Course Catalog

The Clinic offers students the opportunity to learn to be effective advocates while representing the National Wildlife Federation. NWF pursues its mission to conserve wildlife in administrative, judicial, and legislative forums, and through a wide range of educational programs and publications. The course has both a clinical and a classroom component. Clinical work will teach students the mechanics of litigation, primarily in state or federal appellate venues, as well as pertinent environmental laws and administrative law. Students will also practice investigative, research, and writing skills. Class work will introduce students to principles and techniques relevant to the clinical work, and may include such subjects as drafting pleadings and motions; oral argument; and negotiation. The Clinic is a graded seven-credit-hour offering. Students must enroll in the 4 credit clinic and the 3 credit seminar, taken concurrently. Credits count toward New York’s pro bono requirement. Courses in administrative and environmental law are not prerequisites, but would be helpful.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

The Clinic offers students the opportunity to learn to be effective advocates while representing the National Wildlife Federation. NWF pursues its mission to conserve wildlife in administrative, judicial, and legislative forums, and through a wide range of educational programs and publications. The course has both a clinical and a classroom component. Clinical work will teach students the mechanics of litigation, primarily in state or federal appellate venues, as well as pertinent environmental laws and administrative law. Students will also practice investigative, research, and writing skills. Class work will introduce students to principles and techniques relevant to the clinical work, and may include such subjects as drafting pleadings and motions; oral argument; and negotiation. The Clinic is a graded seven-credit-hour offering. Students must enroll in the 4 credit clinic and the 3 credit seminar, taken concurrently. Credits count toward New York’s pro bono requirement. Courses in administrative and environmental law are not prerequisites, but would be helpful.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

National antitrust policy under the Sherman, Federal Trade Commission, and Clayton Acts. Restraints of trade and monopoly problems including agreements among competitors (such as price-fixing, trade associations, and joint ventures), vertical relationships (such as resale price maintenance and exclusive territories), single firm exclusionary conduct (such as predatory pricing and predatory product innovation), and merger policy. Students do not need to have any prior economic training, but should be prepared to learn some basic industrial organizational theory and microeconomics. Current debates in the field at the level of both theory and policy will be explored.

• Type: Upper Class

This course serves as an introduction to: (1) the major areas of law governing the health care sector malpractice, licensing, credentialing, problems of patient rights, and professional prerogatives; (2) the organization of the health care sector and how major institutions within it function (hospitals, licensing and accrediting bodies, professional associations, health maintenance organizations, etc.); and (3) the tension between legal, scientific, and clinical styles of thinking, all of which come to bear on subjects such as malpractice liability, right to die, and admissions to hospital staff privileges.

• Type: Upper Class

In the modern regulatory state, the rules that most profoundly shape private conduct come not from the common law but, instead, from legislatures and agencies. This class will explore the lawmaking function of these institutions and the virtues and vices of administrative governance. Among other things, the class will cover: the nature of the legislative process; statutory interpretation; the justifications for regulatory intervention; regulatory tools and strategies; the allocation of authority between legislatures and agencies; the varied forms of agency decision-making; and judicial review of agency decisions. In offering a survey of public law, the course will introduce students to the essentials of both statutory interpretation and administrative law.

• Type: Upper Class

This course covers the regulation of securities offerings and trading under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. It examines offerings and the registration process under the Securities Act, along with reporting requirements under the Exchange Act. The course will also cover fraud, insider trading and civil liabilities under both Acts.

• Type: Upper Class

Water Wars: Law and Advocacy to Save the Great Lakes
The University of Michigan sits in the midst of the most abundant source of surface fresh water in the world and some of the most fascinating legal and policy disputes that will determine its future. The Great Lakes contain 20% of the surface fresh water of the entire planet, and 90% of that of the United States. They not only serve as sources of drinking water and recreation for 40 million people, but also as the economic engine for the region.
Today, the lakes have reached a tipping point. Centuries of use (and abuse) and the increased demand for water from an increasingly thirsty world have created immense and potentially irreversible ecological changes and historic legal conflicts and policy opportunities to accompany them.
In this class, we will learn and experience national, state, and international natural resource law and advocacy through the lens of this unique region. The public trust doctrine, water law, the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws, and even maritime law are all being simultaneously litigated and rewritten in this period of seismic shifts in Great Lakes policy. The class will cover these and other topics through lectures by and discussions with the leaders in the Great Lakes region who right now are remaking Great Lakes law and policy.

• Type: Upper Class

This course includes a thorough examination of the legal framework—constitutional, statutory, and common law—that empowers and constrains a wide range of federal administrative agencies. We will also look at the ways agencies themselves make law through rulemaking and adjudicate cases, and cover a range of other topics, including agency due process, adjudication in agencies, limitations on judicial review, standing, and finality. We will also engage issues of current concern, including presidential control of agencies and so-called e-government. This course is for students who have not taken Law 569, Legislation and Regulation.

• Type: Upper Class

This seminar will trace the beginnings of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and go into depth on central aspects of the FPCA in theory and practice. It will also address issues around corruption in international business, the OECD initiatives the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, and other regional/supra/international attempts to reduce public corruption. We will also discuss compliance programs, investigations (including special issues related to cross border investigations), prosecutions/defense and resolution of FCPA issues.

• Type: Seminar

This course provides an introduction to the laws and regulations we use to address environmental harms. It focuses on the major pollution control statutes, particularly the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Recovery Act, and Toxic Substances Control Act. We will also examine the role of the courts in interpreting these statutes as well as the underlying scientific, economic, and policy rationales for environmental protection. Recurring themes will include the balance of federal and state authority, the influence of interest groups (both industry and environmental organizations) on environmental policy, and the disparate impact of pollution on vulnerable populations. The course will also cover recent developments in administrative and constitutional law that have significant implications for environmental regulation, such as the major questions and non-delegation doctrines.

• Type: Upper Class

The Clinic offers students the opportunity to learn to be effective advocates while representing the National Wildlife Federation. NWF pursues its mission to conserve wildlife in administrative, judicial, and legislative forums, and through a wide range of educational programs and publications. The course has both a clinical and a classroom component. Clinical work will teach students the mechanics of litigation, primarily in state or federal appellate venues, as well as pertinent environmental laws and administrative law. Students will also practice investigative, research, and writing skills. Class work will introduce students to principles and techniques relevant to the clinical work, and may include such subjects as drafting pleadings and motions; oral argument; and negotiation. The Clinic is a graded seven-credit-hour offering. Students must enroll in the 4 credit clinic and the 3 credit seminar, taken concurrently. Credits count toward New York’s pro bono requirement. Courses in administrative and environmental law are not prerequisites, but would be helpful.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

The Clinic offers students the opportunity to learn to be effective advocates while representing the National Wildlife Federation. NWF pursues its mission to conserve wildlife in administrative, judicial, and legislative forums, and through a wide range of educational programs and publications. The course has both a clinical and a classroom component. Clinical work will teach students the mechanics of litigation, primarily in state or federal appellate venues, as well as pertinent environmental laws and administrative law. Students will also practice investigative, research, and writing skills. Class work will introduce students to principles and techniques relevant to the clinical work, and may include such subjects as drafting pleadings and motions; oral argument; and negotiation. The Clinic is a graded seven-credit-hour offering. Students must enroll in the 4 credit clinic and the 3 credit seminar, taken concurrently. Credits count toward New York’s pro bono requirement. Courses in administrative and environmental law are not prerequisites, but would be helpful.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

National antitrust policy under the Sherman, Federal Trade Commission, and Clayton Acts. Restraints of trade and monopoly problems including agreements among competitors (such as price-fixing, trade associations, and joint ventures), vertical relationships (such as resale price maintenance and exclusive territories), single firm exclusionary conduct (such as predatory pricing and predatory product innovation), and merger policy. Students do not need to have any prior economic training, but should be prepared to learn some basic industrial organizational theory and microeconomics. Current debates in the field at the level of both theory and policy will be explored.

• Type: Upper Class

Through the course, students will explore key laws and legal concepts applicable to American institutions of higher education. Among other issues, the course will focus on how to weigh and balance the sometimes competing rights and responsibilities of institutions, faculty, staff, and students. For instance, the course will explore: the potential clash between the academic freedom rights of faculty and the rights of students to be free from racial and sexual harassment; Title IX and women’s sports; affirmative action in admissions, financial aid, and faculty hiring; and the intellectual property rights of faculty, staff and students. The goal of the course is to introduce the fundamental legal areas affecting higher education so that students can recognize when legal issues and concepts are involved in the higher education context. Additionally, the course gives the opportunity to consider the role of “in house” counsel. The course also aims to use legal issues as a catalyst for a broader discussion of the role and meaning of higher education in today’s society. Furthermore, the course offers the opportunity to consider legal and policy matters in a context in which every student will have had personal, in-depth experience. The course format will include lecture and class discussion. The course is a meet-together with the School of Education and will include both law students and graduate students in education.

• Type: Upper Class

This course will explore the legal, historical and policy perspectives that shape U.S. law governing immigration and citizenship. The course provides a general overview of the constitutional and international law foundations underlying immigration regulation, the history of immigration law in the U.S., the source and scope of congressional and executive branch power in the realm of immigration, and the role of the judiciary in making and interpreting immigration law. The course will closely examine the admission, exclusion, removal and naturalization of noncitizens in the United States.

• Type: Upper Class

This course is a comprehensive introduction to the international legal framework for the regulation of international trade in goods and services. This course will include: an introduction to the economics and politics of trade; an examination of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its dispute settlement machinery, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the General Agreement on Trade in Services GATS); the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, and related instruments; and discussions of trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, conflicts between trade policy and other concerns (such as human rights, environment and development), and the recent proliferation of bilaterial and regional trade agreements.

• Type: Upper Class

This course explores the legal framework governing coordinated action by workers. Broadly speaking, the topics we study are: 1) the regulation of union organizing, and of various other forms of worker collective action and worker protest; 2) the public recognition of labor organizations and subsequent regulation of the collective bargaining relationship. We look at the development of the law, its current operation, and where it may go. We focus mainly on the National Labor Relations Act, related case-law and agency decisions. We may also consider historical and comparative perspectives on labor law, emerging forms of worker organization and union strategies outside the scope of the NLRA, interaction with other areas of law and and with changing business models, labor law reform proposals, and/or collective worker participation in politics. While there are no formal prerequisites, many students may find either Administrative Law or Legislation & Regulation helpful (whether taken beforehand or concurrently).

• Type: Upper Class

In the modern regulatory state, the rules that most profoundly shape private conduct come not from the common law but, instead, from legislatures and agencies. This class will explore the lawmaking function of these institutions and the virtues and vices of administrative governance. Among other things, the class will cover: the nature of the legislative process; statutory interpretation; the justifications for regulatory intervention; regulatory tools and strategies; the allocation of authority between legislatures and agencies; the varied forms of agency decision-making; and judicial review of agency decisions. In offering a survey of public law, the course will introduce students to the essentials of both statutory interpretation and administrative law.

• Type: Upper Class

For most Americans, their primary interactions with the government are with local government: the schools that care for their children, the police departments that exercise deadly force on their behalf or against them, the zoning boards that decide where and how they can live, and the countless sanitation and transportation agencies on whose services they rely daily. This class examines those local governments. We will both study the law governing local governments’ powers generally and explore the specific functions our political system has chosen to entrust to the lowest level of government. In doing so, we will consider what authority and responsibilities local governments have been granted and denied, how that authority may be exercised, how conflicts between local governments and other private and public entities are resolved, and who is empowered and excluded by these governance decisions. We will pay close attention to the institutional structures of local government: with more than 90,000 local governments in the United States, local governments are designed and operate very differently from each other, not to mention from the federal government. And throughout, we will ask how these legal choices about local government affect the most pressing policy issues of today—and how you, as local government lawyers or citizens of local government, can affect them in turn.

• Type: Upper Class

This course will provide an introduction to basic concepts of patent law, focusing on legal issues that arise in the course of obtaining and enforcing patents. The course is designed to be suitable for students planning to enter a general practice as well as those planning to specialize in intellectual property. A technical background is not a prerequisite, but students will be required to read and discuss cases involving technical facts.

• Type: Upper Class

This course covers the regulation of securities offerings and trading under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. It examines offerings and the registration process under the Securities Act, along with reporting requirements under the Exchange Act. The course will also cover fraud, insider trading and civil liabilities under both Acts.

• Type: Upper Class

This seminar will trace the beginnings of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and go into depth on central aspects of the FPCA in theory and practice. It will also address issues around corruption in international business, the OECD initiatives the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, and other regional/supra/international attempts to reduce public corruption. We will also discuss compliance programs, investigations (including special issues related to cross border investigations), prosecutions/defense and resolution of FCPA issues.

• Type: Seminar

This course provides an introduction to the laws and regulations we use to address environmental harms. It focuses on the major pollution control statutes, particularly the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Recovery Act, and Toxic Substances Control Act. We will also examine the role of the courts in interpreting these statutes as well as the underlying scientific, economic, and policy rationales for environmental protection. Recurring themes will include the balance of federal and state authority, the influence of interest groups (both industry and environmental organizations) on environmental policy, and the disparate impact of pollution on vulnerable populations. The course will also cover recent developments in administrative and constitutional law that have significant implications for environmental regulation, such as the major questions and non-delegation doctrines.

• Type: Upper Class

The Clinic offers students the opportunity to learn to be effective advocates while representing the National Wildlife Federation. NWF pursues its mission to conserve wildlife in administrative, judicial, and legislative forums, and through a wide range of educational programs and publications. The course has both a clinical and a classroom component. Clinical work will teach students the mechanics of litigation, primarily in state or federal appellate venues, as well as pertinent environmental laws and administrative law. Students will also practice investigative, research, and writing skills. Class work will introduce students to principles and techniques relevant to the clinical work, and may include such subjects as drafting pleadings and motions; oral argument; and negotiation. The Clinic is a graded seven-credit-hour offering. Students must enroll in the 4 credit clinic and the 3 credit seminar, taken concurrently. Credits count toward New York’s pro bono requirement. Courses in administrative and environmental law are not prerequisites, but would be helpful.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

The Clinic offers students the opportunity to learn to be effective advocates while representing the National Wildlife Federation. NWF pursues its mission to conserve wildlife in administrative, judicial, and legislative forums, and through a wide range of educational programs and publications. The course has both a clinical and a classroom component. Clinical work will teach students the mechanics of litigation, primarily in state or federal appellate venues, as well as pertinent environmental laws and administrative law. Students will also practice investigative, research, and writing skills. Class work will introduce students to principles and techniques relevant to the clinical work, and may include such subjects as drafting pleadings and motions; oral argument; and negotiation. The Clinic is a graded seven-credit-hour offering. Students must enroll in the 4 credit clinic and the 3 credit seminar, taken concurrently. Credits count toward New York’s pro bono requirement. Courses in administrative and environmental law are not prerequisites, but would be helpful.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

National antitrust policy under the Sherman, Federal Trade Commission, and Clayton Acts. Restraints of trade and monopoly problems including agreements among competitors (such as price-fixing, trade associations, and joint ventures), vertical relationships (such as resale price maintenance and exclusive territories), single firm exclusionary conduct (such as predatory pricing and predatory product innovation), and merger policy. Students do not need to have any prior economic training, but should be prepared to learn some basic industrial organizational theory and microeconomics. Current debates in the field at the level of both theory and policy will be explored.

• Type: Upper Class

This course serves as an introduction to: (1) the major areas of law governing the health care sector malpractice, licensing, credentialing, problems of patient rights, and professional prerogatives; (2) the organization of the health care sector and how major institutions within it function (hospitals, licensing and accrediting bodies, professional associations, health maintenance organizations, etc.); and (3) the tension between legal, scientific, and clinical styles of thinking, all of which come to bear on subjects such as malpractice liability, right to die, and admissions to hospital staff privileges.

• Type: Upper Class

This course will explore the legal, historical and policy perspectives that shape U.S. law governing immigration and citizenship. The course provides a general overview of the constitutional and international law foundations underlying immigration regulation, the history of immigration law in the U.S., the source and scope of congressional and executive branch power in the realm of immigration, and the role of the judiciary in making and interpreting immigration law. The course will closely examine the admission, exclusion, removal and naturalization of noncitizens in the United States.

• Type: Upper Class

This course is a comprehensive introduction to the international legal framework for the regulation of international trade in goods and services. This course will include: an introduction to the economics and politics of trade; an examination of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its dispute settlement machinery, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the General Agreement on Trade in Services GATS); the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, and related instruments; and discussions of trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, conflicts between trade policy and other concerns (such as human rights, environment and development), and the recent proliferation of bilaterial and regional trade agreements.

• Type: Upper Class

In the modern regulatory state, the rules that most profoundly shape private conduct come not from the common law but, instead, from legislatures and agencies. This class will explore the lawmaking function of these institutions and the virtues and vices of administrative governance. Among other things, the class will cover: the nature of the legislative process; statutory interpretation; the justifications for regulatory intervention; regulatory tools and strategies; the allocation of authority between legislatures and agencies; the varied forms of agency decision-making; and judicial review of agency decisions. In offering a survey of public law, the course will introduce students to the essentials of both statutory interpretation and administrative law.

• Type: Upper Class

This course covers the regulation of securities offerings and trading under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. It examines offerings and the registration process under the Securities Act, along with reporting requirements under the Exchange Act. The course will also cover fraud, insider trading and civil liabilities under both Acts.

• Type: Upper Class

This course provides an introduction to the laws and regulations we use to address environmental harms. It focuses on the major pollution control statutes, particularly the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Recovery Act, and Toxic Substances Control Act. We will also examine the role of the courts in interpreting these statutes as well as the underlying scientific, economic, and policy rationales for environmental protection. Recurring themes will include the balance of federal and state authority, the influence of interest groups (both industry and environmental organizations) on environmental policy, and the disparate impact of pollution on vulnerable populations. The course will also cover recent developments in administrative and constitutional law that have significant implications for environmental regulation, such as the major questions and non-delegation doctrines.

• Type: Upper Class

The Clinic offers students the opportunity to learn to be effective advocates while representing the National Wildlife Federation. NWF pursues its mission to conserve wildlife in administrative, judicial, and legislative forums, and through a wide range of educational programs and publications. The course has both a clinical and a classroom component. Clinical work will teach students the mechanics of litigation, primarily in state or federal appellate venues, as well as pertinent environmental laws and administrative law. Students will also practice investigative, research, and writing skills. Class work will introduce students to principles and techniques relevant to the clinical work, and may include such subjects as drafting pleadings and motions; oral argument; and negotiation. The Clinic is a graded seven-credit-hour offering. Students must enroll in the 4 credit clinic and the 3 credit seminar, taken concurrently. Credits count toward New York’s pro bono requirement. Courses in administrative and environmental law are not prerequisites, but would be helpful.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

The Clinic offers students the opportunity to learn to be effective advocates while representing the National Wildlife Federation. NWF pursues its mission to conserve wildlife in administrative, judicial, and legislative forums, and through a wide range of educational programs and publications. The course has both a clinical and a classroom component. Clinical work will teach students the mechanics of litigation, primarily in state or federal appellate venues, as well as pertinent environmental laws and administrative law. Students will also practice investigative, research, and writing skills. Class work will introduce students to principles and techniques relevant to the clinical work, and may include such subjects as drafting pleadings and motions; oral argument; and negotiation. The Clinic is a graded seven-credit-hour offering. Students must enroll in the 4 credit clinic and the 3 credit seminar, taken concurrently. Credits count toward New York’s pro bono requirement. Courses in administrative and environmental law are not prerequisites, but would be helpful.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

National antitrust policy under the Sherman, Federal Trade Commission, and Clayton Acts. Restraints of trade and monopoly problems including agreements among competitors (such as price-fixing, trade associations, and joint ventures), vertical relationships (such as resale price maintenance and exclusive territories), single firm exclusionary conduct (such as predatory pricing and predatory product innovation), and merger policy. Students do not need to have any prior economic training, but should be prepared to learn some basic industrial organizational theory and microeconomics. Current debates in the field at the level of both theory and policy will be explored.

• Type: Upper Class

This is a survey course designed to introduce students to insurance institutions and insurance law, with the ultimate goal of understanding the role of insurance in society. Liability, health, and property insurance will receive the most attention, but we will also discuss life and disability insurance. After taking this course, students will know how to read and analyze a standard form insurance contract, how to work with insurance regulatory materials, how to spot the insurance issues in a wide variety of legal and public policy contexts, and how to think about insurance related issues using conceptual tools from a variety of disciplines. Cross-cutting themes of interest include the hidden role of insurance in shaping litigation strategy, the regulatory function of insurance contracts, and the ways in which various conceptions of justice are achieved through insurance mechanisms as well as insurance regulation.

• Type: Upper Class

This course explores the legal framework governing coordinated action by workers. Broadly speaking, the topics we study are: 1) the regulation of union organizing, and of various other forms of worker collective action and worker protest; 2) the public recognition of labor organizations and subsequent regulation of the collective bargaining relationship. We look at the development of the law, its current operation, and where it may go. We focus mainly on the National Labor Relations Act, related case-law and agency decisions. We may also consider historical and comparative perspectives on labor law, emerging forms of worker organization and union strategies outside the scope of the NLRA, interaction with other areas of law and and with changing business models, labor law reform proposals, and/or collective worker participation in politics. While there are no formal prerequisites, many students may find either Administrative Law or Legislation & Regulation helpful (whether taken beforehand or concurrently).

• Type: Upper Class

In the modern regulatory state, the rules that most profoundly shape private conduct come not from the common law but, instead, from legislatures and agencies. This class will explore the lawmaking function of these institutions and the virtues and vices of administrative governance. Among other things, the class will cover: the nature of the legislative process; statutory interpretation; the justifications for regulatory intervention; regulatory tools and strategies; the allocation of authority between legislatures and agencies; the varied forms of agency decision-making; and judicial review of agency decisions. In offering a survey of public law, the course will introduce students to the essentials of both statutory interpretation and administrative law.

• Type: Upper Class

For most Americans, their primary interactions with the government are with local government: the schools that care for their children, the police departments that exercise deadly force on their behalf or against them, the zoning boards that decide where and how they can live, and the countless sanitation and transportation agencies on whose services they rely daily. This class examines those local governments. We will both study the law governing local governments’ powers generally and explore the specific functions our political system has chosen to entrust to the lowest level of government. In doing so, we will consider what authority and responsibilities local governments have been granted and denied, how that authority may be exercised, how conflicts between local governments and other private and public entities are resolved, and who is empowered and excluded by these governance decisions. We will pay close attention to the institutional structures of local government: with more than 90,000 local governments in the United States, local governments are designed and operate very differently from each other, not to mention from the federal government. And throughout, we will ask how these legal choices about local government affect the most pressing policy issues of today—and how you, as local government lawyers or citizens of local government, can affect them in turn.

• Type: Upper Class

This course will provide an introduction to basic concepts of patent law, focusing on legal issues that arise in the course of obtaining and enforcing patents. The course is designed to be suitable for students planning to enter a general practice as well as those planning to specialize in intellectual property. A technical background is not a prerequisite, but students will be required to read and discuss cases involving technical facts.

• Type: Upper Class

This course covers the regulation of securities offerings and trading under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. It examines offerings and the registration process under the Securities Act, along with reporting requirements under the Exchange Act. The course will also cover fraud, insider trading and civil liabilities under both Acts.

• Type: Upper Class

Water Wars: Law and Advocacy to Save the Great Lakes
The University of Michigan sits in the midst of the most abundant source of surface fresh water in the world and some of the most fascinating legal and policy disputes that will determine its future. The Great Lakes contain 20% of the surface fresh water of the entire planet, and 90% of that of the United States. They not only serve as sources of drinking water and recreation for 40 million people, but also as the economic engine for the region.
Today, the lakes have reached a tipping point. Centuries of use (and abuse) and the increased demand for water from an increasingly thirsty world have created immense and potentially irreversible ecological changes and historic legal conflicts and policy opportunities to accompany them.
In this class, we will learn and experience national, state, and international natural resource law and advocacy through the lens of this unique region. The public trust doctrine, water law, the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws, and even maritime law are all being simultaneously litigated and rewritten in this period of seismic shifts in Great Lakes policy. The class will cover these and other topics through lectures by and discussions with the leaders in the Great Lakes region who right now are remaking Great Lakes law and policy.

• Type: Upper Class

This course includes a thorough examination of the legal framework—constitutional, statutory, and common law—that empowers and constrains a wide range of federal administrative agencies. We will also look at the ways agencies themselves make law through rulemaking and adjudicate cases, and cover a range of other topics, including agency due process, adjudication in agencies, limitations on judicial review, standing, and finality. We will also engage issues of current concern, including presidential control of agencies and so-called e-government. This course is for students who have not taken Law 569, Legislation and Regulation.

• Type: Upper Class

This seminar will trace the beginnings of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and go into depth on central aspects of the FPCA in theory and practice. It will also address issues around corruption in international business, the OECD initiatives the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, and other regional/supra/international attempts to reduce public corruption. We will also discuss compliance programs, investigations (including special issues related to cross border investigations), prosecutions/defense and resolution of FCPA issues.

• Type: Seminar

The Clinic offers students the opportunity to learn to be effective advocates while representing the National Wildlife Federation. NWF pursues its mission to conserve wildlife in administrative, judicial, and legislative forums, and through a wide range of educational programs and publications. The course has both a clinical and a classroom component. Clinical work will teach students the mechanics of litigation, primarily in state or federal appellate venues, as well as pertinent environmental laws and administrative law. Students will also practice investigative, research, and writing skills. Class work will introduce students to principles and techniques relevant to the clinical work, and may include such subjects as drafting pleadings and motions; oral argument; and negotiation. The Clinic is a graded seven-credit-hour offering. Students must enroll in the 4 credit clinic and the 3 credit seminar, taken concurrently. Credits count toward New York’s pro bono requirement. Courses in administrative and environmental law are not prerequisites, but would be helpful.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

National antitrust policy under the Sherman, Federal Trade Commission, and Clayton Acts. Restraints of trade and monopoly problems including agreements among competitors (such as price-fixing, trade associations, and joint ventures), vertical relationships (such as resale price maintenance and exclusive territories), single firm exclusionary conduct (such as predatory pricing and predatory product innovation), and merger policy. Students do not need to have any prior economic training, but should be prepared to learn some basic industrial organizational theory and microeconomics. Current debates in the field at the level of both theory and policy will be explored.

• Type: Upper Class

Through the course, students will explore key laws and legal concepts applicable to American institutions of higher education. Among other issues, the course will focus on how to weigh and balance the sometimes competing rights and responsibilities of institutions, faculty, staff, and students. For instance, the course will explore: the potential clash between the academic freedom rights of faculty and the rights of students to be free from racial and sexual harassment; Title IX and women’s sports; affirmative action in admissions, financial aid, and faculty hiring; and the intellectual property rights of faculty, staff and students. The goal of the course is to introduce the fundamental legal areas affecting higher education so that students can recognize when legal issues and concepts are involved in the higher education context. Additionally, the course gives the opportunity to consider the role of “in house” counsel. The course also aims to use legal issues as a catalyst for a broader discussion of the role and meaning of higher education in today’s society. Furthermore, the course offers the opportunity to consider legal and policy matters in a context in which every student will have had personal, in-depth experience. The course format will include lecture and class discussion. The course is a meet-together with the School of Education and will include both law students and graduate students in education.

• Type: Upper Class

This course explores the legal framework governing coordinated action by workers. Broadly speaking, the topics we study are: 1) the regulation of union organizing, and of various other forms of worker collective action and worker protest; 2) the public recognition of labor organizations and subsequent regulation of the collective bargaining relationship. We look at the development of the law, its current operation, and where it may go. We focus mainly on the National Labor Relations Act, related case-law and agency decisions. We may also consider historical and comparative perspectives on labor law, emerging forms of worker organization and union strategies outside the scope of the NLRA, interaction with other areas of law and and with changing business models, labor law reform proposals, and/or collective worker participation in politics. While there are no formal prerequisites, many students may find either Administrative Law or Legislation & Regulation helpful (whether taken beforehand or concurrently).

• Type: Upper Class