Course Catalog

Legal Practice Skills I concludes the second half of the first semester of Legal Practice by building on the skills to which students were introduced in Legal Practice: Writing & Analysis. The course gives students the chance to further develop their core analytical and writing abilities while expanding their legal repertoires to include other essential lawyering skills. Throughout LP Skills I, students are placed in the role of a lawyer representing a client in assorted factual circumstances, and are then taught how and why lawyers might bring to bear various skills in those situations. For example, students might have the opportunity to learn how to conduct client interviews to help determine whether a client has a viable potential claim. (In some sections, this could culminate in interviews of real clients.) Students might also receive their first opportunity to act as a counselor, helping clients choose between possible ways to try to resolve a legal problem. Students may also be exposed to fact investigation and assessment, via taking depositions or other discovery and forensic techniques. Further, students may be exposed to additional types of customary legal work product, such as client letters and professional emails. Students will also continue to expand their knowledge of legal research sources and strategies, learning how to find the law they need to adequately advise and represent their clients. Professors provide frequent feedback to students as part of all of these assignments, which may include the chance to re-write particular written projects. Students are also expected to self-assess what they're learning and where they might need to continue developing particular skills.

• Type: First Year Required

Legal Practice: Fundamentals of Legal Writing and Analysis is the first component of a yearlong set of courses taken by all first-year students, in which students begin to develop the skills that are necessary to practicing law. This course, comprising the first half of the first semester, introduces students to the fundamental analytical and writing skills that they'll continue developing over the rest of the Legal Practice course sequence. The timing and range of specific skills covered in LP Writing & Analysis differs from professor to professor, but students will be expected to prepare at least one extensive written assignment, learning to present objective written analysis of a legal problem to a client or a fellow attorney, and to persuade their reader that their analysis is complete and accurate. In doing so, students come to appreciate how a commitment to scrupulously thorough writing promotes analytic rigor. Via intensive critiques from their professors, students learn how constantly revising their work product makes their analysis more precise.

• Type: First Year Required

Corporations face a complex myriad of laws and regulations. Legal risk management is vital to any organization's success. This course studies risk management and generally the elements of the enterprise risk management (ERM) process. Students will be introduced to the concept of risk and ERM; the history of ERM; identifying risk; various risk management techniques; conceptualizing, monitoring and analyzing risk management; and the governance and oversight of risk management. Among other tools, the class will utilize case study to expose students to the role of the corporation and management in crisis due to the failure of risk management. Learnings will touch upon the expectations of self-regulating organizations (SRO's) and shareholders in corporate ERM. Study will include the role of corporate compliance as an element of risk, and the role of ERM in corporate strategy. Students will leave the class understanding how legal risk management is a part of corporate strategy and governance, and the lawyer's role as gatekeeper and counselor.

• Type: Seminar

We live in an age of statutes, regulations, and administrative rules.
This seminar explores the distinctive legal and political problems and principles involved in the shift from common law to statutes as the source of law governing much modern American social and economic life.
While covering some basic issues like the legislative process and statutory interpretation, the seminar also intends to delve deeply into some of the interdisciplinary perspectives from history, political theory, and political economy that have recently done so much to shape and enliven this field of inquiry. Topics to be discussed include: the historical origins of parliamentarism, the rise of legislative regulation, the implementation of statutes in the administrative state, the problem of representation, and the significance of the legislature in modern democratic theory.

• Type: Seminar

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

In this seminar, we'll consider philosophical questions that arise at the edges of life. We will inquire into the ethics of reproduction, considering both the choice to have children and the choice to terminate a pregnancy. We'll think about death, what it is, whether it is bad, and whether we may assist others in dying. We'll think about love at the edges of life -- and the role it plays in the ethical decisions that we make. And finally, we'll think about the law at the edges of life -- asking how it should or shouldn't regulate decisions that are made there.

• Type: Seminar

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

Students in the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) represent individuals with federal and state tax controversies through administrative advocacy and litigation in the United States Tax Court. Students can expect to gain exposure to a broad range of tax problems, both substantive and procedural, that will be valuable when working with clients of any income level in the future. Students also work with community organizations to provide information about tax issues and taxpayer rights and responsibilities to individuals who speak English as a second language.
The LITC is a 7 credit course and meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. Students must enroll in the 4 credit clinic and the 3 credit seminar, taken concurrently. The 4 credit clinic and 3 credit seminar are mandatory graded and ineligible for letter grade conversion to pass ("P") election.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School's professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.
The Clinic fulfills the Statutory or Regulatory Course Distribution Requirement for graduation applicable to JD students who matriculated in May 2016 and thereafter.

• Type: Clinic

Students in the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) represent individuals with federal and state tax controversies through administrative advocacy and litigation in the United States Tax Court. Students can expect to gain exposure to a broad range of tax problems, both substantive and procedural, that will be valuable when working with clients of any income level in the future. Students also work with community organizations to provide information about tax issues and taxpayer rights and responsibilities to individuals who speak English as a second language.
The LITC is a 7 credit course and meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. Students must enroll in the 4 credit clinic and the 3 credit seminar, taken concurrently. The 4 credit clinic and 3 credit seminar are mandatory graded and ineligible for letter grade conversion to pass ("P") election.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School's professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.
The Clinic fulfills the Statutory or Regulatory Course Distribution Requirement for graduation applicable to JD students who matriculated in May 2016 and thereafter.

• Type: Clinic

Today 2.2 million Americans are behind bars--more than any other industrialized nation, taxpayers spend almost $80 billion a year on punishment, and racial minorities are disproportionately overrepresented in the justice system. Consequentially, some scholars, advocates, and policymakers argue that mass incarceration is one of the greatest social injustices of our time. The first half of the course will examine the interaction of law, policy, politics, and intellectual ideas that helped cause and sustain mass incarceration. What accounts for the growth of America's incarceration experiment? What are the origins of mass incarceration? What are the societal consequences of the prison build-up? The second half of the course will explore contemporary policy problems related to punishment in America and the policy efforts designed to combat them. Topics will include bail reform, fines and fees, solitary confinement, sentencing reform, felony disenfranchisement, and "ban the box" efforts. The course is for anyone interested in civil rights, criminal law, or public policy. Grades are based on class participation, in-class presentations, and a final paper.

• Type: Upper Class

The Public Defender Training Institute is an intensive immersion into the world of indigent defense designed to train aspiring public defenders. The Institute kicks off in the fall semester with a three-day intensive retreat at the law school in the fall. During the fall semester, students learn about the role of the public defender, different kinds of public defender work, how public defenders differ from prosecutors and private defense attorneys, how to incorporate social science into their advocacy, how to address race and deal with implicit and explicit racial bias in the system, and how to handle the challenges that public defenders face (including excessive caseloads, secondary trauma, and ethical issues). They also learn effective pre-trial preparation with skills-based training on client interviewing, investigation, taking witness statements, obtaining discovery, storytelling and persuasion, preliminary hearings, and developing a theory of the case.

• Type: Practice Simulation

Mediation is a powerful, popular and oft-required dispute resolution process in which attorneys are frequently involved, whether they are serving as mediators in legal disputes or as advocates for their clients in the mediation process. In this experiential practicum, through simulated conflicts, role play and guidance from experienced mediators, you will act as both mediators and advocates for your clients in mediation. You will learn the ins-and-outs of the mediation process, and you will learn and utilize practical and effective mediation skills, strategies and techniques, including client preparation, management of difficult personalities, and effective oral and written mediation advocacy. This is a very interactive, hands-on course in which you will learn communication and conflict resolution skills that you will find useful, not only in your mediation practice, but in many areas beyond it.

• Type: Practice Simulation

Founded in 2009, the Michigan Innocence Clinic was the first innocence clinic in the country to focus exclusively on non-DNA cases. In the clinic's 12-year history, it has successfully freed 26 clients who had been wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit.
Students registered in the clinic investigate and litigate cases on behalf of inmates who are actually innocent of the crimes for which they have been convicted. Students work on all aspects of the cases, including researching claims of innocence and the law pertaining to them, investigating new evidence, writing and editing court briefs and motions, and participating in courtroom activities when there are hearings scheduled in their cases. The Clinic also features a seminar component, where students explore in class the legal and policy issues underlying wrongful convictions. There are no exams or papers, and students are graded on their preparedness and contribution to class, the progress they make in their casework, and the quality of the work product they produce.
This is a full-year clinic with seven credits per semester and it meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. All credits are mandatory graded and ineligible for letter grade conversion to pass ("P") election. The Innocence Clinic spans fall and winter semesters of one academic year. Students may register during winter of 1L or 2L year for enrollment during 2L or 3L year, respectively.
The Innocence Clinic's docket spans both state and federal courts and is quite diverse and novel. No two cases are the same, and non-DNA innocence litigation continues to be a fascinating challenge within the field of criminal litigation. Students work with supervising attorneys to craft legal strategies and explore evidentiary avenues that would have been unimaginable even for experienced criminal litigators just a few years ago. Students interested in criminal law/procedure, appellate practice, brief writing, public interest work, innocence litigation, or courtroom advocacy would be especially suitable for the Innocence Clinic. That said, there are no specific prerequisites (outside of the regular first-year courses), and no prior specialized knowledge of criminal defense or innocence litigation is required or expected.

• Type: Clinic

Founded in 2009, the Michigan Innocence Clinic was the first innocence clinic in the country to focus exclusively on non-DNA cases. In the clinic's 12-year history, it has successfully freed 26 clients who had been wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit.
Students registered in the clinic investigate and litigate cases on behalf of inmates who are actually innocent of the crimes for which they have been convicted. Students work on all aspects of the cases, including researching claims of innocence and the law pertaining to them, investigating new evidence, writing and editing court briefs and motions, and participating in courtroom activities when there are hearings scheduled in their cases. The Clinic also features a seminar component, where students explore in class the legal and policy issues underlying wrongful convictions. There are no exams or papers, and students are graded on their preparedness and contribution to class, the progress they make in their casework, and the quality of the work product they produce.
This is a full-year clinic with seven credits per semester and it meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. All credits are mandatory graded and ineligible for letter grade conversion to pass ("P") election. The Innocence Clinic spans fall and winter semesters of one academic year. Students may register during winter of 1L or 2L year for enrollment during 2L or 3L year, respectively.
The Innocence Clinic's docket spans both state and federal courts and is quite diverse and novel. No two cases are the same, and non-DNA innocence litigation continues to be a fascinating challenge within the field of criminal litigation. Students work with supervising attorneys to craft legal strategies and explore evidentiary avenues that would have been unimaginable even for experienced criminal litigators just a few years ago. Students interested in criminal law/procedure, appellate practice, brief writing, public interest work, innocence litigation, or courtroom advocacy would be especially suitable for the Innocence Clinic. That said, there are no specific prerequisites (outside of the regular first-year courses), and no prior specialized knowledge of criminal defense or innocence litigation is required or expected.

• Type: Clinic

Course description depends on the mini-seminar topic.

• Type: Mini-Seminar