Course Schedule

This two-hour class is essential for any student intending to practice criminal law. In the 21st century, the vast majority of requests for criminal investigative warrants or subpoenas seek to obtain digital data. The law governing these requests stems from the Fourth Amendment, written before digital data was even imaginable. As a result, caselaw examining how the Fourth Amendment applies to digital data is in its infancy. Indeed, at the end of its last term, the Supreme Court decided United States v. Chatrie, which, depending on how you count, is only its second or third case applying the Fourth Amendment to digital data. This class will provide students with an understanding of the constitutional, legal, and technological issues that judges and practitioners face when submitting, reviewing and challenging these search and surveillance requests. The seminar will include lectures and class discussion with the professor, guest lectures by legal and technical experts (such as FBI forensic specialists, in-house counsel at the large tech firms that hold the sought-after data, and attorney representatives from main Justice and the Electronic Frontier Foundation), as well as visits by sitting federal judges discussing how they handle warrants raising these issues. The course will explore how courts have applied the Fourth Amendment to a wide range of investigative techniques, including cell site location information, cell tower “dumps”, automated license plate readers, cell site simulators, pole cameras, real-time cell phone tracking, geofences, drone deployment, search engine keyword searches, facial recognition technology, and law enforcement purchases of aggregated data. Assessment Method. Student assessment will have two components: (1) class participation throughout the course and (2) a final exam.

This reading group will examine the Supreme Court’s evolving approach to administrative law. From delegation to deference to structural separation of powers, the Roberts Court has begun changing administrative law in fundamental ways—a process that remains ongoing and that promises to have profound consequences for the nation for generations to come. Relying on both original sources and scholarly commentary, we will read and discuss the Court’s cases to better understand what is happening and where it will likely lead.

This course is an introduction to how international law applies to hostile cyber activities by States and non-State actors during armed conflict.  Topics addressed range from cyber attack to characterization of persons taking part in armed conflict.  The course draws on the Tallinn Manual 2.0 project, which resulted in a restatement of the law drafted over seven years by an international group of experts. The instructor was one of the Experts that wrote the Manual.

"[T]he threat of filibusters has become an almost daily fact of life in the Senate, influencing how we handle virtually everything debated on the Senate floor," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said. "The filibuster used to be the exception to the rule. In today's Senate, it is becoming a straitjacket." On the other hand, "[s]trong minority rights have always been the Senate’s distinguishing feature," Senate Minority Mitch McConnell has written. "On legislation, however, the Senate’s treasured tradition is not efficiency but deliberation. One of the body’s central purposes is making new laws earn broader support than what is required for a bare majority in the House."

The most prominent of legislative tactics, the filibuster is the favored tactic of the minority of the day. Its use is blamed for the death of judicial nominations and needed government policy. Although its application has been modified over the last 60 years, it remains a powerful tool for determined Senators. This course examines the historical development of the filibuster, the actual consequences of its application to significant legislation and nominations, and proposals for reform. We are concered with answering these questions. First, does the filibuster play an important role in ensuring consensus in the political process or has it become a partisan tool for defeating electoral majorities. Second, how does the filibuster help or hold back the Senate from meeting its institutional responsibilities in the 21st century? Third, is reform or abolition the remedy and how should the remedy be fashioned?

In addition to historical source material, we will read the prominent defenses and critiques of the filibuster and discuss and debate those in class. Students are evaluated based on their performance on the final examination, which is administered on the last scheduled day of class.

Limits of liability and methods of establishing liability for intentional and unintentional injuries to persons or property.

The largest transfer of wealth in history is currently underway as the baby boomer generation passes on trillions of dollars in assets to their children and grandchildren using various estate planning strategies. As a result, litigation involving trusts and estates is on the rise and is expected to dramatically increase in the decades to come. This course will provide students with an introduction to this fast-growing practice area and is taught by three trust and estate litigation attorneys, each with decades of experience in the courtroom, who have been involved in some of the largest estate and trust disputes in Texas history. Students will be introduced to fundamental fiduciary law concepts while learning about the unique aspects of preparing for and trying trust and estate cases. The class will cover the specialized court system in Texas that handles most trust and estate disputes while exploring causes of action related to will and trust contests, undue influence, incapacity, self-dealing, misappropriation, and breaches of fiduciary duty. The course will also cover the remedies available in trust and estate cases as well as defenses including the application of the statute of limitations, exculpatory clauses, and no contest clauses. This is an advanced course. Co-requisite or Prerequisite: Wills and Estates.

This course will review core issues relating to venture capital. The focus of the course will be the financing of the emerging growth company. The course will cover topics relating to venture capital investments in start-up companies, the structure of VC backed companies, the allocation of cash-flow and control rights in these companies, and litigation arising from the unique VC arrangements. Issues relating to the VC fund structure and to intellectual property transactions may also be discussed. It is highly recommended to have completed “Business Associations” or “Business Associations (Enriched)” before taking this course.

Wills and Estates is a general survey of the law related to donative transfers of property, including intestate succession, formalities in execution and revocation of wills, rules of construction that affect will and trust drafting, relevant community property laws as well as basic estate and gift tax principals. The course will also examine topics related to trusts and other non-testamentary transfers of property at death as well as the administration of decedent’s estates.

This two-credit course will survey the most prominent current legal issues affecting the wind and solar industry. Taught by two practicing attorneys (with a combined 50 years of experience in the electric power, wind and solar industries), the course will explore the history of wind and solar energy, the fundamentals of developing a wind or solar project, the major elements of wind and solar leases and other real property issues, government tax incentives, litigation, interconnection and transmission issues, permitting, the impact of renewable energy development on the environment and wildlife, acquisitions and sales of wind and solar projects, and project finance. We will also learn about other technologies such as energy storage, green hydrogen, and electric vehicles. Many of our class meetings will feature prominent guest speakers who work in and provide counsel to the renewable energy and electric utility industries. Grading is based on a combination of a paper and presentation on a topic of the student's choosing, a transactional assignment, a case presentation, and class participation.