with speakers during the public lectures, write short critical responses to assigned reading, and write a longer essay on a topic related to the themes that arise during the semester. The seminar is open not only to law students but to non-law graduate and professional students with relevant background.

Cristina Ramirez and Blake Rocap will also participate in presenting this course.

In this seminar, students will explore rapidly evolving debates around government surveillance, new technologies, civil liberties, and personal privacy.  The course will cover surveillance by the U.S. intelligence community, police, and U.S. allies and adversaries abroad, examining key legal instruments and court decisions in light of broader policy debates.  The class will also examine the interbranch allocation of responsibility for authorizing, implementing, and overseeing surveillance programs.  At every stage, the course will highlight surveillance activities affecting new and emerging technologies and those technologies’ potential to shift the balance between citizen and state.  Students will be evaluated based on class participation and a research paper fulfilling the Law School writing requirement.

Negotiations in Congress about tax policy increasingly focus on the dozens of credits in the federal income tax law. There are credits for parenting, education, home ownership, research and development, energy production, electric cars, and building affordable housing, just to name a few. There are three competing frameworks for evaluating tax credits: as instruments for resolving competing claims of tax jurisdiction, as tools of income measurement, and as tax expenditures equivalent to direct spending. This seminar will explore these frameworks and invite each student to write a paper evaluating a specific tax credit of their choice. Prerequisite: Federal Income Tax.

"I go into the office, I sue the federal government, and I go home.” — Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General, April 30, 2013.  Everything is bigger in Texas, including the state’s impact on Constitutional Law. Seminal decisions originating in Texas have shaped every area of constitutional doctrine from abortion to voting rights. This class will explore the role that the state of Texas and localities within Texas have played in instigating constitutional change in our federal system. It will engage in in-depth analysis of landmark Supreme Court cases that came out of Texas, including inquiries into how the case developed, why the Supreme Court granted certiorari, and the impact of the eventual decision on Texas and the nation.

SMNR: Transnational Class Actions and Smnr: Aggreg Lit Glob Context may not both be counted.

For more than seventy years, the United States has been in the forefront of developing means for resolving injuries to large numbers of people on an aggregate basis. In our modern industrial era, the problem of harm or injury to large numbers of people is not unique to the United States. In addition, civil wars and despotic regimes worldwide have resulted in mass human rights violations and widespread injuries and harms. This course examines the problems related to redress for mass harms in a comparative context. The course begins with an overview of the problem of aggregate harms and approaches to remediating large-scale injuries, including jurisprudential debates centered on litigant claim autonomy. The course then examines American substantive and procedural approaches to resolving mass claims, including critiques of these models. After examining American approaches to mass aggregate claim resolution, the course surveys the similarities and differences between civil law and common law systems, to provide some basis for discussion whether civil law systems are able to support mass resolution of injury claims. The first part of the seminar will examine whether American approaches to large-scale aggregate litigation have migrated to other legal systems, and the embrace of, or resistance to, American style-complex dispute resolution techniques.

Topics explored in the first half of the course include a survey of class action and other aggregate dispute resolution mechanisms that have now been adopted or are being considered in the European Union countries, the U.K., Canada, Australia, Latin America, and Asia. The materials explore whether the United States is gradually moving away from being the center of gravity for class or aggregate litigation. This portion of the course considers problems relating to the enforcement of class action judgments transnationally, as well as problems with the application of res judicata principles. The course also addresses the divergent views of different legal systems regarding so-called “opt-out” and “opt-in” regimes with regard to aggregate resolution of claims.

The course next considers recent developments globally with regard to resolution of transnational securities claims, again discussing the trend in the United States to limit the extraterritorial reach of American courts. We discuss how other countries have become the locus for such litigation by default. Transnational securities litigation provides an archetype for exploring the problems and issues related to the resolution of aggregate claims extending beyond nation-state borders.

The second half of the seminar focuses on the transnational resolution of mass torts and human rights claims affecting large numbers of victims. This portion of the course investigates various international institutions that might provide auspices for aggregate claim resolution, including the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In addition, the course will examine the American Alien Torts Claim Act, the Torture Victims Protection Act, and the American class action rule, posing the question whether implementation of these statutes in the United States provides a working model for redress of mass injuries. The seminar focuses on a series of case studies to illuminate both the possibilities and limitations of aggregate claim resolution in a global context. These case studies include the Marcos Philippine human rights litigation, the Bosnia-Herzegovina genocide claims, the Austrian ski fire litigation, and the Holocaust victims’ asset litigation. This segment of the course includes examination of the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., in which the Court substantially limited the extraterritorial scope of the American Alien Tort Statute.

The seminar ends with a discussion of the recent development in the European Union in its 2012 Resolution, “Towards a Coherent Approach to Collective Redress.” An examination of the EU Resolution raises the question whether the EU has formulated a type of regulatory litigation that provides an interesting analogue to the American class action procedure. In contrast to the EU recommendations, these materials consider the argument that the EU ought to have adopted an opt-out (rather than an opt-in) approach to aggregate litigation.

There is no textbook for this seminar. The materials for each class ession will be posted in advance on the CANVAS website for the seminar.

This is a writing seminar. Each student in the seminar will be required to complete four short papers of approximately five pages, singled-spaced text during the course of 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 course covers credit transactions in which the loan is secured by an interest in personal property. Secured credit is a very important part of both consumer and commercial lending. This course will study both contexts, examining how secured transactions are structured and why they are structured that way. These transactions are largely governed by Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. The course does not cover loans secured by mortgages on real estate. A secured loan is one in which the debtor and lender agree that if the debtor does not pay, the lender can take specific items of property from the debtor. This property is called collateral, and the lender is said to have a security interest in the collateral. The collateral may be tangible property such as inventory, equipment, and consumer goods, or intangible property such as stocks and bonds or the debtor's right to collect from people who owe money to him. The course examines the mechanics of making secured loans, the rules that govern repossessing the collateral if the debtor doesn't pay, and what can happen to security interests if the debtor goes bankrupt. It also examines the priority rules that rank competing claims to the same collateral. There may be many such claims. More than one secured lender may have a security interest in the collateral; unsecured creditors may seize the collateral to collect a judgment; customers or other third parties may buy the collateral; the collateral may be affixed to real estate and become subject to the claims of people with interests in the real estate. This is also a course in statutory construction. We will devote very careful attention to using and interpreting the Uniform Commercial Code and the Bankruptcy Code. We will progress from relatively simple statutory provisions to quite difficult ones, learning the skills that can be applied to all sorts of statutes. Westbrook sometimes offers a one-hour adjunct to the Secured Credit course. This Secured Credit workshop adjunct course is open only to those taking his regular three-hour Secured Credit course. Requirements include a small number of additional classes and a 15-20 page paper on a Secured Credit topic. A student who takes this adjunct course gets one four-hour grade based on a combination of the student's examination in the regular course and performance in the one-hour course (especially on the paper). Enrollment is limited. Taking the workshop is not required to take the main three hour course. Students who choose the Workshop have included those who want to study advanced commercial law topics and theory, but also those who have no business background and want a cushion rather than putting the whole grade on a final exam.  While the course is not remedial or tutorial, philosophy or art history majors usually find it makes them more comfortable and confident in the main course.

In addition to the textbooks listed, there will also be supplemental class materials available for download via Canvas.

Westbrook often offers this one-hour adjunct to the Secured Credit course. This Secured Credit workshop adjunct course is open only to those taking his regularthree-hour Secured Credit course. It covers the same subject matter. The course has two main purposes: offering especially interested students a look at cutting edge issues beyond what is covered in the basic course; and giving students a chance to be evaluated in part by a paper rather than just an examination. It also provides a small class experience. Requirements include a small number of additional classes and a 15-20 page paper on a Secured Credit topic. A student who takes this adjunct course gets one four-hour grade based on a combination of the student's examination in the regular course and performance in the one-hour course (especially on the paper). Enrollment is limited. Although the workshop is limited to students taking the main, three-hour course, taking the workshop is not required to take the main three hour course. Students who choose the Workshop have included those who want to study advanced commercial law topics and theory, but also those who have no business background and want a cushion rather than putting the whole grade on a final exam.  While the course is not remedial or tutorial, philosophy majors or art hisotry majors usually find it makes them more comfortable and confident in the main course.

Sneaker Law: Legal Issues Involving Apparel, Trademarks and Endorsements will provide students with an overview of the $70 billion-dollar annual sneaker industry, focusing on its main legal and business components.  This course prepares students to think and act as lawyers and business professionals in anticipating and addressing the legal and business issues faced by sneaker companies, designers, manufacturers, and other parties involved in the sneaker / apparel industry.

This course will include a review of major sneaker deals, entity types and formation, endorsements, manufacturing and distribution, licensing and collaborations, marketing, intellectual property, employment law, standard clauses, counterfeit goods, and the changing landscape of NCAA college athletics with Name, Image and Likeness.  Supplementing the rich case law on these topics are a group of highly accomplished professionals that will guest speak during the semester.

Required Text: Sneaker Law – V1 – Anand & Goldstein – ISBN: 9781735782003

Required Supplemental Text: Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike – Phil Knight – ISBN: 1501135910

Required Supplemental Text: Black Market - Merl Code - ISBN: 9781335425775

Required Supplemental Text: Sneaker Wars - Barbara Smit - ISBN: 9780061246579

State constitutional law is often overlooked, understudied, or neglected in the traditional law school curriculum. As the Conference of Chief Justices noted, "being a competent and effective lawyer requires the understanding of both the federal Constitution and state constitutional law." Recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, modern executive branch actions, and contemporary legislation and their effects on domestic legal systems indicate that questions of state constitutional law may be moving to the forefront.

This course examines the nature, significance, and relevance of state constitutional law in the United States. Addressing both institutional structures and individual rights, the course considers the design, ratification, and amendment of state constitutions; their interpretation and application by state legislators, the multiple executive, and elected judges; and their use by lawyers and courts in protecting guarantees of liberty and property rights, including an examination of questions concerning when and how state constitutions may recognize rights that remain unrecognized by the Supreme Court. A student completing the course will understand and appreciate the role of state constitutions and how, to borrow from Justice Brennan, "the composite work of the courts of the fifty states probably has greater significance in measuring how well America attains the ideal of equal justice for all."

The course is offered through the full-time MBA program as an upper-level accounting elective. The goal of the course is to provide a fundamental understanding of the principles of taxation and financial planning. Traditional business courses analyze an array of factors affecting business decisions but provide little systematic consideration of individual financial planning decisions. This case-based course intends to bridge this gap by discussing how accounting, economic, finance, and legal principles affect a variety of personal financial planning decisions.