This course covers the procedures courts use in deciding lawsuits that do not involve criminal misconduct. Much of it is concerned with the process of litigation in trial courts, from the initial documents called pleadings, through the pre-trial process, especially the process of discovery in which parties obtain information from one another, to trial itself.

This course examines the legal obligations that attach to promises made in a business contract or otherwise, including the remedies that may be available for promises that are not kept. The course examines the legal requirements for enforceable contracts, including consideration, consent and conditions, and the effect of fraud, mistake, unconscionability, and impossibility.

This course explores the basic principles of Anglo-American criminal law, including the constituent elements of criminal offenses, the necessary predicates for criminal liability, the major concepts of justification and excuse, and the conditions under which offenders can be liable for attempt. Major emphasis is placed on the structure and interpretation of modern penal codes.

This is the first semester of the yearlong basic skills course in the first-year curriculum covering fundamental legal research techniques, two styles of legal writing, and oral advocacy. In this first semester, students complete various research and citation exercises and write three office memoranda of increasing length and complexity.

The course examines liability for civil wrongs that do not arise out of contract. It explores three standards of conduct: liability for intentional wrongdoing, negligence, and liability without fault, or strict liability, and other issues associated with civil liability, such as causation, damages, and defenses. Battery, medical malpractice, products liability, and tort reform will also be covered.

This course covers the role of agencies in the constitutional structure and their operations. Topics include the nondelegation doctrine, executive appointment and removal power, the legislative veto as well as the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and other sources of law that regulate and structure the authority of agencies to determine the rights and responsibilities of the public.Prerequisite: LAW 6001-Constitutional Law

This course considers the formation and operation of corporations and compares corporations to other business forms. It examines the roles and duties of those who control businesses and the power of investors to influence and litigate against those in control. The course also addresses the special problems of closely held corporations and issues arising out of mergers and attempts to acquire firms. The course uses both new tools derived from the corporate finance and related literature and traditional tools to explore a wide range of phenomena and transactions associated with the modern business enterprise.

The course will cover questions of relevance, hearsay, privilege, and expert testimony, among others, and it will focus largely on problems arising in concrete factual settings, as opposed to traditional case analysis. Major emphasis will be placed on the Federal Rules of Evidence, which now apply in the courts of roughly 40 states as well as the federal system.

This course is about the federal judicial system and its relationship to various other decision-makers, including Congress and the state courts. We will examine the jurisdiction of the federal courts; the elements of a justiciable case or controversy; the role of state law and so-called "federal common law" in federal courts; implied causes of action; and state sovereign immunity.

This course will concentrate on the provisions that apply to all taxpayers, with particular concern for the taxation of individuals. The course is intended to provide grounding in such fundamental areas as the concept of income, income exclusions and exemptions, non-business deductions, deductions for business expenses, basic tax accounting, assignment of income, and capital gains and losses.