Course Schedule

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.

What appears below is a fairly standard description of an admiralty law survey course. Regrettably, it does not convey the uniqueness and excitement of this intellectually challenging area of the law. It has been written that maritime law should be mandatory in the first year of law school since it will excite students about law and introduce them to every subject they will study at the law school. And a national humor magazine, in a pseudo law review article concerning the Law of the Jungle, declared that "nothing... begins to compare in complexity and sheer orneriness with aquatic law."

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 an intensive team research project related to the challenges of aging in prison. We will be conducting the work on behalf of a community partner, the ACLU’s National Prison Project, and we will have responsibility for updating sections of a major report on this topic that the National Prison Project published 12 years ago (At America’s Expense: The Mass Incarceration of the Elderly).

Geriatric individuals represent the fastest growing segment of the incarcerated population due to 1990s-era policies allowing for the imposition of extremely long sentences, including life without parole. Many of those sentenced in the 1990s are now hitting their 50s and 60s or beyond, and policy makers and corrections officials are now reaping the consequences of those tough-on-crime policies. Aging in prison presents numerous challenges, including high medical costs, chronic health needs, management of a physically vulnerable population, dementia, mobility concerns, and hospice needs. At the same time, this population presents few public safety risks, if they were to be released to the community, but in many cases, the individuals have nowhere to go. And, for many people, the law currently prohibits their release. From humanitarian, cost, and public safety standpoints, the geriatric population in prison is an ideal target for policymakers to consider for decarceration efforts.

Our class will be doing a 50-state analysis of elder incarceration issues. We will gather and analyze demographic data, examine the impact that COVID had on this older population, identify strategies such as compassionate release for reducing the number of geriatric individuals behind bars, highlight policies that states have implemented to address the aging population, and assess the fiscal impact of savings from early releases. A large part of our efforts will be focused on data analysis and the creation of graphs to illustrate our findings, and we will also be translating this data into prose.

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 to five students, with each team working on different aspects of the larger project. 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.

There may also be an opportunity to visit a Texas prison facility that holds a large number of geriatric individuals.

Prerequisites

This course is limited to second-year LBJ students who have had IEM and who have an understanding of descriptive statistics and analysis. No advanced statistical background is necessary. First-year LBJ students with relevant background can be admitted by permission of the instructor. Law students do not need to have this statistical analysis background, but should be comfortable with policy analysis.

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.

Instructors

This project is being coordinated by 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.

Our community partner is the ACLU’s National Prison Project (NPP), the country’s leading prisoners’ rights organization. The NPP’s project lead is Alyssa Gordon, a 2022 graduate of UT Law School and a former student of Michele’s, who is the NPP’s Borchard Fellow. The directors of the NPP are David Fathi and Corene Kendrick (LBJ 1996), both of whom are nationally-respected attorneys. Students will have the opportunity to learn from all of them during the semester.

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 improve their skills in data analysis and fiscal analysis. 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, accurately analyzed, and responsive to the assignments. Each team will produce a variety of work products, to be determined in collaboration with our partner. 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.

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.

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

ALTERNATIVE 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 offers an exploration of U.S. banking regulation, providing a nuanced understanding from the perspective of a federal regulator. By delving into current events and issues, the course will shine a light on the continuous oversight conducted by state and federal regulatory agencies over banks, including an examination of their powers, activities, and the role of federal deposit insurance. Students will gain insights into the U.S. government's distinctive strategies in ensuring safety, consumer protection, combating anti-money laundering, and addressing failed banks.

The course covers key aspects of banking law such as chartering, special limits on bank activities, obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-money laundering statutes, and the regulatory framework established under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.  By exploring contemporary topics like digital currency and fintech, students will develop a solid foundation to navigate the complexities of the current system and actively contribute to future financial sector reforms.

Textbooks and Reading:

Required Textbooks:

Karol K. Sparks, Banking Law Essentials,  American Bar Association Business Law Section (2022)  

Ben S. Bernanke, Timothy F. Geithner, Henry M. Paulson Jr, Firefighting: The Financial Crisis and Its Lessons (2019)

Gottfried Leibbrandt and Natasha De Teran, The Pay Off: How Changing the Way We Pay Changes Everything (2022)

John Bovenzi, Inside the FDIC: Thirty Years of Bank Failures, Bailouts, and Regulatory Battles (2015) - This book will be provided to each student by the professor.

Additional reading assignments in the syllabus and will occasionally be adjusted to remain current. 

Reference Materials: 

Outside reference materials may provide information on additional topics of interest.   These are not required for the course. The reference materials are:  

Salonia Ramakrishna, Enterprise Compliance Risk Management: An Essential Practitioners Toolkit (2015) (PDF)

Ahmed Siddiqui, Anatomy of the Swipe: Making Money Move (2021)

Carol Coye Benson, Scott Loftesness, et al. Payments Systems in the U.S.: A Guide for the Payments Professional Payments Systems in the U.S. 2nd edition (2017)

David Caruso The Investigators: The Outlandish Inside Story of the Investigation That Created the Multi-Billion Dollar AML Compliance Industry (2023)  (PDF)

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.

This dynamic, practical class will help set students up for long-term success in private practice and position them for leadership opportunities and community engagement. Billable hours are important, but they don't tell the whole story. We'll delve into the intricacies of billable hours and law firm economics to learn how and why billable hours matter. Then we'll look beyond the clock to explore how you can create a more fulfilling and impactful practice. Through hands-on sessions and select guest speakers, we will cover topics such as professional and business development, leadership opportunities, community engagement and non-profit board service, as well as navigating life and career changes. This class aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills to take control of their professional journeys, balancing the demands of billable hours with a holistic, big picture approach to professional growth.

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.

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

This is an enriched, five-unit version of the basic introductory and survey course in the corporations/business organizations area; there are no prerequisites whatsoever. This course considers issues relating to the selection of business form (e.g., partnership, limited partnership, corporation, and limited liability partnership), as well as the formation, financing, operation, and control of business organizations. Primary emphasis is placed on conducting business in the corporate form. The course examines corporate governance and other matters associated with both closely held corporations and publicly held corporations. Corporate governance stems from the interplay of market forces and the legal landscape; the latter stems in part from a mix of common law principles, state and federal statutes, and Securities and Exchange Commission rules, and shareholder litigation. Certain litigation, market, regulatory, and transactional issues covered in this Business Associations (Enriched) course are not covered in either Business Associations or Corporations. This course also has a greater focus on publicly-held corporations and modern corporate and financial developments. This enriched course does NOT require any prior business-related undergraduate coursework or any work experience in business-related matters. Corporations and Business Association, Business Associations, and Business Associations (Enriched) may not be repeated for credit.

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, and banking 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 group projects taking place during class.  This course has no textbook and no specific prerequisites.  No technical background is required.  This course is designed for students to gain a practical understanding of how attorneys and other professionals work in these new and growing industries that are constantly in regulatory flux. 

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 mental retardation), 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.  This course will satisfy the constitutional law II requirement.

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.