Spring 2024 First Day Assignments

Translating the Business Deal into Contract Concepts. 

This unit provides the framework for the course. It teaches students the analytic skill that deal lawyers use when drafting and reviews the basic contract concepts from a deal lawyer’s perspective.

Reading Assignment
Chapter 1 – A Few Words.
Chapter 2 – The Building Blocks of Contracts.
Chapter 3 – Translating the Business Deal – Part 1.
Chapter 4 – Translating the Business Deal – Part 2.
Chapter 5 – A Contract’s Parts.

Drafting Assignment
None

You will need the Code and Regulations (the one-volume version used in Income Taxation is fine). 

You will also need  (1) the study problems, (2) the handout materials (cases and rulings) and (3) chapter 94 from the Bittker & Lokken treatise -- these three items will be available outside of my office -- Room 266 of Storey Hall -- beginning at noon on Thursday, January 4^th.

The first class will meet on Monday, January 8th.  Read pages 59-60 in the study problems (Lesson 9), read the first five cases in the handout materials, then read 94.1 and 94.2.1 in chapter 94.  Then go to Lesson 11A (Type A Reorganizations beginning on page 67) in the study problems and work problem 1 on page 68 (skip the alternatives in problem 1).  I will hand out a syllabus in class.  Bring your Code and Regulations to the first class.

Instead, of using physical books, our class will be using an online classroom called Matrix. Soon, you should be receiving an email from Matrix with login information. For the first class, you must:  

1. Access the Matrix Online Classroom
2. Read the Course Syllabus posted on Matrix under “Resources”
3. Answer the Online Diagnostic Test (MBE Pre-test): upload to the Matrix system before our first class. To access the MBE Pre-test, go to the MBE Pre-Test module on Matrix (the first module in the Matrix classroom).

You should soon receive an email from support@lawstudentonline.com with login information for the online platform we'll be using. Log on to the platform and complete the module entitled "Student Pre Work and Syllabus" (including carefully reading the Syllabus).

1/8, Warren and Westbrook, Assignment 1, Fighting over money.

1/10, Warren and Westbrook, Assignment 2, Collecting from Consumers.

Our book will be Joshua Dressler and Stephen Garvey, Criminal Law Cases and Materials, Ninth Edition (West Academic Publishing 2022). Our first class will be:

• Section 1, Thursday, January 4, 9:30 am in the Hillcrest Lecture Hall

For the first day, please read pages 1-19 of the textbook. 

As you read, consider these questions: What is distinctive about the criminal law? How does your answer to that question relate to basic protections, like the presumption of innocence, that we grant (at least in theory) to criminal defendants?”

Our book will be Joshua Dressler and Stephen Garvey, Criminal Law Cases and Materials, Ninth Edition (West Academic Publishing 2022). Our first class will be:

• Section 2, Thursday, January 4, 3:30 pm in the Hillcrest Lecture Hall

For the first day, please read pages 1-19 of the textbook. 

As you read, consider these questions: What is distinctive about the criminal law? How does your answer to that question relate to basic protections, like the presumption of innocence, that we grant (at least in theory) to criminal defendants?”

The professor has not yet submitted an assignment. 

Please read pages 1-11 and 17-28 in the casebook for the first week.

The casebook is Sullivan, Bornstein & Zimmer, Cases and Materials on Employment Discrimination (10th ed. 2022). I'll distribute the syllabus on the first day of class.

1. Fisher pages 1-8 [top], and 2) the syllabus

This course will meet in room 207 Florence Hall.

CB = Contemporary Family Law casebook, Sixth Edition (Abrams, Cahn, McClain, Ross, Matsumura, Weaver)

Chapter 1: Families and Family Law in Contemporary America

Moore v. City of East Cleveland

CB1-19 (skip all problems, skip "Notes and Questions")

Chapter 2: Entering Marriage 

Zablocki v. Redhail

CB 86-93 (stop before the dissent)

For our first class, (1) sign up for the course website on Canvas; (2) using the course website, access and review the Syllabus and Reading Assignments documents using the links on the course home page; and (3) read pages 1-11 from Michael W. McConnell et al., Religion and the Constitution (Aspen, 5th ed. 2022).  See you on Thursday.

This course will meet in room 201 Florence Hall. 

Please refer to Canvas course page for first day of class assignment. Please note that we will not be meeting for class on Thursday, January 4th. I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!

From the Contreras textbook:

Introduction
Chapter 1

Other Materials:

Before our first class, you must:

(1) Log on and make sure you can access the MPT Matrix course site. You'll receive an email from Matrix with log-in information by Monday, August 14.

(2) Review the course syllabus posted on the MPT Matrix course under "Resources"

The casebook for the course is Eskridge, Gluck & Nourse, Statutes, Regulation, and Interpretation: Legislation and Administration in the Republic of Statutes (1st ed. 2014). There is also a set of Supplementary Readings that may be downloaded from a link at the bottom of the Canvas page (it's a large file, so it may take a while to download).

For the first week, please skim through pages 1023-1041 in the casebook. Yes, that's the US Constitution--we'll be starting the course with a quick review of the basic lawmaking framework.

I'll pass out the syllabus on the first day of class.

1.     Read Hill, Quinn, & Davidoff Solomon, Mergers and Acquisitions: Law, Theory, and Practice (3d 2023) pages 1-28

2.     Read Frank A. Gevurtz & Christina M. Sautter, Mergers & Acquisitions Law (2018) § 1.1 (this book is available for free on the West Academic Study Aids Collection site. If you have not already done so, you should register for that site using your SMU e-mail address in the format @smu.edu at https://subscription.westacademic.com/.)

3.     Watch Merger Waves & Why Engage in M&A? Lecture Video posted on Canvas under Modules – Video Lectures and here: Merger Waves & Why Engage in M&A?  

4.     Read WSJ article: What Happened in M&A in 2023, and What’s Ahead, in Five Charts (see below for WSJ access) and Reuters article: Backlogged M&A Pipeline Will Burst in 2024

5.     Read Hill, Quinn, & Davidoff Solomon, Mergers and Acquisitions: Law, Theory, and Practice (3d 2023) pages 31-39 and DGCL Sections 251 & 259 (posted on Canvas under Modules – Handouts and Links)

6.     Complete question 3 on page 60 of Hill, Quinn, & Davidoff Solomon, Mergers and Acquisitions: Law, Theory, and Practice (3d 2023) and be prepared to discuss the answer.

You have access to the WSJ for free through SMU. Registration instructions for SMU’s group subscription to the Wall Street Journal (SMU network address is required for registration.): http://wsj.com/SMU.

The casebook is Fundamentals of Partnership Taxation (11th ed.) by Schwarz, Lathrope and Hellwig.  You will also need the Code and Regulations (the one volume version is fine).

The first class will meet on Thursday, January 4th.  Please read Chapter 1 and pages 33-40 of Chapter 2.  Work the problem on pages 40-41.  We will go through the problem in class the first day.  I will hand out a syllabus during the first class.  Bring the casebook and Code and Regulations to the first class.

Chapter 1 (pages 1-22) from the class book: Professional Responsibility: Problems and Materials, 14^th ed., (Thomas D. Morgan, John S. Dzienkowski, Mitt Regan)

For our first class on Thursday, Jan. 4, please read pp. 1-17 and 25-32 in Thomas W. Merrill, Henry E. Smith & Maureen E. Brady, Property: Principles and Policies (Fourth Edition).

Class 1 – January 9, 2024

Introduction to Selected Topics in Sports Law

Required Readings:

- Shlensky v. Wrigley, 95 Ill. App. 2d 173, 237 N.E.2d 776 (Ill. App. Ct. 1968)

- https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3843&context=articles

- https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1517&context=sportslaw

- https://www.sportico.com/law/analysis/2023/biggest-sports-law-controversies-2023-ncaa-amateurism-1234760591/

Class 2 – January 16, 2024

Issues in Youth Sports

Required Readings:

- Sports Ethics: Chapter 5, pg. 77-83 (Parental Ethics)

- https://sportslitigationalert.com/chief-judge-turns-away-parent-who-was-upset-that-daughter-was-benched/ - https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3014&context=facsch_lawrev

- https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/12/20/kaig-lightner-youth-soccer-portland/

Reading Assignment for “Texas Legislative Process”

First class on January 8, 2024:

          The U.S. Constitution (available online)

• Art. 1, Sec. 4
• Art. 1, Sec. 8, Clause 3
• Art. IV, Secs. 1, 2, 4
• Art. VI
• Amendments 10, 14, 15, 22, 24, 26

   

            The Texas Constitution (available online at           https://tlc.texas.gov/docs/legref/TxConst.pdf)

• Article I
  • Sections other than 11a-c, 15a, 30-35
• Article II
• Article III
  • Sections 1-41, 56-58
• Article IV
  • Sections 1-10, 12-22
• Article XV

For this course we will be using Texas Civil Procedure: Trial and Appellate Practice 2022-2023 by Dorsaneo, et al and the newest version of the Texas Rules of Court. We will be starting with Chapter 1 of the textbook, so for the first day of class please read pages 1-32, together with any Texas Rules of Procedure that are referenced in the reading.