Law (LAW)

This course will give an overview of the basics of zoning and planning and cover topics including tools and techniques that create flexibility in zoning and land use planning. Other special topics such as regulatory takings and intermunicipal agreements will also be discussed. A hypothetical project will be used to discuss the legal authority and tools that can be used in the land use process. In addition, students will reference a sample zoning law adopted in a New York community.

This course provides a basic overview of the federal Administrative Procedure Act and explains the role of federalism in carrying out national environmental law and policy. The course will take students from the basics of "what is a regulation" through judicial review of rule-making. The course will cover key provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act, the role of the non-delegation doctrine, administrative rule-making, administrative adjudication and judicial review of agency action and inaction. The course will cover some of the major cases in administrative law, including Chevron v NRDC and Mass. v. EPA. The course will also address the importance of the access to information in rule-making processes by highlighting the role of the Freedom of Information Act. The course will also discuss the role of the National Environmental Policy Act in agency action and decision-making.

This 4-day seminar provides a basic introduction to energy law and regulation in the United States. It focuses on the key sources of energy (both nonrenewable and renewable) driving the U.S. economy, and identifies the various challenges in their production and distribution. It also considers the key regulations and laws governing energy production as well as the jurisdictional and regulatory divisions between federal and state governments. The seminar will also address related legal, policy, and societal concerns including environmental, land use, regulatory, and economics as they relate to each energy source. To the extent time permits, we also will consider related climate change concerns and regulation.

Sustainability is often defined as a balance of the three E's: the environment, the economy, and social equity. This course will cover sustainable development topics such as local water and land resource protection laws, smart growth, preventing urban decay, transit-oriented development, and fair and affordable housing. In addition, collaborative decision-making tools and techniques will be taught due to the complex nature of sustainable development law. A particular focus will be put on the equitable inclusion of all stakeholders. A hypothetical project will be used to cover the basics of the land use system and reflect on the authority and power given to local board members. It will also be used to understand the foundations of the required decision-making process and explain why this process is not very effective in sustainable development situations or public engagement. While normally thought of as rigid and inaccessible, the process can be made more flexible and inclusive to help reduce energy spent on unproductive and divisive controversy. Students will receive a description of the Collingsburg hypothetical development project. Each student will be assigned a role and participate in daily class exercises.

This course provides a basic context for all US environmental laws, by providing an overview of their constitutional and common law origins and regulatory structure. The Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, solid and hazardous waste laws, and Endangered Species Act, will all be discussed.

This 5-day seminar provides a basic introduction to oil and gas law in the United States. It explores legal structure for owning, allocating, and managing rights and interests in oil and gas resources. It also considers the rights and obligations of landowners and operators, provisions in oil and gas leases, and regulations dealing with exploration, production, and conservation of oil and gas deposits. The seminar also will consider environmental issues arising in the context of oil and gas production with a focus on hydraulic fracturing.

There are a number of ways that land use laws can mitigate the acceleration of human-caused climate change and help bring it under control. There are also a number of ways that local and state governments and land managers can design and redevelop communities to help people adapt to climate change – a particularly compelling task in low-lying coastal areas. This course explains how land use law can be used to accomplish these results.

This course provides an exploration of the major programs and regulatory strategies embodied in the Clean Air Act that are used to address conventional air pollution, toxic air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. The course will cover regulation of mobile sources, the NAAQS/SIP program, new source review and prevention of significant deterioration, hazardous air pollutants and multi-state issues. Students will emerge with an appreciation for the complexities and potential of this major environmental statute.

This course covers a number of environmental law statutes in relation to coal mining. It addresses the pros and cons of coal production and use, mining law origins, mining on federal lands, severance of surface and mineral ownership, permitting and regulation of coal mining, environmental and personal injury hazards and claims, and coal mining agreements and contracts.

This course provides a quick overview of natural resources law governing resource use on federal and private lands. There will be intensive reading in the first four days. Students will learn and discuss the laws and administrative agencies of the “big 3 resource commodities” -- mining, timber, and water. The course will also touch on laws and agencies governing grazing, rangeland, and endangered species. Students should emerge from this lecture and discussion course with a basic working knowledge of resource use law and enforcement across the United States. This course will be evaluated by a take-home open-book short answer and essay exam.

This course provides a more in-depth approach to the Clean Water Act and its mechanisms, and will cover the laws governing wetlands. Key provisions of the CWA covered include NPDEs permitting, water quality standards, definitions (e.g., water of the United States), and enforcement and citizen suit provisions. The course will also discuss evolving legal issues with the scope of the CWA under the Commerce Clause, Rapanos, etc., as well as wetlands issues relating to sea level rise, wetlands banking, and takings defenses.

Nuclear Energy and Waste Disposal Law provides an introduction to the basic concepts and mechanisms of the law governing the operation of nuclear power plants and nuclear waste storage and disposal in the United States. The course covers the history and evolution of the statutes, regulations, cases, policies, and procedures that control the “normal” as well as “abnormal” operation of the 104 existing U.S. nuclear reactors, including an examination of how the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the recent Fukushima nuclear disaster have altered the regulatory landscape. The course considers the future of U.S. nuclear power plants in a prospective “Nuclear Renaissance,” as well as the laws governing the ultimate decommissioning of America’s nuclear fleet. The course further probes, from a legal perspective, the question that has been plaguing the United States for decades and remains as-yet unanswered: what are we as a country ultimately going to do with all the radioactive waste? The course considers nuclear energy public policy perspectives as well as the relevance and interrelationship of other environmental statutes to the laws that control the operation of nuclear power plants and nuclear waste disposal, in order to provide overarching insights into the controlling legal framework.

This course will cover major federal statutes governing historical preservation (e.g., national Historic Preservation Act and NEPA’s consultation requirements), the development of historic preservation through case law, preservation planning and zoning, and constitutional issues under the due process clause.

This course will take an in depth look at the Endangered Species Act, including key provision of and major litigation relating to the statute. The class might also examine biodiversity loss and its causes and discuss whether or not the ESA’s “deathbed approach” to conservation has been a success. The course will also provide some grounding in the international law of wildlife protection.

Wind and solar energy are the major sources of renewable electricity (other than hydropower) in use around the world. This course will focus on three legal and policy factors that arise with these technologies, using case studies and legal materials from the U.S. and Europe. First, what steps have governments taken or considered using to promote the development of these energy supplies? Second, what issues arise in locating wind and solar facilities, and what legal strategies have governments used to overcome local resistance and to address environmental concerns? For wind, both onshore and offshore siting will be considered. For solar, deployment of photovoltaic panels and construction of concentrated solar power plants will be discussed. Finally, what legal and regulatory strategies are used or under consideration with respect to the distribution and use of wind and solar electricity?

This course will give an overview of the laws regulating the U.S. food and agriculture system. It will touch upon the various practice areas affecting production agriculture and food entrepreneurs including farm programs, disaster assistance, environmental law, financing, right-to-farm, employment/labor law, livestock sales, humane livestock slaughter, farm animal welfare, biotechnology, food safety, and the National Organic Program. This course will also touch upon some policy discussions and trends including sustainability, food labeling, urban/ suburban agriculture, food justice, and local food movement (including the direct marketing of food products such as farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture).

This course will cover the roles of RCRA and CERCLA in regulating solid and hazardous waste. It will introduce students to the key provisions, regulation, and interpretation of the both statutes and will touch upon environmental justice issues (e.g., with siting facilities), whether or not certain hazardous waste programs have been a success, and EDR techniques for resolving related disputes.

This course will examine the issues related to creating electricity from water. First, the course will focus on traditional hydropower and dams, then on more recent development of offshore wave energy. Development and the public interest, balancing environmental impacts with development and inter-agency disputes will be explored.

Natural weather events, such as the wind blowing, can cause financial and other risks to unwary commercial wind project developers. Extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, floods, and other climate change-induced occurrences, can leave ordinary companies at risk and vulnerable to serious economic losses. In the future, these weather and climate patterns may play a significant role in shaping future policy, from offshore wind farm development to water rights allocation. Awareness of scientific data, applicable laws, and policies, coupled with risk avoidance and risk mitigation techniques – including the use of insurance –can enhance a person’s or business’s ability to make well-informed decisions, implement a prudent risk management strategy, decrease climate change-induced and other weather-related vulnerabilities, and increase resilience to weather-related risks. This course will examine such matters as risk avoidance and/or insurance issues, as well as legal and policy matters, with respect to the following: (1) strategies for addressing wind wakes; (2) the role of insurance in the future of U.S. offshore wind farm development; (3) how far the zone of impact may reach in pollution liability-related claims under a greenhouse gas/climate change causation theory; (4) flooding, storm damage, and other water-related impacts that can harm businesses in both expected and unanticipated ways, and (5) types of insurance policies a company may want to have in place to protect against certain of these occurrences.

The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of the role of law in the management of international environmental problems. Although the entire vast field of International Environmental Law cannot be taught within a week, this course will review the major concepts. The course will begin with a historical review of environmental conferences and treaties. Following this introduction, the nature of international organizations and the functioning of international environmental law making will be analyzed. We will then focus on three subjects (oceans, biodiversity and climate change) which are of great current interest.

This course explores the challenges and opportunities that come with new policies seeking to promote distributed (decentralized) sources of energy and “demand response” (“DR”), strategies by which end-use customers reduce consumption of electricity. We will also look at the “Smart Grid,” the revolutionary transformation of consumers’ relationship with the electric grid in which customers with “smart” electric meters can have increased control over their electricity usage. The course takes an intensive look at legal developments and the effectiveness of various policy instruments in state, regional, national, and international forums where this evolving body of law is being made. We will cover mandates and goals for distributed renewable energy (including renewable portfolio standards and feed-in tariffs); federal, state, and local demand response laws, including their relationship to the Smart Grid; state and federal tax and other incentives for demand response and renewables; ratemaking, wholesale markets and other aspects of the sale of electricity; and financing mechanisms for transactions involving efficiency and renewables.

This 2-1/2 day field course will take students into the field where they will study brownfields development law in situ. Accompanying readings on brownfields redevelopment law will be augmented by meetings with city officials, banking officers, restoration scientists and construction company officers at the sites of brownfields redevelopments.

The main objective of this course is to provide an overall and as deep as possible view of Brazilian Environmental Law. We will analyze most of its regulation, having the 1988 Federal Constitution as a starting point and going through the main statues (laws, decrees, resolutions, etc.). Also we will examine the Brazilian jurisprudence in the field, especially the most important opinions issued by the Supreme Court and the High Court of Justice. By the end of the course, we expect the student to have a general understanding of most of the topics in Brazilian Environmental Law, as well as how the courts in the country address the different issues.

This one-week, 1-credit course will introduce participants to energy regulatory law. Course participants will learn how electricity is regulated with a special focus on the opportunities for lawyers representing clients who wish to develop renewable or other distributed energy projects, drive energy efficiency, or otherwise influence the production or delivery of electricity in a particular state. Understanding the past and current structure of utility regulation is essential to the practice of energy law. This course begins with a review of how the present electricity system and energy regulatory structures came into existence. Next, the course will focus on electricity supply. How is new electricity generation sited and by whom? How is new capacity financed? How do electricity markets work? Third, the course will turn to the delivery of electricity. How does electricity get from generators to consumers and by whom? How are electricity supply and delivery rates determined? How does distributed generation like rooftop solar or small wind or high-efficiency cogeneration fit into this regulatory context? What financing mechanisms are available for these “non-traditional” projects? Where does end-use energy efficiency fit in? Can we fit the future into a regulatory structure designed for the past?

The United Nations is multifaceted with the variety of departments and programs encompassed within it. The purpose of this course is to provide students with a general understanding of how environmental issues have been addressed at the UN. During the first class, students will be assigned or will choose (still to be determined) geographic groups (i.e. G77 , EU, etc.) or countries to represent for the duration of the class. When we begin to discuss different UN environmental conferences as well as multilateral environmental agreements, students will be expected to represent their particular country or geographic group. This course will start out by providing an overview of the UN and then introduce the students to the ideas of international negotiations and global governance. Throughout the class, students will also receive electronic and/or hard copies of the UN Journal and Earth Negotiations Bulletins published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development. This will help expose the students to how advisers working for UN Missions spend their time and will give them practical exposure and experience as to what may take place in the day-to-day life of an individual employed at a UN mission.

This one-week, 1-credit course will allow participants to tour actual renewable energy projects and speak to project developers and other experts on how to get projects done. Course participants will first spend some time in the classroom getting their legal and policy bearings for developing projects. Participants will then “hit the road” as a group to explore real-world project sites while learning more about the law and policy that applies to the projects.

Required course for all first year students. This course is a 4 credit offering in the law of contracts, with emphasis placed on the common law, while the Uniform Commercial Code is studied for a comparative overview. This course focuses on remedies for breach of contract; consideration, the bargain principle, and the limits consideration imposes on the bargain principle; unbargained-for reliance as a basis for enforcement; the bargaining process assent, offer and acceptance, preliminary negotiations, mistake and the parole evidence rule; problems of performance changed circumstances, obligation to perform in good faith, substantial performance, conditions and anticipatory repudiation; third-party beneficiaries, assignment; and the statue of Frauds.

In this course, students study the decision-making process and negotiation of environmental treaties in the United Nations (UN) system. Students in the Diplomacy Practicum provide assistance to UN country Missions by attending meetings on behalf of the Missions and by preparing memoranda and/or research papers on a range of issues such as climate change, human rights, biodiversity, and marine and forest resource management. Students meet at the Law School for a weekly seminar, and spend two days per week working at UN Missions. Since sessions at the UN typically run until 6:00 p.m., students will not be able to take 6:00 p.m. courses on the days they are at the UN. Suggested prerequisites: Students should be well-grounded in environmental issues and law or have taken International Environmental Law or International Law. Application, interview, and permission of the professor are required.

A comprehensive introduction to the principal intellectual property law areas, including copyright, trademark and patent law, unfair competition, the right of publicity, trade secrets, and related federal and state doctrines. We will examine the basic legal principles independently as well as at their intersections, and in the context of the evolving technologies of the new millennium, including the Internet, computer software, digital broadcasting and music distribution, bioengineering, and industrial design. Themes will include the study of intellectual property as "property" and "commodity," the protection of intellectual property across national borders in a globalizing marketplace, and the complicated governmental objective of promoting and protecting human creativity and ingenuity while not unduly restricting its dissemination to the rest of society.

This course will focus on the newly formed International Criminal Court (ICC). We will first introduce students to the field of International Criminal Law, specifically the nature and elements of international crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide which are under the jurisdiction of the ICC. We will also cover the various modes of punishment for these crimes, including prosecution at war crimes tribunals (e.g., Nuremburg and Tokyo, the Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia) and prosecution by individual States of their own citizens or of other nationals under the theory of universal jurisdiction over violations of jus cogens norms. The major portion of the course will focus on the system adopted by the Rome Statute for prosecution of crimes within a permanent international criminal tribunal. This will include involving the students in a simulation exercise of the four-party system to be employed by the ICC. Students will have the opportunity to act in the roles of prosecutor, defense counsel, victim's advocate, and judge.

This seminar will cover elected criminal law topics with a focus on computers as the subject, object or instrument of criminal action. Because this is a seminar, class participation is essential for interesting class sessions, and will count for 25% of your grade In addition, all students will write a final paper. Depending on whether the student wants the paper to satisfy the upper level writing requirement, the paper may be either 10-12 pages or 25 pages in length. There is no final examination. Enrollment Limited to 12 students. ULWR

The course will cover areas of criminal law typically not addressed in the first year criminal law course, with a particular focus on sexually-based offenses such as rape, forcible and statutory crimes, and computer facilitated sex crimes. Current developments in New York law will be explored, as well as unique issues faced by sex crimes prosecutors such as how to work with sexual assault victims, experts, and rape shield laws. Enrollment limited to 15 students.

This course offers a broad survey of many legal issues surrounding cybercrime and cybersecurity. Cybercrime-for-profit is a global threat, and law enforcement is not keeping pace. Nation-states are hacking and compiling data and corporations are collecting and using data, all on a massive scale. Privacy, cybersecurity, and public safety are serious issues for our country, and lawyers will play a role in addressing them, shaping the debate, and searching for solutions. This course provides a broad overview of the issues, explores how to conduct cybercrime criminal investigations and prosecutions, and teaches cybersecurity principles so that lawyers can secure themselves and properly advise their clients. Enrollment limited to 20 students.

This course will focus on the work of the New York State Best Practices Committee comprised of prosecutors who proactively address the issues of the day and strive to improve the criminal justice system-seeking to fulfill their mission to seek justice. The course will feature weekly lectures by members of the New York State Best Practices Committee (Senior and Executive Assistant District Attorneys from throughout New York State) on topics such as prosecutorial ethics, conviction integrity, use of digital and DNA evidence, bail reform, identification procedures, community based prosecutions and crime strategies units. The course will give students insight into the policy decisions behind prosecutors' efforts to promote public safety and guard the rights of the accused. This course will require a paper and a final presentation.

This seminar will introduce students to the federal, selected state, and international laws and policies now available to combat human trafficking and modern-day forms of slavery. The course will begin with a brief examination of abolitionism. It will then review the adoption of U.S. anti-slavery and peonage laws, showing how those laws proved insufficient to curb modern slavery and trafficking, such failure forming the backdrop for the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000. The seminar will then conduct an in-depth analysis of federal laws prohibiting sex and labor trafficking crimes and consider how such laws are used to investigate and prosecute those offenses. A brief investigation of selected state laws as well as the problem of migrant smuggling will also be conducted. The last part of the seminar will examine the international anti-trafficking legal framework established under the U.N. Palermo Protocol and consider whether global efforts to implement the Protocol have had any success.

The course explores the real property transfer process, including duties and obligations of broker, seller and buyer to each other; the formal requirements for an enforceable contract; remedies; income tax aspects of real estate and closings; and title insurance. Fundamental aspects and legal problems of real estate financing are also explored, such as absolute deed as a mortgage; remedies of mortgagees, including receivership, assignments of rents, possession; transfers of mortgagor's interest; transfer of mortgagee's interest; foreclosure by judicial proceedings and by power of sale; equitable and statutory redemption. The course may also explore the law concerning leasehold financing, construction financing, purchase money mortgages, replacement and modification of senior mortgages and impact on junior lienors.

Introduction to US Law is designed to introduce foreign law school graduates and exchange students to the concepts and tools necessary for success in an American law school. This includes a basic overview of the common law system, the US constitutional and political structures as well as to various library and computer-assisted research tools.

In the Social Justice Externship, we will promote social justice and gain perspective on varied means of pursuing social change through the law. The externship includes two components: (1) a supervised legal placement, focusing on work that furthers social justice and reduces inequality in its many forms, and (2) a weekly seminar where you will participate actively in discussion, studying social justice lawyering and social justice movements. Placements will be in a wide range of legal practices, which may include nonprofit advocacy groups working explicitly to seek social change, legal services providers that seek to reduce inequality, and corporate social responsibility offices that seek to foster change. Placements will be a combination of approved opportunities found by students and placements identified by the professor. In your placement, you’ll spend a day and a half (or three half-days) each week in the field, including work at the placement office, meetings with clients or community groups, or court appearances. Students in this program will work toward social change using a variety of strategies and methods, including individual representation, impact litigation, and community campaigns. You may interview clients, meet with community groups, investigate factual claims, research legal claims and strategize, research and write memos and briefs, and, if a student practice order is available, appear in court under close legal supervision. In the seminar, you will actively participate in discussions, presentations, and simulations. You will have individual and group meetings with the professor, maintain work logs, and write thoughtful journals. Placement fieldwork is supervised primarily by mentoring attorneys, with back-up from the professor. Seminar topics include: the role of law in social justice movements, legal strategies used to pursue social justice (including individual representation, impact litigation, and community campaigns), empowerment of clients, restorative justice, and ethics and civil disobedience. Throughout the semester, we will seek to collaborate, foster learning together, and build community. Permission of the professor is required after application and interview. ULSR

In the Social Justice Externship, we will promote social justice and gain perspective on varied means of pursuing social change through the law. The externship includes two components: (1) a supervised legal placement, focusing on work that furthers social justice and reduces inequality in its many forms, and (2) a weekly seminar where you will participate actively in discussion, studying social justice lawyering and social justice movements. Placements will be in a wide range of legal practices, which may include nonprofit advocacy groups working explicitly to seek social change, legal services providers that seek to reduce inequality, and corporate social responsibility offices that seek to foster change. Placements will be a combination of approved opportunities found by students and placements identified by the professor. In your placement, you’ll spend a day and a half (or three half-days) each week in the field, including work at the placement office, meetings with clients or community groups, or court appearances. Students in this program will work toward social change using a variety of strategies and methods, including individual representation, impact litigation, and community campaigns. You may interview clients, meet with community groups, investigate factual claims, research legal claims and strategize, research and write memos and briefs, and, if a student practice order is available, appear in court under close legal supervision. In the seminar, you will actively participate in discussions, presentations, and simulations. You will have individual and group meetings with the professor, maintain work logs, and write thoughtful journals. Placement fieldwork is supervised primarily by mentoring attorneys, with back-up from the professor. Seminar topics include: the role of law in social justice movements, legal strategies used to pursue social justice (including individual representation, impact litigation, and community campaigns), empowerment of clients, restorative justice, and ethics and civil disobedience. Throughout the semester, we will seek to collaborate, foster learning together, and build community. Permission of the professor is required after application and interview.

Introduces and reviews the law of contracts, sales property, commercial paper, business organizations and bankruptcy. Course satisfies the CPA Examination Law requirement.

Required course for all first year students This course is about the process of civil litigation in the federal courts. It covers topics including the stages of a lawsuit, the territorial limitations on the exercise of judicial power, the division of power between federal and state courts, the binding effect of judgments, and the regulation of the size and scope of litigation.

Civil Procedure II: The Doctrinal Underpinnings (3 credits, Spring semester) The second half of civil procedure will examine the problems inherent in a dual court system. There will be an emphasis on the basis and means of jurisdiction over parties and subject matter, the allocation of the judicial power between federal judiciaries with particular attention given to the jurisdiction of the federal courts and the law applied in the federal courts, and the direct and collateral regulation of the size and scope of litigation, with emphasis on third party practice, joinder, and preclusion.

An in-depth consideration of problems of pleading, service of process, opportunity to be heard, discovery, pretrial disposition by summary judgment, right to trial by jury and its limitations, burdens of proof, the trial process and appellate review. Focus on problems of obtaining jurisdiction over parties and property and the process of challenging such assertions of jurisdictions Required course for all 1st year students

The class will explore Judicial Ethics from many perspectives, including but not limited to, the historical basis, cultural comparison, and jurisprudential, to focus on the current Codes in effect for the States and the Federal government, and conceptual and practical problems in their implementation. The materials will be provided in a casebook format with each section prefaced with questions at the end of every chapter and interspersed. Papers for the course can be constituted out of answers to these questions or out of basic conceptual considerations with the expectation that some will be of publishable quality. Enrollment limited to 12 students.

During the past decade e-Discovery, or the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI), has radically transformed litigation practice. The days of merely searching through file cabinets to comply with discovery obligations have come to an end. For today’s litigants, extensive efforts to identify, preserve, collect, review and produce ESI are often required. Failure to take proper steps may result in crippling sanctions and incur tremendous unnecessary costs. Pace Law School’s Electronic Discovery Course is designed to provide students with the wide range of litigation skills needed to navigate today’s discovery-centric litigation environment. This course will address the following: • The legal obligation of litigants to preserve potentially relevant ESI. • Recent e-Discovery case law and applicable rules of civil procedure. • The basics of document retention policies and IT practices. • Approaches to navigating evolving European privacy laws and related cross-border discovery obstacles. • Methods for efficiently searching and reviewing millions of emails and other electronic documents and for managing document review projects. • Approaches to propounding and responding to document requests. • The use and impact of social media in litigation. • Ethical concerns and the growing push for cooperation in discovery. • Structuring a defensible and cost-effective discovery plan. The opportunity to gain practical experience is a substantial element of this course. Students will engage in mock exercises such as Rule 26 meet-and-confer conferences, IT personnel and document custodian interviews, depositions of corporate representatives, and oral arguments on discovery disputes. In addition, the course will feature guest lecturers on topics including e-Discovery vendor tools, computer forensics, and corporate in-house discovery perspectives.

Public interest lawyers have been making headlines lately, filing numerous lawsuits to defend and advance the constitutional and statutory rights of vulnerable communities. Whether involving the Muslim ban, police misconduct, LGBT rights, affirmative action, immigrant detention, or other hot-button issues, these cases face substantive, procedural, and strategic challenges as they make their way through the courts. This class will explore some of those challenges, as well as the promise and pitfalls of using litigation to achieve social justice goals. Among the topics that may be covered are: suits against government agencies; pleading requirements for social justice claims; class actions; barriers to court; suits for damages versus injunctive relief; ethical problems unique to social justice lawyering; and the use of non-litigation strategies. The class will also consider broader questions about the role of lawyers and litigation in social justice movements. Enrollment is limited to 15 students. ULWR

This course bridges the gap between the Law School’s doctrinal courses examining patent law (Patent Law - Law 639, and Survey of Intellectual Property – Law 603) and the ways in which patent attorneys actually use patent law in practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). For students interested in patent prosecution, the course will provide insight into a unique sub-discipline of intellectual property, which combines analysis of the Patent Act, Federal Circuit and Supreme Court decisions, the rules of the USPTO, and customary practice. Drafting of patent claims and structuring of arguments in response to USPTO office actions, two vital skills for specialists in this area, are significant components of the course. As the meaning of patent claims and the interpretation of arguments made during prosecution can be outcome-determinative in patent lawsuits, students interested in patent litigation will find the course valuable as well. ULSR

An increasing number of Pace graduates go to work in corporate law firms and legal departments. Even those who accept jobs in smaller firms are likely to have experiences with organizational clients. Perhaps no area of professional responsibility has undergone the kind of rapid evolution that has permeated corporate practice, which has fueled increased conversations about the role of both inside and outside corporate counsel. Corporate scandals, such as Enron, and increased governmental regulation have contributed to unprecedented changes in this field. The ABA, through its Business Law Section, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and the Association of Corporate Counsel have devoted considerable resources to the ethical issues addressed in this course. Many law firms now employ a General Counsel to advise the firm and its lawyers regarding ethics and professional liability questions. Pace Law School requires all students to take an introductory course in Professional Responsibility. There are only a few advanced courses in this field, and Legal Ethics and Corporate Practice is one. Corporate ethics topics are not fully explored in the introductory Professional Responsibility course. For example, legislation, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and Internal Revenue Service Circular 230 place new demands on corporations and their counsel. Another example involves multijurisdictional practice issues, which confront every corporation that operates across state lines (virtually all corporations). Likewise, the Law School offers a number of courses related to corporations and corporate practice, which may periodically address ethics issues that arise, but ethics is certainly not the primary focus of these substantive courses. A course in Corporate Legal Ethics serves as a bridge between the professional responsibility and corporations curricula in important pedagogical ways that are not presently covered. The course in Legal Ethics in Corporate Practice will be a three-credit elective, taught in a traditional Socratic format, with a take-home exam at the end of the semester. The course will use a TWEN discussion board. Students who register for the course should have completed (or be taking concurrently) both Professional Responsibility and Corporations.

The purpose of this course is to provide an account of the basic principles governing international criminal law. Particular emphasis will be placed on the study of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the leading decisions on substantive criminal law handed down by several international tribunals, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Nuremberg Tribunals and the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Topics that will be discussed include the sources of international criminal law, general principles of imputation, substantive crimes and defenses to penal liability, jurisdiction, and the basic procedural rules governing international criminal trials.

Through readings, problem-solving, role-plays and examination of case files, this course will explore the theoretical and practical aspects of federal securities litigation and enforcement. Topics that will be covered include: litigation under and analysis of federal securities statutes, including the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; securities fraud class actions; common securities law violations including market manipulation, insider trading, and IPO fraud; SEC civil and criminal enforcement of securities laws; the professional responsibilities of attorneys and accountants under securities laws; securities arbitration, and other current topics in securities litigation. Corporations is a prerequisite.

Introduces the student to the legal issues affecting the Internet. Among the topics to be covered that are directly related to the Internet are: jurisdictional questions, torts and contracts, criminal ramifications, intellectual property considerations, privacy and ethical aspects, taxations of Internet sales, employment and security issues.

Required for all first year students. This course explores the substantive aspects of criminal law with a focus on the criminalization decision, goals of punishment, elements of criminal conduct, the crimes of homicide, attempt, conspiracy, sexually-based offenses and defenses to criminal charges, including justification and excuse. Students will study the different approaches to criminal law of the common law and modern statutes, including the Model Penal Code

This course will enhance students’ research skills in the areas of health, disability, and elder law, and related fields. It is highly recommended for any student taking more than 4 credits in Health Law or any Health, Disability, or Elder Law class requiring a paper. The course will cover specialized research materials in print and on Westlaw and Lexis, administrative law resources, practice materials, and basic medical research. While it is an advanced course, basic research and citation skills will also be strengthened. Lecture topics will be reinforced by hands-on assignments and students will benefit from immediate feed-back on those assignments. The final project is a research outline that could serve as the basis for an upper-level writing assignment or a focused research project. Enrollment is limited to 12 students. This course will meet Monday- Thursday from 6:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. During the weeks of May 9th and 16th only.

An exploration of the substantive aspects of criminal law with a focus on the criminalization decision, goals of punishment, elements of criminal conduct and defenses to criminal charges. Also covers legal research and the legislative process and requires numerous writing exercises in criminal law, concluding with an appellate brief and an argument before a moot court.

This course will enhance students’ research skills in Environmental Law. It is highly recommended for any student taking more than 4 credits in Environmental Law or Environmental Law classes requiring a paper. The course will cover specialized research materials in print and on Westlaw and Lexis, Legislative history, administrative law resources, practice materials, and will include foreign and international law sources. While it is an advanced course, basic research and citation skills will also be strengthened. Lecture topics will be reinforced by hands-on assignments and students will benefit from immediate feed-back on those assignments. The final project is a research outline that could serve as the basis for an upper-level writing assignment or a focused research project. Enrollment is limited to 12 students. .

An exploration of the substantive aspects of criminal law with a focus on the criminalization decision, goals of punishment, elements of criminal conduct and defenses to criminal charges. Also covers legal research and the legislative process and requires numerous writing exercises in criminal law, concluding with an appellate brief and an argument before a moot court.

This class teaches research skills in business, corporate and securities law sources for students seeking business-related experience. Students will learn advanced search techniques in Westlaw, Lexis, and BloombergLaw, as well as how to use other business and securities law resources. We will explore business databases available through the Law School and Pace University Libraries and online business publications. It is recommended, but not required, that students have some familiarity with the law of corporations and/or securities law. We will also cover resources that provide factual information on corporations, including corporate organization and governance, financial statements and executive compensation, market information, regulatory filings with state agencies and the Securities and Exchange Commission, and more. We will discuss research on securities self-regulatory organizations, particularly FINRA, and the securities arbitration process. Class members will create and submit a research guide on a business topic that contains both legal and factual sources. Students will also complete daily research assignments. Enrollment limited to 12 students.

Required course for all first year students. This course is designed to teach first year students the fundamental lawyering skills of legal research, writing, citation and analysis. During the first semester, students will learn how to: • Conduct legal research; • Analyze and synthesize cases; • Interpret statutes; • Cite authorities; • Conduct an investigatory interview of a client or witness in a way that will elicit facts important to the resolution of a case; and • Write an objective office memorandum.

This course will enhance students’ research skills in the area of New York State legal research. It is highly recommended for any student looking to practice law in the state of New York. The course will cover specialized research materials both in print and online including Westlaw and Lexis. Lecture topics will include discussions of New York State and City: administrative law resources, practice materials, legislative history resources, legal citation in New York, and access to free and low cost online legal resources. While it is an advanced course, basic research and citation skills will also be strengthened. Lecture topics will be reinforced by daily hands-on research assignments and students will benefit from immediate feed-back on those assignments. The final project is a short research paper of approximately 10-12 pages suitable for publication in a Bar Journal or Newsletter. Enrollment is limited to 12 students.

Required course for all first year students. This course is a continuation of Legal Skills I, but focusing on persuasive writing, and written and oral advocacy through a comprehensive appellate brief exercise. Students will draft an appellate brief and argue towards the end of the course to a simulated bench of judges.

Building on the skills learned in the first-year Legal Skills program, this course focuses on state and federal resources in criminal law and procedure and uses criminal law problems and current issues in assignments and projects. Students will explore a variety of specialized, print research materials as well as electronic, low cost, and free online resources in criminal law and procedure. Lecture topics include discussion of federal and state-related resources (with an emphasis on New York State), legislative and administrative materials (including proposed rules and pending legislation), practice materials (including those related to police practices, pre-trial and trial procedures, evidence and disclosure, sentencing, grand jury practice, and more), investigative resources, and cross-disciplinary criminal materials (including immigration, diplomatic immunity, and comparative and international criminal law). Special attention will be given to the precedential value of primary sources (state v. federal) and the importance of secondary authority. While it is an advanced course, basic research and citation skills will be strengthened and New York State court citation will be introduced. Lecture topics will be reinforced by daily hands-on research assignments and students will benefit from immediate feedback on those assignments. Students will learn how to keep up- to-date on current issues in criminal law and have the opportunity to publish on the Pace Criminal Justice Blog. The final project is annotated researches guide approximately 8-10 pages long. Enrollment is limited to 12 students. This class will run for 6 days starting on Wednesday, May 20, 2015 through Friday, May 29, 2015. The following are meetings times: Wednesday May 20: 9:30am – 12:00pm and 1:00-4:00 pm; Thursday May 21 and Friday May 22: 9:30am – noon and 1:00pm – 3:30pm, Tuesday May 26: 5:30-8:00pm, Thursday May 28: 5:30-8:00pm, and Friday May 29: 5:30-8:00pm. Attendance is mandatory for all sessions.

This course focuses on the skills needed as a first year law student and is a mandatory part of Legal Skills. Students enrolled in Legal Skills must concurrently register for this course. Students must register for the Legal Methods section that corresponds to their Legal Skills section.

Required course - MUST be taken during the 2nd year. An examination of practical issues of professional responsibility and professional discipline faced by lawyers in practice. It also covers the problems facing the legal profession as a whole, including, but not limited to, the lawyer’s role as a negotiator and counselor.

This course will look at how the law has been used to impact settlement patterns, either directly and sometimes forcibly, or indirectly. Some of the migrations this course explores include: Native Americans (e.g. Indian Removal Act), African Americans (e.g. Jim Crow laws), Japanese Americans (e.g., Korematsu v. United States), Chinese Americans (e.g., Chinese Exclusion Act, and undocumented immigrants (e.g., Arizona Immigration Law). In addition to exploring the laws and their impact on settlement patterns, this class will also explore themes of how the laws impacted property ownership and whether reparations are appropriate. (1 credit)

In this course, students will monitor and discuss the Second Circuit's decisions, select those that are particularly noteworthy, and then synopsize those decisions for the American Bar Association's "Media Alerts on the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals" website. The purpose of this new website is to heighten public awareness and understanding of the federal courts by providing reporters, lawyers, educators, and the public with prompt, accurate, unbiased information about newsworthy and legally significant cases pending in and decided by the Federal Courts of Appeals. Students in the course will gain broad familiarity with federal appellate procedure as well as a deeper understanding of the substance and development of the Second Circuit's case law. Permission of the professor required.

This course examines the principal ideas, methods and critiques of selected legal scholars and/or approaches to legal reasoning. This semester, the course will focus on the writings of Judith Butler and the implications of her work for the law. Judith Butler is an important contemporary scholar of gender and sexuality. Her groundbreaking work Gender Trouble (1990) opened the way for the rethinking of the categories of sex, gender, sexuality and desire. Other writings include Undoing Gender (2004) and The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere (2011). Her work has broad application to anti-discrimination law, human rights, marriage, family life, pornography and free speech, among other areas. This intense, 1-credit course will meet in a traditional classroom format six times over a three week period at the beginning of the semester. There will be a seventh distance education session that students can complete at their own pace during the three week period. After the week of January 27, there will be no additional class meetings or course work. Students will read, discuss and critique the works of Judith Butler and others, including scholars who question Butler’s theories of gender, performance and sexuality. Professor Crawford will teach each session of the class. Other members of the Pace faculty may join as guest teachers for one or two sessions. Grades will be determined on the basis of class participation (20%), two short, non-anonymously-graded response papers (10% each) and a single, anonymously-graded, take-home final examination (60%) that will be limited strictly to seven (7) pages. The take-home exam will be due three weeks after the last class meeting. This class may not be used to satisfy the upper-level writing requirement

This one credit course offers students the opportunity to serve as “counsel” to Pace University undergraduates who will be preparing for a mock hearing in front of the New York State Legislature regarding Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOS) and yogurt production in New York State. The mock hearing announcement follows below. Law students will provide advice and legal counsel to one of the teams of undergraduates who will testify or to the legislative committee. Students will meet periodically with their clients and with the professor and will attend the legislative hearing itself. As part of their coursework, students will keep a journal of their “billable hours” and will keep track of the work product they provide to their clients.

This 1 credit course shall explore the Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) movement. The course will explore the historical underpinnings of BLM, and the evolution of the legal treatment of American protest movements in general. We will discuss how BLM has transformed the current social discourse regarding the continued inequities in our Criminal Justice System- including but not limited to police brutality, mass incarceration, and economic inequality. We will also explore how BLM has impacted pending corrective legislative reforms. Student performance will be assessed based on four short reflection papers. This class may not be used to satisfy the upper-level writing requirement.

Equips students with the legal cases and key legislation that are the framework strategic to the direction of the human resource management function. Students will examine the common law and significant statutory regulation of the relationship between employer and employee. Areas to be covered include rights and duties of both employer and employee in the employment relationship, employment standards legislation, human rights codes, workers' compensation, employment equity legislation, health and safety acts and other related legislation.

Comparative Family Law surveys Family Law throughout the world; the major jurisdictions include the United States, Britain, Canada, India, the Moslem world, and European continental law. The course also analyzes Family Law international treaties, including The Hague Convention on Child Abduction and Custody and the UN Convention on Children. Topics encompass marriage, divorce, domestic violence, child support, and reproductive rights. In addition to reading the survey materials, each student selects a topic to research and write a paper. The paper is in lieu of an exam and satisfies the Law School’s upper level writing requirement.

Introduces the American legal system with particular emphasis on the relationship of law to business, including the development of law, the judicial system, contracts, agency, negotiable instruments, partnerships, corporations, and government trade and labor regulation.

Required course for all first year students This course studies civil wrongs analyzed under the three general theories of tort liability: intent, negligence, and strict liability. This course covers an introduction to tort liability; intentional torts; negligence; nuisance; strict liability; defenses; causation; statutory torts; alternatives to negligence (no-fault); and an introduction to defamation and privacy, products liability and commercial torts.

This course in advanced torts examines in depth certain issues introduced in Torts, including privileges, immunities, commercial torts, marketplace falsehood, invasion of privacy, and other selected subjects. A paper is requiredT

The course illustrates the initiatives taken by local governments to achieve sustainable development, showing these initiatives provide important opportunities to manage, mitigate and adapt to climate change. The course provides an introduction to how the U.S. legal system fosters greenhouse gas reduction, energy conservation, and sustainable patterns of growth, including energy-efficient and sustainable buildings, the use of renewable energy resources, the protection of sequestering open space, and the adaptation of buildings and communities to sea level rise and natural disasters. Recommended: Land Use Law

This course investigates the law's recognition of ownership and the protection of possession. Special attention is directed to the bases for such recognition and protection and to the limits on protection that result from competing interests. Also considered are the creation of multiple proprietary interests, concurrent and consecutive, the estate system, basic future interests, landlord-tenant, bailments, easements and other servitudes, and concurrent ownership. The course concludes with an introduction to basic conveyancing and the recording acts. Required course for first year students.

This course has a transactional focus, causing students to incorporate the substantive concepts covered in the first-year property course into transactions, involving a transfer of some property interest. Students may be asked to prepare the relevant documents for a commercial lease. Such an exercise will require knowledge and application of the basic rules for contracting and of leases, but will also cause students to think about the practical issues that need to be anticipated in the lease documents. The course will also include a study of the differences in transfer for intellectual property transactions and as they may be involved in the purchase of a business. The course will offer coverage of common interest communities, including homeowners’ associations, cooperatives and condominiums. These forms of common ownership raise all sorts of public policy issues, particularly those about closed communities. Extensive coverage will be given to easements and covenants in transactions, considering public regulation of such private agreements as a demonstration of the intersection of land use law and transactions. In the end, we conclude with a formal discussion of public land use controls and new thoughts on planning. ULSR

The agency and partnership components of this course expand upon the coverage in the basic business corporations’ course. Agency is the most pervasive form of business relationship, crossing legal disciplines. The focus will be upon the nature of the principal and agent relationship including rights and liabilities; ratification and estoppel; undisclosed principals; the implied and apparent authority of corporate executives; fiduciary duties from principal to agent and agent to principal, especially in a corporate setting. The tort liability of employers for the unauthorized acts of employees is also covered. A revised Uniform Partnership Act has been adopted by many jurisdictions and revitalized the law of partnership and limited partnership In this part of the course the focus in on the nature and relations among general and limited partners, the management of partnerships, particularly in law and business, fiduciary duties of partners, especially when partners leave or are expelled, and the handling of accounting, property rights and dissolution. With the recognition of the limited liability company (LLC) as an alternative form of business organization, the law of unincorporated business organizations has undergone a revolution. Today LLCs have become the entity of choice for many enterprises, and the annual number of newly formed LLCs exceeds the number of newly formed corporations. A transactional lawyer must become familiar with this form of organization and others such as the limited liability limited partnership, and the limited liability partnership, which has become a standard form of organization for law firms. This section of the course will examine the formation, powers and duties of members or limited partners, their legal nature, mode of creation, alternative forms of management, the similarities and differences of unincorporated business entities, how they are created, managed, and operated; and the fiduciary and other relationships among participants in each form. There is a final examination.

This course is an introduction to the substantive law of patents emphasizing fundamental concepts, such as the "unobviousness" standard of patentability, factors which prevent the patenting of inventions, the utilization of patents through technology, licensing, and enforcement of patent rights through actions of infringement. The relationship between patents and trade secrets, as well as the interface between patent law and antitrust law, is also explored.

This seminar examines selected major legal issues in education and focuses upon the interaction between legal decisions and educational practices. Topics include state regulation of public and private education such as limits of governmental socialization and curriculum determination; academic freedom; school control of student conduct, status, and expression; classification of students -- testing, grouping, and grading; racial imbalance; equal educational opportunity in financing schools, bilingual education, and special education; distribution of power within the public educational system; control of teacher conduct including tenure, dismissal, and collective bargaining.

This course will involve a study of various aspects of construction law, including contracting, related claims and litigation, and the roles and responsibilities of developers, contractors, architects, bonding companies and lenders. The course will focus on planning to anticipate and avoid problems in all phases of a project, starting with contracting, then bidding, liabilities, and scheduling. The course will also consider remedies and various dispute resolution alternatives.

This seminar will examine the doctrine of free expression as constructed and fashioned by the Supreme Court. During the first part of the semester we will review the principal cases in their various doctrinal groups (political speech-crimes, defamatory speech, commercial speech, sexually explicit expression, speech-vs.-acts, etc.). After that, our review will continue based upon student presentations of their seminar papers-in-progress. A particular focus will be those areas in which the doctrine of free expression appears to be due for or already undergoing change. This course will satisfy the Upper Level Writing Requirement.

Climate Change is perhaps the most important environmental and public policy issue of our generation. As greenhouse gas emissions increase, temperatures rise, and the impacts of climate change increasingly can be observed, appropriate legal mechanisms are necessary to address the problem. This course will explore domestic legal mechanisms for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Topics covered will include common law tort actions, federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act, proposals for a federal mitigation statute, and mitigation approaches apdopted by sub-national governments. The course seeks to provide students with an understanding of the domestic legal options available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and invites students to develop opinions about their viability, interplay, and desirability. No pre-requisites or co-requisites are required, but Environmental Survey is recommended. This course will meet twice a week at the beginning of the semester but less frequently thereafter to give students time to research, write, and revise their course paper.

Required course for Full time first year students and Part time second year students. This course is a 4 credit offering which deals with the constitutional system of the United States, including the concept of federalism and the decision-making process and the shifting role of the United States Supreme Court in our constitutional framework. Constitutional Law includes the study of the doctrine of judicial review; the respective powers of the federal and state governments; and the separation of powers among the three branches of the federal government.

The subject of this 3 credit course is criminal process under New York state law, including issues of both police investigation and in-court adjudication. In other words, the course will first explore NY State statutes, cases and constitutional provisions that govern search and seizure as well as custodial interrogation by law enforcement. The course will then explore NY State statutes, cases and constitutional provisions that govern procedures of the criminal court, from bail to jail (e.g., arraignments, right to counsel, discovery, trial process, sentencing, and more). Highly recommended that students have already taken either Criminal Procedure/ Investigation or Criminal Procedure/ Adjudication.

Students in the Neighborhood Justice Clinic will represent clients in cases and advocacy projects involving civil legal issues affecting low-income communities in Westchester County. Students represent temporarily jobless low-wage workers whose applications for unemployment benefits have been denied. Students are responsible for all aspects of their clients’ cases, including representation at adversarial hearings. Students also provide legal support to grassroots organizations that are advocating for low-income communities in Westchester County. These projects will involve less-traditional forms of lawyering, such as engaging in policy and legislative advocacy and analysis, creating self-help materials, developing community education trainings and materials, or providing other types of lawyering work in support of organizations serving the community. The seminar portion of the clinic will be a practice-oriented examination of advocacy on behalf of low-income individuals and communities and of social justice lawyering generally. There are no prerequisites, but prior or simultaneous enrollment in Professional Responsibility, Evidence, or Trial Advocacy would be helpful. Permission of the professor, based upon application and interview, is required. The clinic is open to students in their second, third, or fourth year of law school. ULSR

Students in the Neighborhood Justice Clinic will represent clients in cases and advocacy projects involving civil legal issues affecting low-income communities in Westchester County. Students represent temporarily jobless low-wage workers whose applications for unemployment benefits have been denied. Students are responsible for all aspects of their clients’ cases, including representation at adversarial hearings. Students also provide legal support to grassroots organizations that are advocating for low-income communities in Westchester County. These projects will involve less-traditional forms of lawyering, such as engaging in policy and legislative advocacy and analysis, creating self-help materials, developing community education trainings and materials, or providing other types of lawyering work in support of organizations serving the community. The seminar portion of the clinic will be a practice-oriented examination of advocacy on behalf of low-income individuals and communities and of social justice lawyering generally. There are no prerequisites, but prior or simultaneous enrollment in Professional Responsibility, Evidence, or Trial Advocacy would be helpful. Permission of the professor, based upon application and interview, is required. The clinic is open to students in their second, third, or fourth year of law school. ULSR

The subject of this 3 credit course is criminal process under New York state law, including issues of both police investigation and in-court adjudication. In other words, the course will first explore NY State statutes, cases and constitutional provisions that govern search and seizure as well as custodial interrogation by law enforcement. The course will then explore NY State statutes, cases and constitutional provisions that govern procedures of the criminal court, from bail to jail (e.g., arraignments, right to counsel, discovery, trial process, sentencing, and more). Highly recommended that students have already taken either Criminal Procedure/ Investigation or Criminal Procedure/ Adjudication.

This seminar explores historical and contemporary issues concerning the constitutional relationship between religion and the State . Issues of the extent of legally permissible exercise of religious principles and restraint on both state support of and suppression of religious activities will be examined. There will be a strong focus on lower court decisions rather than concentrating solely on Supreme Court cases. Cases arising in the areas of torts, historic preservation, environmental law and the workplace will be studied. An original research paper will be submitted by each student with the topic to be chosen through consultation between the professor and the student. Members of all faiths, agnostics and atheists are equally welcome.

Advanced Constitutional Law Seminar that may be taken to satisfy the ULWR. The subject of the Seminar will be recent developments of the law relating to Equal Protection and Substantive Due Process including voting rights, equal representation, education and privacy.

This seminar examines the issue of how responsive government is to the electorate in protecting and advancing the rights of individuals and of the public as a whole. We will look at the interaction between politics, policy and the law, taking into account current debates about voting rights and election rules. Our study will concentrate on aspects of federal and state law governing recent major elections (e.g. the elections of 2000 and 2020), applicable court decisions and the Voting Rights Acts. We also will examine the continuing challenge of the one person-one vote principle vital to representative government, i.e., the equal protection clause manifested in substantive equal representation. Students will be encouraged to follow closely current developments in the field and to engage actively in the debates surrounding these issues.

This seminar will study the Bill of Rights. The first two weeks will look at the Bill holistically, rather than focusing on individual amendments. We will begin by examining the origin of the Bill and by investigating the original understanding of it as a bulwark of federalism. We will then consider the impact of the Civil War and the Fourteenth Amendment on the Bill and the enormous change effected when much of the Bill was “incorporated” into the Fourteenth Amendment. We will then spend several weeks exploring the First Amendment, with classes devoted to the protection of speech in public forums, restrictions on campaign finance, the Free Exercise Clause, the Establishment Clause, and religion in schools. The next several classes will consider selected other Amendments, the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and the Seventh Amendment. Students will have the option to write either several short “reading response” papers or a longer research paper.

National and international legal developments have elevated interest in understanding and comparing the fundamental charters of different states. A proliferation of new constitutions (in Eastern Europe and Africa), transitions to presidential and parliamentary democracy, regionalization and internationalization of constitutional rights and an accelerating judicial recourse to transnational cases underscore the importance of comparative study. The subjects of this seminar are to analyze and compare a variety of constitutions in their sociopolitical environment, how they ¿work¿ in the actual operations of governments, as well as the framework for addressing universal issues such as individual rights, separation of powers, social programs, etc. Students with a concentration in international law or with an interest in multinational practice should find the seminar helpful in understanding foreign constitutions, foreign governments and constitutionalism.

This seminar is for a maximum of twelve students. The seminar will meet for the first three or four weeks of the semester to discuss the history of the Supreme Court and the various “mainstream” theories of Constitutional interpretation. Students will choose a constitutional law topic (in consultation with the Professor) during the first two weeks. The seminar will not meet from week four or five through week ten. During that time each student will turn in an outline, a first draft, and attend as many editing conferences with the Professor as needed to produce a product deserving of a high grade. Second drafts will be due at the beginning of week eleven. Second drafts will be copied and distributed to all members of the seminar. The remainder of the seminar meetings will be led by students, each leading a one hour seminar discussion of the student’s paper. If there are twelve students in the seminar, we will use two Saturday mornings during weeks eleven through thirteen in order to give each student an opportunity to present and have the draft critiqued by seminar colleagues. Final drafts, reflecting any changes from the end of semester discussion sessions, will be due at the end of the examination period.

This seminar explores the First Amendment’s protection of expressive conduct from its origins through current hot issues. Student rights, the impact of the Internet, hate speech and many more contemporary issues are studied. Upper Level Writing Requirement credit is offered.

This seminar will focus on the ethical issues confronted by a Judge in rendering judicial decisions. An examination of the judicial decision making process will be made from the perspective of a retired Justice of the Appellate Division Second Department, who presently serves on the New York State Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee. The retired justice will share the non-public view of 20 years of judicial decision making. Judicial Ethics Advisory Opinions and the Rules and Regulations governing judicial ethics and related case law will be analyzed as well as articles authored by former and present Supreme Court Justices collected in the book “Judges on Judging, Views From the Bench” and the book “A Judge’s Advice, 50 Years on the Bench” written by a Senior United States Circuit Court Judge.

This seminar reviews the constitutional right to refuse medical treatment, the right to terminate artificial treatment such as a feeding tube, the burden of proof required before withdrawal of treatment, a so-called O'Connor hearing, Aid in Dying legislation, no right to suicide, palliative care, safeguarding the rights of people with developmental disabilities, the 1994 NYS task force report, End of Life Choices advocacy group, advanced care planning and more. The seminar will analyze decisions from the Supreme Court, the NYS Court of Appeals and other state courts.

This course will explore the arc of reproductive rights under the U.S. Constitution. We will review the development of early precedent concerning reproductive autonomy, family, and other intimate decision-making, and consider how that body of case law forged the basis for a right to abortion in Roe v. Wade (1973). We will then trace the major cases that eroded that right, culminating in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022). We will also address post-Dobbs developments, and look ahead to the future legal issues and possibilities for reproductive rights in the U.S., including under state constitutions.

This course surveys the law of evidence, with reference to the Federal Rules of Evidence, including problems of relevancy, the hearsay rule and its exceptions, competency and the examination of witnesses, admission and exclusion of evidence, demonstrative evidence, writings, presumptions, and privileges.

This course surveys the law of evidence, with reference to the Federal Rules of Evidence, including problems of relevancy, the hearsay rule and its exceptions, competency and the examination of witnesses, admission and exclusion of evidence, demonstrative evidence, writings, presumptions, and privileges.

This seminar is designed for the student interested in advanced study in criminal law and procedure and explores selected legal issues and policy problems, to be announced by the professor in advance of registration. Among the major areas considered in past seminars have been: the role of the prosecutor in the criminal justice system; the role of the trial judge in the administration of justice; the interplay of rules of substance, process, and proof in criminal law; and an in-depth examination of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel.

This required course is a study of the Federal Income Tax Code, regulations, and case law including the concepts of income, identification of the proper taxpayer deductions and credits in computing taxable income, allocation of tax items to taxable years, taxation of business entity, tax accounting, income taxation of trusts and estates, gains and losses from the disposition of property (ordinary versus capital gains and losses), and tax procedure. The course is designed to familiarize the student with the Federal Income Tax Code and regulations as well as the use thereof.

This seminar provides an examination of established and emerging theories of both recovery and defense where a person or property have been injured or damaged by a product. Tort and contract theories of recovery are examined and major legal and technical problems of establishing causation and defining adequacy of warnings are studied. Special problems in products liability litigation, including the role of the expert witness, are discussed. State and federal liability reform is studied. The language and effect of the Restatement (Third) Torts: Products Liability are explored.

This is a course in federal regulation of food, drugs, cosmetics, and medical devices, designed to provide an understanding of the statutory provisions and administrative actions that govern the marketing of these consumer products. The course studies both case law and administrative decision-making by examining a variety of actions taken by the Food and Drug Administration in implementing the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

This course covers the law of sales. Emphasis is placed on understanding the special approach taken toward contracts for the sale of goods under Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, and, to a lesser extent, the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The statutory approaches are compared to the treatment of contracts under the common law. One of the major issues with which the course is concerned is how the law can assist or should constrain private actors who are engaged in maximizing expected monetary returns.

This course covers the law of sales. Emphasis is placed on understanding the special approach taken toward contracts for the sale of goods under Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, and, to a lesser extent, the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The statutory approaches are compared to the treatment of contracts under the common law. One of the major issues with which the course is concerned is how the law can assist or should constrain private actors who are engaged in maximizing expected monetary returns.

This course presents an integrated treatment of the law of payment systems. Emphasis is necessarily placed on the Uniform Commercial Code treatment of the following subjects: Negotiable Instruments (UCC Article 3), Bank Deposits and Collections (UCC Article 4), Funds Transfers (UCC Article 4A), Letters of Credit (UCC Article 5), and Warehouse Receipts, Bills of Lading and Other Documents of Title (UCC Article 7).

This course is an examination of the alternative means for obtaining redress through the courts. Equitable and legal remedies are studied and compared, including restitution, specific performance, injunctive relief, equitable liens, constructive trusts, and damages. The course draws upon and pulls together matters considered in diverse courses such as Torts, Contracts, Property Law, Procedure and Creditors' Rights which coalesce in real life and which the student may not have had an opportunity to consider together. The strategy and tactics of choice of remedies are explored, as well as out-of-court negotiations and settlement techniques. This course also requires students to prepare several drafting assignments.

This course examines constitutional and statutory bases of copyright, the subject matter of copyright, how protection may be secured and perfected, problems of copyright notice, registration, etc. Duration and renewal of copyright and derivative works, questions of ownership, and rights and remedies are included

This course examines the development of labor law from the collective bargaining perspective in order to provide a setting for the analysis of contemporary collective bargaining/labor law problems. The first part of the course concentrates on the development of trade unions and employers' associations, together with legal provisions for the resolution of conflict between the parties. The second part of the course involves a detailed analysis of contemporary collective bargaining/labor law problems, culminating in the student presentation of papers in one of three areas: (1) Recent Developments in the Duty of Fair Representation; (2) Contemporary Issues Emanating from the Impact of Picketing Law on the Collective Bargaining Process; or (3) The Changing Status of Management Rights in the Modern Collective Bargaining Setting.

This course examines the federal constitutional, legislative, and judicial protections against discrimination in employment on the basis of race or sex. Contemporary issues of law and practice in the enforcement of affirmative action are also considered.

This basic labor law course includes the history of labor relations and the National Labor Relations Act, as amended; practice, procedure, and substantive law before the National Labor Relations Board and the federal courts; a survey of unfair labor practices; and representation case law including pre-election campaigns.

This course proceeds in three closely related segments. The first segment introduces the idea of human rights with particular focus on United States constitutional law. The second segment of the course is devoted to the international human rights movement and the international law of human rights with focus on the basic international human rights instruments. The third segment considers how international human rights norms and procedures how they are adapted to particular political and cultural contexts. To consider this question, the course will student the three major regional human rights systems, The Inter-American System, the European System, and the African System and will concentrate on the jurisprudence of the tribunals established within each system.

Building on the skills learned during the first-year Legal Skills program, Advanced Legal Research has two primary objectives: to make students more effective legal researchers, and to make students more knowledgeable consumers of legal information after they are in practice. The course begins with a discussion of secondary sources, which are very useful for finding primary legal authority and for understanding the law, and then moves on to an intensive review of the basics—case law, digests, statutory law, and citators. We also cover materials to which students may not have been exposed during their law school careers—administrative law, legislative history, New York legal research, and legal research using the Internet. If time permits, we will also cover international law research. Both hardcopy and electronic sources will be covered. There will be advanced training in Lexis Advance, WestlawNext, and Bloomberg Law. The final project is an online research guide that will go through several drafts during the course of the semester. Students will be expected to do short in-class presentations on their guides, and to provide brief written comments on their classmates’ guides. They will also be expected to compose a short blog post on a useful Internet resource they discovered while working on their research guide.Each of these assignments is weighted and factors into the final grade in the course. Students will also be expected to complete several CALI assignments during the course of the semester. Enrollment limited to 12 students.

Building on the skills learned during the first-year Legal Skills program, Advanced Legal Research has two primary objectives: to make students more effective legal researchers, and to make students more knowledgeable consumers of legal information after they are in practice. The course begins with a discussion of secondary sources, which are very useful for finding primary legal authority and for understanding the law, and then moves on to an intensive review of the basics—case law, digests, statutory law, and citators. We also cover materials to which students may not have been exposed during their law school careers—administrative law, legislative history, New York legal research, and legal research using the Internet. If time permits, we will also cover international law research. Both hardcopy and electronic sources will be covered. There will be advanced training in Lexis Advance, WestlawNext, and Bloomberg Law. The final project is an online research guide that will go through several drafts during the course of the semester. Students will be expected to do short in-class presentations on their guides, and to provide brief written comments on their classmates’ guides. They will also be expected to compose a short blog post on a useful Internet resource they discovered while working on their research guide.Each of these assignments is weighted and factors into the final grade in the course. Students will also be expected to complete several CALI assignments during the course of the semester. Enrollment limited to 12 students.

This course is a study of the organization, function, and procedures of state and federal administrative agencies, including the investigatory, rulemaking, adjudicatory, and enforcement functions of such agencies, and judicial review of administrative action.

This course is a study of the organization, function, and procedures of state and federal administrative agencies, including the investigatory, rulemaking, adjudicatory, and enforcement functions of such agencies, and judicial review of administrative action.

This seminar focuses on questions of economic equality and gender in international and comparative contexts. This semester, the seminar will function like an advanced graduate seminar, with a specific concentration on corporate board quotas, the subject of the PILR symposium entitled “Comparative Sex Regimes and Corporate Governance.” With this specific purpose in mind, we will first examine historical documents and the role of modern institutions, including the World Bank and IMF. We will compare and contrast gender equality under European and American legal systems. We will focus on quota systems that regulate women’s participation in both the public and private sectors with a major focus on corporate board quotas. The course will employ a comparative methodology to examine specific issues including: a) the role gender plays in national legal and political institutions, b) how various governments’ responses to gender inequality vary and overlap and c) what role legal structures and processes, both economic and supranational, play in facilitating (or obstructing) equality movements. Students who wish to take the class must submit a one-paragraph explanation for why they want to take the class. Corporations is a prerequisite; if a student wishes to take the class but has not taken Corporations, s/he should submit an explanation alongside the paragraph requesting to join the class. Also, the class will meet more frequently in the beginning of the semester to prepare them for the symposium. For the students' request to join the class, please have them submitted to Susie Della Ruffa at sdellaruffa@law.pace.edu

The purpose of this course is to provide the law student who has no previous background in accounting with a general fluency in the language of business accounting. The course involves a study of procedures and theories and the application of generally accepted accounting (GAAP) to corporate financial and tax areas. Open only to students with no accounting or business background.

The primary focus of this course is a detailed analysis of the investigatory stage of a criminal prosecution. A careful examination is undertaken of the contours of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments as they relate to searches and seizures, the eliciting of confessions, and identification procedures. Specific attention is paid to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Criminal Procedure Law of the State of New York, and the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The course deals with the procedural problems incurred in the adjudicatory stage of a criminal proceeding. Major areas of analysis include: arraignment and bail; an examination of the problems encountered in a preliminary hearing; the scope, extent, and goals of Grand Jury proceedings; pre-trial discovery motions and suppression hearings; and the "plea bargaining" process. In essence, the course attempts to follow a defendant once he enters the adjudicatory process from the point of arraignment to trial to appeal to post-conviction relief. Careful attention is paid to decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as relevant sections of the Federal and New York Rules.

This course addresses the problems that arise when occurrences giving rise to legal disputes involve more than one state or nation. Such cases raise issues of judicial jurisdiction, full faith and credit, comity, and choice of law. The course examines alternative modes of analysis in approaching multi-jurisdictional legal problems, with particular emphasis on the principles of the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws and interest analysis methodology.

The primary subject to be addressed in this course is Choice of Law. Controversies encompassing parties, events, and issues originating in more than one state or implicating state-federal-international relationships require making a choice from various substantive and procedural laws to govern the decision-making process. Choice of Law is constitutionally grounded in the Full Faith and Credit Clause and the Due Process Clause, and draws liberally upon Family Law, Torts, and Estates Law for its context. The course also covers some aspects of the recognition of foreign judgments.

This course addresses the problems that arise when occurrences giving rise to legal disputes involve more than one state or nation. Such cases raise issues of judicial jurisdiction, full faith and credit, comity, and choice of law. The course examines alternative modes of analysis in approaching multi-jurisdictional legal problems, with particular emphasis on the principles of the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws and interest analysis methodology.

This course will develop the students’ understanding of and ability to use the principles and techniques of effective negotiating with a view to creating their own successful style as practicing lawyers. The students will learn to identify and assess the variables in negotiation, sound negotiation planning techniques, various negotiation strategies and tactics and to then apply them in one-on-one and group exercises. The methodology is highly participative and utilizes class discussion and simulations. Most activities will take place in class but, outside of class, there are assigned readings and the students must prepare for the in-class a class activities. Class size is limited to 10 students (with a minimum of 6 needed). ULSR

This class focuses on the Bankruptcy Code and Bankruptcy Rules and related statutes, including Articles 3 and 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code and the NY CPLR. The course will not use a casebook. Instead, our primary text will be the current 16th edition of Collier on Bankruptcy (“Collier”) which is available for free on-line on LEXIS. Collier is by far the most widely accepted professional treatise on the Bankruptcy Code and Bankruptcy Rules, organized section-by-section of the Bankruptcy Code and Rule by Rule of the Bankruptcy Rules It has hyperlinks to many reported decisions on each topic; I will instruct you to read certain of those decisions one or two classes in advance of the class in which the decision will be discussed, but you will greatly increase your understanding of the subject matter if you separately look up decisions in the Collier text that you will be reading to help refine the text’s message. I may also give you a case to read that is not cited in the relevant Collier section. I will also give you factual scenarios one or two classes in advance that you should be prepared to discuss during the appointed class. As we move through the semester and you become more comfortable with the underlying law, a significant amount of class time will be spent on negotiation simulations. You are responsible for the textual material as well as the cases that we will discuss in class, and for participating in the discussions and simulated negotiations. By the end of the course, students should demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental policies and organization of the Bankruptcy Code and the options available to financially distressed debtors and their creditors. Additionally, they should be able to demonstrate an ability to understand and negotiate a resolution of certain common disputes that arise in bankruptcy cases.

This course covers encumbrances of personal property and fixtures, focusing primarily on Uniform Commercial Code Article 9 consensual security interests. Coverage will include state lien law and the effect of the Bankruptcy Code on Article 9 Security Interests.

Water law occupies a unique niche in the American legal landscape. At one level, it is about property. At another level, water law is about the public rights inhering in a shared and biologically crucial resource. And at still another level, water law is about federalism, navigable waterways, and fisheries and wildlife management. This course is about all those things and more. It examines the evolving law of water, looking at the differences between states and between regions, and at whether current laws remain applicable and relevant to a changing hydrologic landscape.

Water law occupies a unique niche in the American legal landscape. At one level, it is about property. At another level, water law is about the public rights inhering in a shared and biologically crucial resource. And at still another level, water law is about federalism, navigable waterways, and fisheries and wildlife management. This course is about all those things and more. It examines the evolving law of water, looking at the differences between states and between regions, and at whether current laws remain applicable and relevant to a changing hydrologic landscape.

This course will cover legal topics related to visual artworks including: licensing and publishing; the moral rights of artists; originality, appropriation, authenticity and copyright infringement in artwork; artist/gallery/auction house relations; museum concerns; stolen and looted works; First Amendment issues, tax considerations, and laws related to the valuation, apraisal and resale of artworks.

Interviewing, Counseling, and Negotiating is a four-credit simulation course. Through a variety of small-group and large-group exercises, students assume the role of lawyer to learn the art and skill of interviewing, counseling, and negotiating; to plan for and develop a case from one stage to another; to anticipate and deal with ethical issues; and to develop the skill of self-critique. Simulation exercises are videotaped where appropriate. It will be possible to perform most exercises during class time. Out-of-class work will include preparation and performance critique. Limited enrollment. ULSR

This one-credit workshop introduces students to the essential litigation skill of conducting and defending depositions. Since more than 90% of all civil cases are resolved prior to trial, the deposition stage of the case is critical to success. This concentrated skills course focuses on effective questioning strategies and techniques in deposition practice. Students will gain hands-on skills experience in taking and defending depositions through in-class simulations. Topics to be covered include comparing federal and state procedural laws on depositions, developing a deposition strategy, preparation of the deponent, defending a client, handling exhibits, dealing with difficult witnesses and adversaries, and furthering the case theory in depositions. The course will conclude with students conducting a deposition. Enrollment limited to 12 students.

This skills course will integrate simulation learning with guided discussions on handling forensic and scientific evidence in litigation. The one credit course will be a comprehensive overview of various strategies to aid in both preparation and practice with forensic evidence and testimony. The three primary goals: (1) to expose students to the different types of forensic evidence used in court—fingerprint comparisons, DNA analysis, psychological examinations, ballistics, etc.—and to convey a sense of evidentiary effect; (2) to introduce students to the people who collect, analyze, and testify about forensic evidence; (3) to examine the developing hurdles that forensic evidence present to every practitioner on a practical level. No prior scientific background is required, students will be expected to become familiar with some of the basic science that underlies forensic evidence, e.g., the elements of basic ballistics, basic patterns that fingerprint analysts look for, mental health diagnosis. It is anticipated that guest speakers will enhance the learning process and participate in class simulation problems. Enrollment limited to 12 students.

A lawyering skills course that explores international arbitration law and rules, case strategy, technique and skills for drafting memorandum of law in international commercial arbitration cases. Enrollment will be limited to students competing in the Vis Moot Court.

This one credit class will focus on legal and regulatory compliance issues related to private funds (such as hedge and private equity funds), investment advisers and broker-dealers. Class will start with an overview of the financial services industry and the relevant legal/regulatory framework. Sessions will delve into the role of the Chief Compliance Officers, the regulatory framework for private funds, investment advisers and broker-dealers and topical legal issues for this industry like cyber security, AML, market manipulation and insider trading.

In this course, students will receive the first segment of NYS court mandated mediation certification training, as required under Part 146. Students will work under the instruction of the professor, and alongside attorneys in the community, in mediation simulations and negotiation exercises. Open only to students enrolled in the Mediation Practicum and with permission of the professor.

In this course students will examine the laws pertaining to the recovery of damages in various causes of action in the New York State and Federal Courts. In addition to learning the law, students will apply the legal principles through in-class and homework assignments to several case fact patterns. Students will be challenged to identify and utilize the procedural and substantive tools that can aid in effectively establishing, as well as refuting, damage claims. Through the case fact patterns students will apply their knowledge of the CPLR, rules of Evidence, choice of law clauses, deposition techniques as well as trial advocacy and legal writing skills. The case fact patterns will encompass a multitude of legal disciplines; including cases involving disputes from business contracts, medical malpractice cases, property loss, civil-rights claims, class-action, personal injury and product liability cases. The class will discuss the variables beyond merely legal statutes that can affect the size of a damages judgment; including policy issues, punitive damages, human and social factors, collateral sources and finally, tort-reform. Students will be taught the practical skills attorneys use from both the plaintiff and defense perspectives in order to evaluate the damages of cases. Students will learn to apply calculations based on life expectancy, work-life expectancy charts, the future value of money, the importance of venue, client characteristics and qualities, mitigation of damages, structured settlements, the use of expert witness damage witnesses and judicial review of jury awards.

This skills seminar will focus on both civil and criminal jury selection. We will explore the empirical data on considerations in selecting jurors, juror questionnaire, establishing challenges for cause, questioning techniques and jury selection in case analysis.

This course introduces students to the relationship between law and science, providing the opportunity to develop the lawyering skills necessary for effective use of science in litigation, legislation, regulatory, and transactional work. Science and the law intersect at many levels. For example, science helps lawyers prove the effects of climate change in order to formulate or comply with environmental regulation. to determine the legal liability of manufacturers of drugs and vaccines, to regulate potentially dangerous instruments like e-cigarettes, and to establish mens rea and degrees of culpability in criminal cases. In short, lawyers, whether civil or criminal, look to science for certainty in the face of difficult legal questions. But science and the law are an uneasy fit. Each approaches the world differently, with different standards, methods, and vocabularies used by scientists and lawyers who are rarely trained beyond their own discipline. This course explores the dilemmas lawyers face in using science and helps students develop the skills needed to make effective use of scientific proof.

This course will provide students a unique opportunity to learn and develop the investigative advocacy skills demanded of criminal prosecutors. Through assigned class readings, skill performances, and an immersive classroom experience, students will explore and experience the strategies, tactics, tools, and techniques of a skilled investigative prosecutor.

This class meets once a week for two hours per class for seven sessions. It will teach the techniques and tactics used in civil motion practice, one of the most important advocacy devices in litigation. It deals with motions concerning pleadings, discovery, dismissal and trial. The discussion is from both the plaintiff's and defendant's viewpoint and will cover New York State procedural practice but concerns questions of both Federal and State law. This course will be a combination of lectures and "learning by doing” – you develop your ability by applying the skills taught in the context of the case analysis and the substantive law. All students will both write and argue three short motions consisting of no more than 3-5 pages from either a plaintiff’s or a defendant’s point of view.

This class meets once a week for two hours per class for seven sessions. It will teach the techniques and tactics used in civil motion practice, one of the most important advocacy devices in litigation. It deals with motions concerning pleadings, discovery, dismissal and trial. The discussion is from both the plaintiff's and defendant's viewpoint and will cover New York State procedural practice but concerns questions of both Federal and State law. This course will be a combination of lectures and "learning by doing” – you develop your ability by applying the skills taught in the context of the case analysis and the substantive law. All students will both write and argue three short motions consisting of no more than 3-5 pages from either a plaintiff’s or a defendant’s point of view.

This practice-oriented skills workshop will expose students to a variety of residential real estate transactions and documents used by real estate lawyers. Students will learn how to analyze a residential title report and draft real estate transfer documents including contracts, mortgages, and deeds. The class will also have an opportunity to participate in a mock closing.

This course will offer simulations and case studies of the effective use of persuasion in oral and written work. Focus will be on transactional matters as well as litigation matters. Students will develop strategy for effectively presenting to clients, colleagues, adversaries and co-counsel. The art of persuasion will be explained by use of mixed media, simulations and reading. Students will be expected to develop strategy for handling a wide range of clients and issues.

The vast majority of criminal cases in the United States court system - more than ninety percent- are resolved not through a jury trial but rather through guilty pleas. This course is designed to examine the role of the plea bargain in the criminal justice system including the relevant statutory and case law, the role of the prosecutor, defense attorney and judge in the process, as well as the theoretical underpinnings and ethical considerations involved. The vast majority of the course, however, will focus on practical real-world scenarios and will use simulations to allow students to gain hands-on experience in conducting plea bargain negotiations.

Bias is real, has real world consequences, and can be deadly. In this course we will research and understand the impacts of bias on various areas of legal practice, laws and statutes implemented due to bias, the importance of cultural awareness, whether individuals can gain insight into their own biases and what does and doesn’t work to curb bias. We will also address the important issue of the impact bias has on the legal system as a whole. Practical skills taught will include client and witness interviewing techniques geared toward better understanding of cultural differences, testing our own biases and ameliorating them, and advocating for those underserved by our legal system.

This seminar explore specific land use, environmental, and/or sustainability topics that are of current concern and relevance to the field, to the curriculum, and to society. The specific topic will be identified each term by the professors teaching the course and relate to the work of the Land Use Law Center and related law school research centers. Field trips relevant to the topic(s) covered are a part of this course.

This seminar explore specific land use, environmental, and/or sustainability topics that are of current concern and relevance to the field, to the curriculum, and to society. The specific topic will be identified each term by the professors teaching the course and relate to the work of the Land Use Law Center and related law school research centers. Field trips relevant to the topic(s) covered are a part of this course.

In this course students will learn many of the fundamental skills of transactional practice. Using a hypothetical case study, Adjunct Professor Fox, who has twenty-two years of experience as a corporate lawyer in New York City law firms, will explore how deals are negotiated, structured, documented and closed. This is an interactive class in which students will have the opportunity to draft contracts and other documents and learn basic negotiating, due diligence and client management skills.

This course explores the legal and economic foundations for energy regulation, including administrative law and economic principles that drive that regulation. The course addresses how federal and state legal authority impacts energy businesses, and how jurisdictional authority is reflected in law and regulation. The course is heavily focused on the electricity industry and the elements and practice of electricity regulation, with detailed coverage of utility rate making. The course covers the ways in which renewable energy, energy efficiency, and equitable access to sustainable energy are integrated into electric utility regulation, planning, and rates. The course is intended to provide a foundation for lawyers interested in the practice of energy and regulatory law.

This course explores the legal and economic foundations for energy regulation, including administrative law and economic principles that drive that regulation. The course addresses how federal and state legal authority impacts energy businesses, and how jurisdictional authority is reflected in law and regulation. The course is heavily focused on the electricity industry and the elements and practice of electricity regulation, with detailed coverage of utility rate making. The course covers the ways in which renewable energy, energy efficiency, and equitable access to sustainable energy are integrated into electric utility regulation, planning, and rates. The course is intended to provide a foundation for lawyers interested in the practice of energy and regulatory law.

This course examines federal and state law regarding arbitration and mediation and compares these systems of dispute resolution to litigation. Also examined are the techniques, rules, procedures, lack of rules of evidence, roles of the parties, counsel and neutral, participation in a mock mediation and/or arbitration, attendance at an actual arbitration and how to become an arbitrator mediator.

This course surveys the law and practice of the alternative dispute resolution processes of negotiation, mediation and arbitration, and compares these processes to litigation. Students will participate in at least one simulated negotiation, mediation, and arbitration during the semester, and will draft a dispute resolution clause.

This course involves a detailed examination of the law and practice of domestic commercial arbitration (excluding labor arbitration). The course will highlight key aspects of the statutes and leading cases governing commercial arbitration, and will also cover the arbitration process in detail.

This seminar will involve a detailed examination of the non-binding ADR process of mediation, primarily focusing on negotiation theory as a foundation of mediation, positional vs. problem-solving bargaining, the role and skills of a mediator, mediation advocacy, mediation ethics, and the legal framework of mediation. The course will also examine the role of lawyers in this process. Students will learn how to best advocate for their clients in mediation by discussing topics such as mediator selection, client preparation, and mediation strategy. In addition, students will learn about the different techniques used by mediators including different styles of mediation. Other topics will include ethical considerations in mediation and the law governing mediation. The course includes reading, lecture, discussion, role-playing and simulation exercises. Students will participate in several simulated mediations in addition to completing short written assignments on the subject of mediation.

This course involves a detailed examination of the law and practice of domestic commercial arbitration (excluding labor arbitration). The course will highlight key aspects of the statutes and leading cases governing commercial arbitration, and will also cover the arbitration process in detail.

Winston Churchill said that the “mood and temper of the public with regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilization of any country.” This course considers the law governing prisoners’ rights and also sets that law in context so that students can consider the role of prisons in the contemporary justice system. Prisoners’ Rights involves a body of largely constitutional law developed over the past thirty five years dealing with the conditions of confinement for the more than two million inmates in prison and jails in the United States today. Since prisons are the quintessential “closed institutions,” every aspect of the lives of inmates is controlled by the state. Prisons serve as a unique laboratory for the development of constitutional doctrine. Thus, prisoners’ rights law deals with topics as diverse as the cruel and unusual punishment clause, freedom of speech and religion, access to the courts, race and gender discrimination, due process, and privacy, as well as remedial problems involved in implementing prisoners’ rights through litigation and other dispute resolution techniques. It also deals with legislation among other things addressing prisoners’ access to the courts and providing protection for prisoners from sexual assault and protection of the right of inmates to practice their religions. With over two million Americans in prisons and jails the role of this vitally important institution has even greater importance to the legal community and society generally than ever before. These and many more topics will be the subject of class readings. Guest speakers and a visit to a prison are also a part of this course.

Description for three credit course: This course explores important issues in public health, including the constitutional limitations on the government’s police power in protecting individual and community health. The course also assists students in developing appropriate evaluative skills regarding epidemiological data. The course further exposes students to specific modern public health threats including HIV/AIDS, obesity, tobacco, alcohol and drug addiction, cancer, drug-resistant bacteria, bioterrorism, and access to food and water. Description for four credit course: This four credit course considers how the government can balance its obligation to protect the public’s health with the limits on its power imposed by the Constitution, including the requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment right to privacy, the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, and the Fourth Amendment right to be protected from compulsory search and seizure. These issues arise in the context of infectious diseases (e.g., HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, avian flu, and tuberculosis) and environmental hazards (e.g., contaminated drugs, exposure to lead, asbestos, pesticides, second hand tobacco smoke, and global warming). Students will learn about the administrative law process by reviewing the actions of a number of agencies who regulate in the public health arena, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Food and Drug Administration, and by drafting portions of regulatory documents to address emerging public health issues.

Students spend seven hours per week working in White Plains Family Court or Yonkers Family Court under the supervision of experienced attorneys. Responsibilities include interviewing victims of domestic violence; drafting petitions for temporary orders of protection, support, and custody; and advocating for the petitioner in the ex parte hearing on the petition. In the weekly two-hour seminar, students learn about the dynamics of domestic violence and the New York Family Offense Law and participate in Family Court practice simulations. Permission of the professor, based on application and interview, is required Evidence is recommended but not required. ULSR

Students spend one full day per week working in the White Plains Family Court or Yonkers Family Court under the supervision of experienced Pace Women’s Justice Center attorneys at PWJC’s Family Court Legal Program site offices. Responsibilities include interviewing victims and survivors of intimate partner violence; drafting family offense, support, and custody petitions; and arguing for ex parte temporary orders of protection before Family Court judges under a Student Practice Order, and with the direct assistance of PWJC attorneys. In the weekly two-hour seminar, taught by the FCLP Director, students learn about NY family law and legal practice, the dynamics of domestic violence, and the intersections of domestic violence law with other areas of the law. Students also participate in Family Court practice simulations. Permission of the professor, based on application and interview, is required.

This is the seminar portion of the Family Court Externship.

This course is a detailed study of the juvenile justice system including the substantive issues of delinquency, status offenses, child abuse and neglect, termination of parental rights, adoption and the foster care system. The philosophy, history, and continuing viability of the separate juvenile system are examined as well as recent innovations such as diversionary programs, the Child Welfare Reform Act, deinstitutionalization and the application of criminal sanctions in delinquency cases. The course also examines procedural due process problems and relevant constitutional issues including confidentiality and the right to treatment.

This course examines the legal issues involved in governing municipalities, using intensive study of New York City as an example. We will examine issues of government structure, issues relating to the relationship between municipalities and state and federal governments, and specific policy areas such as land use, contracting, labor management and corruption prevention.

The seminar will be on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), the Uniform International Sales Law of the United States and over seventy of our trading partners. International Contract Law "Restatements" (the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts and the Principles of European Contract Law) will also be addressed.

TThis two-credit seminar will examine some of the ways in which both international and U.S. immigration and refugee law provide, or bar, legal status and protection for individuals who have been persecuted and deprived of their civil, political, or human rights by the government and/or quasi-governmental forces in their countries of origin. We will begin with the genesis of asylum law in the United Nations Refugee Convention and the U.S. 1980 Refugee Act, and explore how recent non-legislated changes in U.S. practice and policy have transformed the actual determination of asylum applications. We will briefly review the asylum doctrines and processes of Mexico and the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) inasmuch as these bodies of law affect U.S. asylum proceedings. Students will perform practice-oriented exercises and simulations to develop a realistic understanding of the complexity of asylum issues such as well-founded fear, credible fear, and reasonable fear; particular social group; persecution and the presumption of future persecution; firm resettlement; internal relocation; particularly serious crime; the one-year filing limit; and the material support of terrorism bar. There will be no final examination, but substantial written work will be required in the form of a research paper, Immigration Court Merits Hearing Memorandum of Law, appellate brief, or expert affidavit on country conditions; this work will be evaluated based on the quality of writing as well as on its content and professional presentation. As this is an applied learning course, class participation and peer collaboration are essential, and will count toward the final grade. During spring break, selected students may be eligible to participate on a volunteer basis, or for academic credit in a separate course, in the representation of asylum-seekers in detention centers or at the Mexican border. Prior completion of the introductory course, Immigration Law, would be helpful and is recommended, but is not a prerequisite. Students who have not previously taken Immigration Law may need to do a modest amount of additional reading (provided at relevant points in the syllabus) as background for the work in this class.

This seminar examines the practical application of alternative dispute resolution techniques used in international trade. While primary focus is on arbitration, other techniques, such as mediation (include student simulations), are included. The drafting of ADR agreements enforcement of arbitral awards, arbitration laws, procedures of prominent arbitral organizations and tribunals, jurisdictional questions, arbitrator authority, and practice techniques will be taken up.

The course examines sources and evidence of international law, subjects of international law, peaceful settlement of disputes, use of force, relation of international law to municipal law, and state responsibility for injuries to aliens.

This course examines principles of law governing intestate succession, testamentary disposition of property, and trusts. Also included are the rights of after born, adopted children, and children born out of wedlock.

This course examines principles of law governing intestate succession, testamentary disposition of property, and trusts. Also included are the rights of after born, adopted children, and children born out of wedlock.

This course primarily involves a study of federal gift and estate transfer taxes imposed by Chapters 11 and 12 of the Internal Revenue Code and the practical strategies that taxpayers employ to reduce these tax liabilities. We begin with an overview of the wealth transfer tax system and a general consideration of relevant policy issues. We next study the tax treatment of lifetime donative transfers and the gift tax, and applicable tax planning strategies. The course then surveys the tax treatment of transfers that are included in a decedent's "gross estate" for federal estate tax purposes, as well as the deductions and credits available to reduce estate tax liability, and applicable tax-planning strategies. Throughout the course, students will use problems as a means for learning applicable tax laws and analyze and draft documents that lawyers commonly use to create effective and intent-fulfilling estate plans. Appropriate policy and ethical issues associated with wealth transfer taxation are discussed throughout. Federal Income Taxation I (Basic) (LAW 651) is a prerequisite for this course. Wills, Trusts & Estates (LAW 701) is a co-requisite (or may be taken prior to enrolling in this class). Students who have taken Estate Planning (LAW 700) or Federal Estate and Gift Taxation (LAW 702) are not eligible to take this class.

This course explores various schools of jurisprudential thought in order to discover the insights and procedures, if any, which underlie current legal decision-making, and to examine what they can contribute to the contemporary lawyer and to the resolution of the dilemmas facing society.

The aim of the course is to develop an understanding of law and fluency in problem-solving tools appropriate for the needs of practitioners, responsible leaders, and scholars, based on an activist conception of the role of law and lawyers in modern democracies. These include the evaluation and selection of policy alternatives, the clarification of goals, and the examination of the past to assist in choosing decisions which are most likely to lead to the realization of goals. The behavioral sciences are drawn upon for pertinent methods and findings.

This introductory course will cover the basic principles of privacy and data protection law, and will focus on the rights of individuals in their personal information, and the rights of governmental institutions and private enterprises to collect, use and disclose that information. The course will examine the policies underlying this still-nascent form of protection, and those areas of tort and constitutional law pertinent to privacy. It will cover the substance of some federal privacy statutes relating to record-keeping and financial information. It will also cover certain state privacy statutes, the privacy-related activities of the Federal Trade Commission, and the structure and substance of privacy law in the European Union. Current privacy issues will be discussed in class. Grades will be based on a final examination, with the possibility of a one-increment change (e.g., B to B+ or B-) based on class participation.

This course is a comprehensive study of procedure and practice in New York under the Civil Practice Law and Rules. The main topics considered are the jurisdiction of New York courts, jurisdiction and service of process, venue, appearance, joinder of parties, pleading, motion practice, provisional remedies, pretrial devices, trial judgment, and the doctrine of res judicata.

This course is a comprehensive study of procedure and practice in New York under the Civil Practice Law and Rules. The main topics considered are the jurisdiction of New York courts, jurisdiction and service of process, venue, appearance, joinder of parties, pleading, motion practice, provisional remedies, pretrial devices, trial judgment, and the doctrine of res judicata.

This course offers an introduction to the application of economic principles in understanding and informing legal decision making. Both the uses and limits of economic analysis in developing legal theory will be explored. Interrelationships among economic theory, economic activity, legal theory and legal practice will be examined in the areas of contracts, torts, real property, intellectual property, international trade, and economic development.

This class will examine the ways in which the law is, or ought to be, informed by psychological research. Psychological research findings across subdisciplines such as clinical, social, and cognitive psychology will be used to understand issues related to the law. Examples of the areas in which psychology and law intersect are adult and child eyewitness testimony, jury decision making, interrogation and confessions, the clinical determination of insanity, competence to stand trial, the sexual victimization of women and children and its proof, and race and race bias and the law. Additionally, the course will examine the ways in which the practice of law has adapted to new developments in our understanding of human psychology, for instance the development of alternative forms of dispute resolution and alternative courts. Finally, the class will cover the ways in which understanding human psychology may assist in the practice of law and effective client representation.

This course is appropriate for students who have already secured a non-paid legal position with a prosecutor’s office or other law enforcement agency or a not-for-profit provider of representation to criminal defendants, such as the Legal Aid Society or public defender. In order to receive 6 credits for the course, students are required to work at the placement 35 hours per week for each week of the summer session. Please be aware, however, that the placement may require additional hours each week and/or additional weeks during the summer. Student responsibilities may include: drafting accusatory instruments, interviewing clients and witnesses, assisting in investigations, preparing cases for trial, research, writing motion responses and memoranda of law and observing hearings, trials and other proceedings. A weekly two-hour seminar and a substantial piece of written work are also required. The seminar focuses on legal, practical and ethical issues in criminal prosecutions and includes simulations and case presentations by students. Students who have obtained a local placement must attend a weekly seminar which meets from 6 to 8 p.m. Students who have obtained a distant placement may attend the weekly seminar via teleconference. Permission of the instructor, based on application and interview, required. ULSR Summer Only

Students spend twelve hours per week working in a prosecutor's office under the supervision of experienced attorneys. Responsibilities may include drafting accusatory instruments, conducting investigations, researching and writing responses to motions and memoranda of law, drafting direct and cross-examination questions for grand jury, hearings, or trials, and observing and/or participating in court proceedings and complainant/witness interviews. The weekly two-hour seminar provides background on legal, practical, and ethical issues in criminal litigation, and an opportunity to present cases for mutual consultation. Participating offices may include the White Plains branch of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, the Task Force on Organized Crime, the Connecticut State's Attorney's Office, and the District Attorney's Offices of Westchester, Queens, and Rockland Counties. Criminal Procedure (Investigation), Evidence, and permission of the professor, after application and interview, are required. ULSR

Students spend twelve hours per week working in a prosecutor's office under the supervision of experienced attorneys. Responsibilities may include drafting accusatory instruments, conducting investigations, researching and writing responses to motions and memoranda of law, drafting direct and cross-examination questions for grand jury, hearings, or trials, and observing and/or participating in court proceedings and complainant/witness interviews. The weekly two-hour seminar provides background on legal, practical, and ethical issues in criminal litigation, and an opportunity to present cases for mutual consultation. Participating offices may include the White Plains branch of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, the Task Force on Organized Crime, the Connecticut State's Attorney's Office, and the District Attorney's Offices of Westchester, Queens, and Rockland Counties. Criminal Procedure (Investigation), Evidence, and permission of the professor are required.

This is the seminar portion of the Honors Prosecution Externship.

Though this seminar is titled “Advanced Contracts”, a better name would be “Deeper into Contracts.” In this course we will revisit some of the contracts topics studied in the basic course, but from different perspectives and with more depth. Your first year contracts casebook and statutory supplement will be two of the required texts. In the basic contracts course, you grazed over the field, nibbling here and there among different topics, reading a case or two on each one, learning some black letter rules and then moved on to the next topic. In contrast, we will pursue certain areas in more detail, looking at the philosophy behind the rules and trying to apply them in a broader way. We will examine some new topics, which are not covered in the basic course, such as third party beneficiaries and warranties, and will look at some current situations and cases. We will begin re-examining remedies, that is, contract damages, then move on to concepts of good faith, impracticability and excuse, warranties, § 2-207 of the Uniform Commercial Code and we’ll do a drafting exercise. The course has a paper requirement, which will count for 85 percent of your final grade and class participation for 15% of your grade. The paper can be a maximum of twenty-five pages. Footnotes must be in Bluebook form, and the format of the paper is similar to a law review note. The paper will satisfy the upper level writing requirement. This course may fulfill a requirement for one of the certificate programs if the paper is written in the same area of specialization as the certificate you seek, and the certificate advisor approves.

This course surveys family law, including the marital relationship, cohabitation, divorce, support, distribution of property, and child custody. A major focus is on recent decisions and legislation affecting children, family privacy, divorce litigation, equitable distribution, and adoption. The course emphasizes the interrelationship and conflicts between the traditional concepts of marriage, legitimacy, and status, and the emerging legal concepts of financial independence, "palimony," sexual freedom, the rights of unmarried parents, "surrogate" parents, and no-fault divorce.

This course will consider U.S. legal system responses to problem of domestic violence. The focus will be an examination of the intersection of domestic violence with family and criminal law as well as the civil protective order remedy. Other topics will include remedies for immigrant survivors of domestic violence and law enforcement liability for failure to protect against domestic violence. Finally, the course will discuss domestic violence in the context of international human rights law.

This 4-credit tax course examines the taxation of business entities that are classified as corporations or partnerships for federal tax purposes (whether the entity takes the form of a corporation, limited liability company, family limited partnership, or some other entity for state law purposes). In the partnership context, the course will emphasize issues such as the tax consequences of formation of a partnership, basis of partnership interests and basis of partnership assets and effect of liabilities on basis; tax elections; sales and exchanges; and distributions from partnerships. In the corporate context, the course will emphasize organization and capitalization, distributions, redemptions, liquidations, and sale of interests. In this course, we will take a problem-based approach to learning. Departing from the traditional law school mold, we will not learn the business entity tax rules in the abstract by reading and closely analyzing cases. Instead, we will be learning the fundamentals of business entity taxation by applying the relevant Internal Revenue Code and Treasury Regulations sections, judicial decisions, and Internal Revenue Service guidance to concrete problem sets during the overwhelming majority of class sessions. And, like practicing lawyers, we will identify and discuss the ethical dimension of the problems that we analyze. Federal Income Taxation I (Basic) (LAW 651) is a prerequisite for this course. Students who have taken Federal Income Taxation II (Corporate) (LAW 713) or Partnership Taxation (LAW 721) are not eligible to take this class.

International agreements and organizations address a wide range of environmental protection issues. The course examines the Environmental Law of the Sea and regional seas conventions, the treaties on migratory species, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), air pollution control treaties, and transboundary environmental issues. The role of the United Nations and other multilateral agencies is examined.

This course compares the environmental laws of the United States and Brazil . The course aims to build students capacity to assess the environmental laws of both countries and to consider national policies concerning environmental quality. Students and Faculty will travel to Rio de Janeiro and several other regions of Brazil to continue classes and attend seminars conducted by prominent scholars and attorneys in Brazil . Students also participate in field trips to the fragile yet crucial ecosystems of Brazil . This course requires students to write a research paper comparing some aspect of the environmental laws in both Brazil and the United States .

This one credit course will involve on site study of Brazilian ecosystems combined with academic lectures in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro and in Brazil’s Amazon Region. The course will be taught by Professor David Cassuto in collaboration with Federation Getulio Vargas Law School Professor, and Pace alumnus, Dr. Romulo Sampaio. Grades in the course will be determined by the student’s preparation of a 10 page paper comparing and contrasting US and Brazilian environmental law in a specific area. Papers are due three weeks following the completion of on site study, which will occur from Thursday, March 25 to Sunday, April 4, 2010 (over Pace Law Spring Break). Students will be responsible for securing their own passport and mandatory visa for Brazil (Visa cost approximately $100) and obtaining any immunizations (recommend consultation with student’s personal physician). The trip cost of approximately $2700, which will be organized by a Pace University approved travel agent, will include round trip airfare, hotel (double or triple rooms, no singles), many meals, airport transfers, local transportation as a group, and special field trips. Students will be responsible for incidental expenses, some meals, optional excursions, some entry fees for special exhibits, and other expenses associated with international travel. Students interested in this special course should submit a paragraph expressing interest to Professor David Cassuto by December 3, 2009 (dcassuto@law.pace.edu). The course is limited to 20 students and selected students will be notified by Professor Cassuto by email.

This course explores the legal protection of the competitive system under the Sherman Act, Clayton Act, Federal Trade Commission Act, and related legislation. The course considers problems relating to monopoly power; "horizontal" restraints on competition such as price-fixing and concerted refusals to deal; "vertical" restraints such as resale price maintenance, tying and exclusive dealing arrangements; and limitations on permissible mergers and joint ventures. Economic as well as legal implications of legislation and court decisions are explored.

This course is designed to provide an understanding of the main areas of U.S. immigration practice. The course reviews statutory provisions, administrative regulations and case law as they relate to the key concepts of nonimmigrant, immigrant, admission procedures, exclusion, deportation, political asylum and citizenship. Students also explore the relationship of immigration law to employment law and tax law.

This course examines the tax consequences of formation of a partnership, basis of partnership interests and basis of partnership assets and effect of liabilities on basis; partnership elections, including choice of fiscal periods and method of accounting; continuation; mergers, and termination of partnerships and partners' taxable years; family partnership; sales and exchanges of partnerships; liquidating and non-liquidating distributions from partnerships; methods and tax consequences concerning the retiring partner; recognition of the entity problem, including limited partnerships.

The following are the guidelines for Guided Research Projects: 1. Student must obtain approval of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs no later than the last day of the Drop/Add period by providing a written research proposal approved by the supervising faculty member. 2. The proposal must be supervised by a Full-time faculty member, OR by an Adjunct faculty member with prior permission of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. 3. Guided Research Project Request Form (available at the Registrar's Office) must be submitted to the Associate Dean for approval, after proposal is approved by supervising faculty member. 4. Only available to students with a cumulative GPA of 3.00 (B) or a B+ average in the particular subject area in which the research is undertaken. 5. Available for 1 or 2 credits only. Papers should be 25 pages or more for 2 credits and 15 pages or more for 1 credit. 6. No more than one project may be undertaken in a semester. 7. No more than two such projects may be applied for credit towards the Juris Doctor degree. 8. Faculty member may supervise only three projects in a semester. 9. Final paper, after grading, must be filed with the Registrar. The Research Proposal must be prepared in the following form: 1. Problem: A precise statement of the particular inquiry to be undertaken. 2. Approach: Various questions that need to be raised and investigated in order to explore the problem. 3. Method of inquiry: Published materials, interviews, simulations, experiments, and other methods of inquiry intended to be used. 4. Data: Indication of the nature of data contemplated, not a bibliography, namely: a. Primary data: reports, cases, hearings, case studies, and the like. b. Secondary data: writing of scholars. Indication must also be made of the various disciplines, in addition to law, whose data need be investigated. ULWR

This course will provide a broad overview of developments and current issues in education law and policy relating to K-12 public education. A wide range of topics will be covered, including student speech rights, student discipline, authority over curriculum, religion in the schools, racial and gender equality, affirmative action, special education, school-finance reform, and the No Child Left Behind Act.

Surrogate’s Practice will provide students with a unique opportunity to learn the inner workings of the Surrogate’s Court through the administration of a fictional estate. The course will cover the substantive and procedural law of Probate proceedings for testate estates, Administration proceedings for intestate estates, and several aspects of estate administration, including the disposition of claims filed against an estate and the commencement of certain Miscellaneous proceedings. Students will be responsible for attending lectures and drafting pleadings and/or motion papers attendant to the fictional estate. The papers submitted by the students will be evaluated by actual court personnel. Students will have the opportunity to meet and interact with members of the Court’s legal and clerical staffs. Additionally, the students will have the opportunity to attend the Court’s calendar calls, conferences with attorneys and litigants and, if scheduled, hearings and/or trials. This course provides an excellent opportunity for students who have an interest in becoming general litigation practitioners as well as Surrogate’s Court practice specialists. Due to the significant “hands on” experience the students will receive in this “workshop,” course enrollment is limited to 15 students. Due to the limited enrollment, a preference will be given to students who have completed Wills, Intestate Succession & Trusts - Law 701

Environmental Justice (EJ) has been defined as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people in the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policy. EJ theory and practice begins with the recognition that environmental goods (such as clean air and water) and environmental harms (such as toxic waste) are not always distributed equitably among populations. In fact, environmental harms often fall more heavily on low-income communities, communities of color, immigrant communities, indigenous peoples, and other population segments. This course will examine the various bases for these disparate impacts and will look for solutions grounded in law, policy, and practice. Throughout the semester, students will be encouraged to identify solutions to contemporary problems of environmental justice and related concerns for social justice such as food justice, disaster justice, and climate justice. We will welcome guest speakers who are on the frontlines of efforts to ensure environmental justice, and we will learn from one other on how we can become stronger EJ advocates and allies.

This course deals with the law and practice of labor arbitration in the public and private sectors. Included is a study of the grievance arbitration process pursuant to collective bargaining agreements as well as arbitration of issues in reaching a new agreement. Other topics include procedures, selection of arbitrators, conduct of hearings, the role of the NLRB, individual rights, court reviews of awards, and compulsory and advisory arbitration.

Poverty Law explores historical and contemporary institutional policies and practices that cause and perpetuate widespread poverty in the United States. It also looks at a variety of legal solutions to this ongoing problem. Poverty Law reviews specific laws that impact the poor in areas, including housing, education, health care, and the workplace. It also explores the parameters and limitations of the social safety net, and touches on the criminalization of poverty. Students are required to write a legal research paper. ULWR

This course provides the practical knowledge and skills necessary to develop expertise in handling matrimonial matters from initial client contact through each step of the proceedings, including obtaining of marital history and financial information and preparation of court papers. Emphasis is placed on the negotiation and drafting of separation agreements. Students actively participate as counsel in all phases of the process. Students are urged to take the basic Family Law course prior to enrolling in this class. ULSR

Through land use law, local governments control the development and conservation of the land and its natural resources. They enjoy legal authority delegated by their state legislatures, putting plenary power to affect land use in the hands of locally elected, appointed officials, and their constituents. These powers are used locally to foster economic development and promote jobs, achieve sustainable development, preserve healthy eco-systems, and, increasingly, to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Students study cases and statutes from many states, while learning the New York land use system in depth. The course includes significant materials from New Jersey and Connecticut. Students learn about fundamental property rights and study the seminal constitutional law cases that protect them. The course includes numerous practical exercises and pays close attention to the practical issues involved in representing clients before municipal bodies and courts.

This course examines major legal issues under federal and state law related to private nonprofit organizations. Among the issues addressed are nonprofits’ scope, rationale and role in contemporary society; tax issues including the rationale and eligibility for exemption, restrictions on lobbying and political activity, and the unrelated business income tax; regulation of fundraising; state and federal supervision; competition between nonprofit and for-profit entities; compensation; the legal responsibilities of directors and officers; legal issues between members; and the misuse of the nonprofit form. There will be a final examination.

This course covers relationships established under the broad spectrum of entertainment law, including record company--record artist--record producer; music publisher--songwriter; theatrical producer, director, choreographer, etc.--performer; personal and business manager--artist; theatrical and pop music agent--artist. Negotiation of entertainment-type contracts and oral arguments of classic entertainment litigation disputes are also discussed.

Because of the role banks play in financing both businesses and consumers, commercial banking has been called the key industry of our society. This course examines the historical roots of the unique regulatory and legal structure of the American banking system and the respective roles played by the Federal Reserve, the FDIC and other regulatory authorities. The course focuses on the dynamic changes taking place in our banking system - from megamergers to internet banking to the proliferation of new products and services - and the way that law and regulation have adapted over time to accommodate these changes.

This is a comprehensive course in the private law aspects of international commerce, involving an examination of the sources of international commercial law, trade documents, trade terms, the international sale of goods in general and the CISG (U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods) in particular, the international unification of trade and commercial law, the settlement of disputes, and to a lesser extent, transport law and the financing of exports.

Comparative Law: 2 credits (1 credit at the Law School; 1 credit at the University of Oxford, England, July 2-12, 2017) This course compares the legal systems of the United States and the United Kingdom through a unique two-part structure. One credit of study will take place at the Law School through a series of six two-hour seminars beginning in the end of April and continuing, after finals, for two weeks in May. The second credit will allow students to travel to Oxford, England in July for on-the-ground exposure to the UK legal system. In addition to a required comparative criminal justice program at Oxford led by Prof. Lissa Griffin (including seminars, meetings with prosecutors and defense counsel, and court visits), and including instruction by Prof. Bennett Gershman, students will be able to participate in the Pace Masters Program in Public Administration that includes offerings in the areas of comparative education, health care, housing and local government. A description of that program is set forth below. This program is offered to ALL rising 1L, 2L and 3L law students. Students do not have to be involved in or enrolled in the Masters in Public Administration to register. The US portion of the course will be taught in the late afternoon or early evening to permit students who are working to participate. Registration, tuition, and credit for the course will be included in the 2017 Spring semester. A paper will be required after the July session. For students using this course to satisfy the ULWR, the paper must be 25 pages long; other students may submit a paper of 15 pages or more. Additional expenses: $1500 (which includes housing), plus airfare and other travel expenses. Additional insurance coverage may be required. Students who enroll in this course may not register for Summer 2017 courses that conflict with this schedule.

Elder law addresses significant legal and policy questions relating to aging individuals and an older society. The topics covered include access to and affordability of health care, long term care planning and financing, age discrimination in employment, estate and health care planning, and income maintenance and housing for the elderly.

This seminar examines the law applicable to archaeological, architecturally significant and other historic structures and cultural sites. The legal rationale behind police power regulations is studied, as are the alternative means of protection at local, state and federal levels of government. Private property tools and tax incentives are reviewed. The conflicts between preservation laws and other social values, the use of religious sites protected by the First Amendment, and the scope of "regulatory takings" are featured. Students are graded based on class participation and either a research paper or a project applying preservation laws to an actual factual setting. One class will be devoted to the presentation of papers and/or projects where students offer each other input and comment. The topics must be selected and approved by the professor before the fourth class. In addition, each student must give a 5 to 10 minute presentation on some relevant property or issue of note. ULWR

Has the President, particularly in exercising inherent and commander-in-chief powers, violated the Constitutional architecture of separation of powers? Has the Supreme Court upset the balance by interposing its authority in election controversies? Has the Congress sufficiently and effectively exercised its oversight powers? Recent terrorist acts affecting the United States particularly since 9/11 have produced changes in the operation of each branch of government and differences in how each branch of government interprets its governing law. These reactions are evidenced in recent legislation and Supreme Court decisions which we will study. The traditionally broad executive authority in foreign affairs and in the military sphere has been expanded unilaterally by presidential directives and executive orders, followed by congressional attempts to confine the President’s power. We will examine the operation of the three branches as they work together or as each struggles for pre-eminence in vital areas: national security, military justice, individual rights, intelligence, foreign and domestic policy. Students may take this seminar to satisfy their ULWR.

Ever since the election of 2000, the power of the Presidency has been subject to broad and incisive examination and criticism questioning whether the substance and constitutional architecture of the separation of powers have been violated. Has Supreme Court upset the balance still further by interposing its authority in election controversies? And Congress may be charged with failure to exercise its indispensable oversight and law making functions effectively. Particularly since 9/11, the threat of terrorist acts has produced changes in the operation of each branch of U.S. government and a barrage of laws which affect individual rights and national security. We will examine the Patriot Act, Homeland Security Act, Intelligence laws regulation of military tribunals and court decisions bearing on executive authority. We will also study the content and effect of certain presidential directives, signing statements and executive orders in extending the influence of the executive branch.

This is a basic course in corporations dealing with organizing a corporation; allocation of powers and control among directors, officers, and shareholders; the proxy system; the closely-held corporation and devices for control; the duties of directors and other "insiders"; and the interaction of federal and state corporation law. This course also presents a survey of law of partnership.

This class will discuss the basic areas of law confronted by a compliance professional for a financial services firm such as a private fund (e.g. hedge fund or private equity fund) or a FINRA regulated broker-dealer. The class will cover the fundamental areas of regulatory compliance, an overview of the law, guidance about market practices in addressing compliance issues and practical advice about how to handle day-to-day compliance issues. Guest speakers will include ex-regulators and several GC/CCOs and law firm attorneys who practice in these areas.

This course deals with the law relating to marine commerce and navigation, including carriage of goods under bills of lading, charter parties, maritime liens and ship mortgages, salvage, general average, collision, marine torts and injuries, limitation of liability, marine insurance, and admiralty jurisdiction.

This course will familiarize students with both the constitutional and practical challenges of state taxation at the corporate level, focusing primarily on the state income and sales taxes. The question of whether a state can impose a tax, and to what extent, could be one of the biggest challenges emerging from the shift to a global and digital economy. This explains why businesses, states, Congress, and courts have struggled with the application of state tax law in the modern economy; and why the legal field of State and Local Taxation (SALT) has experienced tremendous growth in the last 30 years. Through this course students will develop an understanding of the history of state and local taxation and how that history has led to the challenges businesses face today. As part of our exploration of state taxation, students will be given problems based on real-world issues and designed to highlight how the law impacts today’s business environment from a practical perspective.

This course is an analysis of children's rights, the rights of parents to supervise and decide critical issues affecting children, and the power of the state to intervene in family matters. Topics include physical and mental treatment, sexual rights of minors, emancipation, economic rights, child discipline, and choice of education. In addition, the child protective, foster care, and adoption systems are studied, including child abuse and neglect, the rights of foster children and parents, permanent termination of parental rights, and adoption.

This course, a continuation of Corporations & Partnerships, examines the issuance and reacquisition of corporate securities, problems of valuation, capital structure, dividend policy, and related corporate problems. Pre-requisite: Corporations & Partnerships

This course examines the primary entities [or vehicles] and financial tools for Corporate Finance; including corporate and partnership legal and capital structures, debt and equity capital formation and distribution, present and future valuation, dissolution and insolvency, and related business and financial issues. This course is only open to candidates for the LLM in Comparative Legal Studies, International Law Track.

This course provides an introduction for international lawyers to the spectrum of financial vehicles and legal constructs used in modern business from equity, to unsecured and secured debt, to capital market instruments. It will build a knowledge base from historic legal texts through modern securities laws. This course is only available to students in the LL.M program.

Based upon twenty-five years of experience in the business of sports, the instructor will provide an overview of how the various disciplines of the law impact the world of sports. A review of key cases, together with guest lecturers with actual experience in sports law, will demonstrate how sports is impacted by contract, anti-trust, labor, intellectual property, the right to privacy and many other aspects of the law. Sports - it's not just fun and games.

This course is designed for students interested in communications law, cyber law, and entertainment/media law. It explores the communications law issues raised by the rapid changes in technology and the ensuing advent of new business models. Do conventional regulations concerning "cable" companies make sense considering the rise of digital convergence? How should the government regulate "telephone" companies when copper wires provide access to the Internet and the vast array of content it provides? Is "net neutrality" a viable approach to solving some of these problems? To help students answer these and other questions in this complex and ever-changing field, this class explores the technology, economics, law, and policy of modern communications and how they are applied to the major relevant industries including broadcast, cable, telephony (landline and wireless), satellite, and the Internet.

This course will help students better understand the legality of social media as it relates to both legal disputes and the practice of law. The course is designed to survey the legal landscape and will spend each week touching on several wide-ranging topics among them, jury selection, employment, defamation and e-discovery. Each student will be required to write a paper, which you may choose to satisfy the Upper Level Writing Requirement. The last third of the semester’s classes will require students to lead the discussion based on topics of interest to them. As part of the class’ assessment, students will contribute 2 blog posts to our social media blog (approx. 1500 words) and write a short (5 -7 page) paper.

This course examines how the law addresses consensual sexuality, sexual orientation and gender expression and identity. We will analyze the application of a number of constitutional doctrines, including the right to privacy, freedom of expression, freedom of association, church-state separation, and the rights to due process and equal protection. Our study will encompass state criminal laws against sodomy and prostitution, the law of abortion and contraception, and the treatment of gay and transgendered Americans in family law (marriage, domestic partnership, adoption and child custody), public and private employment discrimination law, military law and education law. Primary course materials include cases and law review articles, supplemented by interdisciplinary readings in history, media, psychology, medicine and sociology.

This seminar uses gender as a lens to interpret the law and the experiences that women and men of all colors have with the law. We will begin by examining the theoretical presumptions and organizing principles of traditional feminist critiques of the law. Then, through examination of a variety of topics which have been of particular interest to feminist legal scholars, we will examine and critique the assumptions of feminist legal theory. Specifically, we will discuss legal aspects of work, motherhood, family life, sexual harassment, domestic violence, sexual intimacy, rape, pregnancy, abortion, race, wealth, poverty and sexual orientation. Throughout the course, our examination is grounded by inquiring to what extent feminism and theories of gender, when applied to the law, accurately have met the needs of women and men. The course concludes with a study of the most recent contributions to feminist legal scholarship and the emergence of a “Third Wave” feminist jurisprudence. Grades will be determined on the basis of class participation, presentations and a final paper. There is no examination. Students have the option of writing (i) several short (2-3) page papers and a 12-15 page final paper or (ii) a single 25 page final paper. Enrollment limited to 15 students. ULWR

This course is designed to give the student exposure to the collaborative law model and practical experience in the family law setting. There will be an overview of the collaborative law process and practical skills, as well as a discussion of specific issues that arise in the collaborative family law context. Collaborative Law is a way of practicing law whereby the attorneys for both parties to a dispute agree to assist their clients in problem solving, resolving conflict and reaching agreement using cooperative strategies rather than adversarial techniques and litigation. The focus in collaborative law is on finding the common interests and highest priorities of the parties. The goal of the process is to develop effective relationships, solve problems jointly and prevent a court battle. There will be interactive role play, skills training and a final paper.

A judicial externship provides an unparalleled opportunity to learn about the court system, the judicial process and judicial reasoning, to develop legal research and writing skills, and to observe trials, courtroom proceedings, and pretrial and settlement conferences. In the Judicial Externship Course students are placed in externships in individual judge’s chambers, primarily in the New York, Connecticut and New Jersey State court systems. Students are expected to work in chambers 12 hours per week, and to attend a weekly two-hour seminar. The seminar focuses on such topics as the court system (federal and state), the judicial selection process and elections in the state system, “merit” appointments, and the judicial disciplinary process. Issues such as confidentiality, conflicts and courtroom ethics will also be addressed. Externships are available with judges in a variety of New York state courts including the Appellate Division, the Supreme Court, Family Court, Court of Claims, Criminal Court and some of the City courts; a limited number of externships in the federal court system may also be available, including in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Students will need to plan their semester schedules to permit their being in chambers at least 12 hours a week. Externships will be located in New York City, Connecticut, New Jersey and the Ninth Judicial District. Pre-requisites: The course is open to students who, at the time the course is offered, will have completed at least three semesters in law school; Evidence is a prerequisite. Permission of the instructor, based upon application and interview, is required.

LAW 764B; 1 Credit academic (Fall Course); ULWR LAW 764C; 4 Credits: 3 clinical, 1 academic (Spring course); ULSR This program is designed specifically for students who are interested in applying for clerkships after graduation from law school. The course prepares students for a post-graduate clerkship by providing an intensive writing experience as well as an introduction to the workings of the various courts in the federal system. There are three components to the Honors Program: a mentored writing assignment that takes place in the fall semester, a judicial externship placement, and a seminar in the spring semester. Students who are selected for the program are assigned to a faculty mentor in the beginning of the fall semester and asked to prepare a writing piece similar to the type they would be required to draft for the judges in the externship portion of the course, using actual court motion papers from past cases. This portion of the program is conducted during the fall semester according to a schedule the student works out with his or her faculty mentor. Upon successful completion of the faculty-mentored writing project by December, students are placed in externships in the spring semester with individual judges in the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of New York (White Plains, New York City, and Poughkeepsie), the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn Heights), the District of Connecticut (Bridgeport), and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals (Newark). The externship portion of the program provides the students with a tremendous opportunity to apply their writing and research skills in a demanding setting and to experience the work of a federal court firsthand. Students will need to plan their spring semester schedules to permit their being in chambers at least 12 hours a week. In addition, Honors Program students participate in a weekly seminar in the spring semester, which includes such topics as the role of the student extern and law clerk, judicial ethics and confidentiality, writing for the court, habeas relief, federal jurisdiction and civil procedure, and guest lectures from judges on the function of their courts (Bankruptcy, Magistrate Judges, District Court, Court of Appeals, Court of International Trade). A significant part of the course is the information and guidance provided to the students concerning the application process for judicial clerkships. As part of the seminar, the students also benefit from ongoing faculty review of their writing as judicial externs, to the extent permitted by their judges. Application Process and Deadline: Students are invited to apply to the program based on their law school grades following their first year (full-time students) or second year (part-time students). To apply, the invited students must submit (1) a resume, (2) a transcript, (3) a writing sample, and (4) a cover letter. Acceptance and Placement: Students will be notified of their acceptance into the program in mid-July. Typically, 20-22 students will be accepted into this program.

This program is designed specifically for students who will be applying for federal clerkships after graduation from law school. The course prepares students for a post-graduate clerkship by providing an intensive writing experience as well as an introduction to the workings of the various courts in the federal system. There are three components to the Honors Program: a mentored writing assignment that takes place in the fall semester, a judicial externship placement, and a seminar in the spring semester. Students who are selected for the program are assigned to a faculty mentor in September and asked to prepare a writing piece similar to the type they would be required to draft for the judges in the externship portion of the course, using actual court motion papers from past cases. This portion of the program is done in the fall semester according to a schedule the student works out with his or her faculty mentor. Upon successful completion of the faculty-mentored writing project by December, students are placed in externships in the spring semester with individual judges in Second Circuit Court of Appeals (New York City; Stamford, Connecticut) and in the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of New York (White Plains and Foley Square in New York City), the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn Heights), the District of Connecticut (Bridgeport), and the District of New Jersey (Newark). The externship portion of the program provides the students with a tremendous opportunity to apply their writing and research skills in a demanding setting and to experience the work of a federal court firsthand. Students will need to plan their semester schedules to permit their being in chambers at least 12 hours a week. In addition, Honors Program students participate in a weekly seminar in the spring semester, which includes such topics as the role of the student extern and law clerk, judicial ethics and confidentiality, writing for the court, habeas relief, federal jurisdiction and civil procedure, and guest lectures from judges on the function of their courts (Bankruptcy, Magistrate Judges, District Court, Court of Appeals, Court of International Trade). A significant part of the course is the information and guidance provided to the students concerning the application process for judicial clerkships. As part of the seminar, the students also benefit from ongoing faculty review of their writing as judicial externs, to the extent permitted by their judges. Application Process and Deadline: Application for the Judicial Extern Honors Program consists of submission of (1) a resume, (2) a transcript, (3) a writing sample, (4) a two-three paragraph statement of interest in clerking after law school and (5) a cover sheet. Cover sheets will be available at the Academic Planning Fair every year and outside the Registrar’s Office. Acceptance and Placement: Students will be notified of their acceptance into the program in early July . Because competition for post-graduate federal clerkships is so stiff andbecause this course focuses on preparing students for such clerkships, grades are an important factor in the selection process. It is anticipated that not more than fifteen (15) students will be admitted to this program. Pre-requisites: The Honors Program is open to students who have completed at least 29 credits (i.e. those full-time students who have completed first year and those part-time students who have completed 29 credits, including Constitutional Law). Preference will be given to day students who will be taking the course in their second year, and to evening students who will be taking the course in their third year; Evidence is a pre-requisite. Academic Credit: 5 Credits (4 Credits in the Spring semester; and 1 credit in the Fall semester). Papers and other written course work may, with the consent of the Academic Dean, qualify for the Upper Level Writing Requirement.

his program is designed specifically for students who will be applying for federal clerkships after graduation from law school. The course prepares students for a post-graduate clerkship by providing an intensive writing experience as well as an introduction to the workings of the various courts in the federal system. There are three components to the Honors Program: a mentored writing assignment that takes place in the fall semester, a judicial externship placement, and a seminar in the spring semester. Students who are selected for the program are assigned to a faculty mentor in September and asked to prepare a writing piece similar to the type they would be required to draft for the judges in the externship portion of the course, using actual court motion papers from past cases. This portion of the program is done in the fall semester according to a schedule the student works out with his or her faculty mentor. Upon successful completion of the faculty-mentored writing project by December, students are placed in externships in the spring semester with individual judges in Second Circuit Court of Appeals (New York City; Stamford, Connecticut) and in the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of New York (White Plains and Foley Square in New York City), the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn Heights), the District of Connecticut (Bridgeport), and the District of New Jersey (Newark). The externship portion of the program provides the students with a tremendous opportunity to apply their writing and research skills in a demanding setting and to experience the work of a federal court firsthand. Students will need to plan their semester schedules to permit their being in chambers at least 12 hours a week. In addition, Honors Program students participate in a weekly seminar in the spring semester, which includes such topics as the role of the student extern and law clerk, judicial ethics and confidentiality, writing for the court, habeas relief, federal jurisdiction and civil procedure, and guest lectures from judges on the function of their courts (Bankruptcy, Magistrate Judges, District Court, Court of Appeals, Court of International Trade). A significant part of the course is the information and guidance provided to the students concerning the application process for judicial clerkships. As part of the seminar, the students also benefit from ongoing faculty review of their writing as judicial externs, to the extent permitted by their judges. Application Process and Deadline: Application for the Judicial Extern Honors Program consists of submission of (1) a resume, (2) a transcript, (3) a writing sample, (4) a two-three paragraph statement of interest in clerking after law school and (5) a cover sheet. Cover sheets will be available at the Academic Planning Fair every year and outside the Registrar’s Office. Acceptance and Placement: Students will be notified of their acceptance into the program in early July . Because competition for post-graduate federal clerkships is so stiff andbecause this course focuses on preparing students for such clerkships, grades are an important factor in the selection process. It is anticipated that not more than fifteen (15) students will be admitted to this program. Pre-requisites: The Honors Program is open to students who have completed at least 29 credits (i.e. those full-time students who have completed first year and those part-time students who have completed 29 credits, including Constitutional Law). Preference will be given to day students who will be taking the course in their second year, and to evening students who will be taking the course in their third year; Evidence is a pre-requisite. Academic Credit: 5 Credits (4 Credits in the Spring semester; and 1 credit in the Fall semester). Papers and other written course work may, with the consent of the Academic Dean, qualify for the Upper Level Writing Requirement and Upper Level Skills Requirement.

This is the seminar portion of the Federal Judicial Honors Externship.

This course introduces foreign-trained law students to the process, skills and resources of conducting legal research in the United States. It also teaches students to conduct American-style legal analysis and to write legal memoranda.

This course introduces foreign-trained law students to the history, substance and practice of law in the United States.

Fundamental aspects and legal problems of real estate financing are explored, such as absolute deed as a mortgage; remedies of mortgagees, including receivership, assignments of rents, possession; transfers of mortgagor's interest; transfer of mortgagee's interest; foreclosure by judicial proceedings and by power of sale; equitable and statutory redemption. When offered for three credits, the course also explores the law concerning leasehold financing, construction financing, purchase money mortgages, replacement and modification of senior mortgages and impact on junior lienors.

Every commercial law practice today requires environmental due diligence. This course examines the reporting requirements, audits, and other disclosures that the attorney must provide for the purchase or sale of real property, for mergers and acquisitions, for disclosures under the federal securities laws, and under environmental permitting for real estate development. The course examines warranties, covenants, and other representations available in structuring transactions to avoid or limit environmental liability. ULSR

This course explores selected legal problems relating to computer technology including: 1) the acquisition of computer hardware and software; 2) the copyright ability of computer software, and 3) the transfer of information over computer networks ("Cyberlaw"). Topics covered include outsourcing and licensing, the scope of protection for software, computer crime and computer privacy. Prior use of computers and prior exposure to basic copyright and trademark are beneficial but not required.

The protection of nature in parks, wilderness areas, and wildlife refuges has produced a special body of law throughout the country and the one-third of the United States which constitutes public lands. This course focuses on state conservation laws. Using the NYS Environmental Conservation Law as an example, fish and game laws and forestry laws are examined along with newer regulations on private lands to protect ecological systems or rare geological features such as wild and scenic rivers. Programs of local Conservation Trusts and the use of conservation easements are examined. The course also examines local land use ordinances to govern trees, wildlife habitat, and cultural assets on private property, as well as to probvide overlay zones for wildlife migration, or flooding migration, and other ecological objectives. Comparisons are made, where appropriate analogous federal laws, and international best practices for marine sanctuaries, protected areas, biodiversity inventories and stewardship, and habitat protection for migratory species. These aspects are coordinated through the integrating process of environmental impact assesment and rights of public participation in environemental decision making. In context, the relative rights of indigenous peoples and their sovereign rights, of private property owners, of various state governments (e.g. health, transportation, environment), and federal agencies are analyzed in context. This seminar meets once a week for 2 hours. Each student will prepare a research paper.

This course considers the legal relationships between employer and employee outside the union context; employment contracts and employment-at-will arrangements; employees' rights; employers' responsibilities and duties; fair labor standards; wage and hour regulations; safety, health and similar regulations; and miscellaneous matters such as employee privacy; review of employment records, Service Contract Act and others, as time permits.

This course provides a broad overview to the legal regulation of the employment relationship. Among the topics covered are the definition of the employment relationship; the nature of at-will employment; employee privacy; constitutional protections for public employees; the Family and Medical Leave Act; mandatory arbitration of employment disputes; and the basic substance and procedure of the federal anti-discrimination laws. Collective bargaining and unions will not be covered.

This course provides a broad overview to the legal regulation of the employment relationship. Among the topics covered are the definition of the employment relationship; the nature of at-will employment; employee privacy; constitutional protections for public employees; the Family and Medical Leave Act; mandatory arbitration of employment disputes; and the basic substance and procedure of the federal anti-discrimination laws. Collective bargaining and unions will not be covered.

This seminar explores the origin and development of the Supreme Court as an institution through examination of the lives of selected prominent (and not so prominent) justices. Writings of justices other than Supreme Court opinions and biographical accounts will inform how these jurists reached the interpretive philosophy (if any) they claimed title to. The way the Court has been viewed in different times will be explored through original sources. A seminar paper will be required and Upper Level Writing Credit is available. Nothing covered will be on the Bar-that’s a guarantee. This is a seminar for those who want to learn more about the Court’s history or who enjoy history seminars. Or both.

This seminar focuses on the constitutional and legal history of the Civil War era. Beginning with an examination of the legal history of slavery and the Supreme Court's treatment of slavery cases, including the notorious Dred Scott case, the seminar participants examine Lincoln's conception of executive power and the arguments arrayed against his broad claims. The constitutional theories both supporting and rejecting the right of states to secede are also studied. The development of military and international law during the Civil War is also examined. Both original and secondary materials are used throughout the course and a paper is required. This course will satisfy the Upper Level Writing Requirement.

The seminar centers on the application of the Full Faith and Credit Clause and Due Process Claus to multistate litigation. Controversies encompassing parties, events and issues originating in more than one state or implicating state-federal-international relationships require making a choice from various forums substantive and procedural laws to govern the decision-making process Knowledge of the different methodologies currently utilized to select the state whose law will govern is necessary to arrive at a supportable resolution. The Choice of Law may determine the validity of marriages, divorces, wills, titles to property, contracts, etc. Students who wish to take this seminar to fulfill the writing requirement should speak with Professor King. There is no prerequisite for the seminar.

This is the seminar portion of the Corporate Externship.

This course explores risk spreading through common law and administrative regulation of insurance products. The course addresses liability insurance (commercial, automobile, professional and product liability), as well as health and life insurance. Students learn how insurance institutions and the fact of insurance coverage affect economic behavior, on the part of individuals' and lawyers' litigation. The course also addresses the impact of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) on health and life insurance decisions, and examines the quasi-insurance aspects of managed health care.

This course, a seminar on current environmental law topics, involves in-depth analysis of selected environmental legal issues and policy problems. The seminar covers sophisticated legal and interdisciplinary issues of environmental decision-making, including economic and cost analysis, proof, identification of policy tradeoffs, environmental politics and similar issues. Topics to be covered ordinarily include a full semester seminar on the Federal Clean Air Act. Recommended: Environmental Law Skills and Practice. Enrollment is limited to 12 students.

This seminar will deal with federal and state environmental impact procedures required by NEPA , the New York State Environmental Quality Act (SEQRA) and little NEPA¿s from other states. Impact assessment is essential to real estate development, governments projects, and a wide range of law practices. The subjects covered will include the legislative history and development of the case law, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Regulations, the State Regulations, and the environmental assessment process and the work of attorneys, planners, and professionals of other disciplines in the process. This course is open to all students without pre-requisites, and students will take a final examination at the end for the course. Students who wish to do a research project for the Upper Division Writing Credit, can apply to the instructor and do this in lieu of the exam.

This seminar examines selected environmental challenges, unresolved or unimplemented mandates, or new and emerging problems in federal and state environmental programs. This year’s focus will be on Climate Change. The seminar will focus on cutting-edge scholarship that is relevant to climate change, defined broadly and including implications in a variety of areas such as energy policy, pollution control, land-use planning, natural resource management, community adaptation, agriculture, and disaster response.

This course explores the evolution of the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and its relation to other multilateral environmental agreements as a case study of the progressive development of international law. Specifically, the students will develop an understanding of the following: (1) history, structure, and functioning of UNCLOS, including existing limitations and its impact on legal/regulatory landscape at the global, regional and national levels; (2) legal implications of climate change impacts on the ocean; (3) governance of the Arctic via multilateral agreements, and the regulatory functions of the regional/international organizations in the Arctic; (4) challenges and opportunities associated with the international legally binding instrument under UNCLOS on conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction; and (7) theories and concepts on international law, customary international law, and legal principles.

This course explores the evolution of the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and its relation to other multilateral environmental agreements as a case study of the progressive development of international law. Specifically, the students will develop an understanding of the following: (1) history, structure, and functioning of UNCLOS, including existing limitations and its impact on legal/regulatory landscape at the global, regional and national levels; (2) legal implications of climate change impacts on the ocean; (3) governance of the Arctic via multilateral agreements, and the regulatory functions of the regional/international organizations in the Arctic; (4) challenges and opportunities associated with the international legally binding instrument under UNCLOS on conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction; and (7) theories and concepts on international law, customary international law, and legal principles.

Conservation easement is a type of property right in land held by someone other than the landowner. Additionally, the rights must have a conservation purpose. Over the past thirty years, conservation easements have emerged as a favored land-preserving tool of both public and private entities. They now protect over seven million acres of land nationwide, and the number of nonprofit organizations using the tool (called Land Trusts) is burgeoning. In this seminar, we will examine this popular tool, the reasons for its emergence, and its use. Along with exploring the strengths and weaknesses of conservation easements, we will investigate alternative methods of land conservation. This course will involve a substantial research paper and class presentations. Recommended: Environmental Law Survey

For several decades, certain traditional human rights increasingly have been seen as having a significant environmental component, while it has also become more common to view environmental rights as part of a panoply of human rights. This seminar will address obligations and responsibilities of States and other actors under human rights treaties, multilateral environmental agreements, and other vehicles. Certain procedural rights, especially access to information, participation in decision-making, and access to justice, are central and have deep roots in both human rights law and environmental law and will be explored, along with topics such as corporate accountability, protection of environmental advocates/defenders, challenges involving indigenous peoples, human rights implications of climate change, and tensions between human rights advocacy and environmental advocacy.

This course explores methods of resolving common disputes regarding land use and natural resources. Students are heavily oriented in law school to the methods of litigating such disputes, but are not as well prepared to participate in the settlement of these disputes as they arise and to avoid litigation when it is in the client’s interest to do so. The course examines the roles that lawyers play in facilitated and mediated processes designed to maximize benefits to the parties to disputes, including bi-lateral controversies and those involving multiple stakeholders. The course involves several simulations where students play the roles of attorneys and their clients or stakeholders in a range of situations. The objective is to help students understand and employ the skills used by neutral third parties and legal counsel for the parties where near-term dispute resolution, rather than litigated resolution, is in the parties’ best interests. ULSR

New York State enacted the first, and still the strongest, Constitutional provision for protection of an environmental value, wilderness. In 1894, a State Constitutional Convention proposed, and the voters adopted this mandate: “The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leases, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed.” NYS Constitution, Article XIV, Section 1. In emulation of New York’s Constitution, Pennsylvania adopted an environmental mandate in its Constitution, and Congress enacted the federal Wilderness Act to emulate New York. Other nations have adopted environmental provisions in their constitutions. Every decade New Yorkers decide whether to convene a new Constitutional Convention. In 1966 the New York Constitutional Convention proposed an Environmental Bill of Rights, but voters rejected the proffered new Constitution. In anticipation of the coming state-wide debate about revising the Constitution, this seminar will make a comparative study of how state constitutions provide for environmental protection, in the USA and in other countries. The specific theme of the class will be to critically research what New Yorkers could enact as new environmental constitutional provisions. At a minimum, there will be a debate about whether (a) to retain the “forever wild” clause in the Constitution “as is,” or (b) to strengthen its provisions, or (c) to weaken its provisions, or (d) to eliminate it. Over the decades, the State’s highest court has obliged the State to honor this Constitutional mandate, and the voters and both executive and legislative branches have enhanced and refined the “forever wild forest lands” in the Adirondack and Catskill mountains. The ecosystems in the Forest Preserve are a reservoir of biodiversity, the hydrologic source for much of the State’s rivers and reservoirs, an essential “living library” of aesthetic, cultural and spiritual values for those who visit the Preserve, and an economic mainstay for those in and around the “Blue line” and across the State. Student will research and prepare original papers on different aspects of comparative constitutional law and specifically on proposals that will inform the forthcoming constitutional debate in New York. An elective field trip into the Forest Preserve may be scheduled during the fall semester. Final papers will be delivered in class, before invited environmental law experts. The Seminar is limited to 12 students. This seminar will satisfy the ULWR. Please submit a letter indicating he reasons you wish to enroll in this seminar, along with your resume. No other prerequisites.

This course considers the challenge of addressing the increase in energy demand within a carbon-constrained world. It studies the use of coal, oil, gas, nuclear, wind, solar, hydro, and biofuels. Participants will consider electricity generally, cogeneration, transmission line expansion, human exposure, and environmental factors in considering a sound energy policy that meets society's energy needs. Each participant gives a presentation and writes a legal research paper. Enrollment limited to 18 students.

This seminar examines selected environmental challenges, unresolved or unimplemented mandates, or new and emerging problems in federal and state environmental programs. This year’s focus will be on Climate Change. The seminar will focus on cutting-edge scholarship that is relevant to climate change, defined broadly and including implications in a variety of areas such as energy policy, pollution control, land-use planning, natural resource management, community adaptation, agriculture, and disaster response.

This unique seminar course offers students the opportunity to study and do research with Judge Merideth Wright, recently retired from the Vermont Environmental Court, one of the foremost specialized environmental courts in the world. Readings and classroom work throughout the course will provide insight into comparative legal systems, and the different ways in which environmental protection and regulation can be carried out within those systems, with an emphasis on court jurisdiction and process. Each student will undertake a project of original research and analysis into judicial practices with respect to environmental issues in a chosen country, culminating in a paper and a brief oral scholarly presentation to interested judges and law professors. Qualifying research will be published on-line to help advance the understanding of environmental courts and tribunals around the world. The seminar is suitable for advanced students with an interest in judicial and administrative tribunal systems around the world, as well as those with an interest in the effectiveness of environmental regulation. Previous course work in substantive environmental law is helpful but not required. This two-credit course will be taught every other week on Wednesday from 9:00 am-12:30 pm, with office hours for individual student meetings on the Tuesday afternoons and evenings of the same week. The professor will also be available for consultation between class dates by email or Skype. Course dates will be Course dates will be 1/18, 2/1, 2/15, 2/29, 3/14, 3/28, 4/18 and 4/25; make-up classes due to weather may be scheduled on the alternate weeks.

Preparation of environmental impact statements is integral to practicing environmental law, under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) at the federal level and under “Little NEPAs” at the state level (for example the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) in New York). Regulations for environmental impact assessment (EIA) now also exist in every nation, being mandated by international law. Although the Trump Administration has adopted revisions to weaken the NEPA Regulations in the USA, other countries are strengthening their EIA laws in order to cope with the impacts of climate change, COVID-19, and the world-wide degradation of ecosystems and biodiversity. This seminar will critique the Trump Administration’s revisions to the federal NEPA regulations, and evaluate what other jurisdictions consider to be “best practices” for EIA. The seminar will then examine how to strengthen NEPA’s EIA Regulations in order to avert or cope with the increased frequency of environmental disruptions, such as sea level rise, wildfires, species extinctions, or further zoonotic diseases like COVID-19. Each seminar participant will be assigned a specific topic to independently research, in consultation with Prof. Robinson and using the resources of the Haub Law Library. Each will write an annotated paper (25 pp), including a draft of a proposed regulation by which EIA procedures could identify prospective new environmental harms and mandate actions that are capable of restoring environmental quality, including post-project monitoring. Seminar participants will present their papers to class for peer review, and revision. Authors of final papers of publishable quality will be invited by Prof. Robinson to submit their paper for inclusion as a chapter in a book on “EIA in the Anthropocene.” ULWR

This seminar is open to students who apply and with permission of the professor. Professor Nolon will supervise research and lead discussions involving a group of students with whom he has been working, mostly as volunteers. This two credit seminar will allow them to continue their work, which will lead to various publications on the topic: blogs, notes, essays, and articles published either by the students or the Professor. ULWR

This course will explore environmental rights in the context of the 2024 UN ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change. Students will also learn the jurisdiction and rules of the International Court of Justice, and the basics of International Environmental Law relevant to the forthcoming Advisory Opinion. See https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/187/187-20230419-PRE-01-00-EN.pdf. Students will watch the court proceedings and arguments, and study all the submissions of States to the Court. Students will critique these briefs and prepare an assessment of the arguments.

This introductory level course on renewable energy examines the historical and legal origins of renewable energy regulations and emerging policies in the developing and developed world. The course will specifically analyze China and Western Europe as interesting cases of changing energy markets and will explore the nature of their markets from a regulatory perspective. The centerpiece of this course is to focus on a specific renewable energy project (in a developing country) completed with international cooperation and assistance. The course will also focus on global institutions and policy making, the divide between industrialized countries and developing countries, the nexus between global climate change and renewable energy, sustainable energy sources, and challenges that global policymakers will face in the future. The course will look at the wide variety of local, regional, and international laws, regulatory techniques, and policy objects.

This class will immerse students in advocacy for environmental justice and the right to a safe, healthy, clean, and sustainable environment. It will help students connects the dots between inequality, exposure to pollution, and vulnerability to the looming climate crisis, and will cultivate student ability to think creatively about how law can respond to environmental injustice. Building on the United Nations prediction that by 2050 two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities, this class will focus on urban environments, and will use New York City as a case study. Drawing on the core environmental justice principles of fair treatment and meaningful involvement, this class will explore the many ways that local environmental and land use decisions in cities like New York impact the health and welfare of affected communities. We will examine how federal environmental laws, regulations, and policies intersect with these local land use choices to shape the distribution of both public goods like greenspaces, public transit, quality schools, safe streets, and public ‘bads’ like power plants, waste transfer stations, and truck routes. Students will trace the spillover environmental and health implications of those choices, including disparately high asthma rates, COVID-19 infection rates, and levels of childhood lead poisoning in environmental justice communities. Drawing on urban commons theory, we will consider how different framings of public and private property might disrupt or support these local land use choices. Throughout the semester, students will work collaboratively to identify legal problems, and possible law-based or regulatory-based solutions to contemporary problems of environmental justice and related social justice concerns such as food justice, disaster justice, and climate justice.

A judicial externship provides an unparalleled opportunity to learn about the court system, the judicial process and judicial reasoning, to develop legal research and writing skills, and to observe trials, courtroom proceedings, and pretrial and settlement conferences. In the Judicial Externship Course students are placed in externships in individual judge’s chambers, primarily in the New York, Connecticut and New Jersey State court systems. Students are expected to work in chambers 12 hours per week, and to attend a weekly two-hour seminar. The seminar focuses on such topics as the court system (federal and state), the judicial selection process and elections in the state system, “merit” appointments, and the judicial disciplinary process. Issues such as confidentiality, conflicts and courtroom ethics will also be addressed. Externships are available with judges in a variety of New York state courts including the Appellate Division, the Supreme Court, Family Court, Court of Claims, Criminal Court and some of the City courts; a limited number of externships in the federal court system may also be available, including in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Students will need to plan their semester schedules to permit their being in chambers at least 12 hours a week. Externships will be located in New York City, Connecticut, New Jersey and the Ninth Judicial District. Pre-requisites: The course is open to students who, at the time the course is offered, will have completed at least three semesters in law school; Evidence is a prerequisite. Permission of the instructor, based upon application and interview, is required.

This is the seminar portion of the State Judicial Externship.

Students spend twelve hours per week working in a prosecutor's office under the supervision of experienced attorneys. Responsibilities may include drafting accusatory instruments, conducting investigations, researching and writing responses to motions and memoranda of law, drafting direct and cross-examination questions for grand jury, hearings, or trials, and observing and/or participating in court proceedings and complainant/witness interviews. The weekly two-hour seminar provides background on legal, practical, and ethical issues in criminal litigation, and an opportunity to present cases for mutual consultation. Participating offices may include the White Plains branch of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, the Task Force on Organized Crime, the Connecticut State's Attorney's Office, and the District Attorney's Offices of Westchester, Queens, and Rockland Counties. Criminal Procedure (Investigation), Evidence, and permission of the professor, after application and interview, are required. ULSR

This is the seminar portion of the Prosecution Externship.