Course Schedule

Law made by administrative agencies dominates the modern legal system and modern legal practice. This course examines the legal and practical foundations of the modern administrative state. Topics include rationales for delegation to administrative agencies; the legal framework (both constitutional and statutory) that governs agency decision-making; the proper role of agencies in interpreting statutory and regulatory law; and judicial review of agency action. The course will cover these topics through a comparative analysis of administrative processes in five federal agencies—the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Labor Relations Board, the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Federal Communications Commission.  A combination of cases and discussion problems will be used to examine legal issues such as the separation of powers doctrine; the constitutional law of due process; health, safety, and environmental policy; the provision of government benefits; and market regulation. The central theme of the course is how administrative law balances “rule of law” values (procedural regularity, substantive limits on arbitrary action) against the often-competing values of political accountability, democratic participation, and effective administrative governance.

Advanced Advocacy: Jury Selection & Psychology primarily focuses on two critical concepts for jury trial lawyers: jury selection and the psychology of juror persuasion and communication. This class, which is limited to 3L students, is the only class in the law school where you will spend six weeks learning about and ultimately practicing jury selection (voir dire). Here are three key components of this class:

• Learn techniques for jury selection culminating in two opportunities to practice jury selection, including one with “real people” (Austin residents not affiliated with the law school).
• Study advanced jury persuasion techniques by considering the psychology of both your audience (the jury) and yourself (the lawyer), with real-world lessons on attorney well-being and dealing with clients who are victims of trauma.
• Work with licensed psychiatrists to prepare them to testify as expert witnesses and then conduct direct and cross-examinations of the experts.

This is a keystone class for students who have mastered basic and even advanced advocacy skills and are ready to dive into cutting-edge techniques and approaches. The class combines both discussion and practice sessions focusing on both traditional legal exercises and other experimental approaches to advocacy. This class is application-only. Suggested prerequisites: Evidence, Advocacy Survey, and advanced Advocacy work such as appellate advocacy, Intensive Litigation Advocacy Skills, ADR courses, clinics, or interscholastic mock trial participation.

Advanced Criminal Law Skills will take a criminal case from its inception through trial, plea or dismissal. Students will perform skills weekly on different elements of the case. 

Three key components of the class are:

• Learning how to evaluate a criminal case at intake;
• Leaning how to handle a criminal case once it is filed (with motions, charging decisions and plea negotiations);
• Learning how to successfully take a criminal case through jury trial (including witness prep).

Ethics will also be included.  The course is recommended for those with an interest in a career in criminal law, especially those considering employment in either a prosecutor’s or public defender’s office.

You spent the first year of law school analyzing published cases. The emphasis of much of your reading was on the results of published cases and the legal principles each case teaches. Importantly, while trial court judges can publish written opinions on discreet issues, most of your previous reading focused on appellate court opinions. Every appellate court opinion begins with a narrative of the facts. The facts are critical in developing the legal opinions pronounced by the opinion. The way the facts are recited often allows the reader to begin developing a just result in the case simply by the way the facts are presented.

But what does the first year of law school teach you about developing facts? We certainly spend a great deal of time analyzing facts, but how do you produce them? How do facts become evidence? Why do some facts seem to matter more than other facts? At a time in our society when it is hard to find common ground on what constitutes an objective fact, how do current attitudes (and social media) affect our profession where so much of the law depends upon the facts?

And nestled somewhere between Evidence and Federal Courts perhaps our Course Catalog will one day have a class devoted entirely to Facts. Because no matter what type of law you practice, you’re going to have to deal with the facts of your case. You’re going to have to deal with the good facts, the bad facts, and the ambiguous facts. Whether you practice Admiralty Law or Wills and Estates, you must wrestle with disputed facts. And mostly importantly you, the lawyer, must find facts. Facts do not announce themselves, and rarely does the judge or jury understand the significance of any fact. Like latent fingerprints, we often see only remnants and traces of facts. These facts are never reviewed by an appellate court unless they are collected, preserved, interpreted, presented, and introduced as evidence. It is our job to find truth and extract justice for our clients by distilling the vapor of nuance from these latent facts.  

This class is a guide to that process.

This class has a mandatory evening skills component (Monday or Wednesday evening). Students must register for both the lecture (376M) and either Monday or Wednesday evening skills portion (176N) of the class. Please note, the evening Skills portion of the class will not begin until week 5 or 6 of the semester and will run for eight weeks. Advocacy Survey is designed for all law students. While focusing primarily on trial skills, the course will also cover topics such as transactional practice, motion practice and alternative dispute resolution. By combining theory through the lecture sessions with technique training in skills sessions, students are able to practice what they learn. Students get hands-on practice in areas such as opening and closing statements, the use and relevance of technology in litigation, transferable skills for a transactional practice, and the basic skills necessary to try a case. The skill sessions will end with the trial of a case. Students will examine a case file from pretrial motions, transactional, ADR, arbitration, voir dire, and trial.

This is a 4-credit series (1 credit pass/fail, 3 credits graded).

Prerequisite or Concurrent: Evidence.

 Students get hands-on practice in areas such as opening and closing statements, the use and relevance of technology in litigation, transferable skills for a transactional practice, and the basic skills necessary to try a case. The skill sessions will end with the trial of a case.

Students get hands-on practice in areas such as opening and closing statements, the use and relevance of technology in litigation, transferable skills for a transactional practice, and the basic skills necessary to try a case. The skill sessions will end with the trial of a case.

Alternative asset classes, particularly hedge funds and private equity funds, play an increasingly central role in the global economy. Total alternative assets under management surpassed $10 trillion in 2020, a more than threefold increase from 2008, and are expected to surpass $17 trillion by 2025. Hedge funds and private equity funds represent approximately 75% of these assets. This explosive growth has been accompanied by an increased institutionalization of the industry, an advanced regulatory environment and a significant rise in public scrutiny.

This course will provide a comprehensive review of the legal and regulatory framework related to hedge fund and private funds, particularly in relation to structuring, documentation, disclosures, tax considerations and compliance.  Areas of focus will include relevant federal securities, tax and pension plan laws, case history and agency actions. This course also will include a critical analysis of related policy issues and topics, including insider trading, environmental/social/governance (ESG) investing, preferential tax treatment, the rise of cryptocurrencies and the economic and societal impacts associated with the alternative investment industry. In addition, the course will analyze the various roles lawyers play throughout the industry.

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (3 HOUR COURSE) The Alternative Dispute Resolution Survey course is designed to provide a broad-based introduction to negotiation, mediation, and arbitration, for students interested in either advocacy or transactional practices.  ADR methods are now more common than the courtroom for resolving civil disputes; more than 99% of civil cases are settled before trial, if cases are even filed at the courthouse. Many commercial agreements now contain mandatory mediation/arbitration provisions, and statutory and case law both favor ADR. This course will examine the policy and business reasons for the rise in ADR; explore the various ADR methods; discuss negotiating and why lawyers must learn successful negotiating skills; and provide students with an opportunity to experience these concepts through class exercises. The professor is a 30+year litigation attorney with substantial experience to both trial and ADR disputes, and she brings a practical, real-world approach to the lectures and exercises. There will be no exam, but a final written project is required. Grading will be based upon class participation, attendance, and the final paper. Please note: Students may only miss two classes per semester, additional absences will be reflected in a lower grade.

This course will analyze the origins of arbitration, its use in dispute resolution, and explore tactics for navigating arbitration.  It involves active class participation designed to mimic the arbitration process: drafting and negotiating arbitration clauses; selecting the arbitrator; presenting a claim; and will conclude with a mock arbitration. The teaching goal is to prepare students for drafting clauses for arbitration, engaging in arbitration, and evaluating the decision to resolve disputes through arbitration from the perspective of practicing attorneys and arbitrators.

This course will explore the implications of advances in artificial intelligence for the law and policy of U.S. national security. Students will first learn to understand and classify AI systems. The class will then consider the lawfulness and prudence of current and potential future uses of AI in intelligence, law enforcement, and armed conflict. The course will also explore AI’s potential effects in the online information space, cybersecurity, and terrorism, before considering possible government responses and the applicable legal principles. The class will also situate AI within the broader geopolitical context, including great-power competition with China. Students will be evaluated based on research and writing assignments of modest length, in-class exercises, and class participation.

Prerequisite: Secured Credit. The prerequisite may be concurrent, that is, taken during the same semester.

This course covers Title 11 of the U.S. Code, the Bankruptcy Code. It includes both consumer and business bankruptcy and a modest introduction to state law collection issues. Students learn the basic concepts of "straight" bankruptcy liquidation (Chapter 7), in which a trustee is appointed to sell the debtor's assets and pay the proceeds to the creditors. For consumers, that topic includes the fresh start--the discharge of all pre-existing debt--and the identification of exempt assets. Students also study the rehabilitation provisions, under which the debtor attempts to pay all or some part of the pre- bankruptcy debt: Chapter 13 payout plans for consumers and Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings for businesses. Principal attention is given to the substance of the bankruptcy laws, including the "avoiding powers" (for example, preferences, fraudulent conveyances, and rejection of executory contracts), treatment of secured creditors (including the automatic stay against repossession or foreclosure), and priorities in asset distribution. More than half of the course is devoted to business reorganizations in Chapter 11 [cases like Sears, Hertz and Neiman Marcus], including the legal requirements for confirmation of a plan of reorganization and "cramdown" of recalcitrant creditors. Questions of jurisdiction and procedure are introduced, but are not the major focus of the course. The course attempts to give balanced attention to the practice realities of negotiation and leverage within a complex of doctrinal rules and to the social and economic consequences of the bankruptcy system in both its consumer and commercial manifestations.

This is the basic introductory course in business organizations. It considers issues relating to the selection of business form (partnership, limited partnership, corporation, and limited liability company), as well as the formation, financing, operation, and control of business entities. Primary emphasis is placed on conducting business in the corporate form, including closely-held and publicly-held corporations. Issues discussed in connection with public corporations include registration of securities, proxy regulation, and derivative litigation. Corporate Governance is examined in light of the collapse of Enron and other public companies. Problems in the supplementary materials demonstrate how the statutes and common law principles covered in the course apply in a real world setting. A student may not receive credit for both Corporations and Business Associations or Business Associations (Enriched).

This course is an introduction to the basic legal rules governing corporations. The course will focus on publicly held corporations. Among the topics covered will be fiduciary duties, conflict-of-interest transactions, executive compensation, reorganizations and control transactions, shareholder voting rights, and shareholder derivative suits. Issues relating to partnerships and securities law may also be reviewed. A student may not receive credit for both Business Associations for LLMs and Business Associations or Business Associations (Enriched) or Corporations.

This course will examine some general jurisprudential and moral issues related to the American system of capital punishment. The course will focus primarily on the development of the law governing capital punishment in the United States since 1970. Some of the main themes include: the legal structure of the Supreme Court's post-1970 death penalty jurisprudence, the scope of available appellate and post-conviction review in capital cases (particularly federal habeas review), the ubiquitous problems surrounding the representation afforded indigent capital defendants, proportionality limits on the imposition of the death penalty for various offenders (e.g., juveniles and persons with intellectual disability), the role of racial discrimination in the administration of the death penalty, and the likely trajectory of the American death penalty. The course will be graded on a letter-grade basis for all students. Grades will be based upon an open-book final examination.

The ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Cases (2003) state that “the responsibilities of defense counsel in a death penalty case are uniquely demanding, both in the knowledge that counsel must possess and in the skills he or she must master.” This advanced death penalty course studies various aspects of capital trial defense that must be mastered to meet contemporary standards of practice. The course addresses defense counsel’s duty to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the client’s social history; counsel’s duty to identify and investigate issues of trauma, race, culture, and mental health presented by the client and the case; counsel’s duty to pursue a negotiated settlement of the case; and counsel’s duty to develop an integrated theory of the case. Classes alternate between traditional lectures and class discussion of assigned readings, presentations by occasional guest speakers, and workshops in which students will apply course reading and instruction to a series of lawyering assignments related to an actual pending capital case.

Introduction to the civil adjudicative process, primarily that of the federal courts, including jurisdiction, pleading, dispositive motions, discovery, and trial procedure.

Introduction to the civil adjudicative process, primarily that of the federal courts, including jurisdiction, pleading, dispositive motions, discovery, and trial procedure.

ACTUAL INNOCENCE CLINIC IS A 6-HR. CLINIC. Students screen and investigate claims by inmates that they are actually innocent of the offenses for which they are incarcerated. While investigating cases, students typically interview witnesses, research cases and issues of forensic science, and review trial transcripts and other court documents. The weekly clinic class addresses topics relevant to actual innocence law and procedure.

An application is required.

This clinic provides students with the opportunity to assist in the representation of indigent criminal defendants charged with or convicted of capital offenses. Students work under the supervision of attorneys on death penalty cases at the trial, appellate, and post-conviction stages of the legal process. Students perform various tasks that are integral to death penalty representation, including visiting clients on death row; interviewing witnesses and conducting field investigations; drafting motions, appellate briefs, and habeas petitions; and assisting attorneys in the preparation for trials, evidentiary hearings, and appellate arguments.

Clinic students are expected to devote an average of 10 hours of work per week to their clinical responsibilities during the semester, though the workload in any given week will vary, depending on the needs of the case to which the student is assigned. Investigative work on some cases may require out-of-town travel. The Clinic meets once a week as a class (two hours) for training and practical skills sessions related to death penalty representation. Attendance at these sessions is mandatory.

As a prerequisite to enrolling in the Clinic, students are required to take concurrently, or to have taken previously, the Capital Punishment course (Law 278R / 378R). First-semester second-year students are welcome to enroll in both the Clinic and the Capital Punishment course, which takes as its subject the substantive and procedural law governing death penalty trials and appeals. A background in Texas and federal constitutional criminal procedure is also extremely helpful, but not required, to enroll in the Clinic. Grading is pass/fail. There is no paper or examination.

An application is required.

Mandatory extra class session on 

This clinic provides students with the opportunity to assist in the representation of indigent criminal defendants charged with or convicted of capital offenses. Students work under the supervision of attorneys on death penalty cases at the trial, appellate, and post-conviction stages of the legal process. Students perform various tasks that are integral to death penalty representation, including visiting clients on death row; interviewing witnesses and conducting field investigations; drafting motions, appellate briefs, and habeas petitions; and assisting attorneys in the preparation for trials, evidentiary hearings, and appellate arguments.

Clinic students are expected to devote an average of 10 hours of work per week to their clinical responsibilities during the semester, though the workload in any given week will vary, depending on the needs of the case to which the student is assigned. Investigative work on some cases may require out-of-town travel. The Clinic meets once a week as a class (two hours) for training and practical skills sessions related to death penalty representation. Attendance at these sessions is mandatory.

As a prerequisite to enrolling in the Clinic, students are required to take concurrently, or to have taken previously, the Capital Punishment course (Law 278R / 378R). First-semester second-year students are welcome to enroll in both the Clinic and the Capital Punishment course, which takes as its subject the substantive and procedural law governing death penalty trials and appeals. A background in Texas and federal constitutional criminal procedure is also extremely helpful, but not required, to enroll in the Clinic. Grading is pass/fail. There is no paper or examination.

An application is required.

Students in the Children's Rights Clinic represent allegedly abused or neglected children in Travis County as their attorney ad litem. The cases are brought by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). The state may intervene in a family in a variety of ways, including seeking temporary or permanent custody of a child or termination of parental rights and adoption. 

Two very experienced attorneys, Clinical Professors Lori Duke and Leslie Strauch, supervise the representation of clients by the student attorney. The supervising attorneys sign pleadings drafted by the students and accompany them at every court hearing, deposition, and trial on the merits. However, within a week or two, a student can expect to "sit first chair" at hearings, and also is expected to research and prepare the case.

Each student attorney will be assigned a mix of newly filed cases and other cases in various stages of development. If the case goes to final hearing, student participation in the trial will vary from partial to extensive. Each student will have multiple opportunities to appear in court during the semester. Some students will have the opportunity to participate in a bench trial. Occasionally students will participate in a jury trial. Students are likely to participate in mediation. In representing clients, students meet with a wide variety of persons, including medical and mental health professionals, teachers, foster parents, caseworkers and social workers, attorneys, layperson CASA volunteers who may serve as guardians, and police officers.

Court is generally Tuesday morning.  The class meets once a week to focus on substantive law, procedure, and ethics, as well as child welfare policy. In addition to the classroom component, each student should expect to average about 12-15 hours per week on clinic work. The weekly workload varies. Students are required to visit their child clients. Sometimes these client visits require travel outside of Travis County (with travel reimbursed).

There are no prerequisites for the course. Students, however, must meet Texas requirements for the participation of qualified law students in the trial of cases under rules promulgated by the Texas Supreme Court. The course is pass/fail. There is no paper or final exam. The course counts toward the ABA Experiential Learning Requirement. 

An application is required.

Students in the Civil Rights Clinic represent clients in civil rights matters. Such matters include police misconduct, jail mistreatment, housing justice, unlawful immigration detention, worker’s rights, and disability discrimination. Students work on cases and law reform advocacy projects with co-counsel from civil rights organizations and attorneys across the country, under the supervision of clinic faculty. Through clinic work, students hone lawyering skills, including fact investigation, drafting pleadings, discovery and depositions, legal research and writing, case development and selection, and client or witness interviewing. Students work on cases in teams, meeting with supervising clinic faculty on at least a weekly basis. Students also participate in a classroom seminar, in which students learn relevant substantive and procedural law, discuss the political and social contexts of civil rights cases, and think through how to resolve legal problems effectively and ethically. The seminar meets twice a week for a total of three hours. The supervising Clinic faculty member is Clinical Professor Lia Sifuentes Davis. The clinic is offered in the fall and spring, for six (6) credits, pass/ fail. The Clinic is open to students who have completed their first two semesters. Students should expect to devote an average of 10-12 hours per week for casework and seminar preparation. For more information, see https://law.utexas.edu/clinics/civil-rights/.

An application is required.

Students, working pursuant to the clinical practice rule and under the supervision of CDC faculty, represent people charged with misdemeanors in Travis County.  Students function as lead counsel, working directly with clients to identify goals for the representation and to develop strategies in an effort to achieve the best possible outcome. Students maintain a primary role at all court appearances, whether those appearances involve negotiations, discussions with a judge, evidentiary hearings, or trial. Depending on the stage of assigned cases, other responsibilities often include investigation, discovery practice, and drafting of motions.  

Students may not be enrolled in another clinic while they are enrolled in the Criminal Defense Clinic. An application is required.

Mandatory extra class session on 

What is the DRC? 

Students in the Disability Rights Clinic (DRC) represent clients with disabilities in a variety of legal contexts.  In the fall semester of 2023, students will represent low-income parents of children with disabilities in cases brought against school districts that have violated state and federal special education and anti-discrimination laws. 

What kind of experience will I gain? 

DRC students draft civil complaints, develop expert testimony, mediate their cases, and try them when necessary.  Students work in teams on one to three cases, depending on their areas of interest, client need, and capacity. 

Will I work to resolve disputes?

Significant focus and attention is given to ADR in DRC. Students serve as lead student counsellors in formal mediation of their complaints before mediators on contract with the Texas Education Agency.  Through this model, students develop skills common to both litigation (drafting, discovery, witness prep) and transactional (negotiation, line-editing, creative problem-solving) practices.

Will I have much client contact? 

Yes!  Students practice the skills involved in building trust with their child clients and families through regular counselling by phone, zoom, and sometimes through in-person home visits. The DRC emphasizes the art of making the law accessible to nonlawyer parents and, where possible, their children.  

How does DRC get its clients?

Families needing DRC legal services are selected primarily through a medical-legal partnership with the Dell Children’s Medical Group and other state-wide partners.  Many of the children served live in under-resourced rural communities, and a majority are young children of color.  Some children are in foster care or have experienced housing instability, and a large number have been identified as having autism.

What kinds of situations do DRC clients confront?

DRC students have worked on cases in which educators have physically abused or neglected children with disabilities, put into segregated and locked education settings kids whose conduct was driven by unmet disability-related need, and failed to therapies and other critical related services necessary for kids' inclusion in school. Many of our cases have involved kids whose behavior has become challenging because of the lack of appropriate services, and some have involved contested hearings in the suspension and expulsion contexts.  

What are the course requirements?

The Disability Rights Clinic meets once per week for two hours. Grading is on a pass/fail basis for this four-credit hour clinic. There is no final exam or paper. Students should expect to spend 10-15 hours per week on clinic work, including class time. 

Roughly one-third of class time is devoted to understanding and discussing substantive education law and how it plays out "on the ground" in Texas school districts.  Additional class sessions are used to teach and practice specific skills involved in identifying and analyzing the strength and weakness of legal claims, drafting, working with experts, negotiating, conducting formal mediation, and putting on witnesses at hearing.  Each week, students deepen their understanding of special education law practice by presenting their case developments and giving feedback through case rounds.   

Students are encouraged to apply for the Clinic early as enrollment is limited and faculty permission is required to register. Students should submit an electronic application by the end of the application window. For more information, contact Professor Lucy Wood at lwood@law.utexas.edu or at (512) 626-2060.

Taught by Professor Lucy Wood 4 credits (pass/fail) — offered Fall and Spring The clinic is open to students who have completed their first two semesters.

Who should take this clinic?

Students who want to gain experience in litigation and/or mediation, and those who would like to go on to represent children or people with disabilities in either a pro bono or public interest practice, should consider this clinic.  DRC partners with it several of its graduates in Big Law to broaden its reach. Graduates of DRC have worked in large law firms supporting special education work as a pro bono focus, in mid-size firm practice representing school districts, as lawyers in nonprofit settings representing persons with disabilities, in juvenile and criminal defense work, and in governmental entities requiring expertise in education or disability law.  

 An application is required.

Taught in the Spring by Frances Leos Martinez, Clinic Director, Heather Way and Miriam Khalifa, Clinical Professors. The Clinic is open to students who have completed their first two semesters. 6 credits (pass/fail) — offered in the Fall and Spring.

The Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic provides students with a unique opportunity to develop business law and problem-solving skills while representing clients operating community enterprises -- small businesses, entrepreneurs, creatives, nonprofit organizations, and community groups.

Students learn how to represent their clients on a broad variety of transactional business law matters. Typical legal matters include:

• assisting businesses with choice of entity decisions
• forming for-profit and nonprofit entities
• applying to the IRS for tax-exempt status
• drafting and negotiating contracts
• providing legal advice to nonprofit boards of directors and staff
• drafting lending and real estate documents
• assisting with intellectual property matters
• assisting with personnel policies

Clinic students learn how to represent their clients through clinic classes, in-person teamwork, weekly team meetings with their clinic supervisor, and research and initiative on their cases. The Clinic classes emphasize the applicable substantive law; the larger social and theoretical context of the Clinic’s work; and the development of practical lawyering skills including interviewing, counseling, negotiating, contract drafting, and public speaking.  

The Clinic class meets on Monday afternoons 2:30-4:30 pm. Four classes will run to 5:30 pm. There is a mandatory orientation class on the first Friday of the semester, from 1:00-4:30 pm. In addition to class, students are required to keep a weekly schedule of 8 in-clinic office hours, over the course of three days from Monday through Friday, between 8:00 am-5:00 pm. The Clinic is a significant time commitment. Students are expected to devote an average of 16-19 hours a week to the Clinic, including class time and clinic case work. Attendance is required at the orientation and all classes and case rounds. Students should also note that teamwork is a key component of clinic case work. Students will be assigned to a team partner with whom they will work during the semester.

Clinic casework is conducted in teams and students will be assigned to the same team for the semester.

Enrollment is by application only. Students are encouraged to apply for the Clinic during early registration as the Clinic fills up quickly. Students may request to be placed on a waiting list if space is unavailable during registration. Grading is on a pass/fail basis for this six-credit hour clinic. 

There are no prerequisites for this clinic, although a background in business law (such as business associations, real estate, or tax law) will come in handy.

An application is required. For additional information, you may contact the Clinic Director Frances Leos Martinez (fmartinez@law.utexas.edu, 512-232-1222), or the Clinic Program Coordinator (ecdc@law.utexas.edu).

ENVIRONMENTAL CLINIC – 6 credits, pass/fail (application required)

Students in the Environmental Clinic work with non governmental organizations and underserved communities throughout Texas to advocate for solutions to today’s pressing environmental problems, including environmental injustice and climate change.  Students in the Clinic learn to think creatively about how to use the law to protect and improve environmental quality and public health. 

Students work on cases in teams, under the supervision of clinic faculty, and should expect to spend approximately 12 hours per week working on clinic cases. Recent clinic projects have included:

• civil rights complaints,
• environmental enforcement in federal courts,
• work to ensure access to clean drinking water
• permitting and rulemaking proceedings before courts and administrative agencies,
• nuisance actions,
• community education,
• pollution monitoring, and
• environmental policy research.

Through their work on cases, students in the Clinic have gained practical experience with factual investigation and analysis, community education, administrative research and advocacy before regulatory agencies, and legal drafting and litigation support.

Students also participate in a weekly two-hour seminar in which you will gain practice navigating environmental statutes and rules and discuss environmental laws, environmental justice, the role of lawyers in social movements, and the efficacy of current laws for protecting health and the environment.  

The Clinic is open to students who have completed their first two semesters. There is no prerequisite for the clinic. 

An application is required.

For additional information regarding the clinic, contact Clinic Director Kelly Haragan (kharagan@law.utexas.edu, 512-232-2654) or Clinic Administrator Rita Stramel (environmentalclinic@law.utexas.edu).

This is a four-credit hour clinic. It is offered only in the spring. Students in this clinic represent low-income families on their housing-related legal problems. 

The primary focus of the work is helping clients to avoid homelessness and to obtain affordable housing. Students represent clients on a myriad of issues related to low-income housing programs. The work includes representing clients in threatened evictions, rent issues, threatened section 8 voucher terminations, and on denials of public housing, subsidized housing, and section 8 voucher housing. The work is especially interesting not only because of the compelling needs of the clients and the often egregious actions of the adverse party, but because of the intersection of federal housing law and federal regulations, state landlord-tenant law and contract law. Moreover, many clients are persons with mental disabilities; representation requires use of the Fair Housing Act and the reasonable accommodation provision -- an area of the law that is rapidly evolving.

Two examples of cases from recent clinics: (1) One student represented a public housing client who had been on the waiting list for a section 8 housing voucher for over four years but consistently passed over because she resided in public housing. Congress has prohibited public housing authorities from penalizing families applying for a voucher because they live in public housing. The student wrote the housing authority demanding a change in the policy and threatening suit. The housing authority changed its policy -- benefiting a number of public housing families. The client was subsequently awarded a voucher. (2) Another student represented a client who had been denied a subsidized apartment on the basis of a sixteen-year old drug conviction. The student wrote a demand letter to the owner’s attorney. The attorney responded defending the owner’s policy and rejecting the efforts to resolve the case. The student drafted a lawsuit petition and filed suit before the clinic term ended. The suit subsequently settled with the landlord changing its policies and adopting reasonable criminal history “look-back periods.” These are but two examples. Other students have defended evictions, represented clients in section 8 voucher termination cases, challenged rent calculations by subsidized owners and public housing authorities, filed bill of review lawsuits challenging eviction judgments, and drafted real estate documents clearing title to property for low-income homeowners. The work is fast-paced and challenging, with a great deal of client and opposing party interaction. Most cases are completed during the semester, allowing the student to see the case from beginning to end.

A weekly class is held at the offices of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. Students must also spend a minimum of eight hours a week working on their clients’ cases at Legal Aid. Those hours must be spread over two or (preferably) three different days during the week. Cases are reviewed and discussed in class. Classroom lectures focus on tenant rights under federal housing programs and Texas landlord-tenant statutes. Significant classroom time is also spent on how to represent clients with the highest possible quality and ethics. All credit is awarded on the pass/fail basis. Participants must have completed at least forty-three semester hours in law. Students register for Law 497C by filling out an application. The application and instructions on how to apply for this clinic can be accessed on the web.

The Human Rights Clinic works to promote and protect human rights in Texas and around the world.

Through supervised practice, students learn the responsibilities and skills of human rights lawyering and advocacy. Mirroring the approach of practicing advocates, students work in small project teams, developing lawyering, advocacy and ethical skills and receiving intensive mentoring and feedback.

The Human Rights Clinic’s practice spans a wide range of issues, including sexual and reproductive rights; human rights and the environment; U.N. treaty bodies and special procedures; and many more. All the cases and projects involve research, writing, and an opportunity to discuss the strategies used by human rights advocates.

The cases and projects provide the students an opportunity to gain practical skills in partnering with other students, institutions, and organizations, thus forming a team of advocates. Finally, all the projects and cases allow a multidisciplinary approach and permit working across disciplines and use the perspectives of different fields to enhance the overall theoretical framework. Routinely the Clinic admits non-Law students.

The Clinic employs a variety of lawyering methods that are tailored to the needs of each project. These include: documentation and reporting; international litigation; advocacy. The clinic meets two times per week. Classroom lectures and discussion focus on substantive human rights law, client interviewing, case and project preparation and strategy and review of ongoing cases and projects. In addition to the classroom component, students should expect to spend 15–20 hours per week on clinic work. The weekly workload varies substantially, depending upon the stage of each project or case.

Clinic work may include some travel. Preference is given to students who have taken a human rights course or who have other human rights or public interest experience. 

An application is required.

Students in the Immigration Clinic represent vulnerable low-income immigrants from around the world before the immigration and federal courts and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Students gain hands-on experience by taking on the primary responsibility and decision-making authority for their cases under the mentorship of the Clinic faculty. The Clinic’s caseload varies each semester but focuses on deportation defense and asylum claims, including for detained persons. The Clinic has handled cases for clients from, among other countries, Afghanistan, Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Eritrea, Mexico, and Pakistan. The Clinic represents clients of all ages, including unaccompanied children and families. Students also engage in national and international advocacy projects to improve the rights of immigrants in the United States. Through client representation and advocacy as well as the classroom component of the Clinic, students learn substantive immigration law, develop client relationship skills, and practice a variety of legal advocacy skills and techniques. The Clinic allows students to explore different models for effective and collaborative lawyering, including interdisciplinary practice with social work student interns and expert witnesses from medical, social science, and mental health backgrounds.

Immigration Clinic students work on their cases collaboratively in teams. The Immigration Clinic meets for class two times per week for an hour and a half. As an orientation, the first two classes of the semester are extended (an additional hour), and an extra session is held on Wednesday evening during the first week of classes (1.5 hours). Grading is on a pass/fail basis for this six-credit hour clinic. There is no final exam or paper; instead, students receive feedback throughout the semester from faculty and peers and conduct a self-evaluation at the end of the semester that is discussed with faculty. Students should expect to spend approximately 20 hours per week on Clinic work, including class time and office hours in the Clinic suite. Work on cases and projects may be required over breaks (Thanksgiving or Spring Break). Participation in the Clinic is generally not compatible with participation in moot court or other competitions that require travel during the semester, and personal travel may need to be limited in light of case and project obligations.  Students will occasionally travel to area immigration detention facilities and to San Antonio where the Immigration Court and DHS offices are located, sometimes including early morning departures and unavoidable absence from other classes.

An application is required, and students are encouraged to apply for the Clinic during the early registration window as enrollment is limited. For more information about the Immigration Clinic, contact Denise Gilman (dgilman@law.utexas.edu) or Elissa Steglich (esteglich@law.utexas.edu). 

JUVENILE JUSTICE CLINIC This program offers litigation experience while exposing students to the operations of the juvenile justice system, by placing them as student attorneys with the Travis County Juvenile Public Defender. Clients are indigent juveniles, aged 10 to 17, who are charged with criminal offenses ranging from Class B misdemeanors to first degree felonies. Student attorneys are assigned a caseload (four open cases at all times and approximately 8-10 cases per semester) for which they have primary responsibility under the supervision of an attorney in the public defender's office. The student attorneys perform all investigation, interview, discovery, plea bargain and litigation functions on their cases.

Student attorneys will likely set hearings for plea adjudications/dispositions on Tuesdays (am or pm), Thursdays (am) and possibly Wednesday as needed with some ability to request specific settings on other days. Contested hearings are usually scheduled for Monday or Tuesday afternoon or Friday morning. The more flexible the student's schedule is the more opportunity for handling a variety of cases within the court’s scheduling of cases. Please take this into account when scheduling other classes and contact Pam Sigman if you have questions about your schedule. Approximately 15 plus hours per week will be required for working cases and for participating in the classroom component. The class usually meets on Tuesdays (all semester) and Thursdays (first half of the semester).

Each Monday (1:00 pm), Wednesday (1:00 pm) and Friday (9 am), Travis County Juvenile Court holds detention hearings to determine if juveniles who are being detained should be released. A public defender is present to provide representation for each juvenile who has a hearing that day. Student attorneys will each take responsibility as the public defender for three days of the semester. You will sign up for specific dates. This teaches students to develop and handle new cases in a very short time, and to think and act quickly in court.

Each student will complete a mock hearing exercise that is recorded and held in the Eidman Courtroom. The exercise teaches the student to prepare for argument and examination of witnesses in the context of a hearing to suppress illegally seized evidence. The mock hearing occurs outside of the regular class meeting.

During the first month of the semester, the class has meetings on Fridays for tours usually between 10-1 on the 2nd and 3rd Fridays of the semester. The class travels outside of Austin to tour a Texas Juvenile Justice Department facility and meets with juveniles who have been sentenced to TJJD (this is usually 8-3 on a Friday about the 4th or 5th week). Please try and keep your Fridays open for the first 4-5 weeks of the semester. If you have a Friday class conflict or other commitment, we can accommodate some situations with alternative assignments/dates. Contact Pam Sigman if you have questions about your schedule

Additionally, the class speaks to seventh grade students at a local middle school in April about constitutional rights/protections and the consequences of violating the law.

All credit is awarded on the pass/fail basis (six hours). The Clinic is open to students who have completed their first two semesters.

The Juvenile Justice Clinic provides a meaningful opportunity for students to learn juvenile law, interact with clients, advocate for your clients in court proceedings, and participate in educating children about the law. Please feel free to contact Pam Sigman if you have any questions.

Pam Sigman, Director 512-619-3222

Students in the Law & Religion Clinic represent vulnerable individuals and groups of all faiths who face challenges to their religious liberty. This will involve a diverse array of clients, including, among others: prisoners, mosques, students, employees, churches, teachers, faith-based schools, sanctuary churches, synagogues, and immigrants. Students can expect to work on cases involving the Free Exercise Clause, the Establishment Clause, similar state constitutional provisions, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, its state equivalents, antidiscrimination statutes, Title VII, and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Under the direction of clinic faculty, students will have the opportunity to be first chair on some matters or serve as co-counsel with various civil rights organizations and law firms on others. 

Through that work, they will develop lawyering skills they can apply in nearly any type of legal practice they pursue, including analyzing potential cases, client interviewing, fact investigation, representing and advising organizations, negotiation, drafting pleadings, dealing with opposing counsel, discovery and depositions, trial advocacy, and appellate work.

Students will work on cases in teams and will meet with Professors Greil and Collis as a group multiple times a week: to discuss their cases and in a classroom seminar where they will learn the substance and complexities of religion law (this will include some readings from a packet of key material). They will also have one-on-one sessions with the Professors to discuss how their lawyering skills are progressing and to counsel on other issues. The Clinic encourages students from all backgrounds, ideologies, religions, and beliefs to join.  

The clinic is offered in the fall and spring, for six (6) credits, pass/fail. The Clinic is open to students who have completed their first two semesters. You can find a broader description of the clinic and the Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center at https://law.utexas.edu/first-amendment-center/.

There are no prerequisites for this clinic. An application is required.

SUPREME COURT CLINIC IS A 6-CREDIT COURSE that provides students the opportunity to work on cases pending before the United States Supreme Court. Students will be assigned to represent actual clients that are before the Court as petitioners (those seeking review of adverse lower-court decisions), respondents (those defending favorable lower-court decisions), or amici curiae (those participating in other parties' cases because their interests could be affected by the Court's decision). Cases may be at either the certiorari or the merits stage and may be in almost any substantive area of law. Clinic cases may involve a wide range of issues, including federal statutory issues and constitutional issues.

As part of their Clinic work, students will learn about Supreme Court procedures and the strategic considerations relevant in Supreme Court practice. Students will evaluate their clients' substantive positions, research the relevant issues, participate in strategic planning, and help draft the briefs or other documents to be filed with the Court. They also will participate in identifying potential cases for the Clinic to handle. And they may have the opportunity to moot advocates scheduled to argue before the Court.  Students will work closely with other students, and under the supervision of experienced members of the Supreme Court bar (who will assume final responsibility for all documents filed with the Court). 

An application is required.

The TRANSNATIONAL WORKER RIGHTS CLINIC IS A 6-HR. CLINIC. Students in this clinic will represent low-income transnational migrant workers, who labor in Texas, in legal actions to recover unpaid wages for work they have performed, to combat workplace discrimination, and to enforce other basic employment rights. Students may also engage in related advocacy projects asserting the rights of low-wage workers – especially their right to access the U.S. justice system to fully enforce their employment rights, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status. The clinic gives students hands-on experience with civil litigation, basic employment law, public interest practice, and the evolving fields of immigrant employment rights and transnational migrant worker rights. The clinic seeks to enforce and understand employment rights of transnational workers working in Texas as an example of advocacy for the labor and human rights of immigrants and low-wage working people around the globe. Clinic students will serve as primary legal counsel representing immigrant and low-wage working people in federal and state employment litigation and administrative actions. Students will get the experience of working inside an independent public interest law firm and will be supervised and mentored by several of the nation's leading low-wage employment lawyers.

Depending on the requirements and the current litigation stage of each case, students will variously: interview and advise clients; investigate cases and develop legal action strategies; initiate and manage active litigation; negotiate with opposing employers and their lawyers; prepare litigation documents in the student's cases including pleadings, motions, and briefs; conduct discovery in the student's cases including written discovery and the taking of depositions; research legal issues; develop damages calculations; represent clients in hearings, court proceedings, and mediation; and negotiate and manage the final legal settlement or recovery of damages in the case. The clinic's legal advocacy is based on a community-lawyering model which seeks to accomplish more than just winning individual cases; the clinic also aims to promote systemic reforms that make the justice system more fair for transnational workers and to empower clients with the knowledge, skills, and collective capacity through which they can advance their own employment rights. In addition, the clinic seeks to ground each student's particular casework within the dynamic, emerging field of transnational labor rights advocacy.

Bill Beardall, the clinic director, is a graduate of Harvard Law School, the Executive Director of the Equal Justice Center, the former Director of the Migrant Worker Division of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, and a nationally recognized expert on low-wage employment rights. He has more than four decades of experience representing migrant workers and mentoring young employment litigation lawyers.

The TWR Clinic is conducted in partnership with the Equal Justice Center (EJC), a non-profit public-interest law firm, based in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio.  The EJC is the leading law firm in Texas specialized in advocating for the rights of low-wage workers. Clinic students get the opportunity to work closely with a variety of EJC lawyers, who are among Texas' leading employment attorneys. In this clinic, students devote the bulk of their clinic hours each week to handling active cases for real clients. This case work includes regularly scheduled office hours at the nearby Equal Justice Center office; regularly scheduled remote office hours in the EJC's robust remote law practice during periods of pandemic shutdown; regular case reviews with supervising attorneys; and essential conferences with clients. During the first week of the course, before starting their casework assignments, students will receive an intensive classroom orientation on low-wage employment litigation practice. 

Normally the law practice of this clinic occurs off-campus in the law offices of the Equal Justice Center. However, like many law offices, the EJC has been largely closed to in-person staff and public operations, since spring 2020, due to the pandemic. Nevertheless the EJC law practice and the TWR Clinic law practice have been gradually and deliberately reopening to in-person operations by appointment and by modified office hours. Equally important, the EJC learned from the pandemic how to operate dynamically and successfully as a cyber-practice utilizing innovative electronic law practice methods. Moreover, most other law offices and the entire civil justice system are undergoing a similar transformation. Reflecting this broader transformation across the profession, the EJC and TWR Clinic currently operate as a hybrid in-person/remote law practice, which continues to evolve along with the norms in civil justice system. One salutary effect of the EJC's adaptation to cyber law practice methods has been that TWR Clinic law students are getting an opportunity to learn - along with the rest of the legal profession - the new art of hybrid in-person/remote law practice and litigation. Thus, while the 2023 spring semester clinic law practice is expected to be conducted largely in-person, it has become clear that the judicial system and legal profession are permanently adopting many new and more efficient, remote electronic operations and methods. These remote law practice methods will put to full and effective use by the EJC and the TWR Clinic, giving clinic students an opportunity to learn these pioneering remote electronic techniques and systems. As a result, TWR Clinic students will gain experience preparing them to take their place among the first generation of lawyers adeptly utilizing a new range of remote cyber-law-practice methods.

Throughout the semester, the students' principal casework will be complemented with a regular classroom session that meets once a week for approximately two hours. The classroom sessions will explore various deeper aspects of employment law, rights of immigrant workers, effective litigation practice, and special topics in employment law practice for immigrant and low-wage workers. Classroom instruction will address the challenges of adapting U.S. law and legal practice to our increasingly transnational labor market. Subtopics include: U.S. labor and immigration policy; wage laws, employment laws, and contract law as they affect transnational workers; the tension between immigration laws and labor rights; rights of transnational "guest workers"; civil litigation and representation skills specific to transnational worker cases; employment law practice as viewed from the perspective of lawyers for employee-plaintiffs, lawyers for employer-defendants, and employment lawyers representing government agencies; ethical issues in employment rights representation; and evolving mechanisms for the enforcement of worker rights, regardless of immigration status.

The clinic is open to students who have completed the first year of law school. While there are no prerequisites, students will benefit from previous course work or experience relating to contract law, civil procedure, labor and employment law, immigration law, international law, human rights law, low-wage working people, migrant workers or immigrant communities, and experience related to Latin American communities.

While Clinic clients include U.S. citizens and immigrants from a wide array of continents and countries, a majority of clients are Spanish-speakers from a variety of Latin American countries. Spanish proficiency accordingly is very useful, but is not in any way required.

Questions about the clinic may be directed to Bill Beardall at bbeardall@law.utexas.edu. Please put "Worker Rights Clinic" in the subject line of any communication.

Overview:  A nationally known, plaintiff’s commercial trial lawyer will provide students with an introduction to complex financial litigation, including claims arising out of financial fraud, Ponzi schemes, business mismanagement, and fiduciary self-dealing. Students will study the common types of financial litigation that are pursued by equity holders, creditors, and other victims of financial wrongdoing as well as litigation professionals, such as bankruptcy trustees, receivers, and foreign liquidators against fiduciaries (e.g., directors and officers), professional services firms (e.g., law firms and accounting firms), banks, and other participants in financial transactions.

Although the course will focus on the plaintiff’s side of financial litigation, it will also cover common defenses and the strategies that defendants often utilize in such litigation. Students will review actual complaints and study real cases.  Students will have to think strategically through real-world fact patterns, consider potential claims and defenses, develop litigation strategies, and learn how to think like practicing lawyers. In doing so, students will draw on the knowledge they have learned in a variety of other classes, including contracts, torts, civil procedure, business associations, bankruptcy, and remedies.

Grading: Each student will be graded their written work product, which will include claims analysis.

Course Materials: Course materials will be provided via Canvas.  There is no textbook.

This course will cover the history and the judicial interpretation of the First Amendment's free speech clause.  Coverage of modern judicial interpretation will be topical rather than chronological. Subjects will include subversive advocacy, prior restraints, tort law and the First Amendment, offensive speech, symbolic dissent, freedom not to speak, the government as employer, the government's management of public property, access to the mass media, campaign finance, obscenity, and commercial speech. Readings, particularly for the historical portion of the course, will consist of secondary sources as well as legal decisions. NO PREREQUISITES.

Origins of the Federal Constitution presents an intensive introduction to the historical sources of the Constitution. By reference to original source documents, the class considers the common law and other influences on early American government and justice, such as Locke, Montesquieu, and Blackstone’s Commentaries; the colonial experience leading to and immediately following the American Revolution; documents and debate directly relevant to formation of individual constitutional provisions and amendments; and the initial experience and understanding of the Constitution, through to Story’s Commentaries, in addition to later amendments. The class will also consider the influence and use of this material on modern interpretation of the Constitution.

A coursepack of original documents will be provided to you at no cost. These have largely been selected and edited from The Founders’ Constitution, edited by Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner (University of Chicago Press 1987).

This course will explore constitutional issues surrounding claims of race and sex discrimination. The course is historical, covering antebellum, Civil War, and post-Fourteenth Amendment controversies. We will examine race and sex in several contexts (e.g., segregation, military policy, education, affirmative action) and consider a broad range of theoretical approaches. The course is designed to provide a close understanding of both historical and contemporary analyses. The materials on race occupy approximately two-thirds of the overall course. Prerequisite: Con Law I.

The course will deal with the post-Court-packing Supreme Court, across the total range of constitutional issues, right up to the present. The focus will be less on doctrine and more on how the Surpeme Court fits within the political sphere. As such it will look more like a political science course and there will be no casebook. Instead four books on the Court will be used, two by Lucas A. Powe, Jr., (The Supreme Court and the American Elite; The Warren Court and American Politics) and one by Joan Biskupic, Nine Black Robes.

Federalism is a contient aspect of American constitutionalism.  That being said, it is also important to recognize that literally from the very beginning of the constitutional republic in 1789, the operative meaning of "American federalism" has always been a source of contention, which, of course, became bitter enough by 1860 to trigger secession and a subsequent war that killed approximatly 750,000 combatants (who may or may not be identified as "Americans").  So we will be looking at a lot of the "theoretical" issues surrounding federalism, beginning with the possible meanings of "We the People" that purported "ordain" the new polity.  Is there one singular "American people" (and, if so, who is contained within it?), or is the "united States" (as some copies of the Declaration of Independence spelled the name of the new country) composed of the uneasy joinder of distinctly separate "peoples" living in the different states? The first Supreme Court case we will read--and ponder for at least a full class--will be beginning Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), concerning so called "sovereign immunity" of states from being sued in federal courts.  We'll also be reading the Kentucky and Virgninia Resolutions of 1798-99 and their particular take on the basis of the Union, including the possibilities of "nullification" and even, perhaps, secession.  But, obviously, these "theoretical" issues are complemented by extremely "practical" concerns.  How should one respond to states that attempt to secede; and even after secession is subdued (by force), what might "reconstruction" of a federal union might mean, in both theory and in practice?  Moreover, it will be helpful, in understanding "American federalism," to pay at least limited attention to other forms of federalism around the world.  Should, for example, all sub-national units be viewed as "equal" (symmetcial federalism), or is it both necessary and proper to recognize that some such units are so substantially different from others, as with, for example, language or concentration of natural resources, that it is legitimate to adopt "asymmetical federalism."  

We will pay suitable attention to classic Supreme Court cases and to more recent articlations by the Court as to the complexities generated by subnational-states in a Union.  But "suitable" does not mean exclusive. And, of course, Supreme Court decisions must always be understood in terms of their wider political and historical contexts.  

Distribution of powers between federal and state governments; constitutional limitations on and judicial review of governmental action.

This is the basic course in contract law.  Topics include formation and modification of contracts, the need for a writing (Statute of Frauds), contract interpretation, excuses for non-performance, breach of contract, and remedies for breach.  Alternative theories of recovery, like reliance and restitution, are also covered.  Unlike other 1L Contracts classes at UT, this class addresses sales of goods under Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code as well as common law contracts.   

An introductory course on the law of contracts. This course takes up basic questions about the common law principles governing the formation, interpretation, performance, and enforcement of contracts, as well as the basic remedies for their breach.

The Preface to the casebook notes that the “lines between law and business are increasingly vanishing. Corporate leaders routinely ask their lawyers for business advice . . .” This course is designed to provide the legal and related business background to respond to such questions as:

How can, or should, a firm obtain financing at different stages in its life, and what laws, regulations and evolving market practices affect the answers to that question?

When and in what form should investors anticipate returns?

How might some participants in the firm’s ecosystem—“stakeholders”—be affected by any given strategy?

Such questions occupy the heart of this field; the course aims to address issues at the intersection of law and business. Again from the Preface: “In many respects, this class can be considered a continuation of the foundational course in business associations. But fundamentally, this class is about deals,” their structure and their legal attributes and consequences. It will be assumed that students have some familiarity with the time value of money and related concepts through their prior experience, the Short Course in Financial Methods for Lawyers, or the equivalent. (If there are doubts, please contact the Professor at: simon.lorne@law.utexas.edu .)

The first objective of the course will be to help prepare future corporate and non-profit Directors to fulfill their fiduciary duties of care and loyalty to the organizations that they will serve. We will do this by examining a wide variety of issues that Directors must deal with on a regular basis. These include balancing efforts between establishing quarterly and yearly performance targets and building strong companies that can sustain above-market financial performance in the future. Directors must also manage business and political relationships, initiate and integrate acquisitions, create/change corporate culture, continually align the organization structure to the business strategy, allocate resources for a variety of corporate initiatives, deal with issues of corporate governance, succession planning, executive compensation, and learn to navigate through potential public relations disasters. We will examine as many of these topics as time permits.

The second objective of this course will be to understand the nature and scope of corporate Boards from the perspective of society, social and economic interest and what can be done to prevent some of the more publicized corporate governance failures. We will examine several of the more highly publicized corporate failures as well as what action Congress has taken to address corporate malfeasance, and the recommendations that have been made by social critics. The course is directed primarily at graduate business students and law students who expect to serve either as advisors to Boards of Directors or on Boards of Directors of public companies or non-profit organizations. While most of the course will focus on established public companies, much of the course content will be useful to those individuals who are primarily interested in entrepreneurial organizations, family corporations, or public sector non-profit entities. This course will have three distinct instructional formats. Professor Cunningham will lecture to the class to help provide all of the students with a fundamental knowledge of how Boards of Directors function in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. He will also focus on the different roles the Boards play in both large and small organizations.

The third format of the class will be to invite guest speakers to address the students who are involved in a wide variety of real world governance issues. The guests will be encouraged to provide ample opportunity for questions during their presentations. The individuals that will be invited to speak to the class will include a mix of entrepreneurs, senior executives from major corporations, directors of public and private entities, politicians, leaders of non-profit entities, corporate lawyers and partners of major accounting firms.

Data, and the analysis of that data, has always played an important role in many legal disputes.  With the exponential increase in data availability and the increased interest in data more generally, this role has increased and is likely to increase further.  As a result, it is incredibly important for lawyers to understand how data can be used in legal cases and, more importantly, to be aware of how it is often misused by lawyers, judges, and experts to suggest far greater certainty than proper analysis would suggest.  In this class, we will cover some of the most common ways in which data, probability, and statistics can be misunderstood, misused, and manipulated.  Through the use of examples from cases and legal debates, we will illustrate these mistakes, explain them, and learn how to ask the questions that will help uncover them.

This seminar focuses on the role of covert action in implementing U.S. foreign and national security policies.  Covert action is a unique mission assigned by executive order to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).  Since its founding in 1947, the CIA has undertaken covert activities intended to influence events abroad at the direction of U.S. presidents.  Covert action is often referred to as the “Third Option” between diplomacy and military action.  Through declassification of official records as well as unauthorized disclosures in books, newspapers, and electronic media, the details of many covert programs (principally, but not exclusively, from the Cold War period) are now available to study.  Indeed, many of the most consequential - - and controversial - - actions of the CIA and the presidents the CIA has served in its 70-year existence involved covert actions.            

Building on a foundational understanding of the Executive branch of government, the mechanisms available to develop and implement national security policies, and the capabilities of the CIA, this course will examine why presidents choose to implement their policies through covert means, what benefits and hazards accompany that choice, and the mixed historical record of U.S covert action programs.  In addition to evaluating why and how covert action is engaged as an instrument of U.S power, the course will review Executive and Legislative mechanisms for supervision and oversight of covert action operations, as well as the moral and ethical dilemmas encountered in such programs.  Through lectures, readings, and class discussions, students will become familiar with significant covert action activities in U.S. history.  The course will include at least one example of a covert influence program undertaken by a foreign government.            

In addition to traditional texts and journal articles, students will be exposed to primary public policy sources including statutes, executive orders, presidential directives, and declassified records  related to U.S. intelligence.  Intelligence and national security debates touching on covert action (…that are certain to arise during the semester) will be integrated into the class.  Students will be expected to post a comment on each week’s assigned readings prior to class, to join in class discussions on the readings, to review a book related to covert action that is not already on the syllabus, and to prepare a research paper that evaluates a historical covert action program not studied in class.  Toward the close of the semester, students will participate in a role-playing exercise centered on preparing a notional presidential order or “finding” authorizing a new covert program.  Seminar participants will have the opportunity to engage current and former senior intelligence officials who visit Austin (virtually, if not in-person) in connection with Intelligence Studies Project events.

The topic of covert action was for many decades impractical to approach in an appropriately factual, rigorous, and balanced manner because of the secrecy that surrounds these government programs. There is now a sufficiently rich factual record on which to debate and shape judgments about the legality, efficacy, and long-term impact of U.S. covert programs from the modern era.  Students will be exposed to many of these materials and invited to reach their own conclusions about this unique policy tool.

This seminar is not principally designed to develop the professional skills of participants, however, there will be several opportunities to conduct relevant research, draft reports, and make short oral presentations to the class.       

Texts/Readings (Illustrative only):

Christopher Andrew, For the President’s Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush (1995)                        

John Prados, Safe for Democracy: the Secret Wars of the CIA (2006)

William Daugherty, Executive Secrets – Covert Action and the Presidency (2006)

Frances Stonor Saunders, the Cultural Cold War – the CIA and the World of Arts and Letters (2013)

Stephen Kinzer, All the Shah’s Men – An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror (2008)

Steve Coll, Ghost Wars – the Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Ladin, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (2004) 

Robert  Grenier, 88 Days to Kandahar  - A CIA Diary (2015) 

James M. Olsen, Fair Play - the Moral Dilemmas of Spying (2006)

Assignments:

Weekly comment on reading(s)  20%

Informed class/exercise participation  20%

Book review  20%

Research paper (12-15 pages)  40%

Promulgation, interpretation, and administration of substantive laws of crime; constitutional limitations and relevant philosophical, sociological, and behavioral science materials.

Promulgation, interpretation, and administration of substantive laws of crime; constitutional limitations and relevant philosophical, sociological, and behavioral science materials.

This course deals with the judicial phase of the criminal justice process, beginning from the initial decision to bring criminal charges, through the pretrial and trial processes, and concluding with sentencing.  The major focus is opinions of the United States Supreme Court imposing federal constitutional limitations on criminal procedure.  Course coverage includes the following topics: the decision to initiate prosecution; bail and pretrial detention; the grand jury; the right to the effective assistance of counsel; the right to a speedy trial; discovery and disclosure of evidence; plea bargaining; the right to an impartial trial; the right to a jury; double jeopardy; and sentencing. Study of decisions of the United States Supreme Court is supplemented by examination of selected provisions of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, typical federal and state statutes, and opinions of the lower federal and state courts. In addition to regular class preparation and participation, students will be required to complete an experiential assignment, in which they will witness some aspect of criminal adjudication relevant to the course and reflect on that experience in writing. This course satisfies the Con Law II requirement.

This course addresses the constitutional limits on police investigations. It focuses primarily on the Fourth Amendment law governing searches and seizures, as well as on the constraints that the Fifth and Sixth Amendments impose on police questioning. Topics include the meaning of the terms “search” and “seizure” (especially in an era of electronic surveillance); the warrant requirement and its many exceptions; the rules governing stop-and-frisk and police use of force; the rules governing police interrogations (including the rights to remain silent or to have a lawyer present); and the available legal remedies for constitutional violations. The course will be graded on a letter-grade basis for all students and will satisfy the constitutional law II requirement. Grades will be based upon an open-book, in-class final exam.

This class will introduce students to the intersection of blockchain technology, law, and policy. This entails a brief overview of blockchains and cryptocurrencies, as well as some of their most popular applications (DeFi, NFTs, etc) - students need not know anything about these technologies (or any technology) in advance. Students will also learn about: (1) the role of various regulators like the SEC and the Treasury Department, and how those regulators might think about cryptocurrencies; (2) the idea of code as a regulating force; and (3) the national security and foreign policy implications of cryptocurrencies. This class is designed to expose students to the breadth of issues coming out of blockchain technology, and will be focused on discussion rather than lecturing or presentations. 

The past two years have highlighted the growing cyber threat to entities of all types: corporations, hospitals, government institutions and small businesses, to name a few.  The day that attack comes is nothing short of a crisis, requiring all the right teams to assemble and navigate the obstacles such an attack may present.  Cyber response was once thought as the province of the information security department, but it has grown to include leaders from key departments such as law, human resources, public relations, business teams, compliance, risk, and privacy.  Additionally, vendors, such as a technical incident response firm and a crisis communications firm must be identified and engaged to help supplement existing resources.  This is the time for legal counsel to shine, as the lawyer's role is central to many of the most critical workstreams.    This practical skills course will provide an in-depth review of incident response and counsel's role.  Students will partake in a tabletop exercise to kick off the course and identify the areas of incident response.  Subsequent sessions will review each area through group discussions in a small-class setting.   Guest speakers will include seasoned incident response experts from the FBI or Secret Service, crisis communications firms and regulators.

This course will consider recent developments in federal Indian law, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Haaland v. Brackeen and McGirt v. Oklahoma, and the ongoing litigation in Apache Stronghold v. USA through the lens of selected treaties, Acts of Congress, and U.S. Supreme Court decisions from 1763 to the present.

The term “dignitary torts” is sometimes used to encompass defamation, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and perhaps also certain instances of battery, assault, and false imprisonment. The label is meant to reflect that in these areas tort law protects not only against more concrete forms of injury and loss, but also against various infringements of individual dignity simply as such.

This course will be organized around two objectives. The first is to acquire a deeper understanding of the doctrinal structure and current state of development of the dignitary torts, with particular attention to defamation and invasion of privacy.

The second objective is to consider a puzzle posed by Kenneth Abraham and Edward White, who have observed: “The absence of a robustly-articulated conception of the interest in dignity that tort law protects is puzzling. Why have notions of dignity and dignitary torts been little more than labels, reflecting a value that has gone unanalyzed and undebated, despite its obvious and growing importance?” We will investigate the nature of the interest in dignity that tort law purportedly protects, and consider whether the concept of dignity is suited to serve as a point of reference for understanding the “dignitary torts” and guiding their future development.

This overview course will principally focus on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the most important federal law prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities. We will discuss the ADA’s place in the disability-rights and disability-justice movements, and its analytical relationship with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and with the antidiscrimination provisions in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. We will also explore the Act’s definition of disability (including the subsequent ADA Amendments Act of 2008), and the provisions outlawing discrimination, and requiring accommodations, by employers (Title I), government services and programs (Title II), and private businesses (Title III). To sample the breadth of the ADA, we will discuss the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision guaranteeing community integration, as well as the ADA’s application in the contexts of, e.g., education, housing, healthcare, the criminal legal and carceral systems, immigration, and technology.

This course will provide an in-depth examination of the battered women’s movement and its impact on the legal system’s response to domestic violence. We begin with law and the social context of battering, including how the experience of abuse and the response to abuse is shaped by race, cultural identity, economic status, sexual orientation, and disabilities. Criminal law aspects are addressed within the role of protective orders, prosecution, and defense (including self-defense for victims and ethical representation of batterers). We next view how civil family law recognizes domestic violence in custody, divorce, visitation, and child protection matters. Among other topics, the course will examine specialized areas of the law, which include tort liability for batterers and third parties (police, employers, etc.) and federal remedies under the Violence Against Women Act. The class will discuss emerging issues like violence against women as a human rights violation and evolving sexual assault laws to identify the challenges of theory vs. practice. The focus of the class is to examine current gaps and barriers in the legal response to intimate partner violence and propose systemic change through a social justice lens.

This unique 3-hour course explores the hottest topics in litigation today: electronic evidence and digital discovery (including emerging roles for AI). Evidence is information, and nearly all information is created, collected, communicated and stored electronically. Thus, the ability to identify, preserve, interpret, authenticate and challenge electronically stored information is a crucial litigation skill.

This course seeks to reconcile the federal rules and e-discovery case law with the sources, forms and methods of information technology and computer forensics. Students will explore the roots of information technology, learn to "speak geek" see information with "new eyes" and acquire hands-on, practical training in finding electronic evidence, meeting preservation duties, guarding against spoliation, selecting forms of production, communicating and cooperating with opposing counsel and managing the volume and variety of digital evidence and metadata. You will use real world software tools and emerge with an understanding of the nuts and bolts of information technology and discovery,  No prior background in law, computing or technology is required to succeed. 

Grading is based on five self-administered, timed quizzes via Canvas at roughly two week intervals and class participation. You must also submit written exercises on approximately a weekly basis.  There is no midterm or final.  Note: the course has been reconfigured for 2025 to scale back the workload and better accommodate competing demands on students' time.

If you have questions about the course to decide if it's for you, I can be reached via email as craig@ball.net or by phone at 713-320-6066.

This course explores emerging issues in sexuality, gender identity, and the law. We will study and discuss the constitutional, statutory and common law that impacts the lived experience of LGBTQ+ people and people living at the intersection of LGBTQ+ identities, including people who are living with a disability, people who identify as BIPOC, and undocumented/under-documented immigrants.  We will also discuss how civil rights organizations are using impact litigation, public policy and education to ensure equality and access to equal opportunities for LGBTQ+ people in society.  The course will conclude with a mock litigation exercise.

Two top litigators teach practical skills and tips on everything from social media to managing massive discovery.  If it's new in litigation they know it. We will be discussing the use of technology in all aspects of litigation, including virtual trials and hearings.

Three key components of the class are;

• Cover various persuasive techniques used in contested matters, with an emphasis on real-world examples of effective advocacy;
• Using factual scenarios from actual cases, we will discuss the use of demonstratives and other methods of visual persuasion in contested matters;
• Each student will learn how to craft effective arguments and will be required to present them to the class as a whole.

In this advanced property-law class, you will learn about eminent domain—the power of the government (and those with its delegated authority) to take private property and convert it into public use in exchange for paying just compensation to the property owner. Most lawyers get just one or two days of class about eminent domain in law school. This course aims to fix that shortcoming.

The subject is fascinating as a matter of theory, as it deals with the power of a tribe (the community) to take property away from its members. And eminent domain is becoming more and more important in practice. Take Texas, for example. The Lone Star State is home to eight of the nation’s 15 fastest-growing cities and boasts five of the top 10 cities in the total number of new residents. The need for infrastructure has skyrocketed, both to accommodate the explosive population growth and to support Texas's ever-expanding oil-and-gas industry. In light of these developments, we as a community need to work out how to deal with growth while still honoring constitutional values and individual rights.

Class discussions and reading assignments will explore whether the current eminent domain framework in the U.S. properly protects property owners and the public. The subject is generally divided into two interrelated parts: (1) the origins of eminent domain, public use, and public necessity and (2) “just compensation," including evidentiary and procedural issues that arise in disputes about compensation. Throughout, the class will explore the relationship between theory and practice.

This course explores the foundational pieces of employment law, including (1) Distinctions between “employees” and other types of workers, and why they matter; (2) The "default rule" of employment-at-will and the ways it can be modified; (3) The additional rights and responsibilities of government employees (e.g., free speech & due process rights, limitations on political rights); (4) Laws protecting employees from discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics (e.g., race, national origin, sex, sexual harassment, age, disability), and their enforcement schemes; (5) The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and its minimum wage & overtime premium protections; (6) A look at employees’ duties to their employers, including the duty of loyalty, duties involving trade secrets, and obligations not to compete.  It will also explore a host of contemporary employment law issues.   

This course examines in detail the regulatory regimes governing the sale and delivery of energy in American energy markets. Students will develop a working understanding of electricity and gas markets, how federal and state regulatory commissions regulate price and competition in those markets under the Federal Power Act, the Natural Gas Act, and analogous state laws. We will also address topical issues associated with the rapid technological and economic changes underway in the electricity and gas markets, including the effects of the rapid growth in renewable generation, disputes over the pricing and regulation of distributed energy resources (such as rooftop solar or demand response), the move toward increasing competition and market pricing, legal rules governing the siting of natural gas and electric transmission lines, and more. This class will be based in the Law School, but also open to students from the McCombs School, the Jackson School, and the LBJ School, and will mix traditional lecture and discussion with small group work in multidisciplinary teams. This is a companion course to (but not a prerequisite for) Energy Law: Regulating Energy Production.

The TVL Energy Ventures Practicum is an opportunity for teams of law students, business students, policy students, and technologists to build up skills, capabilities and contacts to create a new venture in the energy sector. Objectives of the class are to provide a framework for commercializing innovations in the energy sector, and the tools that entrepreneurs need to frame and build businesses for this purpose.

This 3-credit course examines the regulation of toxic substances in both the common law and federal regulations.  The course begins with an examination of statute-based regulatory programs governing toxic risks.  These include a study of regulations governing toxins in workplaces (the Occupational Safety and Health Act), wastes (the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act), and in products, broadly defined (Safe Drinking Water Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act; and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act), as well as in right-to-know laws.  The course will then shift to an exploration of how the legal system enforces these laws, including through citizen suits and environmental justice claims, but also by holding wrongful actors accountable through the common law and toxic torts.  The course will conclude by reflecting on the complementary roles that the common law and regulatory law play in endeavoring to better control the indiscriminate release of toxic substances and considers reforms for the future.  The basis of evaluation will be a 24 hour, open book examination. Prerequisite: None

4 hour course covering both the Federal and Texas rules of Evidence with emphasis on application of the rules in litigation. Topics include include relevance, hearsay, the Confrontation Clause, character evidence, impeachment and rehabilitation of witnesses, the best evidence rule, lay and expert opinion, and privileges.

This course combines all the traditional knowledge and theory of a traditional evidence class but adds the layer of applying the rules in practice. Students practice arguing evidentiary motions, have weekly application exercises and explore issues of memory, false confessions, digital evidence and the future of evidence and technology. This course is for students who intend to practice civil or criminal litigation and want a deeper understanding of how judges interpret the rules and how lawyers use the rules to their advantage. 

Students who have taken Evidence may not take Evidence for Litigators.

This is the classic law school course exploring the powers of and limitations on the federal courts, including (1) how federal powers are shared with the political (nonjudicial) branches and (2) how federal judicial power is limited by laws and norms about federalism. That generalized subject matter necessraily covers questions about litigant standing, the original and appellate jurisdictions of various federal tribunals, Congressional control over that jurisdiction, the content of law that federal courts can and must apply in various cases, federal tribunals other than Article III courts, federal common law, sovereign immunity, "implied" causes of action and remedies, and habeas corpus.

Federal courts is a complex and challenging course that I teach as a blend of upper level civil procedure and civil rights litigation.

This is a one-semester three-unit course about substantive federal criminal law. This course will detail the prosecution and defense of criminal offenses in federal court, focusing on the more frequently employed and complex areas, and on current hot topics. Class time will be devoted to mail, wire, bank, and health care fraud, public corruption, money laundering, administration of justice offenses, the Controlled Substances Act, immigration offenses, and terrorism and weapons offenses. Students will be alerted to the manner in which federal sanctions can be employed against lawyers, banks, and corporations, and the bases of federal criminal jurisdiction. If time permits, we will review the federal plea bargaining and sentencing systems. Your grade will be based primarily upon a floating open-book essay exam, and in small part upon class participation.  If we have no more than 14 students, the grade in this class will not be on a curve, and you will be required to complete at least one in-class group project. Second-year students interested in the United States Attorney’s Office or Federal Public Defender's Service internships for their third year should consider taking this class first. This class does not significantly overlap with my Advanced Federal Criminal Prosecution & Defense seminar, Judge Pitman's Fed. Crim. Law seminar, or Mr. DeGuerin's Adv. Fed. Defense seminar.

Federal Income Taxation (FIT) presents an overview of the federal income tax, mostly as it applies to individuals. The aim of the course is to present the fundamental principles and policies underlying the federal income tax and to convey the style and flavor of tax law thinking. As a survey, FIT will touch on all the major issues, such as what is gross income, what expenditures are deductible, what is the appropriate taxable unit, what is the function of "basis," and what is the appropriate timing of income and deductions. Specific topics that will be covered in reasonable depth include: the definition of gross income, including the specific inclusion and specific exclusion provisions, business and investment expense deductions, the exclusions for gifts, bequests, and recoveries for personal injuries, income attribution, the taxation of the family (including divorce taxation), the tax treatment of loans, capital expenditures, methods of capital recovery, capital gains and losses, tax-free exchanges, and various tax policy issues (including horizontal and vertical equity, economic efficiency, optimal tax theory, the tax expenditure concept, and a comparison of an income tax base with a cash flow consumption tax base). The grade for this course will be based entirely on a final, open book examination.

Required Textbooks:

(1) Joseph M. Dodge, J. Clifton Fleming, Jr., Francine J. Lipman & Robert J. Peroni, Federal Income Tax: Doctrine, Structure, and Policy (Carolina Academic Press 5th ed. 2019)—ISBN 978-1-5310-1311-0

(2) Federal Income Tax—Code & Regulations—Selected Sections, Robert J. Peroni, Coordinating Editor (Wolters Kluwer/CCH 2024-2025 ed.) OR Selected Federal Taxation Statutes and Regulations, 2025, Daniel J. Lathrope (West Academic 2025)

Recommended Textbooks (Optional):

(1) Marvin A. Chirelstein & Lawrence Zelenak, Federal Income Taxation (West Academic/Foundation Press) (Concepts and Insights Series)

(2) Donald B. Tobin & Samuel A. Donaldson, Principles of Federal Income Taxation (West Academic) (Concise Hornbook Series)

The class is designed for law students of all interests, including those who are undecided and those who are focused on a particular area such as litigation, public interest law, family law, regulatory work, criminal law, or business law.  Financial Methods for Lawyers covers time value of money, expected value decision making, and investment in enterprises.  It also covers the basic financial statement components: balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements.  The class is only available on a pass/fail basis.  It is designated as a skills course.  Students earn points toward a passing grade through online quizzes, Excel spreadsheet and other exercises, and regular attendance.

This one-credit pass/fail offering will meet on four consecutive Fridays this Spring for three hours each session. Each of these meetings will center on a different aspect of the tentacular system by which foods are selected and grown for human or animal consumption both distantly and locally with the benefit of water and other resource entitlements; regulated by some government entity for a public purpose; allocated and distributed by means of markets or public programs; and either salvaged or wasted at the end of the mass market production and consumption cycle. 

Topics that will be laced in may or are sure to include: food equity and food justice; food as health and medicine; early nutrition; animal and lab-made proteins; science, drugs, and politics; and climate transitions, related agricultural challenges and crises, and the human climate niche. 

The course is designed to be highly inter-disciplinary and will emphasize new as well as traditional  experiences that include reading, discussing, sharing, tasting, and collaborative learning in various modes. It will include guest-experts, an optional field trip, and, possibly, an optional off-site dinner to be prepared by class members and me, though you don't have to cook it to eat it.  

Students from non-Law departments and programs may take the course pass/fail or, if a pass/fail course is unavailable to them, for one credit graded on the standard scale, derived from their performance of the requirements below. 

Course requirements:

1--Attendance throughout all four meetings. "Attendance" entails well-focused, pertinent class contributions and may not include the use of devices, including cell phones and laptops, for activities not of direct and immediate relevance to this class. Activities of the latter kind are a sufficient ground for failing this course.

2--Three brief writings, two to be completed in class, one likely to be a group exercise. 

This course will examine the constitutional, statutory, and jurisprudential principles applicable to the foreign relations of the United States.  Topics include the constitutional allocation of foreign-affairs powers between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches; the power to make and unmake treaties and other international agreements; foreign relations in the federal courts; interbranch disputes over the conduct of foreign relations; the role of the states in foreign relations; the power to declare war and direct military forces in the field; and the status of international law in the American constitutional order.  Students will be evaluated based on class participation (20%) and an open-book final exam (80%).

What happens when a beloved sports team trades one city for another? Dive deep into the legal drama, high-stakes negotiations, and emotional fallout that accompany the relocation of professional sports franchises. In this course, you'll explore the tension between team owners, cities, leagues, and fans through real-life case studies such as the Oklahoma City Thunder's controversial move from Seattle, the Oakland Raiders' storied journey to Las Vegas, and the St. Louis Rams’ departure to Los Angeles.

Through these cases and more, students will unravel the intricate web of legal obligations, from stadium contracts to league relocation policies, and navigate the intense regulatory battles teams face when uprooting a franchise. The course will also examine the ethical dilemmas involved—how does a team balance its financial interests with its responsibility to its fanbase? And what role do city officials play in these high-profile relocations?

Students will engage with topics such as the role of municipal bonds in stadium financing, antitrust considerations, league governance structures, and the impact of relocation on local economies. By the end of the course, you’ll understand the legal frameworks that shape these decisions and be prepared to critically assess the future of franchise movement in the evolving sports landscape.

If you’re passionate about sports or the business of professional teams, this course will provide you with the knowledge and insight to appreciate—and perhaps one day influence—one of the most dynamic aspects of sports law.

Students will do a full cycle analysis of a net zero-carbon natural gas development.  This will include technical, financial, and legal analyses of the project including geologic assessment of the resource, development of the production facilities, transportation of the gas to a combined cycle power plant, and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) of the CO2 emissions.  The country will be specified in class, but it will be a country other than the United States of America. The class is open to students enrolled in the McComb’s School of Business MBA program, graduate students in the Jackson School of Geosciences, the Cockrell School of Engineering, JD and international LLM students in the School of Law, and to other graduate students who indicate a special interest in the topic. Students will work in teams from diverse academic disciplines. To assure an appropriate balance of team members, enrollment is subject to application and approval. Students will learn how to evaluate geologic information made available in a bid round package, analyze the fiscal terms offered by the host government as well as the general economics of the project, analyze the legal regime, determine and quantify the risks associated with an investment, and propose a full cycle CCS pilot project to the selected government. Each team will present an oral report and prepare a written report to the Longhorn Petroleum Corp. Board of Directors, consisting of faculty members and guest board members. Both the shorter oral and longer written reports will evaluate risks and designs of the projects, propose a competitive bid, including an exploration plan and a preliminary plan explaining the pilot CCS project, projecting costs, risk analysis, and proposing government incentives to commercialize CCS.

This is a course about the ideas, historical developments, and places that shaped American natural resource law and policy. We will read excerpts written by the philosophers that influenced the Founding Fathers, as well as writings by influential Native Americans. We will read about the circumstances that led to the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the repercussions of the removal process. Through a review of legal cases, regulations, and treatises, and historical events such as the Gold Rush of 1848, completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, and the Homestead Act of 1862, we will examine the historical and legal framework that underlies public lands policy and the extent to which the framework facilitates or impedes the policy changes needed to address modern challenges, such as climate change and the extreme polarization of the American electorate and policymakers. 

In this course you will learn, from organizational meeting through opening trades on the stock exchange, the roles of the company, investment banks and law firms as well as the SEC process, documentation and securities laws involved in completing Initial Public Offerings (“IPOs”). The class will follow the actual SEC filings and IPO documents for New Fortress Energy (NASDAQ: NFE) and Sunnova Energy International (NASDAQ: NOVA), both leading energy transition IPOs completed in 2019.  Both companies remain publicly listed and are often in the news. In addition to NFE and NOVA, the course will include drafting assignments for the hypothetical initial public offering of “LUMI” a transition energy IPO featured in Season 3 of the Max series Industry with Kit Harrington in the role of LUMI’s Chief Executive Officer, Sir Henry Mack.

For new attorneys concentrating on transactional work, IPO assignments are one of the best sources of training for capital markets, private equity, and M&A practices – IPOs serve as a “Rosetta Stone” for the practical application of federal securities laws, providing a crash course into a broad range of disclosure requirements applicable to all publicly traded companies. Private equity firms see IPOs as one of two basic paths for realizing returns for their investors. Public M&A filings are likewise fueled by these disclosure rules and related concepts. Finally, you will also gain insight to the financial importance of IPOs and public company practice to law firm economics.

This course will survey the fundamentals of the three main federal fields of intellectual property law: copyright, patent, and trademark law. Time permitting, we will also discuss some other subfields, such as trade secret law and publicity rights. In addition to the legal doctrines, the course will examine economic as well as other philosophical justifications in order to allow a better grasp of the current law and possibilities for its reform. Although new technology is not the main focus of the course, the class will examine some of the more important intellectual property issues raised by recent technological developments, especially in the digital and internet environments.

In the global economy of the 21st century, arbitration is the dispute resolution procedure of choice for many international business transactions. This course teaches the principles of effective client representation in international arbitration. The course will employ a real world dispute in which the students will become counsel from initial consultation with the client to litigating the case. The semester will focus on developing the practical skills needed to represent your client in an international arbitration. The practical exercises–including writing a claimant’s and respondent’s brief, and presentations of oral arguments will all be centered around the same hypothetical, but quite detailed and real, international contractual dispute. Grading will be based on class participation, writing assignments and presentations of oral arguments. There is no mid-term or final exam. The final 6 weeks of classes will be participating in a mock arbitration. This class will meet once a week for two and a half hours (there will be no class on 3 weeks of the semester). Enrollment has been limited to a maximum of 12 students. There are no course prerequisites.

The course will examine the development and current state of International Criminal Law. Among other topics, it will explore the history of international criminal justice from the aftermath of World War II to the recent establishment of the International Criminal Court, the “core crimes” of international criminal law, theories of criminal liability, and available defenses. It will also investigate a number of other topical issues in international criminal law, including the crime of international terrorism, U.S. policy towards the International Criminal Court, and dilemmas of transitional justice.

Assets of foreign investors in host countries are vulnerable to actions by the host government. These acts have triggered the recent rise in investor-state arbitration with tens of billions of dollars in claims against host governments at stake. Until relatively recently, claims were brought under direct contracts or arrangements with States. Today, the majority of these claims arise within a network of treaties that protect investors against the political risk of improper actions by host governments. This network includes multilateral treaties trade and investment treaties like the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the Energy Charter Treaty, over 2,700 bilateral investment treaties (“BITs”), and the Washington (or ICSID) Convention. The treaties protect against expropriation, unfair treatment, and discrimination. Procedural protections include arbitration against the State itself, outside the host country. Most recently, the Argentine economic crisis of 2001-2001 led to claims based on the government’s actions in response. Beyond economic crises, host governments will sometimes seek to change the terms of the foreign investor’s deal when commodity prices change. This has occurred in recent years with special frequency in the energy sectors. Bolivia announced nationalizations of foreigners’ oil and gas interests there. Venezuela has taken over foreign companies’ oil and gas projects as well as foreign-owned banks. Ecuador took similar actions against foreign investors. Indeed, Argentina made world headlines this year in expropriating the interest of a Spanish company, after significant unconventional oil and gas was discovered in that country. In short, the front page of any international newspaper daily recounts such acts and political changes that may presage such moves. Investor-state arbitration has had an obvious impact on foreign governments. As governments contemplate policies, they are concerned because they can now be sued, directly, by foreign investors. Awards are paid from the national treasury. Many states have begun to question the wisdom of the entire investment protection scheme as it is currently configured, and they have begun to curtail their commitments in investment-protection treaties. The course will therefore address the inevitable political, economic, and policy questions raised by this significant cession of sovereignty to private actors. The course will introduce students to investor-state arbitration. With a brief introduction of cases that arise from contracts, the course will then turn to the network of treaty protection and its practical implementation. Students will be taken through the identical arbitration process as that experienced by investors in some of the most important cases in recent years. Core materials for this course include the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and arbitral awards involving claims against foreign governments. To provide the business background of energy deals, guest speakers from major international companies will clarify the real stakes of this emerging area of international arbitration. Assessment will be based on class participation and a final exam.

Course content and description: International Petroleum Transactions considers the legal issues and transactions relating to the exploration, production, and marketing of petroleum—the most important commodity traded worldwide and hence the most politically charged. Coverage includes how countries establish and allocate sovereignty over petroleum, how countries settle competing claims to oil and gas reserves, how host governments or state-owned oil companies contract with private companies to explore and develop oil and gas resources, how companies contract with each other to share risk, how companies contract with drilling contractors and services providers; how petroleum is marketed; and how disputes are resolved. The course offers a unique mix of both public and international private law.

Professor's goals: Help students develop better analytical skills--especially the ability to critically evaluate contracts and host government law. Help students gain a basic understanding of how crude oil and gas are exploited and marketed worldwide. Help students learn about the unique aspects of acquiring valid exploration and development rights in a foreign country, about pursuing those rights, and the legal ramifications of, and risks associated with, an upstream petroleum investment in a foreign country.

Prerequisites, co-requisites, and sequencing: None.

Course requirements: Regular class attendance, class preparation, and participation (including thoughtful responses to questions posed).

Materials: Anderson, Weaver et al., International Petroleum Transactions (RMMLF [FNREL] 2020). Additiona materials will be posted on Canvas.

This course examines the U.S. income tax laws and policies relating to the taxation of foreign persons' investment or business activities in the United States ("inbound") and U.S. persons' direct or indirect investment or business activities in other countries ("outbound"). After an introductory overview, it addresses the taxation of inbound activities, covering, principally, the topics of residence, the source of income and deductions, the taxation of investment activities (including portfolio investment and real estate investment), and the taxation of U.S. business activities of foreign persons. The subsequent consideration of the taxation of outbound activities concentrates primarily on the foreign tax credit system, the 100% deduction for certain foreign-source dividends received by a U.S. corporation from a foreign corporation, and the various anti-deferral regimes (principally the rules for Subpart F income and global intangible low-taxed income ("GILTI")) that apply to certain U.S. shareholders of foreign corporations. Throughout, the course examines the relevant U.S. domestic law and treaty provisions. Because class enrollment is limited to 14 students, the Law School's grading curve will not apply (except that A+ grades are limited to no more than 6% of the students in the course, rounded up to the next whole number, meaning that only 1 A+ is allowed in the course). 

Prerequisite: Federal Income Tax

Required Textbooks:

(1) Robert J. Peroni, Karen Brown & J. Clifton Fleming, Jr., Taxation of International Transactions: Materials, Text, and Problems (5th ed. 2021) 

(2) International Income Taxation—Code & Regulations—Selected Sections, Robert J. Peroni, Coordinating Editor (Wolters Kluwer/CCH, 2024-2025 edition)

Recommended Textbooks (Optional):

(1)  Mindy Herzfeld, International Taxation in a Nutshell (West Academic, 13th edition, 2023)

(2) Joseph Isenbergh & Bret Wells, International Taxation (West Academic/Foundation Press, 2022 edition) (Concepts and Insights Series)

Dive into the fascinating world where technology, law, and policy intersect! This introductory course takes a deep look at the policies, laws, and regulations shaping two of the most influential and controversial sectors in the U.S. — the Internet and telecommunications. We’ll explore the full spectrum of communication technologies, from wireline and wireless (like 5G), to cable, satellite, video, broadband, and the Internet itself. You’ll discover how these cutting-edge platforms are converging, creating new challenges and opportunities for the legal and regulatory landscape.

We begin with a historical overview, unpacking pivotal regulations like Universal Service, which helped shape the telecommunications industry. From there, we’ll tackle antitrust issues, the First Amendment, and how legal battles of the past inform today's hot-button debates on Net Neutrality, Privacy, and rural broadband. You’ll delve into landmark legislation such as the Communications Act of 1934 and the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and explore critical concepts like common carriage, mergers and acquisitions, "public interest" standard, Chevron deference developments, and spectrum policy.

But this course isn’t just about the past. We’ll also engage with current and emerging topics that are transforming the way we communicate and regulate. From technological convergence to the power of social media we’ll discuss how the legal system is (or isn’t) keeping pace with innovation. Expect thought-provoking discussions on “permissionless innovation,” Section 230, and whether new laws are needed to address algorithms, artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

This course will not only introduce you to the key legal frameworks that shape the digital and telecommunications landscape but also encourage you to think critically about the technologies you use every day, from smartphones to the Internet of Things. Who knows — it may even spark an interest in a career within government, private practice, or industry, where you could shape the future of these dynamic sectors.

Students will arrange their work schedules with their supervisor. They are expected to work about 10 hours per week per semester.

Exams:        None

Registration Information:

This course is restricted to upper class students only. Federal Public Defender Internship – APPLICATION REQUIRED: https://law.utexas.edu/internships/federal-public-defender-internship/course-information/

To apply, please email a copy of your cover letter, resume and transcript (unofficial is fine) to Prof. Susan Klein at sklein@law.utexas.edu and to Assistant Federal Public Defender Horatio Aldredge at horatio_aldredge@fd.org. Students interested in this internship can obtain additional information by stopping by Prof. Klein’s office at TNH 3.207 (her office hours are Wed. 4:00 – 5:30 pm), or calling or texting her at (512) 203-2257. They may also call Mr. Aldredge at (512) 916-5025.

** This course meets the Professional Skills requirement for graduation.

** Course Description:

This internship program offers students the opportunity to apply for “for-credit” internship positions with the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Western District of Texas, Austin Branch. Students will assist in the defense of federal criminal cases under the supervision of Mr. Aldredge and other assistants. Information on the Federal Public Defender Office is available at: http://txwd.fd.org/austin. The office is located downtown at 504 Lavaca St., Suite 960, Austin, TX 78701. The internship requires a 10 hour per week commitment, but not all those hours need to be completed at the Fed. Public Defender Office. Students should expect to spend at least one day per week at the office or in federal court.

Students earn 2 credits (pass/fail) for the fall semester and, if they enroll in the spring, they earn another 2 credits (pass/fail) for spring semester. Students are encouraged to commit to a full academic year of internship study, but one semester applications will also be reviewed. This internship program is not available during either summer session.

Students may wish to enroll in Adv. Fed. Crim. Prosecution and Defense seminar, co-taught by Prof. Klein and Aleza Remis. They might also consider enrolling in Fed. Crim. Law, taught in the spring by Prof. Klein and in the fall by Judge Robert Pitman. Applicants may also benefit from having completed one or both Criminal Procedure courses, Evidence, any upper-level criminal justice course, and any internship or clinical program in the criminal justice field. None of those courses are required.

The application deadline for the next academic year is Mon., March 25th, 2024. Interviews are conducted at the Career Services Office or via Zoom. Though students will know whether or not they are admitted before fall registration, the unique registration number for the fall 2024 internship will not be available until April 15, 2025.

The Judicial Internship Program lasts for one semester and includes a weekly class and a concurrent internship in an approved court placement. Students research complex legal questions and draft memoranda, opinions and orders under the supervision of judges and their staff attorneys and law clerks. Students apply and extend their substantive legal knowledge and further develop their analytical, research, writing, and oral communication skills. Students also observe court proceedings and learn about court procedure and legal advocacy.

A fall or spring internship must extend over a period of at least 10 weeks between the first and last class day of the semester. Students work at the internship placement for at least 150 hours. Students who also enroll in the 1 credit Judicial Internship Program Supplement complete an additional 50 hours of work at the internship placement, for a total of at least 200 hours. Within these parameters, each intern arranges a mutually agreeable work schedule with the court. The internship must involve the student and the supervising attorney working in person; regular remote work is not permitted. Students and supervisors are expected to work together at their placement offices.

The weekly class covers a variety of topics relevant to the judicial process and working at a court, such as goal setting and reflection, judicial ethics, writing and communicating in chambers, judicial decision-making, statutory construction, and the organization and operation of the courts. Course requirements include reading assignments, class presentations, court observations, short reflective writing assignments, self-assessments, and timesheets. There will be a course packet available for purchase at the start of the semester. In addition to class meetings, students meet individually with the instructor several times during the internship to discuss their goals and review their progress.

Application Requirements: An application for approval to register is required. A student may not register until the instructor has approved the application. Before submitting an application to the instructor, a student must first apply for and obtain a judicial internship with an approved court in Austin. The student must be assigned to a specific judge on the court who agrees to participate in the Texas Law program. Approved courts include the Texas Supreme Court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the Texas Third Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court (including the active and senior district court judges and the magistrate judges), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings, and the Travis County Probate Court. Many of these courts post internship openings on the Career Services Office's Job Bank on Symplicity. Others post information about internships on the court's website. Apply as soon as possible. Most courts accept applications and select interns for the fall semester during the prior spring semester, some as early as March. A few make their selections closer to the start of the semester. A student who wishes to intern for academic credit must obtain the internship and apply to the instructor in time to attend the first class meeting. For the application for approval to register and more information about the Judicial Internship Program, go to https://law.utexas.edu/internships/judicial-internship/.

This program is open to students who have completed the first two semesters of law school. Interns who receive academic credit may not be compensated. Students may enroll only once in a judicial internship for academic credit.

The Judicial Internship Program lasts for one semester and includes a weekly class and a concurrent internship in an approved court placement. Students research complex legal questions and draft memoranda, opinions and orders under the supervision of judges and their staff attorneys and law clerks. Students apply and extend their substantive legal knowledge and further develop their analytical, research, writing, and oral communication skills. Students also observe court proceedings and learn about court procedure and legal advocacy.

A fall or spring internship must extend over a period of at least 10 weeks between the first and last class day of the semester. Students work at the internship placement for at least 150 hours. Students who also enroll in the 1 credit Judicial Internship Program Supplement complete an additional 50 hours of work at the internship placement, for a total of at least 200 hours. Within these parameters, each intern arranges a mutually agreeable work schedule with the court. The internship must involve the student and the supervising attorney working in person; regular remote work is not permitted. Students and supervisors are expected to work together at their placement offices.

The weekly class covers a variety of topics relevant to the judicial process and working at a court, such as goal setting and reflection, judicial ethics, writing and communicating in chambers, judicial decision-making, statutory construction, and the organization and operation of the courts. Course requirements include reading assignments, class presentations, court observations, short reflective writing assignments, self-assessments, and timesheets. There will be a course packet available for purchase at the start of the semester. In addition to class meetings, students meet individually with the instructor several times during the internship to discuss their goals and review their progress.

Application Requirements: An application for approval to register is required. A student may not register until the instructor has approved the application. Before submitting an application to the instructor, a student must first apply for and obtain a judicial internship with an approved court in Austin. The student must be assigned to a specific judge on the court who agrees to participate in the Texas Law program. Approved courts include the Texas Supreme Court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the Texas Third Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court (including the active and senior district court judges and the magistrate judges), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings, and the Travis County Probate Court. Many of these courts post internship openings on the Career Services Office's Job Bank on Symplicity. Others post information about internships on the court's website. Apply as soon as possible. Most courts accept applications and select interns for the fall semester during the prior spring semester, some as early as March. A few make their selections closer to the start of the semester. A student who wishes to intern for academic credit must obtain the internship and apply to the instructor in time to attend the first class meeting. For the application for approval to register and more information about the Judicial Internship Program, go to https://law.utexas.edu/internships/judicial-internship/.

This program is open to students who have completed the first two semesters of law school. Interns who receive academic credit may not be compensated. Students may enroll only once in a judicial internship for academic credit.

For more information about the Legislative Internship Program, see: https://law.utexas.edu/internships/legislative-internship/

The law school's proximity to the Texas Capitol affords a unique opportunity for students to gain experience working with legislative lawyers practicing in a number of settings where they participate in the governing process at the state level. Students will learn how legislatures respond to executive activity and judicial decisions, how executives control policy agendas and administrative agencies, and how judges read and interpret governing instruments. Texas has the second-largest population in the United States and its economy would rank 10th in the world if it were an independent country. The Legislative Internship provides students with direct involvement, from a number of institutional perspectives, as state government addresses the important public policy issues of the day.

Students engage in law-related work under the supervision of a legislative lawyer with at least two years’ experience. Students participate in a weekly seminar and conduct between 10-15 hours/week of fieldwork (at least 150 hours over the semester) at an approved placement with a state legislator (including legislative leaders such as the Speaker of the House or the Lieutenant Governor), a legislative committee, a legislative officer (such as the House or Senate Parliamentarian), or a legislative service agency (such as the Texas Legislative Council, the Legislative Budget Board, the Sunset Advisory Commission, or the State Auditor's Office). Course requirements also include academic readings, in-class exercises, and guest speakers; individual meetings with the instructor are scheduled as necessary during the semester. Students arrange a mutually convenient work schedule with their supervising lawyer.

This course will meet in person on Fridays but some class meetings may be held online via Zoom. This class may also meet at the Texas Capitol after the first class meeting, rather than the law school, to accommodate student work schedules and the legislative calendar.

Applying: An application (available on the program website) and instructor approval of both the placement and the supervisor are required prior to registration. Students may pursue their own placements and are strongly encouraged to contact Professor Brady to discuss possible placements.

APPLICATION REQUIRED. Instructors: Robert Kepple and Erik Nielsen. The objective of this course is to educate students on the law and legal issues commonly encountered in criminal prosecution, and to familiarize the students with the unique duties and responsibilities of a criminal prosecutor not simply as an advocate, but as a minister of justice.

The course consists of a 2-credit classroom component and a 3-credit internship program in the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. All credits are pass/fail. The course is open to students who have completed the first two semesters of law school, but enrollment is limited and preference is given to students who have completed 43 credit hours or who are in their second semester of their second year of law school, and who would be eligible to appear in court for the State under the supervision of a licensed prosecutor. It is recommended that students have completed Evidence prior to this internship.

The classroom component of the course will require students to study substantive and procedural law and issues commonly-encountered by criminal prosecutors, covering topics such as charging instruments, discovery, search and seizure, jury selection, public integrity prosecution, trial tactics, evidence, post-conviction DNA, and oral advocacy. Students will also spend significant time discussing the unique ethical responsibilities and duties of a public prosecutor, with focus on the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct and the National Prosecution Standards.

Each student will also be assigned to a trial court prosecution team or to the Special Victims Unit in the District Attorney's office and will be supervised by prosecutors assigned to the court and the Unit. Students can expect to gain active experience in all aspects of the day-to-day functions of the public prosecutor, including the charging decision, pleading, discovery, motions to suppress evidence, motions to revoke probation, and the trial of the case. Commensurate with experience and opportunity, students may have the opportunity to actively participate in the courtroom proceedings.

Students are required to fill out applications for admission to the course and will consult with the instructors in advance regarding their court placement. Students must complete 150 hours of placement work for their internship. Each student will arrange a mutually convenient work schedule with their supervising attorney. Students may not receive compensation for their internship.

This public service internship course has two components: (1) a weekly class, and (2) an internship with a government or nonprofit organization that involves delivering legal services and performing other law-related tasks under the supervision of an experienced lawyer employed by the organization. Students engage in legal work in public service offices, gaining hands-on experience that they reflect upon and analyze in a weekly class. Assignments address topics relevant to the legal profession and professional identity, including ethics, advocacy and communication skills, and professional self-development.

In their internships, students will develop lawyering skills important to their current stage of professional development. Placement supervisors are experienced attorneys who broadly expose students to the activities of their offices, oversee varied and demanding assignments, and provide regular feedback on student performance. Students are required to work at least 150 hours at their internships during the semester, and students may not receive financial compensation for their internship work. The internship must involve the student and the supervising attorney working in person; regular remote work is not permitted. Students and supervisors are expected to work together at their placement offices.

The classroom component of the course is designed to enhance the educational experience of students by giving them the opportunity to reflect on their internship and to understand the broader landscape in which their internship is situated. Through the seminar, students will deepen their understanding of public service lawyering, ethical issues that confront public sector lawyers, and the role of lawyers in increasing access to justice.

Application Requirements: Students must submit an application for permission to register for the course. The course is open to students who have completed the first two semesters of law school. Before submitting an application to the instructor, a student must first arrange an in-person government or nonprofit internship based in the Austin area. The instructor is available to consult with students about possible placements, and some organizations post opportunities on Symplicity. Each placement and supervising attorney must be approved by the instructor prior to registration. A student who wishes to intern for academic credit must obtain the internship and apply to the instructor before the first class meeting.

Students who have previously received credit through any of the other internship courses (nonprofit, legislative, judicial, etc.) are eligible to enroll in this course. Credits: 4 (graded pass/fail)

No scheduled meeting time.

Internship – APPLICATION REQUIRED. Contact the instructor for information about applying. Students must register for both Semester in Practice internship courses (one for 8 credits and one for 2 credits – for a total of 10 credits). Students must intern in-person at their field placements for this course, no remote internships will be approved.

Students in this clinical internship immerse themselves in practice, developing their professional skills and studying the role of lawyers and legal institutions. The course addresses topics relevant to public service lawyering in varied settings, including professionalism, ethics, advocacy, access to justice, the legal profession, and legal institutions. 

For placements in the U.S., students intern have the opportunity to intern full-time in government, nonprofit and legislative offices located outside of the Austin area.

For placements outside the U.S., students have the opportunity to intern full-time with specialized courts, international institutions, and nongovernmental organizations. 

Placement supervisors are experienced attorneys who expose students to the legal activities of their offices, oversee varied and demanding assignments, and provide regular feedback on student performance. Each student consults with the instructor to arrange his or her field placement, and each placement and supervisor must be approved by the instructor prior to registration. An international placement may be arranged in consultation with the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice or arranged independently

Students are required to intern for 500 hours and may not receive a salary for their internship work, although they may receive a modest stipend to offset unusual living or travel expenses. Students are expected to complete a number of written assignments and maintain close contact with the instructor during the internship.

Interested students should review the course website (https://law.utexas.edu/internships/application-information//) and then email the instructor (Eden Harrington, eharrington@law.utexas.edu) to arrange a time to discuss the course.

No scheduled meeting time.

Internship – APPLICATION REQUIRED. Contact the instructor for information about applying. Students must register for both Semester in Practice internship courses (one for 8 credits and one for 2 credits – for a total of 10 credits). Students must intern in-person at their field placements for this course, no remote internships will be approved.

Students in this clinical internship immerse themselves in practice, developing their professional skills and studying the role of lawyers and legal institutions. The course addresses topics relevant to public service lawyering in varied settings, including professionalism, ethics, advocacy, access to justice, the legal profession, and legal institutions. 

For placements in the U.S., students intern have the opportunity to intern full-time in government, nonprofit and legislative offices located outside of the Austin area.

For placements outside the U.S., students have the opportunity to intern full-time with specialized courts, international institutions, and nongovernmental organizations. 

Placement supervisors are experienced attorneys who expose students to the legal activities of their offices, oversee varied and demanding assignments, and provide regular feedback on student performance. Each student consults with the instructor to arrange his or her field placement, and each placement and supervisor must be approved by the instructor prior to registration. An international placement may be arranged in consultation with the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice or arranged independently

Students are required to intern for 500 hours and may not receive a salary for their internship work, although they may receive a modest stipend to offset unusual living or travel expenses. Students are expected to complete a number of written assignments and maintain close contact with the instructor during the internship.

Interested students should review the course website (https://law.utexas.edu/internships/application-information//) and then email the instructor (Eden Harrington, eharrington@law.utexas.edu) to arrange a time to discuss the course.

Instructors: Captain Andrew Lane and Prof. Susan R. Klein

No class meeting information is available for this class. Students will arrange their work schedules with their supervisors. They are expected to work about 10 hours per week during the fall 2024 and/or spring 2025 semesters.

Exams:            None

Registration Information:

This course is restricted to upper class students only. U.S. Army Externship – APPLICATION REQUIRED: https://law.utexas.edu/internships/u-s-army-internship/u-s-army-internship-course-information/

To apply, please e-mail a copy of your cover letter, resume and transcript (unofficial is fine) to Prof. Klein at sklein@law.utexas.edu and Captain Andrew Lane at andrew.d.lane7.mil@army.mil.  Students interested in the externship are encouraged to stop by Prof. Klein’s office at TNH 3.207 (her office hours are Wed. from 4:00 to 5:30 pm). You may call or text her at (512) 203-2257, or send her an e-mail at the above address. Alternatively, you may call Captain Lane at (770) 597-6542, or send him an email at the above address. You can reach the Fort Hood Trial Defense office at (254) 287-0476.

** This course meets the Professional Skills requirement for graduation. **

Course Description:

This externship program offers students the opportunity to apply for “for-credit” externship positions with the United States Army Trial Defense Service, Fort Hood Field Office. This course offers students a two-credit (pass/fail) externship to be completed over the fall 2024 semester and/or a two-credit (pass/fail) externship to be completed over the spring 2025 semester. While this externship program is not available during either summer session, students are welcome to apply for summer positions directly with that office. Students participating in this program must commit to both long semesters.

Students will assist defense counsels and paralegals in administrative separations and criminal proceedings pursuant to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Fort Hood Legal office is the largest and busiest office in the Army. Attorneys there have federal felony jury trials monthly, similar to those seen in a Federal District Court but often with crimes and facts unique to the military. Army JAG officers regularly change jobs, working as prosecutors, magistrate judges, defense attorneys, national security attorneys, and trial/appellate judges. This creates a level of collegiality and rapport not seen in criminal justice practice elsewhere.

Applicants may benefit from having completed or being enrolled in an upper-level criminal law course such as Adv. Fed. Crim. Prosecution & Defense, Federal Criminal Law, National Security Law, Cybersecurity Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, or Computer Law. None of those courses are required.

The externship component requires a commitment to work 10 hours per week, though not all hours must be completed at the office. Students should expect to spend one day per week at Fort Hood Trial Defense Service, 330 761st Tank Battalion Ave, Fort Hood, Tx 76544, working in the office or in court. Ft. Hood is located about halfway between Austin and Waco, a bit over an hour’s drive from the law school or about 50 minutes from Georgetown.

The application deadline for the next academic year is Monday, March 25, 2024. Interviews are conducted at the Career Services Office or over Zoom. Though students will know whether or not they are admitted before fall registration, the unique registration number for the fall 2024 internship will not be available until April 15, 2024.

Additional information about the U.S. Army Trial Defense Service, is available at: Trial Defense Service Public (army.mil).

No class meeting information is available for this class. Students will arrange their work schedules with their supervisors. They are expected to work about 10 hours per week during the fall 2024 and spring 2025 semesters.

Exams:            None

Registration Information:

This course is restricted to upper class students only. U.S. Attorney Internship – APPLICATION REQUIRED. Application and/or instructions on how to apply for this internship can be accessed on the web: https://law.utexas.edu/internships/u-s-attorney-internship/course-information/

To apply, please e-mail a copy of your cover letter, resume and transcript (unofficial is fine) to Professor Klein and AUSA Daniel M. Castillo. Please also send copies of the above to usatxw.staffing@usdoj.gov. Students interested in the internship are encouraged stop by Prof. Klein’s office at TNH 3.207 (her office hours Wed. from 4:00 to 5:30 pm). You may call or text her at (512) 203-2257, or send her an e-mail at sklein@law.utexas.edu. Alternatively, you may call Daniel Castillo at (512) 916-5858, or send him an e-mail.

** This course meets the Professional Skills requirement for graduation. **

Course Description:

This internship program offers students the opportunity to apply for “for-credit” internship positions with the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. This course offers students a two-credit internship to be completed over the fall 2024 semester and a two-credit internship to be completed over the spring 2025 semester, resulting in a total of 4 credits (pass/fail) for the academic year. This internship program is not available during either summer session. Students are required to commit to a full academic year.

Students may wish to enroll in the fall three-unit Adv. Fed. Crim. Prosecution & Defense seminar, co-taught by Prof. Klein and Aleza Remis. Students may also be interested in the three-unit Federal Criminal Law course taught by Prof. Klein in the spring and the seminar taught by Judge Robert Pitman. Applicants may benefit from having completed either Criminal Procedure course, Evidence, any upper-level criminal law course, and any internship or clinic in the criminal justice field. None of those courses are required.

The internship component requires a commitment to work 10 hours per week for each semester, though not all hours must be completed at the office. The U.S. Attorney's Office is downtown at 903 San Jacinto Blvd., Suite 334, Austin, Texas, 78701. Students will assist in the prosecution of federal criminal cases under the supervision Daniel M. Castillo and other Assistant U.S. Attorneys. Students should expect to spend at least one day per week at the office or in federal court.  Students must commit to both semesters.

The application deadline for the next academic year is Monday, March 25, 2024. Interviews are conducted at the Career Services Office or over Zoom. Though students will know whether or not they are admitted before fall registration, the unique registration number for the fall 2023 internship will not be available until April 15, 2024.

Additional information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office is available at: www.usdoj.gov/usao/txwd/.

Students may also review https://www.justice.gov/legal-careers/job/law-student-volunteer-academic-year-2024-2025.

This course introduces you how to use economic reasoning to analyze legal issues. The course will focus on the common law areas of property, contracts, and tort as well as the legal process and criminal law. Economic analysis of law analyzes legal rules with one main question in mind: how will people and firms respond to a given legal rule? That is, rather than look at the inherent "fairness" or "justness" of a legal rule, law and economics focuses on the incentives that a legal rule creates. The normative aspect of law and economics then asks how legal rules should be structured to create the most desirable incentives.

Prerequisite: Legal Analysis and Communication

This course is restricted to upper division students who have completed the first year, two semester, Legal Analysis and Communication course or who otherwise obtain the permission of the instructors. LLM and Exchange Students interested in taking the course should first contact the instructors to discuss whether their prior coursework includes instruction similar to a first year, two semester, Legal Analysis and Communication course. 

This one credit, pass-fail, seven week course will solidify and build upon legal research skills acquired during the first year of law school. It will focus on the identification and evaluation of relevant primary and secondary sources and efficient information retrieval. Students will learn how to design a research strategy that effectively integrates using online tools with an underlying understanding of traditional print resources.  Students who successfully complete this course will gain a thorough understanding of the use of legal information and research resources in diverse contexts. Emphasis will be placed on U.S. federal sources, but Texas materials will be referenced in the course, and will serve as a model for research in the legal materials of other states. 

Students will be required to complete both in- and out-of-class exercises throughout the course, but there is no final examination.

This one credit, pass-fail course focuses on research resources used in business and commercial practice. The emphasis of the course is on identifying sources and efficiently undertaking corporate, securities, and general business and commercial law research. It is not a class on the substantive aspects of corporate and securities law except as those aspects relate to the finding and interpretation of legal materials. Students will be be evaluated on take-home and in-class research assignments.

This seven-week course will focus on the resources and methodology used in performing legal research in Texas. Through a series of lectures and assignments, students will become familiar with the various types of legal research, including statutory law, case law, administrative regulations, and secondary practice materials. The course is offered on a Pass/Fail basis. Students are required to complete in-class and out-of-class exercises throughout the course, but there is no final exam.

This course aims to familiarize students with Spanish-language legal concepts and terminology and to better prepare them for the use of Spanish in the practice of law. It is designed for students who are proficient in Spanish, but have limited exposure to its use in legal settings. The course will include lectures, readings, and written exercises, primarily in Spanish. The course size is limited to allow students ample opportunities to participate in classroom discussions and exercises, with an eye toward being comfortable communicating with clients or third parties in professional settings. The course will cover general concepts relating to the civil law tradition, as well as specific areas of law, including employment law, immigration law, civil procedure, M&A, and others.

To be added to the waitlist (after all seats are full), please email the instructors at: chris.weimer@gmail.com and ctrevino@jw.com

There is more to legal writing than the appellate brief. Legal Writing, Adv: Litigation introduces the types of documents used in civil litigation, such as the complaint and answer, discovery requests and objections, and jury instructions. All students will be required to write several litigation documents, evaluate documents written by others, and lead class discussions.

The course focuses on the structure and style of contracts and agreements with a focus on modern drafting conventions. Students will practice revising and drafting various kinds of transactional documents.

The course focuses on the structure and style of contracts and agreements with a focus on modern drafting conventions. Students will practice revising and drafting various kinds of transactional documents.

Course Description Writing for Practice aka Yes, you can practice law in simple American English Among the major problems encountered by young lawyers as they enter practice is the transition from writing like a student to writing like a lawyer. This course is designed to make that transition easier by working on the differences between the two styles. This is not a litigation course. We will not be writing briefs, motions, etc. and very little research will be required. Some case reading and analysis will be required but you won’t have to find the cases; I’ll tell you which they are. My goal is to show you how to write for clients, which is very different from writing for teachers or professors. Accordingly, most of your work product will be client communication in one form or another. During the semester, we’ll work on a simple editing exercise, attempting to convert a poorly written letter to something that a client can understand and apply. We’ll look at a simple escrow agreement in connection with a real estate sale and explain to our client what’s wrong with it, and then move into a complicated business transaction involving taking a public company private and hiring its CEO as CEO of the private company. That involves a “how to” letter to the client, a term sheet for the CEO’s agreement and eventually a draft of the employment agreement with a memo to the client describing the agreement’s open questions and some of the choices that the client has to make to finalize the agreement. The emphasis throughout the course is not on preparing business documents – there are other courses for that – it’s on how to explain those documents to the client in a way that is as clear, concise and simple as can be accomplished.

Course Description Writing for Practice aka Yes, you can practice law in simple American English Among the major problems encountered by young lawyers as they enter practice is the transition from writing like a student to writing like a lawyer. This course is designed to make that transition easier by working on the differences between the two styles. This is not a litigation course. We will not be writing briefs, motions, etc. and very little research will be required. Some case reading and analysis will be required but you won’t have to find the cases; I’ll tell you which they are. My goal is to show you how to write for clients, which is very different from writing for teachers or professors. Accordingly, most of your work product will be client communication in one form or another. During the semester, we’ll work on a simple editing exercise, attempting to convert a poorly written letter to something that a client can understand and apply. We’ll look at a simple escrow agreement in connection with a real estate sale and explain to our client what’s wrong with it, and then move into a complicated business transaction involving taking a public company private and hiring its CEO as CEO of the private company. That involves a “how to” letter to the client, a term sheet for the CEO’s agreement and eventually a draft of the employment agreement with a memo to the client describing the agreement’s open questions and some of the choices that the client has to make to finalize the agreement. The emphasis throughout the course is not on preparing business documents – there are other courses for that – it’s on how to explain those documents to the client in a way that is as clear, concise and simple as can be accomplished.

This course is a focused examination of mediation processes. We will take the topics from the Alternative Dispute Resolution course and extend our understanding with practical exercises. The student should leave this course better equipped to represent clients at mediation. This is a skills-oriented course that requires active participation, with the goal of immersing you in the developing realities of mediation.

This course is a focused examination of mediation processes. We will take the topics from the Alternative Dispute Resolution course and extend our understanding with practical exercises. The student should leave this course better equipped to represent clients at mediation. This is a skills-oriented course that requires active participation, with the goal of immersing you in the developing realities of mediation.

 This course is designed to give students an introduction to the real world experience of the dealmaking process, from the first contact between the parties to drafting and negotiating the documents that govern transformational corporate transactions. Over the course of the semester, we’ll break down the main agreements involved in a hypothetical deal with a view to developing a fundamental understanding of how those components interact with the overall business arrangement and deal dynamics. You will analyze and learn to understand how the key provisions of these transaction agreements are negotiated with a view to value maximization for the client and appropriate risk allocation among the parties to a deal. We will also discuss the less tangible aspects of dealmaking that take place outside the four corners of the transaction agreements but are no less important, including the economic and personal motivations of the various parties involved and the psychology and group dynamics of a deal process. As the deal world is an ever changing environment, we’ll look to bring current real world examples into the classroom. Students will engage in-class group practice assignments, including drafting (or “marking up”) transaction documents and preparing issues lists in the context of a prepared fact pattern. Subject matter experts from K&E will be presenting special topics, including financing strategies, navigating deal litigation and public disclosure issues.

Professional athletes have had a right of publicity – the right to profit from their name, image, and likeness – for decades.  Until recently, college athletes did not have this right, but recent court cases and state laws have changed this.  This course will analyze the new rights granted to college athletes, how the athletes can benefit from their name, image, and likeness, and how the new rules - including the portal - may change the landscape of college sports.

This course will provide an introduction and overview of the “new” and expanding use of the traditional tools of economic statecraft -- including sanctions, export controls, and investment reviews -- to protect and defend the national security of the United States against foreign adversaries.  Students will learn how the Treasury and Commerce Departments have joined forces with more traditional national security actors in the Intelligence Community like the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense to advance U.S. national security interests abroad and to isolate and undermine foreign threats.  Students will consider the impact of laws like the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Arms Export Control Act, the Export Controls Reform Act, and the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, as well as other regulations and authorities, and will be prepared to recognize and participate in the growing use of these tools in our post-September 11 world.

No textbook required; course will reference articles and cases.

For any student pursuing a transactional practice or needing to learn the knowledge and skills necessary for actually doing finance deals and working with credit agreements, this is the class for you. After taking this course, students will understand the fundamental legal principles of finance transactions as well as the practical know-how of being an associate on a deal team. This class is designed for students interested in transactional groups at large law firms but any student wanting to understand transactional work would benefit from this course. There are many contract law, property law, commercial law and secured credit concepts that every young finance transactional attorney needs to know when starting their practice, and this class will arm you with what you must know from case law, statutory and scholarly readings and lectures. But in addition, this course will go beyond the fundamental legal knowledge that most classes only provide by doing a deep-dive into the actual documents that finance lawyers are routinely tasked with preparing and negotiating. So that with this class, each student will be ready to excel in the start of their careers by already having experience with the documents they will be responsible for preparing and reviewing.

Negotiation is the pathway to agreement. Much of what lawyers do involves negotiation -- the structured process of communicating toward an agreement. This is an "audience participation," experiential learning course that blends law, social science, and ethics toward the development of practice skills. Topics covered will include both transaction and legal claim negotiations.  This class will immerse students in the reality of contemporary negotiations.

Much of what lawyers do on a day-to-day basis involves negotiation. This negotiations course will provide you with effective, negotiation skills that may benefit you throughout your legal career.  This is a “student-participation,” experiential learning course that blends law, social science, and ethics toward the development of practical negotiation skills in a small classroom environment.  Topics covered will include negotiation theory and literature regarding negotiation of both transactional-based and litigation-based problems. The class is structured to include both classroom presentation and classroom exercises that will be performed in small groups under the instruction of your professor.  You will leave this negotiations course with greater knowledge and understanding of dynamics involved in negotiations and provide you with the skillset to successfully navigate them.

Negotiation is the pathway to agreement. Much of what lawyers do involves negotiation -- the structured process of communicating toward an agreement. This is an "audience participation," experiential learning course that blends law, social science, and ethics toward the development of practice skills. Topics covered will include both transaction and legal claim negotiations.  This class will immerse students in the reality of contemporary negotiations.

Prerequisite: Law 254J, 354J, 454J, 554J, (Federal Income Taxation) 254N, or 354N (Federal Income Taxation A).

The course covers the taxation of partnerships, limited liability companies and S corporations, the most common forms of business organizations that involve a single level of tax. Most business entities with non-publicly traded interests take one of these forms; almost all such entities should take one of these forms. The rules on partnership tax also are increasingly relevant to a corporate and international practice as partnerships are used for corporate and international joint ventures and as vehicles for mergers and acquisitions. The course is essential for anyone who intends to practice in tax. It is useful for anyone who intends to practice in an area involving significant business planning.

This Patent Litigation course will cover major issues in a typical patent litigation from pre-suit evaluation through trial and appeal (time permitting).   Students will be divided into two roughly equal groups, one representing the plaintiff (and patent owner), the other will represent the defendant. Students will develop a patent litigation between two fictional companies. The phases of litigation covered will include: pre-suit analysis, complaint/answer, early motion practice, discovery, claim construction, expert reports, pretrial/trial, and appeal.  The course will also cover inter partes review and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.  We will also discuss mediation and settlement.

This course covers practical aspects of preparing and prosecuting patent applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and non-U.S. patent offices.  Hands-on experience will be obtained with analyzing invention disclosures, preparing claims, preparing patent applications, responding to restriction requirements, responding to office actions, filing appeal briefs, filing continuing applications, etc. 

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

This course covers persuasive legal writing and oral argument before an appellate panel.  All students will complete a series of assignments designed to help you learn to write an appellate brief.  All students will write a complete appellate brief and make two oral arguments.  The course also covers other practical legal skills.

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.  

Permission to enroll must be acquired prior to registration. Students must have a verified federal district clerkship. Before the registration period begins, email: clerk-admin@law.utexas.edu to request verification and departmental access to register online.

This course addresses the law of privacy and personal data protection under two dominant, but quite different, legal regimes. In this course, we will review privacy fundamentals – principles, risks, and harms - within the U.S. legal framework, including federal consumer, financial, and health privacy laws, and historical and emerging state laws. We will discuss and evaluate important aspects of the evolving U.S. legal framework and the EU GDPR (and other, recent European data laws), taking into account unique challenges posed by the evolution of digital data technology such as biometric data processing, breach response, cross-border data transfers, technological automony, and artificial intelligence.

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 week, 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 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 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. 

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, and intellectual property.

The Property law class examines how law protects claims to resources, in particular, personal property and real property.  Personal property includes tangible personal property, such as personal belongings, vehicles, etc. and intangible personal property includes copyrights and trademarks.  The law of property is a foundational subject in the law that provides a cornerstone for intellectual property, oil and gas, wind law, and natural resources, real estate, zoning, eminent domain, family law, and wills and estates. 

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.

This course provides a basic introduction to public international law. It will survey the basic principles of international law including: the sources of international law; the law and interpretation of treaties; the relationship between international and domestic law; and jurisdictional competencies. It will also examine a number of specific subjects including: the use of force; human rights; humanitarian law; international criminal law; and terrorism.

Real Estate Finance for Lawyers covers real estate secured credit transactions.  The course does not require any mathematical calculations.  Students with some knowledge or experience in the industry, such as those who have completed Law 385T (Introduction to Real Estate Law and Practice), will be well prepared for this course. Completion of or concurrent enrollment in Secured Credit (Law 380D) is helpful, but not required. The course will begin with an introduction to the real estate finance industry, including various types of loans, lenders, vocabulary and law. From there, we will cover basic versions of the most common documents used in real estate secured financings, and progress to state of the art documents for large/complex transactions. The course will cover the case and statutory law central to some of the most important provisions. The relative interests of borrowers, lenders and other parties, and possible topics for negotiation, will be discussed throughout the course. Students will find that while this course concentrates on real estate secured lending, it has broad practical application to most business transactions, regardless of whether the client is the Borrower or Lender. Course materials will be supplied by the Professor in PDF format.  

This seminar-style course offers students the opportunity to examine more closely one or more issues affecting reentry for individuals who have a criminal history. Designed for students with a particular interest in criminal justice policy, readings will come from a variety of sources, including case law, book chapters, policy reports, academic journals, and investigative accounts. Outside speakers will help ground classroom discussion in practice. Weekly attendance and active class participation, including introducing readings and formulating questions for speakers, is expected and will count toward the final grade. Areas of focus include barriers to employment and housing, the role of substance use and behavioral health challenges, recidivism and public safety, probation and parole practices, and criminal background checks . The course is open to LBJ graduate students.

Prerequisites: Students should possess a basic understanding of the criminal justice system and the role of reentry. Relevant experience could include enrollment in the Criminal Defense, Civil Rights, or Immigration Clinics, other coursework, or prior work or volunteer experience. Interested students must submit an email to the professor indicating their interest and relevant background, as well as a copy of their (unofficial) law school transcript. Contact the professor with any questions.

Note that this course has been retitled but remains substantively the same and students who have already taken Criminal Justice: Reentry will not be allowed to enroll.

Accelerating technological innovation is dramatically altering the financial services landscape.  By disintermediating and disrupting existing relationships, it is enabling the emergence of new business models, products and market 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 and potentially transformational technologies: the development of blockchain distributed ledger technologies, and advances in the application of artificial intelligence to financial services.  We will begin with administrative models of regulation and 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 consistent theme will be the challenges of developing appropriate regulatory responses to applications of rapidly evolving technologies, and, from the other perspective, that 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.      

In this 1 credit, seminar-styled class, we will explore the various legal approaches used to hold network industries accountable for providing public services, such as energy, telecommunications, and drinking water services. Some of these service providers are government-owned, and some are private companies (including public utilities). We tend to think of many of them as providers of essential or critically important services. After discussing some of the conceptual and theoretical writings on institutional challenges relating to the regulation of these powerful actors, we will explore a number of different areas of regulation, including the regulatory oversight of drinking water supplies, chemical manufacture, electric utilities, oil and gas, telecommunications, and e-commerce companies like Amazon.  The structure of the seminar and readings will be established by the professor, but the fifty-minute hourly discussions will be led by student teams that rotate on a weekly basis.  The final grade will be based on the quality of the student’s participation throughout the semester; the quality of the specific classes led by the student; five short blog posts on the weekly readings; and a ten-page paper (double-spaced). 

Economic theory has had a large impact on legal thinking. Behavioral Economics seeks to identify predictable patterns of behavior that do not fit into the rational-choice paradigm; its ultimate goal is to improve the predictive capacities of social science. This seminar will explore Behavioral research on framing effects, loss aversion, risk compensation, mental accounting, time-inconsistent preferences, self-serving biases, perceptions of fairness, and happiness. Several of these behavioral patterns can be used to suggest that, in certain situations, peoples' autonomous choices may not result in outcomes that are best for them even under their own theories of "best." Accordingly, we will also discuss potential policy responses and the appropriate limits of paternalism.

Recent scientific studies show that the world is on the brink of a sixth mass extinction, comparable to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs millions of years ago. But as disheartening as that conclusion is, the data also suggest that it’s not too late to avoid the extinction event by addressing the threats faced by animals and plants around the globe. This course explores law and policy around the broad themes of biodiversity, wildlife and habitat. We will examine a range of international and U.S. laws in place to conserve biodiversity and the gaps in protection that exist. We will focus on international conventions, statutes, including the Endangered Species Act, case law, environmental ethics and several current controversies to explore legal, scientific, and political strategies for protecting at-risk species and their habitats in an increasingly complex, interconnected world.

Most of the students' grade will be based on a paper on an approved topic and a presentation on the paper topic given to the class during one of the last weeks of the semester.  

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 explore emergent legal, policy-based, social, political, and moral responses to present-day climate destabilization, known as a "threat multiplier" within and across institutions and fields. Rather than lean into the problematics of climate predictions and our obligations to affected future generations, we'll concentrate on understanding the challenges that climate change is beginning to wreak on a presently-affected generation: yours.

Our collective gaze is likely to focus on such arenas of concern as the state of climate science; health science, policy, and law and the human body's heat thresholds; climate mitigation under the lenses of climate diplomacy, climate politics, and the energy transition; legal and equitable theories of recovery for present damage, injury, and harm; green community planning and climate pledges and insurance-driven red-lining threats; and the hopes, promises, and pitches of climate tech and geoengineered solutions.

Learning will be enhanced by multi-disciplinary readings and other materials, by vigorous in-class discussion, and by expert guest-participants.

I welcome students from a diversity of fields and programs into the class! 

Class members will write one very brief paper, due early in the term, and a research-based paper,  format-appropriate to the student's field, at the end. The latter may be a collaborative work by two or more students and it may embody a creative design, a social

purpose, or a publication aim.

Reasonable attendance will be required and no AI-assistance will be allowed.

This is a colloquium-style writing seminar on cutting-edge research and issues involving complex litigation.  In most of the classes, we will host a workshop during which a leading scholar, typically from another University, will present a paper on which the speaker is currently working.  Students are required to write short critiques of each of the speakers’ papers, and the critiques typically will be provided to the speaker.  Students receive detailed comments from both professors on each of their papers. 

The objective of this Writing Seminar is to give students the tools to produce their own publishable work in comparative constitutional law and politics. Students will be trained on how to identify and select an idea for a paper, how to write a paper, and how to make a paper presentation. Students will also have the opportunity to learn writing and research tips from, engage with the work of, and have dinner with leading scholars in the field, who will visit this Writing Seminar to present their works-in-progress. Evaluation will be based on class participation, two response papers (graded pass/fail), one class presentation, one annotated bibliography, one paper outline, and one final term paper.

This course surveys legal and economic analyses of the criminal legal system, exploring areas related to policing, prosecution, and incarceration. The topics of this course are structured in three parts. The first part, “How Did We Get Here,” will explore pre-1960s policies and examine how laws, policies, and institutions conditioned U.S. society for mass incarceration and racial disparities in the criminal legal system. Students will learn basic statistical concepts for quantitative reasoning and evaluation of statistical evidence. The second part of the course, “Domestic Wars and Racial Disparities,” focuses on the War on Crime and the policies and legal precedents that led to the War on Drugs. This includes legal precedent related to discretionary policing, collective bargaining and police protections, as well as the change from indeterminate to determinate sentencing guidelines, all of which have been linked to racial disparities in the criminal legal system. Lastly, we will examine several current equity-focused reforms to reduce racial disparities in the criminal legal system. This includes bail reform, algorithmic risk assessment, and community-oriented policing. Students should be prepared by reading all assigned materials and be willing to engage in active class discussion. Students will be asked to write short papers in response to readings and will be required to write a policy brief or create a proposal for criminal justice reform.

This seminar focuses on different types of environmental litigation, including: permit hearings and appeals; enforcement hearings and litigation; rule-making and appeals; citizen suits; Superfund litigation; commercial litigation involving environmental issues; and toxic tort litigation. The purpose of the course is to provide practical guidance on litigation aspects of a substantive environmental practice. The course will address procedural and administrative law issues as well as substantive issues. The course will discuss the use of expert witnesses and will touch on public policy and ethical considerations. Grading will be based primarily on a 30-page term paper on a topic selected by the student in consultation with the instructor. For the first ten weeks or so, there will be weekly reading assignments and class discussions based on that reading.  From time-to-time, there will be guest speakers representing agency and public interest perspectives; in the remaining sessions, students will present their draft papers. Prior experience or class work in environmental law is helpful, but is not a prerequisite.

This seminar explore the philosophical idea of equality within the liberal tradition as applied to law. We will discuss various concepts of equality and related central debates in modern political philosophy. The discussion of the application to law will focus on non-constitutional law and in particular various  private law fields. The grade will be based primarily on seminar papers written by students. 

SEMINAR: EXPLORATIONS IN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW & POLITICS AROUND THE GLOBE Victor Ferreres Comella. This seminar will explore some of the most important constitutional issues around the globe today. We will start with fundamental questions of constitutional design. How should constitutions be enacted? Who should participate in the framing and ratification of the constitutional text? How difficult should it be to amend a constitution? One big challenge is the creation of a durable framework for liberal democracy in the context of nations emerging from tyranny and/or violent ethno-racial conflict. Constitution-framers have debated and sometimes adopted direct forms of ethno-racial group representation in national legislatures, as well as federalism arrangements that give rival groups their “own” territorial based states or provinces. What are the pros and cons of such devices for overcoming deep conflicts? Not every effort to constitutionally weld together different ethno-racial groups or “nations” succeeds. The fragility of some efforts gives rise to the recurrent problem of secession. Should constitution-framers make any provision for it? And whether they do or not, how should courts address the issue when it arises – as it has in the recent past, in Canada and in parts of Europe?

We will also take up a variety of cutting-edge issues in the domain of constitutional rights and their interpretation and enforcement by courts. Here we will discuss different ways of structuring the judiciary in a number of countries. We will also examine such topics as the ways constitutional systems treat “hate speech,” the ways they address lawmakers’ efforts to outlaw various forms of public religious observance like the wearing of the veil or burka, and the ways that courts seek to enforce so-called “positive” or “social” rights like the rights to health, housing, welfare and education. A further topic concerns the mechanisms democracy can use to protect itself against erosion caused by internal forces. How tolerant should democracy be towards anti-democratic groups? We will also discuss how globalization has affected the ability of national governments to pursue domestic policies for the common good. How should international organizations be structured, and how should they interact with national authorities, to better serve the interests of the people?    

Note: This seminar will be taught during the first half of the Spring Semester.