Spring 2023 Course List

This course is intended to provide the student with the practical skills necessary to draft effective and clear business contracts. It will give you real world skills that will be of benefit whether your interest is being a transactional lawyer or a litigator. The focus will not be especially theoretical, as was the case with your first year contracts course. Bottom line: The purpose is to train you how to translate the terms of a client's business deal into a contract that advances not only your client's interest, but that is not so one sided as to be unacceptable to the other side. We will do this through drafting exercises that the student will prepare and submit each week. Many will be ungraded, but several larger drafting projects will be graded. Your grade will be based 85% on these drafting exercises and 15% on class participation. No paper or final exam.

Prerequisites: You cannot take this course if you have taken Adv. Contracts or Adv. Contracts Workshop

Taxation of corporate reorganizations and carryover of tax attributes.

Over the past few years, evolving punishment views, paired with advances in science and technology, have produced significant changes in Eighth Amendment law. Bail practices, how fines may be levied against criminal offenders, and what constitutes “cruel and unusual punishments” are all in question. In this Edited Writing seminar, we will study cases and commentaries on the Eighth Amendment, focusing on the meaning of the Amendment, the Court’s interpretation of it, and litigants’ responses to rapidly changing law and developing facts. We will focus on some narrow issues like the many recent botched executions, as well as broader issues such as past and current punishment practices, and the role of factors like race and science in Eighth Amendment decisions. Students will apply what they learn to authoring a novel paper on Eighth Amendment law. 

Prerequisites: Criminal Law; Int'l LLMs must gain approval prior to enrolling

Advanced Criminal Law: Reforming the Criminal Jury is an Edited Writing course that takes an empirical approach to the jury system in the criminal context. The seminar explores the advantages, limitations, and implications of giving ordinary citizens a powerful and direct voice in the criminal justice system. To this end, the course will include a practical introduction to the mechanics of jury selection through mock voir dire, attention to recent developments in jury selection jurisprudence, and discussion of recently reformed jury systems in other parts of the world that might account for the difficulty of implementing meaningful reform in Texas and elsewhere. 

Prerequisites: Criminal Law; Int'l LLMs must gain approval prior to enrolling

This course is designed to provide a basic understanding of the bar exam and strategies for exam and career success, with a focus on the development of problem solving and legal reasoning skills. The class is two credit hours and is pass/fail. Throughout the semester, students will practice answering multiple-choice and essay exam questions in selected subjects tested on the bar exam. This course is intended to supplement, but not to replace, participation in a commercial bar review course. Students are strongly encouraged to take a commercial bar preparation course to enhance their chances of passing the bar exam. This course is limited to students in their last year before graduation.

This course is designed to provide a basic understanding of the bar exam and strategies for exam and career success, with a focus on the development of problem solving and legal reasoning skills. The class is two credit hours and is pass/fail. Throughout the semester, students will practice answering multiple-choice and essay exam questions in selected subjects tested on the bar exam. This course is intended to supplement, but not to replace, participation in a commercial bar review course. Students are strongly encouraged to take a commercial bar preparation course to enhance their chances of passing the bar exam. This course is limited to students in their last year before graduation.

This seminar builds on the legal research materials and methods studied in the first-year legal research course and emphasizes effective research techniques. Research topics vary each semester but generally include judicial opinions, statutes, legislative history, court rules, administrative law, secondary sources, foreign and international law, and research databases used in law practice. Students must bring to class their own computer that is capable of connecting to the law school's wireless network.

This seminar builds on the legal research materials and methods studied in the first-year legal research course and emphasizes effective research techniques. Research topics vary each semester but generally include judicial opinions, statutes, legislative history, court rules, administrative law, secondary sources, foreign and international law, and research databases used in law practice. Students must bring to class their own computer that is capable of connecting to the law school's wireless network.

This class is designed for students who wish to improve their editorial and writing skills. It targets students who are already competent writers, but it requires no in-depth knowledge of grammar or rhetoric. The course covers issue framing, readability, and writing efficiently.

This class will be a limited enrollment, 'practice skills' seminar designed to build upon the lessons learned in first-year Contracts and first-year Torts, and to apply those lessons to the world of transactional lawyering. Toward that end, the class will study real-world agreements entered into at the early stages of an M&A transaction and provide opportunities for students to comment upon, draft, and negotiate examples of some of those agreements in class, including LOIs, IOIs, Term Sheets, NDAs and side letters to name just a few. While geared toward the M&A world, contract drafting skills learned in this course will be applicable in any transactional practice. The goal of the course is to better equip students to draft transactional agreements, not only by giving students the opportunity to prepare initial drafts of such agreements, just as young associates in a law firm environment would, but also by examining the situations in which errors or lack of clarity in contract drafting gave rise to disputes requiring judicial determination. In other words, don't let the phrase 'practice skills' fool you into thinking we will not be reading cases too. Indeed, for every type of agreement we practice drafting or reviewing, there will be numerous current and classic cases to analyze in class to understand the 'contort' common law that forms the basis for interpreting and enforcing each contractual agreement we draft. To get the most out of this class attendance, preparation and participation will be critical, not only to your own learning experience but also to that of your classmates. Grades will be based on a combination of class performance/class room exercises, and either a short paper or a few short memos prepared about specific drafting issues.

Prerequisites: You cannot enroll in this course if you have already taken Advanced Contracts or Advanced Contracts Drafting.

This class will allow students to thoroughly experience every angle of a Series A venture capital transaction, from the term sheet through the financing documents to the closing binder and securities filings. The class will discuss and explore considerations and dynamics from each side of the table – company and investor, and prepare students to advise both sets of clients.

Prerequisites: Intro. to Venture Transactions

This introductory course exposes students to a broad range of legal issues posed by the increasing use of artificially intelligent systems across various sectors of society and business. Beyond the mechanics of the relevant technology, this course examines how the emergence of artificial intelligence (“AI”) in various forms, from algorithmic decision-making in social media to the use of AI in surveillance, poses new challenges to the legal order. In doing so, this course considers the broader jurisprudential impact of cyberlaw on AI systems while simultaneously drilling down to very practical considerations faced by lawyers encountering such systems in client products or litigated disputes.

This is the basic business law course. The emphasis of the first portion of the course is on the closely held business. To be considered are the following: Agency: General principles of the law of agency. Partnerships (general and limited): Formation, control, liabilities, property, dissolution and disposition of business; internal and external relations of partners. Limited Liability Companies and Corporations: Formation, control, allocation concerns; duties, liabilities, and rights of management and shareholders or members; dispute resolution devices; and fundamentals of capitalization and financing (including basic securities financing and securities law concerns, particularly respecting the private exempt offering). The primary emphasis of the second portion of the course is on the widely owned business. In this portion, general corporate governance and capitalization problems (including preferred stock and debt securities structuring) are further explored, along with corporate distributions and repurchases and fundamental corporate changes. Analysis of mergers and acquisitions is emphasized. Depending on available time, emphasis also is placed on the impact of federal securities laws on the corporate governance structure, including discussion of ongoing public disclosure requirements, proxy regulations, and insider trading restrictions and liabilities. The course is transaction-oriented, whereby planning and problem-solving are stressed, and interdisciplinary use of basic taxation, accounting, and finance notions is made. Special attention is given to the modern statutory trends.

Introduces vocabulary, concepts, and skills needed to effectively understand how business works so students are able to communicate with and advise business clients (including as regulatory and litigation counsel). The course is not designed to go in-depth, but moves quickly over key business concepts and terminology. Students learn from expert SMU faculty (including from the Cox School of Business) and from industry experts, both lawyers and business professionals. A background in finance, accounting, or business is neither required nor expected

In-depth study of corporate reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.

Prerequisites: Creditors' Rights (May be taken concurrently)

Develops lawyering skills and analytic methods for developing those skills. Clinic students represent abused and neglected children in actual child welfare cases and youth who have aged out of state care in connection with legal issues that remain from their time in the system. Topics include interviewing, counseling, fact investigation and discovery, case planning, negotiation, drafting of pleadings, motions and memoranda, and pretrial and trial advocacy. Special emphasis is placed on professional responsibility issues and strategic planning methods. Throughout the course, a combination of teaching methods are employed, including one-on-one case supervision, classroom instruction, class rounds, reflection exercises, simulations, and mock trial/courtroom skills exercises. This course also includes interdisciplinary lectures from various professionals in the child welfare field.

Prerequisites: Evidence may be taken concurrently; Completion of all first year courses; Good academic standing; By selection only

Assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation, including fact investigations and analysis, legal research and writing, litigation training, and court appearances. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Child Ad Clinic

Assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation, including fact investigations and analysis, legal research and writing, litigation training, and court appearances. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Child Ad Clinic

Assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation, including fact investigations and analysis, legal research and writing, litigation training, and court appearances. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Child Ad Clinic

Examines the techniques of properly analyzing circumstantial evidence in the context of a murder trial. From the crime scene to the courthouse, students learn the role of and the technical process of presenting circumstantial evidence. The class is based on crime scene evidence and trial transcripts from several famous Dallas murders including Jack Ruby (the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald), Charles Tex Watson (the Manson Family Killings), Charles Albright (The Eyeball Killer), and the Trinity River Massacre. It is recommended that students have either taken or are enrolled in Evidence.

Prerequisites: Evidence is recommended

Assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation, including fact investigations and analysis, legal research and writing, litigation training, and court appearances. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Civil Clinic

Assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation, including fact investigations and analysis, legal research and writing, litigation training, and court appearances. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Civil Clinic

Assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation, including fact investigations and analysis, legal research and writing, litigation training, and court appearances. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Civil Clinic

Civil procedure, focusing on judicial resolution of disputes; development of the modern civil action including consideration of the jurisdiction of courts, venue, process, pleading, joinder, discovery, pretrial practice, right to a jury trial, withdrawing cases from a jury, motions after verdict, judgments and their effects, and appellate review. An introduction to alternative dispute resolutions is also included.

Civil procedure, focusing on judicial resolution of disputes; development of the modern civil action including consideration of the jurisdiction of courts, venue, process, pleading, joinder, discovery, pretrial practice, right to a jury trial, withdrawing cases from a jury, motions after verdict, judgments and their effects, and appellate review. An introduction to alternative dispute resolutions is also included.

Civil procedure, focusing on judicial resolution of disputes; development of the modern civil action including consideration of the jurisdiction of courts, venue, process, pleading, joinder, discovery, pretrial practice, right to a jury trial, withdrawing cases from a jury, motions after verdict, judgments and their effects, and appellate review. An introduction to alternative dispute resolutions is also included.

A survey of federal legislations protecting individuals against governmental interference with constitutional and statutory rights, which may include those pertaining to life, property, and liberty interests, among others. This course focuses on legal vehicles available to civil rights litigators in federal courts, such as § 1983, the Administrative Procedure Act, Bivens action, and habeas corpus. This course will also introduce common defenses in civil rights litigation, such as governmental immunity, justiciability, exhaustion of administrative remedies, and standings. Analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court’s general jurisprudence in civil rights issues will also be covered in this course.

Prerequisites: Con. Law II is recommended

Develops lawyering skills and analytic methods for developing those skills. Clinic students represent indigent clients in actual cases involving disputes related to deceptive trade practices, consumer credit and debt, tenants’ and civil rights, and housing and real estate, among others. Classroom instruction uses the actual cases to develop skills such as interviewing, counseling, fact investigation and discovery, case planning, negotiation, drafting of pleadings, motions and memoranda, and pretrial and trial advocacy. Special emphasis is placed on access to justice, professional responsibility, and strategic planning. Throughout the course, a combination of teaching methods are employed, including one-on-one case supervision, classroom instruction, and simulations.

Prerequisites: Professional Responsibility may be taken concurrently; Completion of all first year courses; Good academc standing; By selection only

A practice-oriented study of documentation of and due diligence in the transfer, leasing, and finance of commercial real estate. Includes exercises in negotiation; title review; and drafting of documents, letters, and memoranda.

Prerequisites: Property I & II, Real Estate Transactions

This course examines constitutional issues arising during the post-investigation state of a criminal case, such as custody and release pending trial, preliminary hearings, the grand jury, joinder and severance, discovery, plea bargaining, trial procedures, double jeopardy, sentencing, and post-conviction remedies. Students taking this course may not take Constitutional Criminal Procedure: Survey.

Prerequisites: Students taking this course may not take Constitutional Criminal Procedure: Survey

An examination of methods of constitutional interpretation, the role of judicial review, federal power, separation of powers, federalism, and justiciability.

An examination of methods of constitutional interpretation, the role of judicial review, federal power, separation of powers, federalism, and justiciability.

An examination of methods of constitutional interpretation, the role of judicial review, federal power, separation of powers, federalism, and justiciability.

A study of individual rights including such areas as equal protection of the law and due process of law, with particular emphasis on issues of racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and the right to privacy. Depending on the Professor, this course may also include freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

History and development of the common law of contract; principles controlling the formation, performance, and termination of contracts, including the basic doctrines of offer and acceptance, consideration, conditions, material breach, damages, and statute of frauds; statutory variances from the common law with particular attention to Uniform Commercial Code sections.

History and development of the common law of contract; principles controlling the formation, performance, and termination of contracts, including the basic doctrines of offer and acceptance, consideration, conditions, material breach, damages, and statute of frauds; statutory variances from the common law with particular attention to Uniform Commercial Code sections.

History and development of the common law of contract; principles controlling the formation, performance, and termination of contracts, including the basic doctrines of offer and acceptance, consideration, conditions, material breach, damages, and statute of frauds; statutory variances from the common law with particular attention to Uniform Commercial Code sections.

Corporate & Transactional Legal Research is a specialized legal research class designed for students who are interested in practicing corporate and transactional law. Students will develop advanced proficiency in case law and statutory research, regulatory materials, secondary sources, and other fundamental research concepts utilized in a corporate law practice. The course will focus on locating and evaluating primary and secondary sources that can be used to research issues involving business transactions, securities offerings, corporate governance, and a number of related topics. Assignments and in-class exercises will simulate activities frequently performed by transactional attorneys.

The field of ethics and compliance has emerged as a new legal focus area with significant opportunities for legal practitioners, and the discipline has taken on an international aspect because of global enforcement and the growing convergence of standards. Regulators have stepped up enforcement of guidelines in key areas such as anticorruption, export, and trade sanctions. It is imperative that U.S. corporations comply with the United States Sentencing Commission's guidelines for organizations and establish risk management programs and processes to demonstrate their compliance. Using the framework of an overarching hypothetical, this course provides hands-on experience in identifying and reviewing key compliance issues and developing workable tools and solutions to address them, with a focus on the expected components of an effective corporate compliance program, drawing from important statutes, case law, and international treaties.

The first part of this course provides a basis for resolving the typical valuation questions that arise in the corporate acquisition context. The basic concepts of financial theory, including discounting, diversification, portfolio theory, the capital asset pricing model, and the Black-Scholes option pricing model are presented and critically assessed. The second part of the course examines certain issues that arise in the corporate acquisition context that involve valuation questions, including the scope of application of the de facto merger and successor liability doctrines, appraisal rights, and the fairness of freeze-out transactions. The course will not consider issues arising under federal securities law. It is strongly recommended that students have some background in economics or finance.

Prerequisites: All 1E Courses, Property I & II, Business Enterprise, Some background in Economics or Finance; LLMs must take US Corporate Law as a pre-requisite

An introduction to federal and state law governing the debtor-creditor relationship: enforcement of judgments; attachment, garnishment, and sequestration; fraudulent conveyances; and bankruptcy as affecting secured and unsecured creditors under the Bankruptcy Code.

Students enrolled in the Crimes Against Women Clinic (also known as the “Hunter Clinic”) provide representation to survivors of gender-based harms, including domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. Students typically represent clients in family law, humanitarian immigration, or postconviction matters. They also work with institutional partners on policy and advocacy projects that seek long-term solutions to the problem of violence against women. Work on real cases, in combination with faculty supervision and the clinic seminar, allows students to hone a wide range of lawyering skills, both practical and analytical.

Prerequisites: Professional Responsibility may be taken concurrently; Evidence & Family Law are recommended; Completion of first year courses; Good academic standing; By selection only

Includes assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Crimes Against Women Clinic

Includes assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Crimes Against Women Clinic

Includes assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Crimes Against Women Clinic

A practice-based period of study involving representation of indigent clients in Dallas County criminal courts. Classroom instruction and skills training are integrated with actual case work.

Prerequisites: Evidence is a required co-requisite class, meaning you must have either already taken Evidence or be scheduled to take Evidence at the same time you would be in the Criminal Clinic. Recommended classes are Professional Responsibility and Texas Criminal Procedure; Good Academic Standing; Completion of all first year courses

Assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation, including fact investigations and analysis, legal research and writing, litigation training, and court appearances. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Criminal Clinic

Assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation, including fact investigations and analysis, legal research and writing, litigation training, and court appearances. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Criminal Clinic

Assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation, including fact investigations and analysis, legal research and writing, litigation training, and court appearances. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Criminal Clinic

This course provides an introduction to information privacy and security law. Information security and its attendant privacy implications have dominated recent headlines in the wake of electronic intrusions at some of the country's largest and most respected institutions. This course will broadly review the origins and evolution of U.S. information privacy and security law, from Constitutional law, to common law tort and contract principles, to the modern day legislative and regulatory privacy and security frameworks. It will address the latter in the context of recent controversies, including retail data breaches, social media, domestic surveillance, and others. In sum, this course will provide students with a broad introduction to key concepts associated with information privacy and security law and an understanding of how these concepts apply to corporate organizations.

This course will provide a detailed examination of domestic violence (intimate partner violence) and the criminal/civil laws, policies, and practices governing response systems. Students will examine the dynamics of abusive relationships, how cultural attitudes shape reactions, civil and criminal interventions, the United States’ reliance on the criminal justice system to address the issue, and the methodologies employed to increase safety and raise awareness for victims, survivors, and the community at large. Students will develop a framework for understanding and representing people from different races, cultures, economic backgrounds, and lived experiences. Additionally, students will explore ethical representation of survivors/batterers and the defenses available to survivors who commit crimes to avoid abuse. Student learning will consist of practical instruction and exercises to aid them in becoming informed, ethical, and engaged in advocacy throughout their professional careers.

Drafting effective and clear oil and gas contracts; reviewing basic components and building blocks of contracts; translating the business deal into an oil and gas contract; proposing solutions for problems encountered by counsel in the oil and gas industry. Prerequisites or corequisites: LAW 6378 Oil and Gas Law, LAW 6228/LAW 7369 Oil and Gas Contracts, or LAW 6313 International Petroleum Transactions.

Prerequisites: Oil & Gas, or Oil & Gas Contracts, or Int'l Petroleum Trans.

Introduces basic due diligence principles and standards, and covers the relevant diligence-related case law. The primary goal is to expose students (through practical skills exercises) to the various components of effective due diligence in real-world transactional settings similar to those they are likely to encounter after entering the practice. Topics include the definition of due diligence; effective due diligence leadership and staffing; the constituents of reasonable due diligence as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the courts; the importance of tools such as forms-driven processes and written memoranda; the significance of red flags in the diligence process; and the responsibilities of buyers, sellers, underwriters, issuers, and their respective diligence team members, including legal counsel.

Prerequisites: Business Enterprise

This course examines the laws that govern the political process in the United States. Topics may include the right to vote, political representation, election administration, political parties, ballot initiatives, and campaign finance. The goal of the course is to provide students with a solid foundation in the basic principles of election law in this country.

This three credit course is an introduction to energy law. It surveys the legal and policy issues raised by the major sources of energy, while emphasizing environmental and natural resources issues. Significant attention is devoted to hot topics in energy law, including the BP Oil Spill, the natural gas drilling boom, nuclear energy concerns following the Japanese earthquake, and climate change issues.

Focuses on complex and emerging issues in energy trade and transport law. Explores the physical and legal forces that shape energy transport markets in oil, coal, natural gas, and other electricity. Examines how energy transport projects, such as oil and gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas facilities, export terminals, and power lines, are authorized by regulators and given the power of eminent domain. Scrutinizes supply chain standards for energy projects that favor energy sources based on how they were produced in other jurisdictions, favoring fuels designated as clean or renewable. Also examines legal limits on energy trade restrictions between states and between countries. Students analyze and discuss important recent energy transport legal decisions and scholarship. Students are expected to submit comments and questions on each week's scholarship, occasionally present to the class, and engage in class discussion.

Prerequisites: Int'l LLMs must gain approval prior to enrolling

A survey that presents an introduction to basic elements of federal environmental law. The course includes analysis of environmental regulatory policy, statutory control of air, water, and hazardous waste pollution, and allocation of the costs of cleaning environmental contamination.

Prerequisites: Administrative Law & Land Use are recommended

Functional examination of the integration of the federal estate and gift taxes; marital deduction planning and drafting; drafting the By-Pass Trust; desirability of making lifetime interspousal transfers; gifts to minors and other dependents (including the grantor trust rules); techniques of income deflection and estate shrinkage for tax reasons; transferring ownership of life insurance with emphasis on irrevocable life insurance trusts; and introduction to the generation skipping tax. Students will get more out of the class if they have taken Wills and Trusts and Estate, Gift, and Income Tax.

Prerequisites: Trusts & Estates and Income Tax should be taken concurrently

Consideration of the kinds of transfers that attract the estate and gift tax; the generation skipping tax; income taxation of estates and trusts.

Principles governing the admission and exclusion of evidence, including functions of judge and jury, examination and competency of witnesses, demonstrative evidence, the hearsay rule and its exceptions, burdens of proof and presumptions, privileges, and judicial notice.

Addresses the role of the expert witness in civil litigation, with emphasis on the development of practical skill in the selection, designation, discovery, direct examination, and cross-examination of experts. Considers examples from trial practice in state and federal courts, as well as expert testimony in the context of tort and commercial litigation. Students participate in drafting Daubert/Robinson motions and in mock examination of experts.

Prerequisites: Evidence

The legal problems of the family including marriage, annulment, divorce, legitimacy, custody, support of family members, adoption, and related matters. This course does not include Texas matrimonial property law. If the student plans to take instruction in both courses, this course should be taken first.

Under the supervision of an experienced clinical faculty member, student attorneys in the VanSickle Family Law Clinic represent and provide counsel to low-income clients in matters of family law such as divorce, child custody, possession and access, paternity, modifications, enforcement actions, child and spousal support, and adoption. Through client representation and the clinic seminar, student attorneys have the opportunity to engage in the performance of fundamental lawyering skills necessary for competent representation and zealous advocacy. These skills include but are not limited to, interviewing and counseling clients, negotiating, fact development and analysis, strategic case planning, conflict resolution and decision making, motion and trial practice, drafting legal pleadings and ancillary documents, organization and management of legal work, cultural competency, collaboration and self-evaluation. Student attorneys also collaborate with community-based organizations to provide limited consulting to pro se litigants at organized community legal clinics located in a low-income, culturally diverse area of Dallas.

Prerequisites: Professional Responsibility may be taken concurrently; Completion of first year courses; Good Academic Standing; By selection only

Includes assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Family Law Clinic

Includes assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Family Law Clinic

Includes assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Family Law Clinic

This externship provides opportunities for students to work in the chambers of the U.S. District Court judges, U.S. Magistrate judges, and U.S. Bankruptcy Judges in the Northern District of Texas, Dallas and Fort Worth Divisions. From time to time, students may also have the opportunity to work with federal judges in the Eastern District of Texas, Plano Division and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Students will be paired with an individual judge, and will work approximately 10-15 hours per week under that judge's supervision for one semester for a total of at least 120 hours. The Federal Judicial Externship also includes a Judicial Externship that will meet for at least fourteen 50-minute hours. Students successfully completing the externship and class will receive three hours credit (based on 2 credits for the externship itself and 1 for the classroom component). The students' primary activities will be research, drafting bench memos, drafting opinions, and observing conferences, motion hearings, and evidentiary hearings. Students will occasionally have the opportunity to prepare short articles for publication. The teacher of the classroom component will also serve as Faculty Supervisor for the externships, while the judges will serve as Field Supervisors.

Prerequisites: Students are only eligible for this course if they have not previously received credit for an externship.

The Tax Clinic is a combination of academic and practical experience. Students represent mostly low-income clients who have tax issues with the Internal Revenue Service. The scope of representation ranges from negotiating settlements and collection plans with the IRS to taking a client’s case to Tax Court or District Court. Participation in the Tax Clinic provides a unique educational experience in which students participate in the representation of actual clients before the IRS. In certain instances, students can participate in Tax Court proceedings and even visit with sitting Tax Court judges in chambers.

Prerequisites: Income Tax may be taken concurrently; Good academic standing; Completion of all first year courses; By selection only

Assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation, including fact investigations and analysis, legal research and writing, litigation training, and court appearances. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Federal Tax Clinic

Assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation, including fact investigations and analysis, legal research and writing, litigation training, and court appearances. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Federal Tax Clinic

Provides assistance to clients defending and advancing the rights of free press, free speech, petition, and assembly. The seminar component integrates substantive law, theory, core lawyering skills, and legal ethics to provide law students real world law practice experience. Under faculty supervision, student attorneys may handle the following types of cases and matters, among others: defamation defense/representation of witnesses in defamation cases; Texas Citizens Participation Act proceedings (anti-SLAPP); motions to obtain access to civil and criminal court records; challenges to gag orders and protective orders in criminal and civil cases; motions to open courtrooms/motions to photograph, broadcast, or stream court proceedings; issues related to the right to photograph police officers and other government officials in public; motions to quash subpoenas directed to journalists; prepublication review of news articles; individual or group free speech, right to petition, and right of assembly claims; amicus briefs on First Amendment issues; Texas Public Information Act requests/Freedom of Information Act requests. Student attorneys are expected to take the lead in all aspects of their casework and to be professionally responsible for the services they provide on behalf of their clients. Through client representation and the clinic seminar, student attorneys have the opportunity to practice fundamental lawyering skills necessary to provide competent, ethical, and zealous representation. These skills include interviewing and counseling clients; negotiating and interacting with opposing counsel; developing and analyzing facts and legal theories; developing and planning case strategy; and drafting and arguing legal pleadings and motions. Students develop these skills in an atmosphere that promotes collaboration, self-evaluation, and self-reflection.

Prerequisites: Evidence & Con. Law II are recommended; Completion of first year courses; Good academic standing; By selection only

Assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation, including fact investigations and analysis, legal research and writing, litigation training, and court appearances. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: First Amendment Clinic

This is a 'how to' course. It is a skills course that will focus on forming and representing small businesses and non-profit organizations. The course will cover advice regarding selection of a client, understanding the client=s goals, what choice of entity to recommend to the client, entity creation by drafting various documents such as certificates of formation for profit and nonprofit corporations and limited liability companies, bylaws, non-competition agreements, non-disclosure agreements, employment agreements, and other documents that relate to a small business. Throughout the course students will be asked to draft various documents.

Prerequisites: Business Enterprise

The Government and Public Interest Externship Program is an academic program that combines a weekly public sector law class with hands-on fieldwork in nonprofit and government legal departments. Students who pass both the class and externship components receive one credit for the classroom component and 2-3 hours credit for their field work (depending on the hours worked at the placement).

The course analyzes provisions of the U.S. Constitution, Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and other relevant sources that address questions of citizenship and immigration in the U.S. Topics that will be addressed may include laws that regulate the process of acquiring citizenship and losing citizenship, the entry and deportation of non-citizens, and procedural and substantive rights of non-citizens.

Prerequisites: All first year courses; Con. Law I, Con. Law II, and Administrative Law recommended

Introduction to the federal income tax system; analysis of Internal Revenue Code, Treasury Regulations, rulings, and case law; consideration of income, deductions, credits, assignment of income, and accounting periods and methods.

Internal investigations have become an important component of litigation practice, and junior attorneys are often asked to assist in internal investigations, whether they work for a private firm, a corporation or the government. Learning the basics of internal investigations before undertaking them in practice will be a significant advantage. A properly conducted internal investigation can determine the facts, legal issues, and necessary remedial actions in connection with the conduct at issue. This course will explore why internal investigations are initiated, how they are conducted, and what actions may follow from their results. The course will combine practical considerations that impact internal investigations with the legal parameters controlling them. Specific topics include: identifying the circumstances that trigger internal investigations; developing strategies for planning and conducting internal investigations; determining the proper scope of an investigation; resolving issues regarding the identity of the client and attorney-client privilege; conducting witness interviews; gathering and analyzing documents and data; preparing internal investigation reports; determining the proper course of action with various interested parties; and understanding unique situations relating to the regulatory consequences of investigations, including issues regarding voluntary disclosure.

Prerequisites: Professional Responsibility & Business Enterprise are encouraged

This seminar compares how different countries regulate costs, quality, and access in their health care systems. Countries with vastly different legal and health care systems must respond to essentially the same concerns. Who has access to health care services? Who pays for health care and how? How do we regulate medical negligence? How do our systems respond to public health crises, such as HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases? The first part of this semester will be an overview of different health care and legal systems. Students will then prepare and present research comparing and contrasting two countries’ responses to a particular issue.

This course will teach research methods to find and evaluate international and foreign legal materials using both electronic and print resources. Its principal purpose is to provide the basic knowledge and skills needed to conduct competent international and foreign legal research. It also has the secondary, but important, goal of expanding on and reinforcing the basic legal research skills that students had earlier gained from the first-year legal research and writing course. In this course, you will become skilled in researching various international and foreign legal sources through practical application in assignments and in-class exercises. In short, this is a course on international and foreign legal research sources and techniques. Students taking this course will need to bring their own laptop computers.

This is an experiential, collaborative, practical skills course structured around a simulated negotiation exercise in which the students in this class will represent either a multi-national pharmaceutical company (KJH Pharmaceutical Corporation) or an African agricultural company (Malundian Cassava Corporation). The two companies are interested in working together to exploit a new technology developed by KJH Pharmaceutical that uses the cassava produced by Malundian Cassava Corporation. The form of their collaboration could be a joint venture, licensing agreement or long-term supply contract. The negotiations will take place through written exchanges and through live negotiations.

The course focuses on the origins, development and growth of international crimes. It examines the juridical bases and processes by which objectionable or offensive conduct is transformed into an international crime. In this vein, it identifies the attributes and characteristics of international crimes and explores the practical as well as doctrinal problems relating to the regulation, prevention, control and suppression of this genre of crimes.

Prerequisites: Int'l LLMs must gain approval prior to enrolling

This course will address the topics to consider in internationalizing a franchise, both economically and legally. Each class period will be an in-depth look at either a step in the internationalization process or a major area of consideration before 'going global.' Special attention will be paid to the European Union as well as major emerging markets such as Eastern Europe, Middle East, China, South America, India and Asia. Topics will include structuring the franchise, tax, trade, intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, and dispute resolution. This is an excellent course for anyone considering franchise law or international business as international franchising is the next big wave in the global economy, and a trend that will continue well past the foreseeable future.

Law review experience involving preparation of comments on topics of current interest, notes on cases of significance, and editorial work incident to publication of The International Lawyer and NAFTA: Law and Business Review of the Americas. Students must be selected for participation before they may register. [Available only for J.D. students.]

Prerequisites: By selection

Law review experience involving preparation of comments on topics of current interest, notes on cases of significance, and editorial work incident to publication of The International Lawyer and NAFTA: Law and Business Review of the Americas. Students must be selected for participation before they may register. [Available only for J.D. students.]

Prerequisites: By selection

Law review experience involving preparation of comments on topics of current interest, notes on cases of significance, and editorial work incident to publication of The International Lawyer and NAFTA: Law and Business Review of the Americas. Students must be selected for participation before they may register. [Available only for J.D. students.]

Prerequisites: By selection

Selected topics, including the protection of individuals and groups against violations by governments and private institutions of their internationally guaranteed rights, and the promotion of these rights. Presentation and discussion of student papers may be required.

A basic course for U.S. and international students focusing on U.S. citizens, residents, and business entities conducting business or investment outside the United States so-called outbound transactions.

The law practice environment is changing dramatically. This course is designed to teach students how to recognize, react to, and take advantage of such changes. Moreover, it teaches the management and ethical sensitivity which are fundamental to success as a practicing lawyer. Although theory will not be overlooked, this class is designed to be a skills class, giving students the opportunity to make practical application to the principles they learn.

This seminar provides law students and medical students an opportunity to read and discuss novels, poems, plays, and short stories concerning their two professions, including ethical dilemmas that are encountered in legal and med-medical practice and a variety of client and patient experiences. Readings will also focus upon the professional and academic aspects of the humanities in law and medicine. Students will have joint assignments and projects throughout the semester and will be required to complete a research paper or comparable final project.

Prerequisites: Completion of 2nd year

Successful completion of this course will provide foreign-trained law students with an introduction to general principles of U.S. legal research, common law legal analysis, and objective writing, which will be geared to enable students to (a) recognize and distinguish primary and secondary levels of authority, (b) locate, read and understand rules of law available in constitutions, judicial opinions, and statutes, (c) update different types of legal authority, including the process of Shepardizing (d) recognize and use acceptable citation forms for legal authority and (e) complete legal research/writing assignments to explain the law pertaining to a legal question.

Prerequisites: International LLM Students Only

Covers the main legal and public policy issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the U.S., including the history of the nation's treatment of LGBT people. Addresses the criminalization and decriminalization of same-sex sexual intimacy, the military's treatment of LGBT people, public and private employment discrimination, discrimination in public accommodations and housing, religious exemptions from LGBT antidiscrimination law, rights of speech and association for those supporting or opposing LGBT-rights initiatives, parenting by LGBT people, and the controversy over same-sex marriage. Readings include important statutory and constitutional decisions affecting LGBT rights, scholarly writing about LGBT issues, and theoretical discussions of sexuality and sexual identity. Considers a variety of perspectives, including the views of those supporting LGBT rights and those with religious and natural law views that are more traditional. Also addresses the intracommunity debate among LGBT rights supporters on matters like same-sex marriage and the need for antidiscrimination laws.

Prerequisites: Constitutional Law I & Constitutional Law II; Employment Law & Family Law Recommended

The primary objective of the course is to synthesize legal doctrine, lawyering skills, and professional responsibility for the first-year student. Meeting in small groups and using simulated exercises, students engage in client counseling, interviewing, negotiating, drafting, and advocating. Grades are based on the evaluation of written and oral performances throughout the semester.

The primary objective of the course is to synthesize legal doctrine, lawyering skills, and professional responsibility for the first-year student. Meeting in small groups and using simulated exercises, students engage in client counseling, interviewing, negotiating, drafting, and advocating. Grades are based on the evaluation of written and oral performances throughout the semester.

The primary objective of the course is to synthesize legal doctrine, lawyering skills, and professional responsibility for the first-year student. Meeting in small groups and using simulated exercises, students engage in client counseling, interviewing, negotiating, drafting, and advocating. Grades are based on the evaluation of written and oral performances throughout the semester.

The primary objective of the course is to synthesize legal doctrine, lawyering skills, and professional responsibility for the first-year student. Meeting in small groups and using simulated exercises, students engage in client counseling, interviewing, negotiating, drafting, and advocating. Grades are based on the evaluation of written and oral performances throughout the semester.

The primary objective of the course is to synthesize legal doctrine, lawyering skills, and professional responsibility for the first-year student. Meeting in small groups and using simulated exercises, students engage in client counseling, interviewing, negotiating, drafting, and advocating. Grades are based on the evaluation of written and oral performances throughout the semester.

The primary objective of the course is to synthesize legal doctrine, lawyering skills, and professional responsibility for the first-year student. Meeting in small groups and using simulated exercises, students engage in client counseling, interviewing, negotiating, drafting, and advocating. Grades are based on the evaluation of written and oral performances throughout the semester.

The primary objective of the course is to synthesize legal doctrine, lawyering skills, and professional responsibility for the first-year student. Meeting in small groups and using simulated exercises, students engage in client counseling, interviewing, negotiating, drafting, and advocating. Grades are based on the evaluation of written and oral performances throughout the semester.

The primary objective of the course is to synthesize legal doctrine, lawyering skills, and professional responsibility for the first-year student. Meeting in small groups and using simulated exercises, students engage in client counseling, interviewing, negotiating, drafting, and advocating. Grades are based on the evaluation of written and oral performances throughout the semester.

The primary objective of the course is to synthesize legal doctrine, lawyering skills, and professional responsibility for the first-year student. Meeting in small groups and using simulated exercises, students engage in client counseling, interviewing, negotiating, drafting, and advocating. Grades are based on the evaluation of written and oral performances throughout the semester.

The primary objective of the course is to synthesize legal doctrine, lawyering skills, and professional responsibility for the first-year student. Meeting in small groups and using simulated exercises, students engage in client counseling, interviewing, negotiating, drafting, and advocating. Grades are based on the evaluation of written and oral performances throughout the semester.

The primary objective of the course is to synthesize legal doctrine, lawyering skills, and professional responsibility for the first-year student. Meeting in small groups and using simulated exercises, students engage in client counseling, interviewing, negotiating, drafting, and advocating. Grades are based on the evaluation of written and oral performances throughout the semester.

The primary objective of the course is to synthesize legal doctrine, lawyering skills, and professional responsibility for the first-year student. Meeting in small groups and using simulated exercises, students engage in client counseling, interviewing, negotiating, drafting, and advocating. Grades are based on the evaluation of written and oral performances throughout the semester.

A study of the unique procedural and substantive issues encountered by the courts in resolving multiple claims for tort damages arising from the same, or parallel, injury-producing conduct. The course will trace the efforts of the courts to resolve mass tort cases more efficiently through innovative use of procedural devices such as consolidation, multidistrict transfer, and the class action. The course will also examine the difficulties of applying traditional principles of tort, evidence, and ethics law in the mass tort context.

Prerequisites: All 1E Courses; Complex Litigation, Evidence, ADR, & Conflict of Law are recommended

This course introduces the fundamentals of and critical topics in mergers and acquisitions law, as well as the key financial and transactional issues that they present. The principal focus of the course will be on the documentation and negotiation of acquisitions of privately-held businesses, as well as the key drivers of M&A activity and the business incentives of the parties to the transactions. This is not a securities, tax, antitrust, or regulatory class, but those issues will play a role as well. In addition to case law, this course will spend a fair amount of time reviewing and analyzing deal documents (or portions of such documents). Students will learn how core provisions of an acquisition agreement are negotiated to create value for and allocate risks among the parties.

Participation as a member of a mock trial team representing the School of Law in one of several inter-school competitions in which the School of Law participates each year. One hour for each competition up to a maximum of two hours can be earned. However, students must be selected for participation on a competition team by the faculty coach before they can register for credit.

Prerequisites: By selection

Satisfactory work as a member of the Moot Court Board. Maximum of one hour credit.

Prerequisites: By selection

Participation as a member of an appellate advocacy team representing the School of Law in one of several inter-school competitions in which the School of Law participates each year. One hour for each competition up to a maximum of two hours can be earned. However, students must be selected for participation on a competition team by the faculty coach before they can register for credit.

Prerequisites: By selection

The formation of partnerships, taxation of partnership income, special allocations, elective basis adjustments, distributions, liquidations, retirements, transfers of partnership interests, and family partnerships.

Prerequisites: Income Taxation

Includes assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Patent Clinic

A study of issues related to enforcement and defense of patent rights in federal court. Focuses on strategies and best practices related to patent litigation. Covers selected topics related to jurisdiction and forum, complaints and answers, local patent rules, infringement and invalidity contentions, fact and expert discovery, technology tutorials, claim construction briefs and presentations, summary judgment briefs and presentations, trial practice, and post-trial and appeal briefing and procedures.

Prerequisites: Patent Law

The course covers substantive and procedural aspects of patent prosecution before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Practical exercises in prosecution practice, such as claim drafting, preparation of amendments, and other prosecution proceedings, will ordinarily be included. Additional prosecution subjects include dealing with inventors, developing invention disclosures, and preparing patent applications.

Prerequisites: Patent Law

This course (which is integrated with an optional legal writing, research, and exam-taking tutorial component) is required for and designed to provide international graduate students with an introduction to the U.S. legal system. The primary emphasis of the course is to examine the nature of the U.S. judicial system, the common law system of case law development, and the trial and appellate processes (in part through a study of selected tort cases). The interrelationship of law and U.S. society is explored. The course further attempts to develop basic U.S. legal writing, research, and exam-taking skills through the optional tutorial component. The course is taught in the fall semester. Enrollment is limited to international, non-U.S.-law-trained graduate students. All international, non-U.S.-law trained graduate students must take at least the first one-credit-hour component of this course.

Prerequisites: International LLM Students Only

Acts of terrorism, committed against the state by non-state actors, are not new. From a lawyer's point of view, what is new about the state's repertoire of responses to them? What are the constants and what are the variables that influence a state's recognition, definition, and reaction to real or perceived threats to the state's core responsibility for domestic security? By what standards should state action be assessed? And what role should law and lawyers play during such extraordinary times? This course will take an insistently interdisciplinary and occasionally comparative approach to these and other legal issues in America's 'war on terror.' Readings will be drawn from familiar legal sources, but also from works of history, the social sciences, and literature.

Prerequisites: All first year courses, Con. Law II is recommended; May not be taken concurrently with National Security and Criminal Law Enforcement

The mission of the Civil Rights Practicum is to engage students in contemporary civil rights litigation and advocacy from a practice standpoint. Students will analyze current civil rights cases highlighted in the national media such as those recently involving George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the towns of Ferguson, Baltimore, Chicago, and the Waco Biker Shoot Out. Students will analyze riveting videos of police actions to determine whether there was an abuse of force. Sometimes the videos tell the whole story but other times not. The course offers a unique opportunity for students to learn substantive law about civil rights cases in combination with the advocacy skills that are necessary to win them. The student learning outcomes are that you will have a working knowledge of the civil rights issues involved in police misconduct cases, prisoners’ rights litigation, and other related constitutional violations. You will also learn how to evaluate the merits of such a case and develop advocacy strategies that you can apply to any litigation. Don Tittle and Shane Read teach the course. Tittle has won several million-dollar civil rights jury verdicts and is one of only 13 lawyers featured in a book on the greatest trial lawyers in America, Turning Points at Trial. Read is an Assistant U.S. Attorney who is the author of two award-winning and bestselling textbooks, Winning at Trial and Winning at Deposition. Both textbooks have won the Association for Continuing Legal Education’s top award for Best Publication.

Covers pretrial civil litigation procedure, practice, and strategy. Emphasizes participating, developing advocacy skills in the pretrial process, and obtaining a working knowledge of procedural rules governing the pretrial process. A skills course that focuses on the practical application of the civil rules, decision-making, and judgment.

Prerequisites: Civil Procecure I & II

Introduces key accounting and financial principles needed to effectively counsel and represent clients. Students learn to read, understand, and discuss basic accounting statements and basic financial asset valuation principles and methodologies. Also, basic financial instruments and their normal use in major capital markets.

Hedge funds, private equity funds and other private pooled investment vehicles continue to play an impactful role in the financial marketplace. This course is designed to provide practical learning through the use of a series of simulations where the student will be required to lead a hypothetical client through the process of establishing an investment management business and formation and operation of a private fund. This involves gaining an understanding of (i) the basic differences among the types of funds and investment strategies along with primary fund terms and conditions and (ii) the primary securities laws applicable to forming, operating and making investments for a private fund. The course will be taught with support from Jason Daniel and Burke McDavid who are partners in the investment management practice group of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

Study of the development of the concept of recovery for injuries caused by products; survey of civil actions for harm resulting from defective and dangerous products; study of problems associated with hazard identification and the process of evaluation of risk; government regulation on dangerous and defective products; and current and pending legislation dealing with injuries and remedies in specific areas.

An analysis of principles and rules governing the conduct of lawyers. Topics include the client-lawyer relationship, competence, confidentiality, loyalty, the roles of lawyers as counselors and advocates, public service, advertising, admission to practice, and professional discipline.

An analysis of principles and rules governing the conduct of lawyers. Topics include the client-lawyer relationship, competence, confidentiality, loyalty, the roles of lawyers as counselors and advocates, public service, advertising, admission to practice, and professional discipline.

An analysis of principles and rules governing the conduct of lawyers. Topics include the client-lawyer relationship, competence, confidentiality, loyalty, the roles of lawyers as counselors and advocates, public service, advertising, admission to practice, and professional discipline.

Selected topics in personal property, adverse possession, present possessory and future estates in land, concurrent estates, the law of landlord and tenant, easements, private covenants, public land use regulation, and real estate conveyancing.

Selected topics in personal property, adverse possession, present possessory and future estates in land, concurrent estates, the law of landlord and tenant, easements, private covenants, public land use regulation, and real estate conveyancing.

Selected topics in personal property, adverse possession, present possessory and future estates in land, concurrent estates, the law of landlord and tenant, easements, private covenants, public land use regulation, and real estate conveyancing.

Selected topics in personal property, adverse possession, present possessory and future estates in land, concurrent estates, the law of landlord and tenant, easements, private covenants, public land use regulation, and real estate conveyancing.

Explores the legal treatment of race in the United States. Central to this examination is: (1) the legal and social construction of race and the manifestation of racism; (2) the legal history of certain populations of racialized groups including: African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos/as, Asian Americans, Arabs and Middle Eastern Americans, and White Americans; (3) the relationship between race, language, and citizenship; (4) race and developing notions of equality; (5) residential segregation, education, and race; (6) race and crime; and (7) responses to racism. Discusses the legal history of and contemporary legal issues facing racialized populations in the United States; to critically examine race problems from diverse perspectives; and to envision alternative policies and legal remedies which would increase racial justice.

Explores the relationship between race and intellectual property case law, principles, and policy. This relational exploration includes analyzing constitutional law principles, statutory histories, and legal interpretations. Students analyze the impact of this intersection on socioeconomic status, wealth, and education as well as on intellectual property case law and policy. Applies a critical race theory lens to intellectual property. This course is reading intensive, and explores how and in what ways racial and other forms of inequality are built into intellectual property law, policy, and practice. Students are expected to complete the readings, lead one session, and write a research paper to be turned in and presented to the class.

This course will explore the intersection of race/sex, law, and health by discussing: 1) how race/sex has been constructed in the U.S.; 2) what is discrimination in the U.S.; 3) how discrimination has and continues to limit racial and sexual minorities’ equal access to resources; and 4) how this has impacted health and caused racial and sex disparities in access to health care and health status. The following topics will be discussed during the course: racial and sex discrimination, the social determinants of health, and racial and sex health disparities.

A survey class that covers several fundamental areas relating to the income taxation of property transactions, with a specific focus on real estate investments and structures. Principle topics covered include the effect of liabilities on property, depreciation, like-kind exchanges, limitation on losses, characterization, leasing transactions, and other issues.  

Prerequisites: Income Taxation

This course furthers your understanding of legal and equitable remedies and defenses, which is essential to your legal career, whether you practice litigation or transactions. Remedies considers the question of what the prevailing party is entitled to when they win a lawsuit or award and why. It will cover all types of remedies, including damages, punitive damages, restitution, unjust enrichment, and injunctive relief. While we will consider public remedies in constitutional cases, the majority of the course will focus on remedies in private law civil actions and commercial remedies, in particular.

Law Review experience involving preparation of comments on topics of current interest, notes on cases of significance, and editorial work incidental to the publication of the SMU Science and Technology Law Review. Students must be selected for participation before they may enroll. Available to J.D. students only.

Law Review experience involving preparation of comments on topics of current interest, notes on cases of significance, and editorial work incidental to the publication of the SMU Science and Technology Law Review. Students must be selected for participation before they may enroll. Available to J.D. students only.

Law Review experience involving preparation of comments on topics of current interest, notes on cases of significance, and editorial work incidental to the publication of the SMU Science and Technology Law Review. Students must be selected for participation before they may enroll. Available to J.D. students only.

An introductory survey of the law governing security interests in personal property, with particular emphasis on Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code and the Bankruptcy Code.

Prerequisites: Property I & II

A study of the securities laws (primarily federal but also state, especially Texas) and of the activities and industry they govern. The principal emphasis is on the regulation of issuance, sale, resale, and purchase of securities, and on the disclosure requirements generated by the registration, reporting, proxy, tender, and antifraud provisions. Other important subjects are civil liability (express and implied), government enforcement, exemptions from registration (especially private placements), insider trading, and the meaning of 'security.' Also treated are the functions of the SEC and of state securities administrators. Broker-dealer and market regulation may be covered if time permits.

Prerequisites: All first year courses, Business Enterprise may be taken concurrently, (Business Planning, Corporate Finance, Law and Accounting are recommended)

This course addresses labor issues from the perspectives of management, labor organizations, individual employees, and the government. Examines labor issues arising in the non-union workplace; tools of economic pressure, including strikes and lockouts; and advanced remedial rights. Explores current hot topics including the use of social media in the workplace; labor rights in the gig economy; the interplay between labor rights and immigration law; and the impact of politics on labor policy. The course is interactive and includes writing, discussion, and practical and “real world” exercises. 

The midsize and small firm externship program combines a weekly classroom component with hands-on experience in a mid-size or small law firm. Students develop practical skills within the classroom which are enhanced through observational and/or participatory experiences at a law firm. Students apply substantive knowledge in a variety of matters and develop a range of skills and aptitudes necessary for successful lawyering in smaller firm environments. The class addresses time keeping, marketing, networking and its relation to social media, professionalism and ethics, presentation skills, drafting skills, deposition skills, the importance of both internal and external relationships, and the importance of asking for and responding to feedback on work.

Prerequisites: Completion of 3 semesters of law school

The Small Business and Trademark Clinic provides free legal services to individuals, small businesses, and non-profit organizations that generally cannot afford to pay legal fees, while providing law students (associate members of the State Bar of Texas) with training and experience in transactional law and trademark law. Clinic students advise clients on the formation of business and non-profit entities and assist in preparing necessary legal documents to form these entities. Students in the Small Business Clinic experience the transactional practice of law with real clients who have real issues in the business world, such as contract drafting and revising. Clinic students also work on trademarks matters in the Trademark Clinic, which is member of the USPTO Law School Clinic program. Clinic students gain specific experience in advising clients about basic trademark matters as well as drafting, filing, and prosecuting trademark applications with the USPTO. Clinic students accepted for the Small Business and Trademark Clinic should expect to handle both business and trademark matters.

Prerequisites: Business Enterprise; Completion of first year courses; Good academic standing; By selection only

Assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation, including fact investigations and analysis, legal research and writing, litigation training, and court appearances. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Small Business & Trademark Clinic

Assisting in preparing and supervising clinic students in client representation, including fact investigations and analysis, legal research and writing, litigation training, and court appearances. Deputies are selected by the clinic instructors. Students may not enroll before being selected.

Prerequisites: Small Business & Trademark Clinic

Preparation of comments on topics of current interest, notes on cases of significance, and editorial work incident to publication of the SMU Law Review and the Journal of Air Law and Commerce. Students must be selected for participation before they may register.

Prerequisites: By selection

Preparation of comments on topics of current interest, notes on cases of significance, and editorial work incident to publication of the SMU Law Review and the Journal of Air Law and Commerce. Students must be selected for participation before they may register.

Prerequisites: By selection

Preparation of comments on topics of current interest, notes on cases of significance, and editorial work incident to publication of the SMU Law Review and the Journal of Air Law and Commerce. Students must be selected for participation before they may register.

Prerequisites: By selection

The interaction between budgetary demands and revenue policy; equity and fairness of taxation; effect of taxation on business activity; social, political, and economic implications of the tax structure.

Prerequisites: Income Tax

This course will provide an overview of the adoption and evolution of telecommunications regulation in the United States, covering the broadcast, satellite, and cable television industries along with the wired and wireless telephony and Internet industries. Through the history of telephony regulation, the student will learn fundamental concepts and theory surrounding traditional rate base, rate of return regulation, the development of alternate forms of incentive regulation and different perspectives on managing the transition from monopoly to competition. The student will learn fundamental administrative law principles and gain insight into the adaptive nature of administrative regulation through its application to this technologically dynamic part of our Nation’s economy. In studying the adoption and implementation of the 1996 Federal Telecommunications Act, the student also will gain insight into the interaction of the legislative, administrative and judicial branches of government. The history of telecommunications regulation also will expose the student to public policy issues surrounding the interaction between the competition laws administered by the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission and public utility regulation administered by the Federal Communications Commission and State Public Utility Commissions in the United States.

Texas civil procedure from the commencement of trial through appeal, including selection of the jury, presentation of the case, motions for instructed verdict, preparation of the jury charge, motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and for new trial, rendition of judgment, and perfection and prosecution of civil appeals through the courts of appeals and supreme court.

Enrollment is limited. An intensive course in trial tactics, techniques, and advocacy, emphasizing the practice of the separate components of a trial: direct examination, objections, cross-examination, use of rehabilitative devices, examination of expert witness, jury selection, opening statements, and closing argument. At the end of the semester each student acts as co-counsel in a full trial. Video tape recording is used for critiquing student performance throughout the semester.

Prerequisites: Evidence

Enrollment is limited. An intensive course in trial tactics, techniques, and advocacy, emphasizing the practice of the separate components of a trial: direct examination, objections, cross-examination, use of rehabilitative devices, examination of expert witness, jury selection, opening statements, and closing argument. At the end of the semester each student acts as co-counsel in a full trial. Video tape recording is used for critiquing student performance throughout the semester.

Prerequisites: Evidence

Enrollment is limited. An intensive course in trial tactics, techniques, and advocacy, emphasizing the practice of the separate components of a trial: direct examination, objections, cross-examination, use of rehabilitative devices, examination of expert witness, jury selection, opening statements, and closing argument. At the end of the semester each student acts as co-counsel in a full trial. Video tape recording is used for critiquing student performance throughout the semester.

Prerequisites: Evidence

Enrollment is limited. An intensive course in trial tactics, techniques, and advocacy, emphasizing the practice of the separate components of a trial: direct examination, objections, cross-examination, use of rehabilitative devices, examination of expert witness, jury selection, opening statements, and closing argument. At the end of the semester each student acts as co-counsel in a full trial. Video tape recording is used for critiquing student performance throughout the semester.

Prerequisites: Evidence

Provides an advanced look into the adversarial proceedings conducted before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Focuses on the practical aspects of inter partes review (IPR), post-grant review (PGR), and covered business method (CBM) review, and examines the strategies and interplay of these proceedings with patent litigation in federal courts. Students conduct a case study of an actual IPR from initial filing to the Federal Circuit, review PTAB rules and orders, draft pleadings, conduct mock oral hearings, and analyze the groundbreaking (and often contradictory) rulings in this relatively new area of law.

Prerequisites: Patent Law or permission of the instructor based on significant experience with patent law

A general survey of the law relating to family wealth transmission, taking into account transfers within the probate system - wills and intestate succession - and transfers outside it, with special attention to trusts. Topics include the legal definition of family relationships; formalities required for execution and revocation of wills and other donative documents; mental capacity and volition; drafting pitfalls, post-execution events, and difficulties of interpretation; legal protections offered to a decedent's spouse and children; will substitutes such as life insurance, pension plans, and rights of survivorship; planning for incapacity and other changes in circumstances; obligations and powers of fiduciaries; rights of creditors and beneficiaries; trust creation, supervision, modification, duration, and termination; charitable purposes; and the impact of tax policy on estate planning.

This is an advanced criminal law course that covers the substantive law of federal white collar crime including conspiracy, mail fraud, RICO, public corruption, money laundering, financial institution fraud, tax fraud, and environmental crime. The course will also address issues of corporate and executive criminal liability and parallel civil/criminal proceedings.

Introduces students to the financial structure of major law firms and how these economics impact the firms’ pro bono programs and commitment. The course explores the role that pro bono plays in the greater legal community and in the delivery of legal services to the poor. The course examines the role of legal aid organizations, in-house legal departments, law schools and bar associations on law firm pro bono.

This course explores the complex body of federal and state laws that protect and regulate wildlife, including those that protect ecosystems and habitats. Wildlife law is centuries old and the course covers its interesting history from English Common Law to the statutes, policies, and regulations that predominate today. The course covers cases, statutory laws, and regulations. It also addresses enforcement of the laws and the constitutional and tribal issues that arise in wildlife cases.