Course Catalog

Legal Practice Skills II, a full-semester course, continues the skills- and client-based focus of the first-semester Legal Practice courses. Among other things, one goal of LP Skills II is shifting students into the role of an advocate. As was the case in the first semester, the timing and range of specific skills covered in the course differs from professor to professor. For example, students may develop skills in advocacy and persuasive argument through instruction in pre-trial procedures, pleadings, and drafting pre-trial motions. They then have one or more chances to argue on behalf of a client before a judge or panel of judges. Students may also be introduced to transactional practice and skills, such as learning how to negotiate with other parties in a transactional setting followed by drafting agreements to memorialize the results of those negotiations. As the course progresses, students are repeatedly reminded of how their professional and ethical obligations affect the choices they make when representing clients. Students receive frequent guidance on their assignments via formative feedback from their professors, as well as numerous opportunities for student-driven self-evaluation.

• Type: First Year Required

Legal Practice Skills II, a full-semester course, continues the skills- and client-based focus of the first-semester Legal Practice courses. Among other things, one goal of LP Skills II is shifting students into the role of an advocate. As was the case in the first semester, the timing and range of specific skills covered in the course differs from professor to professor. For example, students may develop skills in advocacy and persuasive argument through instruction in pre-trial procedures, pleadings, and drafting pre-trial motions. They then have one or more chances to argue on behalf of a client before a judge or panel of judges. Students may also be introduced to transactional practice and skills, such as learning how to negotiate with other parties in a transactional setting followed by drafting agreements to memorialize the results of those negotiations. As the course progresses, students are repeatedly reminded of how their professional and ethical obligations affect the choices they make when representing clients. Students receive frequent guidance on their assignments via formative feedback from their professors, as well as numerous opportunities for student-driven self-evaluation.

• Type: First Year Required

Legal Practice Skills II, a full-semester course, continues the skills- and client-based focus of the first-semester Legal Practice courses. Among other things, one goal of LP Skills II is shifting students into the role of an advocate. As was the case in the first semester, the timing and range of specific skills covered in the course differs from professor to professor. For example, students may develop skills in advocacy and persuasive argument through instruction in pre-trial procedures, pleadings, and drafting pre-trial motions. They then have one or more chances to argue on behalf of a client before a judge or panel of judges. Students may also be introduced to transactional practice and skills, such as learning how to negotiate with other parties in a transactional setting followed by drafting agreements to memorialize the results of those negotiations. As the course progresses, students are repeatedly reminded of how their professional and ethical obligations affect the choices they make when representing clients. Students receive frequent guidance on their assignments via formative feedback from their professors, as well as numerous opportunities for student-driven self-evaluation.

• Type: First Year Required

Legal Practice Skills II, a full-semester course, continues the skills- and client-based focus of the first-semester Legal Practice courses. Among other things, one goal of LP Skills II is shifting students into the role of an advocate. As was the case in the first semester, the timing and range of specific skills covered in the course differs from professor to professor. For example, students may develop skills in advocacy and persuasive argument through instruction in pre-trial procedures, pleadings, and drafting pre-trial motions. They then have one or more chances to argue on behalf of a client before a judge or panel of judges. Students may also be introduced to transactional practice and skills, such as learning how to negotiate with other parties in a transactional setting followed by drafting agreements to memorialize the results of those negotiations. As the course progresses, students are repeatedly reminded of how their professional and ethical obligations affect the choices they make when representing clients. Students receive frequent guidance on their assignments via formative feedback from their professors, as well as numerous opportunities for student-driven self-evaluation.

• Type: First Year Required

Legal Practice Skills II, a full-semester course, continues the skills- and client-based focus of the first-semester Legal Practice courses. Among other things, one goal of LP Skills II is shifting students into the role of an advocate. As was the case in the first semester, the timing and range of specific skills covered in the course differs from professor to professor. For example, students may develop skills in advocacy and persuasive argument through instruction in pre-trial procedures, pleadings, and drafting pre-trial motions. They then have one or more chances to argue on behalf of a client before a judge or panel of judges. Students may also be introduced to transactional practice and skills, such as learning how to negotiate with other parties in a transactional setting followed by drafting agreements to memorialize the results of those negotiations. As the course progresses, students are repeatedly reminded of how their professional and ethical obligations affect the choices they make when representing clients. Students receive frequent guidance on their assignments via formative feedback from their professors, as well as numerous opportunities for student-driven self-evaluation.

• Type: First Year Required

Legal Practice Skills II, a full-semester course, continues the skills- and client-based focus of the first-semester Legal Practice courses. Among other things, one goal of LP Skills II is shifting students into the role of an advocate. As was the case in the first semester, the timing and range of specific skills covered in the course differs from professor to professor. For example, students may develop skills in advocacy and persuasive argument through instruction in pre-trial procedures, pleadings, and drafting pre-trial motions. They then have one or more chances to argue on behalf of a client before a judge or panel of judges. Students may also be introduced to transactional practice and skills, such as learning how to negotiate with other parties in a transactional setting followed by drafting agreements to memorialize the results of those negotiations. As the course progresses, students are repeatedly reminded of how their professional and ethical obligations affect the choices they make when representing clients. Students receive frequent guidance on their assignments via formative feedback from their professors, as well as numerous opportunities for student-driven self-evaluation.

• Type: First Year Required

Legal Practice Skills II, a full-semester course, continues the skills- and client-based focus of the first-semester Legal Practice courses. Among other things, one goal of LP Skills II is shifting students into the role of an advocate. As was the case in the first semester, the timing and range of specific skills covered in the course differs from professor to professor. For example, students may develop skills in advocacy and persuasive argument through instruction in pre-trial procedures, pleadings, and drafting pre-trial motions. They then have one or more chances to argue on behalf of a client before a judge or panel of judges. Students may also be introduced to transactional practice and skills, such as learning how to negotiate with other parties in a transactional setting followed by drafting agreements to memorialize the results of those negotiations. As the course progresses, students are repeatedly reminded of how their professional and ethical obligations affect the choices they make when representing clients. Students receive frequent guidance on their assignments via formative feedback from their professors, as well as numerous opportunities for student-driven self-evaluation.

• Type: First Year Required

Legal Practice Skills II, a full-semester course, continues the skills- and client-based focus of the first-semester Legal Practice courses. Among other things, one goal of LP Skills II is shifting students into the role of an advocate. As was the case in the first semester, the timing and range of specific skills covered in the course differs from professor to professor. For example, students may develop skills in advocacy and persuasive argument through instruction in pre-trial procedures, pleadings, and drafting pre-trial motions. They then have one or more chances to argue on behalf of a client before a judge or panel of judges. Students may also be introduced to transactional practice and skills, such as learning how to negotiate with other parties in a transactional setting followed by drafting agreements to memorialize the results of those negotiations. As the course progresses, students are repeatedly reminded of how their professional and ethical obligations affect the choices they make when representing clients. Students receive frequent guidance on their assignments via formative feedback from their professors, as well as numerous opportunities for student-driven self-evaluation.

• Type: First Year Required

This course will help forward-looking law students become familiar with the wide variety of technologies used in and changing the practice of law today and understand the expectations clients, firms, law departments, and other legal organizations have about the technological literacy required for future legal leaders. Law firms face pressure from clients to innovate, embrace technology, and deliver greater value. Corporate legal departments are investing in technology and legal operations, engaging alternative legal service providers, and increasing their capabilities to deliver legal services internally. At the same time, technology used by non-traditional legal businesses is changing and automating tasks previously performed by lawyers. It is a time of challenge and opportunity, often described by the term "NewLaw." This course will focus on the major legal technology concepts and approaches that lawyers currently face in the practice of law and will increasingly need to understand thrive in the new era of legal services. It is NOT a class that will train students on the use of specific technologies or require a technology background. After establishing a foundation of legal-service delivery knowledge, we will focus on innovation and technology tools, from basics to the newest and most advanced technologies being used in the practice of law. We will explore how lawyers engage in substantive practice with these tools, what clients want their lawyers to know about technology, and how technology and innovation hold great promise for increasing access to legal services. We will cover the ethical requirement of technology competency and then move forward into technology literacy and the role technology literacy will play in shaping the leaders in the legal profession. Students will complete two major papers of the topic of their choice (a first draft and then a final version) and a short class presentation. Upon completing this course, students will have the understanding, knowledge, and skills to actively participate in technology and innovation initiatives and become leaders in law firms, legal departments, legal organizations, and the legal profession.

• Type: Practice Simulation

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

This course explores the development of the Civilian legal tradition -- one of the world's major legal traditions today -- with a particular focus on its early history and its later uses in early modern and modern contexts. Working with a reverse chronology, the first third of the course analyses how the Civil Law tradition was shaped and molded by European lawyers and jurists during the 'long' nineteenth century. We then move back in time to survey the roles played by arguments from Roman civil law in early modern colonial expansion, with a specific focus on the establishment of Spanish and Portuguese rule in the Americas. In the second half of the course we move back in time again in order to analyze the making of Roman law itself, providing an overview of fundamental Roman legal concepts and critically questioning the extent to which the Civil Law tradition -- which we examined in the first half of the course -- was built upon ancient Roman legal ideas and sources. Through lectures, as well as discussion of key primary sources and secondary materials, the course will introduce the following key topics: the sources and methods of the (Roman) Civil law tradition, including case law, equity and the role played by legal experts ('jurists') in scientific legal development; the rise of codes, codification and the interpretation of statute law; the distinction between private and public law; the concept of jurisdiction; how legal concepts such as contracts, torts etc. change and develop through time; and the uses to which Roman legal arguments have been put in order to justify colonial conquest, both ancient and modern. No prior study of history or the civilian legal tradition is required.

• Type: Upper Class

Managing Crisis: Strategies and Tactics for Corporate Distress and Restructuring

Welcome to what many in business consider the Wild West: the world of Corporate Distress and Restructuring. Attorneys, bankers, and consultants of all sorts find themselves representing one of the many stakeholders in a corporate restructuring. They can act as advisor to a landlord (for example, Simon Property Group) who has a tenant (such as, J. Crew) that files for chapter 11. They can be counsel to a lender (for example, Citibank) that has a troubled loan extended to a distressed borrower (such as, well, anyone in chapter 11 -- and many who are not). They can work as turnaround consultants to a company working through strategic options to survive an existential challenge, which can be related to business-model dynamics, compliance issues with debt documents, product litigation, and more.

This new course provides a framework for understanding how these distress situations play out in our legal system. We will examine the types of transactions and strategies implemented, including liability-management transactions (i.e., maturity extensions and/or distressed debt exchanges), distressed M&A, vulture investing, operational turnarounds, and more. Our goal is to understand the world of Distress and Corporate Restructuring, a subsector in our financial and legal system that is poised for very busy times in the upcoming years due to the current interest-rate dynamics and near-term economic outlook.

The course will meet weekly to discuss assigned reading and case studies. To enhance learning and keep focused on practical realities, there will be frequent guest presentations from nationally recognized experts, who include lawyers in private practice, investment bankers, consultants, business executives, and others. They will present their own case studies drawing on their own experiences in real world situations.

The basic bankruptcy course is not a prerequisite, but certainly lends itself to this course for those interested in a deeper dive into the world of Corporate Distress and Restructuring. Rest assured, bankruptcy newcomers are most welcome and equally positioned for success. We will cover a series of advanced topics in corporate restructuring across a broad array of disciplines ranging from investment banking to turnaround consulting, from legal strategy to hedge-fund investing. Upon completion of this course, students will be versed in the general dynamics, relevant lingo, and current-event issues in the world of corporate restructurings. They will also be well-positioned to apply the lessons learned to practical, real-world situations.

• Type: Upper Class

The Public Defender Training Institute is an intensive immersion into the world of indigent defense designed to train aspiring public defenders. This second half of the course is only open to students who have enrolled in and completed participation in Part I. In this second semester, students learn about plea bargaining, evidence, motions practice, jury selection, and trial advocacy (openings, direct examinations, cross examinations, closings, and sentencing hearings).

• 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

This course explores the legal and business aspects of corporate mergers and acquisitions, with consideration of corporate takeovers more generally (including proxy fights). The course emphasizes the practical "nuts-and-bolts" of these transactions with respect to both public companies and private companies, as well as from the perspectives of both buyers and sellers. The ultimate objective is to prepare students for deal work by unpacking the jargon and educating them on fundamental transactional inputs, the deal process itself, and the common points of friction and negotiation between the parties.

• Type: Upper Class

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

Lawyers routinely use problem-solving skills to tackle difficult, multi-faceted issues for their clients. But lawyers often overlook the ways in which those same skills can be used to improve their own well-being—to problem-solve their lives. The National Task Force on Lawyering Well-Being observed that the profession “is falling short when it comes to well-being” and that “the current state of lawyers’ health cannot support a profession dedicated to client service and dependent on the public trust.”

Addressing these challenges starts in law school and helping students develop frameworks to design the type of life they seek during law school. This mini-seminar will explore how 1Ls can use the skills and innovation principles of problem solving to craft their life in law school. Topics will include defining success, viewing law school as an opportunity to prototype, building community, and developing a life outside of the law.

• Type: Mini-Seminar

When you speak in public (including in class), do your hands quiver? Knees knock? Vocal cords tighten? If you want to shore up your confidence and spruce up your speaking skills, this is the mini-seminar for you. Few students arrive at law school with meaningful experience with or instruction about effective public speaking. And yet most lawyering positions require effective oral communication skills—whether addressing large audiences, arguing to judges, presenting to clients, or persuading colleagues. We’ll discuss tactics and techniques, and we’ll try them on for size.

• Type: Mini-Seminar

Professors Michael Steinberg and Dave Moran are experienced storytellers who have each had stories featured on the Moth Radio Hour. In this mini-seminar, we will discuss the importance of storytelling for lawyers, what makes a story compelling, how to structure a story for maximum impact, and common mistakes to avoid. Schedule permitting, one class session will be a group outing to a Moth storytelling slam. Each student will develop and workshop a story during the semester and tell it to the group.

• Type: Mini-Seminar

Everyone has heard of the Federal Reserve. It sets interest rates, bailed out financial institutions during the 2008 global financial crisis, rescued the economy during the onset of COVID-19, and is now in the midst of combating inflation. But what exactly is this federal agency? What statutory mandate(s) does this agency have from Congress? What tools does the agency use to accomplish its objectives? In this mini-seminar, we will explore the Federal Reserve from various perspectives: history, economics, and law. Each session will begin with a discussion of current events relating to the Federal Reserve. Then we will move onto a discussion of each of the following topics:

Session 1: The Origins of Central Banking, the Panic of 1907, and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913

Session 2: The Great Depression of the 1930s, the Great Inflation of the 1970s, and the Dual Mandate in the Federal Reserve Reform Act of 1977

Session 3: The Quiet Period, the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-08, and the Emergency Superpowers of Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act

Session 4: The Post-Financial-Crisis Reforms and the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010

Session 5: The COVID-19 Pandemic and a Return to Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act

Session 6: Inflation, Climate, Inequality, and the Future of Central Banking

• Type: Mini-Seminar

What is the relationship between law and the global economy? It is often assumed that market liberalization has occurred in spite of, or at least in tension with national law—helped along, perhaps, by more market friendly rules and institutions at the international stage. On the other hand, an argument can be made that economic globalization, and indeed capitalism itself, are products of domestic legal institutions with which we are all by now intimately familiar—modules of private law like contract, property, the corporate form, and IP. This mini seminar will introduce students to the ways in which law, institutions, and lawyers have driven economic globalization over the last century, for all its pain and benefits. We will focus especially on the political economic question of who stands to gain, and who does the suffering—always with a critical eye to the deceptively mundane role we lawyers play in these processes every day.

Structure: the reading for this mini seminar is Katharina Pistor, The Code of Capital. We will read a chapter or two of the book prior to each meeting, and use this text as a jumping off point for discussion. No prerequisites are necessary, beyond completion of the 1L curriculum (or equivalent, in the case of exchange students and LLMs).

• Type: Mini-Seminar

In this mini-seminar, we’ll read a series of (more and less known) short stories and novellas that have (more and less tight) connections to the law, get together for a semi-serious discussion of them over food, and use the opportunity to reflect more broadly on what we’re all doing (and what we could be doing differently). I quite haven’t finalized the reading list yet, but I'm contemplating stories by James Baldwin, Donald Barthelme, Ted Chiang, Sergio De La Pava, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, Susan Glaspell, Shirley Jackson, Franz Kafka, Herman Melville, George Saunders, Leo Tolstoy, and others, just to give you a sense of what this might be like. To manage expectations, I should perhaps say that I’m not an expert in law and literature or literary theory or anything, and I don’t expect you to be either. (You’re also welcome to join if you are, of course.)

• Type: Mini-Seminar

Tribal police officers mocked by state officers. Long waits at the tribal health clinic. Jurisdiction over the theft of a potato chip delivery van. Sparking up a joint on reservation lands. And that’s just the first season. American Indian law permeates Reservation Dogs, the first comedy/dramedy show written, produced, and acted primarily by Native people. This seminar will delve into the legal and historical background of those issues, with an assist from one of the writers of the show (Migizi Pensoneau) and a legal advisor to the show and recent UMLS prof (April Youpee-Roll). Oh, and since the show is set in Oklahoma, we will definitely talk about two of the more momentous Indian law cases decided by the Supreme Court in the 21st century, both of which arose in Oklahoma.

• Type: Mini-Seminar

In 2017, to resolve a decades-old territorial dispute between the New Zealand crown government and the Whanganui Maori people, a settlement was reached that granted legal personhood status to the Whanganui River and its drainage basin. New Zealand is not alone. Bolivia and Ecuador have enshrined the rights of nature in their constitutions. Courts in India and Colombia have ordered the creation of legal rights for river systems. Cities in California and Ohio have enacted ordinances that protect the right of ecosystems to thrive. What exactly does it mean for a natural system to be a person? Can a mountain enter into a contract? Can a lake comment on a proposed rule? Can a river sue? In this mini-seminar, we will unpack the rights of nature phenomenon. We will explore the global history of the phenomenon; evaluate it through the lenses of postcolonial theory and social ecology; study aspects of it borrowed from animal rights, corporate personhood, and guardianship; and compare the rights of nature legal framework to modern administrative environmental regulation, public trust duty, and individual constitutional rights. Course materials will include radio programs, documentary films, court filings, treaties, journal articles, creative nonfiction, and poetry.

• Type: Mini-Seminar

This mini-seminar asks what is domestic violence, how does it manifest, and in what ways is it seen and overlooked. Domestic violence matters because it is a pernicious and corrosive dynamic with traumatic and devastating consequences. In exploring it, we will listen to survivors’ and advocates’ voices to recognize the many forms that it can take. We will ask whether and which broader definitions of domestic violence would more accurately capture survivors’ experiences and more effectively advance their rights. We will also look at how domestic violence intersects with several other hot-button areas: systemic racism, poverty, the child welfare system, and immigration.

• Type: Mini-Seminar

This mini-seminar is for those curious about the place of “the rural” in American law and politics, both historically and today. Perhaps you’ve noticed the buzz and backlash surrounding the book and movie, 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 you to think seriously and creatively about how law shapes rural communities and how rural geography in turn shapes law and policy implementation. The course will survey a broad range of legal subfields based on student interest, such as rural legal aid, American Indian law, farmworkers' rights, education policy, land use, or access to justice. In the process of reading academic scholarship as well as print and media journalism, our conversations will center around historical and contemporary legal problems specific to rural communities in the United States.

• Type: Mini-Seminar

This seminar will explore the two plays of Shakespeare most concerned with the law: Measure for Measure and The Merchant of Venice. We will read the plays, both of which scholars consider problematic for a variety of reasons, and also some background and critical material. Through our discussions, we will try to discern what Shakespeare has to tell us about law, lawyers, judges, the role of mercy in a legal system, and whether human institutions have any reasonable chance of achieving justice or are doomed to failure. But we will also use the plays to explore a wide range of other concerns, like how in the law school environment we learn to take on and talk directly about such issues as misogyny, anti-Semitism, oppressive power structures, and texts that are at once canonical and worrisome.

• Type: Mini-Seminar

The second half of a full-year mini-seminar in the winter term. Course description depends on the mini-seminar topic. One credit is awarded in the fall term upon successful completion of the full course.

• Type: Mini-Seminar

The second half of a full-year mini-seminar in the winter term. Course description depends on the mini-seminar topic. One credit is awarded in the fall term upon successful completion of the full course.

• Type: Mini-Seminar

The second half of a full-year mini-seminar in the winter term. Course description depends on the mini-seminar topic. One credit is awarded in the fall term upon successful completion of the full course.

• Type: Mini-Seminar

The second half of a full-year mini-seminar in the winter term. Course description depends on the mini-seminar topic. One credit is awarded in the fall term upon successful completion of the full course.

• Type: Mini-Seminar

The second half of a full-year mini-seminar in the winter term. Course description depends on the mini-seminar topic. One credit is awarded in the fall term upon successful completion of the full course.

• Type: Mini-Seminar

You have just looked at a monthly bill recently sent to a client for a matter you have been working on nearly full time. You note that the supervising partner has taken credit for your work product and billed it at her hourly rates. Your time has been almost completely written off and, with that, any hope for a bonus. What do you do? This course explores real life dilemmas confronted by newer attorneys in their day to day practices within private law firms. It also touches upon prosecutorial ethics. It examines the interplay among the model rules, professionalism and business reality when being ethically correct does not necessarily equate with being professional. The course is interactive and requires active participation by each student. Readings will include Legal Ethics: Law Stories and articles and hypotheticals posted on C-tools. Leaders within the profession will appear as guest lecturers. The course will not examine all of the model rules and is not meant to be a primer for the multi-state professional responsibility examination.

• Type: Upper Class

You have just looked at a monthly bill recently sent to a client for a matter you have been working on nearly full time. You note that the supervising partner has taken credit for your work product and billed it at her hourly rates. Your time has been almost completely written off and, with that, any hope for a bonus. What do you do? This course explores real life dilemmas confronted by newer attorneys in their day to day practices within private law firms. It also touches upon prosecutorial ethics. It examines the interplay among the model rules, professionalism and business reality when being ethically correct does not necessarily equate with being professional. The course is interactive and requires active participation by each student. Readings will include Legal Ethics: Law Stories and articles and hypotheticals posted on C-tools. Leaders within the profession will appear as guest lecturers. The course will not examine all of the model rules and is not meant to be a primer for the multi-state professional responsibility examination.

• Type: Upper Class

The music business operates under distinct copyright rules that have evolved to accommodate historically contingent marketplace practices, and have grown too complex to treat in any depth in a 4-credit copyright course. This course will focus on the copyright law that applies to musical works and sound recordings, the policies that animate the legal rules, and the competing forces that complicate music copyright law reform. Students will write a research paper on a music copyright law topic. This is an advanced class: students must have completed either Law 633 Copyright or Law 577 Intellectual Property Survey before they may take Law 666.

• Type: Upper Class

Learning to negotiate effectively involves negotiating, observing, critiquing, and consciously applying effective strategy and skill. This course introduces students to the science, the art, and the practice of negotiation through a sequenced series of simulation exercises, which students will perform inside and outside of class. Class sessions will be used, in part, for negotiations, debriefing results, and discussion. Course readings will include negotiation literature and theory that inform effective practice. Students will be evaluated based on some combination of class participation, negotiation exercises, and periodic reflection papers.

• Type: Practice Simulation

Learning to negotiate effectively involves negotiating, observing, critiquing, and consciously applying effective strategy and skill. This course introduces students to the science, the art, and the practice of negotiation through a sequenced series of simulation exercises, which students will perform inside and outside of class. Class sessions will be used, in part, for negotiations, debriefing results, and discussion. Course readings will include negotiation literature and theory that inform effective practice. Students will be evaluated based on some combination of class participation, negotiation exercises, and periodic reflection papers.

• Type: Practice Simulation

Law 990 - This course offers students the opportunity to integrate practical experience in a legal setting outside the Law School with a Law School classroom experience. Each student will spend at least EIGHT (Section 1), TWELVE (Section 2), SIXTEEN (Section 3) or TWENTY (Section 4) hours per week working under the supervision of an attorney at a local non-profit, government agency, or court. Students may not receive any compensation for their work. Students will arrange their own placements, though interested students who need guidance about how to pursue a placement are welcome to make an appointment with the course professor, Amy Sankaran (aharwell@umich.edu). Past placements have included the ACLU of Michigan, Family Law Project, Neighborhood Defender Service of Detroit, Magistrate, District, and Court of Appeals Judges, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office and Office of the Public Defender, and the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, to name a few.

Part-Time Externship students will be co-enrolled in the Part-Time Externship Seminar (Law 991, 1 credit). Thus a student participating in the Part-Time Externship, Section 1 will receive 3 credits total, a student participating in the Part-Time Externship, Section 2 will receive 4 credits total, a student participating in the Part-Time Externship, Section 3 will receive 5 credits total, and a student participating in the Part-Time Externship, Section 4 will receive 6 credits total.

• Type: Externship