Course Catalog

In this practice simulation course, law students will work with a hypothetical liability event involving autonomous vehicles. Students will work in teams to analyze the event from the perspective of one of several involved parties (such as, for example, a driver, the OEM, the insurance companies, a parts supplier). Students will apply the existing legal and regulatory framework to the scenario to understand how that framework will impact specific parties at various stages of a legal proceeding. Students will also learn legal and regulatory subject matter related to autonomous vehicles, gain an understanding of the perspectives of various parties involved in autonomous vehicle development and deployment, and formulate and suggest changes that could be made to the industry or legal or regulatory framework in order to facilitate the broad deployment of autonomous vehicles. Students will generate written and/or oral work product as required by the relevant stages of the hypothetical legal and/or regulatory proceedings.

• Type: Practice Simulation

This will for the most part be a traditional course in legal ethics and professional responsibility. We will focus on the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, along with other sources of law governing lawyers. Our primary aim will be to identify and analyze ethical issues that arise in the practice of law, including: confidentiality, competence, conflicts of interest, lawyer advertising, multi-jurisdictional practice, litigation ethics, negotiation ethics, and issues arising in the representation of entities. In the process, we will also consider broader questions about what sort of lawyers we want to be and how that might fit into our lives. Those broader questions, valuable for their own sake, will also help us think more clearly about the pragmatic principles and rules we need to know as we prepare to practice law.

• Type: Upper Class

Students enrolled in this course will work on a major policy reform and its implementation with the highest policy organ of the Government of India. The policy reform could be climate change, women’s empowerment, financial inclusion, or another topic. Concurrent enrollment in the Law & Economic Development in India: Behavioral Approaches & Policy Implementation seminar is required.

• Type: Seminar

This seminar will explore scholarly literature covering a range of issues in the law of American federalism. We will study both theoretical material relating to the design of federal systems and specific issues relating to the allocation of power between the federal government and the states in this country. We will attempt to develop a sophisticated understanding of the merits and demerits of different approaches toward dividing power between the federal and state governments and to apply insights from the relevant theoretical literature to specific doctrinal problems.

• Type: Seminar

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

Law Firm Careers in an Evolving Profession
This seminar will expose and sensitize students to the myriad real-world considerations that will affect their legal careers in the private practice of law. It will focus on current developments within the legal profession, various law practice management issues, and will explore whether the profession is undergoing transformational change as law firms increasingly adopt business models. During the first two weeks of class students will articulate what they hope to learn about the legal profession and for the remainder of the semester, work closely with their instructor to ensure that learning. Students will read “The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law” and course materials posted on Canvas. Leaders within the legal profession will appear as guest lecturers.

• Type: Seminar

Law & Economic Development in India: Behavioral Approaches & Policy Implementation
This seminar examines the relationship between law and economic development in India — one of the world’s largest and fastest growing economies — with an opportunity for interested students to go to India during Winter Break in February-March 2024 (economy airfare and accommodations in India will be provided for students) to work on a major policy reform and its implementation with the highest policy organ of the Government of India. The policy reform could be climate change, women’s empowerment, financial inclusion, or another topic. Travelling to India is not required of students, but is available to all students enrolled in the course who are interested and would provide students with an additional 1 credit on top of the 1 credit already offered for the seminar.
In terms of lectures in the US before traveling to India, the seminar begins with a brief and general discussion of the role of the law in economic development and canvasses some influential and important theories. We then provide a thumbnail sketch of India and the Indian legal system including its Constitution (the longest in the world) and its judiciary (one of the most active in the world). Following this the seminar examines specific areas of law and legal reforms in India that have a significant impact on economic development. These include property, inheritance, “personal” laws, corporate and financial markets laws (including debt), intellectual property and competition laws, infrastructure, contracts, and more. The seminar delves into how these areas of law and legal reform influence economic development in India. We then conclude with a discussion of how the experiences in India help to enrich our understanding of the role of law in economic development more generally. The readings for the sessions will span across theoretical, historical, empirical and “black letter” law.
Assessment for the seminar will depend on whether students intend to travel to India in Winter Break 2024. If they do, then they are expected to participate actively in class sessions and write a short paper on their work in India (this will be a team project of 2 to 3 student in each team). If students are not intending to travel to India in Winter Break 2024 then they are expected to actively participate in class sessions and produce four (4) reaction papers to the readings. There are seven sessions and students can pick whichever 4 sessions for which they wish to write reactions papers. Each paper should be five (5) double spaced pages long. Students should feel free to reach out to Professor Khanna for further information.

• Type: Seminar

This seminar will examine the socio-political and legal background on the formation of the International Criminal Court, as well as some of the rationales that many African nations were: among the first to become States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court; the first governments to make referrals to the ICC for investigation and possible prosecution; and the first to withdraw from the Treaty. Students will gain an understanding of the types of crimes tried by the Court, read multiple actual case studies, evaluate different arguments, and analyze Court decisions. Students will be expected to write short reaction and thematic papers, work on one or more group projects, and write a longer paper focusing on one or more politico-diplomatic or legal challenges: governments who lack trust in the ICC; the nature and/or power of individual defendants; security of witnesses; evidence; and/or ramifications at the national or regional level of decisions made by the judges.

• Type: Seminar

In the Juvenile Justice Clinic, students will represent minors charged with violations of the criminal law and status offenses in Michigan’s family courts. While primarily a litigation clinic, students may from time-to-time handle appellate matters and may be involved in public policy issues such as analyzing proposed legislation.
In the course of clinic, students will develop litigation skills including case investigation, trial preparation, and presenting evidence and argument in the courtroom. Casework, which is supervised by a clinical professor, may involve client interviewing and counseling, legal research and motion drafting, negotiation with prosecuting authorities, and courtroom presentation of the case. In addition to trial advocacy and casework, classroom sessions will also focus on legal ethics, the basics of child development and other topics. The Juvenile Justice Clinic meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. JJC is a 7 credit course of which all credits are graded.
The Clinic seminar fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

In the Juvenile Justice Clinic, students will represent minors charged with violations of the criminal law and status offenses in Michigan’s family courts. While primarily a litigation clinic, students may from time-to-time handle appellate matters and may be involved in public policy issues such as analyzing proposed legislation.
In the course of clinic, students will develop litigation skills including case investigation, trial preparation, and presenting evidence and argument in the courtroom. Casework, which is supervised by a clinical professor, may involve client interviewing and counseling, legal research and motion drafting, negotiation with prosecuting authorities, and courtroom presentation of the case. In addition to trial advocacy and casework, classroom sessions will also focus on legal ethics, the basics of child development and other topics. The Juvenile Justice Clinic meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. JJC is a 7 credit course of which all credits are graded.
The Clinic seminar fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

This course introduces the student to certain fundamental cases in Constitutional law, to the questions they raise, and to the modes of thought and criticism appropriate to this field. There is necessarily a large historical component to the work, for the Constitution has acquired its meaning over time. Major questions include: What is the justification for judicial review? What are appropriate occasions and standards for the exercise of this power? How has the power actually been used throughout our history? These questions are considered in the context of doctrinal fields chosen for variety of issues and to allow consideration of historical development over the full life of the Constitution. These fields include: the scope of federal powers; preemption; state regulation of interstate commerce (in some sections); powers of the President; relations between branches of the federal government; basic principles of racial equal protection; Congressional enforcement power under the Reconstruction Amendments; and justiciability.

• Type: First Year Required

Legal concepts relating to outer space have a long history, are robust and continue to develop. Even when space exploration and operations were exclusively the domain of nation states, a multitude of international treaties, conventions and other agreements governed activities in space. As the private sector increasingly plays supporting and, in some cases, leading roles in the development of space, the applicability and interpretation of those international treaties are under review and stress. National security and economic considerations are now increasingly emphasized over peaceful exploration for scientific purposes, resulting increasing geopolitical dynamics in space. This seminar provides an introduction and overview of space law, international and domestic, and examines the laws and policies governing the growth of the private sector in space. After reviewing what “space” means physically and legally, we proceed to examine the origins and development of international space law in international treaties and agreements and the purported underlying policy consensus relating to peaceful exploration for the benefit of all humankind. Part of the remainder of the class focuses on the evolution and development of space law and policy prior to the current private-sector era followed by the fast-developing changes in national laws relating to national security and private-sector activity in space. Critical legal and policy issues are considered relating to space-based natural resources extraction and ownership on the Moon, planets and asteroids, human settlements, in-space manufacturing, space debris and other environmental concerns. At the end of the semester, we will discuss the growing market for “space lawyers.” We expect to have sector-leading guest speakers, either in-person or online, on several subjects. Being a seminar, each class will include class-wide discussions and group-based exercises. Each student will be required to prepare several short (less than one page) position or advocacy papers on some of the topics discussed in class and an end-of-class research paper on a topic of the student?s choice.

• Type: Seminar

The International Transactions Clinic (ITC) does good by doing deals. The ITC concentrates on teaching students skills that are critically important to their professional development as they enter into practice areas that involve international transactions. The transactional work of the ITC is focused on negotiating and documenting cross-border deals, particularly in emerging markets. This includes developing drafting and negotiation skills as applied to cross-border transactions, exposure to ethical issues that arise in the international commercial context, structuring and documenting investments in enterprises that primarily work in emerging markets, and an understanding of international economic and financial policy. The ITC is a full-year clinic with four credits in the Fall semester and four credits in the Winter semester. Both terms are letter graded.
Students are strongly encouraged to participate in the ITC for at least two semesters so as to allow them to provide legal support in the negotiation and documentation of multiple international transactions. To the greatest extent possible, students will have significant client exposure in the course of working on transactions, although in some cases due to the international context of these transactions such client exposure may be “virtual” making use of email, skype, and other means of electronic communication. The ITC also makes use of practicing attorneys to help supervise the work of its student clinicians. These practicing attorneys also may be physically remote from the students.
The ITC clientele is very diverse. It ranges from not-for-profit organizations to for-profit organizations, from start-ups to well-established businesses, and from social enterprises to impact investors. What all of the ITC clients hold in common, however, is an international focus and a passion to change the world for the better. This diversity also means, however, that not every project of the ITC will meet the New York bar pro bono requirement. Students wanting to satisfy that requirement through their participation in the ITC should make that preference known to the ITC Director before first client assignments are made in the fall.
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 can either fulfill the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation or the credits can count toward the Experiential Learning requirement, but not both.
The Clinic fulfills the International or Comparative Law Distribution Requirement for graduation.

• Type: Clinic

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 foundational course provides a comprehensive analysis of the definition of refugee status set by the UN Refugee Convention, adopted by the United States and 146 other states. Drawing on comparative jurisprudence, the course situates U.S. refugee law in its global context and equips students to undertake both sophisticated policy analysis and complex litigation in the field. The course promotes an understanding of refugee law as a mode of human rights protection, the viability of which requires striking a balance between the needs of the victims of human rights abuse and the legitimate aspirations of the countries to which they flee.

• Type: Upper Class

The seminar provides an overview and analysis of the technique of project financing in an international environment, particularly in emerging markets. The focus is on the perspectives of the various parties to the project, including output purchasers, providers of goods and services, equity holders, and especially commercial banks, international financial institutions and other lenders and will cover the following topics: (1) basic concepts of project finance and the role of the lawyer in an international project financing; (2) legal issues that typically arise at each stage of an international project finance transaction; (3) techniques that are used to structure and finance major projects, (4) renegotiation, restructuring, and dispute settlement in connection with international projects, and (5) the application of project finance techniques to the funding of infrastructure projects in various sectors, including power generation, ports, toll roads, etc.

• Type: Seminar

While many “international law” courses focus on public international law (i.e. the law of Nation States) this seminar will examine selected topics of international law that are most relevant to the private practitioner. The seminar will cover a specific topic each week, and will include dispute resolution, international regulatory practice and international business law. We will start with a discussion of what “international practice” really means in the private practice context (including the overlap of public-private issues), and proceed to examine discrete international practice areas such as international arbitration and litigation, international regulatory issues such as the FCPA and Economic Sanctions and international commercial law issues involved in areas such as project finance and joint ventures. The ultimate goal of the seminar is to provide students with a survey of “international” practice areas that they might face in law firm practices and help them assess where they might want to practice in their own careers. Students will be expected to lead class sessions throughout the semester and present their paper topics at the end of the term.

• Type: Seminar

This class offers a general introduction to the international legal system. We will explore how international law is made through treaties, custom, and other processes; the roles of different actors (e.g., states, NGOs, international organizations, and corporations) in making and applying international law; how violations of international law are identified and remedied by international institutions or actors; and how international law intersects with domestic legal systems, like the one in the United States. The class will cover a range of substantive areas of law, including human rights, the use of force, economic relations, and regulation of the global commons (with some variations across sections). Each topic will be discussed through examination of a real ongoing or recent incident, controversy, or conflict. Students will be encouraged to think about how law can be made, enforced, and interpreted in an environment lacking a single legislature, executive, or judiciary. This course will prove highly useful to preparing students for more specialized courses in international law.

• Type: Upper Class

This two-credit seminar will focus on the law, policy, and practice of internal investigations. Students primarily will read and do a close study of prominent internal investigation reports, including, among others, those involving Enron, Penn State, General Motors, the University of Rochester, and Ohio State. The course will depend on active and substantive class participation and discussion. Students will prepare a number of short papers; and grades will be based on the quality of papers and class participation.

• Type: Seminar

Interdisciplinary Problem Solving is a course offered at the Law School through the Problem Solving Initiative (PSI). (https://michigan.law.umich.edu/problem-solving-initiative) Through a team-based, experiential, and interdisciplinary learning model, small groups of U-M graduate and professional students work with faculty to explore and offer solutions to emerging, complex problems.

• Type: Problem Solving Initiative

This course provides a survey of U.S. intellectual property law, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. It considers doctrinal foundations, underlying justifications, and interconnections between the different bodies of intellectual property law. No matter what anyone tells you, no technical background is required (though you should be prepared to grapple at least a little bit with technology for some sections of the course).

• Type: Upper Class

This course will examine how public international institutions use their legal instruments to address climate change. It will trace the history of the 1999 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its multiple successor agreements, culminating in the Paris Agreement of 2015. It will cover how other multilateral institutions have incorporated climate obligations into their agreements, including the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, the UN International Civil Aviation Organization’s CORSIA agreement, and the UN International Maritime Organization’s measures for global shipping. Cross-cutting questions will include how the balances struck in the Paris Agreement informed these subsequent negotiations, and how effective these agreements are. The course will also review how the global trading system is grappling with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and bilateral FTAs’ appropriate role in addressing climate change. It will conclude with consideration of recent climate litigation in international courts.

• Type: Upper Class

This course provides an introduction to the international legal regime for the regulation of foreign investment and the resolution of disputes between foreign investors and states before international arbitral tribunals. Investor-state arbitration is an ever-evolving and politically charged field, often involving high-stakes, complex, multi-million-dollar disputes. International investment law is comprised of thousands of bilateral and regional investment treaties, which typically provide investors with similar substantive protections and procedural rights to compel host states into binding international arbitration. This course will include an examination of: the history, objectives, and structure of the investment treaty regime, including the main institutional rules for dispute settlement; jurisdictional requirements of investment treaties; the main substantive investment treaty protections (including guarantees against expropriation without compensation, fair and equitable treatment (FET), non-discrimination, and others); the assessment of damages; and challenges to and enforcement of arbitral awards. This course will also consider the interactions between international investment law and other areas of international law, including human rights.
Completion of International Law or an equivalent course prior to (or concurrently with) taking this course is recommended but not required.

• Type: Upper Class

This course will provide an introduction to international criminal law as administered by international criminal tribunals. It will combine a black-letter approach to some of the most important tribunal case law with theoretical, historical, and policy-oriented readings addressing the role of the tribunals in achieving the objectives of transitional justice. The course will include a historical overview and analysis of the goals, jurisdictional bases, and structures of the various international criminal tribunals, from Nuremberg and Tokyo to the permanent International Criminal Court. It will also focus on substantive international criminal law, including the elements of international crimes (including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and the crime of aggression). Third, the course will explore some challenging areas of jurisprudence, including related to sexual violence in armed conflict, gender-based persecution and destruction of cultural heritage or property. Finally, students will assess the effectiveness of the tribunals in contributing to retributive justice, deterrence, peace and reconciliation, victims’ well-being and reparation, and the rule of law, and will consider questions about the future of international criminal justice, including strategic dilemmas facing the International Criminal Court as well as alternative or complementary approaches to accountability.

• Type: Upper Class

This class will be comprised of different tracks that will allow students to explore ways to work in various innovation fields. The weekly class component will examine various legal and business principles related to innovation and support the students’ field work, with the fall term focused on the intricacies of venture capital and the winter term focused on the role of institutional capital. The students will spend significant time working on their projects in the field.
Track 1 — Social Venture Fund (SVF): Students will work as a law student advisor to the Ross School of Business’s Social Venture Fund. Students will be required to attend the weekly SVF meeting (typically on Sunday afternoons) and actively participate in SVF. Once the fund selects potential companies in which to invest, students will join at least one due diligence team and be responsible for the legal due diligence on potential investments. For companies in which SVF votes to invest students will review the financing deal documents. This track is a year-long track, so students will be required to take this course both semesters.
Track 2 — Michigan Climate Venture (MCV): Students will work as law advisors to Michigan Climate Venture, a University-wide initiative. Students will be required to attend the weekly meetings and actively participate in all educational activities. Once MCV selects potential companies in which to invest, students will join at least one due diligence team and be responsible for the legal due diligence on potential investments. For companies in which MCV votes to invest, law students will review the financing deal documents. This track is a year-long track, so students will be required to take both semesters.
Track 3 — Innovation Partnerships: Students will provide legal research support to the Innovation Partnerships team. Students will immerse themselves in the legal and regulatory issues related to innovation partnerships. Enrollment in this Track is allowed only with the permission of Bryce Pilz ([email protected]), the Executive Director of Licensing & Strategic Alliances.
Track 4 — Startup or Venture Capital Immersion: Students may arrange to work for a startup company or venture capital fund and participate in this course. While some opportunities to work with startups may be announced through Professor Ohmer, students may also arrange their own startup work and propose the arrangement to Professor Ohmer.
Note: Because participating students will work with proprietary information related to their field work, as a condition of participating in this program, all students may be required to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements particular to their tracks.
Enrollment in this class is allowed only with permission of Professor Adrian Ohmer.

• Type: Practice Simulation

The INHR Geneva Student Legal Advisor Program is an externship opportunity in public international law for selected LLM and JD students, with a possible “Spring Break” visit to Geneva Switzerland for the February/March UN Human Rights Council. Selected students will work with a Michigan law grad and former U.S. diplomat to serve as virtual interns for a member state to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Students will be paired with a small UN member state that lacks resources to have legal support for their delegation to the UN Human Rights Council. The students will provide legal, policy and administrative support to that government to facilitate its participation in the UN Human Rights Council and possible other UN agencies in Geneva.
During the fall semester, students will be required to join a weekly 90-minute online class with students from other law schools. The live online course will provide an overview of relevant UN and international human rights law and procedures; tradecraft skills in drafting, research and negotiation; and otherwise lay the foundation to prepare students to serve in their virtual internship. In the winter term, students will be expected to review draft resolutions, conduct research and produce interventions for their employer/member state UN delegation to use and deliver during the January Universal Periodic Review and March UN Human Rights Council (HRC) sessions and related meetings. Further details on the INHR Virtual Internship Program expectations, and the type of developing country delegations whom students may work for is available at https://inhr.org/student-legal-advisors.
Past students have traveled to Geneva for a week-long, self-funded, first-hand glimpse at providing diplomatic and legal work at the UN Human Rights Council. The HRC session each March usually aligns with Michigan Law’s spring break and the HRC Universal Periodic Review session in May often occurs immediately after Michigan Law’s exam period. Travel to Geneva and living expenses are not funded by INHR and travel cannot be guaranteed given past challenges provided by COVID-19, issues regarding receipt of a visa to Switzerland and demands of the employing delegation. Applicants interested in the Spring Break or May visit MUST be eligible for visa-free entry to Switzerland.
How to Apply:
To apply for the two-semester student legal advisor program, please complete this form (https://forms.gle/HsK79eKe8XBj2mSf7) by July 10th, 2023. Your application should include a copy of your transcript, resume, passport cover page, and a cover letter explaining your interest. Students selected for an interview will be contacted during the week of July 24th by Alissa Cammarata ([email protected]) Administrative Assistant for Experiential Education to set up a Zoom interview with INHR program director Eric Richardson for late July or early August. If you have any questions about the application process please contact Alissa ([email protected]).
Those who pass the interview will be notified of their acceptance into the program by August 14, 2023. Delegations will be assigned around the end of October and student interests in particular regions, issues, and language skills are taken into account in pairing with an employer-delegation but cannot be guaranteed.
How Credits Will Be Determined:
Student participants are enrolling in a two-semester class/externship combined experience and are expected to participate for the entire school year. One credit will be given each semester, which will cover class time and preparation/assignments for the class (including practice research projects, sample interventions, negotiations and a final project of up to 10 pages that deploys the student’s negotiation and resolution drafting skills).
Because the amount of work facing students in the second semester may vary depending on the demands of the particular delegation/Ambassador, an additional one or two credits may be authorized in the winter semester. Students seeking additional credit units will be evaluated based on a timesheet logging hours spent on behalf of their delegation to track hours over and above a baseline expectation that all students will provide at least 20 hours of work requested by their delegations in the second semester. Under the ABA standard for externships, if more than 42.5 additional hours are requested and logged (total of 62.5 hours including the baseline 20 hours), the student may receive a third credit and if more than 85 additional hours are logged (total of 105 hours), a fourth credit may be awarded (four credits is the maximum possible). Because the volume of work requested by an Ambassador/delegation depends on a range of factors and is impossible to predict, students should not count on receiving more than the baseline total of two credits for the combined two-semester seminar/virtual externship experience.

• Type: Externship

The India Externship offers students the chance to spend the Winter semester working for an Indian non-profit, government agency, or court in the city of your choice. Students work with our administration and faculty to find a suitable placement. Given the depth and breadth of work available in India, it should not be difficult to find something that meets your interests. Past students report rich experiences working side-by-side with top-notch Indian lawyers on pressing legal matters and policy issues.

Students apply in the Winter before the program begins the following January. For more information, visit our website at https://michigan.law.umich.edu/resource-center/india-externship or contact [email protected]. We are happy to meet with students to answer questions, give guidance on potential placements, provide information on how to apply, etc. Further, every January we hold an informational meeting for all of our international externship programs, so please watch for that announcement.

• Type: Externship

One model of social change entails the strategic use of carefully planned litigation to achieve law and policy reforms. In this seminar we will explore the benefits and drawbacks of the impact litigation model, compare impact litigation to other models of public interest law, and consider its ethical and professional implications. Then, turning to two local case studies involving criminal law reform, we will examine how impact litigation can work in practice. How were these cases selected and developed? What strategic decisions had to made along the way? How were the cases shaped by procedural limitations and extrajudicial considerations? Students will be tasked with either undertaking their own case study or proposing a new case that fits within the impact litigation model.

• Type: Seminar

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

Human trafficking encompasses all forms of compelled labor or services and it occurs around the world. The Human Trafficking Clinic (HTC) works to combat human trafficking by: (1) providing direct representation to survivors of human trafficking; and (2) developing disruptive, systemic solutions to reduce vulnerability to trafficking.
Law students enrolled in the HTC will engage in a combination of legal and systemic reform work. The legal work of HTC is best described as a poverty law practice on behalf of survivors of human trafficking and their families. It includes immigration, post-adjudication criminal relief, access to public benefits, expungement, and victim-witness advocacy. The reform work of the HTC focuses on creating change at policy, service, and industry levels through collaborative partnerships across the nonprofit, corporate, and governmental sectors. HTC students work side-by-side with students enrolled in the Business and Human Rights Lab to develop and execute their projects.
Overall, students in the HTC will learn and practice collaboration, problem solving, fact investigation, legal analysis, counseling, and advocacy skills. Students are responsible, under supervision, for all of the cases and projects within the HTC.
The HTC is a 7 credit course and meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement.

• Type: Clinic

Human trafficking encompasses all forms of compelled labor or services and it occurs around the world. The Human Trafficking Clinic (HTC) works to combat human trafficking by: (1) providing direct representation to survivors of human trafficking; and (2) developing disruptive, systemic solutions to reduce vulnerability to trafficking.
Law students enrolled in the HTC will engage in a combination of legal and systemic reform work. The legal work of HTC is best described as a poverty law practice on behalf of survivors of human trafficking and their families. It includes immigration, post-adjudication criminal relief, access to public benefits, expungement, and victim-witness advocacy. The reform work of the HTC focuses on creating change at policy, service, and industry levels through collaborative partnerships across the nonprofit, corporate, and governmental sectors. HTC students work side-by-side with students enrolled in the Business and Human Rights Lab to develop and execute their projects.
Overall, students in the HTC will learn and practice collaboration, problem solving, fact investigation, legal analysis, counseling, and advocacy skills. Students are responsible, under supervision, for all of the cases and projects within the HTC.
The HTC is a 7 credit course and meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement.

• Type: Clinic

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 examine the issues and concerns that are unique to well-funded ventures with “unicorn” valuations. The course will consider the pros and cons of different late-stage investment structures, the deal dynamics arising from the ever expanding pool of capital investing in this asset class, and the implications of unit economics for the investment thesis—all against the backdrop of the ever-blurring line between private equity and venture capital.
Students will learn the primary legal mechanics involved in venture capital investing, as well as the incentives and pragmatic considerations underlying these types of transactions.
Students will be expected to participate in a simulated term-sheet negotiation exercise, become familiar with spreadsheet capitalization tables, and learn to evaluate key deal terms against the backdrop of the broader deal dynamics.
Required readings for each session will include model deal documents and case studies.

• Type: Practice Simulation

This seminar has two main aims: 1) to provide the occasion to read some terrific literature; and 2) to use that literature as a lens through which to explore questions of enduring significance to us as lawyers and as human beings. No special background is necessary. We will read some excellent Ancient Greek literature in translation — including selections from Sappho, Sophocles, Homer, Plato, Aeschylus, and Thucydides. See the preliminary syllabus [link in FN, below] for the tentative reading list. In addition to the reading assignments, there will be discussion assignments. You will submit or be ready to discuss your thoughts on a set of questions potentially illuminated by the reading.

• Type: Seminar

This contemporaneous seminar is intended to provide substantive context for the Geneva Externship field work (Law 947). It provides an environment for students to share their work experiences and reflect on the varying approaches to international problem-solving arising at the organizations where they are placed. In addition, students will attend guest lectures with legal and policy advisors at international and nongovernmental organizations, who will discuss current issues of international law, describe the role of international organizations in various fields of international law, and describe their individual career paths.
Students apply in the Winter before the program begins the following January. For more information, visit our website at https://www.law.umich.edu/curriculum/externshipsandindependentstudy/Pages/default.aspx or contact [email protected]. We are happy to meet with students to answer questions, give guidance on potential placements, provide information on how to apply, etc. Further, every January we hold an informational meeting for all of our international externship programs, so please watch for that announcement.

• Type: Externship

Spend a semester in Geneva working with leading intergovernmental and nongovernmental institutions during the winter term. Students are immersed in the work of these international institutions and closely supervised by their legal staffs to explore how international legal regimes intersect with such diverse fields as trade, human rights, intellectual property, environment, telecommunications, and health. Externs participate in a contemporaneous seminar intended to provide them substantive context for their externships.
Students apply in the Winter before the program begins the following January. For more information, visit our website at https://www.law.umich.edu/curriculum/externshipsandindependentstudy/Pages/default.aspx or contact [email protected]. We are happy to meet with students to answer questions, give guidance on potential placements, provide information on how to apply, etc. Further, every January we hold an informational meeting for all of our international externship programs, so please watch for that announcement.

• Type: Externship

This contemporaneous, one-credit seminar is held every semester as a required companion to the Full-Time Externship (Law 940). For more information, please visit the course description for Law 940.

• Type: Externship