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2023 - 2024 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
School of Law Courses
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School of Law
LAW 100 - Leadership & Professional Development
fall & spring 1 staff Graded P/F
In this course, students will receive an introduction to and an opportunity to explore and develop several of the numerous foundational skills and professional competencies and characteristics that entry-level lawyers must possess to be successful at the start of their careers. The class will explore the following core competencies: (1) communication and relationship building; (2) self-assessment and self-direction; (3) project management, productivity, and technology: (4) grit, resilience, and a growth mindset; (5) cultural awareness; (6) ethics and professionalism; and (7) leadership, teamwork and collaboration.
LAW 101 - Criminal Law
Fall 4 P. Marcus, N. Combs, A. Gershowitz, C. Ward
An intensive study of the basic doctrines underlying the criminal law, including actus reus and mens rea; the principal substantive and inchoate crimes; the accountability for the criminal acts of others; and the general defenses to criminal liability.
LAW 102 - Civil Procedure
Fall 4 V. Hamilton, E. Criddle, M. Green, A. Bruhl
This course focuses on the strategic options federal law provides to persons attempting to resolve disputes through litigation. It introduces students to basic concepts involved in the federal civil adversary system, federal jurisdiction, choice of law, and finality. Students will explore in depth the policies governing and the mechanics involved in pleading, discovery, and disposition before trial.
LAW 107 - Torts
Fall (3-4) E. Kades, A. Meese, S. Rajec, F. Lederer
A survey of the legal system’s responses to problems arising from personal injury and property damage. Concentration on the legal doctrines relating to liability for harm resulting from fault and to strict liability. Analysis of the goals and techniques of accident prevention and compensation for loss.
LAW 108 - Property
Spring 4 L. Butler, R. Rosenberg, T. McSweeney,
Property focuses on the rules for acquiring, using, dividing (in various dimensions), and losing rights over scarce resources. Most material concerns realty, with limited consideration of person property. Property will introduce the rudiments of capture, finds, and adverse possession; landlord-tenant law; the system of estates; co-ownership; easements; and restrictive covenants. In addition to these private law subjects, the course will introduce zoning and takings.
LAW 109 - Constitutional Law
Spring 4 T. Grove, T. Zick, N.Devins, A. Larsen
A study of the structure of government, from the role of the courts and the concept of judicial review, through the distribution of power in the federal system and the allocation of power among the three branches of the government, followed by a study of individual rights protected by the Constitution.
LAW 110 - Contracts
Spring 4 P. Alces, D. Ibrahim, J. Butler, N. Oman
This course explores legally enforceable promises, normally exchanged as part of a bargain between private parties. Among the topics that may be covered are: bases of enforcement, capacity to contract, contract information, interpretation, conditions, excuse of performance, and remedies for breach.
LAW 115 - Professional Responsibility
Fall/Spring 2 G. Huff, D. Miller, L. Lilley, L. Haley, M. Lowe
This course will cover a variety of topics relating to lawyers’ obligations as members of the legal profession, such as the duty of competence, fees and billing, creating and ending the lawyer-client relationship, the duty of confidentiality, and conflicts of interest. The class will cover both lawyer regulations (such as the Model Rules of Professional Conduct) and other ethical concerns in the practice of law.
LAW 117 - The Legal Profession
3
This course, which satisfies the law school’s and the ABA’s professional responsibility requirements, will cover lawyers’ obligations as members of the legal profession, as defined by the ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct and other bodies of law, but will also examine deeper questions of what it means to be a lawyer. The course will examine how lawyers over time and in various settings have constructed their identities, established their power, viewed their duty, and articulated their missions. Topics to be covered will include traditional professional responsibility topics, such as the lawyer-client relationship, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, and competence, but will also include the historical development of the legal profession in England and America, the emergence of an adversarial legal culture, the changing nature of legal education, and the development of a professional identity. NOTE; LAW 117 is equivalent to LAW 115, Professional Responsibility. Students may not take LAW 117, The Legal Profession, if currently enrolled in or completed LAW 115, Professional Responsibility.
LAW 130 - Legal Research & Writing I
Fall 2 Staff
In this course, students will develop the critical skills of legal analysis, writing, and research. Under the instruction of research librarians, students will learn to conduct thorough research using a number of different legal sources. Students will work with full-time writing professors to learn how to analyze legal rules and precedent to assess the legal position of a client or other party. With close guidance and feedback from the writing professors, students will learn how to successfully communicate legal analyses in objective legal memoranda, using clear and concise language and employing the fundamental principles of effective legal writing.
LAW 131 - Lawyering Skills I
Fall 1 Staff
In this course, students will learn various skills essential to the successful practice of law. With instruction and feedback from practicing attorneys, students will learn by preparing for, and executing, several simulations designed to ready students for what they will encounter in the day-to-day life as an attorney. These simulations include presenting an oral report to a supervising attorney, interviewing a client, and counseling a client. Prior to each simulation, students will read about and discuss the underlying doctrine, theory, and goals that are fundamental to understanding the lawyer’s role. Through integrating coursework and simulations, students will also receive guidance on navigating daily practice and the importance of professional ethics.
LAW 132 - Legal Research & Writing II
Spring 2 Staff
In this course, students will continue to develop the critical skills of legal analysis, writing, and research. Under the instruction of research librarians, students will expand their knowledge of legal sources, databases, and research methods. Building on the analytical and writing skills developed in Legal Research & Writing I, students will apply their abilities in a persuasive context. With close guidance and feedback from the writing professors, students will focus on how language can be crafted to persuade instead of just inform and will learn how to draft effective legal arguments in pretrial memoranda, settlement letters, and other documents.
LAW 133 - Lawyering Skills II
Spring 2 Staff
In the second semester of Lawyering Skills, students will reinforce and build upon the skills learned in Lawyering Skills I, and apply their practical communication abilities to a new range of settings. With the instruction and feedback from practicing attorneys, students will advance their advocacy skills through simulating a pretrial oral argument and a negotiation with an opposing counsel. As in Lawyering Skills I, prior to each simulation, students will read about and discuss the underlying doctrine, theory, and goals that are fundamental to understanding the lawyer’s role. Through the continued integration of coursework and simulations, students will become increasingly able to navigate daily practice and uphold professional ethics.
LAW 135 - Lawyering Skills
Fall/Spring 1
International LL.M. students will explore professional expectations and the roles of lawyers in law firms and other organizations in the United States. This course features a “learning by doing” component that highlights skills essential to the successful practice of law. Students will develop their oral and written communication skills by drafting professional correspondence, delivering reports to supervising attorneys, and conducting client interviews, courtroom simulations, and negotiations and alternative dispute resolution exercises. All students will gain exposure to key elements of the practice of law in any field, including ethics and professional responsibility, analytical and critical thinking, communication and presentation skills, and norms for interaction with clients and other stakeholders. Grades will be based on written assignments, in-class exercises, and overall participation. Student improvement over the semester will factor significantly in the final grade. While students may sometimes work in teams, each student will be graded individually.
LAW 140A - Advanced Writing and Practice - Appellate Advocacy
Spring 2 Alice Armstrong
The Appellate Advocacy course will provide in-depth instruction and practical training in appellate advocacy, emphasizing both written and oral skills. Students will learn how to prepare for an appeal, file an appeal, write effective appella briefs, and make effective appellate oral arguments. The skills involved include the ability to analyze, write, make strategic decisions, and speak effectively. Students will complete several practice writing assignments culminating in one final written brief. At the end of the semester, students will present oral arguments based on their final written brief. NOTE: Students who take Law 730 Advanced Brief Writing may NOT take this course.
LAW 140B - Advanced Writing and Practice - Pretrial Civil Practice
Spring 2 Susan North
The Pretrial Civil course is designed to introduce students to persuasive pretrial advocacy in a civil case. The course will prepare students for practice in civil litigation by focusing on the application and expansion of their legal writing skills in a civil context. Students will learn civil litigation skills through written assignments and class discussions that will expose them to some of the issues and challenges civil practitioners must address when drafting documents, motions, and briefs in the course of client representation.
LAW 140C - Advanced Writing and Practice - Pretrial Criminal Practice
Spring 2 Brian Pristera
The Pretrial Criminal course is designed to introduce students to persuasive pretrial advocacy in the criminal case. Unlike what you might see on television, criminal cases are not usually won in 22 minutes in the courtroom. Rather, the bulk of criminal litigation is handled pretrial through pleadings, discovery, witness interviews, and pretrial motions. The course will prepare students for practice in criminal law by focusing on the application and expansion of their legal writing skills in a criminal law context. Through written assignments and class discussions, students will engage in various pretrial activities found in criminal practice, which may include moving for discovery and preparing other motions and briefs for trial.
LAW 140D - Advanced Writing and Practice - Transactional Practice
Fall/Spring 2 E. Park, A. Nelson
The Transactional Practice course is designed to introduce students to several elements of transactional practice in a deal-based context. Students will learn transactional practice skills through a variety of drafting exercises and assignments designed to familiarize students with the most common issues found in drafting transactional documents. Students will encounter and draft different types of agreements used in transactional practice and will work on understanding, analyzing, and drafting critical sections of contracts. The course will stress the importance of using clear and concise writing skills to articulate agreements accurately and precisely.
LAW 250 - Intro to US Law and Legal System
Summer 2
This course introduces the fundamentals of the U.S. legal system to international LL.M. students. Students will explore the structure and content of U.S. law and legal institutions, the U.S. Constitution, federalism, separation of powers, the role of precedent in common law, the theory and practice of the adversary system of justice, and the legal profession. This course is designed to provide students a broad understanding of U.S. law and the U.S. legal system, especially aspects that may be unfamiliar to LL.M. students who received their legal education outside the United States.
LAW 251 - LLM English Language Course
Summer 0 Jessica Klein
This course is designed to improve the English language skills of entering international students in the LLM program or at the University.
LAW 301 - Election Law Practicum - Lawyering a Campaign
Spring 1 Jason Torchinsky
Many law school classes touch on election law subjects ranging from voting rights, to redistricting, to election law and campaign finance. This course will focus on the legal issues you will need to understand to advise a candidate. The goal of this course to help students understand the basic statutory framework that candidates must navigate. While there are state to state and jurisdiction to jurisdiction differences, the basic frameworks are well known by practitioners. Students will gain an understanding of the issues that have arisen at various stages of the candidate / election administration process and that have been presented to federal and state courts across the county.
LAW 302 - Statistics for Lawyers
Statistics for Lawyers This course introduces basic statistical analysis and its application to problems that arise frequently in litigation. It covers the concept of distributions and summary statistics; statistical sampling; analyzing the validity of data collection methods; basic hypothesis testing; and methods for studying correlations in data. The course will cover a variety of legal applications of statistics, including discrimination litigation, use of DNA to identify individuals, products liability, and discrimination in jury selection. The course assumes no prior knowledge of probability or statistics. It will emphasize broad understanding over the details of calculation. Grading will be based on weekly homework assignments and a final exam.
LAW 303 - Corporations I
Spring 3 Nathan Oman
An introductory examination of the law applicable to corporations. This course examines the process of formation and capitalization of corporations, the concept of limited liability, and the role of fiduciary duties in corporate governance. We will examine how these duties are enforced in different settings (public corporations and closed corporations); under state and federal law; and some other recurring litigation and planning issues. Students who take Corporations may not take Business Associations.
LAW 305 - Trust and Estates
Fall/Spring (1-4) J. Dwyer, T. McSweeney,
A study of the law governing inter vivos and death time gratuitous transfers of property. Aspects covered include transfers under intestate succession statutes; the law of wills, including the formalities of execution, testamentary capacity, undue influence and fraud, interpretation, and revocation; non-probate transfers; the law of trusts, including methods of creation and termination, rights and interests of the beneficiary, and special problems relating to resulting, constructive and charitable trusts; and fiduciary administration, including an introduction to probate proceedings and problems of trust administration.
LAW 306 - Bankruptcy Survey
Fall (2-3) Nathan Oman
This course will introduce students to the federal law of bankruptcy, which allows debtors to restructure and discharge their obligations to creditors. Although both consumer bankruptcy and corporate reorganization will be touched on, the course will focus on business bankruptcies under Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. We will not cover the adjustment of personal debts under Chapter 13. There are no prerequisites for the course.
LAW 308 - Applied Evidence in a Technological Age
Fall/Spring 4 Fredric Lederer
This four-credit course combines all of the elements of a traditional evidence course along with basic oral and trial advocacy and courtroom technology. The course will concentrate on the Federal Rules of Evidence from a pragmatic perspective. It will also address the evidentiary implications of modern electronic evidence. In addition to the study of fundamental evidentiary concepts, students will try a simple bench trial with traditional and electronic evidence using the McGlothin Courtroom’s state-of-the art courtroom technology. This course is supported by the Center of Legal and Court Technology which will train students in the use of the McGlothin Courtroom’s evidence presentation technology and provide clerk of court administrative support. Students who take Applied Evidence in a Technological Age may not take Law 309 Evidence. This course satisfies the Third Year Practice requirement.
LAW 309 - Evidence
Fall/Spring 3 H. Zlotnick, M. Lowe
An intensive study of the law of evidence primarily utilizing the Federal Rules of Evidence. Topics addressed by the course include relevance, authentication, real evidence, competence, heresay, impeachment of witnesses, and privileges.
LAW 310 - Electronic Discov & Data Szr
Electronic Discovery and Data Seizure This course addresses the legal and practical issues inherent in conducting electronc discovery in civil cases, especially under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as well as the law of electroinic data search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment and Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. No special information technology knowledge or background is required.
LAW 311 - Federal Income Taxation
Fall (3-4) William Richardson
A study of the basic laws relating to federal income taxation of the individual. Included are problems relating to computing gross income, the reduction of gross income to taxable income, and the recognition and character of gains and losses from disposition of property.
LAW 312 - Advanced Constitutional Law Survey
3
This course will study issues in Constitutional law that are typically not included or studied in depth in the 1L Constitutional Law Class. Topics covered likely include but are not limited to: Executive power, Constitutional tension with the Administrative State, the Second Amendment, the right to vote, the Dormant Commerce Clause, the Political Question doctrine, First Amendment Speech / Press, School segregation, Procedural Due Process, and the First Amendment Religion Clauses. The goal of this course is to offer 2L and 3L students the chance to study a variety of constitutional doctrines at a deeper level of depth than in the 1L required course but less than what they will learn on a course that focuses entirely on one provision or another. To enroll in this course, students must have completed the 1L Constitutional Law course, but this class is not a prerequisite for or substitute for any other upper-level elective course.
LAW 317 - Law & Neuroscience
Fall (1-3) Peter Alces
This course examines a variety of cutting-edge, at times controversial, linkages between law and neuroscience, ranging from social and environmental influences on the brain and behavior to the interpretations of neuroimaging and the prediction of criminality and predispositions towards mental illnesses and addictions. Students will learn how discoveries in neuroscience intersect with societal responses and legal decision-making. Scientists are increasingly using new techniques to investigate the brain activity underlying cognitive phenomena. The course will explore whether, and if so how, the law should engage with various emerging neuroscientific findings, technologies, and perspectives on such topics as evidentiary rules, memory bias and enhancement, lie and deception detection, the neurobiology of criminal culpability and punishment, emotions and decision making, addiction, adolescent brains and juvenile law, moral and legal reasoning, tort law, artificial intelligence, and the like. The course will also address a variety of challenging questions raised by the increasing introduction of brain scans as evidence in courtroom proceedings. A background in science may be helpful, but is not required, as the course will provide a ‘brain basics’ introduction for law students.
LAW 318 - Business Torts
2
The typical first-year Torts class focuses on torts that primarily cause personal injury and/or property damage. Business torts have a different focus - such torts often cause pure economic loss, i.e., economic harm without any accompanying personal injury or property damage. Think of a business tort, therefore, as tortious conduct that primarily harms a plaintiff’s wallet rather than her person or things. This course will emphasize the operation of various business torts and will examine the torts’ applicability to particular business or economic settings. This course will be graded primarily by a final examination.
LAW 319 - Regulation of Toxic Substances and Hazardous Waste
2
This course will provide an in-depth examination of a specialized area of environmental law - toxic substances and hazardous waste. Principal coverage will focus on federal regulation of hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the remediation of hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund). The course will also address, to a more limited extent, the manufacture, import and use of industrial chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the sale and use of pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The basic science of toxic substances and their effects and the policy foundations upon which the law of toxic substances and hazardous wastes has been built will also be reviewed. There is no pre-requisite; however, LAW 424 Environmental Law is recommended.
LAW 320 - Business Associations
Fall 4 K. Haeberle, D. Ibrahim
An introductory examination of the law applicable to contemporary forms of business enterprise: the general partnership, the limited partnership, the limited liability partnership (LLP), the limited liability company (LLC), and the corporation. The course begins with an introduction to the principles of agency, which govern all these forms of enterprise. The course then explores the process of organization, formation and capitalization, limits on investors personal liability, and the role of fiduciary duties in different business contexts. We will then examine how these duties are enforced under state (and some federal) law. This course is a general introduction to the field. Students who take Business Associations may not take Alternative Business Entities, or Corporations, or Small Business Entities.
LAW 322 - State & Local Taxation
Spring 3 Craig Bell
The State and Local Taxation course considers taxation imposed by states and local governments in a variety of contexts including the taxing of income, sales and use, property, and business licenses. This course will benefit students entering either a tax practice or a general business practice. Topics to be covered in the course will include: the key elements of the major business taxes and individual state income tax; the constitutional restrictions applicable to the taxation of interstate businesses; the handling of audits; and the conduct of administrative and judicial appeals. The course will use Virginia’s tax system as an illustrative model for issues that are common to most jurisdictions. Students will be evaluated on the basis of their class participation and on a series of written assignments including administrative protests of hypothetical audit assessments and initial court pleadings.
LAW 336 - International Intellectual Property Law
Spring (1-3) Sarah Rajec
This course surveys the variety of treaties and laws governing worldwide intellectual property rights. In addition to the major multi-lateral treaties governing intellectual property rights protection, the course will compare various relevant national laws to see how different social and economic policy goals drive differences in laws governing copyrights, patents, trademarks, and related rights. International intellectual property laws have become increasingly important to companies with a global business footprint. Therefore, the course will explore business strategies in the context of this network of laws. Students will be evaluated primarily based on a final exam; there will also be a participation component.
LAW 337 - Employee Benefits and ERISA
Fall (1-3) Tina Mohr
This course will provide an overview of the area of Employee Benefit Law and the Federal law applicable to the same including ERISA, COBRA and tax law. Employee Benefit Law is a practice area of significant importance to corporations, insurance companies, labor unions, plan administrators, law firms, benefit consulting firms and employees and their family members. The course will cover employer provided benefit plans including health insurance, traditional pension and defined benefits plans such as 401(k)s, cafeteria plans and others. The course will cover topics including vesting, nondiscrimination provisions, disclosure requirements, reporting requirements, notice requirements, fiduciary rules and duties and spousal rights. The course will also examine the impact of employee benefit law as well as ERISA on other practice areas including employment law, health law, labor law, tax law, divorce, corporate mergers/acquisitions, bankruptcy and specialized litigation. There is no prerequisite for this course. The class will be graded by final exam (70%), classroom assignments (23%), and class participation (7%).
LAW 338 - European Union Law
Fall (1-3) Javier Guillen
Human rights, democracy and the rule of law are core values of the European Union. Embedded in its founding treaty, they were reinforced when the EU adopted the Charter of Fundamental Rights in 2000, and strengthened still further when the Charter became legally binding with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009. In this course, after a brief introduction of European integration, the course provides a general approach of the framework and functioning of the legal system of the European Union, introducing a general study on the decision-making process, the distribution of power between member states and the EU, and the principles that govern the relationship between the legal systems of the EU and its member states. Then the course will focus its attention on the human rights policy developed by the EU in the last years. We will study this main policy looking at the European Court of Justice leading cases on this subject and at the same time we will cover the main case law of the European Court of Human Rights reviewing EU Law and the interaction between both European Courts of Justice.
LAW 339 - Natural Resources Law
Spring (2-3) Michael Walker
The course provides an introduction to federal natural resources law, with an emphasis on living resources. We will examine the theoretical conflicts that underlie various approaches to resource management, as well as the special qualities of natural resource problems that render management efforts difficult. Focusing on the legal treatment of fisheries and marine mammals, wildlife and biodiversity, water resources, forests and preserved public lands, we will probe the complex interplay between environmental, economic, cultural, and political factors in natural resource decision making. Note: this class does not meet every year.
LAW 341 - Cybersecurity Incident Response
1
Data breaches and other cybersecurity incidents are making headlines on a regular basis. While no two cybersecurity incidents are the same, they all have one thing in common-they are fraught with a variety of legal risks. This course examines a lawyer’s role in preparing for and responding to cybersecurity incidents, from directing forensic investigations to working with law enforcement to assessing notification obligations and more. Students will review relevant legislation, regulatory guidance and enforcement actions, and case law. Students will also discuss policy considerations at play in the quickly evolving legislative and regulatory landscape. The course concludes with a mock scenario where students put what they’ve learned into practice. This course is graded pass/fail based on class participation and contribution during the mock scenario.
LAW 342 - Life or Death: A Prosecutor’s Decision-Making Process in a Capital Case
1
A Prosecutor’s Decision-Making Process in a Capital Case. Students will learn how a major state attorney’s office handled death penalty eligible cases from the initial crime scene visit through the conclusion of the case. The course focuses on a specific case, the 2009 Thanksgiving Day murders of four family members in Jupiter, Florida, to examine how the charging decisions were made, including the relevant legal criteria and other non-legal influences. One of the exercises will involve having students conduct a mock capital case review committee meeting in a first-degree homicide. The course will identify the type and nature of cases that qualify for death penalty consideration. We explore factors that influence the decision to charge and/or resolve a capital case (including community pressures, views of victims’ family members, and police/investigator influences). We will note the differences with regard to the death penalty in the various state systems and the federal system. The class includes a case study of the recent very public (and legal) conflict that occurred between then Florida Governor Rick Scott and State Attorney Aramis Ayala (Ninth Judicial Circuit in Florida). The dispute stemmed from SA Ayala’s announcement after she took office that she would not seek the death penalty in any of her office’s cases. We also will engage in a discussion of the federal death penalty prosecution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh to highlight the federal capital case process. The course also surveys the current state of the law regarding the death penalty in the United States. The discussion will include the evolving law relating to jury decision-making in capital cases using recent US Supreme Court cases. This course component will use a more traditional case analysis teaching method. Finally, the course delves into possible reforms of the death penalty decision-making process.
LAW 346 - Fundamentals of Environmental Science for Policy
3
Fundamentals of Environmental Science for Policy This course is intended primarily for students in Law, Public Policy and related disciplines. It is cross-listed with PUBP 600. It is designed to introduce the students to the science of natural systems and ecological processes. Through readings, lectures and discussion, the first half of the course examines the current state of our understanding in terms that will give the student confidence and the facility to critically assess theories and observations in environmental science. With this as a foundation, the second half of the course begins with an instructor led discussion of the enhanced greenhouse effect followed by student led discussions of other major case examples such as coastal eutrophication, biodiversity loss, water resources, sea level rise, environmental contamination, land use trends, and invasive species impacts. Student expectations include mid-term and final exams, and the development of a case study presentation extending over two class periods. This is a non-law course crosslisted with Law and the course materials will be found in Blackboard.
LAW 348 - Privacy Law
Spring 3 Rebecca Green
Should the NSA tap Americans’ phone calls? Should Target be liable to consumers for data breaches? What if Snapchat doesn’t really delete images but stores them–should users have recourse? Given modern technological realities, is privacy dead? This course will review the historical roots of the concept of privacy in U.S. law, the common clash between privacy and the public good, and the shifting balance of privacy rights in rapidly changing technological contexts. We will aim to understand privacy’s place amidst the swirl of commercial and national security interests and the rise of the global Internet. Grades will be determined by class participation and a final exam.
LAW 350 - Cryptocurrency Regulation
3
The course explores the legal and policy issues surrounding cryptocurrencies and related technologies. Students will acquire a working understanding of Bitcoin, Ethereum, smart contracts, and blockchains, but technical details will be kept to a minimum. The course will examine legal doctrine as applied to cryptocurrencies and related technologies; coverage includes anti-money laundering regulation, securities regulation, and other topics selected as the field evolves. The course will also examine how the technology fits within legal policy and theory and how it may affect legal practice.
LAW 351 - Alternative Dispute Resolution Survey
Spring (2-3) Rebecca Green
Knowledge about the various alternative processes of dispute resolution, as well as the law of ADR is quickly becoming indispensable to the civil legal practice of law. This survey course will introduce students to the important legal principles and issues posed by the growing use of ADR within the legal system. Further, the course will focus on the different types of alternative processes available to lawyers, with the goal of recognizing that conflict can present opportunities for significant change and growth that will enable lawyers to more adequately represent the interests of their clients.
LAW 352 - Private Equity - Structure and Issues
Spring (1-3) Jody Forsyth
This course will provide an overview of the common legal structures employed in the formation, capitalization, compensation, and governance of private equity funds. We will study as an example the structure of an existing private equity fund operating in the Canadian real asset space. In particular, we will spend considerable time on contractual interpretation of the fund’s limited partnership agreement. This course will also explore a number of topical issues in private equity, most notably securities regulatory oversight of private equity managers and taxation of their compensation. In examining all of the foregoing, we will consider the extent to which legislators and public regulators should oversee and intervene in private contractual relationships. An understanding of basic income tax law will be helpful but not required for this course. This course will be graded by a final exam.
LAW 354 - Law & Addiction
(1-3)
The course surveys the forms of addiction (e.g., tobacco, prescription drugs, legal recreational drugs, illegal drugs, gambling) that strain the fabric of the law and considers the law’s response to that strain. Class meetings would engage materials (a primary text as well as supplementary case law and legislation) focused on aspects of the addiction law and neuroscience of addiction interface. No prerequisites.
LAW 355 - Gender, Sexuality, & Law
3
This course surveys the law’s construction and regulation of gender, gender identity, and sexuality, and it examines the effects of U.S. legal structures on the lives of marginalized sex and gender groups. Parts of the course will explore advanced issues in constitutional law, addressing how litigants have sought to leverage federal or state constitutional provisions to assert a range of gender- and sexuality-related claims. The remainder of the course focuses on statutory and other sources of law, while throughout we employ an interdisciplinary approach to study the interaction between social and political forces and legal doctrine. Issues we will address include, for example: family and privacy rights, discrimination in education and employment, the rights of queer youth, and religion-based exemptions to non-discrimination laws.
LAW 357 - Artificial Intelligence Law and Politics
2
This 2-credit course is a primer of the core legal, policy, and ethical issues arising from the increasing deployment of AI systems. From considering what AI is, we will explore the AI Ecosystem, and focus on certain practical applications such as autonomous systems, the IoT, and Big Data fueled by social media. We will explore important questions about civil liberties, privacy, self-determination, and how traditional legal doctrines (e.g. tort and criminal law) are coping with new challenges. This course is suited for students who want to gain some familiarity in this field but lack technical knowledge, and those who have technical knowledge and want to understand the key socio-legal implications of innovation. Assessment includes class participation, a mid-term essay, and a final exam. No prior technical or legal knowledge is required. Students who have already taken or plan to take Law 428 are not eligible.
LAW 358 - Electronic Discovery
Fall/Spring (1-2) Andrea D’Ambra
With computers and mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, dominating every aspect of business and personal life, the nature of civil discovery has changed. Lawyers need to know how to request, identify, preserve, collect, process, review and produce electronically stored information (“ESI”) in all its myriad forms. This course helps students identify and avoid signficant pitfalls arising from the collection, processing and production of ESI to better represent their clients. Law students will learn about the nuances of the quickly evolving world of e-discovery and gain practical skills they can utilize immediately upon entering the legal profession. This class does not require a technical degree or even significant technical proficiency. NOTE; students may not register for this course if they are currently registered for, or successfully completed, Electronic Discovery and Data Seizure, LAW 310.
LAW 361 - Advanced Legal Analysis and Doctrine
3
This course will introduce students to the substantive knowledge, thought process, and writing skills needed for success on the Bar Exam. The learning methodology will be iterative, consisting of substantive lectures and materials followed by practice-testing and analysis. This course is recommended for all Virginia applicants, as well as other students seeking a rigorous approach to Bar Exam preparation. The course will begin by reviewing the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) subjects; the majority of the course will then cover heavily-tested Essay Examination subjects. The course will use Virginia as a default jurisdiction in order to benefit the greatest number of students, but will also benefit applicants in other jurisdictions. Practice-testing will use actual MBE and Essay Examination questions, and all substantive materials will be written by the instructor specifically for this course. The UBE Examination will also be covered. Students will be able to quantify their progress during the semester, both individually and relative to their peers. All students will also meet individually with the instructor to discuss their progress and specific steps they can take to maximize their success on the Bar Exam. This class is restricted to only those students who have been identified, based on academic performance, as likely to benefit from additional bar exam preparation studies. The Dean’s Office will be responsible for identifying and contacting such students who will be notified and administratively registered during their third-year as a condition of graduation. Grading will be Pass/Fail based on timely and complete submission of assignments. Students will be expected to complete weekly assignments.
LAW 362 - Education Law
Fall 3 Vivian Hamilton
An examination of principles of school law by use, in part, of the care study approach. Legal foundations of public and non-public schools are studied with consideration given to the Virginia School code. Basic legal principles and guidelines for assisting teachers, administrators and professional support personnel are developed.
LAW 365 - Law & Higher Education
1
Higher education is a complex, idiosyncratic institution. Universities and colleges have a unique mission–teaching, research, and public service–and a uniquely challenging task of accommodating the various constituencies and organizations, both internal (governing boards, faculty, employees, students, alumni) and external (legislatures, courts, governmental agencies), that influence how they are managed. This seminar will explore the dynamic tensions, high expectations, and complex legal-policy issues universities and colleges face in fulfilling their mission.
LAW 366 - Civil Litigation Responses to Acts of Intl Terrorism
Spring 1 Steven Perles
This course will examine important cases in the field of Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and Anti-Terrorism Act litigation and other areas involving claims against or the defense of foreign governments before United States federal courts and administrative agencies. Students will consider litigation involving Holocaust survivors, victims of the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran, victims of Hamas suicide bombings and other incidents of terrorism sponsored by foreign states or aided and abetted by international banks. Discussion will focus on the practical implications and challenges of pursuing civil remedies, the enforcement of outstanding judgments and the intersection of such efforts with U.S. foreign policy concerns. Students will be required to write a 10-15 page paper due after the conclusion of the course. 1 credit (pass/fail).
LAW 367 - Oil and Gas and Energy Economics
Spring 2 Michael Cuda
This course is designed to assist students to develop a practical understanding of oil and gas issues. To achieve this understanding on the legal side, the course will focus on private property and contract law concepts specific to oil and gas development, terminology that is unique to the industry and the oil and gas lease, the document that generally governs the relationship between the mineral interest owner and the mineral developer. On the practical front, students will be introduced to the business side of the industry including oil and gas development, transportation and refining as well as domestic and global market considerations. Approximately half of the class sessions will be taught in person by the instructor, while approximately half will be taught remotely.
LAW 370 - Food and Drug Law
Fall (2-3) Stacy Kern-Scheerer
This course will examine the ways in which Congress, the Food and Drug Administration, and the courts have gone about regulating the food and drug industries. We will highlight current issues which may include the FDA’s jurisdiction and enforcement authority concerning dietary supplements; the regulation of food additives; food labeling; the implications of globalism in the pharmaceutical industry; “orphan drugs;” and the relationship between federal regulation and state law. The course will be graded on the basis of in-class participation and a final examination.
LAW 371 - Complex Transactions in Regulated Industries
Spring 1 David Sella-Villa
Complicated business transactions occur in numerous regulated industries. For our course, we will focus on aviation and will explore transactions in the aviation industry. After providing a general overview of the international and domestic regulatory structures in commercial and private aviation, the course will then use an aircraft purchase to introduce students to specific applications of aviation regulations and the laws of contract, insurance, finance, security interests, tax, and civil procedure in the aviation industry. The focus will be a practical application of legal principles in the context of complex transactions within a regulatory framework. This course will be graded pass/fail. Students will be given a fact pattern and will draft an aircraft purchase agreement.
LAW 372 - Bioethics
3
Law, medicine, science, and ethics are often inextricably intertwined. This course considers the relationship between the law and bioethics, with an emphasis on how the law can impact medical practice and how ethical principles can impact legal structures and judicial decision-making, health care, and policy. Course topics include abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, assisted reproductive technology, organ sales and transplantation ethics, research genetic modification, and human enhancement. The course will be graded based on a paper.
LAW 373 - Law &__; Exploring Relationship Between Law & Other Disciplines
1
Law does not stand alone. It influences and is influenced by other disciplines. This course explores the inter-relationship between law and: economics, psychology, sociology, political science, and other disciplines. Led by distinguished scholars from across the university, students in this course will examine materials from other fields and meet to discuss law’s relationship with them. Students will discuss core principles from each discipline, how the field influences legal doctrine and analysis, and how scholarship might impact the law in the future. The course will be graded pass/fail. Students will be evaluated based on class participation as well as three reaction papers that will be due ten days after the pertinent class session.
LAW 374 - National Security Law Litigation
2
This course will focus on the prosecution of national security offenses (e.g., terrorism, espionage and piracy) and the unique issues that arise during the litigation of such cases. In addition to examining the substantive statutes for the offenses, the course will address jurisdictional and venue provisions and the acquisition of evidence both domestically and overseas for these prosecutions. In doing so, the application of Miranda, the Confrontation Clause and other constitutional rights in the national security context will be examined. Particular emphasis will be given to the handling of classified information and its use pursuant to the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA). Finally, the course will explore the ability of the Article III courts to handle national security prosecutions in contrast to military tribunals. Grades will be based on a final examination, graded by anonymous number (although class participation will also be considered).
LAW 378 - Non-Profit Campaign Finance Law
1
A practical course designed to assist students in analyzing the issues that tax exempt organizations face when engaging in political and lobbying activities. Students will read, analyze, and apply rules and regulations from the Department of Treasury/IRS, the Federal Election Commission, and applicable case law. Upon completion, students will have a framework to identify and analyze the many issues that tax exempt organizations face when engaging in politics and policy advocacy activities.
LAW 379 - Financial Sanctions
2
The primary goal of this course is to introduce second- and third-year law students to the basic legal framework of U.S. and international financial sanctions. A secondary goal is to identify emerging issues in financial sanctions law and regulation, in order to prepare law students for the future development of this area of practice.
LAW 380 - Comparative Law
Spring 3 Christie Warren
This course introduces and compares sources of law, underlying values and goals, and applications of the major legal traditions of the world, including civil law, common law, Islamic law, Talmudic law, customary law, and Asian legal systems as they originally developed and as they are evolving and changing in the world today. Course satisfies the Major Paper Requirement.
This course satisfies the writing requirement.
LAW 382 - Human Rights Law
Spring 3 Nancy Combs
This course will cover fundamental international human rights law. It will address the sources of international law, United Nations human rights instruments, domestic jurisdiction, organizations for enforcement for human rights law, non-governmental organizations that promote human rights enforcement, and current issues in human rights law.
LAW 384 - Sentencing Law
1
This course will explore the law that governs sentencing criminal defendants, with particular emphasis on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Students will analyze federal statutes, caselaw, and the complex federal sentencing guidelines that guide judges in determining the appropriate sentence for persons convicted of federal crimes - including length of incarceration, non- incarceration alternatives, and compensation due to crime victims. The course will also briefly the sentencing law and guidelines that govern state cases in Virginia. In addition to scheduled class sessions, there will be one mandatory class session at the federal courthouse in Newport News for students to observe an actual federal sentencing. The date for the class session at the federal courthouse will be announced after the drop/add period. This course will be graded on a pass/fail basis.
LAW 385 - International Criminal Law
Fall (1-3) Nancy Combs
Nancy Combs
LAW 387 - The Legal Environment of Human Resource Management for In-House Counsel and the HR Executive
2
This course will provide students with a practical “hands on” introduction to the legal and regulatory issues faced each day by the in-house practitioner or human resource executive. This course will focus on enabling students to recognize and manage the breadth of legal issues that arise in both the public and private sector. Each class will focus on the actual application of the law as it affects employees and employers. The course will help the successful student appreciate and understand the legal environment of human resource management and better prepare students for their roles in business.
LAW 388 - Broker-Dealer and Exchange Regulation
2
This course concerns financial-instrument markets and their regulation. Its main focus is on the secondary market for public-company stock (namely, the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and the wide variety of off- exchange trading platforms in existence today). These markets perform important social functions: providing liquidity for investors and incorporating information into prices, which in turn serve as vital guides to real economic activity. The effectiveness with which these markets perform these functions and their costs of operation are determined in significant part by the rules governing exchanges, broker-dealers, and market makers. The course will begin with a consideration of major domestic capital market institutions. It will then address the economic theory that explains how these markets operate and the incentives that motivate their various players. This part of the course focuses on market-microstructure and finance theory. These beginning segments lay the groundwork for a more informed discussion of the substantive law that governs the markets, which takes place during the second half of the course. In that second half, regulatory areas to be considered include the rules relating to (1) transparency: who knows (and when) the prices at which securities are being offered and sold (the “bid” and “ask” quotes) and the prices at which actual trades occurred (transaction data), (2) brokers duties with respect to execution of customer orders, (3) dealer rules for transacting directly with retail customers, (4) trading system alternatives to the NYSE and NASDAQ, (5) trader behavior including manipulation and short selling.The course, with its focus on persons who operate or trade in these capital markets as well as the market structure itself, should be distinguished from Securities Regulation, which is devoted primarily to the regulation of the behavior of the firms that issue securities and their agents. The course should be of use for students who plan on pursuing legal work relating to various financial-services industries. More generally, it will provide value to students who intend to work in the corporate, securities, and financial industries (or in the regulation of the same through the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, the Financial Industry Regulation Authority (Finra), various state AG offices, among others).
LAW 390 - Health Care Fraud
2
Cross-listed with This course examines fraud and abuse in the delivery of health care through discussions of the criminal, civil, and administrative laws and regulations that combat various forms of health care fraud. Students will explore, among others, federal and state Anti-Kickback Laws, the federal physician self-referral law (Stark), the federal civil monetary penalty and exclusion laws, and the federal and state false claims acts. Students will learn the processes by which such abuse is discovered and investigated, the challenges that such investigations face, and the ways in which both prosecutors and defense counsel can most effectively overcome those challenges and benefit their respective clients. This course will also explore the complexities and challenges that arise in developing and maintaining an effective compliance program for health care providers.
LAW 391 - EU Privacy and Data Protection
2
This course introduces students to the legal regime governing information privacy and data protection in the European Union. It examines how the EU legal framework recognizes privacy rights or interests and balances them against competing interests, and the ways that laws, regulations, actions by stakeholders, and societal norms protect individual privacy against government, corporations and private actors. The course combines a practical approach to the daily problems that a privacy lawyer will face with the theory necessary to understand how the law is developing. We will learn about the policy questions arising from data-driven technologies, the theory behind them, and the questions to ask when assessing information practices. The course may also address briefly privacy issues and laws in additional jurisdictions, such as the United States and China, for purposes of further comparison. Students will gain a broad understanding of the breadth, diversity and growing importance of the privacy field.
LAW 393 - Campaign Finance
Spring (1-3) Neil Reiff
The purpose of this course is to provide an overview and in depth understanding of the finance system at the federal and state levels. This will be accomplished through the analysis of the Federal Election Campaign Act or 1971 as amended (FECA) including extensive analysis of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). The course will provide a guide to the practice of campaign finance law from a practitioner’s perspective. The course will be a thorough review of federal law as it applies to the entities that it affects, including candidates, party committees, PACs, 527’s, corporations, non-profit organizations and individuals. The course will emphasize a practical preparation for the practice of law in this area through the review of case law, regulatory trends, as well as a review of the institutions that regulate campaign finance law. Students will be encouraged to follow current developments in campaign finance law during the course and should expect broad discussion about the practical, policy and political aspects of the practice of campaign finance law.
LAW 394 - Post-Conflict Justice
Post-Conflict Justice and the Rule of Law This course will cover two aspects of post-conflict justice: retributive and restorative justice with respect to human depredations that occur during violent conflicts and mechanisms for restoring and enhancing justice systems that have failed or become weakened as a result of such conflicts. Areas of study will include policy issues relating to accountability, mechanisms for assessing accountability, post-conflict peacekeeping and justice, and (re-)establishing the rule of law in post-conflict environments. A paper, which will satisfy the writing requirement, will be required.
This course satisfies the writing requirement.
LAW 397 - Virginia Criminal Procedure
Fall 3 William Shaw
A review of the Virginia statutes and Rules of Court governing criminal procedure in Virginia’s courts. Covers Va. Code Title 19.2, Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia affecting criminal and traffic litigation and a large number of cases interpreting the statutes and rules. The course also lightly covers appellate procedure for criminal cases. Some of the topics covered are jurisdiction, venue, pre-trial motions and procedures, competency and insanity issues, trial, sentencing and appeals. It is not a constitutional law course but there is discussion of how state statutes and rules mesh with constitutional requirements. Course is structured for students who wish to do criminal litigation, either as defense counsel or prosecutor in Virginia. This course is open to 2L and 3L students. Either having completed or being enrolled in Criminal Procedure I & II is helpful, but not required.
LAW 398 - Election Law
Fall 3 Rebecca Green
This course will examine the laws that govern the political process in the United States. Topics will include the right to vote, political representation, election administration, political parties, ballot initiatives, and campaign finance. The goal of the course is to provide students with a solid foundation in the basic principles of election law in this country.
LAW 400 - The First Amendment - Free Speech & Press
Fall (3-4) Timothy Zick
This 3-credit course will examine in depth the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of speech, press, and association. We will discuss First Amendment theories or justifications; the regulation of various categories of expression including incitement to unlawful action, threats, libel, child pornography, commercial speech, and obscenity; and content-neutral restrictions including limits on symbolic content (e.g., draft card burning, flag desecration, and nude dancing). The course will cover application of the First Amendment to government while acting in special capacities, including employer, educator, landlord, subsidizer/speaker, regulator of the airwaves, regulator of the Bar, controller of the military, prison warden, and regulator of immigration. The course will also cover certain ancillary First Amendment rights, including the right not to speak and the right of expressive association. Finally, we will examine the ‘press’ and newsgathering rights.
LAW 401 - Criminal Procedure I
Spring 3 P. Marcus, J. Bellin
An in-depth study of the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution including criminal procedure. Considered are general due process concepts; the right to counsel; arrest, search and seizure; police interrogation and confessions; identification procedures; and the scope and administration of the exclusionary rules.
LAW 402 - Criminal Procedure II
Fall 3 Tommy Miller
A study of the constitutional and non-constitutional procedural components of the criminal process. Included are discretionary aspects of the decision to charge; the preliminary hearing; pre-trial release; grand jury proceedings; venue; jury selection; trial procedures; sentencing; double jeopardy; appeals, and post-conviction proceedings. Criminal Procedure I is not a prerequisite.
LAW 403 - Criminal Procedure Survey
A survey of all of the major elements of the trial of a criminal case including search and seizure, interrogation, identification procedures, the right to counsel, arrest and prosecution, preliminary hearings, grand juries, jury selection, trial procedure and sentencing. The course will address all of the major issues covered by Criminal Procedure I and II but will do so in less depth. Students who take Criminal Procedure Survey may not take either Criminal Procedure I or Criminal Procedure II for credit.
LAW 404 - Secured Transactions
Fall 3 Michele Spike
A study of Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code governing security interests in personal property and fixtures.
LAW 405 - Law Firm Leadership
Fall 1 Gary LeClair
The course will introduce students to the law firm leader’s role in six major leadership functions: (i) Culture and Strategy, (ii) Governance and Execution, (iii) Compensation and Financial Management, (iv) Talent/Leader Recruitment, Development, Promotion and Accountability/Reward, (v) Practice Management and Business Development, and (vi) Risk Management and Industry Challenges. Course materials will include the writings of prominent law industry commentators (e.g., William Henderson, Gillian Hadfield, David Maister, etc.) and general business thought leaders (e.g., Larry Bossidy, Robert Kelly, Sonja Lyubomirsky, etc.). Students will be given the opportunity to engage in leader self assessments (e.g., GRIT, introvert-ambivert-extrovert, positivity, etc.) and will be exposed to law firm leader skills (e.g., framing, challenge response competency, mistake imperative, etc.) The course will be pass-fail and graded primarily by a paper on a topic chosen from 12 leader dilemmas (2 from each of each of the 6 functions).
LAW 407 - Labor Law
Fall (1-3) Gregory Giordano
A study of employee-union-management relations as regulated by the National Labor Relations Act, as amended. Issues considered include the organizational process, representation elections, collective bargaining and picketing activities.
LAW 408 - Insurance
Spring 2 Robert Friedman
This course will survey the fundamental legal principles governing selected kinds of insurance including: automobile, fire and property (homeowners), liability, life, health, and disability. Among the topics examined will be the formation and operation of the insurance contract, coverage and exclusions, insurable interest, the claims process and subrogation. A practical approach will be featured, placing students in the roles of attorneys for the insurer, insured and third party claimant as issues are discussed.
LAW 409 - International Law
Spring 3 Evan Criddle
This survey course introduces students to the basic subjects, processes, and problems of contemporary international law. The course begins with an exploration of the nature and sources of international law; the traditional role of states in international law formation; and the burgeoning role of international organizations and nongovernmental organizations in transnational legal processes. Attention then shifts to the relationship between international law and U.S. law, including the principles that govern (and impede) the application of international law in the United States. The course devotes sustained attention to several important subfields of international law, including principles of international jurisdiction, sovereign rights to natural resources, international human rights, international criminal law, and the laws of war. Along the way, class members are invited to grapple with several enduring critiques of the international legal system.
LAW 410 - Conflict of Laws
Spring (2-3) Michael Green
How the courts of a state address the fact that other states and nations, with their own laws, exist. The primary focus is choice of law–which state’s or nation’s law should apply to a case with multi-jurisdictional elements. Also covered will be the constitutional restrictions on choice of law and state court recognition of sister state judgments. Other possible topics are: the extraterritorial application of federal (including constitutional) law, state and federal court recognition of the judgments of foreign nations, and conflicts between federal and state law, including the Erie doctrine.
LAW 411 - Antitrust
Spring 3 Alan Meese
A study of restraints of trade, mergers and monopolies. The central concern of the course is to analyze what laws are necessary to protect a system in which goods are allocated by competitive markets.
LAW 412 - Legislation and Statutory Interpretation
3
Much of the law school curriculum, especially in the first year, focuses on judge-made common law. But for many lawyers today, reading and interpreting statutes is more important. This course will provide you with an overview of the legislative process, which is the source of those statutes. It will consider the distinctive features of statutory law as opposed to other forms of law. Most importantly, the course will introduce you to various approaches to interpreting statutes and teach you the rules and doctrines of statutory interpretation used in federal and state courts - material with great practical value as well as theoretical interest. The course will also give some attention to the role of administrative agencies as implementers and interpreters of statutes. Grades will be based primarily on a final examination. Students who are taking or have previously taken Statutory Interpretation are not eligible to enroll.
LAW 413 - Remedies
Spring 3 David Lannetti
This course involves a study of the law of judicial remedies, both legal and equitable, and focuses on the nature and scope of available relief. The course emphasizes the various remedies available, including compensatory and punitive damages, injunctions, declaratory judgments, restitution, and enforcement proceedings. It provides a brief study of the development of chancery courts and the continuing distinction between equitable and legal remedies. Special attention is given to the appropriateness of various remedies to given situations. Substantive examples will come primarily from contract and tort law, but property interests, statutory violations, and constitutional harms also will be discussed.
LAW 414 - Cybercrime
3
This course provides an overview of legal, technical, and law enforcement issues involving cybercrime. Contemporary events have led to a growing awareness of the interrelationship between information security and data privacy. Prominent cyberattacks, data breaches, and hacking incidences have led to high profile cases and rapid developments in the law. The internet, ecommerce, social media, and other developments in the digital age has expanded the vulnerability of online identities to theft and misappropriation. At the same time, the digital economy vastly increases law enforcement access to digital evidence. Examining cybercrime and digital law enforcement tools allows for an interrogation of the strength of constitutional protections afforded to users, the law that governs cybercrime detection, and developments in prosecutorial techniques that are dependent upon cybersurveillance. Cybercrime is especially challenging as an area of law and policy where criminal activities can be hidden and where geographic boundaries for an investigation are not readily understood. Consequently, this course will cover cybercrime, cybersurveillance, and digital forensic evidence, as well as tensions in constitutional law that may be strained under these technologies.
LAW 415 - Federal Courts
Spring (1-3)
An examination of the federal judicial system encompassing such topics as allocation of federal judicial power; original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court; the Eleventh Amendment; suits in federal court against state officials; restrictions on federal adjudication of state-created rights; federal question jurisdiction and federal common law.
LAW 416 - Family Law
Spring 3 James Dwyer
This course covers requisites for marriage, pre-nuptials, paternity, property management during marriage, spousal abuse, parental child rearing rights, grounds for divorce, property distribution upon divorce, consequences of cohabitation prior to marriage, alimony, child support, and child custody and visitation.
LAW 419 - Virginia Civil Procedure
Spring (3-4) J Zepkin Prerequisite(s): Third year status
Covers procedural law for both law and equitable claims, including applicable statutes, rules of court and cases interpreting the statutes and rules. Appellate procedure for both the Court of Appeals of Virginia and the Supreme Court of Virginia are covered. Prerequisite: Third year status
LAW 420 - Commercial Real Estate Transactions
1 Ronald Rosenberg
This one credit course will review all aspects of a typical commercial real estate transaction, with particular focus on the various aspects of a commercial real estate purchase and sale contract. The course will also review documents often utilized in the financing of a commercial real estate project and the due diligence involved in the examination of a commercial real estate project, including title, survey, land use and other matters. Students will draft certain portions of a commercial real estate purchase and sale contract and will be involved in a negotiation session in class based upon a hypothetical scenario presented to the students. Students should obtain a basic understanding of how to conduct a commercial real estate transaction. The course is taught by an attorney with forty years of commercial real estate experience and will be taught from the prospective of a practitioner. The course will teach basic legal concepts as they are reflected in actual documents and practical situations that arise in the practice of commercial real estate. In hypothetical situations, students may be asked to assume they have already graduated from law school, passed the bar exam, are now practicing law, and must provide specific advice to their client. The class grade will be based upon class participation, understanding of basic real estate concepts, document drafting and negotiation skills.
LAW 421 - Voting Rights Litigation and Practice
1
This course will be taught as a practicum on the fundamentals of election law litigation, with a focus on issues in voting rights. By the end of this course, students will understand key issues in voting rights, and how to bring forth an action in court on behalf of a voter client. The areas covered will include a study of a variety of issues that may impact individuals’ voting rights, including voter identification, early/absentee voting, and ballot counting; required course readings will maintain a focus on cases brought forth by voter plaintiffs and will include complaints filed in selected cases. The course will include a review of Virginia and federal laws with respect to jurisdiction, venue, standing, and timing as applied to causes of action under the election laws. The course will apply the Virginia Election Laws set forth in the Constitution of Virginia and Title 24.2 of the Code of Virginia of 1950, as amended, as well as the United States Constitution and the federal Civil and Voting Rights Acts. The course will require students to prepare complaints as though they were preparing to litigate a voting rights case in court while representing voters under the laws of Virginia. Students will have two (2) written assignments as a part of this course. First, students will have an individual assignment to draft a complaint based upon a prompt provided in the first class; this complaint will be due the Wednesday before the second class. In the third session, students will have the opportunity to conference with professors about their individually- drafted complaints. For their second written assignment, students will be provided a hypothetical fact pattern during the third class and will be required to draft complaints in small groups on behalf of voter clients. This is a one credit course, graded on a pass/fail basis. Students will be assessed on their (1) class attendance and participation; (2) individual preparation of a complaint due the Wednesday before the second class session; and (3) small group preparation of a complaint drafted during the third class session. The complaints should demonstrate the student’s ability to apply voting rights precedent while using state law to advocate for a client. NOTE; Sept 19 class meets in Washington D.C.; location to be determined and communicated to students by instructor.
LAW 422 - Accounting and Finance for Lawyers
Spring (2-3) Eric Chason
This course provides an introduction to accounting and finance for students who have had little or no coursework in either area. Accounting topics include the balance sheet, the income statement, the statement of cash flows, and financial-statement analysis. Finance topics include risk, return, time, value of money, valuation, financial instruments, and capital markets. All topics will emphasize implications for the legal profession. The following students are ineligible to take the course without permission of the instructor. - Students who have completed three or more undergraduate-level courses in accounting and finance (counted on a combined basis). For example, a student with two accounting courses and one finance course is ineligible. - Students who have completed any graduate-level course in either accounting or finance (including Law 437 Corporate Finance). - Students who are enrolled in the joint JD / MBA program.
LAW 423 - Securities Regulation
Spring (2-3) Darian Ibrahim Prerequisite(s): LAW 303 OR LAW 320
This course studies the disclosure philosophy of the federal securities laws and the nature and regulation of the securities markets. The relevant statutes are the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, primarily, as well as changes brought by recent legislation including the JOBS Act. Among the topics covered are the initial public offering (IPO) process and exemptions from registration under the 1933 Act; we also study the mandatory disclosure regime for public companies under the 1934 Act. Civil liabilities under both the 1933 and 1934 Acts are also explored. The course also studies the economics of the disclosure and liability rules and the workings of an efficient market. Prerequisite: Law 303 Corporations I or Law 320 Business Associations.
LAW 424 - Environmental Law
Fall (2-3) Gregory Wall
A study of the nature and causes of environmental pollution and of the main legal techniques for its control. The course will consider the common law, the environmental impact assessment process (e.g., the National Environmental Policy Act), and the basic regulatory framework for air, water and solid and hazardous waste control (the Federal Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act), with attention given under each statute to the basic regulatory framework and the main policy issues presented by it.
LAW 425 - Land Use Control
Fall (1-3) Lynda Butler
An analysis of the legal principles governing the use and management of land and the fundamental values underlying those principles. While focusing primarily on government regulation of land use, the course also will examine common law rules which affect the way that land is used. Topics that might be considered include judicial control of land use, zoning and the rights of landowners, zoning and the rights of neighbors, land use planning, public regulation of land development, aesthetic regulation, and the preservation of natural and historic resources.
LAW 426 - Energy Law
Spring (2-3) Cliona Robb
Energy law is at the forefront of developments in natural resources law, public utility law, and environmental law. Policy debates are shaping these developments at the local, state, federal, and international level, giving energy lawyers a real opportunity to influence the world we live in. This course covers the laws and policies that govern the exploitation of energy resources and the production and distribution of electricity. Course coverage begins with traditional principles of utility law and regulation (including rate regulation) and progresses to focus on laws and policies relating to natural gas and electricity. The main focus will be on energy law issues that arise in the context of one major energy- producing activity-the production and use of electric power-with some limited attention to parallel themes in other areas such as natural gas and transportation. We will explore general legal issues in these areas: the role and regulation of markets, the tension between economic and environmental regulation, the degree of national versus decentralized regulation, and the roles law might play in impacting not only supply but also consumer behavior.
LAW 427 - Vice and the Law
This course examines the historical and current public policy approaches to, and the regulation of, alcohol, tobacco/nicotine, marijuana/THC, and other substances considered to be vices. Policy objectives and challenges will be explored from the perspectives of public health and scientific communities, government, consumers, regulated and illicit industry and markets, and law enforcement, including the impact on human behavior, society at large, and various populations. The course will also focus on federal and state regulatory approaches and legal and constitutional considerations involved in the regulation of these vices, including in emerging areas such as cannabis and vapor products.
LAW 428 - Artificial Intelligence-and More; Legal Issues Likely to Arise from AI and Related Emerging Technologies
3
New products, tools, and processes incorporating artificial intelligence, the Internet-of-Things, blockchains, and other emerging technologies are an increasingly common part of modern life. Some, such as driverless cars and smart homes, may change fundamental aspects of daily life. Others, such as complex algorithms have already altered the nature of financial markets. This three-credit seminar provides an introduction to these issues so that students will be better prepared for our complex future. The course will address the implications of A.I. and other emerging technological solutions on subjects such as liability, contracts, intellectual property, criminal procedure, and the administration of justice. A paper is required in lieu of a final examination.
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