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Required First-Year Courses
Civil ProcedureLEX 6100 Cr. 3 (6 req.)
Structure of the judicial system in the United States and the process of civil litigation from the commencement of an action through appeal. Subjects considered include jurisdiction, the relationship between state and federal courts, pleading, discovery and other pretrial devices, and trial and appellate review.
Contracts
LEX 6200 Cr. 3 (6 req.)
General principles of the law of contracts; definition of contract; illegality, mistake, frustration, impossibility; Statute of Frauds, interpretation, the parol evidence rule; performance and breach; rescission; repudiation and discharge. Remedies, including damages, specific performance, injunction and restitution. All topics considered from viewpoints of both common law and statute.
Criminal Law
LEX 6300 Cr. 3
General doctrines of criminal liability as they relate to the moral and social problems of crime; definitions of principal crimes and defenses to criminal prosecution, both common law and statutory; limitations on the use of criminal sanctions.
Legal Research and Writing
LEX 6400 Cr. 2 (4 req.)
Analysis of legal problems and the use of legal materials, through discussion, written assignments, and personal conferences. Preparation of an appellate brief and oral argument on a selected civil or criminal case before a court composed of faculty or members of the local bench and bar.
Property
LEX 6500 Cr. 4
Basic course in real property, which will include selected materials from some of the following areas: historical introduction to real property; personal property transfers by gift, finding, adverse possession; modern law of possessory estates, including non-freehold estates, and landlord and tenant relationships; concurrent estates; restraints upon the use of land; and conveyancing and effects of the Recording Acts.
Torts
LEX 6600 Cr. 4
Legal principles underlying wrongs not based on contract, arising from intentional or negligent conduct and including strict liability; the nature of particular wrongs, including injuries to the person, to reputation, to real or personal property, and to interference with business or family relations.
Constitutional Law I
LEX 6700 Cr. 3
Problems arising under the Constitution of the United States, with particular attention to the nature of judicial review in constitutional cases and to the role of the judiciary in umpiring the federal system.
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Required Upper Level Course
Professional Responsibility and the Legal
Profession
LEX 6800 Cr. 2
Conflicts of interest; the attorney's standard of care, fiduciary duty;
the organization of bar associations; the attorney's duty to the court
and the community; the attorney's responsibilities in trial, and in
unilateral actions and negotiations. The duty of disclosure of adverse
data, the development of group legal services, and of legal services
to the poor and the responsibility of the bar in these areas.
Upper Level Elective Courses
Accounting for Lawyers
LEX 7001 Cr. 2
May not be taken for credit by those who have had two or more undergraduate
accounting courses or a graduate course in financial accounting. Basic
concepts in bookkeeping and generally accepted accounting principles;
background to help read and interpret financial statements; auditor's
role and accounting issues that arise in business planning, in litigation
and in managing financial investments.
Administrative Law
LEX 7006 Cr. 3 or 4
Functions and behavior of administrative agencies; constitutional and
statutory constraints on agency operation. How the government formulates
and enforces policy, administers public benefit programs and awards licenses.
Advanced Bankruptcy Law
LEX 7009 Cr. 3
In this course, students will become familiar with the chapter 11 business
reorganization process. By reviewing mock bankruptcy schedules,
and cash collateral, relief from stay, and chapter 11 plan and disclosure
statement proceedings, the students will develop the necessary substantive
knowledge and hone their negotiation and trial advocacy skills.
A problem-oriented approach will be used, with students and instructors
participating in resolving situations commonly encountered in a business
bankruptcy.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
LEX 7016 Cr. 2
Forms of non-trial dispute resolution: arbitration, mediation and negotiation
-- their various permutations and substantive applications. Factors affecting
choice between dispute resolution processes; differences in design and
structure, relative costs, quality of participant performance, accountability
for results, privacy of proceedings, role of legal norms and lawyers,
due process considerations, availability of judicial review; tactics and
strategies that participants employ in arbitration, mediation and negotiation.
American Indian Law
LEX 7021 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 6500 Property; prereq. or coreq. LEX 6700 Constitutional
Law I recommended.
This course explores the foundational principles and doctrines governing
the legal and political relationship between the United States and Indian
tribes. Major topics in the course include the history of federal
Indian law and policy, congressional plenary power, principles of interpretation
of laws and treaties regarding Indians, the nature of tribal sovereignty,
and jurisdiction in Indian country. In examining these topics, we
will discuss laws and policies concerning tribal justice and legal systems,
gambling and taxation in Indian country and the Indian Child Welfare Act.
American Legal History
LEX 7020 Cr. 4
Non-technical survey of relationships between private law and a developing American society from earliest settlement to the present. Emphasis on evolving conceptions of civil authority and private right, the legal profession, legal education, the law of slavery, and doctrinal developments touching property, labor, women, children, and others.
Antitrust
LEX 7026 Cr. 2, 3 or 4
Government control of trade practices and industrial market structures
which inhibit the competitive process; monopoly, oligopoly, mergers, cartel
practices, distribution arrangements, resale price control, franchising,
patent licensing, foreign commerce and price discrimination under the
Sherman, Clayton, Federal Trade Commission and Robinson-Patman Acts.
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Bankruptcy and Creditors' Rights
LEX 7051 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 6500 Property; Pre or Coreq. LEX 7756 Secured Transactions.
Problems arising when debtors are in financial difficulty, including the
principal state remedies of unsecured creditors such as attachment, garnishment
and enforcement of judgments; Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation; Chapter
13 wage-earner plans; and Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganizations.
Business Planning
LEX7060 Cr. 4
Prereq. or Coreq.: Students must have completed LEX 7156Corporations; LEX 7816 Taxation; LEX 7146 Corporate Tax 1 and LEX 7151 Corporate Tax II(or LEX 7203 Elements of Corporate Tax or LEX 7821 Taxation of Corporations); LEX 7761 Securities Regulation. Not open to students who have taken or are taking LEX 7603 Mergers and Acquisitions.
A planning course that includes a detailed examination of problems involving common business transactions, including the choice of entity to conduct business, the organization, financing, and operation of a corporation, and the restructuring of business enterprises. The problems require the consideration and application of corporate, tax, securities law, and financial matters, including the role of the business lawyer in counseling and planning business transactions. We will consider the relationship between the corporation and its shareholders, especially when the parties may not be dealing at arm's length.
Business Planning: A Transactional Approach
LEX 7061 Cr. 4 (8 req.)
Prereq.: LEX 7156 Corporations and LEX 7816 Taxation. Not open to students
who have taken former JDC 728 Business Planning and Taxation of Corporations
and Shareholders, LEX 7821 Taxation of Corporations, LEX 7761 Securities
Regulation, LEX 7146 Corporate Tax I or LEX 7151 Corporate Tax II.
Credit on completion of two terms.
Organizational problems for the closely held and the public corporation;
operational problems such as stock distributions, issuance of new securities,
constructive dividend problems and stock redemptions; corporate acquisitions,
other reorganizations, contested take-overs, and liquidation and termination
problems.
Bioethics and the Law
LEX 7058 Cr. 3
This course will examine the role of the law in shaping, analyzing,
and resolving the conflicts that arise in the interplay between medicine,
biotechnology, ethics, social history, and cultural evolution. Key
topics to be explored include reproductive rights and genetic technologies,
maternal fetal decisionmaking, medical decisionmaking, definitions
of death, death and dying decision, regulation of research on humans,
interdisciplinary decisionmaking, and access to health care.
Business Valuation for Lawyers
LEX 7065 Cr. 2
This course prepares students to deal intelligently with clients, opposing
counsel, expert witnesses, courts and juries handling the complex and
often arcane concepts of business valuation. This course follows
the terminology and practices of the well-recognized Uniform Standards
of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), thus equipping the student
to speak the universal language of the business valuation community
and understand the mechanics of business appraisal.
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Child, Family & State
LEX 7075 Cr. 3
Not open to students who have taken LEX 8028 Child, Family & State
Seminar.
This course is designed to explore the various aspects of children in
the legal system. Discussions focus on the legal relationship between
children, their parents, and government (federal, state, local and tribal).
What are the rights of these various parties? What should the relationship
between them look like? We will explore these questions by examining topics
such as education, medical care, children's rights, the concept of legal
parenthood, parental rights (including the termination thereof), adoption,
and the juvenile justice process. The course will concentrate on constitutional
and policy analysis, as opposed to a detailed examination of the various
rules and regulations involved in the different areas. Students will be
graded on class participation, several short written assignments and a
final, take-home examination.
Commercial Systems
LEX 7661 Cr. 2
Prereq. or coreq.: LEX 7756 Secured Transactions
A capstone course for the contracts/commercial curriculum emphasizing
study of the creation, transfer, and enforcement of obligations mostly
in the payment, transport, and storage settings.
Communications Law
LEX 7111 Cr. 2 or 3
Government regulation of radio, over-the-air TV, cable, direct satellite
broadcasting and other electronic mass media technologies. Licensing;
content control; the respective roles of the regulator and the marketplace.
Comparative Constitutional Law
LEX 7114 Cr. 3
A comparison of the structure of government in a number of constitutional democracies, with a focus on courts, separation of powers and federalism.
Comparative Criminal Procedure
LEX 7112 Cr. 2-3
Prereq. or Coreq.: Students must have completed or be taking concurrently LEX 7161 or LEX 7166
In this course we will compare the American (adversarial common law) system of criminal procedure with some European (inquisitorial civil law) systems, looking for differences and similarities and striving towards improvement and convergence(towards an international The comparative study will be conducted from the perspective of the Amendments to the American Constitution and the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, guaranteeing virtually the same rights to a fair administration of criminal justice. The following issues will be covered; pre-trial criminal investigation (searches and seizures, probable cause), special methods of investigation (undercover policing, systematic surveilance), questioning suspects (rights to remain silent and privilege against self-incrimination), assistance of (retained or appointed) counsel, prosecutorial discretion, pre-trial detention and judicial oversight(habeas corpus), trial proceedings (bench trials and jury trials detentionand judicial oversight (habeas corpus), trial proceedings (bench trials and jury trials, active and passive judges), out of court settlements (plea-bargaining), exclusion of unlawfully obtained evidence, legal remedies and appeals (matters of fact and law, double jeopardy). These issues will be discussed on the basis of problems and applicable court decisions by the American Federal Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights.
Comparative Law
LEX 7116 Cr. 2 or 3
Methods and sources of common and civil law; background and structure
of the principal civil codes; analysis and study of problems arising in
the context of foreign legal systems.
Conflict of Laws
LEX 7121 Cr. 3
Principles, rules and methods thought to underlie the resolution of multi
state problems. Jurisdiction and enforcement of judgments of other states.
Constitutional History of the United States to 1860
LEX7123
Cr. 4
Anglo-American constitutional development from European expansion and New World Settlement through the onset of the Civil War. Changing relationship between colonies and imperial center, emergence of revolutionary republic in North America, framing of new constitutional orders, nineteenth-century developments through 1860.
Constitutional History of the United States from 1860 to 1940
LEX7124 Cr. 4
United States constitutional development from the beginning of Civil War through the Judicial Revolution of 1937. Emergence of new constitutional agenda between 1860 and the 1890s. Progressive constitutionalism, changes in relations between branches of government and in the federation, New Deal constitutionalism, and struggles for enfranchisement of blacks and women.
Constitutional History of the United States from 1937 to Present
LEX7125 Cr. 3
U.S. constitutional development since the Judicial Revolution of 1937, emphasizing New Deal constitutionalism, dramatic shifts in the role of courts and the executive branch, civil rights movements, and modern rights consciousness.
Constitutional Law II
LEX 7126 Cr. 4
Prereq.: LEX 6700 Constitutional Law I.
Individual rights under the Constitution of the United States. Freedom
of speech, religious freedom and equal protection.
Consumer Law
LEX 7128 Cr. 2 or 3
Prereq.: None
(2 hours)
An introduction to law specially directed at the rights and obligations
of consumers. The consumer marketplace is regulated by a series of discrete
statutes and regulations, such as the Federal Trade Commission Act (and
accompanying regulations), Truth-in-Lending Act, Fair Credit Reporting
Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act,
and lemon laws. This course provides an overview of these special rules
and their interpretation and enforcement. As such the course provides
an introduction to the role of administrative agencies and the interpretation
of statutes and regulations.
Consumption-Based Taxation
LEX 7131 Cr. 2
Prereq.: LEX 7816 Taxation.
Economic, administrative and legal aspects of consumption-based sales
taxes with an emphasis on value-added tax. The course will cover the various
forms of V.A.T. adopted abroad and the proposals for a V.A.T. in the United
States. The course will concentrate on the American Bar Association's
Model Statute for the United States, the rules pertaining to the harmonization
of V.A.T. in the European Community, the Japanese Consumption Tax, the
Canadian Goods and Services Tax, and the legislative proposals for a V.A.T.
in the United States.
Copyright Law
LEX 7136 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 6500 Property.
Law of copyright and related doctrines protecting literary, musical and
artistic works. Nature of rights and kinds of works protected, doctrine
of fair use, preemption problem and problems posed by new technologies.
Emphasis on 1976 Copyright Act and its relation to issues such as home
videotaping, photocopying and nonprofit performance of protected works.
Corporate Finance
LEX 7141 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7156 Corporations.
Economic and legal problems arising in connection with financing decisions
of publicly held corporations, including valuation of the enterprise and
its securities, determination of securities structure and dividend policy,
capital structure (including problems relating to debt) and acquisition
strategies. In connection with certain specific topics, consideration
will be given to the application of federal securities regulations.
Corporate Tax I
LEX 7146 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7816 Taxation.
Not open to students who have taken LEX 7821 Taxation of Corporations.
Tax aspects of the choice of form of business operation (including S corporations);
corporate formation; distributions of stock or property; redemptions;
liquidations; punitive taxes on accumulations of earnings; personal holding
companies; collapsible corporations.
Corporate Tax II
LEX 7151 Cr. 2
Prereq.: LEX 7146 Corporate Tax I. Not open to students who have taken
LEX 7821 Taxation of Corporations.
In-depth study of taxable and nontaxable reorganizations, and the carryover
of tax attributes.
Corporations
LEX 7156 Cr. 2-4
Relationships between owners and directors of a corporate enterprise;
different types of stock ownership and the corresponding rights in profits
and control; consolidation and merger; distinctive features of the closed
corporation.
Criminal Procedure I
LEX 7161 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 6700 Constitutional Law I recommended.
Constitutional requirements for arrests, searches, seizures, electronic
surveillance and interrogations.
Criminal Procedure II
LEX 7166 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 6700 Constitutional Law I recommended.
Operation of the criminal justice system from the defendant's first
appearance in the court through the trial to post- conviction remedies,
including a study of bail, the preliminary hearing, the grand jury,
voir dire, discovery, double jeopardy, joinder and habeas corpus.
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Directed Study
LEX 7990 Cr. 1 or 2
Prereq.: Prior consent of the professor directing the study, and for
LL.M. students prior consent of the Director of the Graduate Program;
for J.D. students prior consent of the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs.
Subject matter and procedure are to be arranged prior to registration.
Disability Discrimination Law
LEX 7186 Cr. 2 or 3.
This course examines federal and state law prohibiting discrimination
on the basis of disability, with particular emphasis on the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Michigan's
Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act. Special attention will be
given to discrimination in the fields of employment, insurance, health
care, education and housing. Course requirements include a research
paper and a final examination. For the research paper, students, working
in small groups, will investigate and assess a local business or government
agency's compliance with federal and state laws prohibiting disability
discrimination.
Domestic Violence and the Law
LEX 7190 Cr. 2
The course will examine the response of the legal system to complex
issues raised by domestic violence. The historical and social context
of domestic violence, as well as the dynamics of abusive relationships,
will be considered. Among other topics, the course will cover criminal
law issues (domestic assault, stalking, homicide, self-defense, orders
of protection); tort litigation against perpetrators and/or the state;
child welfare system issues (the overlap between domestic violence and
child maltreatment; failure to protect); family law issues (custody,
visitation).
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Education Law
LEX 7201 Cr. 3
Survey of the field of education law with emphasis on public education.
An examination of the historical development of education law in the
United States as well as topics of current interest and importance.
Topics may include tenure, academic freedom, school discipline, school
financing, home-based schooling, state regulation of private schools,
church-state education relationships and desegregation in public education.
Elder Law
LEX 7204 Cr. 2-3
This course will address the legal needs of the growing elder population.
Issues discussed will include housing, health care delivery, end-of-life
decisions, and elder abuse. The course will explore the legal, social,
and political context within which these issues have arisen, and their
importance for lawyers in present-day practice.
Elements of Corporate Taxation
LEX 7203 Cr. 2
Prereq.: Taxation (LEX 7816). Not open to students who have taken Business
Planning: A Transactional Approach (LEX 7061), Corporate Tax I (LEX
7146), Corporate Tax II (LEX 7151), or Taxation of Corporations (LEX
7821).
Basic overview of the federal income taxation of corporations and their
shareholders; choices among forms of business organization, problems
relating to the formation, operation, reorganization and liquidation
of a corporation, and distributions to shareholders.
Employee Benefits: Regulation - Introduction
LEX 7207 Cr. 2
Not open to students who have taken former LEX 7211 Employee Benefits
II in the Fall 1996 term or thereafter.
An introduction into employee benefits regulation. The course covers
overriding tax issues (controlled groups), as well as plan design, preemption,
fiduciary duty requirements, reporting and disclosure, benefits litigation
and claims procedure, and benefits-related aspects of the following:
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Age Discrimination in Employment
Act (ADEA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Worker Adjustment
and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). The course focuses on both tax
and non-tax issues. Although it is recommended that this course be taken
before LEX 7208 and LEX 7209, it is not a prerequisite for either of
those courses.
Employee Benefits: Retirement Plans
LEX 7208 Cr. 2
Not open to students who have taken former LEX 7206 Employee Benefits
I in the Fall 1997 term or thereafter. This course focuses on the variety
of deferred compensation and retirement plans: both tax- qualified and
non-qualified. It focuses on tax-qualification requirements (participation,
benefit accrual, non-discrimination, funding, vesting and distribution)
but also discusses Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), Tax Sheltered
Annuities, governmental plans, stock option plans, multi-employer plans,
adoption and amendment procedures, correction programs, plan termination
and merger/acquisition issues.
Employee Benefits: Non-Retirement Plans
LEX 7209 Cr. 2
This course addresses the tax and non-tax aspects of life insurance,
disability benefits, health benefits, cafeteria plans, dependent care
plans, adoption benefits, severance benefits and "Golden Parachute"
rules. It addresses regulatory issues as well as health quality of care
concerns. Also covered is COBRA continuation coverage, long term care
and medical savings accounts.
Employment Discrimination
LEX 7216 Cr. 2 or 3
Federal constitutional and statutory guarantees of freedom from invidious
discrimination in employment. 13th and 14th Amendments, Title VII of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Reconstruction Civil Rights Act, 42
U.S.C.§1881, et seq., the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Age Discrimination
in Employment Act of 1967.
Employment Law
LEX 7221 Cr. 2 or 3
Not open to students who have taken LEX 7222 Employment Law: Common
Law & Workplace Health and Safety Issues or LEX 7223 Employment
Law: Privacy, Status Discrimination and Wage, Hour and Benefit
Issues.
Legal rights and responsibilities of employees (excluding rights provided
by anti-discrimination laws and the N.L.R.A.); statutory and common
law limitations on the employer's right to discharge; protection of
employee privacy and reputation; laws governing wages and hours, occupational
safety, unemployment compensation, workers' compensation and employee
benefits.
Employment Law: Common Law & Workplace Health and Safety Issues
LEX 7222 Cr. 2 or 3
Not open to students who have taken LEX 7221 Employment Law.
This course provides an overview of two areas of employment law commonly
encountered by the general practitioner and also provides a foundation
for students who plan to specialize in employment and labor law:
(1) common law employment doctrines, including at-will employment, contract
and tort erosions of at-will employment, employee duties, including
the duty of loyalty and trade secrets, noncompetition agreements, and
rights to employee inventions and (2) workplace injuries, including
workers compensation, OSHA, and criminal and tort approaches to promoting
a safe workplace.
Employment Law: Privacy, Status Discrimination
and Wage, Hour and Benefit Issues
LEX 7223 Cr. 3
Not open to students who have taken LEX 7221 Employment Law.
This course provides an overview of four areas of employment law commonly
encountered by the general practitioner and also provides a foundation
for students who plan to specialize in labor and employment law:
(1) workplace privacy issues, including free speech and political protections,
and defamation and related torts; (2) prohibitions on status discrimination;
(3) wage, hour and benefits legislation, including unemployment compensation,
the WARN Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act; and (4) NLRA issues
commonly encountered in the unorganized workplace.
English Legal History
LEX 7224 Cr. 3
Survey course: 1066 CE to present. Areas of private law - real property, contracts, torts, and family law; criminal law; development of the court system; labor law and rise of modern administrative state.
Environmental Law
LEX 7231 Cr. 2 or 3
Environmental law in common law, statutes, constitutional issues, administrative
and international law. Coherent legal analysis of environmental problems
and active legal remedies, rather than specialized instruction in pollution
controls.
Equitable Remedies
LEX 7236 Cr. 2 or 3
Not open to students who have taken former JDC 864 Remedies, former
JDC 779 Equity or former JDC 866 Restitution.
Survey of the equitable remedies available for the vindication of substantive
rights, which include injunctive and restitutionary relief, as well
as the general treatment of equitable relief in contract, tort and criminal
actions.
Estate, Gift and Inheritance Taxation
LEX 7241 Cr. 2
Prereq.: LEX 7816 Taxation. May not be taken by students who have completed
LEX 7246 Estate & Gift Tax & Estate Planning Workshop.
Federal and state transfer taxes and income taxation of fiduciaries
and beneficiaries.
European Union Law
LEX 7261 Cr. 2 or 3
Institutional and substantive law of the European Union ( E.U.). The
first part of the course will provide students with a firm foundation
in the institutional law of the European communities and the European
Union, particularly the judicial protection under European Community
(E.C.) law. The second part will provide insight into the basic legal
aspects of the E.U.'s single internal market and E.C. economic policy.
Evidence
LEX 7266 Cr. 2-4 (4 req.)
General principles relating to the proof of questions of fact in civil
and criminal trials, including competency, relevancy and materiality
of evidence; judicial notice; presumptions; burden of proof; competency
of witnesses; rules relating to examination and cross-examination of
witnesses; weight and sufficiency of evidence.
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Family Law
LEX 7301 Cr. 2 or 3
Entry into marriage; legal treatment of couples in marital and nonmarital
relationships; divorce, including custody, alimony and property distribution,
and the role of the attorney; procreation; illegitimacy; rights and
responsibilities of children and parents with respect to each other
and to the state; child abuse and neglect; adoption. When offered for
two credits, considerably less time is devoted to children's issues.
Federal Courts and the Federal System
LEX 7306 Cr. 2 or 3
Prereq.: LEX 6700 Constitutional Law I.
Interrelationship of state and federal law in our legal system from
the point of view of the federal courts and Congress. Emphasis on the
politics, history and philosophy of federalism, rather than on procedure.
Federal Income Taxation of Partnerships
LEX 7311 Cr. 2 - 3
Prereq.: LEX7816 Taxation
All aspects of transfer of property to partnership; problems in connection with operations; distribution of property and transfers of interest in partnerships; comparison of partnerships with S corporations.
Federal Tax Practice
LEX 7316 Cr. 2
Prereq.: LEX 7816 Taxation.
Procedure, both administrative and judicial, involved in the conduct
of federal tax controversies.
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Health Care Organizations
& Finance
LEX 7353 Cr. 3
This survey course examines legal responses to problems of health care
costs, access and financing from both public and private perspectives.
On the private side, topics include regulation of insurance and managed
care, developments in federal ERISA preemption, changing business structures,
and antitrust enforcement. On the public side, students will be
introduced to Medicare and Medicaid financing, rules prohibiting self-referrals
and standards policing fraud and abuse.
Health Care Quality, Licensing & Liability
LEX 7354 Cr. 3
This survey course explores legal responses to problems of health care
quality and medical errors. Topics include state licensing of
health care professionals and institutions, self-regulation, and tort
liability for physicians, hospitals and managed care organizations.
The course gives a basic introduction to health care institutions, the
particulars of malpractice litigation and proposals for tort reform.
Health Law
LEX 7356 Cr. 2 or 3
Prereq.: LEX 6600 Torts.
Current issues in health care law such as malpractice by physicians
and hospitals; reforming the tort system for medical injuries; organizing
health care delivery; access to health care; health care cost control;
antitrust problems in the health care industry.
Health Policy: The Firm, The Market
and The Law
LEX 7360 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 6200 Contracts and LEX 6600 Torts
This course explores problems of health law and policy from the perspective
of modern institutional economics, including Coase’s theory of
the firm and Ken Arrow’s work on Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics
of Health Care. The course examines trends towards prepayment,
vertical integration and the development of managed care networks.
Legal questions include constructing a competition policy, defining
physician rights and responsibilities within an integrated firm structure,
the significance of social norms, and patient protection in a world
of managed care. The course should be valuable to students interested
in law and economics and contemporary policy analysis, as well as students
interested in the health care industry.
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Immigration and Nationality
Law
LEX 7371 Cr. 2 or 3
Immigration, its history and development; entry into the United States,
alien status and adjustment to status; deportation and relief from deportation;
exclusion and relief from exclusion; nationality and citizenship.
Insurance Law
LEX 7381 Cr. 2
General principles, including indemnity, subrogation, reinsurance, insurable
interest and classification of risks such as personal business and legal
liability. Michigan insurance law and no-fault legislation examined;
contractual rights and liabilities of the insurer, insured and third-party
beneficiaries.
International Aspects of U.S. Taxation
LEX 7401 Cr. 2 or 3
Prereq.: LEX 7816 Taxation.
United States taxation of nonresident aliens and foreign entities, foreign
tax credit, determination of source of income, impact of tax treaties,
earned income exclusion, tax effect of mode of operation and country
of incorporation, and statutory and nonstatutory tax devices available
for international operations.
International Business Transactions
LEX 7404 Cr. 3
Practical legal problems connected with doing business abroad; counseling
on foreign law.
International Finance: Transactions, Regulation and Policy
LEX 7406 Cr. 3
This course studies legal problems associated with the flow of capital across national borders. Topics include various types of international financial transactions, regulations of international capital markets and international banking, emerging market debt problems, and reform of the international financial system. While there is no prerequisite, it is recommended that students have taken a basic course of economics in college or corporations in law school.
International Intellectual Property Law
LEX 7407 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7136 Copyright Law; LEX 7656 Patent Law or LEX 7831
Trademark and Unfair Competition; or Consent of Instructor
This course addresses the legal issues surrounding the protection of
intellectual property rights in a globalized commercial environment.
A broad range of U.S. businesses have a strong interest in acquiring
copyrights, patents, and trademark rights that are recognized in other
countries, and enforcing those rights against infringers outside the
United States. Conversely, non-U.S. owners of intellectual property
rights wish to establish and enforce equivalent rights in the United
States. The course centers on the study of the principal multilateral
treaties that protect intellectual property rights: the Berne Convention
on copyrights, the Paris Convention on trademarks and patents, and the
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS”).
The course also looks at the intellectual property component of the
North American Free Trade Agreement, and a variety of legislative materials
from the European Union.
International Law
LEX 7408 Cr. 3
Basic legal concepts applied by international tribunals and courts of
the United States to the relations between independent nations. The
nature and sources of international law; the use of treaties; international
organizations; practices respecting recognition, territory, nationality
and jurisdiction.
International Legal Research
LEX 7414 Cr. 1
Prereq: consent of instructor.
Fundamentals of research in public international law. In connection with Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, students review structure of international legal institutions, nature of the materials they produce, and the unique way these materials are indexed and cataloged. Focus on how these materials can best be used in legal advocacy; emphasis on effective writing and oral argument.
International Litigation
LEX 7409 Cr. 3
This course examines issues arising in civil cases in American courts
in which international parties, evidence and issues are present.
Subjects covered included personal jurisdiction, service of process
abroad, conducting discovery abroad suing foreign sovereigns and governmental
officials, forum non conveniens and international arbitration.
International Organizations and Public Health
LEX 7410 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 6200 Contracts and LEX 6600 Torts
This course has two objectives. The first is to give students
a working understanding of the structure, functions and mission of the
international organizations that increasingly impact modern life:
the WTO, WHO, World Bank, IMF and UN. The second objective is
to explore the effects of globalization on public health. Topics
covered will include WHO control of infectious diseases such as SARS,
the impact of the WTO on pharmaceutical pricing of AIDS drugs and the
sale of genetically modified foods, international conventions for tobacco
control, and the influence of World Bank and IMF privatization requirements
on health sector reform in developing countries.
International Prosecution of State Actors
LEX 7413 Cr. 3
This course will examine legal and political aspects of the new processes
by which one-time state officials such as former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic, former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and former
East German leader Egon Krenz and their followers have been subjected
to prosecution in international and foreign legal systems. The
course will cover the basic elements of transnational criminal law,
and will explore the controversial questions of principle and policy,
such as United States opposition to the new International Criminal Court,
concerns about retroactive punishment, and the question of respect for
amnesties that have contributed to ending civil conflicts.
International Protection of Human Rights
LEX 7411 Cr. 2 or 3
The main international and regional legal instruments and procedures
for the protection of human rights.
International Tax Treaties
LEX 7416 Cr. 2
Prereq.: LEX 7816 Taxation.
International income tax treaties based on the OECD Model Treaty, Topics
include taxation of business income, permanent establishment rules,
taxation of employees and independent contractors on their personal
services income, taxation of investment flows, arrangements for administrative
cooperation and dispute settlement, and special rules for some international
transportation industries.
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Jurisprudence
LEX 7426 Cr. 2 or 3
Analysis of important legal notions such as law, sanction, rule and
sovereignty; relations between law and morals as seen particularly in
the development of natural law and legal positivism and in the development
of the notion of legal responsibility.
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Labor Law
LEX 7501 Cr. 2- 4
Legislative, administrative and judicial regulation of labor relations.
The scope of national labor legislation; the protection of the rights
of self-organization and the designation of bargaining agents; the negotiation
and administration of the collective agreement; the legality of strikes,
picketing and boycotts; employer interference with concerted activities;
the relations between unions and their members.
Labor Law in the Public Sector
LEX 7506 Cr. 2
State (and some federal) regulation of labor relations in the public sector. Establishment of representative status, negotiation and administration of the collective agreement, strikes and impasse resolutions.
Land Use
LEX 7511 Cr. 2 or 3
Prereq.: LEX 6500 Property.
Allocation of land use in the urban environment by both private agreement
and governmental order. Problems involved in the development and effectuation
of community planning; goals by means of conservation, clearance, and
renewal; zoning, variances and exceptions; housing code enforcement,
subdivision control, eminent domain; relocation.
Law and Economics
LEX 7515 Cr. 3
Not open to students who have taken LEX 8246 Law and Economics.
This course surveys the application of economic analysis to the selection
of legal rules. After a brief introduction to foundational economic
concepts, the course revisits the first year curriculum (torts, contracts,
property, criminal law) and demonstrates the pervasive influence of
economic thinking in these foundational areas of law. The course then
examines the application of economics to a variety of legal topics,
such as discrimination, business organizations, federalism, and definitions
of justice. The course assumes no background in economics and requires
no mathematical training beyond high school algebra.
Law of Elections and Political Organizations
LEX 7516 Cr 3
This course will explore ways in which the law governing the political process in the United States affects and reflects political power relationships. It will examine the way the law and other forces have shaped the structure of American political participation, and will consider alternative directions American democracy might take. Topics will include the 2000 presidential election dispute, the individual right to vote, the Voting Rights Act, redistricting, minority vote dilution, political and racial gerrymandering (including majority-minority districts), campaign finance reform, and direct democracy through the initiative process. In addition to a final examination, students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions and to prepare very short assignments throughout the semester.
Law of Electronic Commerce
LEX 7828 Cr. 3
This course addresses the new legal and policy issues that arise when
businesses and consumers use the Internet to conduct their commercial
transactions. These issues span a broad range of subject matters, including
privacy, contracts, consumer protection, patents, jurisdiction, unfair
competition, torts, alternative dispute resolution, and taxation. During
the past few years, businesses of all types have been integrating online
communications into their everyday conduct of business. In addition,
entrepreneurs are starting up new businesses based on business models
that would not be possible without online communications. This course
will give you the skills you need to handle the new legal issues that
arise in these contexts.
Legal Process
LEX 7526 Cr. 3
Functioning and interrelationships between the institutions and processes
of the American legal system. Nature of legal reasoning; the uses and
misuses of stare decisis; the proper allocation of responsibility between
the judiciary and the legislature; techniques of statutory interpretation;
the role of administrative agencies; the planning/advising function
of lawyers.
Legal Writing: Advanced
LEX 7536 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 6
400 Legal Research and Writing. May not be taken on pass/no credit basis.
Research and analysis of complex legal problems involving legislative
history and administrative regulations. Class discussion on advanced
research, development of strategy and organization and writing as an
advocate. Students write both a trial and appellate brief.
Local Government Law
LEX 7581 Cr. 2
Prereq.: LEX 6500 Property
Law as an instrument for governing urban areas. Distribution of decision-making
power between private and public persons, between state and local governments
and among various local governments. Local finance, decentralization,
annexation and municipal incorporation. Exploration of possible reforms
by means of metropolitan government or federal assistance. The lawyer's
role in formulating governmental policy in major urban complexes.
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Maastricht Exchange Program
LEX 7590 Cr. 1-4
Students will take courses offered in the Maastricht Exchange Program
Master's Essay Direction
LEX 8999 Cr. 1-2
Prereq.: consent of adviser.
Mergers and Acquisitions
LEX 7603 Cr. 2-3
Prereq.: LEX 7156 and 7816 (Not open to students who have taken LEX
7061)
Mechanics of an acquisition, including: (1) state corporate codes relevant
to acquisitions, dissenting shareholder remedies, listing requirements,
and federal security law affecting the mechanics (proxy, tender offers,
public offerings); (2) successor liability, transfer of assets: (3)
acquisition documents (confidentiality agreements, letters of intent,
basic agreements, closing); (4) legal duties of board of directors
and dominant shareholders (decision to sell or acquire, conflicts of
interest, attempts to block takeovers, shareholder value); (5) disclosure
requirements of federal and state securities law; (6) accounting and
tax issues (definition of tax-free reorganization, accounting for mergers
and acquisitiveness) (Y)
Multistate Taxation In the Digital Age
LEX 7605 Cr. 3
Prereq. : Taxation (LEX 7816). Not open to students who have taken State
and Local Taxes (LEX 7771).
Sales and use taxes and corporate and personal income taxes imposed
by states and other subnational governments, including Indian tribes.
Extensive treatment is given to the constitutional limitations on cross-border
taxation under the Due Process Clause and the Commerce Clause. Methods
for apportioning income among jurisdictions are covered from a theoretical
and practical perspective. The course addresses the special income tax
and sales tax issues that arise from electronic commerce.
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National Labor Relations Board:
Practices and Procedures
LEX 7611 Cr. 2
Prereq.: LEX 7501 Labor Law.
The representational and unfair labor practice areas. Negotiation
LEX 7616 Cr. 2
Comprehensive examination of various legal principles that affect negotiation,
such as rights assessments, custom and practice, rules of contract construction,
concepts of condonation, proper and improper conditions, as well as
the effective use of evidence in the negotiation process. The course
also explores strategic methods and techniques in which attorneys are
frequently involved that affect the outcome of negotiations. Students
will participate in mock negotiations.
Negotiation
LEX 7616 Cr. 2
Comprehensive examination of various legal principles that affect negotiations,
such as rights assessments, custom and practice, rule of contract construction,concepts
of condonation, proper and improper conditions, as well as the effective
use of evidence in the negotiation process. The course also explores
strategic methods and techniques in which attorneys are frequently
involved that affect the outcome of negotiations. Students will participate
in mock negotiations.
No-Fault Insurance Law
LEX 7631 Cr. 2
Prereq.: LEX 6200 Contracts; LEX 6600 Torts.
Comprehensive review of Michigan's No-Fault Automobile Insurance Law,
which governs all motor vehicle accidents in the State of Michigan.
Topics include questions of coverage, medical and work loss benefits,
coordination of benefits, exclusions, priorities, subrogation, and claims
procedures. Negligence claims under the No-Fault law will also be reviewed.
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Patent Enforcement
LEX 7651 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7656 Patent Law.
Patent enforcement focuses on the unique aspects of patent litigation.
This course centers on developing an understanding of policy issues
surrounding patent law as well as addressing practice considerations
in enforcing patents. The course addresses specific issues relating
to how to approach a patent infringement suit (i.e. who can file, where
you can file, and when you can file).
Patent Law
LEX 7656 Cr. 3
Substantive patent and related trade secret law. Emphasis on nature
of the patent right; scope of coverage of the patent system; issues
of validity, infringements, inequitable conduct, patent and antitrust.
Special issues relating to software, living organisms and chemistry.
Technical background not required.
Practicum In Dispute Resolution
LEX 7660 Cr. 3
Prereq.: 24 credits in Dispute Resolution courses, consent of academic adviser. .
This course was designed to teach students the skills required as third party neutrals (mediators) in the facilitative mediation process. The curriculum includes discussion and lectures on other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes, but the main focus of the class will be facilitative mediation. Role play opportunities, observation, and practice experience will be provided as part of the class, in order to provide students opportunity to work on practical skills in addition to learning mediation theory. Elements of the subject matter taught include the nature of conflict, how mediation fits within the ADR structure, understanding values and relationships embedded within the dispute resolution process, ethical standards of practice, mediation techniques, role and task of the mediator, and stages of the mediation process. Please note that this course will count toward one of the four graduate courses that a student may elect.
Pretrial Advocacy
LEX 7666 Cr. 3
Adversary strategy and practice skills in the pretrial stages of litigation.
The course focuses on the preparation of pleadings, interrogatories,
requests for admission and document production requests. Students will
negotiate settlement of disputes, draft and argue motions and take and
defend depositions.
Privacy Law
LEX 7669 Cr. 2-3
The subject matter of this course is the law of information privacy. It addresses the law and policy applying to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. Relevant law includes state laws founded in tort and property, federal laws addressing specific privacy issues and constitutional limitations on government. Topics may include use of personal information by the media, government surveillance amed a combating terrorism, the privacy of health care information, the collection and use of personal information by businesses, privacy in schools and at the workplace and international privacy issues.
Public Finance Law
LEX 7676 Cr. 2
Introduction to the legal principles involved in public finance transactions,
particularly municipal borrowing and debt; state law considerations,
including sources of authority for borrowing and repayment; the effect
of ultra vires borrowing, procedural defects, municipal debt limitations
and other factors relating to the power to incur municipal debt; traditional
financing techniques; selected federal tax and securities law considerations;
consequences of default and municipal bankruptcy; functioning of the
municipal bond market.
Public Health Law
LEX7680 Cr. 3
Prereq. or Coreq.: Students must have completed LEX 6600 Torts and LEX 6700 Constitutional Law I
This course focuses primarily on how the law regulates and promotes public health. Students will explore the legal foundations of the American public health system and the struggle between individual liberties and the government's interest in providing for its citizen's collective health and well-being. The course will examine these conflicts in many of the important realms of public health theory and practice.
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Race and the Law
LEX 7686 Cr. 3
The course will explore the impact of law on race relations and vice
versa. The course will cover a range of topics and issues such as history
and legal history, civil rights and equal protection, criminal law,
affirmative action, employment, hate speech, education, interracial
marriage and adoption, housing discrimination, and the emergence of
Critical Race Theory in contemporary jurisprudence. Historical problems
and developments will be used to shed light on contemporary issues and
solutions.
Real Estate Financing
LEX 7701 Cr. 2 or 3
Prereq.: LEX 6500 Property.
Methods of financing the acquisition and improvement of residential
and commercial real estate through the use of private sources of funds.
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Sales Law: Advanced
LEX 7751 Cr. 2 or 3
This course will provide an opportunity for advanced study in those
areas of sales which are beyond the scope of a first-year contracts
offering.
Secured Transactions
LEX 7756 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 6500 Property.
Basic study of Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code with particular
attention to the law governing the creation and perfection of security
interests in personal property and the relative priorities of interested
parties; attention to some or all of the following: goods- oriented
remedies in Article 2, financing leases in Article 2A, bulk sales, effects
of the Bankruptcy Code on secured transactions and documents of title
in Article 7.
Securities Litigation
LEX 7758 Cr. 2-3
Prereq: completion of first year courses; LEX 7156.
Public and private actions under Securities Act of 1933, Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Investors Act of 1940; pleading requirements for a cause of action; vicarious liability; liability of attorneys, accountants and directors; congressional limitations on state and federal securities claims; damages in private actions; public enforcement proceedings (SEC civil suits and criminal prosecutions)
Securities Regulation
LEX 7761 Cr. 2-3
Prereq.: LEX 7156 Corporations. Not open to students who have taken
LEX 7061 Business Planning: A Transactional Approach.
Analysis of current problems in federal and state regulation of transactions
in securities.
Special Topics
LEX 7999 Cr. 2-4
This course will cover areas of current interest in the law.
Sports and the Law
LEX 7766 Cr. 2 or 3
This course will survey a range of legal issues presented by sports
in America. Students should be prepared to learn and apply basic principles
of antitrust law and labor law. Constitutional law, administrative law,
contract law and tort law will also be applied. Topics will include
the regulation of the professional sports labor market, drawing from
contracts, antitrust and labor law. The course will also treat the regulation
of agent representation of athletes, the regulation of sports franchises
and sports leagues, including the powers of commissioners' offices in
major sports leagues and the regulation of intercollegiate sports.
State and Local Taxes
LEX 7771 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7816 Taxation. Not open to students who have taken Multistate
Taxation in the Digital Age (LEX 7605).
An introduction to state and local taxation. The course will address
constitutional limitations upon state and local taxation, multi-state
taxation and the problems of multi-state taxpayers, ad valorem property
taxation, and Michigan's state taxes. The Michigan taxes addressed will
include the single business tax, the individual income tax, the sales
and use tax, and other miscellaneous state taxes, as well as the property
tax.
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Taxation
LEX 7816 Cr. 1-4 (4 req.)
Interrelation between income tax policy and basic governmental and social
institutions. Introduction to the law of federal income taxation concentrating
on the taxation of individuals. Basic application of these taxes: problems
involved in the variety of transactions and situations which confront
the lawyer in general practice; analysis and use of materials which
will permit their solution. Underlying problems of policy which have
led to the tax law of today and which may be expected to require change
in the tax law of tomorrow.
Taxation of Corporations
LEX 7821 Cr. 4
Prereq.: Taxation (LEX 7816). Not open to students who have taken Business
Planning: A Transactional Approach (LEX 7061), Corporate Tax I (LEX
7146), Corporate Tax II (LEX 7151), or Elements of Corporate Tax (LEX
7203).
A detailed exploration of the federal income tax problems of corporations
and their investors; an analysis of the statutory rules governing transactions
between corporations and their shareholders, including tax-free incorporations,
property and stock distributions, constructive dividend problems, stock
redemptions; corporate reorganizations with a focus on corporate recapitalizations,
dispositions of the assets of a corporation or of investor's interests
in a corporation; liquidation problems; and the impact of judicial doctrines
on corporate tax planning.
Teaching Law in High School
LEX 7826 Cr. 3
Prereq.: Second- or third-year student.
Students teach 20-25 sessions to class of high school students, using
a widely recognized high school text, Street Law. Students attend a
weekly seminar which deals with teaching methods. Students will participate
in and present model lessons in the seminar, prepare lesson plans and
have field supervision of their teaching in the high school.
Trademarks and Unfair Competition
LEX 7831 Cr. 2 or 3
Prereq.: LEX 6500 Property.
The course focuses on the federal trademark statute, 15 U.S.C. §1051
et seq., state statutory and common law unfair competition, and the
federal law of unfair competition and false advertising under 15 U.S.C.
§1125(a).
Trial Advocacy
LEX 7836 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7266 Evidence.
Basic trial techniques taught through student performances of role play
exercises followed by critique. The greater part of the course is devoted
to mastering the major trial skills in isolation: direct and cross examination,
introduction of exhibits, impeachment, expert witnesses, opening and
closing statements. This culminates in a full simulated criminal or
civil jury trial in which these skills are applied.
Trusts and Decedents' Estates
LEX 7841 Cr. 4
Prereq.: LEX 6500 Property.
Intestate succession, wills and trusts, requisite elements of wills
and express trusts, and procedural requirements for their creation;
administration of decedents' estates and trusts; special rules relating
to charitable and spendthrift trusts; trust forms as equitable remedial
devices under resulting and constructive trust rules.
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United States Foreign Relations Law
LEX7888 Cr. 4
Prereq: LEX 6700 Constitutional Law I . LEX 7408 International Law is recommended.
This course examines the constitutional and statutory doctorines that regulate the conduct of United States foregin relations. The topics to be covered include the distribution of foreign affairs powers between the three branches of the federal government, the status of international law in U.S. courts, the scope of the treaty power, the validity of executive agreements, the preemption of state foreign affairs activities, and the politicql question and other doctrines regulating judicial review in foreign affairs cases. Attention will also be paid to political influences on, and policy effects of, legal doctrines in this field.
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Water Law
LEX 7931 Cr. 2 or 3
Categories of water bodies and public and private rights under the riparian
and the prior appropriation systems. Consumptive and nonconsumptive
uses, management and protection of the resource. Intergovernmental relations
with respect to water resource allocation and management.
White Collar Crime
LEX 7941 Cr. 3
Study of the substantive and investigative issues related to federal
prosecution of business crimes. The course will focus on the balance
between the government's power to investigate white collar crime and
the rights of corporate and individual investigatory targets in connection
with criminal prosecutions of federal economic crimes (conspiracy, money
laundering, RICO, criminal anti-fraud statutes, false claims against
the government and environmental statutes) and problems related to parallel
civil enforcement actions involving the same underlying conduct.
Workers' Compensation Law I
LEX 7951 Cr. 2.
This course begins with an overview of the Michigan statute followed
by a discussion of "arising out of' and "in the course of employment"
including the going to and from work doctrine. It continues with an
analysis of the occupational disease provisions of the statute as compared
to single event personal injury provisions, and concludes with the study
of specific loss.
Workers' Compensation Law II
LEX 7952 Cr. 2.
Prereq.: LEX 7951 Workers' Compensation Law I.
The course begins with an analysis of the total and permanent disability
provisions of the Michigan statute, and includes an analysis of important
considerations of loss of wage earning capacity. Dependency, notice,
and claim are studied, and a study of the employer-employee relationship
is conducted with emphasis on comparing that relationship with the status
of independent contractor. The course concludes with a study of third-party
liability and subrogation rights of the employer and carrier.
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Seminars
Advanced Issues in Bankruptcy
LEX 8005 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7051 Bankruptcy
This seminar focuses on more specialized areas of the Bankruptcy Code than those covered in any depth in the basic bankruptcy course. Among those topics that may be covered are the means testing provisions, sovereign immunity, Chapter 9 on municipality bankruptcy, Chapter 12 on bankruptcies for family farmers or fishermen, Chapter 15 on cross-border proceedings, provisions dealing with stockbrokers, provisions dealing with labor agreements, mass tort claims, environmental claims, aircraft banckruptcies, partnership bankruptcies and bankruptcy tax provisions. Students will be expected to write a substantial research paper.
Advanced Topics in Corporate Governance
LEX 8000 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7156 Corporations or consent of instructor.
This seminar will address various timely topics in corporate governance. Students will develop an analytical framework for exploring the economic logic of corporate law with respect to its various constituencies. Fiduciary duty obligations of directors and senior officers toward various corporate constitutencies such as shareholders, debt holders, creditors and other stakeholders undeer changing circumstances will be a major focus of the seminar. Some issues we may explore include proxy access, board function executive pay and corporate takeovers.
Ancient Greek and Roman Law
LEX 8010 Cr. 3
This seminar is an introduction to the legal systems of ancient Greece and Rome. For Greece, the focus is on the law of Athens during its classical period in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. For Rome, we will look at the law as it developed over the centuries during the Republican period and the Empire, as transmitted through the compilations of Justinian in the sixth century C.E. Students will be required to write a paper on a subject relating to the course material. Completion of the paper will satisfy the law school writing requirement.
Antitrust
and Trade Regulation: Current Issues
LEX 8001 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7026 Antitrust or consent of instructor.
Current antitrust and trade regulation issues, such as distribution, exemptions,
horizontal restraints, legislative reform, merger policy, pricing and
transnational enforcement. Coverage of the Clayton, Sherman and Federal
Trade Commission Acts, and possibly state and foreign statutes and procedures.
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Capital Markets
LEX 8030 Cr. 3
Prereq. or Coreq.: LEX7156 Corporations
In this seminar we will consider current academic thinking about capital markets. Topics will vary over time. Samples of topics include the regulatory structure of the U.S. capital markets, explanations for variance in capital markets regimes around the world, arguments for and against mandatory disclosure schemes, current thinking on jurisdictional competition in producing securities regulation, the global competition for listings, the global trend towards harmonization of securities regulation, the role of institutional investors and venture capital,the macro- and micro- risks and benefits of hedge funds, the market of corporate control, arguments for and against shareholder primacy in the corporation, and the role of short-selling and derivatives in our capital markets.
Child,
Family & State Seminar
LEX 8028 Cr. 3
Not open to students who have taken LEX 7075 Child, Family & State.
This seminar is designed to explore the various aspects of children in
the legal system. Discussions focus on the legal relationship between
children, their parents, and government (federal, state, local and tribal).
What are the rights of these various parties? What should the relationship
between them look like? We will explore these questions by examining topics
such as education, medical care, children's rights, the concept of legal
parenthood, parental rights (including the termination thereof), adoption,
and the juvenile justice process. The course will concentrate on constitutional
and policy analysis, as opposed to a detailed examination of the various
rules and regulations involved in the different areas. Students
will be expected to write a substantial research paper and do a class
presentation on their topic. Grades will be based on the paper, the presentation,
and class participation.
Constitutional Law: Great Issues - Speech
LEX 8034 Cr.
Prereq.: LEX 6700 Constitutional Law I
An examination of the unique U.S. approach to speech, focusing on Supreme
Court decisions in areas such as national security, public order, media
access, pornography, and infliction of emotional harm. The semester paper
will be a comparison of U.S. speech law with speech laws in another country.
Constitutional Theory
LEX 8035 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 6700 Constitutional Law I or consent of
instructor.
This seminar will engage various theoretical issues relating
to the existence, interpretation, enforcement, and amendment
of the United States Constitution. The specific topics
covered, readings assigned, and format followed will vary
from year to year at the instructor's discretion.
Typically, students will be required to read fairly
extensive materials, to participate regularly in classroom
discussion, and to complete one or more significant writing
assignments. Students also may be required to give
classroom presentations.
Contemporary Legal Theory Seminar
LEX 8036 Cr. 3
Prereq: LEX 7426 or consent of instructor.
Recent contributions to jurisprudence and philosophy of law concerning issues such as: nature of law and legal systems; relationship between law and morality; civil disobedience and our obligation to obey the law.
Consumerism and Democracy
LEX 8037 Cr. 3
Role of consumerism in democratic self-governance, both pre-American Revolution and today. Two short and one long research-based papers required.
Contract Drafting Seminar
LEX 8039 Cr. 3
Prereq. or Coreq.: LEX 6200 A&B
This seminar will explore and develop the knowledge and skills which are necessary for sound drafting of agreements. Each seminar meeting will mix substantive issues of Contract Law with a discussion of important drafting issues that can arise. Students will draft several contracts, increasing in complexity over the term, and their drafts will be critiques and reviewed both by facultyand other students, The final grade will be deterimed by both the student's performance on the drafting and editing tasks and also the student's participation during the seminar meetings.
Criminal Law: Advanced Topics
LEX 8043 Cr. 3
This seminar will require students to write papers and give presentations
on current topics of criminal law.
Current Issues in Intellectual Property
LEX 8047 Cr. 3
Prereq. or Coreq.: None but it will be helpful for students to have taken at least one course in the area of Intellectual Property or Cyberlaw.
This seminar explores current controversies related to intellectual property. It focuses on issues and policy questions rather than doctrine; the class presumes some, limited familiarity with patent, trademark and copyright law, and will offer supplemental readings for for students who need additional background materials. The seminar examines topics such as expanding access to knowledge through licensing, the free culture movement, public versus private information, software security research and divisions over the proper role for IP rights in international law. Students will write a paper on a topic of their choosing and will participate in a series of on-line discussions for credit.
Current Problems in International Law
LEX 8048 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7408 International Law or permission of the instructor.
This seminar provides an intensive focus on new and controversial issues
of international law. The focus will change with each course offering
in order to reflect recent developments. The readings, class discussion
and paper requirement will provide an opportunity to understand how international
institutions function, the justification for the norms they seek to enforce
and the coherence of those norms with theories of international society.
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Dispute Resolution in Labor & Employment Law Seminar
LEX 8055 Cr. 3
Prereq: EX7501 Labor Law or LEX 7221 Employment Law or prior consent of the instructor
This seminar will provide a sophisticated and in-depth examination of dispute resolution procedures under collective bargaining agreements and individual employment contracts. Students will discuss the pertinent case law, ADR practice and procedure and individual employment contracts. Students will discuss the pertinent case law, ADR practice and procedure, and emerging legal issues. In addition to two team assignments, a "mini" mock negotiation and a mock arbitration hearing based on the negotiated language, students will be required to submit either a post-hearing brief to the arbitrator or a research paper on a topic of their choosing within those covered by the seminar.
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Environmental Law - Advanced Topics
LEX 8071 Cr. 3
This seminar will offer students an in-depth look at a particular field
within the larger realm of Environmental Law. Topics will vary over time.
Samples of topics are Environmental Justice; Toxic Torts and Cleanups
of Contaminated Parcels; Problems of Air Quality and Climate Change; Intersection
of Water Quality and Water Quantity Law; Preserving Biodiversity; Federalism,
Sovereignty and Natural Resources; Free Market Environmentalism; and Managing
Environmental Risk. Students will be expected to do individual research
and make presentations to the class along with keeping abreast of reading
and participating in discussions. The seminar may include additional student
projects, including negotiation or drafting exercises.
Ethics of the Lawyering Experience
LEX 8075 Cr. 3
This seminar will explore the psychological and ethical dimensions of
law and legal practice by engaging principally with works of fiction and
selected legal scholarship. Students will write weekly reaction
papers. The seminar does not satisfy the upperclass writing requirement.
Evidence Law: Advanced Topics
LEX 8081 Cr. 3
Prereq: LEX7266 Evidence or Consent of the Instructor
This seminar will require students to write papers and give presentations
on current topics of evidence law.
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Family
Violence
LEX 8101 Cr. 3
Analysis of the utilization of the legal system to address issues of abuse
within the family. Topics include: the response of the criminal justice
system to various forms of family violence, such as marital rape, spouse
abuse and child abuse; use of tort and injunctive remedies; examination
of new and proposed legislation.
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Health Law: Advanced Topics Seminar
LEX8171 Cr. 3
Prereq. or Coreq.:
This seminar will examine the current legal issues related to health. Topics will vary over time. Samples of topics include recent applications of the law to impact health within and outside of the health care system; contemporary debates on the role of government and the private sector in health; innovative proposals to use law, ethics, and policy to improve health; and the role of law during public health emergencies. The readings for the seminar will be drawn from a variety of disciplines including law, ethics, medicine, and other sciences. A substancial research paper and a significant in-class presentation are required.
International
and Comparative Business Law: Doing Business in China Seminar
LEX 8161 Cr. 3
Students will prepare papers and give presentations on the various aspects
of business in China.
International Environmental Law Seminar
LEX 8141 Cr. 3
Prereq. or Coreq.: LEX7231 Environmental Law or LEX7408 International Law or consent of instructor
This seminar will provide a sophisticated and in-depth examination of international environmental law. Students will explore the use of bilateral and multilateral treaties and other international mechanisms for dealing with international environmental problems, with a particular emphasis on U.S.- Canadian international environmental law. In addition to in-class presentations, students will be required to complete a paper on a topic of their choosing within those covered by the seminar.
International Trade
LEX 8185 Cr. 3
This seminar studies the jurisprudence of the World Trade Organization and discusses current legal and policy issues of international trade.
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Labor Law
Seminar
LEX 8241 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7501 Labor Law.
Theoretical issues of labor relations, with special emphasis on critiques
of the current regime, comparative perspectives and labor history.
Law and Behavioral Science Seminar
LEX 8245 Cr. 3
This course will examine how legal issues impact the various areas of
behavioral sciences. Students will write a paper and give a presentation.
Law and Economics Seminar
LEX 8246 Cr. 3
No specific background in economics required. Not open to students who
have taken LEX 7515 Law and Economics.
Recent developments in the application of economic analysis to legal doctrine.
Law and Literature Seminar
LEX 8248 Cr. 3
This seminar will examine the connections between law and literature, with a focus on stories of adoption. Topics will include: the role of narrative in legal arguments and in legal decision making; the role of narrative and law, respectively, in constructing identity and literary criticisms of the law and of the legal profession. By examiningthese topics through the lens of stories of adoption, we will also consider several questions specfic to the theme of adoption, such as: shifting definitions of parenthood; the debate over nature vs. nurture; and the ways in which stories of adoptions also raise issues of class, race, gender and national identity. We will address these questions by analyzing novels, short stories, films, memoirs and legal cases from both the 19th century and the modern day. Authors will include Charles Dickens, George Eliot, P.D. James and Louise Erdrich. In addition to in-class presentations, students will be required to write a paper on a topice related to the subject atter of the course.
Law in Cyberspace
LEX 8256 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7136 Copyright Law.
The seminar will examine the application of current laws to the Internet
and a variety of proposals for new or revised laws to regulate the developing
Global Information Infrastructure. Topics will include recent applications
of defamation, copyright, wire fraud and criminal threat laws to Internet
activities; current proposals from both government and private sources
for new legal regulation or revision of current intellectual property;
communications; criminal laws; the problems that flow from asserting national
laws in a medium with no national borders. The assigned texts will include
conventional documents and research material available on-line. Students
do not need their own computers to take the seminar, since it will be
possible to complete all assignments using the Law Library's computer
resources. A substantial research paper and a significant in-class presentation
are required.
Legal and Policy Responses to Residential Segregation
Seminar
LEX 8265 Cr. 3
The students will research present and discuss the legal issues surrounding
residential segregation as well as policy responses. Student will
provide a research paper.
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Medical
and Psychiatric Malpractice Seminar
LEX 8268 Cr. 3
This seminar will examine current issues in the field of medical malpractice
and psychiatric malpractice.
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National
Labor Relations Act: Current Problems
LEX 8271 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7501 Labor Law.
The seminar will focus on legal issues pending before the Board and in
the courts. The students will stand in the place of the National Labor
Relations Board and render opinions on critical labor law issues. Students
will read the actual briefs in pending cases, discuss the cases, vote
on disposition and draft majority and dissenting opinions. Each student
will be expected to write one majority and one concurring or dissenting
opinion. Class discussions will concentrate on the NLRB's decision making
process and judicial review of Board decisions. After the Wayne State
University Law School Board panels have rendered their opinions, class
discussion will focus on the draft opinions. The grade for the course
will depend on class participation as well as written work. Students may
elect to write papers based on the legal issues discussed by the class.
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Psychiatry
and the Law
LEX 8286 Cr. 3
Insights of psychiatry relevant to the law and the practicing lawyer.
Dynamics of behavior; theory and technique of interviewing; forensic psychiatry
issues; mental hospitalization; personal injury; contractual and testamentary
capacity; criminal law; family law. Patients are presented and discussed.
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Race and the Law - Advanced Topics
LEX 8300 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7686 Race and the Law or Consent of the Instructor.
This seminar will provide a sophisticated and in-depth examination of
particular issues within Race and the Law. Topics may include discussions
on emerging issues in broad fields such as education, voting rights,
and criminal justice, while expanding into new issues not covered in
an introductory Race and the Law course, such as the intersection of
race and sports law or race and the media. Readings may also focus on
how these issues relate to Michigan and the Detroit Metro area. In addition
to in-class presentations, students will be required to complete a paper
on a topic of their choosing within those covered by the course. Completion
of the paper will satisfy the law school writing requirement.
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Seminar in Constitutional and Legal History of the United States
LEX 8386 Cr. 3
Graduate reading and research seminar in the history of American law. In first half, participants read extensively in theoretical and substantive literatures. Thereafter, group pursues individual research topics in collaboration. Students produce major research paper focused mainly on primary materials; presentation to the group included.
Sports and Inequality
LEX 8351 Cr. 3
Prereq. or Coreq.:
This seminar will examine the legal and social implications of various forms of discrimination in both the professional and amateur sports contexts. Coverage will include a discussion of legal efforts to address discrimination in sports based on race, gender, disability, and sexual orientation. Topics include racial inequalities on the playing fields and in the front offices of amateur and professional sports; the impact of NCAA eligibility criteria; the effects and future of TitleIX; gender segregation and exclusion in professional sports and sexual violence; sexual orientation discrimination in sports; and sports opportunities for people with disabilities. Completion of the written final paper for this seminar would satisfy the law school's upperclass writing requirement.
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Tax Policy:
Current Issues
LEX 8361 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7816 Taxation.
This seminar explores some of the fundamental tax policy issues that policy
makers must confront in designing a personal tax system (either income-
or consumption-based), with emphasis on current tax reform proposals.
Topics include flat-tax plans, broad-based income tax reform and more.
Other issues addressed may include the tax aspects of health care reform
and environmental protection. Some topics will be selected by seminar
participants from a list prepared by the instructor. Corporate tax planning
and estate tax issues will not be addressed.
Tribal Justice Systems
LEX 8380 Cr. 3
This seminar will provide a theoretical and applied overview of tribal
and indigenous justice systems, focusing on those of American Indian
tribes. Topics covered include the histories, structures, and practices
of tribal justice systems, efforts to balance tribal legal heritage and
Anglo-American law, tribal alternative dispute systems and peacemaker
courts, and constraints faced by tribes in developing their legal systems.
We will consider the effects of colonialism on tribal legal systems,
concerns about integrity and fairness, and broader themes relevant to
any changing legal system. Students will consult with individuals, involved
in developing tribal and indigenous law, will write a substantial research
paper, and may complete other short assignments.
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United
States Constitutional and Legal History
LEX 8386 Cr. 3
(HIS 8050)
Graduate reading and research seminar in the history of American Law.
During the first half of the course, participants will read extensively
both in theoretical and substantive literatures. During the final half,
the group will pursue individual research topics in constant collaboration
with other participants. Students will be asked to produce a major research
paper focused mainly on primary materials and to present at least a précis
to the group.
Urban Housing and Community Development
LEX 8401 Cr. 3
Legal, social and economic aspects of urban housing and community development,
including local, state and national programs and policies.
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Clinical Programs & Internships
Civil Law InternshipLEX 8501 Cr. 1-3
Prereq.: Consent of Director of Clinical Education; certain placements may have substantive law prerequisites; second- or third-year student.
Students assist staff attorneys in the legal department of a governmental agency -- city, county, state, or federal -- a nonprofit organization or a legal services agency. Government agency placements include the Attorney Grievance Commission, City of Detroit Law Department, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Internal Revenue Service District Counsel, Michigan Attorney General's Office, National Labor Relations Board, Port Huron City Attorney, U.S. Customs Service, and Wayne County Corporation Counsel. Nonprofit organization placements include the American Civil Liberties Union, Archdiocese of Detroit Office of Immigration Legal Services, Detroit Medical Center, Legal Aid and Defender Association -- Civil Division, Michigan Legal Services, Salvation Army-Booth Clinic, Southeastern Michigan Legal Services, Sugar Law Center, the University of Michigan Health Systems General Counsel, and Wayne County Neighborhood Legal Services. Students perform extensive research and writing and participate in administrative and court proceedings. Students work in the placement 8-15 hours per week during the fall or winter terms or 16-30 hours per week during the summer term and attend a contemporaneous class in the area of their placement. Credits determined by Director of Clinical Education. One-credit internships are available for the summer term only.
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Criminal Justice Internship
LEX 8504 Cr. 1-3
Prereq.: Consent of Director of Clinical Education; second- or third-year student.
Each student is assigned to an attorney on the staff of a state or federal prosecutor or public defender organization. Public defender placements include the Federal Defender's Office, the State Appellate Defender's Office, and the Washtenaw County Public Defender. Prosecutor placements include the Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, Wayne, and Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney's offices; the criminal division of the Michigan Attorney General; the U.S. Attorney's office; and the criminal division of the City of Detroit's Law Department. Students perform extensive research and writing and participate in actual cases. Students work in the placement 8-15 hours per week during the fall or winter terms or 16-30 hours per week during the summer term and attend a contemporaneous class in the criminal justice process. Credits determined by Director of Clinical Education. One-credit internships are available for the summer term only.
Criminal Appellate Practice
LEX 8601 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7161 Criminal Procedure I, LEX 7166 Criminal Procedure II or LEX 7266 Evidence recommended.
Clinical legal writing experience. Students prepare briefs and other pleadings for indigent clients with pending felony appeals in cooperation with the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office. Students meet with the instructor in individual sessions and class sessions to discuss writing, research and the appellate and correctional processes. Students have client contact and participate in simulated court argument.
Civil Rights Litigation Clinic
LEX 8605 Cr. 3
Prereq. or coreq.: LEX 6700 Constitutional Law 1 and LEX 7306 Federal Courts and the Federal System or instructor’s consent. Students may not take both this clinic and LEX 7086 Civil Rights Litigation without instructors’ consent.
Students in this clinical class will prepare briefs and other pleadings or documents on behalf of an indigent client who has filed pro se a federal civil rights case in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Potential clients may include inmates incarcerated in a Michigan Correctional Facility who have been granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis to pursue claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and against whom defendants have filed a motion for summary judgment. Through simulation and discussion, class sessions will cover the substantive law underlying the claim, such as prisoners’ rights law, and the mechanics of litigating a § 1983 claim. Students have client contact and participate in simulated court argument and may argue in federal court in opposition to the motion for summary judgment, if scheduling permits.
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Disability Law Clinic
LEX 8641 Cr. 6.
Prereq.: Consent of Assistant Director of Clinical Education; Student must be in good academic standing and have successfully completed all first-year required courses; Prereq. or coreq.: LEX 6800 Professional Responsibility. May not be taken for credit by those who have taken LEX 8621 Free Legal Aid Clinic.
A cooperative venture with Wayne County Neighborhood Legal Services, the Clinic gives students an intensive hands-on educational experience while helping individuals with disabilities and their families obtain the services and supports they need to avoid costly out-of-home placement at public expense. Students perform an average of 15 to 20 hours of fieldwork per week. Each student is responsible for 3 to 5 cases, from investigating the facts, researching the law, and counseling the client, to representing the client in administrative or judicial proceedings, drafting and arguing appeals, and engaging in settlement negotiations. Students participate in all aspects of the Clinic's operations, from intake, case acceptance, and individual client representation, to community education and law reform efforts. The Clinic includes a two-hour weekly seminar. The Clinic is one semester and is graded on an honors/pass/low pass/no credit basis. Credits earned in the Clinic count toward the 14-credit maximum students can earn in applied and skills courses.
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Free Legal Aid Clinic
LEX 8621 Cr. 3 (6 req.)
Prereq.: Consent of Director of Clinical Education.
Students, working under the supervision of attorneys employed by the Legal Aid and Defender Association of Detroit, develop their lawyering skills and professional judgment by providing representation to low-income individuals with a variety of legal problems. Students handle all phases of real cases, from interviewing the client, investigating the facts, and drafting pleadings to negotiating with opposing counsel, appearing in court, and entering the final judgment. Instruction in lawyering skills, ethics, and pertinent substantive and procedural law is provided through a combination of lectures, simulations, and discussion of issues arising in the students' cases. Students must complete two semesters with the Clinic to receive credit, and may receive a maximum of six credits for participating in the Clinic.
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Judicial Internship
LEX 8502 Cr. 1-3
Prereq.: Consent of Director of Clinical Education; second- or third-year student.
Each student is assigned to a participating judge assisting in closely supervised research and writing and acquiring familiarity with the operation of the court. Students work in the placement 8-15 hours per week during the fall or winter terms or 16-30 hours per week during the summer term and attend a contemporaneous class in the judicial process. Credits determined by Director of Clinical Education. One-credit internships are available for the summer term only.
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Small Business Enterprises and Nonprofit Corporations
LEX8631 Cr. 4
Prereq.: Open only to students who have completed all required first-year courses. Student must be in good standing or have a cumulative "C" (2.0) average. LEX 6800 Professional Responsibility and the Legal Profession and LEX 7156 Corporations are recommended.
The course component of this class will cover the basic provisions of nonprofit corporate law, tax law and legal ethics that affect community economic development groups. In the clinical component of the class, students assist a community group that is at or near the stage of incorporating itself and/or applying for tax-exempt status in services such as drafting and filing articles of incorporation, by laws and IRS forms. Grading will be on a credit/ no credit basis.
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Student Academic Programs
Law ReviewLEX 8701 Cr. 1 (2 req.)
Prereq.: Open only to Law Review members.
Moot Court
LEX 8711 Cr. 1 (2 req.)
Prereq.: Open only to Moot Court members.
Members conduct the program which focuses on the preparation of briefs and hearings on oral arguments.
Student Trial Advocacy Program
LEX 8721 Cr. 1 (2 req.)
Prereq.: Open only to members.
Members participate in skills training and intra school, regional and national trial advocacy competitions.
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