Course Offerings

The seminar portion of the clinic examines the legal foundations of private land conservation, as well as the policy and environmental basis for this work. Students will explore conservation easements, the role of land trusts, the ecological and public benefits of protected land, and ways to enhance the impact of private conservation.  Law and Ecology Masters students will provide advice and drafting assistance to nonprofits, government agencies, and others on land conservation issues, with an emphasis on supporting private land conservation. Students will research, analyze, and draft transactional documents, reports, and guidebooks; counsel clients; and address policy and ecological challenges.

The course will examine the legal principles and administrative elements of the land development and regulation process, including the basics of planning and zoning.  Additional topics explored include nuisance, eminent domain, environmental regulation, subdivision controls, and urban redevelopment.

Focuses on the relationship between health care providers and patients. Topics include: the treatment relationship, professional liability, licensing, access to care (including EMTALA), quality of care, privacy and confidentiality (including HIPAA), and informed consent.

This course is about the developing role Artificial Intelligence plays in the practice of law. Students will learn about a lawyer’s ethical duty to responsibly utilize technology, the fundamental architecture underlying modern artificial intelligence technology, different ways A.I. can be leveraged in different kinds of legal practice, the areas of law that impact and are impacted by A.I., and best practices for evaluating A.I. enabled tools.

This course will focus on the history and judicial construction of the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment.

Through readings, various media, and classroom discussions, students will learn about social justice in the legal context. Students will compose a reflective journal writing and a written project/class presentation proposing a creative social justice response to a real-world community need or issue identified by faculty and the students.

Can a brain scan tell whether someone is lying, and should that type of evidence be admitted at trial?  Does a criminal defendant’s history of mental illness impact how a judge decides to sentence? Does a plaintiff’s high damage request cause a jury to give a greater award?  Do adolescents’ developing brains mean they have reduced criminal culpability?  We’ll cover these questions and more in this course, which examines how law is affected by both the traditional field of psychology and the emerging field of neuroscience.  Broad topics include judge and jury decisionmaking, the psychological basis of criminal culpability, the psychological justifications for various legal rules & doctrines, and much more. Along the way we’ll discuss how the legal system can and should respond to new insights in psychology and neuroscience. (Note that all scientific material in the class will be presented in an accessible manner, so no previous science background is required.) Grading will be based heavily on class participation in addition to a final paper.

This course explores the Constitution’s structuring of American government. Of particular importance are two key concepts: (1) federalism (that is, the division of power between the central government and the states) and (2) the separation of powers among the three branches of the central government.

This course introduces students to the ways that lawyers, historians, social scientists, and others evaluate the law’s relationship to justice, the state, and democracy, and helps them understand how those relationships have shaped and been shaped by social, cultural, economic, and political ideas and institutions.

Examined in this course will be laws and customs intended to regulate war - not only when and whether law permits resort to armed conflict, but also national and international legal rules and regimes governing how war is to be waged and when actors may be sanctioned for violating those rules.

“Lawyering” covers various strategies and issues that are relevant to a long-term, healthy, and satisfying career in a dynamic profession. Topics may include the business of lawyering, professional-identity formation, cross-cultural competency, legal technology, wellness strategies, and professional communication skills.  The course is pass/fail. JURI 4040 is the first course in a two-part series. Students should expect to register for JURI 4041 in the semester following JURI 4040.

This course is a continuation of JURI 4040, covering various strategies and issues that are relevant to a long-term, healthy, and satisfying career in a dynamic profession. Topics may include the business of lawyering, professional-identity formation, cross-cultural competency, legal technology, wellness strategies, and professional communication skills.  The course is pass/fail.

Learning from Wrongful Convictions will explore some of the main factors that have led to wrongful convictions across the United States. Using actual cases in which the accused has been exonerated, students will develop an understanding of how forensic science, social science, police officers, prosecutors, and defense attorneys have all contributed to various cases of wrongful convictions. Students will then examine what the criminal justice system can do to prevent wrongful convictions in the future and present a paper detailing a proposed solution to one of the issues discussed. Learning will come from readings, class discussions and guest speakers.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data science are reshaping every aspect of how we live and work. Initially slow to adopt data-driven technologies, the legal industry is on the verge of a legal analytics revolution, in which many tasks previously performed by lawyers will be automated and attorneys will augment their legal judgment with data--helping clients make better decisions faster and more cheaply. In this interactive short course, students will assume the roles of corporate general counsel, law firm managing partners, and legal tech startup CEOs to develop data strategies for their organizations, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of legal analytics software currently on the market, and redesign attorney workflows using analytics to maximize return on investment (ROI). This course will demystify concepts like AI, data science, and machine learning while empowering students with a working knowledge of legal analytics that will deliver immediate value to their future employers. No prior experience in technology, data analytics, or mathematics is needed.

This course will explore the law related to developing and launching a small business. We will discuss topics such as: selecting the structure of and forming a corporation; protecting a business's copyrights, trademarks, patents, and/or trade secrets; and complying with employment and consumer protection laws and regulations. Ultimately, this course will provide you with enough background in these areas of the law to identify legal issues you may run across in starting a small business, to help you determine when you should contact an attorney, and to give you the ability to discuss your issues intelligently with legal counsel.

An overview of drafting non-litigation documents. Develops the skills required to draft statutes, will, and contracts. The course also focuses on gathering information to provide a factual basis for the preparation of such documents and drafting such documents within the existing legal framework.

An overview of drafting non-litigation documents. Develops the skills required to draft statutes, will, and contracts. The course also focuses on gathering information to provide a factual basis for the preparation of such documents and drafting such documents within the existing legal framework.

This course explores legal malpractice law, policy and problems. In addition to studying civil liability claims, the course will cover approaches to managing risks and avoiding malpractice lawsuits. The course will also deal with malpractice insurance and defenses to claims for legal malpractice. The material covered by this course is designed to benefit all new lawyers, regardless of firm size or practice area, and should be particularly useful for those students who may be joining smaller firms or who plan eventually to start their own practice. The Law and Ethics of Lawyering is not a formal prerequisite, though students may find it provides a foundation for some class concepts.

Negotiation theory, practical skills training and an examination of settlement issues combine to give students confidence that they can negotiate legal disputes effectively and with integrity. Students participate in class discussions and negotiation simulations, complete written assignments and submit a paper.

Introduction to sources and strategies for basic legal research including finding cases, statutes, regulations, and secondary authorities. Introduction to sources and strategies for basic legal research.

This course will cover Spanish language skills used in legal settings. The focus will be on listening and speaking comprehension, with some reading and writing. The course will offer a broad overview of the basics of the legal systems in Spanish-speaking countries to enable students to communicate legal concepts more accurately and efficiently.  This course is graded pass/fail. Fluency is not required, but students should have at least an intermediate, conversational ability in order to fully participate. Please contact the instructor with any questions.

This course will build upon the Spanish language skills used in legal settings covered in Legal Spanish I. The focus will be on advanced listening and speaking comprehension, with some reading and writing. The course will offer an advanced overview of the basics of the legal systems in Spanish-speaking countries to enable students to communicate legal concepts more accurately and efficiently.  This course will be graded pass/fail.

This course is designed for LL.M. students in the Master of Laws program who have received their law degrees from a foreign institution. The course will introduce students to fundamental principles of law, including statutory and common law, U.S. federalism, the adversary system and jury trials. The course will also provide a basic overview of various areas of U.S. law.

The evolution of First Amendment principles and how they apply to media providers, media consumers, and social media.  The course includes readings, classroom discussion, and independent research projects in which the student will complete a research paper and then present that paper to the class. (This class is pass/fail).

This course for MSL students focuses on analytical skills such as reading critically, deconstructing rules, synthesizing authorities, organizing legal analysis, and communicating that analysis in writing. Emphasis is also placed on writing style and skills that will enable MSL students to communicate professionally about legal issues in their chosen careers.