Course Schedule

This non-writing seminar will meet every other week to discuss the professor’s book in progress, Academic Freedom, the First Amendment, and the American University.  The book explores the emergence of academic freedom as a distinctive First Amendment right and its relationship to general First Amendment rights of free speech.  It observes that judicial decisions have extended this right to professors, universities, and students, whose interests in academic freedom may conflict.  The book reviews the case law, revealing its inconsistencies and ambiguities, proposes a theory of academic freedom as a distinctive First Amendment right, and illustrates how the theory would apply to issues raised by the cases.  Students will write two to three page reaction papers for every seminar meeting.  Class discussions will address the process of legal scholarship as well as the substantive contents of the book.  The course does not satisfy the law school’s writing requirement.  Grading will be pass/fail.

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.

A study of how government regulates citizens and business in Texas, including an analysis of the powers and procedures common to state agencies in Texas. Special focus is given to the power of agencies to regulate by the adoption of rules and the holding of due process hearings (including contested case hearings under the Texas Administrative Procedure Act). Further, the course will look at judicial review by the courts over agency actions and "open government" laws relating to governmental actions and records.

Anything that happens on or near a body of navigable water is liable to call forth the admiralty jurisdiction of the federal courts and the application of the federal maritime law. The practice of admiralty and maritime law is somewhat specialized--admiralty lawyers still like to call themselves "proctors"--but any lawyer who practices in a port city (on an ocean, river, or lake) or who handles international transactions of any sort is likely to run into admiralty problems. (Yes, there is a lot of admiralty in Baton Rouge, plenty of it in Cincinnati, and probably still a little bit in Ogallala.) England had a specialized admiralty practice, and our Constitution set up admiralty and maritime law as a separate subject in this country by explicitly vesting the federal courts with full (but not exclusive) power over "all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction."  Understanding admiralty and maritime law accordingly entails some historical inquiries as well as a significant re-education in aspects of constitutional law affecting the division of power between the national and state governments. But the focus of the course is predominantly modern law, and the course materials consist in major part of recent judicial decisions and oft-litigated statutes.

This course delves into issues presented by injuries to maritime workers (including the Jones Act and the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act); injuries to ship passengers and recreational boaters; carriage of goods under private contracts of carriage (charterparties) and under bills of lading (including the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act); collisions between vessels; marine insurance; and forum shopping in maritime cases. The emphasis is on the present-day problems of maritime lawyers and judges as reflected in current litigation. The name "admiralty" may conjure up images of antiquity, but the practice and study of maritime law is a thoroughly modern matter. There are no prerequisites.

Course Overview

This course will involve intensive team research projects to identify and catalogue positive culture change developments in prisons and jails across the United States. While correctional institutions remain dangerous places that harm the people who live and work inside them, there are pockets of good things happening in an effort to shift the culture of these facilities and provide a safer and healthier environment. For example, there are a number of prisons that have been trying to implement innovative practices modeled on the Scandinavian correctional system. Other agencies have begun prison arts programs or prisoner-run radio stations, to mention just a few of these kinds of changes. The goal of this project is to track down these types of initiatives, both large and small, and to gather information about them in a single detailed public-facing database so as to enable other jurisdictions, policy-makers, and advocates to be inspired and to use these initiatives as models for change. Our efforts to elevate these initiatives will also serve to support correctional leaders who are trying out new ways to help improve the correctional environment, an uphill battle for many of these directors.

This project is being conducted in collaboration with the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab (PJIL) at the LBJ School. PJIL is a national policy resource center focused on ways to improve the safe and humane treatment of people in custody. Course instructors Michele Deitch and Alycia Welch serve, respectively, as Director and Associate Director of PJIL. The database that our class will be preparing will be published on an online resource website that PJIL is developing.

The first few weeks of the course will involve substantive classes and a few assigned readings to provide students with the necessary background for their research project. After that, the class will function more informally, with regular meetings between student teams and the instructor to ensure ongoing progress. Teams will likely each consist of three or four students. Students will be investigating practices all over the country, and will have the opportunity to speak with experts and practitioners as part of their research.

Although this is considered an “advanced” class, there is no prerequisite for the course.  However, students should be prepared to engage in substantial research and writing, and should be comfortable working in teams on a significant project. While a background in criminal justice or corrections is not required for the class, it would certainly be helpful.

Learning Objectives

Through this class, students will develop skills in conceptualizing, conducting, and completing a significant research project that will be of use to policymakers, corrections practitioners, journalists, and advocates. They will learn how to research and write for a policy audience, and will learn about positive developments in correctional administration and management. Students will also improve their teamwork and project management skills.  

Course Requirements and Grading

Students are expected to attend all classes and team meetings, participate fully in the group work activities, submit work to their teammates in a timely manner, and produce work products that are well-written, accurate, and responsive to the assignments. Each team will produce a variety of work products, including a spreadsheet with details about their findings, short write-ups about each initiative, short reports about the types of initiatives identified, and possibly some other documents as well. Teams may also be asked to conduct an oral briefing about their research.

Students will be graded on the basis of the quality of their individual contributions to the group project, the overall group project (a team grade), and on class participation.  Students will also be asked to submit a self-assessment as well as an assessment of their fellow team members’ participation in the group work.

This course is cross-listed between the LBJ School and the Law School, which will allow for an interdisciplinary approach to this topic.

A course focusing on real-life cases and key strategic decisions made immediately before and during trial to position you for success. Nationally renowned trial master, David Beck, will demonstrate, share secrets and teach strategy.  This is an advanced course. Texas Civil Procedure and Advocacy classes are recommended prior courses.

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.

Advocacy Survey Skills is designed to teach you how to practice law.

And by you we mean all law students, not just those who intend to become litigators or trial lawyers.  You are notexpected to have any background in public speaking, moot court, or mock trial. There is a misperception that only students who enjoy public speaking attend law school, or further, that you will leave law school a fantastic public speaker as every course helps improve your advocacy. Instead, by the end of their first year some students forgo litigation and trial work because they erroneously believe you either have a gift for public speaking or not. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our job is to make each of you outstanding advocates no matter what your comfort level is coming into our class. As a former student courageously explained:

"I want you to know this class changed my life. In our very first storytelling session, I told Prof. Lein I was terrified of courtrooms. That was 100% true. I came into law school convinced I'd become a transactional lawyer because of prior work experience and my dislike of courtrooms--where "transactional lawyer" is maybe shorthand for "doesn't do any public speaking" and "doesn't argue with people."

I'm not afraid of courtrooms anymore, but there's more to it than that. Tackling my fear in this class, in the graceful way you teach it, has truly changed my life. A whole new side of the law has opened up for me to explore, as well as a whole new way of showing up in the world."

We only have three short years to prepare you for the practice of law, and we want you to be ready on Day One. This course is designed to teach you the skills to be successful in whichever type of law you practice.

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.

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.

The course studies the development, interpretation, and application of the antitrust laws of the United States, specifically the Sherman Act, Clayton Act, FTC Act and other laws designed to protect consumers by ensuring competition in the marketplace. Specific topics include dominant firm behavior and exclusionary conduct, agreements among competitors, mergers, and vertical agreements (such as agreements between a supplier and a distributor). The course examines Supreme Court case law, recent and influential lower court decisions, and modern enforcement practice at the Federal Trade Commission and United States Department of Justice. Although basic economic concepts are integrated throughout the course, no background in economics is required or assumed. The class will begin with a brief primer on the most important economic concepts we will use in the course in order to make the course accessible to all interested students.

This course is for students who want to practice bankruptcy - and for those who simply want a fun, challenging course that covers a key legal system underlying the U.S. and global economies. It covers Title 11 of the U.S. Code, the Bankruptcy Code. The course 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 and fraudulent conveyances), 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, 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. Grading will be primarily based on the exam but there is a class-participation component. Prerequisite: none.

Textbook 1: The Law of Debtors and Creditors: Text, Cases, and Problems (Aspen Casebook) 8th Edition, ISBN: 9781454893516

Textbook 2: 2022 or 2023 statutory supplement Bankruptcy and Article 9.

Side Note: The least expensive way to purchase both textbooks is through the Longhorn Textbook Access Program: Bundle: The Law of Debtors and Creditors: Text, Cases, and Problems, Eighth Edition with Bankruptcy & Article 9: 2023 Statutory Supplement Access Elizabeth Warren, Jay Lawrence Westbrook, Katherine Porter, John A. E. Pottow - $189.36 – Connected eBook digital access code + 2023 Supplement digital access.

An introduction to the legal rules and principles, as well as some of the economic factors, that pattern the conduct of productive enterprise in the U.S. The principal focus will be upon the large, publicly traded corporation that dominates much of the U.S. business environment - in particular, its financing, its control, and the potentially conflicting interests that the firm must mediate. Legal topics to be covered accordingly include shareholder and executive compensation, basic fiduciary obligations, shareholder voting rights, derivative suits, corporate reorganization and control transactions. We shall also devote some attention to partnerships, closely held corporations and other business forms. No prior background in business law or economics is assumed. Corporations and Business Association, Business Associations, and Business Associations (Enriched) may not be repeated for credit.

Many law school courses deal with the role of the “outside” lawyer as advocate for the client in a litigation setting or in counseling clients more generally.  By contrast, this course deals with the compliance function—described by one author as the function that establishes and confirms “conformity between . . . action and a rule or standard,” the latter being determined by law, regulation or an organization’s policies.  The compliance role within an organization principally focuses on avoiding problems (and resultant crises for the organization) by establishing policies designed to ensure that personnel conform to legal and regulatory requirements, counseling personnel when questions arise and establishing “early warning” systems to detect and respond to instances of possible malfeasance. It is also one of the organizational roles currently providing the most employment opportunities for lawyers—a law degree (or bar admission) may not technically be required to serve as a compliance officer, but it is increasingly seen by organizations as desirable, and is often becoming a requirement. The course will examine the role of the compliance function within a corporation or other organization and its relationship to other organizational roles and to regulatory agencies.  It will also examine a number of current or recent situations in which problems—crises for the organizations involved—have been uncovered and will consider how more effective compliance programs might have unearthed them earlier, in time to avoid the crisis. Quite often (and contrary to the popular image), the best service a lawyer can perform for her client, but one that is invisible to public awareness, is to foresee a potential issue and adopt changes that avoid its occurrence. This course will provide some of the tools useful in that endeavor. The course will require two short (2-3 pages) papers and one longer paper (10-15 pages) in lieu of an exam.

This course will discuss the central legal issues in the creation and growth of the state-authorized THC-cannabis and Hemp-cannabis industries in the US.  This course will explore the patchwork of licensing regimes and regulatory requirements for THC-cannabis and Hemp-cannabis businesses.  This course will also explore the tension that exists between federal and state laws and how this tension creates unique challenges in farming, manufacturing, distribution, advertising, banking, insurance, and employment-related matters among other issues of commerce.  This course will also discuss the future of cannabis regulation from a federal, state, and local perspective.  Students will be expected to participate in discussion each week and in periodic group projects taking place during class.  This course has no specific prerequisites.  No technical background is required.  

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 who are not taking the class credit/fail, and will satisfy the constitutional law II requirement. Grades will be based upon an open-book final examination.

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.

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.

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 9 hours per week on clinic fieldwork (for a total of 135 hours). 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 as due process rights in the criminal justice system, Eighth and Fourth Amendment rights, and discrimination claims. 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 direct representation, students hone lawyering skills, including client interviewing, fact investigation, negotiation, drafting pleadings, discovery and depositions, and trial advocacy. 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 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. An application is required.

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.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CLINIC IS A 6-HR. CLINIC.  Grading is Pass/Fail.  The clinical component of this course will involve student representation of domestic violence survivors in a myriad of legal problems, including custody, divorce, visitation, housing, protective orders, parole advocacy and occasionally in consumer and public assistance matters. Further, students will perform parole advocacy on behalf of survivors of domestic violence who are in prison due to their victimization.

The class sessions will cover the matters relevant in civil domestic violence cases: safety planning, comprehensive intake, case analysis and handling, investigation, negotiation, trial preparation, discovery, and temporary and permanent orders, including protective orders.   

In addition to regular class time, there are five additional mandatory time commitments for participation in the Domestic Violence Clinic:

1. Orientation will be the Saturday before school starts, August 26th from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. This is a mandatory meeting. You may not participate in the Clinic if you do not attend the orientation class. Please mark your calendar now.
2. A one-hour weekly meeting with the supervising attorney.
3. You will be scheduled for 4 hours per week office hours/phone duty at the Clinic.
4. You will be expected to document an average of eleven hours per week on your cases towards the hours required for clinic credit.
5. This is a litigation clinic, and you will be first chairing your cases. Court appearances may require that you miss class.

Due to these requirements, you may not take another clinic or internship at the same time that you take this clinic.  

Prerequisites: Students enrolling should not be on scholastic probation. No other clinics may be taken at the same time as this clinic. An application is required.

Taught by Frances Leos Martinez, Clinic Director, and Heather K. Way. The Clinic is open to students who have completed their first two semesters. 6 credits (pass/fail) — offered in the Fall and Spring. Students must register for Law 697C.

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, artists, nonprofit organizclientations, 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

Clinic students learn how to represent their clients through clinic classes, weekly team meetings with their clinic supervisor, and independent research and initiative. 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 from 2:30-4:30 pm. There will be one offsite class on a Friday afternoon or Saturday (at a time to be scheduled after the start of the semester). There is a mandatory orientation class on the first Friday of the semester, from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm. In addition to class, students are required to keep a weekly schedule of eight in-clinic office hours, over the course of at least two days from Monday-Friday, 8-5. 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 in-clinic office hours. Attendance is required at the orientation and all classes and case rounds.

Enrollment is by application only. Students are encouraged to apply for the Clinic early 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) or policy work 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 10-12 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 enviormental statutes and rules and discuss environmental laws, environmental justice, the role of lawyes 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 Katy Thaler (environmentalclinic@law.utexas.edu).

Housing Policy Clinic – 4 credits, pass/fail (application required)

The Housing Policy Clinic equips law students with a broad range of policymaking skills, with a focus on policy reforms that systemically advance low-income persons’ access to affordable, just, and secure housing in the United States.

Projects:

Students will work on addressing cutting-edge housing policy issues in close collaboration with clients and stakeholders, including housing advocacy organizations, government officials, housing providers, and community organizations. Students will meet regularly with these stakeholders along with the clinic director. All of the Clinic’s projects involve research and writing, such as creating policy briefs, research reports, op-eds, model laws, and regulatory guidance. Projects also involve oral communications, such as delivering testimony before government bodies and presentations.

Classroom:

The Clinic will meet three times a week to discuss current and emerging housing law and policy issues and hear from guest speakers actively working in the housing policy and housing justice space. In the classroom, we will also focus on skill development through hands-on exercises to support the Clinic’s housing policy projects. Classes will include time to work in teams on clinic projects, although students should expect to spend additional time on their projects outside of the classroom.

Outcomes:

Students participating in the Clinic can expect the following:

• Deep engagement in the housing policy landscape
• Challenging, fun, and meaningful projects
• Development of a broad range of skills necessary for policymaking careers, including:
  • Issue spotting policymaking opportunities
  • Translating research findings into actionable and impactful policies
  • Creative problem solving
  • Policy analysis
  • Policy advocacy
  • Oral and written communications (see above “Projects” section for examples of specific types of communication products)

This is a four-credit hour clinic that is offered only in the fall (although students who have completed the Clinic may apply to participate as advanced clinic students for the spring semester). Grading is on a pass/fail basis. Students should expect to spend 12-15 hours per week on clinic work, including class time and class assignments.

There are no prerequisites for this Clinic, but an application is required. Students are encouraged to apply for the Clinic early as enrollment is limited.

For more information, contact Professor Heather Way at hway@law.utexas.edu.

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 focused primarily on detention and deportation defense and asylum cases. The Clinic has handled cases for clients from, among other countries, Afghanistan, Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Eritrea, Mexico, and Pakistan. Students provide assistance and direct legal representation to migrants held in immigration detention centers. Students also engage in national and international human rights advocacy projects and collaborate with organizations to reform and 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. Students also develop client relationship skills and practice a variety of legal advocacy techniques. The Clinic allows students to explore different models for effective and collaborative lawyering.

The Immigration Clinic meets for class two times per week for an hour and a half. Grading is on a pass/fail basis for this six-credit hour clinic. There is no final exam or paper. Students should expect to spend 10-20 hours per week on clinic work, including class time and office hours. Students will occasionally travel to area detention facilities and to San Antonio where the Immigration Court and DHS offices are located. Students are encouraged to apply for the Clinic during the application window as enrollment is limited and faculty permission is required to register.

An application is required. For more information about the Immigration Clinic, contact Denise Gilman (dgilman@law.utexas.edu) or Elissa Steglich (esteglich@law.utexas.edu). 

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, synogogues, 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 twice a week: once to discuss their cases and once 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 Professor Collis 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 here.

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.

An application is required.

Commercial Leasing: A practical perspective.

Whether you are a lawyer in a private law firm, in house counsel for a hospital, or a business owner operating a restaurant, you will likely come across a commercial lease at some point in your career. This practicum will guide students through real examples of lease negotiations, litigation strategies, and risk mitigation techniques. Students will review case law, learn how to analyze and draft lease provisions, discuss evolving real estate use in various market scenarios, and how to think outside of the box to complete the transaction. We will use recent developments in case law to develop a working checklist when analyzing a commercial lease.

Textbook: Commercial Leasing: A Transaction Primer, Third Edition

Conflict of Laws addresses issues that may arise when a dispute or transaction has connections with more than one state or country. The subject is generally divided into three interrelated topics: (1) territorial jurisdiction (and related doctrines), (2) choice of law, and (3) recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. This course focuses exclusively on choice of law. Most of the course focuses on the sources from which state courts draw in choosing the applicable law. But the course also covers (1) constitutional limits on state choice of law, (2) the rules governing the choice of state law in federal court, and (3) the principles that determine whether and when a federal statute may be given extraterritorial effect. By the end of the course, students should have developed a sound understanding of the methodologies that influence choice of law in the United States and the policy considerations that will shape further development of the law in this area. The first and third topics in Conflict of Laws are covered in a separate course entitled “Jurisdiction & Judgments.”

The course will focus on constitutional interpretation involving the Religion Clauses, the Expression Clauses, and the Right to Bear Arms. Both interpretive and substantive issues will be addressed to question what the scope of each constitutional provision should be and whether that scope should be interrelated with the scope of other provisions. Specific topics will include: gun control, dollars to religion, school, prayer, criminal advocacy, pornography, hate speech, and new communications technologies.

This course will focus on the design, history, practice, and theory of constitutional amendment in the United States. Students will explore key questions, including: (1) What does the US Constitution require for a constitutional amendment?; (2) Are there limitations on what may be amended into or out of the US Constitution?; (3) What is (or should be) the role of courts in constitutional amendment?; (4) What values are reflected in the architecture of the country's constitutional amendment procedures?; and (5) Why doesn't the US Constitution make anything unamendable, in contrast to many other countries in the world which protect human dignity, civil rights, and fundamental freedoms against amendment? Readings will be complemented by class visitors, including a Justice of a Constitutional Court and authors of some of the scholarly publications we will read and discuss. Evaluation will be based on a floating examination inviting students to answer their choice of open-ended essay questions relating to the central themes in this course.

*This course may be taken on a Pass/Fail basis by students who have fulfilled Constitutional Law II requirement. Any student wishing to take this option should seek approval by email to registration@law.utexas.edu.

This course will cover the history and the recent judicial interpretation of the First Amendment's free speech clause. Beginning with debate over the original meaning of the First Amendment, the course will proceed chronologically through World War I. Subjects will include the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798,the suppression of abolitionist literature before the Civil War, the range of popular and legal views about the meaning of free speech between the Civil War and World War I, and the suppression of dissent during World War I. Most of the course will address the modern judicial interpretation of free speech that began in the years immediately following World War I. 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.

The course is an examination of the Consitution as a document of law, political theory, and politics.  Focus is primarily on federalism, separation of powers, and some aspects of due process and equal protection.  Much effort is put into helping students learn how to think about constitutional law as future lawyers and as citizens.  It is taught largely with by the Socratic Method. 

We will be studying Constitutional Law together at an extraordinary and difficult moment.  Our constitutional arrangements have been put under considerable stress, and little seems happily settled. We will have just emerged from a difficult election, and our national electoral arrangements are creaky at best and democratically questionable at worst. The Supreme Court, which will be the object of much of our attention, is itself shrouded in controversy, with the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg followed by a politically-fraught appointment to the Court and questions of court-packing hanging in the air. The reasons we have a Constitution, how we should interpret the Constitution, and how it can be amended are suddenly especially prominent issues. Dusty questions of federalism and separation of powers are now vividly and concretely important, with some state governments and the President at war over immigration, the environment, and social justice, on the one hand, and Congress and the President at odds on the other. In the domain of social justice, controversy over the meaning of equality is far from new, but so too is it far from settled. Affirmative action, abortion and same sex intimacy and marriage are all objects of recent or current sharp contention. 

Our project will be to consider and try to understand the role of the Constitution, the courts and our political community in addressing the questions that  presently swirl around us. I do not expect or hope that we will all agree. I do hope that we will all deepen our understanding of how best to think about these matters, and I will insist that our conversations be conducted in an environment of mutual respect. 

I said at the outset that this is an extraordinary and difficult moment to study constitutional law.. It is also an exciting moment to do so, and I am looking forward to seeing you all.

--Larry Sager

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

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

This course will analyze theories of liability and defenses in the area of construction dispute resolution, with particular emphasis on Texas law. It involves participation in several case studies, which will include extensive discussion of the practical aspects of resolving construction disputes through litigation and arbitration. The class participants will study case materials involving property damage, personal injury, and claims for delay and payment. The semester will conclude with a mediation exercise with one of the leading construction mediators in Texas. The teaching goal is to furnish students with the basic tools to evaluate and handle a variety of construction related disputes.  

This course deals with the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices - Consumer Protection Act (DTPA), which is the primary consumer protection statute in Texas. We will also examine statutory and common law warranties and the interplay between the DTPA and other relevant consumer protection statutes. The last three weeks of the course will be spent on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (the primary federal statute protecting consumers from abusive collection practices), the Texas Debt Collection Act, and their interplay with the DTPA.

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.

Methods by which rights and duties of promissory and quasi-promissory origin are created, transferred, limited, discharged, breached, and enforced.

This course will introduce foreign lawyers in the LLM and exchange program to the common law of Contracts. It will cover the methods by which rights and duties of promissory and quasi-promissory origin are created, transferred, limited, discharged, breached, and enforced.

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.

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.

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 explores constitutional limitations upon the investigation of crime. Its focus is on the law governing searches, seizures, and police interrogation. Topics include the nature of a fourth amendment search; arrest and investigative detention; warrants and exceptions to the warrant requirement; confessions; and the application of the exclusionary rule. Grades will be based upon a three-hour final examination.

Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Jeff Rowes will teach students how public-interest lawyers devise and litigate strategic cases designed to set precedent. The class will examine major cases from the perspective of the lawyers who fought the battles, and consider questions like how do you select the right client, identify the right claims, and file in the right jurisdiction. The class will also talk about the right moment in history to bring suit. Students will learn how to use the media effectively. There will be particular emphasis on teaching real-world litigation skills and professional judgment. Each student will write an appellate brief as the final assignment. But to make the brief writing more collaborative, as it is in actual legal practice, students will be asked to submit draft sections throughout the semester and incorporate feedback from the instructor. Although the instructor is an attorney at the Institute for Justice, which has a libertarian orientation, he strongly encourages students of all perspectives to join the class. We will look at cases across the ideological spectrum (and discuss how good constitutional lawyers build alliances across ideological boundaries). There is no exam. Pass/fail allowed.

This course is a deep dive into a broad range of legal and policy issues associated with cybersecurity. It is intended as a comprehensive introduction to the nature and functions of the various government and private-sector actors associated with cybersecurity in the United States, the policy goals they pursue, the issues and challenges they face, and the legal environment in which all of this takes place.

The course is the cornerstone of the Strauss Center's "Integrated Cybersecurity Studies" program, which is a Hewlett Foundation-funded project to increase interdisciplinary education relating to cybersecurity. Anyone interested in the course might also be interested in the Center's "Cyber Fellows" program, which you can explore here. The course also counts as the cornerstone for the LLM program's cybersecurity concentration, as well as for a planned graduate portfolio in cybersecurity studies. 

No technical background is required or assumed. Graduate students from across the campus are encouraged to enroll, too, as you do not have to have prior legal or policy knowledge.  In recent years, the class has drawn a substantial number of law students and LBJ students, as well as cohorts from computer science, engineering, the iSchool, and McCombs.

To get a full sense of the course, check out the free course eBook, which Prof. Chesney wrote specifically for the course. You can find it here (an updated version will be available before the course begins). These materials have been shared and adopted widely around the nation.

This class is designed to give students a basic understanding of elder law and its increasingly important role in our society. Students will learn how to manage legal issues and family dynamics around care of the elderly, understand the oversized role of financing care, and explore the interplay of elder law with estate planning and governmental benefits programs. Fundamental to the practice of elder law is understanding how to pay for care as well as spotting and addressing abuse of the elderly.

It will be helpful but not necessary to have taken Wills and Estates.

Textbook information: Elder Law: Practice, Policy, and Problems by Nina Cohn from Aspen Publishing ISBN 978-1-4548-9098-0  

This three credit survey course focuses on the legal issues that pervade the conservation and regulation of public lands, wildlife, fisheries, and wetlands. These issues include, among others, competing claims of the "public interest" versus private property rights; the roles of administrative agencies and the judiciary in environmental decision making; tensions presented by the multiple use/sustainable yield standard in federal law; conflicts among and between local, state, and federal approaches to natural resource regulation; and the opposing goals of resource management espoused by fishermen, farmers, developers, environmentalists, and recreational users. These issues will be developed in the context of the regulatory schemes embodied in the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Clean Water Act and the various statutes that govern federal public lands, such as the Wilderness Act and Federal Land Policy Management Act. The focus of the course is primarily U.S. law; however, it will touch on international law relevant to natural resources and, where appropriate, compare U.S. law to the laws of other countries.

This course will explore the rules and principles governing the proof of facts in the courtroom, with special focus upon the Federal Rules of Evidence. Planned topics include relevance, hearsay, the Confrontation Clause, character evidence, impeachment and rehabilitation of witnesses, the best evidence rule, lay and expert opinion, and objections practice.

This course provides an overview of the legal regulation of intimate relationships. Substantial time is devoted to the incidents of divorce (including property division, spousal support, child support, and custody), and the regulation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. The course will also cover issues related parenthood, alternative reproductive technologies, and same-sex marriage.

Federal Courts is an essential practical tool for future litigators, future government attorneys (at the federal, state, or local level), and future judicial law clerks. It is also a genuinely exciting field of academic study for any law student. 

This course investigates one of the most fascinating and often misunderstood features of American law: how our legal system distributes power within the federal government and between the federal government and the states.  The course also explores whether (and how) individual litigants can turn to the judiciary to enforce rights created by constitutional or statutory law. These fundamental questions are related.  Principles that shape and limit the power of federal courts determine not just how but whether those courts (rather than other participants in our system of government) can resolve disputes, ranging from the relatively mundane to the gravest allegations of injustice.  

These issues raise questions about the role that the federal courts play in our constitutional democracy.  Such issues are of utmost importance today.  Many pressing questions—from the scope of presidential power to the conduct of local police—wind up in federal court.  And these disputes often turn on legal issues that we will explore in this course.

The assigned case book is the tenth edition of Low & Jeffries' The Federal Courts and the Law of Federal-State Relations (2022).   

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 2023-2024 ed.)

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 is a survey course covering legal issues in health care delivery, health insurance financing, and the responsibilities of health care professionals to patients. Students will be introduced to the legal and policy considerations that have shaped the relationships between providers (physicians and hospitals), payers (public and private), and patients and how different areas of law have developed when applied to the healthcare industry.  We will consider implications of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and ongoing reform efforts for healthcare law and policy. In addition to presenting essential material for those intending to represent health care providers and payers, serve as health care regulators and policymakers, or advocate on behalf of individuals, the course offers students of all backgrounds an introduction to the legal governance of one-sixth of the U.S. economy. 

This is a course in the substantive law regulating immigration to the United States and the regulation of non-citizens in the United States. Topics covered include the constitutional basis for regulating immigration, the roles of federal agencies in immigration adjudication, the immigration and removal (deportation) process, entry, relief from removal, general regulation of non-citizens, the refugee and asylum processes, and new developments. Students should expect to participate in in-class discussions and exercises. The final exam will be open book. LLM students will be required to take the exam; there will be no paper option.

TEXTBOOKS:

Immigration and Nationality Laws of the United States : Selected Statutes, Regulations and Forms 2022 *    Aleinikoff, T., Martin, David, Motomura, Hiroshi, Fullerton, Maryellen, and Stumpf, Juliet    West Academic , edition: 2022    ISBN: 978-1-63659-890-1    

Immigration and Refugee Law and Policy *    Legomsky, Stephen, Thronson, David, Legomsky, Stephen H., and Thronson, David B.    West Academic , edition: 7    ISBN: 978-1-64020-734-9

America incarcerates people at a rate higher than most countries in the world and those incarcerated are disproportionately low-income and from communities that have been historically neglected and oppressed. Course materials will examine how the socio-economic and racial disparities in the population of people incarcerated in America reflects this country’s history of poverty, slavery, and segregation.  The course will cover several theories about the drivers of mass incarceration and the legal and philosophical foundations of public defense.  

This course will explore theoretical, philosophical, and practical elements of indigent criminal defense, exploring questions such as: How do criminal justice theory and practice interact? What can an individual lawyer do to further her client's interests within this context? What is the role of the public defender in criminal justice reform? How does a public defender maintain the long view on mass incarceration and socio-economic and racial inequalities in the criminal justice system while advocating for her individual clients? What roles and tools are available, besides line public defense, for future lawyers to fill and utilize in enacting the promise of Gideon? 

Weekly reading assignments will explore these topics and students will be required to discuss their reflections during class discussions.

Insurance is one of the most important tools for the management of risk by both private and public enterprises. Insurance law is a hybrid of contracts and administrative law: parties enter contractual relationships which are regulated by the state. The course introduces students to the core principles and institutions of insurance. We will approach insurance law from a law and economic perspective, aiming to understand how insurance institutions affect economic behavior of insureds, insurers and their lawyers. Broad issues to be covered include fraud, moral hazard, adverse selection and other types of divergence of incentives. We will build on these theoretical issues and attempt to understand the various doctrines developed by common law courts as strategies to deal with these problems. In addition, the course provides knowledge of basic insurance law governing insurance contract formation, the interpretation of insurance contracts, insurance regulation and more, especially in areas such as property, life, health, disability, automobile (including uninsured motorist coverage), professional and liability insurance.

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.

Anticipating a career in civil or criminal litigation? This class is designed for the advocacy student interested in improving advocacy skills through intensive training exercises and immersion into trial, arbitration and civil litigation skills. In the Intensive Advocacy course, students are divided into small groups and tracts allowing them to focus on the distinct skills for their preferred practice area. The course is almost exclusively experiential (skills based), with students receiving constant feedback in a fun, safe environment. The class provides networking and possible employment opportunities with local attorneys and judges serving as instructors and guests.

This class is restricted to 3Ls only.

Prerequisites: Advocacy Survey and Evidence.

International arbitration specialist practioners, experienced in international disputes worldwide, provide students with legal knowledge and practical skills to navigate all aspects of international commercial arbitrations. Those include forum selection, analysis of various nations' arbitration laws, planning and drafting, arbitrator selection and challenges, enforcing arbitration awards. 

International commercial transactions almost invariably require international arbitration of disputes, so a lawyer who intends to practice across borders should know this area of practice. International arbitration is one area where states have delegated a judicial function to private individuals. Those individuals (arbitrators) enjoy wide discretion, act as judge and jury, and render globally portable awards that national courts reivew (for the most part) deferentially. Understanding that delegation, which can differ from country to country, allows students to appreciate what can, and should, be left to private ordering of disputes. The course will address the major topics in international arbitration: its contractual nature; the “who (court or arbitrator) decides” question; choice of law; arbitrator selection; the role of international treaties; and review and enforcement of arbitration agreements and awards. Student performance is evaluated on a final exam, but a substantial portion of the final grade depends on class participation.

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, 2023-2024 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)

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. 3:30 – 5:00 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 the Fall 2023 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 March 27th, 2023. 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 2023 internship will not be available until April 15, 2023.

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.

APPLICATION REQUIRED. Instructors: Robert Kepple and Jeremy Sylestine. 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 a 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 2023 and spring 2024 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 3:30 to 5:00 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 2023 semester and a two-credit (pass/fail) externship to be completed over the spring 2024 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 Friday, July 21, 2023. Interviews are conducted at the Career Services Office or over Zoom.

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 2023 and spring 2024 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 Matt Harding. 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 3:30 to 5:00 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 AUSA Harding at (512) 916-5858, or send him an e-mail at matt.harding@usdoj.gov.

** 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 2023 semester and a two-credit internship to be completed over the spring 2024 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 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 spring 2024 and the seminar taught by Judge Robert Pitman in fall 2023. 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 of Matt Harding, Dan Guess, 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 27, 2023. 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, 2023.

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-2023-2024.

In the past few years, employee workplace protests and strikes have proliferated in a manner not seen since the 1930s. Surveys show that 71% of Americans approve of labor unions--the highest since 1965--and the National Labor Relations Board reported a 58% increase in union election petitions filed in 2022. With major union victories at nationwide franchises, including Starbucks and Amazon, the landscape for organizing has been changing with employees often choosing nontraditional worker-lead unions. However, substantial obstacles remain for employees hoping to unionize, as reflected in the low private sector unionization rate of only 6%.

This introduction to labor law will cover the basics of the National Labor Relations Act (governing private sector employees), as interpreted in National Labor Relations Board case law and Supreme Court precedent, with a particular emphasis on connection to current news events. The class will review and discuss labor law topics, ranging from:  what constitutes concerted, protected activity; social media rules; causation in Section 8(a)(3) discrimination cases; property rights and organizing; the election process; the duty to bargain in good faith; strikes, lockouts and other employer responses to organizing; the collective bargaining process; and the union’s responsibility to represent its members. Throughout the course, we will examine the history and values underlying the law, including the economic and political interests that have influenced its development.

Students will prepare a mid-term paper and be tasked with weekly debate topics. A final exam will be administered at the end of the semester.

• Guest speakers will include NLRB officials, as well as union and management side labor counsel. 

• Adjunct Professor Sonya Spielberg is a Senior Counsel at the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., with more than 25 years' experience in public and private sector labor law.

Jurisdiction and Judgments is a course in Conflict of Laws. Conflict of Laws addresses issues that may arise when a dispute or transaction has connections with more than one state or country. The subject is generally divided into three interrelated topics: (1) territorial jurisdiction (and related doctrines), (2) choice of law, and (3) recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. This course focuses on the first and third topics: territorial jurisdiction, forum non conveniens, forum selection clauses, and the recognition and enforcement of judgments rendered by other states and countries. Choice of law is the focus of a separate course titled “Conflict of Laws,” and is covered in this course only to the extent necessary to fully understand other topics. At the end of the semester, students should have developed a sound understanding of the topics covered in this course, including policy considerations that may shape further development of the law.

The course begins by developing my position on legitimate and valid legal argument in the United States. That position is based on (1) the postulate that to be morally legitimate the use of a legal argument must be consistent with the moral commitments of the society in which the legal argument is being made and (2) an "empirical" conclusion that the United States is a liberal, rights-based society (i.e., a society whose members and governments draw a strong distinction between moral-rights discourse and moral-ought discourse, are committed to moral-rights conclusions) trumping moral-ought conclusions when the two conclusions favor different outcomes, and derive their moral-rights conclusions from a basic commitment to treating all moral-rights- bearing entities for which they are responsible with appropriate, equal respect and concern. The combination of the above postulate and empirical finding lead me to conclude that (1) arguments derived from the liberal principle just articulated are not only inside the law but are the dominant mode of legitimate and valid legal argument in the United States (dominant in that they operate not only directly but also by determining the legitimacy, legitimate variant of, and legitimate weight to be given to the other modes of legal argument that are actually made in our society) and relatedly (2) there are internally-right answers to all legal-rights questions in our society. The second part of the course then explores a variety of moral-philosophical and jurisprudential alternatives to my own. The third part analyzes from my and various alternative moral and jurisprudential perspectives a variety of various judicial opinions that deal with these issues. The fourth part executes parallel analyses of a variety of "appropriate, equal concern"- real Constitutional Law issues and judicial opinions. I expect to focus particularly on affirmative action, the right to die, right to a liberal education, and the possible right to a minimum real income or minimum share of the societal-average minimum real income.

This course focuses on intermediaries in the capital markets -- those who trade, facilitate structure, or manage securities investments.  Modern capital markets are dynamic and innovative, as creative and highly paid bankers, investment managers, and their lawyers attempt to navigate an ever-changing economic and regulatory environment.  Students will gain an understanding of the institutional workings of the securities business and its legal regulation, with an eye toward recent developments and interesting economic problems. Topics include:

·         Pre-IPO trading, IPO underwriting, SPACs, and other IPO alternatives;

·         Investment companies, investment advisers, and broker dealers.

·         Efficient markets theory and implications for investment advising;

·         Structure and marketing of asset-backed securities, such as CDOs; 

·         Banking, shadow banking, and the demand for safe assets;

·         Banking competitors, such as crypto/stablecoins and money market mutual funds;

·         Market making, payment for order flow, and “gamification” of retail trading.

The course utilizes a case study approach, with examples drawn from (relatively) recent events, which include Facebook’s pre-IPO trading, Tether, the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, Goldman’s ABACUS trade, the Lehman collapse, Robin Hood, and GameStop.

Evaluation is based on class discussion/participation and student group presentations.

This course is aimed at students who are planning to work as investment bankers, investment managers, broker/dealers, or legal advisors thereto, and the goal of this course is to equip students with an overview of the economic concerns that drive much capital markets activity and the consequent legal regulation that attempts to improve capital markets operation.  This course is intended to be an accessible survey for all business and law students; no prior knowledge of economics, securities markets, or law is assumed.

The legal framework of commercial real estate finance and development, including basic real estate law concepts, legal aspects of financing techniques and instruments, subdivision land-use controls, environmental regulation of real estate development, and other topics.

A survey of a range of core legal practice areas, including copyright, trademark, insurance, employment, immigration, contracts (with artists, sponsors, vendors and others), and working with municipalities using the backdrop of a live festival event. Expect guest lecturers from within the industry. 

This course will cover a range of poverty law issues, including how poverty is measured, major themes in poverty law, and the most important constitutional law cases. Specific issues will include: welfare, work, housing and land use, health, education, criminalization, and access to justice. We will also spend time on the relationship between market forces and public policy, including an opportunity to apply learnings to a current policy issue.

At the end of the course, students will:

• improve their logical reasoning when faced with alternative fact patterns or rules
• learn the basic substantive material of Poverty Law so that they can bring that knowledge into practice following law school
• be able to put themselves into the shoes of different parties, understanding how parties to a dispute will view things from their unique perspectives 

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Introduction to problem-solving through law-practice simulation. Focuses on legal research, writing mechanics, predictive written analysis, and oral presentation of research results.

Legal English is a short course (7-weeks) and is restricted to LL.M. students. The course will cover oral Legal English.

This course will introduce foreign lawyers to the case-law method, the basic tools for conducting legal research, and the basic conventions and expectations for creating professional legal work product. This course focuses on legal document drafting. It does not focus on legal academic works, such as research articles. The multiple research and writing assignments will build on each other, culminating in full-length, formal analytical memorandums that could potentially serve as professional writing samples. The course will assist with the critical-thinking and writing skills that are foundational to American academic endeavors as well as law practice.

This course fulfills the New York Bar Exam requirement Rule 520.6(3)(vi)(b) and Texas Bar Exam requirement under Rule 13 Sec. 9(a)(7)(B). 

Graded pass/fail.

Restricted to LL.M. students who do not have a U.S. J.D. degree.

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 hour, 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.

The sources and methods of research in foreign and international law are largely excluded from the first year training in legal research. Yet, both international law and the law of foreign countries are today of ever-increasing significance to American lawyers. The purpose of the course is to introduce the information sources in these fields and the ways of doing research in them, tailored to the needs of American law students and lawyers. Areas covered include: public international law, including treaty research; documentation of international organizations, including the UN and the European Union, particularly as available on the WWW; the law of other countries, with the emphasis on jurisdictions that American lawyers are likely to encounter, e.g., Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany; selected topics with an international component, e.g., commercial arbitration, intellectual property, international litigation. The grade is based on the completion of research exercises. There is no exam. This is a one-credit, mandatory Credit/No Credit course. It is taught during the first seven weeks of the semester. Prerequisite: A law school course with an international or comparative focus, which may be taken simultaneously. Familiarity with online legal research, including Westlaw, Lexis, and WWW.

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.

Advanced Legal Writing: Analysis and Process covers legal analysis, organization, clarity of expression, and writing mechanics, as well as managing research-and-writing projects. A key focus is on producing professional written work on the job.

Advanced Legal Writing: Appeals offers instruction in advanced written advocacy techniques tailored to the appellate context. The course will build on the foundations established in Persuasive Writing & Advocacy, honing students' brief-writing skills while familiarizing them with each step in the appellate process. Lectures and readings will address common challenges and errors in appellate advocacy, and a series of short exercises will help students put into practice the strategies discussed in class. Students will learn, among other skills, how to synthesize complex facts into clear, persuasive prose; how to precisely and strategically frame issues on appeal; how to analogize and distinguish case law; and how to structure a brief for maximal clarity and strength. The course also includes a research component with particular focus on common issues in appellate practice, such as standards of review, hierarchy among courts, and doctrines of deference and abstention. Individualized feedback will be provided for each assignment, enabling students to confidently construct the full-length brief that will comprise their final grade.

Advanced Legal Writing: Litigation is a two-credit, pass-fail course. The course covers documents typically drafted during litigation, including pleadings, discovery requests, motions, and letters. Students will draft a variety of litigation documents and will critique documents drafted by others.  

Legal Writing, Advanced: Litigation is a two-credit, pass-fail course. The course covers documents typically drafted during litigation, including pleadings, discovery requests, motions, and letters. Students will draft a variety of litigation documents and critique documents drafted by others.  Students will also make presentations and engage in in-class discussions and exercises.  Attendance is required.

This course will develop the writing skills you will use in litigation, with a focus on the kinds of clients, cases, and forums you will encounter in a public interest practice. You will learn how to write better pleadings, motions, and briefs—and also letters, emails, and settlement agreements. You will learn how to write for judges, opposing lawyers, administrative officials, and clients who are not in-house counsel. You will improve not only your writing style, but also your strategic judgment.

You will have weekly writing assignments of varying intensity. You will edit your peers’ work, which will make you a more empathetic writer and a better self-editor. The course will prepare you for the pace and expectations of real-life practice.

This two-credit class meets once a week. There are no exams. Grading is pass/fail.

This course focuses on analytical legal writing. Students will practice the skills of writing and critiquing written legal analysis and will receive instructor feedback on their writing and critiquing. Two credits, pass-fail. Enrollment is restricted to Teaching Quizmasters.

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.

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.

In the modern regulatory state, the primary instrument of ordered social change is legislation. But legislation must first be written before it can perform this role. This course explores the interpretation and application of statutes, and their effect on the systemic implementation of societal change, through the problem-solving art of legislative drafting. We will consider fundamental concepts necessary for successful legislative drafting including, among others, the functions of statutes; implementation concerns and solutions; and executive and judicial encroachments on legislative powers and responses. We will examine public policy problems through in-class exercises related to the drafting, consideration, and adoption of legislation. Using the context of a state legislative committee's consideration of legislation (with students assuming the role of legislators), students will debate, amend, and vote on legislation on topics of interest to the class. Each student will prepare a proposed law or constitutional amendment and an accompanying legislative memorandum of law; students will also draft amendments, other proposed language, and riders as legislation is debated in class. Students also will have the opportunity to strengthen their oral advocacy skills through the in-class legislative debate. This course is ideal for those looking to practice law in a legislative, administrative, or regulatory environment. 

This course examines problems in complex mass tort litigation that emerged during the 1980s and now have become a permanent part of the litigation landscape. Initially, the course surveys the paradigmatic mass tort cases such as those involving the Dalkon Shield, Agent Orange and asbestos litigation to understand and define the peculiar problems arising in the context of mass tort litigation, as opposed to simple two-party tort litigation. During the course we also will examine other mass tort cases involving mass disasters such as Bhopal, Three Mile Island, the Hyatt-Regency Skywalk collapse and the Dupont Plaza Hotel fire; and mass products liability litigation involving bendectin, DES, the silicon breast implant litigation, defective heart valve litigation, repetitive stress injury litigation. We will discuss the evolution of mass tort litigation over a span of fifty years, examining the most recent resolution of the NFL Football League Concussion Litigation. In the first section of the course we deal with jurisprudential issues, including the debate between proponents of aggregative procedure versus litigant autonomy. In an economic framework, we examine the problem of balancing justice, cost, and delay as these values relate to economic efficiency and sound judicial administration. This portion of the course examines special ethical dilemmas in mass tort litigation. The course then canvasses procedural problems entailed in mass tort litigation, including the failures and successes of federal and state procedural rules to adequately handle these massive cases through the class action rule, consolidation, MDL procedure, and preclusion doctrine. We will examine and discuss the shift of mass tort dispute resolution to multi-district litigation auspices, and the issues and problems of resolving these cases through MDL procedures.

The third edition of the casebook addresses mass tort class litigation in a post-Amchem/Ortiz world.  New materials have been added concerning expanded use of MDL auspices, bellwether trials, non-class aggregate settlements, the quasi-class action, the aggregate settlement rule, and the ethical duties of attorneys with clients in MDL and non-class proceedings. Two revised chapters focus on challenging issues in mass tort litigation: damage sampling; statistical proof; limited issues classes; multiphase trial plans; sub-classing; and res judicata. New cases have been added that reflect resolution of various pharmaceutical mass torts (Vioxx and Zyprexa); personal injury mass torts (the NFL and Collegiate Athletes concussion litigation); products liability mass torts (the Ford and GMC Ignition Switch litigations; heart-valve cases; tobacco litigation; the moldy washer cases); natural and man-made environmental disasters (the Hurricane Katrina and BP Gulf Oil Spill litigation), and the World Trade Center events. A new chapter includes materials on the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, including the concept of the “mass action.” Finally, the third edition includes materials on so-called “fund approaches” to resolving mass tort litigation.

The casebook for this course is Linda S. Mullenix, MASS TORT LITIGATION; CASES AND MATERIALS (3d ed. 2016)(West Aacdemic Publishing 2016). Prerequisites: Civil Procedure; Torts.

This course focuses on the acquisition of professional skills necessary to perform two separate roles in the mediation process: legal advocate and mediator. During the course, students will learn the social and political bases for the development of alternative dispute resolution procedures; become familiar with different models of negotiation and mediation; study the legislation that regulates the practice of mediation, especially in Texas courts; increase awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses in communication and negotiation and improve those skills; acquire advocacy skills for representing clients in mediation; acquire the essential skills necessary to mediate interpersonal and legal disputes; and develop a framework for making ethical decisions as a legal advocate or mediator in the mediation process. Students will read books, participate in negotiation and mediation role plays, complete testing instruments and exercises designed to enhance communication and negotiation skills, and prepare a reflective journal. The course is designed to fulfill the statutory minimum requirements in Texas for a basic training course in dispute resolution techniques.

This course focuses on the acquisition of professional skills necessary to perform two separate roles in the mediation process: legal advocate and mediator. During the course, students will learn the social and political bases for the development of alternative dispute resolution procedures; become familiar with different models of negotiation and mediation; study the legislation that regulates the practice of mediation, especially in Texas courts; increase awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses in communication and negotiation and improve those skills; acquire advocacy skills for representing clients in mediation; acquire the essential skills necessary to mediate interpersonal and legal disputes; and develop a framework for making ethical decisions as a legal advocate or mediator in the mediation process. Students will read books, participate in negotiation and mediation role plays, complete testing instruments and exercises designed to enhance communication and negotiation skills, and prepare a reflective journal. The course is designed to fulfill the statutory minimum requirements in Texas for a basic training course in dispute resolution techniques.

This course is designed to facilitate the development and refinement of knowledge and skills necessary to fulfill the mitigation function on capital or non-capital defense teams. The goals of the course are to introduce students to roles and responsibilities of mitigation specialists and sentencing advocates and facilitate the development of skills needed to work within interdisciplinary defense settings. The course will take a broad interdisciplinary approach to sentencing advocacy, providing students with an opportunity to learn legal frameworks that govern the presentation and consideration of mitigating evidence. Through both conceptual instruction and low-ratio supervision workshops, students will learn to develop a biopsychosocial history of the client, interview and forge relationships with clients and their family members, identify underlying causes of behavior, and facilitate restorative solutions for the client and community. Learning will culminate in the production of a compelling mitigation presentation.

This course will bring together interdisciplinary teams of social work undergraduate and masters-level students working in combination with UT law students. Given the interdisciplinary nature of mitigation work, a small number of seats will also be reserved for students from other disciplines including communication, education, psychology, sociology, and others. Students from different educational backgrounds and concentrations will work together in small diverse groups to produce and present assignments to the larger class. The course will be taught by a combination of lawyers and practicing mitigation specialists, and will feature guest lectures and presentations by leaders in the mitigation field.

Course Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate engagement, assessment, intervention and evaluation skills relevant to developing mitigating evidence in a capital or non-capital case; this may include document collection, interviewing, consulting with experts and other skills related to biopsychosocial history and investigation.
2. Understand legal frameworks for the presentation and consideration of mitigation evidence.
3. Constructively participate as a member of an interdisciplinary team while: retaining professional identity; brainstorming issues and problems that arise in the defense of criminal cases; and developing strategies to address them.
4. Discuss and work through ethical issues that arise in capital and noncapital cases.
5. Demonstrate how to incorporate multimedia strategies and tools to present the most compelling mitigation presentation in a given case.
6. Encourage creativity and interdisciplinary conceptualization of overarching themes and stories that arise in capital and noncapital cases.
7. Critically examine the context of systemic and structural oppression and other relevant social justice issues on the micro, mezzo, and macro level.

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.

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.

Negotiation is one of the primary skills used by lawyers in the daily practice of law. This course is designed to help students develop and refine practical negotiation skills. More specifically, this course fosters understanding of the psychological dynamics of the negotiation process, evaluates methods of reaching agreements, and offers an opportunity for each student to receive evaluations of his or her own negotiating skills. Students engage in simulated negotiations concerning a common problem such as sale of real estate, settlement of a lawsuit, or a contract negotiation. Some of these negotiations will be videotaped and discussed in class by the instructor.

ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED AT ALL CLASSES. There will be no final exam. Grades will be determined on the basis of performance in the negotiation exercises, written assignments, class participation, and improvement in negotiation skills. Only students who are willing to commit sufficient time to work on the out-of-class negotiation problems should enroll for this course.

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.

My goal for each student taking this class is to teach you as much about the new venture creation process as possible. Regardless of the line of work you pursue after earning your master’s degree, your ability to approach a business problem using an entrepreneurial skill set will always be valuable and differentiate you from your peers. What frequently is the deciding factor for financing a venture, whether inside a large company or in the private equity markets, is the entrepreneur’s ability to articulate what the business is about, why it will succeed and ultimately how it will produce enough of a profit to give investors a return on their investment. Your ability to do this has very little to do with the actual writing of the business plan. The best business plans and presentations are the documentation of well thought-out and thorough market validation, business model development and financial projections passionately communicated and firmly grounded in facts. By performing these functions effectively, the writing and presenting of the business plan becomes a straight-forward, objective process. This class is designed to give you the hands-on experience of developing all of these skills while producing a viable plan for a new venture. I strongly encourage you to think of this as an opportunity to develop a business plan for a venture you will likely pursue at some point in your career. The format of this class will cover each of the major components you need to develop a viable business and review real business plans and presentations from previous Venture Labs Investment Competitions (formerly Moot Corp®) using case based analysis. This will give you the theory and the practical application of the theory in a real world environment. This course can only be taken for a grade.

The course is primarily focused on domestic onshore oil and gas law, including common property interests created in oil and gas, with limited consideration of developing law on renewable energy and climate. The course includes an examination of fundamental state oil and gas law concepts including issues raised by modern horizontal drilling and fracturing; introduction to, and analysis of, the oil and gas lease with attention to its common structural components and the law that has developed around them; introduction to titles and conveyances in oil and gas; introduction to state regulation of oil and gas; discussion of selected oil and gas agreements that arise subsequent to the oil and gas lease; discussion of developing of state owned lands; and brief consideration of renewable energy, climate change litigation and federal environmental regulation. 

Evaluation of student performance will consist of a final examination (including essay questions or a combination of essay and short-answer questions) plus attendance and class participation credit.

The objective of the class is to give students a hands on experience of the major issues in patent cases that are joined between case filing and pre-trial. Students will take briefing from actual motions that were previously pending in Judge Albright’s Court. Students will prepare and argue both sides of the motions before Judge Albright as though they were arguing in court. Magistrate judges and technical advisors who handle discovery motions and Markman hearings will be invited to handle some of the classes to expose the students to a wider variety of judges. Additionally, in-house and outside counsel patent trial lawyers will be available to the students to help coach them as they prepare for their hearings. To provide different experiences for the students in terms of venue, arguments will be made in the courtroom at the Austin federal courthouse. Accordingly, students should expect some non-standard meeting times. We will work with everyone in the class to ensure that any proposal to meet at an irregular time is acceptable to all students in the course.

Standard motions in patent cases that students should prepare to undertake are:

1. Motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) or Section 101
2. Motion to transfer either from Waco to Austin or from the WDTX to another district
3. Markman hearing to construe claim terms
4. Discovery motion 
5. Motion for summary judgment
6. Daubert motion

This one-credit, five-day graduate seminar examines decision-making from both a theoretical perspective and from its execution in practice.  The course introduces students to various models of decision-making; explores cognitive biases in decision-making; and examines how decision-makers often use — and misuse — historical analogies and lessons from history. The course also focuses on the concept of risk and decision-making under conditions of risk and uncertainty, as well as the effects of groups and bureaucratic politics on decisions. Drawn, in part, from the professor’s nearly six years on the National Security Council (NSC) staff at the White House, the seminar will incorporate select examples from U.S. national security. That said, the theories, pitfalls, and best practices studied throughout the course also apply to business, public policy, and leadership decisions more broadly.

• Class #1: Monday, 21 August, 5:30-8:30pm CT• Class #2: Monday, 28 August, 5:30-8:30pm CT• Holiday: Monday, 4 September, Labor Day. No classes.• Class #3: Monday, 11 September, 5:30-8:30pm CT• Class #4: Monday, 18 September, 5:30-8:30pm CT• No Class: Monday, 25 September. Prep for Presentations & Papers. • Class #5: Monday, 2 October. Presentations & Papers Due. Final class.

This course provides a foundation that will introduce students to the use of a variety of analytic tools employed in the policymaking process. We pay particular attention to the major players in the process, and how gender in conjunction with race and ethnicity have become more salient in policy formation. Given the centrality of health care to the modern welfare state, we will examine how gender, race, and ethnicity influence health policy. Toward that end, the class will examine the gender dimensions of health, illness, and the health care industry in the United States and other developed nations. It is motivated by the fact that health, disease, and medical care have important gender-specific dimensions that interact with other sources of disadvantage, economic and political structures, and culture. In the past the health care system often ignored gender, as well as race-and ethnic-based differences in health and health-care needs.

These gaps in knowledge concerning risks and appropriate treatments have very specific consequences that we will investigate and debate. The collection of readings will allow us to examine the social institutions that shape men’s and women’s health and health care. Specific topics will include reproductive health, single motherhood and the stress of raising children alone, welfare and health care, divorce and changes in health, certain illnesses that women experience including breast and ovarian cancer, drug and alcohol abuse, and the forces that influence research into men and women’s health problems. Furthermore, we examine the role of women as major actors in changing the health care system, reducing health risks for themselves and their families, and their roles as health care providers, public administrators, and leaders in the health care establishment.

The second objective of the course is for students to develop an understanding of the major sources of health social policy data (e.g., demographic statistics, administrative records, health surveys, etc.). Our objective is to develop a critical understanding of the appropriate use of health-related data and to determine how they can best be used to evaluate a broad array of public policies.Finally, throughout the semester we examine the role of different levels and branches of government, touch upon the role of local, state and federal agencies in health policy formation and implementation (e.g., Medicaid), the politics of the medicalization of women’s issues including childbirth, refugee and immigrant health, and more. Alternative political ideologies regarding state and private responsibility for women’s health will be compared and contrasted. This involves gauging the relative power of key non-governmental actors, such as interest groups, health care NGOs, researchers, and the media in the definition and framing of our health agenda.

Note that the book course deals with rapidly evolving issues and readings serve as a point of departure. They will be adjusted in conformity with student interests and as current events warrant.

Bird, C.E. and P.P. Rieker. 2008. Gender and Health: The Effects of Constrained Choices and Social Policies. New York: Cambridge University Press.

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 approaches the subject of professional responsibility as a study of how society regulates the legal profession and the conduct of lawyers. First, we study the organized regulation of the profession, which includes the following topics: (1) the admission of lawyers, (2) the establishment of the legal services monopoly through unauthorized practice of law statutes, (3) the state and federal systems for disciplining lawyers, and (4) the clients. Second, we study the regulation of the conduct of individual lawyers through the transactional perspectives: (1) formation of the attorney- client relationship, (2) performance of the representation, and (3) termination of the relationship. We also spend significant time examining the three contexts of regulating lawyers' conduct: (1) the disciplinary committee, (2) the private malpractice action, and (3) judicial regulation as part of the lawyer's representation of a client. Although we discuss the Model Code and the Model Rules, this course does not focus on the rules of professional responsibility as the sole source of ethical guidelines. The course should prepare you for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam; however, it is more useful as an introduction to identifying and resolving ethical problems in practice. In addition, it is your first introduction to the practice of law as a profession.

Student grades are assessed through an in class exam with objective questions and essay questions; a 5 page outside paper, and completing the multiple choice questions in the Casebook Plus online module.

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 approaches the subject of professional responsibility as a study of how society regulates the legal profession and the conduct of lawyers. First, we study the organized regulation of the profession, which includes the following topics: (1) the admission of lawyers, (2) the establishment of the legal services monopoly through unauthorized practice of law statutes, (3) the state and federal systems for disciplining lawyers, and (4) the clients. Second, we study the regulation of the conduct of individual lawyers through the transactional perspectives: (1) formation of the attorney- client relationship, (2) performance of the representation, and (3) termination of the relationship. We also spend significant time examining the three contexts of regulating lawyers' conduct: (1) the disciplinary committee, (2) the private malpractice action, and (3) judicial regulation as part of the lawyer's representation of a client. Although we discuss the Model Code and the Model Rules, this course does not focus on the rules of professional responsibility as the sole source of ethical guidelines. The course should prepare you for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam; however, it is more useful as an introduction to identifying and resolving ethical problems in practice. In addition, it is your first introduction to the practice of law as a profession.

Student grades are assessed through an in class exam with objective questions and essay questions; a 5 page outside paper, and completing the multiple choice questions in the Casebook Plus online module.

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

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

This 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.

This course will examine historic and contemporary issues of race within American law and jurisprudence. We will scrutinize how law has been used at the state and federal level to maintain systems of oppression, perpetuate hierarchy and how it has also been used as a tool to remedy those injustices.  Critical Race Theory will be the primary lens through which we analyze the assigned materials. Through this course, students will learn substantive principles dealing with race; study the growing body of legal scholarship known as Critical Race Theory; and examine the inherent potential (and limits) of law to be used for social change.  Grades for the course will be based upon class participation, a group presentation and completion of a paper (20 page double-spaced pages, inclusive of footnotes). Students’ papers may examine any issue concerning race (citizenship, education, health care, housing, criminal justice, etc.) so long as a substantial focus of the paper is an examination of doctrinal, theoretical, and/or policy-based facets of a legal problem and corresponding solutions.

Introduction to Real Estate Law and Practice is for students with little or no knowledge or experience in the industry. This course will begin with an introduction to the commercial real estate industry, including the basic vocabulary and law. This course will review legal theory in the areas of contracts, property (including condominium law), agency, tax (federal income tax and property tax), land use, and business entities; and will apply those areas of law to purchase and sale agreements, brokerage arrangements, leases of improved real estate, choice of ownership entity, acquisition and construction financing, eminent domain and insurance. This course will include a discussion of various types of legal practices in the area of real estate law. This course will only tangentially deal with residential real estate. Materials to be used will include materials supplied by the professor in PDF format. There are no formal prerequisites.

Standard-form agreements purporting to bind consumers and employees are the most common form of contracts that exist in the United States. These contracts often contain provisions like arbitration clauses, exculpatory clauses, non-compete agreements, non-disparagement agreements, liquidated damages clauses, privacy waivers, and more. Each of these contract terms has generated term-specific case law and regulation. Students will learn about these clauses and the applicable law governing their enforceability, while critically evaluating both. The course requires each student to participate in an end-of-term “writer’s workshop,” which in turn requires students to present their ideas to the class. The workshop aims to provide constructive feedback to students on their work product before they submit their final papers.

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.

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

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

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. 

This seminar explores modern legal structures - legislative and judicial - of the Middle East. It introduces students to the process by which traditional Islamic law was transformed into state law in the 19th and 20th centuries CE, by investigating debates on codification, legal modernity, and legal borrowing. With the emergence of the modern nation-states across the Muslim World, many countries accorded constitutional status to Islamic law as “a source” or “the source” of law and some states purport to base their entire systems on versions of Islamic law. The formation of the modern legal regimes in the Middle East was a hybrid product of Islamic and western legal traditions, which raises questions about legal authority, legality, and the creation of modern legal and judicial institutions. The course aims to encourage comparative legal analysis to assess generalizations about law typically formulated with respect to Western legal traditions. The course discusses cases and codes from Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. The topics covered in this course are constitutional law, judicial review, administrative law, obligations, commercial law, family law, human rights, and criminal law.

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

This seminar concerns the laws, policies and politics that define political participation rights in our American democracy and therefore influence the ability to build and exert power in our society. We explore these rights from a variety of vantage points, considering what our democracy means for individuals, communities and governmental actors and how those understandings have evolved over time. As much as possible, current political events and policy debates — particularly those impacting our Texas democracy — are used to challenge and dissect the legal principles and ideas we discuss. Particular focus is given to the communities who have been excluded from positions of power over the course of this country’s history, particularly Black Americans and other persons of color, immigrants, young Americans, and less wealthy Americans. 

No background in politics or political science is required. 

At the end of the course, you should have a strong baseline understanding of the constitutional and federal law that shapes election administration and political participation rights, and recognize how that law has evolved over time. You are also expected to hone your ability to critically analyze and deliver legal arguments through classroom discussion and debate. Finally, the essay assignments and your final paper are intended to sharpen your written communication skills, especially your ability to express novel ideas and persuade a reader of your position. 

The Endangered Species Act has been labeled "the pit bull of environmental statutues" because of the strong protection it provides to imperiled plants and animals. But almost 50 years after its near-unanimous passage by Congress, the Act is a lightening rod for controversy. It is often criticized by developers for causing delays and higher costs, and by environmentalists for failing to live up to its full potential, because it seldom stops projects altogether. This seminar will explore Act's record and the data that elucidate the effectiveness of the Act and the extent to which it hinders (or not) economic development in the United States. We will focus on the key legal issues associated with implementation of the federal Endangered Species Act and examine the unique challenges associated with addressing the threats to biodiversity that are posed by climate change, especially during a time that portions of the public and some policy makers are expressing skepticism about science. Students will read and discuss articles and excerpts from books about the Endangered Species Act, biodiversity protection, and climate change. After an introductory session on the structure of the Endangered Species Act, the seminar will focus on: (1) the importance of the Endangered Species Act in preventing species extinctions and the Act’s track record; (2) the responsibilities of federal agencies and non-federal actors to avoid harm to endangered species and promote species’ recovery; (3) conflicts between water and land development and endangered species protection; (4) incentives for private landowners to protect rare species; (5) the challenges of enforcing the Act; and (5) legal approaches to addressing climate change within the context of the Endangered Species Act. We will also discuss the recent regulatory changes adopted by the Trump Administration, some of which were withdrawn by the Biden Administration, and their implications for endangered species management. During the last several weeks of class, students will present their seminar papers on topics related to endangered species protection. Students may choose to develop papers about a range of subjects related to the act, including the challenges of balancing species protection with economic development, the tensions between federal and state/local control over activities that affect species, and the track record of past administrative efforts to update/reform the ESA's implementation. 

This seminar on energy policy, transactions, litigation, and regulation will cover both conventional energy sources such as oil and gas as well as newer alternative sources such as wind, solar, and biofuels. This seminar will emphasize the practical application of common principles across energy boundaries.

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