Course Catalog

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

• Type: Clinic

Water is arguably the world’s most precious resource, and learning water law is vital to understanding the present and future of water access. Generally, water law refers to the laws that govern ownership, access to, and management of water contained in rivers, lakes, and aquifers, as well as the land that immediately underlies those water resources.
Specifically, this class will cover: the distinction in surface water interests between the riparian doctrine in the wetter eastern United States and the prior appropriation doctrine in the more arid western United States; groundwater interests in shared aquifers; the public trust doctrine; water inequality; dams and watercourse management; takings claims; federal water interests; interstate compacts; Supreme Court original jurisdiction over interstate water disputes; water rights in Indian country; transnational management of shared surface waters and aquifers; and the common enemy doctrine governing water redirection. In the examination of those topics, we will consider relationships of water law to issues of development and economic policy.

• Type: Upper Class

The “origin story” of this course is a previously offered 2-credit hour course entitled “Startups & Venture Capital.” That course introduced students to the various legal and business considerations involved in the representation of startup companies and in structuring early-stage and venture capital financing transactions. That course was structured such that the first half of the course covered “Startups,” and the second half of the course covered “Venture Capital.” We now have the opportunity to expand the scope and depth of the subject matter.

“Venture Capital” represents a full semester version of what was previously taught in half a semester. “Startups” is now offered separately, in the Fall, and similarly represents a full semester version of what was previously taught in half a semester. Each class can be taken independently, but the material does work well as a full-year integrated whole. Both classes, together, represent a 4-credit hour version (2 + 2) of what was previously limited to 2 credit hours.

This course - “Venture Capital” - covers the significant legal and business issues involved in financing startup companies. The course starts by exploring the meaning of “venture capital” itself, transitioning from there into a discussion of the mission and structure of the venture capital firm. The course then dives deeply into the architecture, structure and substance of classic venture capital preferred stock financings; this is the heart of the course. The course then takes one step back by focusing on the financing phase between company startup, on the one hand, and a classic venture capital preferred stock financing, on the other hand. Sometimes called the “seed stage,” the focus is on angel investors, accelerators, and seed deals themselves. The semester concludes with a discussion of the future of venture capital, including thoughts on crowdfunding, a growing and increasingly important component of the startup ecosystem.

• Type: Upper Class

Hundreds of American Indian tribes operate their own justice systems. Their courts decide thousands of cases a year. Many span the full panoply of law—from criminal, civil, and probate cases, to divorce and environmental disputes. Tribal Law is a survey of the laws that tribes enact to govern themselves. It considers issues ranging from governance (elections, justice systems, and tribal constitutions), to conflicts between individuals (contracts, property, domestic relations, torts), to regulation of a tribal community’s economy.

• Type: Upper Class

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

• Type: Practice Simulation

In this practice simulation course, students will begin to develop the skills needed to represent clients in business transactions. Among other things, the course covers translation of client business objectives into legal concepts and enforceable contract language that is clear, consistent, and concise. Students will learn how to analyze a contract from the client’s perspective, with an eye to advancing the client’s interests and protecting the client as much as possible from risk. The practice simulation course also identifies how attorneys can use drafting techniques and the negotiation process to resolve issues and improve outcomes for clients. Students will engage in simulations and exercises in class and undertake drafting assignments outside of class, including communications with clients and opposing counsel about contract terms, risks, and potential resolutions.

• Type: Practice Simulation

Compensation at law for private wrongs and intentional wrongs as well as accidents, with principal emphasis on harms to person and property. Special areas such as product liability, defamation, or business torts will be treated selectively.

• Type: First Year Required

What role does the criminal law have in advancing equality in society? Should it treat defendants who come from privileged positions differently than those who come from disadvantage positions? This seminar will focus on how various inequalities shape our moral responses to crime. We will look at how the criminal law should respond to police violence, economic crimes, crimes of racial and gender subordination, and other forms of wrongdoing from those in positions of power. We will also discuss to what extent a society that fails to provide sufficient alternatives can blame the disadvantaged when they commit crimes. No background in philosophy is necessary to take this course.

• Type: Seminar

For this one-credit add-on to The Law of Incarceration, students will be linked up to lawyers and advocacy organizations working on prison or jail litigation, and will assist them by performing necessary legal research and writing. Students who took The Law of Incarceration without the practicum in a prior term are welcome to join the current practicum.

• Type: Upper Class

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. In 1980, approximately 500,000 people were behind bars in this country. Now, even after significant pandemic-related decarceration, the figure approaches 2 million (nearly two-thirds of whom are non-white), locked up in jails, state prisons, and federal prisons. This course will examine both constitutional law and statutory law relevant to their incarceration. The central topics are the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishments and its Fourteenth Amendment analog, and Congress’s regulation of prison-related litigation in the Prison Litigation Reform Act. We’ll also examine First Amendment and related statutory rights behind bars, the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act within prisons and jails, solitary and supermax confinement, race discrimination inside jails and prison, and the law of injunctive relief in constitutional cases brought by incarcerated people. (We will not discuss criminal procedure, habeas corpus, or sentencing.) This course is for anyone interested in civil rights, criminal prosecution, or criminal defense.

• Type: Upper Class

This is the basic course in federal income taxation. It is a statutory course, and the principal source of law will be the Internal Revenue Code. The topics covered will include the definition of gross income and the determination of permissible deductions from gross income. The class will also analyze numerous Code provisions and doctrines that raise issues of tax timing (that is, in what year should a given item of income or a given deduction be taken into account) and income attribution (that is, to whom should a given item of income or a given deduction be attributed). The bulk of the course will be devoted to learning basic statutory analysis. In addition, however, the class will spend some time studying the policy rationales underlying the structure of the current federal income tax laws and will consider the pros and cons of alternative systems. This course is a prerequisite to a number of other courses, including Corporate Taxation, Partnership Tax, Business and Estate Planning, and International Tax.

• Type: Upper Class

The professor of this practice simulation will submit cutting-edge problems which he has faced in practice. The students will resolve those problems by structuring transactions to accomplish the client’s business goals within the framework of non-tax legal requirements, without incurring unnecessary tax liabilities and in a manner that otherwise optimizes the client’s tax posture. Typically, the students will be assigned to work in teams. With each problem, the students submit their solutions in writing, and one team will present its solution to the class orally. The professor will discuss and evaluate the teams’ solutions in light of the one that was employed in practice. Prior to the students preparing and submitting their solutions, there will be lectures and discussion of the tax issues involved in each problem.
The goal of the practice simulation course is to immerse the students in the process of approaching problems from a transactional perspective. The students will be given a set of facts and objectives, and will be required to determine what steps should be taken to achieve those objectives. An additional goal is to provide the students with exposure to the manner in which experienced lawyers utilize their skills to solve complex problems. The principal issues on which the problems will focus are corporate tax issues, but other areas will likely be covered. For example, partnership tax issues and issues involving the taxation of financial instruments have played a significant role in certain case studies. In recent semesters, problems have involved, among other matters, complex tax-free corporate mergers, corporate divisions (spin-offs), acquisitions of controlling interests in non-U.S. corporations, and transactions designed to illustrate the difference between legitimate tax planning and abusive corporate tax shelters.

• Type: Practice Simulation

Substantive due process doctrine examines whether the government’s deprivation of a person’s life, liberty, or property is justified by a good enough reason. In this seminar, we’ll look at the doctrine’s background and incarnations over time, including the Supreme Court’s overruling of Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. We’ll focus particularly on the “anti-canonical” cases (Lochner and Scott v. Sanford); sexual, reproductive, and marital autonomy; and the rights of individuals confined by the state.

• Type: Seminar

This seminar is designed for students with an interest in academic writing. By 2 weeks before the term begins, each student must have ready a draft of an academic paper that they would like to revise substantially in the course of the workshop, either for publication or for presentation on the academic job market. (If the paper was originally written for another course, the student must have already completed that course’s requirements by the start of the term.) In the first few class sessions, we will take up articles written by outside scholars and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. The balance of the term will be devoted to presenting and critiquing the works in progress of the workshop students as the papers undergo revision. Students will be responsible not only for presenting and revising their own papers, but for commenting upon each other’s work. Each student paper will be presented twice over the course of the semester: first, by a student commentator, and second, following revision, by the student author. The workshop will meet once a week for a 2-hour session. Students interested in enrolling in the workshop should submit draft papers of 20-30 pages (longer is also acceptable) to Professor Eisenberg by email directed to [email protected]. Students may also submit descriptions of the papers, with the understanding that a complete draft paper will be submitted by 2 weeks prior to the start of term.

• Type: Seminar

Student Directed Work (SDW) credit is a category of mandatory pass/fail graded credit, available through an application and approval process for student work done outside the classroom in connection with student-run activities. To qualify for SDW credit, student work must provide substantial academic enrichment and skills development. Students may earn up to two SDW credits for any one particular activity, up to a maximum of four SDW credits during their law school career.

• Type: N/A

In this class, we will use the world of collective bargaining in professional sports leagues as a platform for practicing a variety of legal skills: analysis, negotiation, drafting, and oral and written advocacy. We’ll spend a bit of time learning the basics of the law regarding collective bargaining, but this class will not involve a deep dive into labor law. We’ll read existing collective bargaining agreements and disputes, and read about past negotiations, but this class will not be a deep dive into the intricacies of those labor-union relationships. Instead, the focus of the class will be to learn just enough so students can do in-class and out-of-class skills exercises.

• Type: Practice Simulation

South Africa Externship Seminar
This contemporaneous, one-credit seminar is held every Winter as a required companion to the South Africa Externship (Law 938). For more information, please visit the course description for Law 938.

• Type: Externship

The South Africa Externship offers students the chance to spend the Winter semester working for a non-profit, government agency, or court. Since 1996, Michigan Law has placed over 150 students in full-semester externships, including positions at the Human Rights Commission (Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban), Legal Resources Centre (Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Grahamstown), University of Cape Town, Refugee Law Clinic, the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (Johannesburg), Centre for Environmental Rights (Cape Town), Scalabrini (Cape Town) and Lawyers for Human Rights (Johannesburg) to name a few.

Before they arrive, in odd years, students take a course in Constitutionalism in South Africa, taught by Karthy Govender of Durban in person in Ann Arbor, MI, giving them a good grasp of the seminal South African cases so students can “hit the ground running” upon their arrival, as well as a companion seminar meant to enrich their experience (Law 939). In odd years, the students only take the companion seminar and spend longer at their placements in South Africa. Students apply in the Winter before the program begins the following January.

For more information, visit our website 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 seminar explores the jurisprudential, philosophical, and practical lessons that students of the law can draw from the life and works of William Shakespeare. We will consider some key characteristics of the law in Shakespeare’s time, how Shakespeare’s personal experiences shaped his understanding of the law, how our interpretation of Shakespeare’s work raises questions of originalism similar to those we encounter in the law, how his plays portray the law, lawyers, those who enforce the law, and those who sit in judgment, what his plays have to teach us about the art of persuasion and argument, what his plays tell us about individual responsibility within a social structure, how the plays explore the effect of mental illness on that responsibility, and how the plays help us think and talk about difficult issues like misogyny, racism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism. Reading assignments in this course will be heavy and energetic engagement in classroom discussions will be expected. Students will be required to prepare four five-page papers in the course of the term. Final grades will be based on the quality of classroom discussion and the quality of the papers.

• Type: Seminar

The Senior Judge Seminar II is a graded course intended to allow selected students who have excelled in the Senior Judge I seminar to work in greater depth with a Legal Practice professor in connection with the Legal Practice course. Each Legal Practice professor interviews, chooses and supervises the Senior Judge Seminar II students for the Legal Practice section taught by the professor.

• Type: Upper Class

In the Senior Judge Seminar students work closely with Legal Practice professors in connection with various aspects of the first-year Legal Practice course. Each Legal Practice professor interviews, chooses and supervises the Senior Judge Seminar students for the Legal Practice section taught by that professor.

• Type: Upper Class

Student writes a research paper related to previously approved international external studies program under faculty supervision. Inquire at the Center for International and Comparative Law for more information.

• Type: Study Abroad

Inquire at the Center for International and Comparative Law for more information.

• Type: Study Abroad

This course covers the regulation of securities offerings and trading under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. It examines offerings and the registration process under the Securities Act, along with reporting requirements under the Exchange Act. The course will also cover fraud, insider trading and civil liabilities under both Acts.

• Type: Upper Class

Organized sports are governed by quasi-legal systems in the sense that formally promulgated rules enforced by impartial adjudicators and informal norms regulate behavior to achieve a complex set of objectives. This seminar will explore various rules and norms governing sports and related competitions, raising a rich array of questions that are both interesting for their own sake (if you enjoy sports) and are useful for analyzing similar issues underlying the domestic U.S. legal system. This is not a “sports law” seminar primarily exploring the regulation of sports by domestic law. Rather, this seminar explores “sports as law” and draws lessons from organized sports as legal systems in their own right.
Examples of topics include: (1) How should competition be structured? For example, what is/are the goal(s) of competition, and what metrics should determine a winner? (2) How should the bounds of acceptable conduct be determined? For example, are certain non-prohibited tactical behaviors (e.g., deception or stalling) nonetheless “inappropriate” and worthy of condemnation? Are certain prohibited tactical behaviors (e.g., intentional fouls) nonetheless “appropriate” and considered “fair game”? (3) How and why should prohibited conduct be punished or sanctioned? Are those the same thing? (4) How should rules governing play be fashioned (e.g., based on players’ mens rea components such as knowledge or intent vs strict liability; based on objective rules vs. subjective standards; based on behavior or outcomes (consider “no harm no foul”))? (5) What are appropriate rules or norms for officiating? When and how should officiating errors be correctable/appealable?
Course requirements include regular attendance, a final paper, and periodic brief reaction-to-reading papers.

• Type: Seminar

At any given time, several members of the faculty sponsor ongoing research projects that include opportunities for student research. You can get 1-3 independent research credits (pass/fail or graded, as determined by each professor) for participating in such a project, depending on the amount of time you spend. (For students interested in spending fewer hours than is required to earn credit, pro bono participation is also an option. The hours of pro bono participation would count towards fulfilling the Law School’s Pro Bono Pledge but would not count towards fulfilling the New York’s Pro Bono Bar Admissions Requirement.) The project requirements vary, and enrollment requires the pre-approval of the sponsoring faculty member. Interested students should contact that faculty member directly. If permission to enroll is granted, students should follow the directions in the online registration instructions (Enrolling for Research Credits).
CIVIL RIGHTS LITIGATION CLEARINGHOUSE: This website, at https://clearinghouse.net, collects documents and information from civil rights cases in over a dozen case categories ranging from jail and prison conditions to same-sex marriage to deinstitutionalization. It is used by scholars, teachers, students, policymakers, advocates, and the public, to facilitate greater understanding of civil rights litigation. 2 or 3 credits, only, unless you’ve previously worked on the Clearinghouse for credit, in which case you can sign up for 1 credit. Faculty Sponsor: Margo Schlanger, [email protected]
DATA FOR DEFENDERS: Data for Defenders (https://datafordefenders.org) is a publicly-available database with sample briefs and motions that incorporate social science into criminal defense advocacy. MDefenders partners with public defender offices and organizations, MDefenders alumni, and indigent defense providers around the country to incorporate motions and briefs into the database that will be used by defense attorneys to inject social science research into criminal courtrooms. A few students each year work with Professor Primus to research and draft motions and briefs for inclusion in the database and to review submissions to the database. Faculty Sponsor: Eve Brensike Primus, [email protected]
MICHIGAN LAW REVIEW: Students serving in positions on the Editorial Board of the Michigan Law Review, the University of Michigan’s flagship journal that publishes 8 issues per year, discuss how to evaluate and edit legal scholarship; the functions of legal scholarship; organizational and project management techniques; and approaches to leadership. 1 credit - Mandatory Pass/Fail. Leah Litman, [email protected]
TRIBAL COURT CLERK: Students working as tribal court clerks for faculty member who serves as a tribal appellate judge will research pending tribal court cases, draft bench briefs that summarize the legal questions and offer preliminary recommendations, and prepare draft opinions. Students may also be involved in tribal court improvement and infrastructure development projects such as drafting tribal codes and court rules, or work related to entities such as the Michigan Tribal-State-Judicial Forum. Faculty Sponsor: Matthew Fletcher, [email protected]

• Type: Research

Student pursues independent research project under faculty supervision.

JD Program

Second and third year students (including summer starters in their third term) with an honor point average of at least 2.0 may enroll for 1 to 3 credits of independent research under any member of the Law School faculty who is willing to supervise such work. The credit to be given, as well as the scope and subject matter of the project, will normally be determined by the faculty member who undertakes to supervise and grade the student’s research. If more than 3 credits is to be given for the project, both the project and the completed product must be approved by a committee of three faculty members, one of whom must be the faculty member responsible for supervising the research. A student may not offer more than a total of 6 credits earned for independent research in satisfaction of the requirements for the JD degree.

MACL or LLM Program

Students may enroll for 1 to 6 credits of independent research under any member of the Law School faculty who is willing to supervise such work. The credit to be given, as well as the scope and subject matter of the project, will be determined by the faculty member who undertakes to supervise and grade the student’s research. A student may not offer more than a total of 6 credits earned for independent research in satisfaction of the requirements for the MCL or LLM degree. If a student wishes to receive more than a total of 6 credits of independent research toward the MCL or LLM, he or she first obtains the approval of the Global Affairs Committee through the Assistant Dean for International Affairs.

LLM/SJD Program

Students may enroll for 1 to 6 credits of independent research under any member of the Law School faculty who is willing to supervise such work. The credit to be given, as well as the scope and subject matter of the project, will be determined by the faculty member who undertakes to supervise and grade the student’s research. If more than 6 credits is to be given for the project, both the project and the completed product must be approved by a committee of three faculty members, one of whom must be the faculty member responsible for supervising the research.

• Type: Research

This is a survey course on the practical results of litigation — everything a court can do for a claimant who has been wronged. We will survey the principal remedies: compensatory damages; preventive, reparative, and structural injunctions; declaratory remedies; restitution; punitive damages; statutory remedies; and attorney’s fees. We will constantly ask what the plaintiff can get, why she can get that, why she can’t get more, and which remedy is best for her. Our ultimate questions will be what courts are trying to accomplish with the remedies they offer and how the available remedies relate to the substantive rights that the law protects.

• Type: Upper Class

Public-Sector Structural Reform in K-12 Education Seminar

The United States is in the midst of a massive restructuring of public-sector service delivery and regulation, particularly as they relate to the governance and management of its public schools. Staffed by broadly interdisciplinary teams of accomplished professionals, the most successful of the new federal, state, and local education organizations are replacing decades-old public bureaucracies and interest group politics with “learning organizations” committed to using public problem solving techniques to accelerate adult and institutional, as well student learning.

This Public Education Policy Seminar and Practicum originates at Columbia Law School, and attracts upper-level graduate students in law, business, education, and policy from Harvard, Michigan, NYU, Penn, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Yale, and other universities for a full semester of intensive engagement with each other around transformational change in public education. Second and third-year law students may take the course either in the fall semester or the spring semester. 13 units of credit are awarded with the grades transferring to Michigan Law School.

Participants in the program take part in a rigorous and rewarding learning experience, including:

(i) An engaging interdisciplinary seminar in the design, regulation, governance, democratic accountability, and transformation of K-12 school systems and allied public- and social-sector organizations; [4 credits]

(ii) Comprehensive skills training in team-based problem solving, managing multidimensional (legal, operational, etc.) projects to specified outcomes in complex environments, client counseling, and effective communication [2 credits]; and

(iii) A high-priority project designing and implementing legal and policy solutions to a complex problem at the core of a client public- or social-sector organization’s mission to improve the educational outcomes and life chances of children. [7 credits].

The Program Offers:

* Intensive experiential learning on interdisciplinary teams and cutting-edge projects

* Deep engagement in public education improvement strategies and debates

* Panels and field trips interacting with prominent education leaders

* 1:1 mentoring, K-12 education career support, and networking opportunities

* Merit scholarships for exceptional students

* Challenging, fun, and meaningful work helping to improve kids’ learning and lives

Admission to the course is by application. A limited number of $25,000 scholarships are available for exceptional students to apply to their law school tuition in return for a commitment to spending time after graduation and judicial clerkships in a public or nonprofit job in the education sector.

For more information, including a course FAQ, names of Michigan Law students who have taken the previous version of the course, or lists of past projects in which students have engaged in the Course, please email [email protected] or Professor Amy Sankaran at [email protected].

*This description was adapted from Columbia Law School’s own course description, which can be found on Columbia Law School’s web site: http://www.law.columbia.edu/ (search on L8016).

• Type: Externship

Public-Sector Structural Reform in K-12 Education Practicum

The United States is in the midst of a massive restructuring of public-sector service delivery and regulation, particularly as they relate to the governance and management of its public schools. Staffed by broadly interdisciplinary teams of accomplished professionals, the most successful of the new federal, state, and local education organizations are replacing decades-old public bureaucracies and interest group politics with “learning organizations” committed to using public problem solving techniques to accelerate adult and institutional, as well student learning.

This Public Education Policy Seminar and Practicum originates at Columbia Law School, and attracts upper-level graduate students in law, business, education, and policy from Harvard, Michigan, NYU, Penn, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Yale, and other universities for a full semester of intensive engagement with each other around transformational change in public education. Second and third-year law students may take the course either in the fall semester or the spring semester. 13 units of credit are awarded with the grades transferring to Michigan Law School.

Participants in the program take part in a rigorous and rewarding learning experience, including:

(i) An engaging interdisciplinary seminar in the design, regulation, governance, democratic accountability, and transformation of K-12 school systems and allied public- and social-sector organizations; [4 credits]

(ii) Comprehensive skills training in team-based problem solving, managing multidimensional (legal, operational, etc.) projects to specified outcomes in complex environments, client counseling, and effective communication [2 credits]; and

(iii) A high-priority project designing and implementing legal and policy solutions to a complex problem at the core of a client public- or social-sector organization’s mission to improve the educational outcomes and life chances of children. [7 credits].

The Program Offers:

* Intensive experiential learning on interdisciplinary teams and cutting-edge projects

* Deep engagement in public education improvement strategies and debates

* Panels and field trips interacting with prominent education leaders

* 1:1 mentoring, K-12 education career support, and networking opportunities

* Merit scholarships for exceptional students

* Challenging, fun, and meaningful work helping to improve kids’ learning and lives

Admission to the course is by application. A limited number of $25,000 scholarships are available for exceptional students to apply to their law school tuition in return for a commitment to spending time after graduation and judicial clerkships in a public or nonprofit job in the education sector.

For more information, including a course FAQ, names of Michigan Law students who have taken the previous version of the course, or lists of past projects in which students have engaged in the Course, please email [email protected] or Professor Amy Sankaran at [email protected].

*This description was adapted from Columbia Law School’s own course description, which can be found on Columbia Law School’s web site: http://www.law.columbia.edu/ (search on L8016).

• Type: Externship

Public-Sector Structural Reform in K-12 Education Externship

The United States is in the midst of a massive restructuring of public-sector service delivery and regulation, particularly as they relate to the governance and management of its public schools. Staffed by broadly interdisciplinary teams of accomplished professionals, the most successful of the new federal, state, and local education organizations are replacing decades-old public bureaucracies and interest group politics with “learning organizations” committed to using public problem solving techniques to accelerate adult and institutional, as well student learning.

This Public Education Policy Seminar and Practicum originates at Columbia Law School, and attracts upper-level graduate students in law, business, education, and policy from Harvard, Michigan, NYU, Penn, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Yale, and other universities for a full semester of intensive engagement with each other around transformational change in public education. Second and third-year law students may take the course either in the fall semester or the spring semester. 13 units of credit are awarded with the grades transferring to Michigan Law School.

Participants in the program take part in a rigorous and rewarding learning experience, including:

(i) An engaging interdisciplinary seminar in the design, regulation, governance, democratic accountability, and transformation of K-12 school systems and allied public- and social-sector organizations; [4 credits]

(ii) Comprehensive skills training in team-based problem solving, managing multidimensional (legal, operational, etc.) projects to specified outcomes in complex environments, client counseling, and effective communication [2 credits]; and

(iii) A high-priority project designing and implementing legal and policy solutions to a complex problem at the core of a client public- or social-sector organization’s mission to improve the educational outcomes and life chances of children. [7 credits].

The Program Offers:

* Intensive experiential learning on interdisciplinary teams and cutting-edge projects

* Deep engagement in public education improvement strategies and debates

* Panels and field trips interacting with prominent education leaders

* 1:1 mentoring, K-12 education career support, and networking opportunities

* Merit scholarships for exceptional students

* Challenging, fun, and meaningful work helping to improve kids’ learning and lives

Admission to the course is by application. A limited number of $25,000 scholarships are available for exceptional students to apply to their law school tuition in return for a commitment to spending time after graduation and judicial clerkships in a public or nonprofit job in the education sector.

For more information, including a course FAQ, names of Michigan Law students who have taken the previous version of the course, or lists of past projects in which students have engaged in the Course, please email [email protected] or Professor Amy Sankaran at [email protected].

*This description was adapted from Columbia Law School’s own course description, which can be found on Columbia Law School’s web site: http://www.law.columbia.edu/ (search on L8016).

• Type: Externship

Public Interest Litigation Ethics
In this course, we will examine professional ethics and professional responsibility with a concentration on the practice of public interest law. We will utilize the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (Model Rules) and will use a variety of sources of guidance to help us understand the rules and their application. More specifically, we will identify and analyze ethical issues that arise in the practice of public interest law — public defense and prosecution, government lawyering, immigration, and civil rights cases. Among the issues we will address are client loyalty, communications, confidentiality, and conflicts of interest. We will also consider how our personal morality interacts with and impacts our professional ethical responsibilities.

• Type: Upper Class

This foundational course surveys the law of property, which defines the interests, rights, and duties with respect to spaces and things that the law recognizes and protects. The course covers how property interests may be obtained, held, used, and transferred, as found in the law of possessory estates and future interests in land, concurrent estates, easements, covenants, personal property, bailments, intellectual property, conveyancing, adverse possession, nuisance, zoning and land-use, takings, and housing law. The concepts of property, possession, and ownership—and the consequences flowing from these concepts—will be constantly examined. The overall focus will be on how property law fundamentally structures the rights and duties between individuals in their interactions with the world, shaping our physical, social, and economic spaces.

• Type: Upper Class

This course, structured as a seminar, will explore foundational questions concerning prices and pricing from a legal and economic perspective. Basic questions we may explore include: Why have prices at all? How does price-setting occur (in theory and practice)? How should it occur? What are appropriate and realistic social goals relating to prices? We will consider perspectives on prices drawn from various areas of law and policy (potentially including competition law, regulated industries, and the law of money) and from a variety of perspectives and traditions in economic thought. We will consider selected policy applications and issues, potentially including global and international questions related to prices and prices, to inform our broader discussions.

• Type: Seminar

One of the first medical-legal partnerships to be based in a law school setting, Pediatric Advocacy Clinic (PAC) students become part of an interdisciplinary team working to improve child health by providing legal assistance to low-income families on issues related to child health. Casework includes advocacy around special education, school discipline, domestic violence and family law, Medicaid and other public benefits, and housing conditions. PAC students take “first chair” responsibility for their cases and are involved in all aspects of a case. They learn a range of advocacy skills, from preventive legal advocacy (focusing on identifying issues at an early stage and on developing creative, multidisciplinary approaches to addressing them) to traditional litigation skills in both administrative and trial court settings. Students in the seminar learn substantive law and core lawyering skills and engage in reflection and simulations designed to solidify these skills. The PAC is 7 credits (4 for the seminar and 3 for the clinic) and all credits are graded. The PAC meets the New York Pro Bono requirement.
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

One of the first medical-legal partnerships to be based in a law school setting, Pediatric Advocacy Clinic (PAC) students become part of an interdisciplinary team working to improve child health by providing legal assistance to low-income families on issues related to child health. Casework includes advocacy around special education, school discipline, domestic violence and family law, Medicaid and other public benefits, and housing conditions. PAC students take “first chair” responsibility for their cases and are involved in all aspects of a case. They learn a range of advocacy skills, from preventive legal advocacy (focusing on identifying issues at an early stage and on developing creative, multidisciplinary approaches to addressing them) to traditional litigation skills in both administrative and trial court settings. The PAC is 7 credits (4 for the seminar and 3 for the clinic) and all credits are graded. The PAC meets the New York Pro Bono requirement.
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

Conflict involving youth, family, communities and institutions inexorably finds its way into state court justice systems. Once there, litigants find that institutional pathways available to them not only effect legal consequences to their actions, but more importantly, have longstanding affects on their lives, as well as the lives of others. This class introduces students to the emergence of one such path in state court justice systems: peacemaking.
The introduction begins with the exploration of the roots of peacemaking from indigenous nations within our national border. Students will learn from nationally renowned native guest lecturers about world views, tribal justice systems, tensions between native justice systems and western-model court systems and the opportunity for nurturing communication, collaboration and finding common ground between the two.
Thereafter, students will engage in exploring the practical application of peacemaking in state justice systems in family, probate, civil and criminal proceedings. As part of that engagement, students will first conduct a mock trial in a subject area of their choosing through a traditional adversarial model, and then through a peacemaking approach.
Finally, students will explore emerging branches from peacemaking in state justice systems. This exploration will include current models around the country, as well as inspiration from models outside of our borders such as South Africa, Canada and Ireland.
The class is co taught by a trial attorney with criminal and family court experience, and a state court presiding judge of a peacemaking court. In addition to the mock trial, a final paper will serve in lieu of a final exam.

• Type: Practice Simulation

This course will provide an introduction to basic concepts of patent law, focusing on legal issues that arise in the course of obtaining and enforcing patents. The course is designed to be suitable for students planning to enter a general practice as well as those planning to specialize in intellectual property. A technical background is not a prerequisite, but students will be required to read and discuss cases involving technical facts.

• Type: Upper Class

This course covers the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code that deal with partnerships including such items as: the definition of a partnership for tax purposes; the utilization and importance of a “balance sheet” analysis of partnership activities; the question of whether a partnership is treated as an entity or as an aggregate of separate interests; the transfer of assets to and from a partnership; the allocation of partnership tax attributes; the special treatment of recourse and nonrecourse liabilities; the operation of a partnership; the determination of a partnership’s basis in its assets and a partner’s basis in the partnership interest; the restrictions on the deductibility of a partner’s share of partnership losses; the effect of a change in partnership interests; and the disposition of partnership interests.

• Type: Upper Class

This contemporaneous, one-credit seminar is held every semester as a required companion to the Part-Time Externship (Law 990). For more information, please visit the course description for Law 990.

• Type: Externship

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 ([email protected]). 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