Course Catalog

With increasing frequency, cities and states are engaging in affirmative, plaintiff-side litigation. City and state initiated litigation, over the past decades, has resulted in some of the largest monetary judgments and settlement in U.S. history, including in the multistate tobacco litigation and the multi-jurisdiction opioid litigation. Cities and states also use affirmative litigation, often successfully, to push affirmative policy priorities--often against the federal government--in issue areas as diverse as climate change, civil rights, immigration, and others. This class will take a close look at city and state-initiated litigation, from both a doctrinal and theoretical perspective. The course will cover the authority and causes of action cities and states have to sue. Case studies examined will include major, headline-grabbing cases including opioid litigation, gun litigation, climate-change litigation, and litigation against presidential administrations of both parties. We will also, however, examine smaller-scale cases brought at a local level, particularly in the State of Michigan. Through it all, we will examine broader questions: when is it appropriate for a city or state to sue? Who are their "clients," and who do they represent? And when should litigation be initiated by governments as opposed to private plaintiffs?

• Type: Seminar

This course will provide an introduction to law and litigation under the major federal disability rights laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, the Fair Housing Act, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The course will address basic principles of disability rights law, such as the definition of disability and the concept of reasonable accommodation, as well as emerging issues, such as the accessibility of the Internet and the role of disability rights principles in health systems reform. It will examine disability rights in employment, government services, public accommodations, housing, and education. Theoretical and international and comparative perspectives will also be considered.

• Type: Upper Class

This course is for those curious about the place of "the rural" in American law and politics. Perhaps you've noticed the buzz and backlash surrounding books like JD Vance's Hillbilly Elegy. Maybe you've read about the opioid epidemic in rural communities or are interested in voting access for rural Native people. This course will push students to think seriously about how law shapes rural communities and how rural geography in turn shapes legal and policy implementation. The course will survey a broad range of legal subfields and expose students to historical and contemporary legal problems specific to rural communities in the United States by using legal, political, and historical sources. We will cover topics such as rural legal aid, environmental protection, American Indian law, farmworkers rights, rural technology, education policy, land use, water law, and even criminal prosecution. In the process we'll consider changing legal definitions of the rural, consider how each of the topics covered are intertwined, and rethink the place of rural communities in American law and policy. Students will leave the course with the ability to reassess the relationship between legal principles learned in other courses and the spaces and places in which those laws and legal decisions are implemented.

• Type: Seminar

Instructor: Professor Debra A. Pinals, M.D. Course Summary: In this course, students will become oriented to common crossroads where law and psychiatry intersect. The course will begin with an overview of mental illness, substance use disorders, and intellectual and developmental disabilities from legal and clinical perspectives. A review of case law and legislation pertaining to civil commitment, the right to treatment, the right to refuse treatment, and guardianship will help students gain an understanding of the legal regulation of psychiatric practice. Risk assessment, confidentiality and the duty to protect third parties and related tort claims will be covered. Students will explore mental health assessments and expert witness testimony pertaining to criminal law in areas such as competence to stand trial, competence to proceed pro se, criminal responsibility, and sex offenders. Finally, students will have an opportunity to learn about public systems attempt to address mental health treatment needs in psychiatric hospitals, jails and prisons and other venues such as treatment courts and other models have been developed to limit the redirect individuals with mental illness and substance use disorders from incarceration. The course will provide a forum to review federal legislation, government agencies, and litigation and how they come together to help shape services in public systems. The course will rely on assigned readings, short lectures, video material, and classroom prompts to stimulate discussion. There will be at least one field trip as part of the course. Short written or activity-related assignments, classroom participation and a final brief paper will be the basis for final grades. This class will also have forensic psychiatrists in training in attendance, which provides for a multi-disciplinary learning environment!

• Type: Seminar