Course Schedule

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This course will introduce students to the different avenues and theories movement lawyers can utilize to conceptualize and achieve social change. Through readings, discussion, engagement with speakers and project development, we will explore past, present, and future movement lawyering strategies and concepts. We will examine the ways social justice lawyers engage with communities, clients, and political causes, as well as the ethical issues that may arise when advocating on behalf of class members with divergent interests. We will discuss the role of law in social change, its effectiveness and limitations. This course will help students articulate goals for movement lawyers and the need to work in partnership with communities, organizers, and policymakers to achieve justice. To that end, discussion will include how legal assistance is funded and delivered; different substantive legal arenas in which movement lawyering is pursued; the civil rights movement; emerging legal scholarship on Afrofuturism; and the diverse ways in which individuals can work in and outside the courtroom.

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

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

No textbook required; course will reference articles and cases.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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