Course Descriptions - University of South Carolina (2024)

Table of Contents
LAWS 706A - Administrative Law Externship LAWS 707 - Children’s Law Externship| LAWS 708 - Securities Litigation LAWS 709 - Administrative Law| LAWS 710 - Complex Civil Litigation LAWS 711A - Antitrust Law and Trade Regulation LAWS 713 - Trademark Law LAWS 716 - Nonprofit Organizations Clinic LAWS 717 - Nonprofit Organizations| LAWS 720 - Criminal Law Externship (Summer) LAWS 720A - Criminal Law Externship LAWS 721 - Bioethics Seminar| LAWS 722 - Patent Law| LAWS 723 - Copyright Law| LAWS 724 - Intellectual Property LAWS 726 - Constitutional Issues in Public Education LAWS 727 - Special Education Law LAWS 729A - Legislation LAWS 730 - Legislative Externship| LAWS 731 - Environmental Law & Policy LAWS 732 - Sales LAWS 733 - International Human Rights Skills LAWS 734 - Climate Change Seminar LAWS 735 - Advanced Environmental Law Seminar LAWS 736 - Sustainable Business LAWS 737 - Civil Rights Seminar LAWS 740 - Voting Rights Seminar LAWS 742 - Sustainable Development Clinic LAWS 745 - Drafting Business Agreements LAWS 747 - Water Law and Policy LAWS 748A - In-House Counsel Externship LAWS 751 - Special Education Law Clinic LAWS 754 - Advanced Trial Advocacy| LAWS 756 - Criminal Regulation of Vice LAWS 757 - Criminal Practice Clinic| LAWS 759 - Family Law| LAWS 760 - Transportation Law LAWS 762 - Police Law & Policy LAWS 763 - Conflict of Laws LAWS 765 - International Litigation LAWS 766 - Education Law and Policy LAWS 768B - Law, Society and Justice LAWS 769 - Legislative Process LAWS 770 - Poverty Law & Policy LAWS 771 - Interviewing, Counseling and Negotiation| LAWS 772 - Juvenile Justice Clinic LAWS 774 - Mergers and Acquisitions| LAWS 775 - Law and Literature| LAWS 777 - Sports Law LAWS 778 - Entertainment Law| LAWS 780 - Comparative Law LAWS 784 - Transnational Law LAWS 790 - English Legal History LAWS 791 - Judicial Externship (Summer) LAWS 791A - Judicial Externship LAWS 797 - Juvenile Justice LAWS 803 - Women and the Law| LAWS 807 - Business Torts LAWS 808 - Writing in Law Practice LAWS 809 - Civil Litigation Capstone LAWS 811 - ADR in Employment Law Workshop| LAWS 812 - International Human Rights Seminar| LAWS 814 - Structuring Secured Transactions LAWS 815 - Rule of Law Seminar LAWS 820 - Religious Legal Systems: Jewish Law| LAWS 823 - Religion and the Constitution LAWS 826 - Energy Law LAWS 828 - S.C. Administrative Law LAWS 831 - Children and the Courts| LAWS 834 - Caretaking, the Family and the Law LAWS 836 - Consumer Bankruptcy Drafting Workshop LAWS 838 - Federal Indian Law LAWS 839 - Transnational Dispute Resolution LAWS 841 - Law and Social Justice Seminar| LAWS 845 - Race and Class in American Public Education Seminar LAWS 847 - Ethical Issues in Criminal Practice LAWS 849 - The Great Recession of 2008: Statutory Background and Legislative Response LAWS 850 - Government Regulation of Business LAWS 853 - Real Estate Transactions Capstone LAWS 858 - Counterterrorism LAWS 859 - Federal Criminial Litigation Capstone References

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2016-2017 School of Law Bulletin (Archived Copy)

Aug 31, 2024

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2016-2017 School of Law Bulletin (Archived Copy) [Archived Catalog]

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  • LAWS 706A - Administrative Law Externship

    Credits: 2

    Students will work approximately 8-15 hours per week with either a state or federal agency. They will be exposed to the field of Administrative law by working with federal or state agencies. Typically, the student will work in a general counsel’s office or an office with substantially similar duties and will assist the attorneys in research and drafting documents such as research memoranda and briefs. The student will also have the opportunity to observe court proceedings as well as depositions and interviewing witnesses. In addition to their work at the agency, students will meet periodically with a faculty member to reflect upon their fieldwork experiences.

    Prerequisites: Problems in Professional Responsibility is a prerequisite or co-requisite. Also note that Professional Responsibility satisfies the prerequisite requirement.

    Note: Students must submit a contemporaneously maintained daily journal of their experience, along with either an example of a written product prepared during the externship or a short paper reflecting on a professional aspect of the experience. The fieldwork supervisor will also complete an evaluation of the student’s performance.

    Basis of Grade: The final grade will be determined by the professor, based upon evaluation submitted by the fieldwork supervisor and upon a determination by the faculty member that all other requirements of the externship have been satisfactorily completed.

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 707 - Children’s Law Externship|

    Credits: 2

    This course places the student with a lawyer employed by a child-serving agency; an agency involved with child law issues where a child may be charged with a crime or is a victim of a crime; or with a lawyer in private practice that represents children. The student works approximately 8-15 hours per week with the lawyer. This work includes hands-on experience with the supervising lawyer to engage in the representation or advocacy process for those children based upon the legal setting chosen for the individual extern. The extern will observe the lawyer as the lawyer represents clients and also attend meetings, hearings, trials and other legal proceedings in order to experience the legal process firsthand. The student will provide assistance to the assigned lawyer by drafting memorandums, legal motions, proposed orders and providing legal research relevant to each case. The student will be immersed in each system as it relates to the assigned agency’s duties and responsibilities to improve outcomes for children in the legal system.

    Corequisites: Professional Responsibility or Problems in Professional Responsibility

    Prerequisites: Professional Responsibility or Problems in Professional Responsibility

    Note: Each student will be expected to work 8-15 hours each week of the semester at the approved extern site and to attend a one and a half hour class every other week. Each student will be expected to maintain and submit both at midterm and at the end of the semester a journal of the student’s activities at the extern site. This journal must state the dates and times of the student’s experience and provide a summary of that event as it relates to the listed course objectives above. The student must also submit a weekly timesheet documenting the days and hours worked by the student and have it signed by the assigned supervising lawyer at the extern site.

    Basis of Grade: The grade shall be based on the student’s attendance and class participation in the bi-weekly class, the evaluation of the student by the externship site supervisor/lawyer, and the journal submitted by the student.

    Form of Grade: letter

  • LAWS 708 - Securities Litigation

    Credits: 3

    This course aims to supplement Securities Regulation. Specifically, it seeks to introduce students to the litigation devices that help ensure more robust securities disclosure. (Securities-disclosure law forms the heart of the Securities Regulation class.) The class will focus on public and private litigation under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act. It will also likely touch on other important provisions under which much securities litigation proceeds today (namely, sections 11, 12, and 17 of the Securities Act of 1933). Lastly, the class will explore insider-trading prosecutions under the federal securities laws. Importantly, all three of these areas of securities litigation (those relating to Section 10(b), the ‘33 Act provisions, and insider-trading law) are not currently covered in the Securities Regulation class.

    Basis of Grade: Final exam with both issue-spotting and multiple-choice questions. Class participation will also factor into grades on the margin.

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 709 - Administrative Law|

    Credits: 3

    Government agencies regulate almost every area of our lives. Many lawyers work for government agencies and many other lawyers work for people whose lives are affected by these agencies. Virtually every lawyer needs to know how government agencies operate. That is the subject of this course. The course is recommended for students interested in substantive areas in which agencies play an important role, such as environmental law, health-care law, and securities law (to name a few).

    Basis of Grade: Final examination and class participation

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 710 - Complex Civil Litigation

    Credits: 3

    This course will study legal doctrine and current “best practices” relating to complex litigation. The focus is on multi-party, multi-jurisdictional disputes and on the increasingly administrative role courts play is these actions. Much of the attention will be devoted to class actions (mainly federal with some discussion of South Carolina class actions), including class certification, extraterritoriality, and interlocutory appeals. We will spend considerable time on complex joinder, aggregated claims, MDL practice, and the impact of CAFA. Some time will be devoted to the recent “Federal Courts Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act of 2011.”

    Note: It is strongly recommended that students also take Federal Courts, but it is not a prerequisite.

    Basis of Grade: In class final examination, plus class participation

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 711A - Antitrust Law and Trade Regulation

    Credits: 2

    The course will focus on Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, as well as selected other federal trade regulation statutes, including the Clayton Act (as amended by the Robinson-Patman Act). Topics typically covered may include monopolization and attempted monopolization, conspiracies in restraint of trade, e.g., price-fixing and bid-rigging, tying arrangements, the essential facilities doctrine, price discrimination, and merger review. The course will also cover how a heightened pleading standard has changed the civil antitrust litigation landscape.

    Prerequisites: None

    Basis of Grade: Final examination

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 713 - Trademark Law

    Credits: 2

    A survey of federal and state trademark and unfair competition law with an emphasis on the nature, scope and enforcement of trademark rights.

    Prerequisites: None

    Basis of Grade: Final examination and class participation

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 716 - Nonprofit Organizations Clinic

    Credits: 4

    This Clinic provides legal assistance to nonprofit organizations of all types addressing the various needs of the community. Because many of these organizations lack the financial resources to retain private legal counsel, students provide legal assistance in transactional matters that include incorporation, preparation of by-laws, preparation and filing of 501(c)(3) applications, contract review and negotiation, real estate, intellectual property and land use issues. Students may attend board meetings, provide legal assistance to start up organizations or organizations that are merging, converting or spinning off new ventures. The nature of the clinic allows for experience touching many different legal disciplines and helps provide for the stabilization of these organizations so that they can better serve the community.

    Prerequisites: Have taken Problems in Professional Responsibility or Professional Responsibility.

    Note: This course satisfies the skills course graduation requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Performance on casework, class exercises and participation

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 717 - Nonprofit Organizations|

    Credits: 3

    This course will provide an overview of the nonprofit tax exempt sector. It will include the study of the formation, structure, and characteristics of nonprofit organizations and the major categories of federal tax exemption with an emphasis on charitable organizations such as religious organizations, churches, educational organizations, healthcare organizations and arts organizations.

    Prerequisites: Business Associations

    Basis of Grade: Final examination and class participation

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 720 - Criminal Law Externship (Summer)

    Credits: 4

    Students will spend a significant amount of time (30 hours per week for 8 weeks during the summer) at their placement. Placements will include: the Solicitors Office of various counties, the Public Defenders office, the Attorney General’s office, and federal criminal agencies. Students will assist in the preparation of materials for court and can observe office attorneys in trial. A specific attorney in each office will be responsible for overseeing student experience in the office.

    Prerequisites: Problems in Professional Responsibility or Professional Responsibility

    Note: The fieldwork supervisor will complete an evaluation of the student’s performance. The final grade will be determined by the instructor, based upon the evaluation submitted by the fieldwork supervisor, the quality of the student’s written submissions, participation in the class sessions, and a determination by the instructor that all requirements of the externship have been satisfactorily completed.

    Basis of Grade: Journal; Example of written product or a short reflective paper on professional experience; and a brief presentation to the class

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 720A - Criminal Law Externship

    Credits: 2

    Students will spend a significant amount of time, 8-15 hours per week, at their placement. Placements will include: the Solicitors Office of various counties, the Public Defenders office, the Attorney General’s office, and federal criminal agencies. Students will assist in the preparation of materials for court and can observe office attorneys in trial. A specific attorney in each office will be responsible for overseeing student experience in the office.

    Corequisites: Problems in Professional Responsibility

    Prerequisites: Problems in Professional Responsibility; also note that Professional Responsibility satisfies the prerequisite requirement.

    Note: The fieldwork supervisor will complete an evaluation of the student’s performance. The final grade will be determined by the instructor, based upon the evaluation submitted by the fieldwork supervisor, the quality of the student’s written submissions, participation in the class sessions, and a determination by the instructor that all requirements of the externship have been satisfactorily completed.

    Basis of Grade: Journal; Example written product or a short reflective paper on professional aspect of experience; and a brief presentation to class

    Form of Grade: lettter

  • LAWS 721 - Bioethics Seminar|

    Credits: 2/3

    This course explores the intersection of law and ethics in the field of medicine. The course will cover in-depth, at least three of the following issues: abortion and other issues of reproductive decision making, the right to die, allocation of health care resources, global HIV/AIDS, universal healthcare, organ transplantation and organ procurement, the identity and role of the patient, the research subject and the consumer of health care technology, rationing of healthcare and similar issues. Students may choose to write one paper of not less than 30 pages to satisfy the paper requirement or may write three smaller papers during the course of the semester. There will be no exam.

    Note: This course satisfies the perspectives course requirement. Students who elect to take this course for three (3) credits will write a paper that meets the writing requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Paper of not less than thirty (30) pages for 3 credit hours or three shorter papers

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 722 - Patent Law|

    Credits: 2

    Consideration of the theoretical underpinnings of the United States patent system, the definition of patentable subject matter, the requirements governing novelty, utility and nonobviousness, the granting and enforcement of patents, the relationship of patents to other methods of protecting intellectual property, and the special role in patent law of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Students need not have an engineering or science background.

    Prerequisites: None

    Basis of Grade: Final examination

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 723 - Copyright Law|

    Credits: 3

    This course will provide an in depth analysis of copyright law. Students will study case law and statutory authority pertaining to copyright protection of literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, audiovisual, and architectural work, as well as computer software. In addition, the class will consider public policy issues raised by recent amendments to the Copyright Act of 1976.

    Prerequisites: None.

    Basis of Grade: Final examination and problems

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 724 - Intellectual Property

    Credits: 3

    This survey course will provide a basic grounding in the law of Copyrights, Patents, and Trademarks. Subject covered will include the acquisition, maintenance and duration of intellectual property protections; the right and obligations of intellectual property owners; and causes of action and remedies for infringing activities.

    Prerequisites: None

    Note: Students who have taken Patent Law and Copyright Law may register for Intellectual Property.

    Basis of Grade: Final examination

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 726 - Constitutional Issues in Public Education

    Credits: 3

    Survey of historical and contemporary civil liberties issues arising in the operation of the American public school system. Topics addressed will include religious activities in schools, the regulation of student and teacher speech, student privacy, school safety and student discipline.

    Prerequisites: None

    Basis of Grade: Portfolio of advice memoranda plus class participation

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 727 - Special Education Law

    Credits: 3

    This course will introduce students to federal laws and regulations concerning the provision of educational services to disabled students. We will cover the history and development of special education and civil rights for students with disabilities as well as the fundamental principles of the Individual with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The course will focus on the rights of students and their parents as well as the responsibilities of educators when addressing special education needs.

    Basis of Grade: Class participation, small group projects and final exam

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 729A - Legislation

    Credits: 3

    This course will examine legislative law and the legislative process. Among the issues addressed will be the legislative power, legislative structure and procedures, interpretation and drafting of statutory law, election laws, legislative advocacy, and regulation of lobbyists.

    Note: Satisfies the skills graduation requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Final examination and performance in a maximum of two written or oral class exercises

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 730 - Legislative Externship|

    Credits: 2

    Students will work under the supervision of a lawyer-legislator for 8-15 hours per week to evaluate whether proposed legislation might violate constitutional requirements or create unintended ambiguities or conflicts in the law. Students will be assigned actual bills to evaluate, will research any potential legal issues raised by the legislation, and prepare a written report on each bill assigned, setting forth the results of the research. Work will be assigned on a bi-partisan basis, and students will be asked, in appropriate circumstances, to draft alternative language that would eliminate an identified problem, while still achieving the purpose of the proposed legislation. The student’s work-product will be submitted to the supervising lawyer-legislator. In addition to work supervised by a lawyer-legislator at the State House, students will meet as a class regularly through the semester with their professor for directed reflection upon their field experiences.

    Corequisites: Problems in Professional Responsibility

    Prerequisites: Problems in Professional Responsibility is pre or co-requisite. Also note that Professional Responsibility is a prerequisite.

    Basis of Grade: Written assignments and evaluation by fieldwork supervisor

    Form of Grade: Pass/Fail

  • LAWS 731 - Environmental Law & Policy

    Credits: 3

    This is an introductory course in environmental law. The purpose is to give interested students a background in a number of federal environmental statutes, including NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act) ESA (Endangered Species Act) and CWA (Clean Water Act).

    Prerequisites: None

    Basis of Grade: Exam

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 732 - Sales

    Credits: 3

    This course examines Uniform Commercial Code Article 2 governing sales of goods and Article 2A governing leases of goods. Through statutory and case analysis and problem solving, students will develop skill in planning for and resolving disputes involving transactions in goods, as well as the critical skill necessary to evaluate goals of the law of sales and leases of goods.

    Prerequisites: None

    Basis of Grade: Final examination

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 733 - International Human Rights Skills

    Students will study the basics of international human rights law and develop human rights advocacy skills via written assignments and in-class simulations. The course will include a study of relevant provisions in the UN Charter, the various international human rights treaties, and the global, regional, and national institutions created to protect human rights. The course will also focus on the methods used by the human rights movement, including documentation, awareness-raising, the creation of truth commissions and tribunals, domestic and international litigation.

    Note: Course satisfies the perspective and skills graduation requirements

    Basis of Grade: Written assignments and in-class simulations

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 734 - Climate Change Seminar

    Credits: 2/3

    This seminar will explore legal and regulatory options for addressing global climate change. We will begin with materials examining the scientific evidence and projections of climate change, then move on to attempts at international legal and quasi-legal mechanisms, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol,and the Copenhagen Accord. We will also cover U.S. domestic climate policy options, including regulation under the Clean Air Act and at state level,and contrast these policies with those in place in other developed economies. Throughout, we will discuss the uniquely difficult challenges climate change creates for institutions, society, and the legal system.

    Prerequisites: None, but Envi ronmental Law, International Environmental Law, or Energy Law are recommended.

    Note: This course qualifies as a perspective course. If taken for three credits, it satisfies the writing requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Class Participation, Class Presentation, and Paper (2 credits: series of response papers; 3 credits: research paper, 30-page minimum)

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 735 - Advanced Environmental Law Seminar

    Credits: 2

    This seminar addresses topics in environmental law that go beyond those covered in first- and second-level courses in the environmental law curriculum (Environmental Law, Administrative Law, Water Law, Natural Resources Law, Energy Law, etc.). The specific topics covered will vary from year to year, but will include recent or ongoing environmental litigation, new or proposed legislation, and/or issues of current public debate. Students will read and discuss original documents related to the issues discussed, including judicial opinions, appellate briefs, and Federal Register notices of rulemaking.

    Note: This course satisfies the perspective course graduation requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Class participation and response papers.

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 736 - Sustainable Business

    Credits: 3

    This course is designed to introduce the student to the concept of environmental sustainability, the legal challenges facing businesses in attaining sustainability, and possible means of encouraging or stimulating sustainable commerce. For at least one generation, coping with the regulation of environmental problems has formed a central part of standard business law practice. As a result, most firms have dedicated environmental departments, and some place environmental issues at the forefront of their corporate mission. For most firms, however, environmental compliance holds the same standing within the company as human resources: A necessary evil, a group of naysayers and nitpickers, and certainly not a profit center or source of new ventures. Whatever the truth this might be for other departments, a company’s environmental department can be the source of significant savings (e.g. energy use reduction or hazardous waste abatement) or even of new product lines or inventions. Environmental improvements can have a positive effect on a firm’s financial bottom line in a direct way that improvements in other areas of a company’s operation may not. Thus, it is generally inapt to lump improved environmental performance simply with regulatory compliance, on the one hand, or with corporate social responsibility (CSR), on the other. The CSR label applies to everything from improved working conditions for laborers overseas to a company’s supports for the arts. Improved environmental performance, properly understood, contributes more to the firm than simply improved public relations or corporate good will. The challenges of global climate change (GCC) will tax the ability of businesses to adapt and compete. Many parts of the financial sector, especially banking and insurance, have begun to recognize the threat that GCC will present throughincreased risk of catastrophic weather events and phenomena such as sea level rise. These firms have direct incentives to require borrowers or the insured to protect against the effects of GCC and to support more widespread responses to GCC. Current business structures, especially the traditional corporate form, nevertheless provide poor economic incentives for individual firms to engage in sustainable practices and commerce. Firms often discount their environmental impacts or ignore them altogether. Businesses thus offer an ideal target for environmental improvement. They constitute large share of economic activity, and, in contrast with individual actors, they provide a concentrated target for regulation, and they can usually achieve economies of scale that individuals cannot. An effective response to GCC and other environmental problems cannot occur without business involvement. The present political environment makes the possibility of large scale federal environmental command-and-control statutes like the Clean Water Act or the Clean Air Act unlikely, but they remain a constant option if widespread improvement is needed. If businesses can proactively improve their environmental performance, the case for such regulation will be lessened, which will benefit not only the business trend leaders through lower regulatory cost and improved profits but also society through improvements in the environment. The United States will always require some level of command-and-control regulation, and the course will highlight for students all of the ways thatsuch regulation provides incentive for environmental improvement and innovation. For example, hazardous waste disposal costs dearly primarily because federal law regulates it so heavily; firms that can control their hazardous waste disposal costs through abatement technologies or means of eliminating its generation altogether stand to benefit financially. A full range of environmental rules that provide encouragement and reward for sustainable practices will augment that baseline system of law.

    Prerequisites: None

    Note: This course is suitable for any student who has had basic courses in environmental law and corporations law. These courses are not prerequisites, however, and students without familiarity of those areas will be offered a tutorial session or background reading materials to impart the basic knowledge necessary to understand the materials.

    The course will be graded on the usual scale by students submitting a draft research paper mid-semester and a final paper at the end of the term. If completed successfully, the paper will meet the requirements for the graduation writing requirement. Students will also be expected to present their seminar papers as a work-in-progress toward the end of the semester.

    Basis of Grade: Paper

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 737 - Civil Rights Seminar

    Credits: 2/3

    This course focuses on federal civil rights relating to employment, education, housing, voting, and affirmative action. The course will survey the major issues and legal protections in each of these substantive areas, which includes laws relating to discrimination based on race, gender, disability, language status, and familial status. Students will examine the constitutional and statutory frameworks for addressing these issues, as well scholarly theories by which to critique them.

    Note: This course satisfies the perspectives course requirement. Students who elect to take this course for three (3) credits will write a paper that meets the writing requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Final Paper. Students electing 3 credits will write a paper that meets the graduation writing requirement. Students electing 2 credits will write a shorter paper.

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 740 - Voting Rights Seminar

    Credits: 2

    A survey of the protections afforded the right to vote by the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act. The course includes examination of the major Supreme Court cases involving access to the ballot and malapportionment. Primary emphasis will be on racial discrimination in voting under the 14th and 15th Amendments and Sections 2 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

    Basis of Grade: Paper plus credit for strong class participation

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 742 - Sustainable Development Clinic

    Credits: 4

    Through this clinic, students will provide transactional and advisory legal services to entities whose activities focus on sustainable development, and who would not otherwise be able to hire counsel. These entities (potentially to include non-profit organizations, local governments, public agencies, and others) may work on ecological conservation, agriculture and food access, land use resilience, or other areas. Students will interview clients, conduct needed legal research and writing, advise clients, and provide services in a variety of legal subject areas, likely to include administrative law, environmental law, property law, land use law, and non-profit organizations law. Students may draft and review legal instruments such as conservation easements, examine property title issues, review and advise on organizational documents, and research and advise on legal tools available for resilience initiatives. Through a seminar component and case rounds in addition to hands-on work, students will gain a more sophisticated understanding of the concepts of sustainability and resilience, attorney ethics and professional rules of practice, and other issues faced by land use lawyers, including interdisciplinary matters and policy questions.

    Prerequisites: Professional Responsibility or Problems in Professional Responsibility

    Note: Recommended Courses: Environmental Law, Administrative Law and Land Use Planning.

    This course satisfies the professional skills course graduation requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Professionalism and adherence to clinic procedure/professional practice rules (20%); ability to work with teammates and supervisors (20%); quality of work products and other assistance to clients (20%); responsiveness to feedback (20%); and participation in seminar and case rounds, including completion of any assignments (20%).

  • LAWS 745 - Drafting Business Agreements

    Credits: 3

    This course will introduce students to the skill of translating a business deal into contract concepts including representations, warranties, covenants, rights, and conditions. Additionally, the course will familiarize students with the fundamental building blocks of a contract. Those building blocks include recitals; definitions; action and payment provisions; license grants and other substantive provisions; termination and breach provisions; and general provisions, such as assignment and delegation, severability, and governing law. Students will learn and practice techniques for effectively drafting, reviewing, and commenting on contracts in light of the parties’ objectives and a client’s attitude towards risk.

    Note: Satisfactory completion of this course satisfies the professional skills requirement. Students who have taken Introduction to Drafting Business Agreements and Drafting Business Agreements workshop may not enroll in this course.

    Basis of Grade: Series of Drafting Assignments

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 747 - Water Law and Policy

    Credits: 3

    This course will study how society allocates and protects its most crucial natural resource — water. The emphasis will be on current legal and policy debates, although we will also examine the history of water development and politics in the United States. Among the many issues that we will consider are: alternative means of responding to the growing worldwide demand for water; the appropriate role for the market and private companies in meeting society’s water needs; protection of threatened groundwater resources; environmental limits on water development; wetlands law; and interstate water disputes.

    Basis of Grade: Mid-term and final exam

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 748A - In-House Counsel Externship

    Credits: 2

    Students will spend a significant amount of time (10 hours per week during fall or spring) at their placement. Placements would typically include general counsel offices in universities, hospitals, public utilities, and private corporations. Students will have the opportunity to strengthen their legal writing, research and analytical skills by assisting in various projects like the preparation of materials such as employee handbooks, memoranda of understanding, and compliance documents. The students may also have the opportunity to observe contract negotiations, interviews with employees and possibly discussions with outside counsel. An attorney in each office will be responsible for overseeing student experience in the office. The In-House Counsel Externship will expose students to how those offices function and what impacts in-house counsel to decide whether to manage certain issues or seek outside counsel. Further, students will have the opportunity to observe the attorneys role on the organization and the relationship between the attorney and “client.”

    Corequisites: Problems in Professional Responsibility

    Prerequisites: Problems in Professional Responsibility or Professional Responsibility

    Note: The fieldwork supervisor will complete an evaluation of the student’s performance. The final grade will be determined by the instructor, based upon the evaluation submitted by the fieldwork supervisor, the quality of the student’s written submissions, participation in the class sessions, and a determination by the instructor that all requirements of the externship have been satisfactorily completed.

    Basis of Grade: Journal; Example of written product or a short reflective paper on professional experience; and a brief presentation to the class

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 751 - Special Education Law Clinic

    Credits: 4

    The Special Education Clinic helps special-needs children and their families get access to equal educational opportunity. The clinic handles legal issues ranging from disability eligibility and entitlement to services, to developing adequate Individualized Education Programs and discipline matters. Law students will begin to develop a variety of legal skills including: interviewing clients, fact investigation, legal research and analysis, case strategy, negotiations, as well as participate in mediation and possibly litigation proceedings.

    Prerequisites: Evidence and Professional Responsibility (can be taken as a co-requisite)

    Note: Students must be in their third year and must be eligible for certification under the Student Practice Rule (Rule 401). Students must apply through the clinic lottery process. See specific instructions and forms for Lottery registration in the preregistration materials. This course satisfies the skills course graduation requirement and Children’s Law Concentration requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Performance on casework, class exercises and participation

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 754 - Advanced Trial Advocacy|

    Credits: 2

    This course will build on the skills learned in basic trial advocacy courses. Focus will be on more complex advocacy problems. Areas covered will include direct and cross examination, qualifying and examining expert witnesses, problems in jury selection, trial motions, offers of proof, and other means of preventing or preserving trial error. Other topics will include use of demonstrative evidence, including foundations for sophisticated exhibits, and the taking and use of depositions and other discovery at trial.

    Prerequisites: Trial Advocacy and Evidence

    Note: Course satisfies the professional skills graduation requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Performance on simulations and class participations

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 756 - Criminal Regulation of Vice

    Credits: 2/3

    This seminar is an advanced course in criminal law that takes an in-depth look at the legal regulation, particularly the criminalization, of vice. The purpose of the course is to provide students with an understanding of and the ability to apply criminal law theory through a survey of six categories of vice: gambling,alcohol,illicit drugs, nontraditional sex, prostitution, and pornography. For each category of behavior, students will review historical regulation, discuss contemporary legal regimes, and consider the justifications for continued criminalization and the expected benefits and costs of alternative methods of regulation. Through readings, guest speakers, and moderated in-class discussions, students will engage with both descriptive and normative questions about the regulation of vice. The course will meet once per week for two hours. Students may choose to take the course for 2 or 3 credit hours. Students who enroll in the 2 credit hour course are responsible for an in-class presentation and three one-page response papers during the semester and a ten-page research paper at the end of the semester. Students who enroll in the 3 credit hour course are responsible for an in-class presentation and three one-page response papers during the semester and a thirty-page research paper at the end of the semester. The three credit hour version of the course will satisfy the upper level writing assignment.

    Prerequisites: Criminal Law

    Note: Qualifies as a perspective course; can satisfy the writing requirement if course is taken for three credit hours.

    Basis of Grade: written work, in-class presentation, participation

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 757 - Criminal Practice Clinic|

    Credits: 4

    The clinic will afford participating students an opportunity to gain first-hand, closely supervised training and experience in the representation of real clients and the practice of the arts/skills of litigation planning, client counseling, fact development, negotiation and courtroom advocacy. The vehicle for such training and experience is the planning, preparation and presentation of the legal defense in actual cases involving allegations of criminal conduct. All casework will be done under the supervision of a clinical professor. In addition to the cases there will be assigned readings, lectures, discussions, and demonstrations. Criminal Practice Clinic places emphasis on jury trial practice before the Municipal Court for the City of Columbia.

    Prerequisites: Evidence and Criminal Procedure, Students must have taken or be enrolled in Professional Responsibility or Problems in Professional Responsibility.

    Note: Subject to Client Contact Clinic Lottery. Limited to 3Ls. This course satisfies the skills course graduation requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Performance on casework and participation in class discussions and exercises

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 759 - Family Law|

    Credits: 3

    Analysis of legal requirements and limitations on creation, maintenance and dissolution of family relationships.

    Prerequisites: None

    Basis of Grade: Final examination; the instructor may adjust grades 1/2 letter to reflect class participation.

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 760 - Transportation Law

    Credits: 2

    Transportation plays a huge role in life and in law. This course focuses on a single case study to holistically analyze safety regulation, incident investigation, and product litigation. Students will engage with a range of legal and technical source materials to understand how lawyers (as well as legislators, regulators, executives, journalists, advocates, and engineers) confront a crisis that threatens human lives, challenges technical confidence, and undermines institutional credibility. These course materials will introduce students to transportation law, and the broader lessons that emerge from the classroom discussions will serve any public- or private-sector attorney who must navigate complexity and confusion in order to effectively serve a client.

    Basis of Grade: TBD

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 762 - Police Law & Policy

    Credits: 3

    This course explores the roles that police play in our society, the ways in which police agencies and officers are regulated, and how those regulations translate into police policy and officer behavior. While the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment govern police investigations-searches, seizures, arrests, and interrogations-much of what the police do does not implicate constitutional concerns. Instead, those actions-including the selection and training of new officers, the management of a police agency, the administrative investigation of misconduct, the imposition of disciplinary measures, and many others-are regulated by a complicated skein of doctrines, statutes, and administrative policies. And those regulations, along with public expectations and perceptions, can meaningfully affect officer behavior, changing the way that a police agency relates to the public and the way that individual officers interact with civilians. This course will examine the historic and contemporary intersection of regulation and behavior, investigating how laws, administrative directives, and other factors can both contribute to and resolve problematic aspects of policing.

    Note: Criminal Procedure is recommended.

    Basis of Grade: Written assignment, observation exercise(s), and participation.

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 763 - Conflict of Laws

    Credits: 3

    The law relating to transactions or relationships with elements in more than one state: judicial and legislative jurisdiction; federal law and state law; choice of law; recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments; interstate divorce, support, and custody. A review of selected aspects of civil procedure, torts, contracts, property, and family law.

    Basis of Grade: Final exam, class participation will also be considered

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 765 - International Litigation

    Credits: 3

    This course combines substantive instruction with a significant skills component in the form of drafting and oral advocacy. It will focus on litigation in US courts involving international parties. Topics include Jurisdiction, Choice of Forum, Choice of Law, and International Judicial Assistance (including the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments). Although not required, Transnational Law, Conflict of Laws and Federal Courts will be useful.

    Note: Satisfies Perspective Course requirement and skills course graduation requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Projects and written and oral skills exercises

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 766 - Education Law and Policy

    Credits: 3

    This course will consider constitutional, statutory, and policy issues affecting public education at the elementary and secondary levels. Topics include: the history of public schools, public school governance, public school finance and “adequacy” litigation, equal educational opportunity, school disciplinary issues, First Amendment concerns, Due Process concerns, special education, and school choice.

    Basis of Grade: Final examination and/or a series of writing assignments; class participation

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 768B - Law, Society and Justice

    Credits: 3

    Course will use a series of problems in the fictional state of Petigru to provide a concrete context for considering the nature and purpose of: law, legal systems, and the state in a modern pluralistic society. Topics will range from “simple” neighborhood disputes to broader issues like distributive justice, affirmative action, capital punishment, and liberty.

    Prerequisites: None

    Note: Satisfies the perspective course requirement.

    Students who took Jurisprudence with Professor Hubbard may not enroll in this course.

    Basis of Grade: Take-home exam and class participation

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 769 - Legislative Process

    Credits: 2

    This course will examine the law making process at the state and federal levels from the source of an idea for a legislative proposal through its ultimate publication as a statute. Among the issues addressed will be constitutional parameters limiting legislative power, legislative structure and procedures, legislative advocacy, and regulation of lobbyists. Practical exposure to the legislative process will be gained through guest lecturers.

    Prerequisites: None

    Basis of Grade: Final examination and weekly quizzes

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 770 - Poverty Law & Policy

    Credits: 2/3

    This course will examine the law and policy relating to public assistance and related programs in the United States, with particular attention to the shift in policy represented by the welfare reform initiatives of 1988 and 1996. Issues related to poverty, public benefit programs, work, and child support will be examined through a policy lens, with attention to different socio-political philosophies and theories, social and economic data, and empirical studies, as well as legal rules and parameters in the United States and elsewhere.

    Note: Qualifies as a perspective course. Students may elect to receive 3 hours credit by satisfying the writing requirement. Students may not have also taken Welfare Law.

    Basis of Grade: Final examination or research paper

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 771 - Interviewing, Counseling and Negotiation|

    Credits: 3

    This course provides an introduction to interviewing, negotiation, and counseling in a variety of legal contexts. Emphasis is placed on helping students improve those skills which are essential to accomplish these tasks competently, particularly problem-solving skills.

    Prerequisites: None.

    Note: This course satisfies the skills course graduation requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Simulations; out of class assignments; final examination

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 772 - Juvenile Justice Clinic

    Credits: 4

    The clinic will afford participating students an opportunity to gain first-hand, closely supervised training and experience in the representation of real clients and the practice of the arts/skills of litigation planning, client counseling, fact development, negotiating, and courtroom advocacy. The vehicle for such training and experience is the planning, preparation and presentation of the legal defense of juveniles in cases involving allegations of delinquent (i.e. criminal) conduct, including pre-trial issues, guilt or innocence, and disposition (i.e. sentencing) advocacy. All casework will be done under the supervision of a clinical professor.

    Corequisites: Problems in Professional Responsibility

    Prerequisites: Evidence; Professional Responsibility or Problems in Professional Responsibility.

    Note: Students must be in their third year (December graduates are eligible in the spring semester of their second year) and must be eligible for certification under the Student Practice Rule (Rule 401 of the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules). Students must be available to meet with clients Monday through Friday. Court hearings are most likely scheduled for Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Anyone having questions about the clinic or their eligibility should contact Prof. Gupta-Kagan, Room 131. Students are selected through the Lottery for clinics and professional skills courses. See specific instructions and forms for Lottery registration in the preregistration materials.

    Basis of Grade: Performance on casework and participation in class discussions

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 774 - Mergers and Acquisitions|

    Credits: 3

    This is an advanced course intended for students with a particular interest in business law on the national level. It will address applicable federal and state law (principally that of Delaware) relating to business combinations, both friendly and contested. Included will be coverage of asset acquisitions, mergers, leveraged buyouts, takeover defenses, directors’ duties, and tax and accounting rules peculiar to merger and acquisition activity, among other matters.

    Prerequisites: Business Associatiions

    Basis of Grade: Final examination

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 775 - Law and Literature|

    Credits: 2

    This course explores the intersection of law and literature, with particular emphasis on the conceptual and cultural transmission of moral and legal concepts through literary and legal texts. Exploring works of moral and political theory, literary works, and legal cases, this course will examine themes such as the rule of law, justice, obedience, authority, power, duty, guilt, punishment and redemption. Readings will include works by Arendt, Kafka, Kleist, Melville, Camus, Plato, Faulkner, and others.

    Prerequisites: None

    Note: This course qualifies as a perspective course. It does not satisfy the graduation writing requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Final examination or paper

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 777 - Sports Law

    Credits: 2

    Through the use of problems, the Sports Law examines the issues of amateur and professional sports. Particular attention will be given to negotiation and arbitration as they relate to contract formation and as to dispute settlement techniques.

    Basis of Grade: Exam

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 778 - Entertainment Law|

    Credits: 2

    The course will examine the business and legal principles among several entertainment areas including music, film, television, and literary publishing. Although fundamental copyright issues will be touched on, the course will emphasize the practical aspects of legal representation of individuals, entities, and ideas in the entertainment business.

    Prerequisites: None.

    Basis of Grade: Final examination

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 780 - Comparative Law

    Credits: 3

    This course is an introduction to comparative legal study, and will cover the common law and civil law traditions, as well as Islamic law, Asian legal traditions, informal law, and mixed legal systems. The course also covers various methodological and theoretical approaches to comparative law, and the history and culture influencing the evolution of various legal systems. The course will go into some detail on the procedural and substantive aspects of different areas of law in various legal traditions, including constitutional law, criminal law, contract law, and family law.

    Note: This course satisfies the perspective course requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Final exam or paper

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 784 - Transnational Law

    Credits: 3

    A survey course focusing on the actors, sources, and principles of international or transnational law. The transnational law course introduces students to the basic contours of public international law, private international law, domestic (U.S.) law on international issues, supranational law, and comparative law, with a particular focus on the former three categories. The course will provide foundations for further in-depth study in any of these areas and will also provide ample background in these concepts for students who may only take one international law course during their law school careers.

    Prerequisites: None

    Note: Satisfies the perspective course requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Final examination

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 790 - English Legal History

    Credits: 2

    The history of the development of English legal institutions, such as the courts and the jury system, and the evolution of the common law, up to the time of the American Revolution.

    Note: This course satisfies the perspective course graduation requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Exam

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 791 - Judicial Externship (Summer)

    Credits: 4

    Students will work approximately 210-245 hours (30-35 hours per week) with either a state or federal judge. They will be exposed to the work of the federal or state judiciary by working with the judge and the law clerk. Typically, the student will have the opportunity to observe court proceedings and conferences in chambers with the guidance of the supervising judge. The student may also assist the judge and the law clerk in research and drafting documents such as bench memoranda, jury instructions, and opinions. In addition to their work at the court, students will meet periodically with a faculty member to reflect upon their fieldwork experiences.

    Prerequisites: Professional Responsibility or Problems in Professional Responsibility is a pre-requisite.

    Note: Students must submit a contemporaneously maintained daily journal of their experience, along with either an example of a written product prepared during the externship or a short paper reflecting on a professional aspect of the experience. The fieldwork supervisor will also complete an evaluation of the student’s performance.

    Basis of Grade: k supervisor, the quality of the student’s written submissions, participation in the class sessions, and a determination by the faculty member that all requirements have been satisfactorily complted

    Form of Grade: - Letter

  • LAWS 791A - Judicial Externship

    Credits: 2

    Students will work approximately 8-815hours per week with either a state or federal judge. They will be exposed to the work of the federal or state judiciary by working with the judge and the law clerk. Typically, the student will have the opportunity to observe court proceedings and conferences in chambers with the guidance of the supervising judge. The student may also assist the judge and the law clerk in research and drafting documents such as bench memoranda, jury instructions, and opinions. In addition to their work at the court, students will meet periodically with a faculty member to reflect upon their fieldwork experiences.

    Corequisites: Problems in Professional Responsibility

    Prerequisites: Problems in Professional Responsibility is a prerequisite or co-requisite. Also note that Professional Responsibility satisfies the prerequisite requirement.

    Note: Students must submit a contemporaneously maintained daily journal of their experience, along with either an example of a written product prepared during the externship or a short paper reflecting on a professional aspect of the experience. The fieldwork supervisor will also complete an evaluation of the student’s performance.

    Basis of Grade: Evaluation submitted by the fieldwork supervisor, the quality of the student’s written submissions, participation in the class sessions, and a determination by the faculty member that all requirements of the externship have been satisfactorily completed

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 797 - Juvenile Justice

    Credits: 2/3

    The course will examine a range of juvenile justice policy issues. Topics will include: quality of and access to counsel for youth in delinquency cases, systemic racial and ethnic disparities, over incarceration of youth, the role of schools as feeders to the juvenile justice system, and transfer of youth to the adult criminal justice system. The course will also examine social science related to adolescent development.

    Note: Satisfies the perspective course graduation requirement. If taken for 3 credit hours, course will satisfy the writing requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Paper

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 803 - Women and the Law|

    Credits: 3

    This course will address how the legal system has constructed and applied notions of gender and gender equality. It will introduce students to significant contemporary legal scholarship on the status of women in modern America, and will explore how gender affects legal relationships including some consideration of employment. The materials will include sexual harassment, domestic violence, and domestic relations disputes.

    Prerequisites: None

    Note: Satisfies perspective course requirement. Students who have taken Employment Discrimination may register for this course.

    Basis of Grade: Written exercises

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 807 - Business Torts

    Credits: 2

    A review of various business torts with an emphasis on liability arising from the theft of prosecution and defense of business torts, and will involve a number of practical case studies which will require students to determine how to counsel clients, advocate psitions, develop policies and procedures and refine litigation strategies.

    Basis of Grade: Final Exam

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 808 - Writing in Law Practice

    Credits: 3

    This course will simulate a law firm setting in which enrolled students will work as junior associates in the law firm representing the plaintiff or the law firm representing the defendant. Students will handle a case from the time the client seeks legal advice from the firm until the case is ready for trial. This course will expose students to the drafting skills private practice lawyers need to handle a case in the course of civil litigation. Specifically, students will (1) build on writing and research skills learned in the first year; (2) express legal analysis clearly in both written and oral communications; (3) critically examine information in its original form and discern information relevant to the litigation; (4) make strategic decisions about litigation based on the client’s expressed goals, the facts of the case, and the law; (5) cooperate with other small group members to produce a final, written document and to orally advise the supervising attorney on the status of the pending litigation; and (6) practice the interpersonal skills needed to work cooperatively and collegially with attorney colleagues, opposing counsel, and support staff.

    Note: Students taking this course may elect to satisfy either the graduation writing requirement or the skills course graduation requirement, but not both.

    Basis of Grade: Written assignments

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 809 - Civil Litigation Capstone

    Credits: 5

    Students will be divided into two “law firms” and serve as “associates” in the law firms. The assignments will focus on the pretrial aspect of a civil litigation. Students will have an initial client meeting, write a research memo to the client, draft pleadings, draft and argue motions, prepare discovery requests and answers, take depositions, and hire and prepare witnesses for a deposition. In the course of these exercises students will confront problems dealing with choosing the proper parties, identifying the proper jurisdiction for the litigation, settling discovery disputes, and calculating damages.

    Prerequisites: Professional Responsibility or Problems in Professional Responsibility Evidence

    Note: Limited to 3Ls

    Students are limited to enrolling into one Capstone course.

    This course satisfies the professional skills course graduation requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Written and oral assignments

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 811 - ADR in Employment Law Workshop|

    Credits: 3

    This course explores the use of alternative dispute resolution to resolve employment disputes. The course will examine the use of methods other than litigation to enforce employment contracts and statutory rights related to employment. The course will focus on the intricacies of arbitration and mediation in the employment setting. The course includes several practical exercises involving the use of alternative dispute resolution techniques. Completion of this course with a grade of C or higher will satisfy the graduation writing requirement.

    Prerequisites: None, although prior exposure to courses or practice in the employment law area would be beneficial.

    Note: Course satisfies the graduation writing requirement or the professional skills graduation requirement, but not both.

    Basis of Grade: Written assignments and class participation

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 812 - International Human Rights Seminar|

    Credits: 2

    This seminar will explore themes in international human rights law, such as the rights and duties of states, minority rights, and the use of international bodies to air and resolve grievances. The course will include both a theoretical and practical component and will be primarily discussion based.

    Prerequisites: None.

    Note: This course qualifies as a perspective course. It does not satisfy the graduation writing requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Paper

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 814 - Structuring Secured Transactions

    Credits: 3

    This course covers the same material as LAWS 615: the creation, perfection, priority, and enforcement of security interests under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. This course, however, analyzes Article 9 from a more transactional perspective than LAWS 615. The primary focus of the course is on structuring transactions to resolve potentially controversial issues through prior agreements rather than subsequent litigation. Students, working both individually and in groups, will draft written responses to problems and present those responses in class. In addition, students will be assigned exercises including drafting financing statements and the provisions of security agreements, intercreditor agreements, and third party opinion letters.

    Note: Students who have taken Secured Transactions cannot enroll in this course.

    Basis of Grade: Problems and Drafting Exercises

    Form of Grade: letter

  • LAWS 815 - Rule of Law Seminar

    Credits: 3

    This course will review key components of rule of law programs undertaken by the United States and the international community in post-conflict, transitional, and developing states. The course will consider the theories, goals, and effectiveness of rule of law programming. Class discussion will involve critical analysis of the strategies and methodologies relating to some of the key components of rule of law programming, such as: constitutional development, judicial reform, accountability for atrocities, alleviation of corruption, use of local customary law, and resolution of land and property disputes. Readings will include scholarly analyses and case studies of rule of law programs in various countries.

    Note: This course satisfies the perspectives course requirement and the writing requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Class participation and student’s choice of research paper or series of response papers.

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 820 - Religious Legal Systems: Jewish Law|

    Credits: 2

    The course presents the basic features of the Jewish legal system and a number of points of comparison to American law. The first half of the course will provide an historical and literary conspectus to Jewish Law by examining the eternal question of the appropriate remedies for personal injuries. Specific topics covered include: the Biblical Law of Injury; Biblical Methods of Resolving Disputes (including references to the New Testament); and the Rabbinic Law of Injuries. This will be followed by several class hours devoted to the laws of marriage. The remaining class sessions will examine the process used to reach religious legal decisions from three modern perspectives, including decisions concerning Sex and Family Life. These discussions should help you see how the Jewish legal tradition is being applied in modern times by different groups within the Jewish community. The comparative study of another legal system can be an important part of learning about one’s own system. A religious legal system is especially useful for comparative purposes. Its religious roots feed a set of assumptions about the nature of humanity and of the law considerably different from those of a self-consciously secular system like American law. All class materials are in English and it is assumed that students have no special background or familiarity with the materials. Students of all religious, racial, or ethnic backgrounds are encouraged to enroll in this course. The comparative focus of this course puts all students on a level plane at the beginning, with perhaps a minor advantage for those who have studied some philosophy in their undergraduate training.

    Prerequisites: None

    Note: Satisfies perspective course requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Final examination and class participation

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 823 - Religion and the Constitution

    Credits: 2

    This course will: (1) review seminal Supreme Court precedents addressing the free exercise of religion and the Establishment Clause;(2) introduce students to influential scholarship addressing the Religion Clauses; and (3) analyze important contemporary controversies involving both the interpretation of the Religion Clauses and the challenge of integrating other constitutional guarantees with the protection of religious liberty and freedom of conscience. The course will also have a comparative component in which American constitutional approaches to questions such as the manifestation of religious identity, the role of religion in civic ceremonies, and the relationship between government and religious institutions as well as the relationship between civil and religious law will be juxtaposed with the legal experience of other nations.

    Basis of Grade: Either a final examination or three writing assignments, at the discretion of the professor

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 826 - Energy Law

    Credits: 3

    This course provides an introduction to the law and regulation of energy resources, primarily in the United States, focused on three core areas within the field. The first part of the course will cover extraction of energy resources, primarily coal,oil,and natural gas. The second part will cover regulation of the electricity generation and distribution system, including public utility and rate regulation, transmission, and relevant environmental regulations. The final part of the course will address legal and regulatory issues specific to nuclear and renewable energy, with a particular focus on the Southeast. Throughout, the course will focus on the ability (or inability) of legal and regulatory regimes to keep pace with rapid change in the energy sector.

    Prerequisites: None, but Environmental Law and Administrative Law are recommended.

    Basis of Grade: In-class exam

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 828 - S.C. Administrative Law

    Credits: 2

    This course provides an overview of practice and procedure before administrative agencies in South Carolina. It will introduce administrative law concepts such as notice and due process, rulemaking, the South Carolina Administrative Procedure Act, and associated case law, as well as provide a survey of state agencies, their jurisdiction, and specific agency statutes such as the Revenue Procedures Act. Practical information on practice and procedure before adjudicative administrative bodies such as the Administrative Law Court will be an integral part of the course.

    Prerequisites: None

    Note: Students may take both this course and Administrative Law. This course does not satisfy the Administrative Law requirement of Vermont Law School for students in the dual-degree program.

    Basis of Grade: Final examination

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 831 - Children and the Courts|

    Credits: 2

    This course will address issues related to children in the courts, with particular attention to children who are in criminal or family court as witnesses (including as victims of abuse and neglect) and to children who are in family court as delinquents. Specific issues covered will include an overview of legal systems, the role of counsel in representing children, evidentiary rules, and systemic issues involving children and the courts.

    Note: This course qualifies as a perspective course. It does not satisfy the graduation writing requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Final examination or paper and class participation

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 834 - Caretaking, the Family and the Law

    Credits: 3

    In this seminar, which will satisfy the perspective course requirement and the graduation writing requirement, students will explore how law, policy, and cultural norms shape conceptions of family and caretaking of those who cannot fully care for themselves and, conversely, how shifting cultural notions of family and caretaking affect law and policy. Throughout the course, students will also specifically consider how cultural and legal notions of privacy and gender affect the law and policy of family and caretaking. Students will analyze these ideas in a variety of legal contexts including how they impact the law of child welfare, public benefits and poverty law, public education, work, and disability.

    It is anticipated that the first half of the course will be spent on readings and class discussions analyzing these concepts. During this time student will also begin developing paper topics in close consultation with the professor. In the second half of the course, class time will be spent on presentations of student papers. Students will be required to read each others’ papers and will prepare questions and critiques for the presenters. Following their paper presentations, students will have the opportunity to revise their papers and submit a final draft for grading at the end of the semester.

    Note: This course will be a three credit course and will fulfill the perspective course and graduation writing requirements.

    Basis of Grade: In addition to the required reading, students will complete a short paper proposal and outline, a draft paper, and final paper. Student will also present that paper and read and critique others’ papers.

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 836 - Consumer Bankruptcy Drafting Workshop

    Credits: 3

    This course provides an introduction to consumer bankruptcy law with an emphasis on drafting exercises related to practice in the subject area. Students learn basic consumer law issues, with a brief overview of relevant Bankruptcy Code sections and procedural rules. The writing component introduces students to motion practice through simulated cases. Each student must draft one client opinion letter, one demand letter, two common motions, two complaints, a supporting memorandum of law, and at least one type of discovery request. Students receive instruction in Bankruptcy research and will be expected to perform research necessary to complete the writing assignments. Previous study in bankruptcy law is not required. Students may take both this course and Bankruptcy Law.

    Prerequisites: None

    Note: Students taking this course may elect to satisfy either the graduation writing requirement or the skills course graduation requirement, but not both.

    Basis of Grade: Drafting assignments

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 838 - Federal Indian Law

    Credits: 2/3

    This seminar explores the basic legal principles that govern the relationship between American Indian tribes, the federal government, and the state governments. Topics covered will include jurisdictional issues arising between those governments, the source and scope of Indian sovereignty, and the recognition and enforcement of Indian land and treaty rights.

    Prerequisites: None

    Note: This course satisfies the perspective course requirement and the writing requirement if taken for three credit hours.

    Basis of Grade: Research Paper (three credit hours) or exam/paper (determined by professor) (two credit hours)

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 839 - Transnational Dispute Resolution

    Credits: 4

    This course is offered at Gray’s Inn in London, England. The course consists of five components: (1) Introduction and U.S. - U.K. Comparative approach (2) International Litigation; (3) International Arbitration; (4) Discovery and Investigations; and (5) Private Dispute Resolution through International Organizations.

    Prerequisites: None

    Note: Satisfies the perspective course requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Final examination

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 841 - Law and Social Justice Seminar|

    Credits: 2/3

    This course explores whether and to what extent our legal system, including its law schools, perpetuates or counteracts social injustice. Many of the readings derive from modern critical legal theory, particularly critical race theory and radical feminism, and from liberal and non-liberal responses thereto. These readings primarily address the subordination of particular groups in our society and ways in which taken-for-granted legal categories - such as objective/subjective, public/private, and negative rights/positive rights - serve to entrench hierarchies of power and wealth. Other readings include foundational political theories and classic texts on topics such as civil disobedience and justified revolution.

    Prerequisites: None

    Note: This course satisfies the perspectives course requirement. Students who elect to take this course for three (3) credits will write a paper that meets the writing requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Paper

    Form of Grade: Letter Grade

  • LAWS 845 - Race and Class in American Public Education Seminar

    Credits: 2/3

    particularly as it pertains to race and class. It will examine the right to equal educational opportunity and will consider the various state and federal legal efforts to improve K-12 education and to increase accessibility to institutions of higher education. Topics that will be discussed include, among other things, school desegregation, school finance litigation, school choice, and affirmative action. We will scrutinize a variety of reform efforts, which may include the federal government’s expanding role in education, single-sex education, magnet programs, and charter schools. We will also examine higher education admissions policies such as racial preferences, percentage plans, and reliance on standardized test scores. In addition to examining legal authority and the work of legal scholars, we will examine the writings of historians, social scientists, and education policy experts.

    Note: This course satisfies the perspectives course requirement. Students who elect to take this course for three (3) credits will write a paper that meets the writing requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Paper(s)

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 847 - Ethical Issues in Criminal Practice

    Credits: 2

    This workshop will study the ethical issues faced by prosecutors and defense counsel in criminal practice. Although many of the same Rules of Professional Conduct that govern civil litigation also apply to criminal cases, constitutional rights and duties often require that they be applied differently than in civil cases. In addition, there are particular provisions in the Rules of Professional Conduct that only apply in criminal cases, including the rules governing prosecutors. Our understanding of the special role of the prosecutor and the prosecutor’s duty to seek justice may create prosecutorial duties, as do constitutional rights of persons accused of crime and constitutional duties of, and restraints upon, the government. The workshop will meet once a week for two hours. Students will read assigned laws, rules, cases, and analytical materials and will discuss those readings in class. In addition, the class will study cases that illustrate the problems - and often the injustice - that may flow from violations of the applicable Rules of Professional Conduct and constitutional mandates. Experienced prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges will share their experiences and insights with the class. Written assignments will be based on the kinds of issues lawyers face in criminal practice and the types of work product lawyers have to create in dealing with those issues in their practice.

    Prerequisites: Professional Responsibility or Problems in Professional Responsibility

    Basis of Grade: Class participation and written projects

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 849 - The Great Recession of 2008: Statutory Background and Legislative Response

    Credits: 3

    Like many people who rely on a 401K plan for retirement, I have taken a personal interest in the “Great Recession of 2008.” The students at the law school lived through the Great Recession and are currently facing a diminished job market as a result of its effects. Some economists project that the careers of those now entering the workforce will be permanently impacted by the near-collapse of the banking system in October of 2008. I have read a number of books on the causes of the Great Recession, most by economists or financial journalists. All of the books refer to the statutory background as a cause of the credit collapse, but none of them ever quote or analyze the statutory material at length. None are really satisfactory from the lawyer’s point of view. Lawyers should read the statutes before drawing conclusions about the causes of the Great Recession. This seminar would require all the students to read Charles Gasparino, The Sellout: How Wall Street Greed and Government Mismanagement Destroyed America’s Global Financial System (2009). Other reading assignments would be made from the attached Bibliography. The out-of-class readings would be supplemented by an in-class review of the statutory basis of the banking and home mortgage industries, including the major U.S. Banking laws, the enabling statutes of the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, Gramm-Leach Bliley Act of 1999 (which repealed Glass-Steagall), the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, and the authorizing acts for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fanny Mae), and regulation of the bond, futures, derivative, and Credit Default Swap markets. In-class presentations would also cover the economic events that pre-cipitated the statutory schemes in place as of 2008, e.g., the Panic of 1907, the Great Depression, the Savings and Loan crises of the 1980’s, the dot.com bubble, and the collapse of Long Term Capital Management. The class would also look at the key features of the Dodd-Frank Act to see whether those changes really addressed the Recession’s underlying causes.

    Note: This course satisfies the graduation writing requirement.

    Basis of Grade: 30 page paper and class presentations

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 850 - Government Regulation of Business

    Credits: 3

    This course surveys the legal, economic and policy framework that governs American business. In doing so, it examines the core principles that guide our economy and, against the backdrop of the proposition that non-regulated markets are generally preferred, introduces a number or areas of regulation, including antitrust, securities, environmental, patents, health-care, advertising/information and consumer protection. We will critically examine economic rationales, legal ground rules and regulatory models. One objective will be to gain a good understanding of how government intervention has actually played out in selected markets and why. We will also examine markets that, though once regulated, have since been deregulated.

    Basis of Grade: Final exam and class participation

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 853 - Real Estate Transactions Capstone

    Credits: 5

    This course is designed to be a Capstone course for third year (3L) students interested in an in-depth, practical and advanced course in real estate law and real estate finance. Students will be participate in simulated experiences throughout the semester, and will end the semester negotiating a real estate development deal.

    The course will explore land development, real estate finance, foreclosures and receiverships and the development of real estate projects such as condominium, office and retail facilities.

    The focus will be on real estate commercial transactions in South Carolina, but will have general applicability to real estate transactions in other jurisdictions, as well as general application to residential real estate transactions.

    Prerequisites: Real Estate Transactions I or approval by the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs

    Note: This course satisfies the professional skills course graduation requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Assigned exercises and class participation

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 858 - Counterterrorism

    Credits: 2

    This course will examine the legality of methods adopted by the government to combat what it defines as terrorism, primarily, though not exclusively, in the period after September 11, 2001. The course will be roughly divided between a review of extraordinary methods that followed more closely a “war” model, such as renditions, mass surveillance, the use of drones, torture, and military commissions, and those that follow a criminal prosecution model, which include the use of informants, the material support law, expert evidence, and sentencing/confinement.

    Note: This course satisfies the perspective course requirement.

    Basis of Grade: Weekly reaction papers and class participation.

    Form of Grade: Letter

  • LAWS 859 - Federal Criminial Litigation Capstone

    Credits: 5

    Through this course, the student will gain knowledge and practical skills in the handling of a federal criminal case from beginning to end (intake to sentencing). Students will be divided into United States Attorney (prosecution) and Federal Public Defender (defense) teams with each team consisting of 3-4 students. One prosecution team and one defense team will be assigned to a bank robbery case and the other set of teams will be assigned to a case involving a credit washing scheme with allegations of public corruption. Students will conduct a detention and/or preliminary hearing, will litigate suppression motions, conduct jury selection and conduct a sentencing procedure. The practical exercises will be presided over by a United States Magistrate Judge or a United States District Judge from the District of South Carolina and the guest speakers will include federal agents, federal probation officers and current and former Assistant United States Attorneys .

    Students will be introduced to the federal criminal process and learn how to (1) conduct direct and cross examinations (2) engage in fact finding; (3) interact with federal law enforcement agents and with persons accused of criminal activity; (3) draft arrest and search warrants, motions and indictments; (4) conduct hearings, including but not limited to those discussed above; and (5) engage in plea negotiations. Students will also gain substantial exposure to the United States Sentencing Guidelines.

    The faculty members are all former Assistant United States Attorneys or Assistant Federal Defenders.

    Note: This course satisfies the professional skills course requirement for graduation.

    Basis of Grade: Class participation and multiple simulations and written assignments.

    Form of Grade: Letter


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