Course Information
Approved Course Offerings through Sturm College of Law
Please note that not all all courses are offered every semester. Please here for Fall 2012 Course Schedule
American Legal System: Research, Writing and Analysis | L4064 International Students Only
This course addresses the principles governing the American legal system and provides a brief comparison of the U.S. system to a sampling of other legal systems. In addition, the course addresses the organization of the court system, the anatomy of a lawsuit, and some of the ethical rules governing lawyers. Legal reasoning, standard legal analysis method, and reasoning by analogy will be covered. A broad overview of American civil procedure and constitutional law are included. Also, because this is a critical election year, legal issues impacted by the upcoming election will be explored. Finally, more practical skills such as legal research, legal writing and exam-taking skills will be addressed.
Business Entities (Formerly Corporate Taxation) | L4185
The course provides an overview of the differences in in the operation of a trade or a business as an LLC/LLP, an S-Corporation and a C-Corporation. The class offers an overview of the state law requirements for the operation of each type of business (Model Business act and LLC/LLP state statutes) and the difference in the tax treatment for each type of business. The objective is to give students a basic understanding of some of the do’s and don’ts for each business and how they might advise a client as to the preferred business form in typical factual situations. The class explores both the legal and tax effects during the life cycle of any business, including formation, operation, distribution, redemption, sale of an interest, liquidation, mergers and divisions, and the death of the owner.
Commercial Law Survey | L4131 International Students Only
This course provides an introduction to the concepts and methods of commercial law. As a survey course, it explores the major Articles of the Uniform Commercial Code, namely, Article 2 (Sales), Article 9 (Secured Transactions), Article 3 (Payment Systems), as well as Article 5 (Letters of Credit) and Article 7 (Documents of Title). In addition, the intersection of Article 9 and Bankruptcy Law will be discussed in some depth. The completion of this course will give students a firm footing for any advanced course in commercial law. Students taking only one course in commercial law will, in this course, receive broad exposure to the basics of commercial law.
Comparative Corporate Law Seminar | L4129
Comparative Corporate Law will examine the system for forming and managing businesses in the United States and overseas. We will examine the impact of culture and other factors on legal regimes and examine whether a uniform international system is developing. The final grade will be based upon participation and a paper.
Comparative Law | L4135
Comparative Law is the study of the foundation of legal traditions and systems which exist in the world today. The major topics covered in this course are legal history and culture; legal structures; legal actors; and procedure and sources of law. The interactive course begins with an overview followed with coverage of each of the topics in relation to the United States’s legal system. We then cover the same topics in relationship to the common law tradition and the civil law tradition. Students conduct an overview of unique features of the Islamic legal tradition. The course is especially useful to students who want to learn more about the U.S. legal system by comparing and contrasting it with other traditions and are interested in an international practice.
Conflict of Laws | L4160
Conflict of Laws is an analysis of legal problems arising in cases when at least one of the operative facts cuts across state or national boundaries. Topics covered include problems of interstate jurisdiction over parties and subject matter; the application of principles of full faith and credit and comity on the recognition and enforcement of interstate and multinational judgments; the comparison of various theories of law choice in the context of the Constitutional threshold constraints of the due process and full faith and credit clauses.
Corporate Drafting Seminar
Corporate drafting focuses on writing responsive, lucid, unambiguous corporate documents. Students assume the role of the in-house counsel and other members of the corporate negotiating team as the team structures, negotiates, drafts, and implements corporate transactions. This course requires extensive writing.
Doing Business in Latin America | L4383
Taught in Spanish, this course acquaints the student with the legal framework of business transactions in Latin America. The course will expose the student to the civil law system used in most Latin American countries, and will cover selected topics of importance to lawyers advising clients doing business, or seeking to do business, in Latin America. Topics may include the development of Latin American law, types of corporate and partnership organization, trade law, foreign investment, intellectual property, taxation of foreign income, environmental and labor standards, and dispute resolution.
European Union Law | L4232
The European Union (EU) has been described as the 21st century’s newest superpower. Bearing in mind the rapidly growing importance of the EU, this course introduces EU law, and emphasizes its historical underpinnings, institutional framework, legal procedures, and internal market. Moreover, emerging policies (e.g. enlargement, environment) are considered. The course examines these topics in the context of European political integration and where appropriate, the ongoing tension in the trans-Atlantic relationship between the EU and United States.
International Bankruptcy L4701 – Description currently unavailable
International Business Transactions: Federal Regulation | L4318
Federal regulation examines the ability of the federal government to control international trade. The focus of the course is US export controls, embargoes, anti-terrorism regulations that apply to international commerce, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Students prepare a compliance program integrating these regulations into a workable framework for a company.
International Business Transactions: Survey Course | L4315
This course provides students with an overview of key legal issues faced by companies that are involved in international business and the role of lawyers in addressing those issues. The focus is on transactional problems and legal solutions. Students will apply their experience and existing knowledge while developing new skills and expanding their knowledge of international transactions including the commercial terms of international sales agreements, and the allocation of shipping responsibilities/risk of loss and bills of lading; financing arrangements and letters of credit; intellectual property issues including protecting and licensing IP; franchising and distribution agreements; foreign investment; applicable government regulation of trade including import barriers, antidumping duties, competition/antitrust compliance and fraud/bribery regulation; and international dispute resolution. Throughout the course the relationship between law, culture and ethics will be considered.
International Commercial Arbitration | L4341
This course uses the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition to give students practical skills-based training in the most important aspects of international commercial arbitration and international sales law. The Vis Moot is based on a problem governed by the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (the “CISG”). In April, the oral rounds of the official Vis Moot competition take place in Vienna and Hong Kong.
International Law | L4320
International Law is the foundational course in public law, treaties, systems, and policies that bind nations into a world community of law. The class places special emphasis on the origins of international law; statehood; international responsibility and claims; use of force; and human rights.
International Trade Law | L4379
This course examines the law of international trade in goods and services, focusing principally on the law of the World Trade Organization and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. We will examine the trading system’s rules restraining national restrictions on trade that address, among other things, tariff and non-tariff barriers, discrimination, regionalism, anti-dumping, countervailing duties, and safeguards. The course will also spend time considering the relationship between trade and other regulatory areas or social values, such as environmental protection, health and safety standards, human rights, intellectual property protection, and other facets of globalization. Students will write a research paper in lieu of an exam.
Latin American Law
This course seeks to provide students with a basic understanding of Latin American legal traditions. Intended for students who will come into contact with Latin American law in their work as lawyers, international civil servants, business executives and diplomats. The course examines the civil law tradition and constitutional law issues and current developments, such as Latin American economic integration, reform of the public sector, and the emergence of the Inter-American system for the protection of human rights. Students acquire some degree of familiarity with the following aspects of legal systems in Latin America: historical background; sources of law; judicial system; distinguishing legal institutions; the nature and role of legal actors; and how to work within the system.
Multinational Corporations, Corporate Social Responsibility, & International Law | L4703M
The seminar’s focus will be to study the increasingly important role of Transnational Corporations (TNCs) in this era of globalization, and the implications of this phenomenon for international law. How to regulate the activities of TNCs — 1) by governments multilaterally, regionally, and unilaterally (by home and host states); 2) by public-private partnerships; and 3) voluntarily by each sector, each industry, or each company — will be considered. And the impact of these developments on the traditional state-centered international system of governance will be analyzed. The requirement will be presentations and a research paper.
Taxation of International Transactions | L4600
This course provides a detailed analysis of the treatment of nonresident aliens and foreign corporations; the foreign tax credit; rules for determining the source of income and deductions; operations through foreign branches or subsidiaries; earned income tax exclusion; and the effect of tax treaties.
Urban Planning Law, Growth, and Sustainable Development: An International Perspective | L4668
This course focuses on the utilization of local zoning, modern growth management, and smart growth regulatory programs that attempt to shape and control development of the built environment in metropolitan areas both in the United States and throughout the world. The course will examine how laws and public policies in the United States and elsewhere in the world relate to shaping the form and design of the built environment and provide the governing context for urban development and economic growth. The course provides a law and public policy analysis of the related sustainable development issues of free markets, private property rights, population growth, immigration, education, technology, land use, green development, urban sprawl, food production, infrastructure, transportation, housing, environmental protection, energy, global warming, and social cohesion. The course examines how urban planning, smart growth, and other governmental policies impact urban sprawl, environmental protection, and sustainable development in this country and in other countries of the world. A particular focus of the course will be twenty-first century public policy issues related to the development of China’s cities, peak oil, urban collapse, global warming, climate change, alternative energy systems, social cohesion, and urban terrorism.
International Environmental and Natural Resource Law Concentration
European Union Environmental Law & Policy | L4037
In the last 25 years, the European Union (EU) has become a leading player in the context of European environmental legislation and policy making. Of particular interest has been the relationship between economic development, which serves as the underpinning of the EU’s single market, and environmental protection, the importance of which is clearly set out in the European Community Treaty. Matters dealing with climate change, genetically modified organisms, and recycling are now dealt with on a regular basis at EU level. These matters have impacts, both internally in the EU’s 25 member states, as well as internationally where companies, including U.S. firms, must abide by EU standards in order to market products in the world’s largest single market. This course considers the history of EU environmental policy, the current legal basis of EU environmental activities, seminal court decisions involving environmental protection, and the growing role of the EU in setting world standards in environmental protection. It consists of a series of reading, video interviews, and writing assignments as well as on-going internet discussions.
International & Comparative Mining Law | L4342
The course deals with basic concepts of mineral law, as practiced in various jurisdictions. This includes exploration, mining and environmental protection and reclamation issues. It then focuses on the current evolution and legal and policy status of mining legislation, mineral investment agreements, and major actors. Students completing this course develop a basic understanding of the general approaches, legal frameworks, policies and agreements used to regulate the mining industry in key jurisdictions outside the United States.
International & Comparative Petroleum Law | L4343
The course deals with basic concepts of international law relating to petroleum investment, current elements of petroleum legislation, and petroleum investment agreements (production-sharing, concession, joint venture, service, management contracts). Also, students explore such aspects of petroleum law as dispute settlement and legal status. The instructor will discuss the major actors (international petroleum companies, state petroleum enterprises, Ministries of Energy) and their legal and policy status. Students completing the course leave with a basic understanding of the general approaches, policies, and agreements used to regulate the petroleum industry in key selected jurisdictions outside the United States.
International Environmental Law | L4317
This is an introduction to International Environmental Law — the expanding field of multi-nation treaties, laws, judicial decisions, policies, practices, and politics governing the global environment. IEL backgrounds you on the 21st century’s hottest international law topics — sustainable development, climate change, transboundary air and water pollution, natural resources development, international trade, toxic waste and recycling, and protection of wildlife, ecosystems, human life, and human rights.
International Water Law | L4672
This course presents a global overview of water law, systems, and practice in the modern world. It includes coverage of hydrology, history, national legal systems, and modern international treaties and cases. It has a special emphasis on sustainable development, equitable utilization, pollution control, and ecosystem protection utilized for multi-nation water basins.
Renewable Energy and Project Finance Law | L4501
This course explores the legal, economic, technological, and policy underpinnings of the Renewable Energy Industry, global warming, and associated implications to the electric utility and transportation sectors. The course addresses both domestic and international perspectives on renewable energy development including the Kyoto Protocol. A detailed introduction to the law of energy project finance is presented, which provides the student with the theory and tools needed to structure and develop domestic and international energy production projects. (Project Finance Law is now a substantial practice area at major international law firms.)