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 | Accounting: Understanding And Analyzing Financial Statements (Broome, Oscar W.) This course meets August 26 – October 13. ENROLLMENT RESTRICTION: This course is the first half of the semester-long two-course sequence of Accounting and Corporate Finance. Students who enroll in this course will automatically be enrolled in Professor Wilhelm's fall section of Corporate Finance as well. Students who have completed one or more university level accounting courses or have practical training in accounting are not eligible to enroll in this course unless they obtain instructor permission. Similarly, students who have completed one or more university level corporate finance courses or have practical training in corporate finance are not eligible to enroll in the corporate finance course unless they obtain instructor permission. Once enrolled, students who are not eligible to enroll in either accounting or corporate finance must drop the "completed" course. To do so, e-mail the Student Records Office (lawsro@virginia.edu) at any time prior to the end of the fall semester add/drop period and ask to be dropped from the completed course. EXAM RESTRICTION: The final examination in the Accounting course will be held on Saturday, October 17, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. All exam policies apply.Exceptions will be granted only for circumstances out of students' control. The principal goal of this course is to provide an understanding of the concepts of financial accounting and published financial statements. Attorneys need a basic understanding of financial statements in order to work with corporate clients and certified public accountants. This knowledge is particularly important if the practice involves investment banking, initial public offerings, and the issuance of securities. Course content will include the conceptual framework of accounting, specialized accounting terminology, generally accepted accounting standards, and the distinction between financial accounting and income tax accounting. The roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and the Internal Revenue Service will be delineated. Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to understand how components of financial statements such as inventories, plant and equipment, bonds, leases, sales revenues, cost of goods sold expense, and depreciation expense are measured and reported. In addition, the student should be able to analyze financial statements to derive more information about a corporation. The course is designed to provide a financial accounting knowledge base to students with no previous course work or practical training in accounting. To help students quickly become competent in understanding and using financial information, the course content is relatively extensive and rigorous. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination and homework assignments | |
| Administrative Law (Fischman, Joshua) Administrative agencies play an important role in determining people’s legal entitlements and duties. This course is concerned with the role of agencies in the constitutional structure and their operations. With respect to constitutional structure it will cover topics such as the nondelegation doctrine, executive appointment and removal power, and the legislative veto. With respect to the operations of agencies the course will explore the way in which the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and other sources of law regulate and structure the authority of agencies to determine the rights and responsibilities of the public. The topics will include formality and informality in agency procedure, the choice between rule-making and adjudication, the procedures for agency rule-making, and judicial review of agency action. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Advanced Legal Research (Ashbrook, Leslie; Doherty, Benjamin A.) This course meets August 26 - November 2. Legal research is a basic part of the practice of most beginning attorneys. This course provides an overview of both online and print resources, focusing on developing successful research strategies and effective use of subscription and free Internet sites. Among the topics covered are basic primary and secondary sources, including legislative history and administrative law; research in specialized areas and transnational law; and the use of business and social science resources. Classes will combine lectures and demonstrations with laptop-based problem-solving exercises. PREREQUISITE: Legal Research and Writing
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Research assignments due every other week | |
| Advanced Topics In The First Amendment (Religion Clauses) (Schwartzman, Micah J.) This seminar will focus on doctrinal and theoretical controversies involving the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment. The first three weeks of the course will provide a general overview of constitutional protections for the freedom of religion. After this introduction, each week will be devoted to an intensive discussion of a law review article on a selected topic (e.g., public displays of religion, religious accommodation, public funding of religion, the autonomy of religious institutions, the definition of religion, the values and principles that justify the Religion Clauses, and the relationship between the two clauses). For each week, designated students will be required to criticize or defend the article in question. Since the focus of the seminar is on rigorous evaluation of the author’s argument, grades will be based on a ten-page critique and on class participation throughout the semester. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Ten-page critique and class participation | |
| Advertising Law (Stauffer, Zahr S.) In the last two decades, changes in the market and audience for entertainment content have radically redrawn the contours of the advertising industry. This seminar compresses into the first third of the class a rapid overview of the traditional regulation and case law of advertising. We will discuss the regulatory authorities, main causes of action, and remedies available in advertising law. The doctrines we will cover in this first month, albeit in brief, include: the First Amendment; consumer standing; the right of publicity; advertising’s intersections with trademark law; disparagement and celebrity endorsement; and false advertising and its related sub-parts: explicit and implicit falsity; puffery; materiality; and consumer surveys. We will frame the evolution of advertising law in terms of some of the industry’s economic, judicial and technological developments. One class will be spent analyzing advertisements for the claims –explicit and implicit— the ads make, and thinking through the legal implications of those claims, including who would have standing to challenge them. The last two thirds of the course will be devoted to close study of special problems in advertising law. Each week will feature analysis of an important article on one of numerous controversial issues, such as: advertising and the public interest; the First Amendment; embedded advertising; the politics and economics of regulating advertising; privacy and social marketing; and advertising to children. Evaluation will be based on class attendance and participation (20%); an 8-10 page written critique of one article, due 6 days before class discussion via email to the entire class (40%); an in-class defense of an article based on a classmate’s critique (20%); and a 5-10 page written analysis of a print ad due the first day of exams, submitted with the print ad in question (20%). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Written critique, in-class defense, print ad analysis, class attendance and participation | |
| Advocacy Clinic For The Elderly (Yr) (Caldwell, Kathleen D.; Curry, Claire) In response to the rapidly growing elderly population and the increased demand for elder law expertise, this yearlong clinic will train students to provide legal services to older persons. Under the supervision of an attorney, students will represent elderly clients in negotiations, administrative hearings, and court proceedings on a variety of legal matters including basic wills and powers of attorney, guardianships, consumer issues, Medicaid and Medicare benefits, nursing home regulation and quality of long-term care, elder abuse and neglect, and advance medical directives. Students will develop the practical skills needed to become effective elder advocates, participating in client interviewing, counseling, negotiation, and trial advocacy. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to engage in advocacy for the elderly at the system level, which may involve policy analysis and advocacy work with partnering organizations including the Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA), the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Virginia Elder Rights Coalition, and the Senior Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association. Students will participate in interdisciplinary projects in the field of elder law, especially in the health care domain. For example, working with faculty from the Division of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Virginia Medical School, students will develop a comprehensive taxonomy of possible legal issues confronted in geriatric care and will identify specific legal problems presented by individual patients. Additionally, in cooperation with JABA and the Division of Geriatric Medicine, students may conduct public education sessions on specific elder law topics for senior citizen groups at senior centers and elder care facilities throughout Charlottesville. NOTE: This course will meet primarily at the Legal Aid Justice Center, 1000 Preston Avenue, Suite A. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITE: Second- or third-year status | |
| Aging And The Law (Evans, Jonathan M.; White, Thomas R.) This seminar will address significant legal and policy issues relating to health and financial needs of the elderly. Representative topics include ethical issues raised in representing elderly clients; financing of health care (Medicare and Medicaid) and the estate planning and legal questions that health care costs pose for elderly clients; guardianship and other mechanisms of surrogate decision-making; nursing home regulation, special housing needs for elderly individuals and the availability of assisted living facilities; elder abuse and neglect; end-of-life medical care (including physician-assisted suicide); employment discrimination; and income security (Social Security and employer-provided pensions). Dr. Evans will participate in the entire seminar, which will address medical issues as well as legal questions. Research fellows and resident physicians in Geriatrics in the Medical School may also participate on a regular basis, and will bring their special expertise and experience to class discussion of the legal issues. Other speakers may be invited to address selected topics, and class visits to a nursing home and an assisted living facility will be scheduled. Special times may require some scheduling flexibility. Class participation will be taken into account in grading. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Alternative Dispute Resolution (Waddell, William R.) Traditional litigation is often criticized for its delay, cost, complexity, and sometimes for failing to provide results that are satisfying to the parties. Increasingly, societies and legal systems are experimenting with techniques that are thought to provide results more in keeping with the parties’ interests than with just their rights, or at least to provide a less costly and more timely remedy. This course is an overview of dispute resolution processes alternative to litigation, including negotiation, mediation, mini-trial, and others. Particular emphasis will be given to arbitration, its theoretical and statutory foundations, and its procedures. The role of lawyers in ADR applications will be examined. Comparisons will be made of various ADR methods with traditional litigation and with one another, particularly regarding effectiveness in a specific context. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Alternative Dispute Resolution: Negotiation And Mediation (Moore, Sherri P.) This course will explore a broad range of concepts in the study of alternatives to the litigation model of dispute resolution, with a strong emphasis on negotiation and mediation. The objective of this course is for students to develop effective dispute resolution skills, through reading, discussion, demonstrations, group exercises and role play. Topics will include styles of handling conflict, ethics, influence of personality differences, and strategies for non-adversarial problem solving. Role plays will start with simple two-party, one-issue matters and advance to multi-party, multi-issue disputes. A mediation skills training will be conducted over a weekend in the middle of the semester, and will be a requirement for completion of the course (the date will be announced on the first day of class). The goal of this class is for each student to be able to demonstrate an effective combination of advocacy skills and the use of alternative dispute resolution, which are integral parts of the practice of law for both litigators and transactional lawyers. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Paper required | |
| American Social And Legal History (Brown-Nagin, Tomiko) This seminar considers issues in 20th-century social and constitutional history, with particular emphasis on matters of race and inequality. Students read constitutional cases, works of historical scholarship, and primary source material. The seminar seeks to achieve four main goals. It familiarizes students with the distinct historiographical and methodological traditions of legal and social historians. It identifies the bundle of social, political, and economic problems that lawyers sought to combat through “civil rights” litigation. It illuminates how civil rights lawyers interacted with non-lawyer activists in social movements, exploring consensus as well as conflict, where appropriate. Ultimately, it identifies the circumstances under which legal and social change occurred during the civil rights era. The seminar conceives inequality broadly and follows the civil rights movement through various stages; thus, while most sessions focus on the struggle for racial equality, the seminar discusses aspects of the women’s rights, labor, anti-poverty, and welfare rights movements, as well. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Paper required | |
| An American Half-Century (Setear, John K.) In the Cold War, the United States led a coalition of democracies whose constant pressure eventually transmogrified the xenophobic, totalitarian menaces of the Soviet Union and China into, respectively, a fractured economic basket case and an uneasily capitalistic leader in international trade. This seminar examines whether law played a significant role in this outcome, in terms both of international law and US constitutional law. No prior knowledge of the relevant history or law will be taken for granted. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper or, for those not using the course to fulfill the writing requirement, a short paper and an analytically rigorous project reflecting substantial research, such as a group presentation to the class or the creation of a website. | |
| Animal Law (Riley, Margaret F.) This course will explore the legal issues pertaining to animals, the laws that govern their treatment, as well as a number of topics that fall within the general headings "animal law" and "animal rights." We will examine the historical and philosophical treatment of animals, and how those views impact the way law currently governs treatment and use of animals. We will study current and proposed animal protection laws; "standing" and the problems of litigating on behalf of animals; the classification of animals as "property" and legal effect of that classification as well as the gradual erosion of that classification in certain areas; first amendment issues in animal cruelty protections and environmental and wildlife issues. From time to time there will be guest speakers. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Anti-Terrorism, Law And The Role Of Intelligence (Hitz, Frederick P.) This seminar will open with accepted legal definitions of terrorism; proceed with Simon and Benjamin, “The Age of Sacred Terror,” Richard Clarke, “Against All Enemies,” and Steve Coll, “Ghost Wars,” to define the threat of religion-based, non-state terrorism; read Phil Heymann’s studies on the appropriate legal and constitutional responses to terrorism; study the USA Patriot Act for the congressional response; Hamdi, Padilla, Rasul, and Hamdan for the courts’ responses to the president’s military order and the notion of “unlawful combatants”; read the 9/11 Commission Report and the report of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Iraqi WMD reporting; and study the Silberman/Robb report on intelligence analysis. The seminar will venture some judgments on the proper balance between anti-terrorism measures and the constraints of a constitutional democracy on such issues as coercive interrogations, pre-emptive incarcerations, and intrusive surveillance. We shall read the OLC torture memos ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at the first class meeting is mandatory; students who do not attend will be dropped. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Antitrust In The Global Economy (Martin, John S.) This seminar examines the unique phenomenon of global antitrust law, in a world where over 150 countries have antitrust regimes, and a single business decision can affect markets around the globe. We start with common ground, such as the free market foundations of antitrust, developed in the United States and now making their way even to China, multi-jurisdictional cartel enforcement, and the “export” of U.S. private litigation to Europe. We then move on to conflict, examining the dramatically different transatlantic approaches to the Microsoft, Intel and other monopolization cases, uses of antitrust law to both facilitate and hinder international trade, and the different reactions of various antitrust regimes to the 2008-09 global financial crisis. Lecture and class discussion seek to provide a grounding in global antitrust principles, and student papers will explore a particular area in detail. Some prior exposure to antitrust is helpful but not required; the economic principles to be discussed are accessible to all. PREREQUISITE: Antitrust helpful, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Antitrust (Nachbar, Thomas B.) For as long as there have been governments, they have intervened in the operation of markets, and such efforts have been criticized (at least in the last 200 years or so) for their deleterious effects on competition. But what about those cases in which the impetus for governmental intervention is the advancement of competition? Such efforts can be partially evaluated by their effectiveness, but their justification must ultimately lie in the end they are designed to serve—competition—an end whose definition, much less value, is far from settled. This class will study American efforts to prevent the private subversion of free competition. In addition to analysis of the statutes and case law, we will consider the history of antitrust regulation and the economic assumptions that drive much of its application. Fortunately, the applicable economic concepts are not complicated, and special effort will be made to introduce them to those students who have no background in economics. NOTE: Students using computers in class are required to shut down their email and IM clients before the start of class and load only programs or browser windows containing material directly related to our class discussion (e.g., reading notes, lecture notes, relevant cases). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Appellate Litigation Clinic (Yr) (Walters, Neal L.) This yearlong clinical course provides students the opportunity to brief and argue one or more appeals before a federal appeals court. The rules and procedures applicable in the federal appellate system will be examined. Fundamentals of oral and written appellate advocacy will be discussed, with a focus on each student’s individual work project. The seminar will meet as a full group several times during the fall semester, and then students will have additional conferences with the instructor as work on a specific briefing project gets underway. Depending on the volume of cases available, students will work in teams of two or individually as the instructor may determine. All students will practice oral argument and one per case will argue the appeal before the courts. The course may require substantial work over the winter break. Substantial familiarity with either Word or WordPerfect, including the table of authorities function, is required. Students earn two credits in the fall semester and one credit in the spring semester. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITE: Third-year status
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Brief and reply brief | |
| Capital Post-Conviction Clinic (Yr) (Lee, Robert) The Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center (VCRRC) will conduct a yearlong clinic centered on the representation of persons sentenced to death in Virginia and issues relevant to these cases. In addition to a classroom component focused on current issues in capital litigation in Virginia, students will analyze trial records; perform original research; write draft claims, motions, legal and investigative memoranda and correspondence; and engage in field investigations on issues particular to case needs. During the first semester a classroom component will introduce students to general and current issues in capital litigation in Virginia. During each semester, students will also work directly on cases litigated by the Center, conducting legal and factual research and investigation as appropriate to the cases. Travel for investigative purposes should be expected, as should direct contact with clients and witnesses. There will be periods during the year when a significant time commitment will be required. Interested students should submit applications via e-mail to the instructor, Robert Lee (roblee@vcrrc.org). Enrollment is limited so early application is advised. Applicants will be notified as selections are made. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Students will analyze trial records, perform original research, write draft claims, motions, legal and investigative memoranda and correspondence, and engage in field investigations, including interviewing potential witnesses. | |
| Child Advocacy Clinic (Yr) (Block, Andrew K.; Ciolfi, Angela A.; Duvall, Kathryn L.; McShane, Molly K.) This yearlong clinical course includes two semesters of supervised legal representation of children, supported by a weekly clinical seminar which will meet during the fall semester. Students earn three (3) credits during the fall semester and five (5) credits during the spring semester. This clinical course is offered in conjunction with JustChildren, a program of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville. Students may represent children with legal issues in the areas of education law, laws governing access to services for incarcerated children, mental health and developmental disabilities law, and foster care and social services law. In some cases, students may work with a child’s public defender to develop sentencing options for the Juvenile Court that will meet the child’s needs. Students will gather factual information and conduct legal research to analyze the children’s legal situations. Students will represent children in negotiations and administrative hearings and will participate in court proceedings to the extent permitted by law. All students will be given an opportunity to work on policy issues that will be addressed by proposed legislation, administrative rule-making, or other means. Opportunities to work on impact litigation also may arise during the year. During the fall and spring semesters, students will meet weekly in small groups with their supervising attorneys, and individually as needed. The supervising attorneys will accompany students to all administrative and/or court hearings. Supervision will be provided by attorneys at JustChildren, located in Charlottesville. The clinical seminar will meet weekly during the fall semester only. It will provide students with an understanding of the legal obstacles confronting low-income children, and of the various legal settings in which the students will practice. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITE: Second- or third-year status. Negotiation Institute recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Memoranda, correspondence, briefs, and pleadings. Occasional written preparation for class discussions | |
| Civil Liberties (Isbell, David B.; Sipes, Christopher N.) NOTE: This B weekend course meets on August 29; September 11, 12, 25, 26; October 16, 17, 30, 31; November 13, 14 and 20. The seminar is a survey and discussion of selected contemporary problems in civil liberties, using both case law (largely Supreme Court) and contemporary writings as base materials. The topics for this fall’s classes will be the interplay between rights of privacy and freedom of speech, religious liberty, academic freedom, sexual orientation and civil liberties, terrorism and civil liberties, and alcohol and drug abuse. There is some overlap with Constitutional Law II, as to both subject matter and particular cases addressed. Students are graded on the basis of class participation. Neither an examination nor a paper is required. PREREQUISITE: Constitutional Law
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Class participation | |
| Civil Procedure (A, D) (Mitchell, Paul G.) This is a required first-year course. This course covers the procedures courts use in deciding lawsuits that do not involve criminal misconduct. Much of it is concerned with the process of litigation in trial courts, from the initial documents called pleadings, through the pre-trial process, especially the process of discovery in which parties obtain information from one another, to trial itself. Another important topic concerns the jurisdictional rules that determine in which court a lawsuit may be brought. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Civil Procedure (B, I) (Walker, William L.) This is a required first-year course. This course covers the procedures courts use in deciding lawsuits that do not involve criminal misconduct. Much of it is concerned with the process of litigation in trial courts, from the initial documents called pleadings, through the pre-trial process, especially the process of discovery in which parties obtain information from one another, to trial itself. Another important topic concerns the jurisdictional rules that determine in which court a lawsuit may be brought. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Civil Procedure (C) (Woolhandler, Nettie A.) This is a required first-year course. This course covers the procedures courts use in deciding lawsuits that do not involve criminal misconduct. Much of it is concerned with the process of litigation in trial courts, from the initial documents called pleadings, through the pre-trial process, especially the process of discovery in which parties obtain information from one another, to trial itself. Another important topic concerns the jurisdictional rules that determine in which court a lawsuit may be brought. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Civil Procedure (E, K) (Nelson, Caleb E.) This is a required first-year course. This course covers the procedures courts use in deciding lawsuits that do not involve criminal misconduct. Much of it is concerned with the process of litigation in trial courts, from the initial documents called pleadings, through the pre-trial process, especially the process of discovery in which parties obtain information from one another, to trial itself. Another important topic concerns the jurisdictional rules that determine in which court a lawsuit may be brought. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Civil Procedure (F, G, H) (Collins, Michael G.) This is a required first-year course. This course covers the procedures courts use in deciding lawsuits that do not involve criminal misconduct. Much of it is concerned with the process of litigation in trial courts, from the initial documents called pleadings, through the pre-trial process, especially the process of discovery in which parties obtain information from one another, to trial itself. Another important topic concerns the jurisdictional rules that determine in which court a lawsuit may be brought. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Civil Procedure (J) (Garrett, Brandon L.) This is a required first-year course. This course covers the procedures courts use in deciding lawsuits that do not involve criminal misconduct. Much of it is concerned with the process of litigation in trial courts, from the initial documents called pleadings, through the pre-trial process, especially the process of discovery in which parties obtain information from one another, to trial itself. Another important topic concerns the jurisdictional rules that determine in which court a lawsuit may be brought. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Civil Procedure (L) (Sinclair, Kent) This is a required first-year course. This course covers the procedures courts use in deciding lawsuits that do not involve criminal misconduct. Much of it is concerned with the process of litigation in trial courts, from the initial documents called pleadings, through the pre-trial process, especially the process of discovery in which parties obtain information from one another, to trial itself. Another important topic concerns the jurisdictional rules that determine in which court a lawsuit may be brought. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Civil Rights History From Plessy To Brown (Goluboff, Risa L.) This course explores the history of civil rights in the fifty years between Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education. The course emphasizes two things: recreating the uncertainties that characterized civil rights doctrine in the pre-Brown era, and analyzing the disparate ways historians of civil rights have treated the topic. Students will write short weekly response papers. PREREQUISITE: Constitutional Law
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Short weekly papers | |
| Civil Rights Litigation (Jeffries, John C.) This course deals with the enforcement of federal rights against states, localities, and their officers. The all-purpose federal civil rights statute is 42 U.S.C. 1983. The course focuses on that provision and other Reconstruction-era statutes that authorize damage actions to enforce federal rights. It does not cover the modern civil rights statutes, such as Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, that depend in part on administrative enforcement. Additionally, the course deals with attorney's fees in civil rights cases and the history of structural reform litigation. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Climate Change: Science, Policy And Law (Cannon, Jonathan Z.) This seminar will provide multiple perspectives on what many consider the greatest environmental issue of our time and one with far-reaching implications for how we and future generations will live and do business. Our goal will be to explore the linkage between anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and changes in the earth’s climate; the impacts of climate change on environmental conditions and natural resources; and the potential for engaging markets and public institutions to address those impacts. We will start with a review of the science, including projections of climate change under alternative future scenarios. We will then turn our attention to the world’s energy markets, which are responsible directly or indirectly for the great majority of humankind’s greenhouse gas emissions; our particular focus will be on the dynamics of those markets and their capacity for change. We will review the legal regimes now in place that offer some ability to address climate change, our experience under those regimes, and proposals for more robust climate change laws now before the U.S. Congress and international bodies. Finally, we will relate these proposals to what we will have learned about climate change and energy markets in an effort to assess their political viability, fairness, efficiency and effectiveness. No special scientific or policy expertise is required for this seminar. The course may be of interest to students destined for corporate practice as well as those with traditional environmental interests. COURE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Commercial Real Estate Transactions (Williamson, Richard F.) This seminar focuses on the practical and legal issues associated with the development and finance of commercial real estate transactions. The course will cover an in-depth review of real estate acquisition and development contracts, including joint venture agreements; a review of construction and permanent mortgage loan documentation including appraisals, title insurance, survey, and environmental indemnities; and a review of various forms of commercial leases including office, retail, and triple net leases. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Four transaction documents | |
| Communications Law (Nachbar, Thomas B.) This course surveys the field of electronic communications, from the telephone to broadcast media to the Internet. Historically, the field of communications has been divided between the traditional mass media (broadcasting, cable, satellite broadcasting) and telecommunications media (wireline and wireless telephone carriers). Today, the two general divisions are converging. One of the vehicles of that convergence is the Internet, which is capable of providing both mass media and individual communications services. This course will examine legal issues affecting all of these media. Communications law is driven by a series of conflicts over control of both a “scarce” resource (indeed, there is a conflict over whether it should be defined as “scarce” at all) and the markets in which that resource is allocated. There are conflicts between firms and between different media; conflicts between competition and monopoly (and the role of regulation and antitrust in creating both); conflicts between free speech and regulation; conflicts between regulators and the companies they regulate; and even conflicts between different regulators (federal, state, and local). In short, the course is a study in conflict – and how lawyers both create it and resolve it. NOTE: Students using computers in class are required to shut down their email and IM clients before the start of class and load only programs or browser windows containing material directly related to our class discussion (e.g., reading notes, lecture notes, relevant cases). PREREQUISITE: Constitutional Law
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Constitutional History Ii: The Twentieth Century (Goluboff, Risa L.) This course examines the constitutional history of twentieth century United States in the context of social, cultural, political, and intellectual developments. It explores the ways in which many actors—laypeople, social movement organizations, lawyers, academics, politicians, and judges—participated in the construction of constitutional law. The principal issues addressed include constitutional questions involving race and citizenship in the early twentieth century; economic regulation during the Lochner era; the birth of modern free speech jurisprudence in the wake of World War I; the constitutional crisis over the New Deal in the 1930s; the birth of the modern Establishment Clause in the late 1940s; free speech issues involving Jehovah’s Witnesses and Communists in the 1940s and 1950s; the numerous rights revolutions of the Warren Court, including civil rights, criminal procedure, and the rights of the poor; the limitation of many of those rights in the 1970s, including debates over affirmative action; and the expansion of the rights of women and of privacy rights in the 1970s. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Constitutionalism: History And Jurisprudence (Howard, A E.) This seminar focuses on various ways of thinking about constitutions and constitutionalism -- as a restatement of ancient right (the tradition associated with England's Magna Carta), as being based upon a social compact (as in the thinking of John Locke), as reflecting the idea of a "nation" (as in the Turkish and Iranian constitutions), etc. In developing the ways of looking at constitutions, we will draw in part upon the various schools of jurisprudence (natural law, jurisprudence, etc.) as well as upon historical and contemporary sources. We will pay particular attention to important moments in the history of constitutionalism, such as the founding period of the United States and in France, the era of liberalism in 19th century Europe, the emergence of social and economic rights in the 20th century, etc. Having in mind these perspectives, students are invited to write research papers dealing with constitutionalism in earlier eras or with constitutions or constitutional developments in our own time. FOREIGN GRADUATE STUDENTS: Please confer with the instructor before enrolling. PREREQUSITE: Constitutional Law useful, but not required
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Comparative Constitutional Law, Comparative Democratic Constitutionalism (all offerings)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Contracts (A) (Cohen, George M.) This is a required first-year course. This course is an examination of the legal obligations that attach to promises made in a business contract or otherwise, including the remedies that may be available for promises that are not kept. The course examines the legal requirements for enforceable contracts, including consideration, consent and conditions, and the effect of fraud, mistake, unconscionability, and impossibility. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Contracts (B) (Dooley, Michael P.) This is a required first-year course. This course is an examination of the legal obligations that attach to promises made in a business contract or otherwise, including the remedies that may be available for promises that are not kept. The course examines the legal requirements for enforceable contracts, including consideration, consent and conditions, and the effect of fraud, mistake, unconscionability, and impossibility. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Contracts (C, E, J) (Mahoney, Paul G.) This is a required first-year course. This course is an examination of the legal obligations that attach to promises made in a business contract or otherwise, including the remedies that may be available for promises that are not kept. The course examines the legal requirements for enforceable contracts, including consideration, consent and conditions, and the effect of fraud, mistake, unconscionability, and impossibility. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Contracts (D, H, L) (Geis, George S.) This is a required first-year course. This course is an examination of the legal obligations that attach to promises made in a business contract or otherwise, including the remedies that may be available for promises that are not kept. The course examines the legal requirements for enforceable contracts, including consideration, consent and conditions, and the effect of fraud, mistake, unconscionability, and impossibility. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Contracts (F) (Hynes, Richard M.) This is a required first-year course. This course is an examination of the legal obligations that attach to promises made in a business contract or otherwise, including the remedies that may be available for promises that are not kept. The course examines the legal requirements for enforceable contracts, including consideration, consent and conditions, and the effect of fraud, mistake, unconscionability, and impossibility. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Contracts (G) (Verkerke, J H.) This is a required first-year course. This course is an examination of the legal obligations that attach to promises made in a business contract or otherwise, including the remedies that may be available for promises that are not kept. The course examines the legal requirements for enforceable contracts, including consideration, consent and conditions, and the effect of fraud, mistake, unconscionability, and impossibility. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Contracts (I) (Johnson, Alex M.) This is a required first-year course. This course is an examination of the legal obligations that attach to promises made in a business contract or otherwise, including the remedies that may be available for promises that are not kept. The course examines the legal requirements for enforceable contracts, including consideration, consent and conditions, and the effect of fraud, mistake, unconscionability, and impossibility. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Contracts (K) (Setear, John K.) This is a required first-year course. This course is an examination of the legal obligations that attach to promises made in a business contract or otherwise, including the remedies that may be available for promises that are not kept. The course examines the legal requirements for enforceable contracts, including consideration, consent and conditions, and the effect of fraud, mistake, unconscionability, and impossibility. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Copyright Law (Sprigman, Christopher J.) This course will provide an in-depth view of copyright law, the legal regime governing rights in original works of authorship (books, music, movies, photographs, software, etc’). About three quarters of the course will be dedicated to the Copyright Act and the core issues of copyrightable subject matter, prerequisites for protection, ownership and transfer, the bundle of rights conferred, what constitutes infringement, defenses, and available remedies. In the remainder, we will discuss fundamental issues in the philosophy and economics of copyright law, international copyright law, and digital copyrights. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Corporate Finance (Wilhelm, William J.) This course meets October 15 - December 2. ENROLLMENT RESTRICTION: This course is the second half of the semester-long two-course sequence of Accounting and Corporate Finance. To enroll in this course, students must enroll in Professor Broome's fall section of Accounting and they will automatically be enrolled in this course. Students who have completed one or more university level corporate finance courses or have practical training in corporate finance are not eligible to enroll in the corporate finance course unless they obtain instructor permission. Please read the Accounting course description for complete details. This course takes a financial and economic perspective of the corporation. The central theme is understanding the sources of value for the firm from the perspective of the manager who must make financing choices (sources of funds) and investment choices (uses of funds) to maximize the value of the firm. The major topics of the course include: time value of money, discounted cash-flow analysis, capital markets, market efficiency, cost of capital, capital structure theory and practice, capital budgeting decisions, and firm valuation. The course covers topics taught in the core finance course of most major MBA programs. Students will be responsible for handing in problem sets from the textbook. PREREQUISITE: Accounting: Understanding and Analyzing Financial Statements (or equivalent undergraduate, graduate or practical training)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Corporate Strategy (Donovan, Jim) NOTE: This course meets on the following seven Fridays: August 28; September 4, 18; October 2, 16, 30; November 13. This short course is an introduction to corporate strategy. Students will study how corporations with multiple businesses utilize their resources to determine which businesses are optimal for them to pursue and how to coordinate those businesses and ultimately measure their performance. Secondly, we will examine what forces effect and determine what makes a company and industry profitable. The course introduces topics taught in the core strategy course of most major MBA programs. Grades will be based on class participation (30 percent) and an 8-10 page paper (70 percent). ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at the first class meeting is mandatory; students who do not attend will be dropped. PREREQUISITE: Accounting and Corporate Finance recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: 8-10 page paper and class participation | |
| Corporate Tax (Lawsky, Sarah) This course deals with the tax considerations involved in the formation, operation, reorganization, and liquidation of corporations. It analyzes the relevant sections of the Internal Revenue Code and regulations and explores alternative directions that the law might have taken. From policy and practical perspectives, the course examines the tensions between large and small businesses, corporations and individuals, managers and shareholders, profitable and unprofitable enterprises, and tax avoiders and the government. PREREQUISITE: Federal Income Tax
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Corporations (Law & Business) (Geis, George S.) NOTE: This section of Corporations is part of the Law School’s Law & Business Program. It has approximately the same substantive coverage as other Corporations sections, but assumes knowledge of accounting and corporate finance. This course will consider the formation and operation of corporations. It will examine the roles and duties of those who control businesses and the power of investors to influence against those in control. Topics covered include fiduciary duties, executive compensation, mergers and acquisitions, voting rights and insider trading. The course will use both new tools derived from the corporate finance and related literature and traditional tools to explore a wide range of phenomena and transactions associated with the modern business enterprise. PREREQUISITE: Accounting and Corporate Finance (or equivalent undergraduate, graduate or practical training in both subjects or instructor permission)
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE WITH: Corporations
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Corporations (Kitch, Edmund W.) This course will consider the financial and governance structure of the corporation in the context of the economic environment in which it operates. It will examine the function of legal rules, private ordering and other institutional arrangements in reducing the sometimes conflicting interests of shareholders, creditors, and management. Although alternative forms of business organization will be considered, primary emphasis will be on the publicly traded corporation. Special emphasis will be given to the tension between preserving the authority of the board of directors in decision-making while maintaining the board’s responsibility to shareholders in the context of shareholder suits for breach of fiduciary duty, shareholder voting, tender offers and conflict of interest transactions involving directors or controlling shareholders. Federal securities regulation of proxy voting, corporate disclosure and insider trading will be examined. NOTE: Laptops, cell phones and other electronic communication devices are not to be used in this class. MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Corporations (Law & Business)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Criminal Adjudication (Bowers, Josh) Note: This course may be taken either before, after, or instead of Criminal Investigation. This course examines the process of criminal litigation, beginning with the arrest or with the filing of charges and continuing through trial and sentencing. Topics covered include right to counsel and effective assistance of counsel; pre-trial detention and the right to bail; prosecutorial discretion in charging, bail, and grand jury practice; joinder of charges and defendants; discovery; double jeopardy; plea bargaining; jury trial questions; and, as time permits, sentencing and post-conviction remedies. The course gives special attention to differences in procedural rules across state and federal jurisdictions. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Criminal Defense Clinic (Deloria, Richard A.; Heblich, Frederick T.; Hingeley, James M.; Murtagh, Elizabeth P.; Redinger, Janice L.) The semester-long Criminal Defense Clinic is designed to provide a first-hand, experience-based study of the processes, techniques, strategy, and responsibilities of legal representation at the trial level. The casework component of the clinic will engage the students in the representation of defendants in actual criminal cases arising in the local courts under the direct supervision of an experienced local criminal defense attorney. The students themselves—not their supervising attorneys—will ordinarily perform all of the lawyering functions associated with their cases, including interviewing, investigation, research, negotiation, and courtroom advocacy. Regular supervisory conferences will guide the students’ casework and provide an opportunity for the integration of theory and practice. The full clinic will meet twice weekly in seminar sessions. The seminar meetings are designed to prepare the students for each aspect of their clinic casework and to provide a theoretical foundation for critical reflection concerning the lawyering process. The class format will vary and may occasionally feature workshop sessions employing simulation exercises. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITE: Third-year status, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, Evidence, and Professional Responsibility or Professional Responsibility in Public Interest Law Practice or Ethics, Integrity, and Avoiding "Club Fed". Recommended but not required: Trial Advocacy, Criminal Investigation, Criminal Adjudication, Criminal Procedure Seminar, and Negotiation Institute. Students must be eligible for Third-Year Practice Certification. COURSE REQUIREMENT: No required paper or exam, but each student’s caseload may require the production of a substantial set of written work. Occasional written preparation for class discussions based on pending clinic cases will be required. | |
| Criminal Investigation (Armacost, Barbara E.) NOTE: This course may be taken either before, after, or instead of Criminal Adjudication. This course examines the body of constitutional jurisprudence that regulates the government's investigation of crime and apprehension of criminal suspects. In particular, the course will focus on the doctrines by which the judiciary polices the police, including the primary remedy (suppression of evidence) for police misconduct. The readings for the course are decisions by the United States Supreme Court that announce and refine the law of searches and seizures, the rules governing police interrogations and confessions, and the scope of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. With respect to these topics, we will evaluate the basic doctrine, explore underlying constitutional themes, and ponder the application of the rules by police officers investigating particular crimes. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Criminal Investigation (Harmon, Rachel A.) NOTE: This course may be taken either before, after, or instead of Criminal Adjudication. This course examines the legal doctrines that surround and control the investigation of crime - in particular, the constitutional doctrines that define what the police can and cannot do. The main topics will be the Fourth Amendment law of searches and seizures and the Fifth Amendment regulation of police interrogations and confessions. In addressing these topics, we will consider a number of themes, including the influence of the War on Drugs on the Fourth Amendment legal landscape, the incentives legal rules create for police and prosecutorial conduct, the problem of balancing effective law enforcement with procedural protection for suspects, and the degree to which constitutional rules intersect with questions of race and class. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Criminal Law (A, I, K) (Coughlin, Anne M.) This is a required first-year course. This course explores the basic principles of Anglo-American criminal law, including the constituent elements of criminal offenses, the necessary predicates for criminal liability, the major concepts of justification and excuse, and the conditions under which offenders can be liable for attempt. Major emphasis is placed on the structure and interpretation of modern penal codes. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Criminal Law (B, C) (Bonnie, Richard J.) This is a required first-year course. This course explores the basic principles of Anglo-American criminal law, including the constituent elements of criminal offenses, the necessary predicates for criminal liability, the major concepts of justification and excuse, and the conditions under which offenders can be liable for attempt. Major emphasis is placed on the structure and interpretation of modern penal codes. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Criminal Law (D) (Harmon, Rachel A.) This is a required first-year course. This course explores the basic principles of Anglo-American criminal law, including the constituent elements of criminal offenses, the necessary predicates for criminal liability, the major concepts of justification and excuse, and the conditions under which offenders can be liable for attempt. Major emphasis is placed on the structure and interpretation of modern penal codes. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Criminal Law (E) (Bowers, Josh) This is a required first-year course. This course explores the basic principles of Anglo-American criminal law, including the constituent elements of criminal offenses, the necessary predicates for criminal liability, the major concepts of justification and excuse, and the conditions under which offenders can be liable for attempt. Major emphasis is placed on the structure and interpretation of modern penal codes. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Criminal Law (F, H, J) (Brown, Darryl K.) This is a required first-year course. This course explores the basic principles of Anglo-American criminal law, including the constituent elements of criminal offenses, the necessary predicates for criminal liability, the major concepts of justification and excuse, and the conditions under which offenders can be liable for attempt. Major emphasis is placed on the structure and interpretation of modern penal codes. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Criminal Law (G, L) (Low, Peter W.) This is a required first-year course. This course explores the basic principles of Anglo-American criminal law, including the constituent elements of criminal offenses, the necessary predicates for criminal liability, the major concepts of justification and excuse, and the conditions under which offenders can be liable for attempt. Major emphasis is placed on the structure and interpretation of modern penal codes. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Criminal Procedure (Weinberg, Robert L.) This seminar is primarily a nuts-and-bolts course in litigation of criminal cases. It also considers the basic policy issues involved. The seminar aims to develop a working familiarity with the law and procedural rules governing conduct of a criminal case at the trial court level, and their practical and tactical application. Pre-trial and trial stages are covered including: grand jury proceedings, indictments, immunity grants, pre-trial motions, pre-trial discovery, plea bargaining, motions and objections during trial, evidentiary issues arising on direct and cross-examination, post-trial motions, sentencing, and protecting the record for appeal. The seminar is based upon the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and comparable provisions of state jurisdictions, and also covers certain provisions of the Federal Rules of Evidence that have particular pertinence to criminal trials. One or two guest speakers are invited to present different perspectives on criminal litigation. The seminar is intended especially for students who would like to prosecute and/or defend criminal cases—whether of the “white collar” or “no collar” variety. PREREQUISITE: Criminal Adjudication or Criminal Investigation recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Preparation of pre-trial motions and supporting legal memoranda (on which oral argument will be held); drafting a federal indictment | |
| Current Issues In Corporate Law And Governance (Barzuza, Michal) This seminar will cover current issues in corporate law and governance such as state competition in corporate law, anti-takeover law and the desirability of increasing shareholder power. Some sessions will feature guest speakers. There will be no exam or paper requirement. Instead, students will be asked to submit brief memos on the assigned readings. Some tolerance to economics recommended. NOTE: Laptops prohibited during class sessions. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at the first class meeting is mandatory; students who do not attend will be dropped. PREREQUISITE or CONCURRENT: Corporations or Corporations (Law & Business)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Weekly memos on assigned readings | |
| Cybercrime (Rusch, Jonathan J.) NOTE: This B weekend course meets on August 29; September 11, 12, 25, 26; October 16, 17, 30, 31; November 13, 14 and 20. This seminar will examine key legal and policy issues associated with cybercrime, which can be defined to include any crimes in which computers and the Internet serve as targets, as storage devices, and as instrumentalities of crime. With the growing power of the Internet in global commerce and communication, nations are gradually recognizing that new technology can not only expand the reach and power of traditional crimes, but also foster new forms of criminal activity, throughout the world. Because cybercrime can be committed in and from any corner of the world, the seminar will focus principally on U.S. laws and legal materials, but will include relevant legal materials from countries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. It will also address pertinent international legal issues, in the context of the Council of Europe’s Cybercrime Convention. The seminar will first address definitions of cybercrime and other background issues, then turn to some of the most prominent issues in the substantive law of cybercrime (e.g., unauthorized access to computers and files, malicious code such as viruses and worms, intellectual property offenses such as software piracy and economic espionage, fraud, "hate speech," and pornography and child exploitation). The remainder of the seminar will address major legal and policy concerns in the procedural law of cybercrime (e.g., surveillance techniques and technologies, and legal standards for obtaining electronic communications and evidence-gathering). Students will not need any technical expertise or skills in computing and the Internet for this seminar. PREREQUISITE: Criminal Procedure or Criminal Investigation recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Paper required | |
| Dillard Fellow (Yr) (Buck, Donna R.) This is the first semester of a yearlong practicum in which selected upper-level students serve as teaching assistants in the law school's Legal Research and Writing Program. | |
| Dillard Fellow (Yr) (Moran, Karen M.) This is the first semester of a yearlong practicum in which selected upper-level students serve as teaching assistants in the law school's Legal Research and Writing Program. | |
| Dillard Fellow (Yr) (Stewart, Sarah) This is the first semester of a yearlong practicum in which selected upper-level students serve as teaching assistants in the law school's Legal Research and Writing Program. | |
| Drug Product Liability Litigation: Principles And Practice (Grossi, Peter T.) More product liability lawsuits are filed against prescription drug manufacturers than against all other industries combined. As one legal scholar put it, the pharmaceutical industry is now “in tobacco-land in terms of how much people hate it,” and drug product liability litigation is now a “growth industry.”
This course will consider the theory and practice of such lawsuits before, and now after, the Supreme Court’s recent landmark decision in Wyeth v. Levine (2009). At the outset, we will focus on the similarities and differences between such litigation and other product liability cases, using the “Phen-Fen” cases tried by the instructor as a model, and on the special context of FDA regulation. We will then consider the legal principles governing such lawsuits, such as inadequate warning; the learned intermediary doctrine; and medical causation. As part of each class, we will review the manner in which the controlling issues were presented to a jury using the edited record of a recent pharma products trial. The course will also consider the practical application of these doctrines, including the problems when doctors are witnesses; discovery strategies; and techniques to present complex information to juries. For the final class, each student will prepare one portion of opposing opening statements, based on the edited trial record they have been reviewing, which will then be combined and presented by a few volunteers to a “jury” recruited from Charlottesville residents. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A short “bench memo,” a 6-8 page section of the final jury presentation, and class participation. (NOTE: Only written work will be graded -- the oral presentation by a few volunteers will not be graded.) | |
| Education Law & Policy (Brown-Nagin, Tomiko) This course considers law and policy pertaining to elementary, secondary, and higher education. The focus of the course is how educational systems respond to and/or exacerbate inequality. Topics include: school desegregation; school finance; school choice; parochial education; charter schools; schools targeting students based on sex, race, or sexual orientation; standardized testing; the No Child Left Behind Act; affirmative action in higher education; and market-driven models of higher education. In addition to constitutional and statutory law, course materials include readings in educational theory, history, and sociology. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination or a paper on a topic approved by the instructor | |
| Electronic Discovery In A Global Environment (Tredennick, John) This course meets October 12 - 22. This course will explore how the current information explosion is transforming the civil litigation and regulatory process both in the United States and around the world. We will examine developing case law and standards on electronic discovery and address the practical problems and issues which arise in the preservation, collection, searching, processing and production of electronic data. The course will also provide an introduction to technologies, tools, and software currently used in this rapidly developing specialty area. Course topics will include: Data preservation and disclosure obligations under the amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure including an examination of the duties and responsibilities of counsel under Rule 26(f) and a practical discussion on how to prepare for and handle the Rule 26(f) conference; The data destruction safe harbor provisions under Rule 37(f); The preservation of attorney-client privilege in large productions including the use of "quick-peek" and non-waiver provisions; The rules governing obtaining electronic data from 3rd parties; Ethical and disclosure obligations under the new Federal Rules; Sanctions for spoliation of data and other e-discovery violations; and
A technical primer on the varieties and locations of electronically stored information with an introduction to computer forensics, data recovery, and their application to the discovery and litigation process; An introduction to litigation support repositories including a discussion of advanced search techniques, the use of new analytical tools for grouping and finding documents and new statistical sampling techniques used to manage large-scale document review; A look at emerging best practices and principles for conducting electronic discovery such as the Sedona principles and Maryland Protocol; Techniques for the authentication and admissibility of electronic data at trial. International privacy rights and emerging restrictions on conducting discovery in Europe and Asia including a discussion of the EU privacy rules, the Department of Commerce Safe Harbor Program, OECD and Asia Pacific rules on privacy, Hague treaty and blocking statutes and practical implications for attorneys trying to conduct or defend against discovery. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination with a paper option | |
| Emerging Growth Companies And Venture Capital Financing: Principles And Practice (Lincoln, Michael R.) NOTE: This seminar meets once per week. In recent years, the start-up high technology enterprise, privately financed largely with funds provided by venture capital firms, has become a dramatically successful source of important new and technologically innovative products, particularly in the areas of software, semiconductors, electronics, biotechnology, and the Internet. This course deals with legal and business issues that arise in representing emerging growth technology companies, with a particular emphasis on venture capital transactions, liquidity events, intellectual property, and corporate formation, governance, and capital structure. The course will provide an introduction to practice in this area through the eyes of an attorney who is active in northern Virginia’s technology market and who practices with a Silicon Valley-based law firm. The course will include practice exercises designed to introduce students, working in practice teams, to the process of structuring and executing transactions in this area. Guest lecturers play an important role in this class and provide students with a real-world perspective on the part of counsel in helping emerging growth companies. During the course of the semester, students will have the opportunity to hear from prominent venture capitalists, an investment banker, an angel investor, and several entrepreneurs who have successfully raised capital and built companies. PREREQUISITE: Corporations or Corporations (Law & Business) recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Short-answer exam; completion of class projects as assigned | |
| Employment Law Clinic (Yr) (Clark, Carolyn; Green, Dexter B.; Gulotta, Alex R.; Trodden, Erin M.) This yearlong clinical course is designed to give students first-hand experience in the practice of employment law, from both the plaintiff and defense side. Students will receive classroom instruction only during the fall semester in the substantive and procedural aspects of employment litigation, from client interviewing and counseling through formal and informal fact gathering, drafting administrative charges of discrimination, Complaints, discovery, participating in simulated mediation, depositions, motions arguments, opening statements, and closing arguments, all of which will be considered in grading. Motions and trial advocacy skills will be taught and refined in the context of an employment discrimination case. There will be no classroom instruction during the spring semester, but the clinical aspect of the course (participating in actual cases under the supervision of an attorney) is required both semesters. In cooperation with the Legal Aid Justice Center and local attorneys, students will participate throughout the year in litigating actual employment cases. These cases may include wrongful discharge actions, unemployment compensation claims, employment discrimination charges, or any other claims arising out of the employment relationship. Specific assignments will vary according to the inventory of cases available at the time, but students should be able to conduct client interviews, participate in discovery, draft motions, and assist with trial preparation. Students also may argue some motions (with appropriate Third Year Practice Certification); 2Ls may provide direct representation in Unemployment Insurance Hearings. Students will be expected to arrange a satisfactory schedule with their supervising attorney. For additional information about the employment and labor law curriculum, please visit the PELLS Web site (http://www.pells.org). Students will earn three credits during the fall semester and five credits during the spring semester. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITE: Employment Discrimination, Evidence, Professional Responsibility recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Memoranda, pleadings, and other court-related documents | |
| Environmental Law And Conservation Clinic (Yr) (Szeptycki, Leon) Students in this yearlong clinic will participate in a range of activities related to the protection and restoration of natural resources and environmental quality. The clinic will represent and counsel environmental nonprofits, citizen’s groups, and community organizations seeking to protect and restore the environment of Virginia and other parts of the country. Clinic clients have included the Shenandoah Riverkeeper, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Rivanna Conservation Society, and Trout Unlimited. Although much of the work will consist of traditional legal advocacy, such as commenting on rules, participating in permit proceedings, and litigation, the clinic will also actively explore more cooperative means of conserving and restoring natural resources. Student activities will include drafting regulatory comments, writing briefs, meeting with agency staff and participating in other regulatory proceedings, counseling clients, conducting factual investigations, participating in hearings, developing and evaluating potential new projects, and performing legal research and analysis needed to do the clinic’s work. During the fall semester the clinic will include a weekly meeting/seminar to cover substantive topics and specific lawyering skills relevant to the clinic’s work. During the spring semester, the clinic will meet less frequently as needed to discuss clinic projects. The clinic also has formal partnership with the Southern Environmental Law Center, and clinic students will have the opportunity to work closely with SELC attorneys. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITES: Prior coursework in environmental law or permission of the instructor
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Drafting comments, briefs, letters, and other documents; participating in regulatory proceedings and hearings; meeting with clients and agency staff; providing legal advice and other counseling | |
| Environmental Law And Federalism: Case Studies In Politics And Public Policy (Jaffe, Caleb A.) For more than thirty years, regulators have relied on an expansive application of federal power to protect and preserve clean air, water quality, and wild places. But today, spirited on by a rebirth of federalist principles, our nation’s environmental laws are under attack. How is this playing out in practice? This seminar focuses on the real-world impact that “new federalism” is having on environmental law and policy at both the federal and state levels. The course blends discussions of key federalism cases from the Supreme Court and lower federal courts with case studies rooted in current public policy and political disputes. The seminar may consider federal and state responses to Hurricane Katrina, wetlands depletion, loss of endangered species, air pollution, energy policy, and global warming. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Active class participation and three short papers | |
| Ethics, Integrity, And Avoiding "Club Fed" (Ross, Michael C.) This course meets September 15 - 30. In the wake of the recent, infamous corporate scandals, we have seen otherwise upstanding attorneys, accountants and business executives become defendants in massive shareholder class actions, targets of civil and criminal investigations and defendants in criminal prosecutions. Avoiding “Club Fed” starts with consistently making sound ethical choices throughout a career. We will discuss real situations in which ethical issues arise for attorneys and their clients. Many situations will come from current press reports; others will come from the less publicized dilemmas that often confront young professionals. Our focus will be on the private practice of law and business clients. We will consider how people make ethical choices and identify some of the sources for ethical standards in society today. Identifying ethical issues and reaching ethical conclusions is only the beginning. The real challenge for many young professionals is finding practical solutions to dilemmas. The class discussion will help students understand that they are not alone in facing these problems and that there are practical alternatives to “going along” with conduct that they sense is not right. Each student will pick his or her own topic for the final paper and address ethical issues in a context that is of interest to the student. NOTE: This course satisfies the professional ethics course requirement for graduation and for those seeking Virginia third-year practice certification. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Professional Responsibility in Public Interest Law Practice, Professional Responsibility
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Paper required | |
| European Legal Systems (Hausmaninger, Herbert) This course meets August 26 - October 1. This course will trace the development of European legal systems and methods from Roman law (the classical Roman jurists’ law of torts and contracts as transmitted in “Justinian’s Digest”) to modern civil codes (Austrian, French, German, Swiss, Dutch). It will include a study of contemporary scholarly doctrine and jurisprudence of the courts. The course will also examine the ongoing harmonization of private law in the European Union. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| European Union Law (Saenger, Ingo; Wittreck, Fabian) This course meets September 8 - 24 and October 29 - November 17. This first half of the course meets September 8 - 24 and offersa comprehensive survey of the constitutional and legal structure of the European Union. After a brief historical introduction, the course will explore such fundamental structural features as sources and forms of European Union acts, the role of the Court of Justice and of fundamental rights, as well as current problems in European integration. The second half of the course meets October 29 - November 17 and will trace the development and effects of European Community Law on Private Law. It will focus on economic aspects of the Basic Freedoms of EC treaty and secondary community law including free movement of workers, capital, goods, and services. It will deal with main issues of European Business Law and European Consumer Law, especially with respect to the current context of European Contract Law. The course will also examine the ongoing harmonization of private law in the European Union. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Evidence Theory (Barzun, Charles L.) This seminar will explore some of the most difficult doctrinal, philosophical, and empirical issues in contemporary evidence law. Topics will include, among others, the role of the jury in fact-finding, the use of probabilistic evidence, demonstrative and narrative relevance, and expert testimony. Each week we will read 2-4 cases or law review articles covering a particular topic. The only written requirement is a 10-15 page essay on a topic of the student’s choosing, but one-half of the final grade will be based on class participation. COURSE REQUIREMENT: 10-15 page essay and class participation | |
| Evidence (Brown, Darryl K.) This course provides a general survey of the rules of evidence and the reasons underlying these rules. These rules regulate proof at trial but also inform pre-trial and transactional practice, which must be done with an eye toward what might need to be admissible later in court. Included are the subjects of relevance, character evidence, rape shield statutes, examination of witnesses, the hearsay rule and its exceptions, and scientific and technical evidence, and opinion testimony from lay and expert witnesses, among other subjects relating to the regulation of proof at trials. The focus will be on the Federal Rules of Evidence, which have largely been adopted in most state jurisdictions as well, with some attention the common law history of evidence rules. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Evidence (Spellman, Barbara A.) This course provides a general survey of the rules of evidence. (It is based on the Federal Rules of Evidence which most state rules are modeled on.) In addition, the course will investigate (a) the underlying psychological assumptions about the rules, (b) psychological research about how jurors actually reason, and (c) the resulting implications for the uses of evidence. Readings will be a mix of cases, articles, and problems. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Evidence (Schauer, Frederick) This is an introductory course in the American law of evidence, covering both the doctrinal and the theoretical aspects of the production of evidence, relevance and materiality, testimonial competence, character evidence, credibility and impeachment of witnesses, the hearsay rule and its exceptions, constitutional aspects of confrontation, expert testimony, scientific evidence, constitutional and statutory privileges, presumptions and burden of proof, written evidence and authentication, real evidence, and various other topics. The course is open to second year, third year, and graduate law students, and there are no prerequisites. The Federal Rules of Evidence will provide the focus, with cases, problems, other rules, and secondary materials from law and other disciplines used as appropriate. COURE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Family Alternative Dispute Resolution Clinic (Yr) (Balnave, Richard D.; Emery, Kimberly C.) This yearlong clinical course is open to 2L and 3L students. Students will earn 6 credits – 3 in the fall and 3 in the spring. The course will focus on two alternative dispute resolution methods used to resolve conflicts involving families and children – mediation and collaborative law practice. The family disputes will include child custody, visitation, financial support, equitable distribution of property, and related issues. This clinic is particularly appropriate for students who like to problem solve and who would want to enhance their negotiation skills--skills which are critically important in a wide variety of substantive law areas. In traditional family law practice, lawyers represent their clients by negotiating issues or litigating the cases in court if negotiations fail. Court trials are adversarial, and the outcomes are decided by judges, rather than by the parties. The litigation model of resolving family disputes can be harmful to children and frequently lessens the parties’ willingness to cooperate as parents. In response to the shortcomings of adversarial litigation, family disputes are increasingly resolved through alternative dispute resolution where the best interests of the child is the guiding focus of the parties and the process. In this clinic, law students will serve, not as attorneys representing clients, but as neutral facilitators assisting their clients to develop mutually agreeable resolutions to their disputes. Mediation is a voluntary, confidential process in which neutral mediators help parties to identify issues, explore options and to reach mutually agreeable solutions. Students will complete a 20 hour Basic Mediation training program approved by the Supreme Court of Virginia. The training will take place during the evening of Thursday, September 10, and all day Friday and Saturday, September 10 and 11, 2009. Participation in the full 20 hours of mediation training is required, unless a student has completed a similar mediation training program approved by the Supreme Court of Virginia within the past two years. Students will have the opportunity to observe several family mediation sessions before serving as co-mediators with experienced, certified family mediators to help parties in conflict. The supervising attorney-mediators will prepare and accompany law students to all mediation sessions, however, students will be expected to work directly with their clients to brainstorm and problem-solve and to take the initiative and guide their clients through the mediation process. The clinic will partner with the local Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts and the Mediation Center of Charlottesville to receive family mediation referrals. In the collaborative law practice cases, law students and their supervising attorneys will provide legal representation to clients wishing to use the collaborative process as a way to resolve their family law issues. Clients will be individuals of limited income, referred to the | |
| Family Law (Abrams, Karen L.) This course focuses on the law surrounding intimate relationships between adults. In particular, we will focus on the institution of marriage and its changing scope and social meaning, divorce and its financial consequences, and the parent-child relationship, including establishing parenthood, adoption, child custody, and child support. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Family Resource Clinic (Yr) (Nagin, Daniel L.) This yearlong clinical course, offered in conjunction with the Legal Aid Justice Center, includes two semesters of supervised legal representation of clients, supported by a weekly seminar which meets during the fall semester only. Students earn four (4) credits during the fall semester and four (4) credits during the spring semester. Clinic students work under the instructor’s close supervision to address the legal needs of low-income families who seek or receive public benefits, or who are former public benefit recipients attempting to make the transition to financial independence. The Clinic’s work can take many forms, but focuses on helping families challenge unlawful agency decisions to deny, reduce, or terminate critically needed benefits such as financial assistance, food supports, and healthcare coverage. Because public benefits law encompasses a vast expanse of programs at the local, state, and federal levels, the Clinic’s subject matter cuts across a number of areas, from administrative law and constitutional law to disability discrimination law and health law. Moreover, the Clinic’s clients have diverse and changing legal needs as they grapple with the complex maze of eligibility requirements imposed by TANF, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Social Security, Child Care subsidies, and foster care and adoption assistance, among other programs. Students will likely have a variety of lawyering opportunities, including the chance to conduct administrative appeal hearings and to brief and argue court challenges to agency decisions. Students may also have opportunities to engage in public policy advocacy and to develop and work on impact litigation cases. For those students with an interest in community economic development projects, opportunities may also exist to work on matters involving transactional law and nonprofit law. Through the fall seminar component, students learn the relevant substantive law, ethical requirements, and advocacy skills necessary for the representation of Clinic clients. Both second-year students and third-year students may enroll in the Clinic. There is no application requirement. Enrollment is via the LawReg open enrollment process. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Interviewing clients, completing legal research, developing case plans, drafting pleadings, conducting hearings, and other case-related tasks. | |
| Federal Courts (Collins, Michael G.) This course will examine the federal judicial system. It involves an in-depth study of the jurisdiction of the federal courts, and it focuses on the constitutional and congressional roles in the allocation of judicial power between state courts and federal courts. Topics this year will include the role of state courts in the enforcement of federal law; the role of federal courts in the administration of state law as well as federal law; the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court; federal habeas corpus; state sovereign immunity; and federalism-based restraints on the exercise of federal jurisdiction. This is an important course from both a practical and theoretical perspective, and should be of interest to anyone. PREREQUISITE: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Federal Courts (Jeffries, John C.) This course examines the relationship of federal courts to state courts and to the federal political branches. The dominant themes are, therefore, federalism and separation of powers. Specific topics include choice of law in the federal system; the power of the federal courts to create federal law; the power of Congress to control the federal courts; the various doctrines of justiciability; and the subject matter jurisdiction of the federal courts. PREREQUISITE: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Federal Income Tax (Robinson, Mildred W.) This course is the introduction to federal taxation in general, and income tax in particular. It will concentrate on the provisions that apply to all taxpayers, with particular concern for the taxation of individuals. The course is intended to provide grounding in such fundamental areas as the concept of income, income exclusions and exemptions, non-business deductions, deductions for business expenses, basic tax accounting, assignment of income, and capital gains and losses. Further particular attention will be paid to the processes for creating law and determining of liability in the tax area, the role of the Treasury and the taxpayer in the making of tax law and formulation of policy, and the significance of the income tax in government and business. Because of the importance of federal taxes, and the role of lawyers in the tax system, it is recommended that every student take the basic course at some time during his or her law school career. The course is a Prerequisite to all further tax courses including Corporate Tax, Partnership Taxation, and International Taxation. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Federal Income Tax (Yale, Ethan) This course is the introduction to federal taxation in general, and income tax in particular. It will concentrate on the provisions that apply to all taxpayers, with particular concern for the taxation of individuals. The course is intended to provide grounding in such fundamental areas as the concept of income, income exclusions and exemptions, non-business deductions, deductions for business expenses, basic tax accounting, assignment of income, and capital gains and losses. Further particular attention will be paid to the processes for creating law and determining of liability in the tax area, the role of the Treasury and the taxpayer in the making of tax law and formulation of policy, and the significance of the income tax in government and business. Because of the importance of federal taxes, and the role of lawyers in the tax system, it is recommended that every student take the basic course at some time during his or her law school career. The course is a Prerequisite to all further tax courses including Corporate Tax, Partnership Taxation, and International Taxation. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Federal Lawyer (Rooney, Kevin D.) This course will address the broad legal, ethics, and policy issues confronted by the federal lawyer. The focus will be on the several roles and responsibilities of lawyers in the Department of Justice (DoJ), often referred to as the “world’s largest law firm.” After providing an overview of the DoJ mission and structure, how lawyers are hired by the DoJ, and the various roles they play, the course will examine the federal lawyer as (1) Advisor, addressing (a) the congressional oversight function, (b) the development of and negotiations on proposed legislation, (c) rulemaking and regulatory reform, (d) the individual agency “general counsel’ function, and (e) the unique DoJ Office of Legal Counsel function of providing legal advice to the president. We will also consider the federal lawyer as (2) Prosecutor, addressing issues involving the prosecutor’s role in combating White Collar Crime, Violent Crime, and the special considerations for the federal lawyer in Sentencing and Corrections issues. We will look at the federal lawyer as (3) Defender of Federal Programs; (4) Developer and Implementor of Federal Legal Policy; and as (5) Adjudicator. The course will also address professional responsibility and disciplinary issues. A continuing theme will be an awareness of who the client is when one represents the United States. The first-hand experience of the instructor (over 20 years as a senior DoJ policy official during the period 1973-2007) and occasional guest lecturers will provide expanded background and insights into the legal and ethics issues under discussion. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Finance Of Small Enterprise (Crawford, Richard) This course meets September 17 - October 16. Over 99% of the businesses in the United States are defined by the Small Business Administration as small businesses and the small business sector accounts for over half the U.S.’s GNP and employment. Almost all small businesses are private companies and their financing needs and options are substantially different from the needs of large public companies that are the subject of most law school courses dealing with business law and business finance. This course deals with the business and legal issues that arise in financing a small business from its startup to an eventual exit of the founder through a sale or IPO. This course is from the perspective of small business senior management and deals with the range of financing options and the pros and cons of each as a business is started and grows. The course is designed to provide the student with a better and broader understanding of the financing needs of the small business clients that they will serve in practice so that more effective legal advice can be provided. The course will examine a range of business types from emerging growth technology companies to small manufacturing companies to service companies and will examine the differences between the different categories from a financing perspective including the differences between pre-revenue and post-revenue companies in each category. There will be particular emphasis on the different financial options available to each category of business at different stages in its life cycle including bank loans, commercial finance and factoring, leasing, commercial mortgages, angel equity financing and venture capital and the terms that normally are associated with these different types of financing. This examination of financing options will include an analysis of the risk associated with different financing options and an analysis of how different financing options can be connected in an overall financing strategy. In addition, the course will cover the valuation of businesses for financing purposes and the different types of valuation techniques. The course will provide an introduction to this area through the eyes of a law school graduate who has been active in financing small businesses for 35 years as a banker, entrepreneur and managing director of the principal angel group in Virginia. The course will include case study exercises designed to introduce students, working in teams, to the issues facing senior management of small companies as they seek to raise financing at various stages of their company life cycle. Guest lecturers will play an important role in this class and provide students with a real-world perspective on the part of entrepreneurs trying to finance their small businesses. During the course, guests will include two law school graduates who, as small business CEOs, have successfully raised capital through a range of financing types. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class ses | |
| First Amendment Clinic (O'Neil, Robert M.; Wheeler, John J.) This semester-long clinic is conducted in conjunction with the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression (www.tjcenter.org). The First Amendment Clinic offers law students the opportunity to gain practical legal experience involving timely free speech and press issues. Supervised by the legal staff of the Thomas Jefferson Center, students work as a team in conducting legal research, meeting with clients and co-counsel, and drafting legal memoranda and briefs. Assignments typically involve appellate-level litigation, although there are occasional trial-level opportunities. Students also work on a variety of non-litigation projects. Recent tasks of that sort have involved reviewing proposed municipal ordinances for potential First Amendment flaws, and the drafting for the American Bar Association of a handbook detailing media rights of access to the courtroom. The Clinic meets once a week at the Thomas Jefferson Center, on Route 250 East (Pantops) in Charlottesville. A meeting time will be scheduled to suit the participating students during the first week of the semester. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITE: A First Amendment course and/or Constitutional Law II: Freedom of Speech and Press recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Litigation and non-litigation research and drafting | |
| Franchise Law (Dienelt, John F.) Franchised businesses account for 40 percent of retail sales in the US, more than a trillion dollars a year, and have nearly 10 million employees. Franchising is growing: a new franchise opens every eight minutes of every working day. Although most people may associate franchising with “fast food restaurants,” franchising is prevalent in many areas of the economy, including automotive, hotel, various retail establishments, and numerous business services, among others. With the explosive growth of franchising, which really began in the 1950s, has come the development of franchise law as a separate discipline during the past 35 or so years and significant growth in the number of lawyers who practice in this field. Thus, franchising and the evolving practice of franchise law have a great practical impact on the US, and global, economy. Franchise law is a combination of contract and statutory law, and is heavily influenced by trademark, antitrust and other areas of business law. Franchise agreements tend to be lengthy multi-year trademark licensing agreements. Franchising is regulated at both the federal and state level. Franchise sales are regulated by state and federal disclosure requirements, analogous to SEC requirements. Automotive and petroleum franchise relationships are regulated by specific federal statutes, while various states regulate aspects of the franchise relationship, such as enforcement of standards, termination and renewal of the relationship. There is a substantial amount of litigation in franchising, involving not only disputes between franchisors and franchisees, but also consumers and others. Many common law contractual concepts, such as the “implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing” have evolved and continue to evolve in the context of franchise law. Franchising is also growing rapidly outside the US; accordingly, a variety of laws, enacted by other countries, are relevant. This course will cover the legal and practical business basics of franchising, including the sales process and disclosure requirements; the relationship of franchising, trademark and antitrust law; structuring of the franchise relationship and the analysis of franchise agreements; contract and other common law concepts that affect the franchise relationship; the legislative process and statutes regulating the franchise relationship at the state and federal level; franchise-related litigation; international franchising; and impact of current economic conditions on franchising. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination (a paper may be substituted with the permission of the instructor) | |
| Globalization And International Civil Litigation (McEvoy, Timothy J.) This course meets September 21 - 30. Globalization and the growing importance of electronic commerce have rendered a range of existing legal rules and regulatory regimes inadequate and in need of fundamental reappraisal. This course will examine traditional principles of private international law in the context of the rapidly changing global business environment. Areas covered will include the concept of international jurisdiction, choice of law rules in inter-jurisdictional contracts and in internet transactions, the implications of electronic commerce for private international law, and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Particular attention will be given to the important doctrine of forum non conveniens, to the use of anti-suit injunctions, and to provisional and protective measures in international litigation. The work of the Hague Conference on Private International Law in these areas will also be considered. Students will be expected to complete a short paper (3-4 pages) each week of the course, based on the reading material distributed. The remainder of the assessment will be based on class participation. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Two short papers (50%) and class participation (50%) | |
| Governance And Control Of The Multinational Business Enterprise (Gladden, Joseph R.) This course meets October 13 - 29. This course examines the methods for internal governance and control of the multi-national business enterprise with emphasis on internal structure, enterprise culture, local and regional legal regimes, the significance of business and economic environments, public opinion and politics, and selected legal issues. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
PREREQUISITE: Corporations or Corporations (Law & Business)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Graduate Legal Research And Writing (Luu, Xinh T.; McCollum, Robb M.) Designed for LL.M. students unfamiliar with the U.S. legal system, this course introduces students to the fundamentals of U.S. legal research materials, methods, and strategies as well as various forms of legal writing. The research component, focuses on finding major sources of U.S. law (i.e., jurisprudence, legislation and administrative law), using primarily electronic resources available in the public domain. The writing component, co-taught with an instructor of the University’s Center for American English and Culture, focuses on drafting concise, coherent and persuasive legal arguments (covering style, vocabulary, sentence structure, and grammar as needed). Through an integrated approach to research and writing, the course will begin with (1) research exercises; followed by (2) case briefing, analysis, and synthesis; and culminating in (3) short assignments including practice exams and an opinion letter on a comparative law topic. Students will receive timely feedback on every assignment. Individual consultation will be offered as needed. Weekly research or writing assignments will be required. Graduate Legal Research and Writing is required for those who score below a certain score on the English placement test to be administered to non-native English speakers by the University during orientation. However, native English speakers and those who score above a certain level on the English placement test are welcome, but not required, to enroll in the course if they wish. We are confident that this course will prove to be invaluable to students when they do their regular class work, in helping them when they undertake to meet the upper class writing requirement, and in their future professional endeavors. COURE REQUIREMENT: Weekly research or writing assignments | |
| Graduate Legal Research And Writing (Luu, Xinh T.; McCollum, Robb M.) Designed for LL.M. students unfamiliar with the U.S. legal system, this course introduces students to the fundamentals of U.S. legal research materials, methods, and strategies as well as various forms of legal writing. The research component, focuses on finding major sources of U.S. law (i.e., jurisprudence, legislation and administrative law), using primarily electronic resources available in the public domain. The writing component, co-taught with an instructor of the University’s Center for American English and Culture, focuses on drafting concise, coherent and persuasive legal arguments (covering style, vocabulary, sentence structure, and grammar as needed). Through an integrated approach to research and writing, the course will begin with (1) research exercises; followed by (2) case briefing, analysis, and synthesis; and culminating in (3) short assignments including practice exams and an opinion letter on a comparative law topic. Students will receive timely feedback on every assignment. Individual consultation will be offered as needed. Weekly research or writing assignments will be required. Graduate Legal Research and Writing is required for those who score below a certain score on the English placement test to be administered to non-native English speakers by the University during orientation. However, native English speakers and those who score above a certain level on the English placement test are welcome, but not required, to enroll in the course if they wish. We are confident that this course will prove to be invaluable to students when they do their regular class work, in helping them when they undertake to meet the upper class writing requirement, and in their future professional endeavors. COURE REQUIREMENT: Weekly research or writing assignments | |
| Hallmarks Of Distinguished Advocacy (Sayler, Robert W.; Shadel, Molly B.) This course treats oral advocacy as an effort to persuade any audience of the merits of a cause or proposal and of the credibility of the proponent. Each session consists of two roughly equal parts, an instruction segment and a learn-by-doing exercise. The first hour will focus on a discreet aspect of advocacy featuring presentations and demonstrations by one or more seasoned oral advocates interspersed with videotape selections from famous actual or movie-version trials, other famous and infamous oral presentations (inaugural addresses, “I Have a Dream,” and others), audio tapes from Supreme Court arguments and other materials designed to illustrate both superb and disastrous oral work. The second hour of each class will give the students an opportunity to perform, and be critiqued on, short oral advocacy exercises. The first seven weeks treat advocacy in settings outside the courtroom. The instruction and readings will deal with common features of all good advocacy; the student presentations will focus on a variety of non-trial performances—client presentations, advocacy of policy positions, informal and formal speeches. The last half deals with advocacy in the most common trial settings—direct and cross-examination, opening statements, closing arguments and appellate advocacy. All presentations will be videotaped with a brief critique of general applicability during class and detailed individual video review critiquing during office hours. During the last half we will also focus on the use and misuse of demonstratives and high-tech graphics and the relationship between written and oral advocacy. There will be limited readings from the literature of the ancient rhetoricians, psychologists, jury consultants and other communications professionals. MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Oral Presentations In and Out of the Courtroom, Persuasion for Advocates
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Twelve oral presentations | |
| Hallmarks Of Distinguished Advocacy (Sayler, Robert W.; Shadel, Molly B.) This course treats oral advocacy as an effort to persuade any audience of the merits of a cause or proposal and of the credibility of the proponent. Each session consists of two roughly equal parts, an instruction segment and a learn-by-doing exercise. The first hour will focus on a discreet aspect of advocacy featuring presentations and demonstrations by one or more seasoned oral advocates interspersed with videotape selections from famous actual or movie-version trials, other famous and infamous oral presentations (inaugural addresses, “I Have a Dream,” and others), audio tapes from Supreme Court arguments and other materials designed to illustrate both superb and disastrous oral work. The second hour of each class will give the students an opportunity to perform, and be critiqued on, short oral advocacy exercises. The first seven weeks treat advocacy in settings outside the courtroom. The instruction and readings will deal with common features of all good advocacy; the student presentations will focus on a variety of non-trial performances—client presentations, advocacy of policy positions, informal and formal speeches. The last half deals with advocacy in the most common trial settings—direct and cross-examination, opening statements, closing arguments and appellate advocacy. All presentations will be videotaped with a brief critique of general applicability during class and detailed individual video review critiquing during office hours. During the last half we will also focus on the use and misuse of demonstratives and high-tech graphics and the relationship between written and oral advocacy. There will be limited readings from the literature of the ancient rhetoricians, psychologists, jury consultants and other communications professionals. MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Oral Presentations In and Out of the Courtroom, Persuasion for Advocates
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Twelve oral presentations | |
| Historic Preservation Law (Wenger, Larry B.) The seminar reviews the structure of historic preservation law in the U.S. at the federal, state, and local level, and the policy issues facing governmental units regarding the preservation of historic buildings and sites. Comparisons are made to programs in other countries and to efforts undertaken at the international level to foster preservation. The course includes visits to area preservation sites. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Housing Law Clinic (Yr) (Castaneda, Brenda E.; Conover, John; Whiteley, R. P.) Offered in conjunction with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the clinic includes both a seminar and supervised client representation in housing-related cases and matters. The caseload includes trials and administrative proceedings in addition to other matters for indigent clients. Issues arise under private landlord-tenant contracts, federally subsidized rental programs and anti-discrimination statutes such as the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Students handle eviction cases, rent escrow cases, grievance hearings, abatement of substandard building conditions, and other enforcement of residents' rights. Under the supervision of an attorney, all students perform the lawyer functions associated with their cases, including client and witness interviews, factual development, legal research, preparation of pleadings, and negotiation. Although the clinic is open to 2L and 3Ls, only those students with Third-Year Practice certification are eligible for actual for courtroom advocacy. Client representation and supervision at Legal Aid is yearlong. The seminar designed to teach basic landlord/tenant law meets in the only in the fall. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at the first class meeting is important; contact the instructor if attendance is a problem. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITES: Second- or third-year status. Negotiation Institute recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Students will draft a defensive pleading, a pleading for administrative litigation, a substantive motion, and a pleading for affirmative litigation of housing issues | |
| Immigration Law Clinic (Ford, Douglas B.) This semester-long clinic will be offered in conjunction with the Legal Aid Justice Center. Students will have a variety of responsibilities in the Clinic where they will be learning to make critical legal judgments. Students will be assigned several clients, and each will handle at least one complicated case involving extensive client interviewing, factual investigation, and legal brief(s). Clients come from diverse backgrounds and frequently have unusual factual scenarios that bring them to the doors of Legal Aid. Students will be expected to work with the clients and understand what they want and what we can pursue for them through available legal mechanisms. The Clinic and Legal Aid are more than free counsel for qualifying clients, but a community service providing an orientation to basic rights and available services to walk-ins and the wider community. Women victims of violence are a priority at Legal Aid. Such victims can have avenues to legal status, sometimes through asylum, but also through remedies made possible by the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), including a “U” visa” for victims of crimes. In another category of cases, we have clients appealing denials of applications for status, clients appealing for special categorization or procedures or clients who have cases complicated by past criminal or immigration history. Such cases can require coordination with law enforcement and/or social services agencies. For example, we have represented one child where deportation proceedings needed to be prolonged in order to make administrative appeals to another agency seeking status for the client. Students will be expected to keep office hours at LAJC for half a day per week and will have responsibility for handling some of the cold-call inquiries received at Legal Aid. We make a particular effort to assist the undocumented or at least ensure those that come to our doors understand what rights and options they do and do not have. Much of this work is with Latin Americans with limited English and Spanish language ability is a plus. Students will interview these potential clients, assess legal options and make critical judgments regarding strength of the possible case, needs of the client, and fit with Clinic/Legal Aid priorities in order to recommend whether to take the case. In addition, students are expected to have some flexibility to accommodate the schedules of clients. The Clinic will meet for a weekly seminar for the beginning of the semester. We will begin with a review of core concepts in the immigration field and the counseling of clients, and then review in more depth specific substantive forms of relief needed for our clients. We will cover skills needed in the Clinic, such as eliciting information from abuse victims and working through cultural differences. APPLICATION PROCESS: Interested students MUST submit an application consisting of a resume and a brief, (paragraph or two) statement outlining reasons for taking | |
| Innocence Project Clinic (Yr) (Enright, Deirdre M.) Students in this yearlong clinic will be investigating potential wrongful convictions of incarcerated individuals in the state of Virginia. Some of the cases will have forensic evidence (usually DNA) that could potentially be tested, and two will be non-DNA cases. Clinic students will work on cases both in teams and in individual capacities, and will be directed and assisted by the clinic director and an investigator, but as clinic students gain competence and expertise, they may earn the opportunity for more independence. Although the clinic will have a classroom component, there will be a heavy focus on extracurricular work – interviewing potential clients and witnesses, general investigation, reviewing case files, collecting records, searching court files and more. Students should have at least one full weekday to devote to investigation. Students will earn eight credits for the year. Interested students should anticipate that the clinic will require a minimum of 15 hours per week, and that these hours may require weekends and evenings. Students will likely be visiting inmates at correctional centers, and conducting investigation in a wide variety of socioeconomic settings accompanied by the clinic director, the investigator or another student. ONCE ENROLLED IN THE CLINIC, YOU MAY NOT DROP THE COURSE. Interested students must apply and be accepted to enroll in the clinic. To do so, please forward a resume, an unofficial transcript and a brief letter explaining your interest in this clinic to Professor Enright (deirdre@virginia.edu) no later than June 19, 2009 at 5 pm. Selected students will be notified via e-mail by Friday, June 26, 2009. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITE: Second- or third-year status. Criminal Procedure and Evidence recommended, but not required. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Interviewing potential clients and witnesses, general investigation, reviewing case files, collecting records, searching court files and more. | |
| International Banking Transactions (Fritzen, Christof) This course meets September 7 - 17. This course is an introduction by a former banker and lawyer into basic international banking products and transactions, such as deposits, forwards, futures, swaps, options, project financing and securitizations. Discussions will focus on the purpose of these transactions, their economic / financial workings, legal requirements, documentation and advisory needs and will give an introduction into regulatory aspects driving these transactions. Materials will be provided and will include samples of real-life documentation, landmark cases, negotiation instructions, and other readings. No in-depth financial and/or banking knowledge required. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
PREREQUISITE: Corporations useful, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| International Human Rights Law Clinic (Hurwitz, Deena R.) This semester-long clinic gives students first-hand experience in human rights advocacy working in partnership with non-governmental organizations (NGOs)* and human rights law firms in the U.S. and abroad. Clinic projects are selected to build the knowledge and skills necessary to be an effective human rights lawyer; to integrate the theory and practice of human rights; and to expose students to a range of human rights practices. Students collaborate on two projects in small teams, and have direct contact with the partner-clients. Class discussions focus on human rights law concepts and advocacy, and the legal, strategic, ethical, and theoretical issues raised by the project work. The Clinic provides substantial opportunity to develop international law research and writing skills. Fall 2009 semester projects may include: comparative legal analysis (national and international law) for Iraqi parliamentarians working to strengthen rights-respecting law reform; contributing to civil litigation emanating from U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan (e.g., private security contractor abuses), security detention practice (e.g., Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib), and other Alien Tort Statute cases; documenting cases and conflict of law issues where the constitutional guarantees to equality and non-discrimination co-exist with Islamic and customary law and practice with respect to women’s lives in Muslim countries. Interested students are welcome to contact Professor Hurwitz about other possible projects. For a list of past Clinic projects, see http://www.law.virginia.edu/pdf/hr/clinic_projects.pdf * There is no direct client representation in this clinic. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester (on a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering)
PREREQUISITE: Second- or third-year or second-semester LLM status. Previous course work in International Human Rights Law and/or International Law preferred and strongly recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: In addition to regularly scheduled class sessions, project teams will meet at mutually agreed upon times. Substantial international human rights related research, advocacy, and legal writing. | |
| International Law (Moore, John N.) The practice of law today, in an era of globalization, requires a rich understanding of the basic principles of international law. This course provides an overview of a diverse range of problems arising in private and governmental practice that are affected by international law. The course begins by exploring the nature and sources of international law, foreign relations law of the United States, and treaties and international agreements. It then moves to an examination of the use of force: international law in conflict settings, the general principles of peaceful relations, and the Law of the Sea. It presents background and detailed studies of human rights and the rule of law, the environment and common areas, international economic issues, and peaceful settlement of disputes. It wraps up with a discussion of newer challenges, globalization, and efforts to build a more stable world order. The course typically invites one or more outside experts to meet with the class, such as a former president of the International Court of Justice. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| International Law (Verdier, Pierre-Hugues) This course is the basic offering in international legal studies, with an emphasis on public international law. It will cover the basic features of the international legal order, including topics such as: the nature and sources of international law; the relationship between international law and domestic law; statehood, international jurisdiction and sovereign immunity; the law of treaties; and dispute settlement. It will also provide an introduction to selected substantive areas of international law, including the use of armed force, human rights, and the protection of foreign investment. It will incorporate discussion of current events, and will consider international legal rules not only in isolation but also as a product of international and domestic politics. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| International Patent Law And Policy (Bagley, Margo A.) This course will provide an introduction to key aspects of the international patent system and to concerns animating a variety of controversies regarding patents in areas such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and software. The value of patents is increasing in many areas while at the same time the scope of patent-eligible subject matter is expanding. We will explore the impact of these forces in the creation of international agreements concerning patents, such as the Paris Convention, Patent Cooperation Treaty, Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, the Convention on Biological Diversity and various bilateral agreements. Against the backdrop of the U.S patent system, we also will consider facets of other national and regional patent systems and the efforts and challenges associated with patent law harmonization efforts on a variety of fronts. PREREQUISITE: Patent Law recommended, but not required
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: International Patent Law and Policy Seminar
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Paper required | |
| International Taxation (Yale, Ethan) A survey of the income tax aspects of (1) foreign income earned by U.S. persons and entities, and (2) U.S. income earned by foreign persons and entities. The principal focus will be on the U.S. tax system, but some attention will be devoted to adjustments made between tax regimes of different countries through tax credits and tax treaties. The political and economic forces underlying the evolution of these rules will also be considered. PREREQUISITE: Federal Income Tax
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| International Trade Law And Policy (Ragosta, John A.) From Seattle protests to farm subsidies, nations both love and fear international trade. This course introduces the institutions and rules governing trade between sovereign states. Policy perspectives are taken from international economic theory and theories of international relations. The focus is the emergent World Trade Organization, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and various institutions of U.S. trade policy. The course also considers the impact of trade policy on the environment, labor, and competition policy. NOTE: Laptops prohibited during class sessions. PREREQUISITE: International Law recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Jurisprudence (Schauer, Frederick) This is an introductory course in the enduring concepts and themes of legal theory and legal reasoning. The course will include in-depth treatment of the natural law and positivist traditions, the moral obligation (or not) to obey the law, the foundations of a legal order, the sources of law, the nature of legal authority, the claims of legal realism, and the central ideas of legal reasoning and legal argument, including rules, precedent, analogy, authorities, statutory interpretation, and common-law reasoning. Readings will include books and articles by H.L.A. Hart, Lon Fuller, Ronald Dworkin, Joseph Raz, Hans Kelsen, Karl Llewellyn, Nicola Lacey, and the instructor, among others. Grades will be based on six short (1000 words each) papers, to be chosen by the student from fourteen weekly assignments. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Six short papers | |
| Land Use Law (Cannon, Jonathan Z.) This course will explore the regulation of land use, with an emphasis on the constitutional and environmental dimensions of land use law. The course will begin with the elements of the land development and regulation process, including the basics of planning and zoning. We will then address the following topics, among others: constitutional constraints on land use regulation, including those imposed by the First Amendment and the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause; housing discrimination on the grounds of race and income; environmental justice issues, including regional obligations to accommodate “locally undesirable land uses”; environmental law as a constraint on land use; and land use law as environmental regulation. We will use our consideration of these topics to explore the public institutions that affect land use and the relationships among those institutions, markets, and citizen organizations. Although the course will focus primarily on the regulation of land, we will also address public ownership and private alternatives to regulation. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Launching The Enterprise: Topics In The Start-Up Of A Biotech Company (Gaines, Weaver H.) This course meets October 12 - October 22. An introduction to the entrepreneurial process involved in the start up of a biotechnology company that has been formed to commercialize a university discovery. The course will provide insight into the peculiar issues of the financing of a biotechnology company and will touch on the entrepreneur's evaluation of a scientific opportunity, the business issues in negotiating and drafting a patent license term sheet, the key elements of the business plan, and developing and delivering a power point presentation to potential investors. Materials will include selected peer-reviewed journal articles and real-life documents related to the founding and financing of a biotechnology company. Students will deliver an “elevator speech,” and, working in teams, will negotiate a term sheet for a license agreement with the university, prepare an executive summary of a business plan, and prepare and deliver an investor presentation. Grades will be based on class participation (opportunity screen, role-playing patent license negotiation, delivery of “elevator speech,” and investor presentation), written business plan executive summary (2-3 pages), and PowerPoint investor presentation (12 slides). ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Elevator speech, Business Plan Executive Summary, and a PowerPoint presentation | |
| Law And Economcs Colloquium (Yr) (Barzuza, Michal; Fischman, Joshua) Each meeting a leading scholar will present a working paper in law and economics. These workshops are also open to the faculty and other interested students. Students must write short critiques of the papers and are expected to engage in the discussion. The critiques are due at the beginning of each workshop. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Weekly critiques | |
| Law And Ethics Of Human Subject Research (Riley, Margaret F.; Shepherd, Lois L.) This seminar, specifically designed to be interdisciplinary, is open to graduate students in bioethics, nursing, and public health sciences, law students, and medical school junior faculty and fellows. We will begin with a brief look at the origins of the current system for regulating human subjects research and the ethical and legal frameworks that have evolved to assist with that regulation. We will explore central issues like risk-benefit assessment, informed consent, confidentiality, diversity in subject populations and how subjects are recruited and retained. We will also look into concerns raised by international research such as recruitment of poor and underserved populations and equitable access to the results of the research. We will examine some of the issues raised by new technologies such as genomics and personalized medicine, stem cell research and genetic engineering, nanotechnology and synthetic biology. Finally, we will explore how the changing economics of research creates both conflicts of interest and potentially increased innovation. NOTE: This course will meet in the new Nursing School building. There is ample free parking near the building. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Law And Higher Education (Kast, Richard C.) This seminar focuses on the areas of the law with particular application to the operations of institutions of higher education. Topics include institutional governance and policy-making; faculty and student rights and responsibilities; constitutional issues involving application of the guarantees of the First, Fourth and 14th Amendments; civil rights issues including diversity and affirmative action, the rights of the disabled, and gender-based issues; liability issues in the institutional setting; research-related issues; issues concerning affiliated entities; and the legal implications of increasing technology in higher education. PREREQUISITE: Constitutional Law helpful, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper or a shorter paper with an oral presentation | |
| Law Firm As A Business Organization (Hixon, Samuel W.) This course is an overview of the historical, economic and sociological factors that have shaped – and continue to shape how the practice of law evolves in the modern legal market place. The central focus is the law firm as a business organization. This course will cover to varying degrees the following general topics: (1) The differences between practices and law firms that represents corporations, institutions and businesses and firm’s that provide personal services to individuals and small businesses. (2) The economics of the practice of law and how entering associates are affected by it. (3) Those factors involved in the promotion to the partner level, including the economic factors affecting how and why some associates rise to the level of partners and some do not. (4) The evolving concept of alternatives to full partnership. (5) The issues of gender and racial equality facing law firms. (6) Are there really a special class of firms that operate outside the established law firm system, and if so, what are they? (7) What is expected of an associate in a business law firm? The over-arching issue will be the factors that face a business oriented law firm in today’s environment. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Students wishing to enroll in the seminar, whether enrolled or not, must attend the first class session. Enrolled students who do not attend the first class session will be dropped. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A final paper on a topic approved by the instructor | |
| Legal And Moral Reasoning In Public Policy (Bonnie, Richard J.; Childress, James F.) This seminar will explore uses of legal and moral analysis in the American political culture through case studies of current policy problems. The range of possible case studies includes organ transplantation, tobacco control, immunization, mental health policy, and physician-assisted suicide. Co-listed in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the course is required for students earning a masters degree in public policy, and will be designed to introduce them to the basic structure of American law, while exposing law students to the fundamental tools of policy analysis. The instructors, an ethicist and a lawyer, are practitioners of public policy, especially in the field of bioethics and health policy, and the case studies will draw upon their own experience, including problems on which they have worked together. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Legal Research And Writing (Yr) (A) (Moran, Karen M.) This is a required first-year course. The basic skills course in the first-year curriculum, Legal Research and Writing covers fundamental legal research techniques, two styles of legal writing, and oral advocacy. In the fall semester, students complete various research and citation exercises and write three office memoranda of increasing length and complexity. In the spring semester, students write an appellate brief and present an appellate oral argument before a panel of alumni, faculty, and Dillard Fellows (upperclass teaching assistants). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Office memoranda (fall); appellate brief and oral argument (spring) | |
| Legal Research And Writing (Yr) (B) (Moran, Karen M.) This is a required first-year course. The basic skills course in the first-year curriculum, Legal Research and Writing covers fundamental legal research techniques, two styles of legal writing, and oral advocacy. In the fall semester, students complete various research and citation exercises and write three office memoranda of increasing length and complexity. In the spring semester, students write an appellate brief and present an appellate oral argument before a panel of alumni, faculty, and Dillard Fellows (upperclass teaching assistants). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Office memoranda (fall); appellate brief and oral argument (spring) | |
| Legal Research And Writing (Yr) (C) (Buck, Donna R.) This is a required first-year course. The basic skills course in the first-year curriculum, Legal Research and Writing covers fundamental legal research techniques, two styles of legal writing, and oral advocacy. In the fall semester, students complete various research and citation exercises and write three office memoranda of increasing length and complexity. In the spring semester, students write an appellate brief and present an appellate oral argument before a panel of alumni, faculty, and Dillard Fellows (upperclass teaching assistants). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Office memoranda (fall); appellate brief and oral argument (spring) | |
| Legal Research And Writing (Yr) (D) (Moran, Karen M.) This is a required first-year course. The basic skills course in the first-year curriculum, Legal Research and Writing covers fundamental legal research techniques, two styles of legal writing, and oral advocacy. In the fall semester, students complete various research and citation exercises and write three office memoranda of increasing length and complexity. In the spring semester, students write an appellate brief and present an appellate oral argument before a panel of alumni, faculty, and Dillard Fellows (upperclass teaching assistants). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Office memoranda (fall); appellate brief and oral argument (spring) | |
| Legal Research And Writing (Yr) (E) (Buck, Donna R.) This is a required first-year course. The basic skills course in the first-year curriculum, Legal Research and Writing covers fundamental legal research techniques, two styles of legal writing, and oral advocacy. In the fall semester, students complete various research and citation exercises and write three office memoranda of increasing length and complexity. In the spring semester, students write an appellate brief and present an appellate oral argument before a panel of alumni, faculty, and Dillard Fellows (upperclass teaching assistants). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Office memoranda (fall); appellate brief and oral argument (spring) | |
| Legal Research And Writing (Yr) (F) (Stewart, Sarah) This is a required first-year course. The basic skills course in the first-year curriculum, Legal Research and Writing covers fundamental legal research techniques, two styles of legal writing, and oral advocacy. In the fall semester, students complete various research and citation exercises and write three office memoranda of increasing length and complexity. In the spring semester, students write an appellate brief and present an appellate oral argument before a panel of alumni, faculty, and Dillard Fellows (upperclass teaching assistants). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Office memoranda (fall); appellate brief and oral argument (spring) | |
| Legal Research And Writing (Yr) (G) (Buck, Donna R.) This is a required first-year course. The basic skills course in the first-year curriculum, Legal Research and Writing covers fundamental legal research techniques, two styles of legal writing, and oral advocacy. In the fall semester, students complete various research and citation exercises and write three office memoranda of increasing length and complexity. In the spring semester, students write an appellate brief and present an appellate oral argument before a panel of alumni, faculty, and Dillard Fellows (upperclass teaching assistants). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Office memoranda (fall); appellate brief and oral argument (spring) | |
| Legal Research And Writing (Yr) (H) (Stewart, Sarah) This is a required first-year course. The basic skills course in the first-year curriculum, Legal Research and Writing covers fundamental legal research techniques, two styles of legal writing, and oral advocacy. In the fall semester, students complete various research and citation exercises and write three office memoranda of increasing length and complexity. In the spring semester, students write an appellate brief and present an appellate oral argument before a panel of alumni, faculty, and Dillard Fellows (upperclass teaching assistants). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Office memoranda (fall); appellate brief and oral argument (spring) | |
| Legal Research And Writing (Yr) (I) (Buck, Donna R.) This is a required first-year course. The basic skills course in the first-year curriculum, Legal Research and Writing covers fundamental legal research techniques, two styles of legal writing, and oral advocacy. In the fall semester, students complete various research and citation exercises and write three office memoranda of increasing length and complexity. In the spring semester, students write an appellate brief and present an appellate oral argument before a panel of alumni, faculty, and Dillard Fellows (upperclass teaching assistants). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Office memoranda (fall); appellate brief and oral argument (spring) | |
| Legal Research And Writing (Yr) (J) (Moran, Karen M.) This is a required first-year course. The basic skills course in the first-year curriculum, Legal Research and Writing covers fundamental legal research techniques, two styles of legal writing, and oral advocacy. In the fall semester, students complete various research and citation exercises and write three office memoranda of increasing length and complexity. In the spring semester, students write an appellate brief and present an appellate oral argument before a panel of alumni, faculty, and Dillard Fellows (upperclass teaching assistants). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Office memoranda (fall); appellate brief and oral argument (spring) | |
| Legal Research And Writing (Yr) (K) (Stewart, Sarah) This is a required first-year course. The basic skills course in the first-year curriculum, Legal Research and Writing covers fundamental legal research techniques, two styles of legal writing, and oral advocacy. In the fall semester, students complete various research and citation exercises and write three office memoranda of increasing length and complexity. In the spring semester, students write an appellate brief and present an appellate oral argument before a panel of alumni, faculty, and Dillard Fellows (upperclass teaching assistants). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Office memoranda (fall); appellate brief and oral argument (spring) | |
| Legal Research And Writing (Yr) (L) (Stewart, Sarah) This is a required first-year course. The basic skills course in the first-year curriculum, Legal Research and Writing covers fundamental legal research techniques, two styles of legal writing, and oral advocacy. In the fall semester, students complete various research and citation exercises and write three office memoranda of increasing length and complexity. In the spring semester, students write an appellate brief and present an appellate oral argument before a panel of alumni, faculty, and Dillard Fellows (upperclass teaching assistants). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Office memoranda (fall); appellate brief and oral argument (spring) | |
| Legal Theory In Europe And The United States: A Comparative Analysis (Duxbury, Neil T.) This course meets September 7 - 17. Have American and European legal theorists tended to raise the same sorts of questions about law? If they have not, what are the differences in perspective? Twentieth-century European legal theory was dominated by the question of what gives law its validity, whereas American legal theorists have been preoccupied with rather different questions. Yet in Europe and the United States, legal theorists have ultimately found themselves worrying about much the same set of problems. This short course is structured around two of these problems. The first of these concerns the notion of law as an autonomous entity. The American realist ideas that law is a form of politics, and that law might be profitably studied from the perspectives of other disciplines, took a long time to take hold in Europe. But what did Europeans do instead? The starting-point for the course is European legal positivism, the basic argument behind which is that the reason that laws are binding on citizens has little if anything to do with the moral content of those laws. We will consider the positivist approach alongside American legal realism. The second problem on which this course focuses – a problem that neither the European positivists nor the American legal realists handled particularly well – is that of what makes for good judicial decision-making. In this part of the course we will see how Europeans and Americans have adopted similar approaches to this problem, and how they have developed similarly controversial arguments. The course is designed to introduce American law students to a body of literature that they are unlikely to encounter elsewhere in their studies. It is anticipated that the course will provide students with broader perspectives on some of the problems encountered in other parts of their syllabus, and that it will familiarize them with arguments and literature that they might draw upon when studying, and completing assignments for, other law courses. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Legislation (Gilbert, Michael) Much of American law is codified in statutes and administrative regulations. Learning to parse and interpret these forms of law is comparable in importance and complexity to learning to read judicial opinions. This course will teach students these skills by reviewing the theory and practice of statutory interpretation. We will examine the lawmaking processes that produce statutes and regulations and discuss the analytical tools that courts use to interpret them, including the standard canons of construction. We will relate the practical discussions to important theoretical issues, such as the proper role of legislative history, the primacy of text, and the quandary produced when plain text yields absurd results. We will also consider specialized but important topics in statutory interpretation, such as how courts do – and how courts should – interpret ballot propositions drafted by interest groups and approved by voters. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Legislative Drafting And Public Policy (Kneedler, H L.) The course will meet August and September . We then take a five-week break until Thursday, October , for students to complete their research papers. The course will then meet each Wednesday and Thursday, October through December , for student presentations of legislative proposals. Each student will draft legislation and supporting documentation on an issue of particular interest to the student. Where possible, students will be put in touch with a member of the Virginia General Assembly or a staff member of the Division of Legislative Services (Virginia’s legislative drafting office) who is interested in the issue being researched by the student. Topics researched by students in past semesters include: domestic violence, euthanasia, affirmative action, two-term Governor in Virginia, sexual harassment, gun control, recycling, oil spill liability, migrant farm workers, hostile corporate takeovers, sexually transmitted diseases, fetal abuse, dram shop legislation, non-tidal wetlands, animal rights, campaign finance reform, conflicts of interest, joint custody, criminal record checks for child care workers, drug testing of public employees, surrogate parenting, workfare, the State lottery, hate-violence, and landlord-tenant law revisions. Each student will be required to prepare a draft statute, and a supporting commentary of usual seminar paper length. The first class meeting will be an introductory session. The next three sessions will cover political theory, lobbying, and statutory interpretation problems and techniques. The remaining 12 sessions will be devoted to consideration of specific legislative proposals prepared by students in the class. Each student presentation session will be conducted in the format of a legislative committee debate. All students will be expected to have read each proposal and supporting commentary. The student who prepared the proposal will present it for adoption, making whatever oral presentation in favor of the proposal he or she wishes. The remainder of the session will be devoted to a “committee” debate of the issue, with a view towards adopting the proposal or some amended version thereof. Following the session at which his or her proposal is discussed, each student will be required to prepare a final draft of his or her legislative proposal (not a re-write of the research paper) that incorporates amendments adopted by a majority vote of the “committee.” COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper, a final draft of a legislative proposal, and a class presentation | |
| Local Government Law (Schragger, Richard C.) Local government law examines both the theoretical bases for decentralized government and the specific functions of local governments in the American legal and political system. The course utilizes legal cases as well as political and social theory in considering the proper distribution of powers among federal, state, regional, and local institutions. Specific topics include: the formation and constitutional status of local and other non-State governments; the capacity of local governments to provide essential government services such as education and policing; the environmental impacts of local land use regulations paying special attention to issues of urban sprawl; the existing distribution of resources across metropolitan areas; and the impact of race on the structure of metropolitan governance. The primary readings for the course can be found in Frug, Ford, and Barron, Local Government Law. Grades will be based on a final exam (50%), class participation, and a very short analytical paper. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination, class participation, and a short analytical paper | |
| Lochner Era (Cushman, Barry J.) This seminar will examine significant developments in the areas of constitutional law governing social and economic regulation in the so-called "Lochner Era," extending roughly from 1880 to 1940. Attention will be given to restrictions on and changes in the scope of the federal powers to tax, to spend, and to regulate interstate commerce, as well as to limitations placed upon state and federal regulatory competence by the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, the Equal Protection Clause, the Tenth Amendment, and the Dormant Commerce Clause. We will seek to understand how these limitations and developments presented both obstacles and opportunities to regulatory reformers, how they constrained and shaped their legal strategies, and why they succeeded or failed in securing their regulatory objectives. Each student will be required to produce a substantial research paper on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor. NOTE: Laptops prohibited during class sessions. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Marriage In Law, Culture, And The Imagination (Abrams, Karen L.; Coughlin, Anne M.) What does the law tell us about marriage, and how does this compare to how marriage is shaped in the cultural imagination? Do law and culture reinforce one another—or are there conflicts? This seminar studies law relating to marriage (and associated topics, such as love, divorce, paternity, etc.) and explores the place of marriage, as legal, social, and cultural aspiration and means of regulation. Materials for study will include fictional texts, cultural analysis, and films, as well as legal cases. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at the first class meeting is mandatory; students who do not attend will be dropped. COURSE REQUIREMENT: 15-page take-home essay exam | |
| Medical Malpractice And Health Care Quality (Hafemeister, Thomas L.) This country is in the midst of an intense debate over health care reform. At the center of much of this debate is what should be the role of causes of action seeking damages for medical malpractice. Medical malpractice litigation is alternatively characterized as the bane of conscientious and highly competent health care providers or as an invaluable means to enhance the quality of health care and to compensate patients who receive inadequate care. This course will examine health care quality in the United States as seen through the lens of medical malpractice liability. Topics likely to be addressed include medical error, the liability of health care professionals, the physician-patient relationship (including informed consent), the liability of health care institutions, EMTALA, managed care liability and ERISA, and health care related tort reform. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Mental Health Law Clinic (Yr) (Gulotta, Alex R.; Veldhuis, Nathan J.) This yearlong clinical course is offered in conjunction with the Legal Aid Justice Center. Students will earn 8 credits – 3 in the fall and 5 in the spring. Students will represent mentally ill or mentally disabled clients in negotiations, administrative hearings, and court proceedings (to the extent permitted by law) on a variety of legal matters, including Social Security, Medicaid, and disability benefits claims; disability discrimination claims; access to housing; and access to mental health or rehabilitative services. Students also will address systemic issues related to the provision of community-based services, the rights of the institutionalized, and the interface between the civil justice and criminal justice systems. Instruction in the substantive law of these areas will be provided in a classroom component throughout the clinic as dictated by the needs of the clients. The classroom component will provide a forum for students to learn mental health and disability law pertinent to the cases they are handling, as well as for the discussion of practice and ethical issues arising in those cases. Topics relating to the nature of psychiatric diagnosis and mental disorders, client competence and surrogate decision-making for incompetent clients, and the relationship between the criminal and civil justice systems will also be addressed. Under the supervision of an attorney, students will directly perform all the lawyerly functions associated with their cases, including client and witness interviews, factual development, legal research, preparation of documents and pleadings, and negotiation and advocacy in administrative forums and courts. Students will meet weekly with the supervising attorney to receive case supervision, along with instruction concerning client interviewing and counseling, negotiation, and case preparation. The supervising attorney will accompany each student to all administrative proceedings and court appearances. In addition to representing individual clients, students will have the opportunity to engage in mental health advocacy at a systemic level, which may involve policy analysis and the development of policy proposals or proposed legislation, class action litigation, or advocacy work with community agencies. Students enrolled in the clinic are encouraged, but not required, to enroll in the Mental Health Law course. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITE: Second- or third-year status | |
| Mergers And Acquisitions (Dooley, Michael P.) This course focuses on the role of law and lawyers in the evaluation, design and implementation of corporate acquisitive transactions, including mergers, asset sales, share exchanges, and tender offers. Primary attention will be devoted to corporate and securities law issues relevant to mergers and acquisitions, including the Williams Act; state statutory and case law; as well as important forms of private ordering such as poison pills, lockups, earnouts, and the allocation of risks by the acquisition agreement. Relevant accounting and tax issues will be covered, albeit more briefly. PREREQUISITE or CONCURRENT: Corporations or Corporations (Law & Business)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Mergers And Acquisitions: Corporate Finance Perspectives (Cory, Charles R.) NOTE: This short course meets on the following Tuesdays and Thursdays: September 29; October 1, 8, 13, 15, 20, 27, 29 AND Wednesday, October 21. This course will explore merger and acquisition activity primarily from the perspective of the corporate actors (management and board of directors) and their investment banking and legal advisors. Emphasis is on a practical introduction to mergers and acquisitions of publicly-traded companies. We will discuss valuation techniques in acquisitions using tools from corporate finance, as well as examine pro forma financial effects of such transactions. We will also engage a number of policy topics. What strategic rationales drive merger activity, and are they analytically sound? How does a board determine if a deal was successful? How do stock market investors look at merger activity, and how should they? Students will investigate basic parts of the transaction tool kit used to structure transactions. The course will employ a wide variety of readings and source documents from current transactions and, importantly, class discussion to address these issues. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is required
PREREQUISITE: Accounting/Corporate Finance or equivalent undergraduate, graduate or practical training (may be taken concurrently), Corporations or Corporations (Law & Business) recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| National Security Law (Harrison, John C.) This course covers the legal structure governing the national security activities of the United States government. Its primary focus is on military and intelligence functions, though it will touch on other areas, such as immigration, in which the law reflects national security considerations. The course is mainly concerned with the domestic law of the United States, and will deal with international law, such as the law governing the use of force and the conduct of war, with a view to its interaction with this country's legal system. With respect to the military, leading topics include the constitutional and statutory rules that govern the decision to use force and in particular the allocation of authority between Congress and the President, and the rules that govern the conduct of military operations, including the rules that define war crimes. Some attention will be given to the law affecting the military in peacetime, including arms control. With respect to intelligence activities, the primary topics are the law governing the authorization, funding, and oversight of intelligence and counter-intelligence operations, and the rules that protect private interests, especially interests in informational privacy. A recurring theme will be the use of military and intelligence methods and agencies, as opposed to law enforcement methods and agencies, in dealing with terrorism. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Negotiation Institute (Craver, Charles B.) This course meets from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on two consecutive Saturdays, October 24 and 31, 2009. This course examines the negotiation process employed regularly by legal practitioners. It covers the different stages of the negotiation process, negotiator styles, verbal and non-verbal communication, negotiation techniques, the impact of gain/loss framing on participant risk aversion, and other factors that influence negotiation interactions. The course evaluates the negotiation process from both a theoretical and a practical perspective. Distributive and cooperative bargaining encounters are explored to demonstrate the relevance of both. The impact of cultural stereotypes is explored, with an analysis of public and private international negotiation transactions. Students will engage in a number of negotiation exercises designed to highlight various factors relevant to bargaining interactions. The course is graded on a Credit/No-Credit basis and the credit will be included in calculating the 86 credits required for graduation. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance during the entire class sessions is mandatory. NOTE: Students who miss even a portion of a Saturday session will receive an NC (No Credit) grade. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Students will participate in negotiation exercises during both Saturday class sessions and complete a negotiation exercise during the week between the two Saturday class sessions | |
| Nonprofit Clinic (Yr) (Boyd, Tara R.; Hench, Allen E.) Offered in conjunction with the Legal Aid Justice Center, students in this yearlong clinic will advise and work directly with local nonprofit organizations on matters such as initial formation, establishing tax-exempt status, ongoing legal compliance and good corporate governance. Class sessions structured around a “legal health checkup” for a typical nonprofit organization will complement practical work for clients. Client communication, organization and document editing skills will be an important part of the course. National corporate law principles applicable to nonprofit organizations will be the focus and emphasis, but specific Virginia requirements will be included in the coverage as part of the clinical services component of the class. PREREQUISITE or CONCURRENT: Second- or third-year status. Corporations or Corporations (Law & Business)
ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Regular contact with clients and supervisors; relevant readings and research; preparation of corporate documents and IRS forms; timekeeping; memoranda summarizing client work | |
| Nonprofit Organizations (Kordana, Kevin A.) A study of nonprofit firms and the nonprofit sector. Topics include a survey of the role of nonprofits, theories and justifications of the nonprofit form, nonprofit statutes and other laws pertaining to nonprofits (e.g., the regulation of charitable solicitations), the formation, operation and dissolution of nonprofits, and tax and tax policy issues related to nonprofits. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Oral Presentations In And Out Of The Courtroom (Sayler, Robert W.; Shadel, Molly B.) This course meets August 31 - October 1. This course is designed to help students improve their ability to communicate persuasively in the wide variety of settings in which non-litigators are called upon to speak including client meetings, business negotiations, and presentations to public agencies. Each class will consist of two components: lectures and demonstrations by faculty members, practicing attorneys, and professional communication consultants who will provide practical tips and insight on effective communication styles and strategies; followed by a workshop session in which students will be able to practice what they have learned by making oral presentations and receiving detailed feedback. The goal of the course is to provide all students—including those who do not consider themselves naturally gifted public speakers—the tools to become more capable and confident oral communicators. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Hallmarks of Distinguished Advocacy, Persuasion for Advocates
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Several oral presentations | |
| Partnership Tax (Yin, George K.) This course examines the federal income taxation of partnerships and their partners. The universe of businesses subject to partnership tax has been steadily increasing, and includes not only traditional partnerships and limited liability companies but also more exotic arrangements such as domestic and international joint ventures. The course emphasizes the policy choices that lend structure and coherence to many of the specific details of the law, and uses problems to illustrate the basic principles. Partnership transactions are considered in a building-block order, progressing from basic to more complex transactions, to help demonstrate that a given transaction may be structured in different ways to achieve different tax goals, and that the taxation of complex transactions to some extent flows naturally from how simpler ones are taxed. Because the course draws heavily from basic tax concepts, students should have already taken Federal Income Tax, but no other special background (e.g., accounting or partnership law) is necessary. PREREQUISITE: Federal Income Tax
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Patent And Licensing Clinic I (Sparks, Rodney L.) Instructor: Robert Decker The clinic involves instruction and practical training in patent drafting as well as the negotiation and drafting of patent and software license agreements. Students will participate in class sessions covering these topics and will be assigned to one or more significant drafting and counseling projects in one or both of these two areas. The clinic also covers evaluation of inventions and computer software for patentability and commercial value; counseling of U.Va. faculty inventors regarding patentability, inventorship, and the patenting process; preparation, filing and prosecution of provisional U.S. patent applications; dealing with patent examiners; and researching current issues in the fields of intellectual property and technology transfer. Some exposure to international patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty may be possible. Resolution of disputes with licensees and possible infringers will be undertaken where appropriate. Several class sessions will be scheduled early in the semester at a mutually convenient time. Students will work in the office of the University of Virginia Patent Foundation six to eight hours per week. A technical background is highly recommended. Students will be asked to provide the instructor with a statement relating to technical background (scientific, mathematical, computer, etc.) to aid in the assignment process. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITE: Intellectual Property: Patent
COURSE REQUIREMENT: National patent application draft | |
| Patent And Licensing Clinic Ii (Sparks, Rodney L.) Instructor: Robert Decker The second semester of the Patent and Licensing Clinic involves many of the same projects as P&L I, but in this clinic, the student can choose to work exclusively with patent attorneys drafting, filing, and prosecuting patent applications (and associated tasks like prior art searches and evaluations, meeting with faculty inventors, preparing information disclosure statements, etc.), or working exclusively with licensing agents to draft license agreements, negotiate licensing terms and conditions, prepare confidentiality agreements and marketing documents. Clinic participants may also evaluate inventions and computer software for patentability and commercial value; counsel U.Va. faculty inventors regarding patentability, inventorship, and the patenting process; prepare, file, and prosecute provisional U.S. patent applications; deal with patent examiners; and research current issues in the fields of intellectual property and technology transfer. Some exposure to international patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty may be possible. Resolution of disputes with licensees and possible infringers will be undertaken where appropriate. Students will work in the office of the University of Virginia Patent Foundation approximately six hours per week on fairly flexible schedule. A technical background is helpful but not required. Students will be asked to provide the instructor with a statement relating to technical background (scientific, mathematical, computer, etc.) to aid in the assignment process. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITE: Patent and Licensing Clinic I
COURSE REQUIREMENT: One of the following: national patent application, patent license agreement, or software license agreement | |
| Patent Law (Bagley, Margo A.) The availability and scope of patent protection is increasingly important in the knowledge economy. Advances in biotechnology, controversial uses of patent rights, and divergent court opinions are impacting this area in far-reaching ways. This course will explore many of these developments while maintaining a primary focus on the principal rules pertaining to patent protection and enforcement and the policies underlying these rules. Neither a technical nor scientific background is necessary for this course. PREREQUISITE: Property
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Professional Responsibility (Balnave, Richard D.) This course will examine selected areas of professional responsibility, including the creation and termination of the attorney-client relationship, the scope of representation, conflicts of interests, confidentiality, and the attorney’s ethical obligations during litigation. In addition, the course will address the attorney’s relationships with the courts, the organized bar, and the community. NOTE: This course satisfies the professional ethics course requirement for graduation and for those seeking Virginia third-year practice certification. MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Ethics, Integrity, and Avoiding "Club Fed” and Professional Responsibility in Public Interest Law Practice
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Professional Responsibility (Hylton, Joseph G.) This course will examine selected areas of professional responsibility, including the creation and termination of the attorney-client relationship, the scope of representation, conflicts of interests, confidentiality, and the attorney’s ethical obligations during litigation. In addition, the course will address the attorney’s relationships with the courts, the organized bar, and the community. NOTE: This course satisfies the professional ethics course requirement for graduation and for those seeking Virginia third-year practice certification. MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Ethics, Integrity, and Avoiding "Club Fed” and Professional Responsibility in Public Interest Law Practice
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Prosecution Clinic (Yr) (Huber, Ronald M.; Moore, Richard E.) This yearlong clinical course will expose students to all aspects of the prosecutorial function. Through a combination of classroom lectures and discussions, readings, guest speakers, and a field placement in one of several local participating prosecutors’ offices, students will explore a range of practical, ethical, and intellectual issues involved in the discharge of a prosecutor’s duties and responsibilities, including the exercise of discretion in the decision to initiate, prosecute, reduce, or drop charges, and sentencing; interaction between prosecutors and investigative agencies and law enforcement personnel; dealing with victims and other witnesses; and relationships with defense counsel. Ethical issues addressed may include: exculpatory evidence, duty not to prosecute on less than probable cause, cross-warrant situations, witness recantation and preparation, and improper argument at trial. Clinical field placements will be in the Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Offices for Charlottesville and Albemarle County, and 16 other surrounding Virginia jurisdictions within 30-75 minutes of Charlottesville, as well as the Charlottesville Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, and the Richmond Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District. Most of the students’ responsibilities and duties will be at the trial court or pre-trial level, but may include writing appellate briefs. Students will be assigned to one of these participating prosecutor’s offices for the entire academic year, and are expected to work there on pending cases or in court at least one day per week. It is expected that each student will work out a suitable schedule with the office to which he or she is assigned. Requests for particular offices may be able to be accommodated, but students must be willing to work in whatever office assigned. Students are expected to provide their own transportation, at their own expense. Slots in the United States Attorneys’ Offices are highly sought after, but be aware that typically clinic students do not get as much in-court experience in those offices as they do in state offices. Fall semester classroom time will focus on the more common misdemeanor charges students will likely be handling in court, and the various stages of a felony criminal case in Virginia—from obtaining the charge up through trial, sentencing, and appeal—to provide a framework within which to better understand the clinical placement experience. The lectures and discussion will cover issuance of warrants by a magistrate, arrest, first appearances, bond hearings, preliminary hearings, Grand Jury, suppression hearings, competence and sanity issues, motions in limine, and trial, as well as assisting the police during the investigative stage. Spring semester classroom time will be devoted to particular problems or issues that might arise in a criminal case, including specific difficulties encountered by students in their cases during the fall | |
| Psychiatry And Criminal Law (Hafemeister, Thomas L.) This interdisciplinary seminar will examine how the criminal justice system addresses defendants and offenders with a mental disorder. Issues likely to be addressed include: adjudicative competency (e.g., competence to stand trial, competence to waive rights); criminal responsibility (e.g., the insanity defense, diminished capacity); sentencing and the death penalty; sex offenders; juvenile offenders; and mental health expert testimony. Guest lectures will be provided by mental health professionals and legal practitioners. In addition to traditional seminar class sessions, the course will include the observation and discussion of live and videotaped forensic mental health evaluations conducted by the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Race And Law (Forde-Mazrui, Kim A.) With such watershed events in the civil rights movement as Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s, the eradication of racial subordination in America seemed an achievable goal. Yet, in America today, the condition of many African-Americans and of race relations continue to suffer and, indeed, have deteriorated in many respects. Whether the law has aided or impeded the cause of civil rights in the past, and the extent to which the law can help to resolve racial issues in the present and future, are questions of considerable controversy. This course will examine the response of law to racial issues in a variety of contemporary legal contexts, including affirmative action, criminal justice, voting rights, interracial relationships and adoption, and hate speech. The materials will consist of a mix of cases and scholarly commentary. Classes will center on candid discussion about the issues raised in the assigned materials. NOTE: Laptops prohibited during class sessions. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Students wishing to enroll in the seminar, whether enrolled or not, must attend the first class session. Enrolled students who do not attend the first class session will be dropped. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Real World Challenges And Pitfalls Of The Lawyer For The Corporation (Veasey, E N.) This is course meets September 14 - September 23. This practical and stimulating course focuses on the "Real World Challenges and Pitfalls of the Lawyer for the Corporation." The course will explore, among other problems: (a) the corporate lawyer's advice to directors on their fiduciary duties in various actual settings; (b) the legal and ethical dilemmas faced by corporate counsel in reporting both to the CEO and the Board when faced with the potential of corporate officer malfeasance (including an Enron case study); and (c) dealing with the myriad privilege and other problems in government and internal investigations. Fiduciary Duties of Corporate Directors and Officers
The Special Role of the Lawyer for the Corporation
Placing the Issues in Context
The Lawyer-Client Privilege, Work Product and Rules of Ethics in the Corporate Setting
The Lawyer’s Role in Avoiding Implications of Client Fraud: A Case Study of Enron ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
PREREQUISITE: Corporations or Corporations (Law & Business); Professional Responsibility or Professional Responsibility in Public Interest Law Practice or Ethics, Integrity, and Avoiding "Club Fed" (may be taken concurrently)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Paper required | |
| Rescue, Charity And Justice (Simmons, Alan J.) This course will explore the nature and the implications of the positive duties we owe to others (that is, the duties we have to positively assist others, not merely to refrain from directly harming them). Some deny that we have any positive moral duties at all and/or argue that legal and political institutions should never enforce such duties. Those who accept positive moral duties take a variety of positions on both the nature and extent of such duties and on the question of the acceptability of institutional enforcement of them. Theorists distinguish duties of rescue (duties to give aid to the imperiled in emergency situations), duties of charity (duties to assist in the longer-term project of providing others with the resources for living decent lives), and duties of justice (duties to help bring about a just – and, typically, a more equal – distribution of resources, both within and between societies). The course will consider possible philosophical foundations for such duties and arguments for and against creating or preserving positive legal duties. We will undertake substantial examinations of legal duties of rescue (“Good Samaritan laws”) and purported national moral and legal duties to aid impoverished countries or peoples. Readings will be primarily contemporary, drawn from legal theory and from moral and political philosophy. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination or a substantial research paper at student's option | |
| Retirement Security (Cummings, Frank; White, Thomas R.) Historically, retirement has been funded, directly or indirectly, through savings from the retiree’s working years. These benefits include both pension income and health benefits. In an era of international competition, employer funding for increasing numbers of retirees, and their dependents, and for more years in retirement, has become a heavy financial burden which threatens the competitiveness of American industry. That burden (often identified as “legacy costs”) has been exacerbated by the actual or threatened collapse of financial and credit institutions, the ongoing world economic recession and accompanying defaults and bankruptcies, the explosion of governmental debts and deficits, and the severe decline in the value of trust assets held for the payment of future benefits. How have employers responded? As employer cost-saving measures threaten the financial well-being of thousands of American workers, the adequacy of legal regulation intended to protect workers’ earned benefits is being called into question. This seminar will examine how these rules, primarily the provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), have worked in protecting employer-funded retirement income and retiree health benefits and in relation to government-funded benefits, including Social Security, Medicare and plans operated by State and local governments. In this course, current legal controversies will be identified and discussed, including some or all of the following: (i) federal preemption of state laws (including "pay or play" requirements), (ii) fiduciary duties (including treatment of hidden fees in certain transactions), (iii) the availability of adequate legal remedies for participants in individual account (401(k)) plans: (iv) retirees' medical benefits (including cutbacks of retiree medical benefits); (v) "distress" (mainly bankruptcy) situations, including treatment of pension and medical plans in insolvency situations; (vi) certain ethical considerations in representing a fiduciary, and (vii) current and possible future government policies supporting past and future provision for adequate retirement income. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Rhetoric (Sayler, Robert W.) This course meets October 14 - November 18. This course will focus on readings from Aristotle, Cicero, and other ancients and modern rhetoric writers, lectures on rhetorical style and substance, review and analysis of video tapes of distinguished oral presentations, informal discussion, student presentation of three video taped speeches and critique thereof. MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Advanced Public Speaking (all offerings), Rhetoric seminar
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Several oral presentations | |
| Rule Of Law: Controlling Government (Moore, John N.) This seminar explores the theory and cost of government failure and its relationship to contemporary movements for constitutional and legal reform. The seminar reviews the growing body of information about government failure internationally and domestically; examines theoretical approaches to explaining such failure, including public choice theory; and then examines the implications for the rule of law and constitutional and legal reform as applied to controlling government. Each session seeks to develop the meaning and importance of the rule of law, and to involve the students in development of a legal framework for controlling government, empowering the individual, and celebrating human freedom. Case studies reviewed this year will include Social Security reform, campaign finance reform, the property rights movement, wrongful criminal convictions of innocent persons exonerated by the Innocence Project, and the promotion of democracy. The seminar typically meets with top distinguished experts such as James Buchanan (winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics); the Honorable Robert H. Bork (of the American Enterprise Institute); Professor Richard Pipes (top scholar on communism and on the importance of property rights); Professor Bradley A. Smith (former Chairman, Federal Election Commission); Michael Tanner (CATO expert on Social Security reform); Ambassador Mark Palmer (activist on democracy enlargement and presidential speech writer); Ms. Shawn Armbrust (Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project). COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Secured Transactions (Law And Business) (Hynes, Richard M.) NOTE: This section of Secured Transactions is part of the Law School’s Law & Business Program. It has approximately the same substantive coverage as other Secured Transactions sections, but assumes knowledge of accounting and corporate finance. This course is an introduction to debt financing, with particular emphasis on the use and enforcement of security interests in collateral and on the priority structure of creditor claims against a business organization. The course takes a transactional (deal-making) rather than litigation perspective. Although the focus is on personal property security interests (and UCC Article 9), the course also discusses some pertinent provisions of state statutes governing mortgages and of the federal Bankruptcy Code. As part of the law and business track, the course assumes familiarity with accounting, valuation and corporate finance concepts and methodology. PREREQUISITE: Accounting and Corporate Finance (or equivalent undergraduate, graduate or practical training in both subjects or instructor permission)
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Secured Transactions
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Securities Regulation (Prakash, Saikrishna B.) The course will examine the federal statutes and regulations relating to the sale of securities and the duties of issuers, underwriters, brokers, dealers, officers, directors, controlling persons, and other significant market participants. We will discuss the regulation of public and private offerings, trading markets, and disclosure and corporate governance of publicly traded companies. PREREQUISITE: Corporations or Corporations (Law & Business)
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Securities Regulation (Law & Business)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Armacost, Barbara E.; Moore, Richard E.) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. In this seminar we will examine a number of literary texts and possibly some films in order to ask a number of intersecting questions. What are some of the historical roles that lawyers have played in American society? How have Americans (past and present) conceived of the role of lawyers and the nature of lawyering? How are these conceptions consistent (or not) with the way lawyers view their own role? How do they square with the realities of on-the-ground legal practice? ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Bagley, Margo A.) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. This seminar will focus on issues at the intersection of patent law, advances in technology, morality, and ethics as presented in selected films and books (both fiction and non-fiction). Classes generally will meet on Sunday evenings, three in the fall, two in the spring. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Barzun, Charles L.; Bowers, Josh; Harmon, Rachel A.) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. This seminar will focus on the war on drugs and the complex political, legal, moral, and sociological questions that it raises. Specifically, we will use episodes of the critically acclaimed drama series, The Wire, as a lens to consider aspects of the drug war in operation. Students will watch assigned episodes of the program before each meeting; and, to add context to class discussions, students also will complete reading assignments that may include works by Bill Stuntz, Robert MacCoun, Sudhir Venkatesh, and Loïc Wacquant. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Brown, Darryl K.) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. This seminar will look at a set of materials—three books and three films—that explore, broadly speaking, the effects of contexts and circumstances on decision-making, policy-making, and personal actions. Some of these influences are largely or completely unnoticed—such as the degree of inequality in societies, or the effects of randomness on daily events. Others are obviously challenging contexts, such as wartime decision making. All present, in various ways, challenges to making ethical (and even rational) decisions in difficult, unnoticed or unalterable contexts. Assigned texts, which we will read (or view) in the following order, will be: Taxi to the Dark Side (film directed by Alex Gibney) and Ghosts of Abu Ghraib (film directed by Rory Kennedy). False Alarm: The Truth about the Epidemic of Fear, by Marc Siegel
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives, by Leonard Mlodinow
The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, by Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett
Judgment at Nuremberg (film) We’ll meet five times, with each meeting focusing on a different text. Discussion will be largely unstructured; students should be prepared to a make a contribution to the discussion of each text in each session. No papers or exam, so attendance and participation at every session is required. NOTE: Because Ethical Values Seminars are not included in the regular law school schedule, this seminar will meet Sunday evenings; fall meetings are tentatively set for September 27 and October 25. Please consider your other obligations, personal and academic, and be sure you can meet at that time/day before committing to the seminar. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is required | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Cohen, George M.) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. This seminar will focus on the theme of change in people and the ethical issues surrounding change. The first half of the seminar will consider change that arises from external circumstances. The second half of the seminar will consider attempts by people to change others. The readings will be: Kafka, Metamorphosis
Golding, Lord of the Flies
Grandin, Emergence
Shaw, Pygmalion
Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie
Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Seminar meetings will be on Sundays from 5-7 at Professor Cohen's house. The specific meeting dates will be determined after the class roster is finalized. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Coughlin, Anne M.) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. This seminar will explore some of the myriad connections between film and the legal domain. We will evaluate the ways in which lawyers and their work are represented in film, and the ways in which those representations influence perceptions and experiences of lawyers and the legal system. We also will consider the ways in which films are used in, by, and as law. Texts will include movies, documentaries, and, perhaps, the odd case or two. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Goluboff, Risa L.; Schragger, Richard C.) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. This seminar will explore the challenges faced by young professionals, and particularly young lawyers, in balancing their professional and private lives, specifically focusing on issues of work and family. We will use a number of texts, including contemporary fiction, popular movies, reality TV, sitcoms, sociology, and psychology, to examine how the global information economy has altered the professional life of the lawyer. We will read these texts with the following questions in mind: How can a commitment to a demanding legal career coincide with a commitment to a healthy personal life? What can institutions do to support a balance between work and family? And what effect do institutional cultures and policies have on the division of labor between men and women in the public and private spheres? ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Childress, Marcia D.; Mahoney, Julia D.) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. Open to students in the medical and law schools, this seminar examines inheritance and tradition. How do professionals determine which ideals, institutions and practices merit retention, and which require reform? What role does the attitude of a young physician or lawyer toward the received wisdom of his chosen field play in the formation of his identity, both personal and professional? Readings may include Sophocles’ Philoctetes; Howard’s End, by E.M. Forster; Shakespeare’s King Lear and Jane Austen’s Persuasion. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Nachbar, Thomas B.) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. This seminar will rely on a combination of literature and films to examine the role of ethics in circumstances beyond the reach of traditional legal and political controls and in circumstances of conflicting moral imperatives, such as in war or among individuals whose association is largely extra-legal (e.g., the role of "honor among thieves"). We will discuss what role law and abstract concepts of ethics and morality can, or should, play in such cases. Some potential sources include the Francis Ford Coppola films The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, and Shakespeare's Henry V. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Gies, David T.; Ortiz, Daniel) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. This seminar will be taught jointly by Daniel R. Ortiz (Law) and David T. Gies (Spanish). Twelve graduate students (6 Law, 6 Arts and Sciences) will meet five times during the academic year in order to discuss " Volver (Return) to Almodóvar" Even though his films have won two Academy Awards —for Best Foreign Language Film ("All About My Mother, 1999) and Best Original Screenplay ("Talk to Her, 2002; nomination for Best Director)— Pedro Almodóvar remains only partially (and frequently mis-) understood in this country. His startling combination of traditional Spanish themes and post-modern cinematic technique (and a delicious sense of irony) moves his films out of the category of mere entertainment and into the world of the auteur. We began this seminar years ago with an overview of five of Almodóvar's films (Matador, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother, Talk To Her, and The Law of Desire); now, we return to Almodóvar in order to compare his earliest Spanish films with those that have captured international attention. The films to be discussed are: Ente tinieblas (Dark Habits, 1983)
¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (What Have I Done to Deserve This?, 1984) Carne trémula (Live Flesh, 1997)
La mala educación (Bad Education, 2004)
Volver (Return, 2006) NOTE: We might be able to add Almodóvar's newest film, Abrazos rotos (Broken Embraces), which will be released in 2009. At least three of the five classes will meet on Tuesday evenings in the fall at 7:00. Anyone with a Tuesday evening conflict that semester should not enroll. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Robinson, Mildred W.) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. Thomas Jefferson said that "[t]axation is, in fact, the most difficult function of government and that against which their citizens are most apt to be refractory." The image of tax law as oppressive, tax collector as oppressor, and tax attorney as complete nerd is deeply embedded in popular culture -- or so it seems. Further, a tax "hero" often seems to be a bad actor. We will examine how fiction through movies contributes to the disconnect between tax policy and tax practice and public perception. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected. | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Rutherglen, George; Schwartzman, Micah J.) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. Our seminar begins with the famous toast of the American naval hero, Stephen Decatur, from the age of the Barbary pirates: "Our country! ... may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong." We will examine various works from the last several decades to determine what meaning this phrase has for us today. Among those we will consider are inquiries about the conduct of the war on terror, the writings of President Obama, conservative critiques of expanded American government, and portrayals of America in novels and films. Our aim will be to assess the moral challenges confronting our country, both at home and abroad, at the beginning of the 21st century. Prof. Earl Dudley, a recently retired colleague, will be joining us for our discussions. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Schauer, Frederick; Spellman, Barbara A.) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. Obedience to authority is a central question for law. Should officials and citizens obey laws they think silly or morally wrong? Should lawyers argue positions that are well-grounded in law but poorly-grounded in ethics? Should lower court judges follow higher court decisions they think mistaken? What does it mean for an advocate or a judge to rely on authority rather than on what is dictated by reason or common sense? The issues have arisen in the context of older examples such as the duty of judges with respect to the Fugitive Slave Laws or the obligations of lawyers in Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa, but they also arise now in the context of modern problems such as the authority of international law regarding Kosovo, Iraq, and Guantanamo, the duty of public officials to follow Supreme Court precedents they think mistaken, and the extent to which, if at all, the Supreme Court itself should treat earlier decisions as binding upon them. These topics have been the subject of extensive psychological research on how and when people accept authority, equally extensive philosophical writing on whether and when people should follow decisions they believe wrong, and numerous legal examples and writings about practical applications of these psychological and philosophical issues. The seminar will focus on current examples, informed by readings from the relevant psychological, philosophical, and legal literatures. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Setear, John K.) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. This course examines the American Civil War from disparate vantage points, with an emphasis on political rather than military perspectives. We will read a biography of John Brown, a history of the Emancipation Proclamation, a description of a major Civil War battle, and a contemporary travelogue focused on individuals still passionately interested in the Civil War. We may also visit a battlefield, but rest assured that the course does not require you to understand any of those confusing battle maps with all the little rectangles and arrows. The course generally meets on Sunday evenings. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected | |
| Seminar In Ethical Values (Yr) (Verkerke, J H.) Seminars in Ethical Values are designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. This year’s seminar will focus on works that challenge orthodox views in various fields. Planned readings include Stephen Pinker, The Blank Slate; Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion; Eric Beinhocker, The Origin of Wealth; Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis; and Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Our discussions will work to draw connections among these works and to explore their implications for how one should live. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected | |
| Strategy In Civil Litigation: Pleading And Procedure (Bradford, William A.) This seminar will concentrate on skills needed in effective pre-trial advocacy. It will emphasize strategy in pleading, motions and discovery practice. Through frequent in-class exercises and preparation of litigation documents, the seminar will stress both the style and substance of winning litigation techniques. Materials will be a text and actual pleadings, motions and discovery papers used in a variety of civil cases. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, particularly Rules 1-39, 41, 45, 54, 56 and 68, will be examined and applied to various factual scenarios. Complaints, answers, motions to dismiss and for summary judgment, discovery practice, and awards of attorneys’ fees and costs will all be discussed in depth. Thinking and presenting like an advocate will be encouraged in class participation. Lectures and demonstrations will provide the framework for class endeavors. Students will be graded on class participation and exercises (50 percent) and on litigation documents prepared throughout the semester (50 percent). ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at the first class meeting is mandatory; students who do not attend will be dropped. PREREQUISITES: Civil Procedure
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Nine written assignments | |
| Supreme Court From Warren To Roberts (Howard, A E.) The Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren is remembered as having been one of the most activist courts in American history. During the years of Chief Justice Warren Burger, the Court seemed to lack a sense of direction, and the counter-revolution some observers had predicted never came about. What will be the legacy of the Court during the time of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist? What may we expect of the Roberts Court? Among the themes likely to be developed in this seminar are the origins of the Warren Court, that Court’s legacy, and the extent to which that legacy survives today; the relation between presidential politics and the work of the Court; the interplay between the Court and the country at large; specific doctrinal developments; the philosophies of the individual justices; and voting blocs and behavior on the Court. NOTE: While this seminar is scheduled from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Mondays, selected class sessions will be held at Professor Howard's home. To allow travel time, students are asked to avoid enrolling in classes that end later than 3:10 p.m. on Mondays. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at the first class meeting is mandatory; students who do not attend will not be permitted to enroll. PREREQUISITE: Constitutional Law
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE WITH: Supreme Court Justices and the Art of Judging
COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Supreme Court Litigation Clinic (Yr) (Goldberg, David T.; Ortiz, Daniel; Ryan, James E.; Stancil, Mark T.) This yearlong clinic will introduce students to all aspects of current U.S. Supreme Court practice through live cases. Students earn eight credits (one credit graded on a CR/NC basis awarded in the fall for monitoring during the summer; three credits graded on a CR/NC basis awarded in the fall for work done in the fall; and four credits graded on an A-F basis for work done in the spring). Working on teams, students will handle actual cases from the seeking of Supreme Court review to briefing on the merits. Classes will meet every week to discuss drafts of briefs and other papers students have prepared for submission to the Court. Students will be expected to identify candidates for Supreme Court review; draft petitions for certiori, amicus merits briefs, and party merits briefs; and attend mootings and Supreme Court arguments. Students who wish to enroll must complete an application form, attach the requested documents, and submit them via e-mail to Daniel Ortiz (dro@virginia.edu) and Mark Stancil (mstancil@robbinsrussell.com), no later than April 10, 2009. Applications received after this date will be placed on a waiting list; these students will only be contacted if openings arise. Once enrolled, NO drops will be permitted. Admitted students will be required to complete some work over the summer before the clinic begins. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITE: Third-year status, Constitutional Law
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Draft petitions and merits briefs, monitor lower court cases, and attend mootings and Supreme Court arguments | |
| Supreme Court: October Term 2008 (Magill, Mary E.; Ryan, James E.) This seminar will examine the Supreme Court by intensive study of the Court's most recent Term, October Term 2008, which concludes in June 2009. After a brief introduction to the workings of the Court, the seminar will closely examine the most significant decisions from last Term. Students will be expected to write two papers to be shared with the class. One will be a background paper that helps place the case in context; the other will be a critique of a (different) case. Students will also be required to generate questions for class discussion and to participate in class discussion. PREQUISITE: Constitutional Law
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Two papers, facilitation of class discussion, and class participation | |
| Survey Of Patent, Copyright, Trademark (Oliar, Dotan) The principal aim of this course in intellectual property is to provide a fundamental grounding in copyright, patent, and trademark law, as well as certain of their common law antecedents and cousins such as trade secret law and unfair competition. In addition to doctrine, we will also look at the economic and philosophic justification for intellectual property rights. This course is appropriate both for a single exposure to intellectual property and as a course introductory to more advanced courses in the various intellectual property disciplines. MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE for: Students who have completed two or more of the following courses: Copyright, Patent, Unfair Competition (including Trademark)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Taxation And Economic Development (Cooper, Graeme) This course meets November 9 - 19. This course examines a simple question: what role does a country’s tax system play in assisting (or impeding) the country’s economic development goals? Our special focus is on trying to answer that question in the context of a developing country, and we will devote most of our attention to two specific topics: the role for, and the effectiveness of, tax incentives offered by developing countries, especially tax incentives targeted at foreign investors, and the appropriateness of the division of tax on the income from investments located in developing countries between the developed country and the developing country from which the investor comes. The course assumes that participants already have a basic understanding of the goals and impacts of tax and transfer systems; we then apply that knowledge to selected topics that are of particular importance to developing countries. Participants are asked to assume responsibility for leading our discussion in one seminar, and to submit a paper (no more than 10 pages) on a topic chosen by the participant after consultation with the instructor. Grades are based only on the paper. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Ten-page paper | |
| Torts (A, B, F) (Abraham, Kenneth S.) This is a required first-year course. The course in Torts examines liability for civil wrongs that do not arise out of contract. It explores three standards of conduct: liability for intentional wrongdoing, negligence, and liability without fault, or strict liability, and it examines other issues associated with civil liability, such as causation, damages, and defenses. Particular areas of tort law such as battery, medical malpractice, and products liability, as well as debates about tort reform, are also part of the standard coverage of the course. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Torts (C, D, I) (Armacost, Barbara E.) This is a required first-year course. The course in Torts examines liability for civil wrongs that do not arise out of contract. It explores three standards of conduct: liability for intentional wrongdoing, negligence, and liability without fault, or strict liability, and it examines other issues associated with civil liability, such as causation, damages, and defenses. Particular areas of tort law such as battery, medical malpractice, and products liability, as well as debates about tort reform, are also part of the standard coverage of the course. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Torts (E, G) (Barzun, Charles L.) This is a required first-year course. The course in Torts examines liability for civil wrongs that do not arise out of contract. It explores three standards of conduct: liability for intentional wrongdoing, negligence, and liability without fault, or strict liability, and it examines other issues associated with civil liability, such as causation, damages, and defenses. Particular areas of tort law such as battery, medical malpractice, and products liability, as well as debates about tort reform, are also part of the standard coverage of the course. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Torts (H) (O'Connell, Jeffrey) This is a required first-year course. The course in Torts examines liability for civil wrongs that do not arise out of contract. It explores three standards of conduct: liability for intentional wrongdoing, negligence, and liability without fault, or strict liability, and it examines other issues associated with civil liability, such as causation, damages, and defenses. Particular areas of tort law such as battery, medical malpractice, and products liability, as well as debates about tort reform, are also part of the standard coverage of the course. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Torts (J, K, L) (Harrison, John C.) This is a required first-year course. The course in Torts examines liability for civil wrongs that do not arise out of contract. It explores three standards of conduct: liability for intentional wrongdoing, negligence, and liability without fault, or strict liability, and it examines other issues associated with civil liability, such as causation, damages, and defenses. Particular areas of tort law such as battery, medical malpractice, and products liability, as well as debates about tort reform, are also part of the standard coverage of the course. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Trial Advocacy (Lowry, Edward B.; Thomas, David W.) In this seminar, students are prepared for work in the trial court and for the atmosphere of the courtroom. Extensive use is made of simulated trial episodes. During the early weeks of the semester several phases of trial practice will be illustrated, and students will be given the opportunity to perform one or more of the functions of trial lawyers on their feet, such as direct and cross examination, opening statements, handling of exhibits, objections, and closing argument. Some sections of the seminar require specific witness and juror service of each student enrolled. Instruction in the practice and technique of advocacy is provided during each class session. All sections schedule at least one full mock trial in the latter weeks of the term in which each student will serve as individual or co-counsel. PREREQUISITE: Evidence
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Occasional preparation of motions and proposed jury instructions | |
| Trial Advocacy (Crigler, B W.) In this seminar, students are prepared for work in the trial court and for the atmosphere of the courtroom. Extensive use is made of simulated trial episodes. During the early weeks of the semester several phases of trial practice will be illustrated, and students will be given the opportunity to perform one or more of the functions of trial lawyers on their feet, such as direct and cross examination, opening statements, handling of exhibits, objections, and closing argument. Some sections of the seminar require specific witness and juror service of each student enrolled. Instruction in the practice and technique of advocacy is provided during each class session. All sections schedule at least one full mock trial in the latter weeks of the term in which each student will serve as individual or co-counsel. Make a decision whether to take this section of Trial Ad before you register. Instruction begins the first night and much can be lost in missing the first lecture. Attendance for each class session is strongly encouraged because there are only two initial lectures and most instruction will come during student performances at each class meeting. PREREQUISITE: Evidence
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Performances in each segment of trials and presentation of an entire trial case | |
| Trial Advocacy (Hudson, Jean B.) In this seminar, students are prepared for work in the trial court and for the atmosphere of the courtroom. Extensive use is made of simulated trial episodes. During the early weeks of the semester several phases of trial practice will be illustrated, and students will be given the opportunity to perform one or more of the functions of trial lawyers on their feet, such as direct and cross examination, opening statements, handling of exhibits, objections, and closing argument. Some sections of the seminar require specific witness and juror service of each student enrolled. Instruction in the practice and technique of advocacy is provided during each class session. All sections schedule at least one full mock trial in the latter weeks of the term in which each student will serve as individual or co-counsel. PREREQUISITE: Evidence
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Preparation of motions in limine | |
| Trial Advocacy (Livingston, Ronald L.) In this seminar, students are prepared for work in the trial court and for the atmosphere of the courtroom. Extensive use is made of simulated trial episodes. During the early weeks of the semester several phases of trial practice will be illustrated, and students will be given the opportunity to perform one or more of the functions of trial lawyers on their feet, such as direct and cross examination, opening statements, handling of exhibits, objections, and closing argument. Some sections of the seminar require specific witness and juror service of each student enrolled. Instruction in the practice and technique of advocacy is provided during each class session. All sections schedule at least one full mock trial in the latter weeks of the term in which each student will serve as individual or co-counsel. PREREQUISITE: Evidence
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Occasional preparation of motions and proposed jury instructions | |
| Trial Advocacy (Davidson, John E.) In this seminar, students are prepared for work in the trial court and for the atmosphere of the courtroom. Extensive use is made of simulated trial episodes. During the early weeks of the semester several phases of trial practice will be illustrated, and students will be given the opportunity to perform one or more of the functions of trial lawyers on their feet, such as direct and cross examination, opening statements, handling of exhibits, objections, and closing argument. Some sections of the seminar require specific witness and juror service of each student enrolled. Instruction in the practice and technique of advocacy is provided during each class session. All sections schedule at least one full mock trial in the latter weeks of the term in which each student will serve as individual or co-counsel. PREREQUISITE: Evidence
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Occasional preparation of motions and proposed jury instructions | |
| Trusts And Estates (Cushman, Barry J.) The course will cover intestate succession (when a decedent dies without a will); requirements for the execution, revocation, republication and revival of wills and codicils; probate procedure and grounds for will contests; requisites for the creation and termination of private trusts; inter vivos transactions that serve as will substitutes and that relate to testamentary dispositions, including contracts to make wills; planning for incapacity; and problems in the interpretation of wills, including the effect of change on testamentary dispositions. Relevant tax aspects are considered interstitially, but the course is not a substitute for courses in Estate and Gift Tax or the Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates. NOTE: Laptops prohibited during class sessions. PREREQUISITE: Property
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Trusts And Estates (Hylton, Joseph G.) The course will cover intestate succession (when a decedent dies without a will); requirements for the execution, revocation, republication and revival of wills and codicils; probate procedure and grounds for will contests; requisites for the creation and termination of private trusts; inter vivos transactions that serve as will substitutes and that relate to testamentary dispositions, including contracts to make wills; planning for incapacity; and problems in the interpretation of wills, including the effect of change on testamentary dispositions. Charitable trusts, future interests, the Rule against Perpetuities, and powers of appointment will receive only brief consideration. Relevant tax aspects are considered interstitially, but the course is not a substitute for courses in Estate and Gift Tax or the Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates. PREREQUISITE: Property
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Urban Law And Policy (Schragger, Richard C.) This course will examine the legal, economic, and political forces that have shaped American metropolitan areas with particular attention to the policies that have shaped American cities and suburbs. The course will consider issues such as sprawl, racial segregation, housing, education, land use, concentrated poverty, and community economic development. In addition to the legal literature in this field, participants will read widely in the urban planning and policy literature. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper and class participation | |
| War And Peace: New Thinking About The Causes Of War And War Avoidance (Moore, John N.; Turner, Robert F.) Whatever the focus of your professional career, one issue that ought to be of considerable interest to all citizens is the avoidance of war. This interdisciplinary seminar will explore some of the latest thinking about the causes of international armed conflict and the ways in which future wars might be avoided and peace preserved. This seminar builds upon work they began more than a decade ago as, respectively, the first Chairman of the Board and President of the congressionally-established U.S. Institute of Peace. Recent studies by Yale Professors Donald Kagan (History) and Bruce Russett (Political Science), and by University of Hawaii Political Science Professor Rudy Rummel, will be examined, along with a number of traditional intellectual approaches ranging from international law, arms control, and world federalism, to deterrence theory. This seminar will also explore the newest theory of international relations – “incentive theory” – as developed by Professor Moore in “Solving the War Puzzle.” Case studies of past wars will be examined to test competing theories. Prominent guest lecturers will also take part. Students will be expected to take an active part in discussion. PREREQUISITE: National Security Law or International Law recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| White Collar Crime (Lynch, Timothy G.) NOTE: This B weekend course meets on August 29; September 11, 12, 25, 26; October 16, 17, 30, 31; November 13, 14 and 20. This course will explore federal white collar crime law and practice. We will begin by delving into the federal statutes prohibiting mail and wire fraud; bribery and gratuities; perjury, false statements, and obstruction of justice; money laundering; and conspiracy—among others—and the cases interpreting those statutes. We will then examine the investigation, prosecution, and defense of white collar crime cases by considering the power of the grand jury; the Fifth Amendment and immunity; plea bargaining; sentencing under the Guidelines and post-Booker; corporate liability; and charging decisions under the McNulty Memo and its predecessors. The subject matter is fascinating and fun. Class participation is expected and there may be some short written exercises. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination, class participation, and perhaps some short written exercises | |
| Wrongful Convictions (Garrett, Brandon L.) DNA testing has exonerated over the past two decades more than 230 people convicted of serious crimes in the United States, and in the process has changed the face of criminal justice. The stories of these innocent people have captured the popular imagination and have provided subjects for compelling films, television series, books and plays. However, scholars have only begun to study the phenomenon of wrongful convictions. This seminar will explore the nature of the problem of wrongful convictions and critically assess possible solutions. We will begin by studying the limited data concerning known wrongful convictions. We will then turn to factors contributing to those wrongful convictions, including eyewitnesses misidentifications, invalid or unreliable forensic science, false confessions, jailhouse informants, ineffective assistance of defense counsel and law enforcement misconduct. We will examine social science evidence, case studies, and constitutional criminal procedure rules that relate to each of those sources of error. We will then turn to procedural mechanisms for exoneration, including doctrines concerning a post-conviction right to assert actual innocence and access to DNA testing. Finally, we will assess a wave of legislation that has been enacted to address potential sources for error, including reformed forensic laboratory procedures, videotaping of interrogations, eyewitness identification reforms, and the creation of Innocence Commissions. Students will be asked to write a 10 page paper accompanying an in-class presentation and two short response papers. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Ten-page paper, in-class presentation, and two short response papers | |
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| Admiralty (Rutherglen, George) This January Term course meets January 18-22. This short course will examine the basic substantive and procedural doctrines in federal maritime law and compare them to analogous doctrines in other areas of law. Among the topics to be covered are: jurisdiction in admiralty, carriage of goods by sea, collision, personal injury and wrongful death, salvage, and piracy. Because of limited class time, the coverage necessarily will be selective, concentrating on the most distinctive and interesting issues in admiralty. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Applied Problem Solving (Esterhay, John B.; Geis, George S.) This January Term course meets January 18-22. This short course surveys applied problem solving concepts that can be used to find the optimal solution to a given business opportunity or challenge. The course will be useful to anyone interested in learning a structured approach to problem solving, but especially to law students interested in pursuing alternative careers in business, consulting, investment banking, and private equity. The course will involve guest speakers, group activities, and a scenario-based exercise that unfolds over the week, culminating in a live presentation to a panel of distinguished business executives. Students will be assigned to a project team to work together throughout the week. There will be no exam or paper requirement. Instead, grading will be based on class participation and a final in-class presentation. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Final in-class presentation | |
| Baseball (Setear, John K.) This is a January Term course meets January 18-22. This short course examines the effect of various laws and law-like rules on Major League Baseball. Suitable for non-experts and will include (optional) session aimed at bringing them up to speed. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Paper required | |
| Corporate Law Policy (Barzuza, Michal) This January Term course meets January 18-22. This short course will discuss works on pressing issues in corporate law policy such as misreporting of corporate performance, differences between US and Europe and corporate law reforms. There will be no exam or paper requirement. Instead, students will be asked to submit brief memos on the assigned readings. Some tolerance to economics recommended. NOTE: Laptops prohibited during class sessions. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
PREREQUISITE: Corporations or Corporations (Law & Business)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Brief memos on the assigned readings | |
| Economic Crisis: Causes And Cures (Kitch, Edmund W.) This January Term course meets January 18-22. This short course surveys the events of the US economic crisis of 2007 to 20?? and proposed regulatory reforms which either have been enacted or are being seriously considered at the time the course meets in January 2009. The presentation will be aimed at students who have not specialized in corporations, finance and securities regulation but who wish to have a basic understanding of these events, which are likely to have a significant impact both on the law and the economy in the future. NOTE: Laptops, cell phones and other electronic communication devices are not to be used in this class. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
PREREQUISITE: Second- or third-year or LLM status
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Ethical Issues In Foreign Policy (Little, David; Moore, John N.) This January Term course meets January 18-22. This short course will explore ethical issues in foreign policy. The first session will provide an overview of “Ethical Thinking” generally. The next four sessions will explore the ethical implications of four specific foreign affairs decisions and issues. These will include President Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, decisions to “stress” detainees for intelligence in the war on terror, the decision to intervene militarily in Iraq in March 2003, and decisions regarding the response of the international community to the crisis in Rwanda in 1994. The class will be co-taught with David Little, Professor of the Practice in Religion, Ethnicity, and International Conflict at the Harvard Divinity School, one of the nation’s top experts on ethical issues in foreign policy. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Paper required | |
| French Public And Private Law (Gore, Marie) This January Term course meets in Paris January 12-20. This short course will study the following topics: The various sources of French Law (expansion and diversification): French Civil Code, International and European sources, increasing significance of case law and the impact of the European Convention of Human Rights
Towards a European Civil Code: difficulties and perspectives
Jurisdictions and procedural issues
Basic principles of contracts and new directions (good faith), key notions on torts (recent trends in case law) and modern trends in family law (spouse, so-called Pacs, effects of foreign polygamy and repudiation in France, inheritance). ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Income Taxation Of Trusts And Estates (Robinson, Mildred W.) This is a January Term course meets January 18-22. A study of Subchapter J of Subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code – the Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates. We will examine the ways in which the process of determining income tax liability for these two taxable entities is the same as that for taxing the income of individuals and the important ways in which the process differs. This short course is not a substitute for Federal Taxation of Gratuitous Transfers. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
PREREQUISITE: Federal Income Tax. Trusts and Estates recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Indian Law (Merrill, Richard) This January Term course meets January 18-22. The legal relationships between the Indian tribes and the national government, and between the tribes and the states, define a distinctive but growing body of federal law. This short course will serve as an introduction to this body of law. It will explore several current issues relating to the authority of Indian tribes and the operation of state and federal law within Indian reservations. In the time available, we can cover only selected highlights; many topics covered in the semester-long course that has some years been part of the curriculum won't be treated. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
PREREQUISITE: Constitutional Law recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Paper required | |
| International Financial Crimes (Dean, Richard N.; Mendelsohn, Mark F.; Stephan, Paul B.) This January Term course meets January 18-22. This short course looks at the criminalization of financial transactions that may arise in the course of operating an international business. We will focus principally on U.S. federal criminal law, although the class also will consider the implementation by other countries of international agreements relating to bribery and money laundering. The class will concentrate on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, money laundering, the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and wire and mail fraud. The class will emphasize the role of private lawyers in advising clients about the prevention of criminal charges and in-house compliance policies, rather than the strategic choices to be made in the course of criminal trials. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
PREREQUISITE: Criminal Law
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Legal Process: Basic Problems (Harrison, John C.) This January Term course meets January 18-22. This short course will examine the large-scale structure of the legal system, using parts of Hart & Sacks classic work, The Legal Process, which has been immensely influential in the American legal academy and gave rise to a school of thought named after it. The leading theme of the course, and of The Legal Process, is the relationship among different legal institutions, which have their characteristic ways of approaching and resolving legal problems. The main topics will be (1) the nature of legal norms, (2) private ordering as a means of applying law and avoiding legal difficulties and as a source of information about normative practice on which law-makers draw, (3) courts and the elaboration of legal norms in the process of applying them, (4) the legislative process and its connection with statutory construction, and (5) executive power and decision making. Although a one-hour course will not be able to examine any of these topics in depth (certainly not in the depth in which the full Hart & Sacks materials do), the shorter time and more compressed schedule should make it possible to keep in mind the similarities and differences among differing parts of the legal system; those similarities and differences are the topic. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Personal Injury Law (O'Connell, Jeffrey) This January Term course meets January 18-22. This short course begins by examining in detail the trial of a typical personal injury case, tried by a young lawyer right out of law school, from claim investigation, pleadings, discovery, trial, post-trial motions, and appeal, focusing on both legal doctrines and tort litigation strategy. The course further examines both tort law theory (e.g., deterrence versus compensation) and its practical operations (e.g., jury selection as a means of understanding both the workings of tort law, and its merits as well as its demerits). The course then takes up the merits and demerits of both relatively limited and more extensive proposals for tort reform as applied to medical malpractice and product liability. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
PREREQUISITE: Torts
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Plea Bargaining (Bowers, Josh) This January Term course meets January 18-22. This short course will focus on plea bargaining and the guilty plea system. In modern America, the criminal trial is a rarity. In some jurisdictions, it is practically nonexistent. Instead, almost all cases are resolved by guilty pleas, typically entered into after some form of plea bargaining. We will survey the variety of practices collectively defined as plea bargaining. We will discuss plea bargaining’s perceived advantages and disadvantages: whether, on the one hand, it unduly sacrifices accuracy and formality for the good of expediency; or, on the other hand, whether it facilitates compromise in arenas where adversarial heavy combat is less than optimal. We will explore the degree to which plea bargaining has affected the roles and responsibilities of judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys; and we will examine the different contexts in which these changes make more or less sense. Additionally, we will analyze whether plea bargains successfully reflect probable trial outcomes, or, instead, whether cognitive biases and institutional arrangements and pressures lead parties to reach agreements outside the shadow of law and trial. Finally, we will evaluate the adequacy of efforts to regulate, reform, and/or abolish plea bargaining. The grade will be based on short analysis papers and class participation. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Several short response papers | |
| Search Engines (Vaidhyanathan, Siva) This January Term course meets January 18-22. This short course examines the legal and policy implications of the growing importance of search engines in society. It will consider the major conflicts over intellectual property, anti-trust, and privacy law. It will also consider the ways that search engines have altered habits and expectations among Web users. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Paper required | |
| Secondary Liability For Copyright Infringement (Oliar, Dotan) This January Term course meets January 18-22. In this short course we will review a longstanding debate in copyright law: what indirect liability for copyright infringement should be imposed on manufacturers of new technologies? This question has come up repeatedly over the past century regarding technologies such as mechanical piano players, radio, xerography, television, VCR and most recently peer-to-peer networks. In each of these cases, courts and lawmakers supplied different answers. We will review these cases, read what scholars had to say about them, and think about the question systematically. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is required
PREREQUISITE: Copyright Law or Patent Law or Survey of Patent, Copyright, Trademark
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Advanced Issues in Intellectual Property Policy
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Daily response papers and a final in-class presentation | |
| Selected Topics In Consumer Bankruptcy (Hynes, Richard M.; Walt, Steven D.) This January Term course meets January 18-22. American consumers filed more than one million bankruptcy petitions each year from 1996 to 2005. In 2005 Congress adopted bankruptcy reforms designed to discourage filing, and the number of petitions dropped by more than seventy percent. Now, however, bankruptcy filings are rising again, and Congress may pass new reforms that will make bankruptcy dramatically more attractive to millions of Americans. An understanding of consumer bankruptcy will help attorneys who will counsel individual clients and attorneys who counsel businesses who lend or sell to individuals. This short course will examine selected topics in consumer bankruptcy and insolvency. Topics may include: i) the treatment of insolvent debtors outside of bankruptcy; ii) general bankruptcy provisions affecting consumers; iii) Chapter 7; iv) Chapter 13; and v) proposals for reform. Grading will be based on a final exam. Although there will be some overlap with Secured Transactions and Bankruptcy, there are no pre-requisites for this course. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Textualism And Its Critics (Bress, Daniel A.; Schwartzman, Micah J.) This January Term course meets January 18-22. This short course will examine textualism as a method of statutory interpretation. We will address the following questions: What is textualism? What are the arguments for it? And what are the arguments against? In discussing these questions, we will consider the goals of statutory interpretation, the nature of legislative intention, and the value of various legal sources in determining the meaning of enacted law. Readings will include judicial opinions and articles written by prominent textualists and their critics (e.g., Scalia, Easterbrook, Breyer and Dworkin). ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: A three-page response paper and an eight-page critique | |
| Trial Advocacy College (Saltzburg, Stephen A.) The Trial Advocacy College is scheduled Friday January 8 - Thursday January 14, in 2010. (Law school January Term classes are scheduled January 18-22.) FEE: $200.00. Included in this fee are the course case files, a hardbound advocacy textbook, your personal videotapes, two cocktail parties (January 9 and 11), and six lunches. DESCRIPTION: The 29th Annual Trial Advocacy College (National Trial Advocacy College) is offered through the offices of Virginia Continuing Legal Education (CLE) in cooperation with the Law School. More than 100 lawyers from around the country will attend; 50 additional places in the College are reserved for Virginia third-year law students. The Director of the Institute, Stephen A. Saltzburg, is the Wallace and Beverley Woodbury University Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School and a former Professor of Law at the University of Virginia. He co-founded the College in 1982. The faculty consists of some of America’s best trial lawyers and outstanding judges. The College represents the most advanced advocacy training available through the Law School and has been widely regarded as one of the best programs in the country for more than 20 years. This is an advocacy skills, hands-on course. Classes are limited to eight and each student gets to practice every aspect of advocacy, culminating in a trial before a real jury, January 13-14. Successful completion requires regular attendance, preparation, and effort. The course is graded on a credit/no-credit basis. The National Trial Advocacy College web site (www.trialadcollege.org/) has additional information, including video clips. ENROLLMENT PROCEDURE: Students will enroll through the normal course enrollment process. Enrollment will be managed by the Student Records Office in coordination with Virginia CLE. After December 2nd, absolutely NO DROPS will be permitted. PREREQUISITE: Third-year status, Evidence, and one of the following: Trial Advocacy, the Criminal Defense Clinic or one semester of the yearlong Prosecution Clinic
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Regular attendance, preparation, and effort | |
| Virginia And The Constitution (Howard, A E.) This January Term course meets January 18-22. In the 400 years since its first settlement, Virginia has been intimately intertwined with the central themes of American constitutionalism – the idea of rights, the balance between national and state power, the nature of religious liberty, the problem of race and discrimination, etc. In this short course, we will consider selected persons, documents, and events which illuminate those themes. Examples include the Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776), the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786), James Madison’s Virginia Plan (1787), the nationalist opinions of John Marshall, the Prince Edward County litigation, and Virginia’s own Constitutions, especially that of 1902 and the present Constitution. Each student will be asked to choose and to read one book, such as a biography of a major Virginian (Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, etc.) or a book on some aspect of Virginia history relevant to constitutional development. The course’s paper requirement will take the form of an essay on that book. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Paper required | |
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| Accounting: Understanding And Analyzing Financial Statements (Broome, Oscar W.) This course meets January 25 - March 17. ENROLLMENT RESTRICTION: This course is the first half of the semester-long two-course sequence of Accounting and Corporate Finance. Students who enroll in this course will automatically be enrolled in Professor Geis' spring section of Corporate Finance as well. Students who have completed one or more university level accounting courses or have practical training in accounting are not eligible to enroll in this course unless they obtain instructor permission. Similarly, students who have completed one or more university level corporate finance courses or have practical training in corporate finance are not eligible to enroll in the corporate finance course unless they obtain instructor permission. Once enrolled, students who are not eligible to enroll in either accounting or corporate finance must drop the "completed" course. To do so, e-mail the Student Records Office (lawsro@virginia.edu) at any time prior to the end of the spring semester add/drop period and ask to be dropped from the completed course. EXAM RESTRICTION: The final examination in the Accounting course will be held on Saturday, March 20, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. All exam policies apply.Exceptions will be granted only for circumstances out of students' control. The principal goal of this course is to provide an understanding of the concepts of financial accounting and published financial statements. Attorneys need a basic understanding of financial statements in order to work with corporate clients and certified public accountants. This knowledge is particularly important if the practice involves investment banking, initial public offerings, and the issuance of securities. Course content will include the conceptual framework of accounting, specialized accounting terminology, generally accepted accounting standards, and the distinction between financial accounting and income tax accounting. The roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and the Internal Revenue Service will be delineated. Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to understand how components of financial statements such as inventories, plant and equipment, bonds, leases, sales revenues, cost of goods sold expense, and depreciation expense are measured and reported. In addition, the student should be able to analyze financial statements to derive more information about a corporation. The course is designed to provide a financial accounting knowledge base to students with no previous course work or practical training in accounting. To help students quickly become competent in understanding and using financial information, the course content is relatively extensive and rigorous. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination and homework assignments | |
| Accounting: Understanding And Analyzing Financial Statements (Wilkie, Patrick J.) This course meets January 25 - March 16. ENROLLMENT RESTRICTION: This course is the first half of the semester-long two-course sequence of Accounting and Corporate Finance. Students who enroll in this course will automatically be enrolled in Professor Hynes' spring section of Corporate Finance as well. Students who have completed one or more university level accounting courses or have practical training in accounting are not eligible to enroll in this course unless they obtain instructor permission. Similarly, students who have completed one or more university level corporate finance courses or have practical training in corporate finance are not eligible to enroll in the corporate finance course unless they obtain instructor permission. Once enrolled, students who are not eligible to enroll in either accounting or corporate finance must drop the "completed" course. To do so, e-mail the Student Records Office (lawsro@virginia.edu) at any time prior to the end of the spring semester add/drop period and ask to be dropped from the completed course. EXAM RESTRICTION: The final examination in the Accounting course will be held on Saturday, March 20, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. NO EXCEPTIONSwill be granted. The principal goal of this course is to provide an understanding of the concepts of financial accounting and published financial statements. Attorneys need a basic understanding of financial statements in order to work with corporate clients and certified public accountants. This knowledge is particularly important if the practice involves investment banking, initial public offerings, and the issuance of securities. Course content will include the conceptual framework of accounting, specialized accounting terminology, generally accepted accounting standards, and the distinction between financial accounting and income tax accounting. The roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and the Internal Revenue Service will be delineated. Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to understand how components of financial statements such as inventories, plant and equipment, bonds, leases, sales revenues, cost of goods sold expense, and depreciation expense are measured and reported. In addition, the student should be able to analyze financial statements to derive more information about a corporation. The course is designed to provide a financial accounting knowledge base to students with no previous course work or practical training in accounting. To help students quickly become competent in understanding and using financial information, the course content is relatively extensive and rigorous. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination and class participation | |
| Addressing The Fiscal Crisis (Yin, George K.) Current U.S. fiscal policy is on an unsustainable path. This seminar will be devoted to identifying ways to address the imminent crisis. Each student will be required to develop and defend a proposal that will either raise revenue or cut spending of the federal government in a significant way. We will consider options previously identified by the private sector and various government organizations, including the President’s tax reform panel which is due to issue its report in December, 2009. Students will also be encouraged to undertake independent, investigative work to identify further options. We will meet only sporadically during the first half of the semester, but sessions during the second half will run longer than the allotted class time. Each student will be expected to attend every session of the seminar and to participate actively throughout the semester. In addition to developing and defending a specific proposal, students will be given a series of written assignments to complete. The written submissions will not satisfy the law school writing requirement. Grading will be based on the student’s proposal and presentation, written submissions, and participation throughout the semester. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Proposal and presentation, written submissions, and class participation | |
| Administrative Law (Woolhandler, Nettie A.) This course studies the processes of law making and law application by the executive departments of government (including “independent” regulatory agencies). Its central theme is the tension between law and discretion, between the need for grants of power sufficient to ensure effective government and the need to limit that power to protect citizens from government oppression and unfairness. The course will first explore the constitutional stature of the administrative agencies, and how the Supreme Court has rationalized their exercise of government power outside of the traditional tripartite divisions of the Constitution. It will then explore the methods developed by the courts to control administrative power, including the development of procedural formalities in administrative decision making and judicial review of agency factfinding and lawmaking. It will also explore doctrines governing the availability of judicial review of administrative action, including standing and ripeness. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Advanced Legal Research (Glover, Kristin L.; Olson, Kent) This course meets January 25 - March 31. Legal research is a basic part of the practice of most beginning attorneys. This course provides an overview of both online and print resources, focusing on developing successful research strategies and effective use of subscription and free Internet sites. Among the topics covered are basic primary and secondary sources, including legislative history and administrative law; research in specialized areas and transnational law; and the use of business and social science resources. Classes will combine lectures and demonstrations with laptop-based problem-solving exercises. PREREQUISITE: Legal Research and Writing
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Weekly research assignments | |
| Advanced Public Speaking (Shadel, Molly B.) This course develops advanced oral advocacy skills, including effective performance techniques, writing for speaking, and the ability to handle difficult speaking situations. Assignments will include presenting a persuasive speech, making presentations to difficult audiences (such as clients), and analyzing famous speeches to determine what makes them effective. Students will be expected to perform a speech at each meeting of the class; consequently, attendance is mandatory. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is required
PREREQUISITE: Hallmarks of Distinguished Advocacy or Oral Presentations In and Out of the Courtroom or Persuasion for Advocates or Trial Advocacy
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Advanced Public Speaking short course, Rhetoric (all offerings)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Weekly speeches | |
| Advanced Topics In Law Of War (Jag) () This JAG School course meets January 4 - May 14. Instructor: MAJ Marsh
This semester-long elective will provide an in-depth study of specific topics in the law of war, building upon foundations laid during core plenary instruction. Discussions and readings will consider and compare U.S and international perspectives on the law of war including views of U.S. allies, the U.N., the ICRC and NGOs. Topics will include sources of contemporary law of war, in-depth consideration of the principles of the law of war and targeting, issues associated with battlefield status, regulation of internal armed conflicts, the interface between human rights law and the law of war, and mechanisms to enforce the law of war. Students will be evaluated based on one 8-12 page paper, a take-home examination, and class participation. This elective is highly encouraged for students specializing in international and operational law. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Take-home exam, an 8-12 page paper, and class participation | |
| Advanced Trusts And Estates (Cushman, Barry J.) The course will cover restrictions on the power of testamentary disposition; charitable trusts; the creation, use, release and lapse of general and special powers of appointment; the classification and construction of future interests in trust, including class gifts; application of the rule against perpetuities to interests and powers in trust, including class gifts; and fiduciary administration, including the duties, powers and liabilities of trustees. NOTE: Laptops prohibited during class sessions. PREREQUISITE: Property, Trusts and Estates
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Advising The Board Of Directors In A Mergers And Acquisitions World (Steele, Myron T.) This course meets February 19, 20, 26, 27; March 19, 20, 26 and 27. A director of a Delaware corporation owes just two fiduciary duties (care and loyalty) to the corporation and its stockholders. Although these duties are easily articulated, it is generally far more challenging to explain what board conduct is required to satisfy these duties. As a result, when a Delaware court considers challenges to the board’s actions in the M&A setting, the court’s analysis is particularly nuanced and contextually specific. This course will examine some of the issues corporate boards confront when considering M&A transactions, including (i) addressing board and management conflicts, (ii) selecting financial and legal advisors, (iii) establishing an appropriate sales process, (iv) preparing for and responding to hostile bidders, (v) negotiating deal protection measures, and (vi) anticipating possible litigation, and will discuss the nature of the advice that counsel should provide a board in each context. Mr. Mark A. Morton, a partner at the law firm of Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP, will assist Chief Justice Steele in the course. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
PREREQUISITE: Corporations or Corporations (Law & Business)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Advocacy Clinic For The Elderly (Yr) (Caldwell, Kathleen D.; Curry, Claire) In response to the rapidly growing elderly population and the increased demand for elder law expertise, this yearlong clinic will train students to provide legal services to older persons. Under the supervision of an attorney, students will represent elderly clients in negotiations, administrative hearings, and court proceedings on a variety of legal matters including basic wills and powers of attorney, guardianships, consumer issues, Medicaid and Medicare benefits, nursing home regulation and quality of long-term care, elder abuse and neglect, and advance medical directives. Students will develop the practical skills needed to become effective elder advocates, participating in client interviewing, counseling, negotiation, and trial advocacy. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to engage in advocacy for the elderly at the system level, which may involve policy analysis and advocacy work with partnering organizations including the Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA), the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Virginia Elder Rights Coalition, and the Senior Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association. Students will participate in interdisciplinary projects in the field of elder law, especially in the health care domain. For example, working with faculty from the Division of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Virginia Medical School, students will develop a comprehensive taxonomy of possible legal issues confronted in geriatric care and will identify specific legal problems presented by individual patients. Additionally, in cooperation with JABA and the Division of Geriatric Medicine, students may conduct public education sessions on specific elder law topics for senior citizen groups at senior centers and elder care facilities throughout Charlottesville. NOTE: This course will meet primarily at the Legal Aid Justice Center, 1000 Preston Avenue, Suite A. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITE: Second- or third-year status | |
| Agency And Partnership (Cohen, George M.) This course is a basic component of the business law curriculum. It deals with the agency relationship and its consequences, focusing on such topics as contractual authority, vicarious liability, and fiduciary obligation. The course also serves as an introduction to the partnership as the primary noncorporate business organizational form involving co-ownership. The course will include discussion of limited liability partnerships and may include discussion of limited liability companies as time permits. Although the course uses litigated cases as the primary material, it aims to provide future transactional lawyers with the basic tools necessary to help clients structure their affairs in a manner consistent with their business goals, including minimizing unwanted liability. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| American Legal History Seminar (McCurdy, Charles W.) This seminar provides students with an opportunity to investigate problems in American legal history and to learn from one another. Each student will write a 40-page research paper, evaluate 5 or 6 papers written by classmates, and participate in weekly discussions of important works written from different historiographical, theoretical, and methodological perspectives. Each student will also have a weekly appointment time to discuss (and establish) with the instructor a topic, an appropriate method, and a plan of work. Papers may focus on the eighteenth, the nineteenth, or the twentieth centuries. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at the first class meeting is mandatory; students who do not attend will be dropped. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Analysis Of The Military Criminal Legal System (Jag) () This JAG School course meets January 4 - May 14. Instructor: LTC Brookhart and MAJ Pflaum This elective provides students an in-depth critical examination of the military criminal legal system. Students engage in a comparative and historical approach to explore the military justice system’s divided loyalty between constitutional safeguards and the military mission. After examining the historical background of the UCMJ and Manual for Courts-Martial, subsequent class discussions focus initially on particular substantive and procedural areas of military justice, followed by analysis of potential changes to those areas. Students are required to lead one week’s discussion, either individually or in pairs or groups depending on the number of class participants, to include drafting discussion questions for the class and supplementing assigned readings. All proposed discussion questions and supplemental readings must be approved in advance by the Professors. Grades are based on leading the discussion, including development of discussion questions, and class participation (qualitative, not quantitative). COURSE REQUIREMENT: Lead a class discussion, including development of discussion questions, and class participation | |
| Antitrust Practice (Applebaum, Harvey) NOTE: This course meets on thirteen Thursdays and Fridays roughly following the B weekend schedule as follows: January 29; February 11, 12, 25, 26; March 18, 19; April 1, 2, 15, 16, 22, 23. The seminar studies antitrust and related laws as encountered by practicing lawyers in today’s complex global economy in subject areas ranging from traditional industries to multinational/international transactions to cyberspace and high-tech industries. The seminar is team-taught by Covington & Burling lawyers to explore a diverse antitrust practice encompassing counseling, transactions, and litigation. The seminar covers problems involved in dealing with Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission proceedings and in dealing with private suits including mergers, joint ventures, and intellectual property and international trade matters. There is coverage of bread-and-butter advice that companies need for distribution, pricing, and other aspects of their regular business planning. The seminar also discusses the economic theories that provide much of the underpinning of antitrust law. The seminar concludes with a mini-moot court, which consists of an appellate brief and an oral argument, and provides an opportunity to gain practical experience with a real-life antitrust problem. PREREQUISITE: Antitrust recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Moot court brief | |
| Antitrust Review Mergers In A Global Environment (Fullerton, Lawrence R.) In this seminar, students will learn how domestic and international mergers and acquisitions are reviewed under the antitrust laws, with an emphasis on U.S. antitrust law at the federal level. Topics will include market definition and measures of market concentration; theories of liability for anticompetitive horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate mergers; methods for predicting anticompetitive effects; failing firm, efficiencies, and other defenses; remedies; and enforcement mechanics. We will also spend some time on extraterritorial application of U.S. merger law, merger control law in Europe and other jurisdictions, and the problems associated with mergers that are subject to challenge under the antitrust laws of more than one jurisdiction. Assigned reading for the course will go beyond U.S. Supreme Court decisions, which are outdated in this field, and include leading lower court decisions, government enforcement guidelines, government complaints, consent settlements, proposed legislation, and other nontraditional materials. PREREQUISITE: Introductory antitrust course, undergraduate coursework in microeconomics, and/or similar coursework or work experience are useful, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Appellate Litigation Clinic (Yr) (Walters, Neal L.) This yearlong clinical course provides students the opportunity to brief and argue one or more appeals before a federal appeals court. The rules and procedures applicable in the federal appellate system will be examined. Fundamentals of oral and written appellate advocacy will be discussed, with a focus on each student’s individual work project. The seminar will meet as a full group several times during the fall semester, and then students will have additional conferences with the instructor as work on a specific briefing project gets underway. Depending on the volume of cases available, students will work in teams of two or individually as the instructor may determine. All students will practice oral argument and one per case will argue the appeal before the courts. The course may require substantial work over the winter break. Substantial familiarity with either Word or WordPerfect, including the table of authorities function, is required. Students earn two credits in the fall semester and one credit in the spring semester. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITE: Third-year status
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Brief and reply brief | |
| Banking And Financial Institutions (Verdier, Pierre-Hugues) This course will examine the regulation of financial institutions, with an emphasis on federal regulation of banking. It will cover the history of the U.S. banking industry; the basic rationales for regulation; the process of forming and acquiring banks; geographic and activities restrictions on banks; safety and soundness safeguards; affiliations between banks and securities, insurance, and other firms; supervisory and enforcement powers; and bank failures. It will also provide an introduction to U.S. regulation of international banking and to regulation of mutual funds, securities firms and insurance companies. Throughout the course, there will be extensive treatment of the causes, effects and regulatory implications of the recent financial crisis. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Bankruptcy (Law & Business) (Hynes, Richard M.) NOTE: This section of Bankruptcy is part of the Law School’s Law & Business Program. It has approximately the same substantive coverage as other Bankruptcy sections, but assumes knowledge of accounting and finance. This course concerns corporate bankruptcy and reorganization, and focuses on the reorganization of financially distressed firms under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. Compared to traditional bankruptcy courses, the emphasis of the readings and class discussion is less on bankruptcy case law and more on the economic fundamentals of financial deal-making and restructuring. Students enrolled in the course are expected to participate actively in class discussion. They should also be comfortable with the basic skills involved in reading financial statements and performing valuations of financial assets. PREREQUISITE: Accounting and Corporate Finance (or equivalent graduate, undergraduate or practical training in both subjects or instructor permission), Corporations (Law & Business) or Corporations (may be taken concurrently), or instructor permission
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Bankruptcy
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Bankruptcy (Walt, Steven D.) This course will explore in detail some of the legal, theoretical, and practical issues raised by a debtor’s financial distress. Principal emphasis will be on how the Federal Bankruptcy Code uses or displaces otherwise applicable law as the provider of rules that govern the relationships among debtors, creditors, and others. MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Bankruptcy (Law & Business)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Bioethics And The Law (Hafemeister, Thomas L.) Bioethics and the Law will address some of the most divisive, sharply debated, and rapidly emerging issues in society today. The course, which explores the intersection among medicine, technology, and the law, is likely to address issues such as human reproduction and birth (including actions for wrongful birth, wrongful life, and wrongful conception), human genetics and the privacy and ownership of genetic information, death and dying, research involving human subjects, organ transplantation, and public health and bioterrorism. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Business Reorganization Under Chapter 11 (Ackerly, Benjamin C.) This seminar will focus on the practical and strategic applications of Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. The seminar will examine applicable statutory and case law with particular emphasis on hypothetical and actual fact situations to demonstrate how the Chapter 11 process works. Legal and tactical considerations confronting debtors and creditors in a business reorganization will be analyzed so that students can appreciate the negotiation, litigation, and transactional components of a Chapter 11 case. At the conclusion of the semester, students will participate in a mock Chapter 11 plan confirmation hearing presided over by a U.S. bankruptcy judge. PREREQUISITE: Bankruptcy recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Capital Post-Conviction Clinic (Yr) (Lee, Robert) The Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center (VCRRC) will conduct a yearlong clinic centered on the representation of persons sentenced to death in Virginia and issues relevant to these cases. In addition to a classroom component focused on current issues in capital litigation in Virginia, students will analyze trial records; perform original research; write draft claims, motions, legal and investigative memoranda and correspondence; and engage in field investigations on issues particular to case needs. During the first semester a classroom component will introduce students to general and current issues in capital litigation in Virginia. During each semester, students will also work directly on cases litigated by the Center, conducting legal and factual research and investigation as appropriate to the cases. Travel for investigative purposes should be expected, as should direct contact with clients and witnesses. There will be periods during the year when a significant time commitment will be required. Interested students should submit applications via e-mail to the instructor, Robert Lee (roblee@vcrrc.org). Enrollment is limited so early application is advised. Applicants will be notified as selections are made. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Students will analyze trial records, perform original research, write draft claims, motions, legal and investigative memoranda and correspondence, and engage in field investigations, including interviewing potential witnesses. | |
| Chapter 11 (Kordana, Kevin A.) We will examine the academic literature (both theoretical and empirical) on Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. Emphasis on the goals of Chapter 11, its political economy, and possible alternative means of treating financially distressed firms. PREREQUISITE: Bankruptcy recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Three short papers | |
| Child Advocacy Clinic (Yr) (Block, Andrew K.; Ciolfi, Angela A.; Duvall, Kathryn L.; McShane, Molly K.) This yearlong clinical course includes two semesters of supervised legal representation of children, supported by a weekly clinical seminar which will meet during the fall semester. Students earn three (3) credits during the fall semester and five (5) credits during the spring semester. This clinical course is offered in conjunction with JustChildren, a program of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville. Students may represent children with legal issues in the areas of education law, laws governing access to services for incarcerated children, mental health and developmental disabilities law, and foster care and social services law. In some cases, students may work with a child’s public defender to develop sentencing options for the Juvenile Court that will meet the child’s needs. Students will gather factual information and conduct legal research to analyze the children’s legal situations. Students will represent children in negotiations and administrative hearings and will participate in court proceedings to the extent permitted by law. All students will be given an opportunity to work on policy issues that will be addressed by proposed legislation, administrative rule-making, or other means. Opportunities to work on impact litigation also may arise during the year. During the fall and spring semesters, students will meet weekly in small groups with their supervising attorneys, and individually as needed. The supervising attorneys will accompany students to all administrative and/or court hearings. Supervision will be provided by attorneys at JustChildren, located in Charlottesville. The clinical seminar will meet weekly during the fall semester only. It will provide students with an understanding of the legal obstacles confronting low-income children, and of the various legal settings in which the students will practice. ENROLLMENT LIMITATION: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester. On a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering after the add/drop period has ended. PREREQUISITE: Second- or third-year status. Negotiation Institute recommended, but not required
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Memoranda, correspondence, briefs, and pleadings. Occasional written preparation for class discussions | |
| Children And The Law (Block, Andrew K.) In this seminar students will examine the law’s treatment of children’s rights in the context of three sets of relationships: (1) Children and their families; (2) Children and the Courts; and (3) Children and Custodial Agencies (Departments of Social Services and Juvenile Justice, and Schools). Through reading and discussing a wide array of materials – cases, law review articles, social science research and media accounts – students will explore the current state of the law regarding these relationships, the complexities involved with assigning rights and responsibilities to children and those who care for them, and the barriers and limitations courts and legislatures confront when making decisions regarding children. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at the first class meeting is mandatory; students who do not attend will be dropped. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Class participation and a ten page paper | |
| Class Actions And Public Policy: Mass Torts, Employment Discrimination, And Securities Fraud (Walker, William L.) The seminar will begin with a session or two of introduction to the class action and will quickly turn to the question of whether or not the device has proved to be an effective policy tool. The seminar will examine this question primarily in three subject matter areas, mass torts, employment discrimination, and securities fraud, all of which present a number of interesting contemporary developments. A recurring puzzle is that in the eyes of some the device is "conservative" because of reliance on private initiative while others view class actions as "liberal" because of historical substantive objectives. The seminar will adopt a largely functional approach, seeking to determine which subject matters respond most efficiently to the device and why. This focus will yield a number of excellent paper topics, most with interesting current applications. COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Commercial Law In The Context Of The People's Republic Of China (Gounaris, Nestor) This course meets April 5 - 14. We will utilize a joint venture negotiation simulation to explore recent Chinese history (from the fall of the Qing Dynasty up to and including Deng’s economic reforms), look at both US and Chinese business negotiating norms and review joint venture law and implementing regulations. Critically, we will not simply look at the law. We will look at some of the historical and political drivers that shape the law. In addition, you will assume the role of a policy maker or commercial decision maker and explore a contemporary topic, with a focus on considering competing policy goals and limiting parameters. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Attendance at all class sessions is expected
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Paper required | |
| Comparative Constitutional Law Seminar (Howard, A E.) Recent years have seen a renaissance of interest in the comparative possibilities of constitutional law. Just as framers of liberal constitutions 200 years ago were influenced by events in France and America, so constitution-makers in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe, South Africa, and elsewhere have considered the experience of more established constitutional democracies in framing their fundamental laws. The seminar will explore the issues entailed in the drafting and uses of a constitution. To what extent do constitutions reflect universal values (such as human rights), and to what extent are they grounded in the culture and values of a particular people? How much borrowing goes on in the writing of a constitution? In particular, in what respects do the U.S. Constitution and American constitutionalism serve as models for newer democracies? What are the historical, cultural, political, and economic contexts necessary to the success of liberal constitutional democracy? FOREIGN GRADUATE STUDENTS: Please confer with the instructor before enrolling
PREREQUISITE or CONCURRENT: Constitutional Law useful, but not required
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE WITH: Constitutionalism: History and Jurisprudence
COURSE REQUIREMENT: A substantial research paper | |
| Comparative Democratic Constitutionalism (Sc) (Fritzen, Christof; Sprigman, Christopher J.) This course meets March 22 - April 8. This intensive short course will examine the constitutions and constitutional jurisprudence of the U.S., Germany, Canada and South Africa. These four nations each offer distinct models of how to run a constitutional democracy. Each nation has a distinct constitutional text and history, as well as idiosyncratic rules and norms of judicial review. Each strikes a different balance between majority rule and entrenched constitutional rights. And yet each is recognizable as a free and open society that is both rights-regarding and democratic. Students in this course will engage in comparative constitutional analysis, through study of relevant provisions of each nation's constitution, as well as selected cases and secondary materials. Students will examine the historical relationships between these constitutions, and the borrowing that later constitutions have made from earlier documents. The ultimate focus of the course will be on the role that constitutions and constitutional law plays in constructing democratic societies. MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: Comparative Constitutional Law (all offerings)
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Paper required | |
| Constitutional History I: American Revolution To 1896 (McCurdy, Charles W.) This course will trace the history of American constitutional law development from 1776 to 1896. Topics to be covered include the framing and ratification of the Constitution, the Alien and Sedition Acts, the landmark decisions of the Marshall Court, the constitutional ramifications of slavery and emancipation, and the impact of economic change on constitutional politics and constitutional law. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Constitutional Law Ii: Church And State (Armacost, Barbara E.) This course will explore the historical, philosophical, and constitutional foundations of the relation between religion and the state. Its primary focus will be on the religion clauses of the First Amendment. In considering the modern case law, and various theories of how the state should treat religion, the course will cover numerous topics under the broad headings of religious accommodation, public funding of religion, the influence of religion and government on public culture, and the role of religious convictions in political and legal decision-making. PREREQUISITE: Constitutional Law
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Constitutional Law Ii: Freedom Of Speech And Press (Kendrick, Leslie C.) The central theme of the course is the Supreme Court's determination of the scope of First Amendment expressive freedoms throughout the 20th century and into the 21st. Topics include prior restraint, seditious speech, defamation, campaign finance regulation, “low value” speech, hate speech, obscenity, child pornography, and commercial advertising. NOTE: Laptops prohibited during class sessions. PREREQUISITE: Constitutional Law
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE with: First Amendment Freedoms
COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination or a substantial research paper on a topic approved by the instructor | |
| Constitutional Law (A, C) (Magill, Mary E.) This is a required first-year course. This course is an introduction to the structure of the U.S. Constitution and the rights and liberties it defines. Judicial review, federalism, congressional powers and limits, the commerce clause, and the 10th Amendment are covered, as are the equal protection and due process clauses. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Constitutional Law (B, H) (Schauer, Frederick) This is a required first-year course. This course is an introduction to the structure of the U.S. Constitution and the rights and liberties it defines. Judicial review, federalism, congressional powers and limits, the commerce clause, and the 10th Amendment are covered, as are the equal protection and due process clauses. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
| Constitutional Law (D, K) (Mahoney, Julia D.) This is a required first-year course. This course is an introduction to the structure of the U.S. Constitution and the rights and liberties it defines. Judicial review, federalism, congressional powers and limits, the commerce clause, and the 10th Amendment are covered, as are the equal protection and due process clauses. COURSE REQUIREMENT: Examination | |
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