Course Catalog

This course explores a more diverse and deepened analysis of trial advocacy tied to the subject matter of the conflict and potential resolutions for that conflict. Students will learn basic tenants of all trial advocacy. These tenants include mechanics of pre- trial practice (motion practice including the differences between written and oral advocacy) as well as simulated trial tasks. Those trial tasks focus on the chronological development of a trial: jury selection; opening statement; direct and cross examination; exhibits; objections; impeachment and rehabilitation; experts and closing arguments. As part of the analysis, students provide weekly written reflections on the oath of office all attorneys are required to make as a condition for the privilege to practice law. That reflection includes identification and discussion of core values and expectations that their advocacy choices reflect those values. In lieu of a final exam, students will engage in a competition in conjunction with students from Wayne State Law School.

• Type: Practice Simulation

Learn to litigate while serving those who have served our country in the Veterans Legal Clinic. VLC students first chair their cases, engaging in all aspects of litigation, including: * interviewing clients * drafting pleadings * writing and arguing motions * negotiating with opposing attorneys * handling evidentiary hearings and trials. The VLC is a general civil litigation clinic in which students regularly get into court to represent veterans in all kinds of civil litigation matters, including: * contract disputes * family law * landlord-tenant cases * consumer actions * civil rights cases. Students are taught by seasoned litigators who meet frequently with students to discuss strategy and who give detailed feedback on written work and all other aspects of representation. Yet students are given significant autonomy and empowered to make strategic decisions in their cases. At the end of the semester, students will be prepared to handle any kind of litigation case and will understand how to successfully manage a case from intake to resolution. Students also participate in the VLC seminar, which teaches students the skills they need to provide top-notch representation to their veteran clients. Seminar sessions focus on skills like interviewing, negotiation, discovery, motion practice, evidence, and trial skills. Students also act as the attorneys in an in-class mock trial of a current or past VLC case. Students participate in case rounds, during which they work with each other to solve problems in their cases, and throughout the semester students in the VLC seminar are asked to reflect on their and their classmates' work, the role they play as attorneys in their clients' lives and society generally, and their ethical and moral obligations. Students will leave the VLC seminar as competent, confident, and reflective legal advocates.

• Type: Clinic

Learn to litigate while serving those who have served our country in the Veterans Legal Clinic. VLC students first chair their cases, engaging in all aspects of litigation, including: * interviewing clients * drafting pleadings * writing and arguing motions * negotiating with opposing attorneys * handling evidentiary hearings and trials. The VLC is a general civil litigation clinic in which students regularly get into court to represent veterans in all kinds of civil litigation matters, including: * contract disputes * family law * landlord-tenant cases * consumer actions * civil rights cases. Students are taught by seasoned litigators who meet frequently with students to discuss strategy and who give detailed feedback on written work and all other aspects of representation. Yet students are given significant autonomy and empowered to make strategic decisions in their cases. At the end of the semester, students will be prepared to handle any kind of litigation case and will understand how to successfully manage a case from intake to resolution. Students also participate in the VLC seminar, which teaches students the skills they need to provide top-notch representation to their veteran clients. Seminar sessions focus on skills like interviewing, negotiation, discovery, motion practice, evidence, and trial skills. Students also act as the attorneys in an in-class mock trial of a current or past VLC case. Students participate in case rounds, during which they work with each other to solve problems in their cases, and throughout the semester students in the VLC seminar are asked to reflect on their and their classmates' work, the role they play as attorneys in their clients' lives and society generally, and their ethical and moral obligations. Students will leave the VLC seminar as competent, confident, and reflective legal advocates.

• Type: Clinic

This course explores the law governing electoral processes in the United States. Topics will include the authority structure of elections regulation, the individual right to vote, reapportionment and gerrymandering, voting-related race discrimination and legislative efforts to prevent it, and regulation of political campaigns. Throughout our examination of these topics, we will discuss the roles federal and state courts play in resolving election-related disputes and how those roles have changed over time. We will also consider how the manner in which election-related disputes are resolved can influence public perception of, and confidence in, our democracy. And we will ask how our electoral processes could be structured differently to better achieve the goals of our democratic system.

• Type: Upper Class

Water Wars: Policy Development and Advocacy for the Great Lakes --- This course explores how lawyers use policy, law and advocacy to address some of the worst problems facing the Great Lakes, the largest surface fresh water source in the world and the ecological, social and economic foundation of everyone who lives in Michigan. Students form teams, adopt one of the Great Lakes, and develop legal, policy and advocacy recommendations to combat a severe problem facing that lake. Their work will be informed by existing federal and state environmental laws, international treaties, the public trust doctrine and more; and they will hear presentations and have discussions with policy experts who are leaders in the field. Because the Great Lakes are so large and their problems so varied, they provide us with an excellent way to study a wide range of legal, environmental and social issues, solutions, and advocacy strategies. And because they are right here and we all rely upon them for our quality of life (not to mention our drinking water), our study of their problems and solutions will take on an urgency and relevancy that will make your advocacy better and may even improve the lakes themselves.

• Type: Practice Simulation

This course provides an overview of the international legal norms and implementation mechanisms for the protection of women's human rights, including the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. It explores the historical roots of these norms and examines the theoretical construct of women's human rights from diverse feminist perspectives. Given that discrimination against women remains one of the most pervasive violations of human rights globally, the course tackles the challenges to implementing these norms in women's lived experience. It addresses concrete dilemmas facing women human rights defenders seeking to use international law and human rights mechanisms to end violations and achieve equality. Specific topics covered include violence against women, sexual harassment, global and anti-racist feminisms, and the economic, social and cultural rights of women, as well as the impacts on women's rights of the climate emergency, of the COVID 19 pandemic and of diverse forms of fundamentalism and extremism.

• Type: Upper Class

The Zell Entrepreneurship Clinic (ZEC) supports the University's burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystem by representing student-led entrepreneurial ventures as well as local startups and small businesses. Student attorneys in the ZEC encounter real-world transactional lawyering experiences with a focus on developing a business-oriented, client-centered mindset. The ZEC offers transactional and counseling legal services to startups and established small companies in the following areas: * Selecting and forming a legal entity and structuring ownership and capital * Counseling on and prosecuting intellectual property matters (e.g., copyright, trademark, patent, and trade secret) * Drafting and negotiating contracts * Advising on employment matters * Assisting on corporate fundraising and finance issues Students in the ZEC typically represent multiple clients and assume primary responsibility for all client matters under the close supervision of ZEC faculty. Student attorneys plan client matters; interview and counsel clients; draft various legal agreements, documents, correspondence and memos; prosecute patent and trademark applications; and identify and research legal issues to help their clients implement their decisions. Student attorneys also take turns offering community office hours where they provide legal information to local entrepreneurs. Furthermore, student attorneys are exposed to the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem through attendance of local events as a class. During the weekly seminar sessions, students discuss lawyering skills and values, ethical issues, client issues and some substantive law. Student attorneys review and reflect on their work and receive detailed feedback from ZEC faculty during weekly supervision meetings. There are no prerequisites for taking the ZEC. Because much of the client work will be in corporate, tax, intellectual property, employment, and other business areas, students will likely find prior course work in those areas helpful.

• Type: Clinic