LAWT* - Law

Experimental Courses

*Offerings are subject to the availability of the instuctor or at the request of students.

LAWT - 9050  COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION
[2-3 hours]  This course  explores the theory and practice of arbitration from the standpoint of both the arbitrator and the attorney-advocate with specific emphasis on arbitration advocacy. The course will include several arbitration simulations that will require preparation of either arbitration awards with opinions or pre-arbitration hearing briefs. Other topics include hearing  preparation, opening statements, evidentiary rules, direct and cross examination, expert testimony, final arguments, and the place of arbitration in the larger context of Alternative Dispute Resolution.

LAWT - 9120  EUROPEAN LAW
[2-3 hours]  This course will begin with an examination of the history of and legal foundations for the European Union. It will then explore the relationship between individual sovereign states and the EU. Finally, the course will look at various particular bodies of EU law, such as: free movement of capital; goods and labor; freedom of establishment; harmonization of laws; antitrust and competition policy; currency unification; environmental protection; intellectual property protection; rights to privacy; and women�s rights.

LAWT - 9140  ENVIRONMENTAL/DEVELOPMENTAL LAND USE REGULATIONS
[2-3 hours]  This course will cover both the conservation and preservation-oriented environmental land use regulations that have emerged in the recent years as well as the more traditional, developmentally-oriented controls that have been with us for some time. The environmental land use component of the course will cover the regulation of: wetlands, coastal zones, floodplains, farmland, open space, critical areas, groundwater, and hazardous waste siting. The developmental land use regulations component will include: zoning, flexible land use controls, subdivision controls, growth controls, historic preservation, and transfer of developmental rights. Themes that will be explored include the �taking� issue, the intense conflicts between land development and environmental preservation, as well as the inter-governmental conflicts that occur as the proliferation of land use controls are fragmented among local, state, and  the federal government.

LAWT - 9150  HEALTH CARE REGULATION
[2-3 hours]  Examines the legal structures that regulate the organization, delivery and financing of health care. Discussion includes the public policy objectives and effects of current regulatory schemes, as well as enacted and proposed reforms at state and federal levels.

LAWT - 9200  LANDLORD TENANT LAW
[2-3  hours]  A practicum course that explores both residential and commercial landlord tenant law. The residential component includes the recent public policy developments and reforms that have dramatically altered the residential landlord tenant relationship as well as the influences of contract and tort principles. The commercial landlord tenant component examines the basic responsibilities of the parties, the shopping center lease, and the lease as a financing device. Exercises in drafting lease provisions and in landlord tenant dispute resolution provide a practice orientation.

LAWT - 9220  ADVANCED LEGAL RESEARCH
[2-3 hours]  An in-depth view of legal bibliography in both traditional and electronic formats. Detailed attention given to encyclopedias, treatises, and various general and topical indexes, digests, and citators.

LAWT - 9230  ADVANCED CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
[2-3 hours]  This seminar will focus on issues that have significant constitutional implications. Examples of issues to be explored include: plea bargaining, affirmative action, death penalty, assisted suicide, registration of sex offenders, decriminalization, school prayer, sexual harassment, bail, and gun control. The seminar is designed to broaden students� perspectives on issues that divide society with the goal of better understanding those issues in light of society�s best interest.

LAWT - 9250  GREAT LAKES� LAW
[2-3 hours]  This interdisciplinary course utilizes a wide variety of speakers to examine a series of problems facing the Great Lakes Region. Working in teams with graduate students from different disciplines, students draw upon their own research and the speakers� expertise to devise proposals on topics of current importance.

LAWT - 9270  LEGISLATIVE PROCESS AND DRAFTING
[2-3 hours]  The Legislative Drafting course focuses on legislative drafting techniques and surveys legal rafting, limitations on legislation, statutory interpretation, legislative procedure, and professional responsibility. Students will draft a bill for an actual client and write a scholarly paper in support of the bill.

LAWT - 9300  LITIGATION STRATEGIES
[2-3 hours]  The course develops expertise in the �why� of litigation, as opposed  the mechanics of litigation. Students interview clients and prepare written memoranda analyzing the problem, recommending a course of action and presenting a litigation budget.

LAWT - 9380  NATIVE AMERICAN LAW
[2-3 hours]  This course will initially examine the legal concepts of �Native American� individual and tribe. The study of unique (and not so unique) aspects of the treatment of Native American individuals and tribes under the U.S. Constitution; treaties; and national, tribal, and state law will form the heart of the course. Special attention will be given to issues relating to tribal government and tribal courts, environmental regulation on reservation lands, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, commercial transactions involving Native American cultural and artistic objects, and tribally-operated casino gambling.

LAWT - 9390  NATURAL RESOURCES LAW
[2 hours]  This course focuses upon water law and the way the law applies to natural resource use.  Topics covered include the nature of private water rights under riparian and prior appropriation systems, interstate allocation of water and the role of the government in water use regulation.

LAWT - 9390  NATURAL RESOURCES LAW
[2-3 hours]  This course will provide an introduction to natural resource law, including public lands issues (forestry, mining, grazing, recreation and preservation), cultural resources (historic and sacred sites), wildlife, water rights and energy resources. Current policies governing resource use and protection will be explored through a problem-solving approach, with case law, federal statues and regulations, and scholarly articles and book excerpts as the backdrop. Students will represent a user group or industry, environmental interest group or the United States government in litigation, and engage in �hands-on� application of the law by developing case strategy and motion practice from an actual administrative record agency decision. Course requirements include a discovery motion and summary judgement motion or response, as well as a natural resources problem. Students will be required to either argue the summary judgement motion or present their resolution of the problem in class.

LAWT - 9430  PARTNERSHIP TAXATION
[2-3 hours]  This course  examines the federal income tax consequences of the formation, operation and liquidation of partnerships.  The partnership has long served as a common business and investment vehicle, its importance has been underestimated for federal taxation purposes. In recent years, however, increased use of the partnership form by businesses of various types, including large professional practices and �tax sheltered� ventures, has focused attention on this area.

LAWT - 9790  ADVANCED CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
[2-3 hours]  This course will focus on in-depth exploration of issues arising in Criminal Procedure. Topics covered may include the right to counsel, defense investigation, discovery, pretrial release, selected aspects of forensic science, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendment issues, jury selection, trial procedure and tactics, habeas corpus, and other post-trial issues. Students will be required to write three short position papers during the course and a take home examination. Simulations and other projects may be required during the term as well. Prerequisite: Criminal Procedure-investigations or Criminal Procedure-Adjudications.

LAWT - 9800  INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
[2-3 hours]  International Environmental Law focuses on the growing concern that environmental problems are international in nature. The course explores current international law and treaties designed to protect the environment and their effectiveness. The role international  organizations play in protecting the environment will be examined, and current concerns regarding the economics of environmental protection and the effect of trade agreements on the environment will be considered. Finally, various proposals on ways to improve international environmental protection will be considered.

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Last Updated: 6/27/22