Fall 2019

Sources and structure of law; history of Bill of Rights emphasizing effect on criminal justice system; limits of law in solving problems in American society.

Explores the phenomenon of wrongful convictions from a variety of fields, including psychology, criminology, policing and law, and through documentary films of real cases. Seeks solutions to increase accuracy of criminal process.

Introduces the U.S. legal system and its relationship to basic principles of the rule of law. Examines the criminal and the civil law systems, focusing on Supreme Court decisions involving the separation of powers, federalism and contemporary legal issues.

Introduces students to the basic aspects of the legal profession.

The main concepts and topics in American law, in the historical, economic and cultural contexts in which they have developed.

Explores issues of responsibility and credibility. Intentional and unintentional behavior. Clinical biases. Topics include witness credibility, confessions, cults, hostages, battered persons, and repressed memories.

Off campus coursework; title of course taken at host institution appears as a section title.

Consideration of the participants in litigation; private and public plaintiffs, defendants, and courts. Information exchange, process, outcomes, and costs of lawsuits.

The interpretation and enforcement of promises and agreements.

The crime problem and the legislative response to it through substantive criminal law; administration of criminal justice through police, prosecutorial, sentencing, and penological discretion.

Functions of the lawyer in modern society; history and organization of the legal profession; the adversary system; equal access to justice; other problems of ethics and professional responsibility.

The idea of property as understood through economic and philosophical concepts. Rights in land, water and other natural resources. Forms of shared ownership (e.g., landlord and tenant), and a survey of mechanisms for controlling land use.

Individual's obligation not to harm others; bases for compensating persons who are harmed, either by holding responsible whoever is at fault or by invoking other principles of liability, including the efficiency of resource allocation and the spreading of losses.

Examination of the basic sources of law for federal and California jurisdictions, utilizing a vast array of sources from books to computer-assisted research and analyzing research methodology and techniques. Graded CR/D/F.

Two-semester course focusing on developing analytic and communication skills. Lawyers will analyze legal principles and incisively apply them to facts. Graded CR/D/F.

Focuses on professional writing structure based on audience, tone, form and purpose.

Development of legal research, writing, and advocacy skills. Emphasis on objective legal writing, including memoranda, and researching case law through primary and secondary sources. Registration restricted to Law students.

The basic structure of government in the U.S., including the constitutionally mandated division of power in the federal government and the federal system of power sharing between state and federal systems. A comparative perspective on selected substantive and procedural matters, such as common law reasoning, jury trials, adversary process, and various aspects of civil procedure. Open to incoming LL.M. students only.

This course will provide LL.M. and M.C.L. students with a survey of various topics in American law including criminal law, evidence, family law, constitutional law, torts, wills and trusts, administrative law and property law. Open to LL.M. and M.C.L. students only.

Covers the delineation of spheres of responsibility between three branches of the federal government, the federal government and the states and the government and individuals.

Exposes students to everyday business and finance vocabulary, concepts and modes of analysis. Strongly recommended for students without significant prior business experience. Graded CR/D/F.

Examines constitutional rights particularly ones protected under the Equal Protection/Due Process Clauses and related questions of judicial role and theories of interpretation.

A student-run periodical that publishes student-written and peer-edited articles relevant to the intersection between law and business.

Explores and develops the legal communication and analytical skills necessary to the practice of law.

Explores purpose and form of legal documents and emphasizes effective communication.

Explores the art of public speaking and effective communication in legal settings.

Explores how judicial opinions interact with other sources of law and develop law in the U.S.

Part-time or full-time, practical work experience in the student's field of study. The internship must be located at an off-campus facility. Students are individually supervised by faculty. May not be taken until the student has completed at least one semester of enrollment in the graduate program with a cumulative 3.0 GPA.

Provides an overview of regulatory compliance law and the ways that various organizations ensure compliance with governing laws and regulations.

Federal tax statutes, technical issues and social problems involved in tax planning, tax litigation, and reform of the tax laws.

Criminal procedure in the courts, and the regulation of lawenforcement by the courts through rules of evidence andinterpretation of the Bill of Rights.

Organization of economic activity especially the modern corporation as institutions of social power. The roles of managers, owners, and regulatory agencies in shaping processes ofdecision making.

Selected problems to supplement LAW 605.

The land transfer process: arrangements between buyers andsellers, brokers, escrows, recorders, title companies. Real estatefinancing through mortgages and other land security devices.

Gratuitous transfer of wealth, especially the transmission of wealth from one generation to the next as a settlement of family affairs. Comparative analysis of the legal mechanisms of gifts, wills, and trusts. Introduction to problems of fiduciary administration.

The purpose and character of trial. Problems of adversary presentation and the nature of proof. The basis for admission and exclusion of evidence in judicial proceedings.

The lawyer's skills needed to understand the financial affairs of a business client.

Consideration of legal regulation of the right to vote and otherwise to participate in the electoral process.

Explores the interaction of law, culture, and politics in American society from the Revolution through the New Deal.

Creating, regulating and dissolving family relationships. Explore moral and power relations among men, women, children, and the State. Develop skills to help clients in families.

Comparison of the remedial goals of contracts, torts, and property and the impact of procedural devices in law and equity. Damages, injunctions, specific performance and restitution. Remedial theory and transactional application.

Covers each phase of the structuring, formation, financing and operation of a new media enterprise.

Students receive the training required to become professional mediators for civil cases in the L.A. County Superior Court, and mediate these cases.

This course introduces law students to the tools, concept, and language of business. It is premised on the belief that to excel as a business lawyer, one must understand the business world from the perspective of the clients one counsels and assists. The course will cover, in compressed form, the basic subjects from the MBA program which are most useful to lawyers. Open only to law students.

Legal analysis of the rules of Evidence using problems designed to improve analytic skills and problem-solving. Taken in conjunction with Evidence. Open to Law students only. Graded CR/NC.

The interrelation of labor, business, and government in collective bargaining, federal regulation of union and management practices and pressures, especially through the Taft-Hartley Act.

Involves issues including loan restructuring; what loan agreements cover; how representations, covenants, default and financial and repayment terms interrelate; and how security documents fit in. Graded CR/D/F.

Bankruptcy of the poor, imprudent or unlucky, and of unsuccessful business. The mechanisms of our law for distributing the debtor's property and discharging his obligations.

Contemporary topics in the field of entertainment law.

An examination of how the courts are handling selected, "cutting edge" topics in entertainment law. The topics will include the scope of and limitations on the right of publicity; fair use and parody defenses to copyright infringement; future technology clauses in rights contracts; and copyright and defamation issues arising in the online world. Previous entertainment law courses recommended, but not required.

Invitation-only course offered to second-year students as part of the Hale Moot Court Honors Program. Students write an appellate brief.

Evaluation and supervision of the preparation of briefs and oral arguments in the Hale Moot Court honors competition. Graded CR/69/65.

Preparation of oral arguments in approved moot court competitions, such as national and state prize rounds, (other than Hale Moot Court Program). Graded CR/69/65. Open only to law students.

Preparation of briefs in approved moot court competitions, such as national and state prize rounds (other than Hale Moot Court Program).

Studies the important issues at the intersection of law and psychology/psychiatry, both civil and criminal.

Writing, source-checking, and preliminary editing of articles and comments for publication in the Review of Law and Social Justice. For second year students serving as staff members on the Review. Open to law students only. Graded CR/D/F.

Writing, source-checking and preliminary editing of articles and comments for publication in the Review of Law and Social Justice.

Develop knowledge and skills associated with the mediation process as a third party neutral. Explore mediation theories, practices, ethical issues and policies.

Supervision of research and writing, and final editing of articles and comments for publication in the Review of Law and Social Justice. For officers of the Review. Open to law students only. Graded IP to CR/D/F.

Gives students operational significance to the abstractions presented in the Constitutional Law courses by investigating civil rights litigation.

A one-semester clinical course where students represent non-citizens in appellate matters before the Board of Immigration Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals, and in petitions for writs of habeas corpus before the U.S. District Court.

Explores how legal, social, cultural and economic factors contribute to health disparities and the role that physicians and lawyers can play in advocating for patients and policy change.

The law of community property, including disposition of property on dissolution of the marriage and questions of conflict of laws.

Covers the fundamentals of reviewing and analyzing business contracts and strategies for negotiating business issues with an emphasis on developing practical skills. Open only to Law students.

Contract drafting and negotiating will teach students the mechanics of drafting and negotiating sophisticated contracts from a variety of legal disciplines including entertainment law, real estate law and general corporate law.

Students present to the class their assessment of assigned contracts, then draft their own contracts, interpret a complex contract, followed by team-based rewrites.

Develops enhanced negotiation skills and a working understanding of ADR processes and procedures in an interactive classroom experience.

Discusses current U.S. foreign policy challenges and the underlying international legal issues and principles which shape them.

Exploration of the origin, development, and practice of mediation, arbitration and other forms of ADR, emphasizing the policies underlying these increasingly significant and evolving areas.

Explore areas of law that cover children and require students to think critically and practically about childrens role in the legal system.

Covers legal and law-related issues, including constitutional law perspectives, concerning biomedical technologies. Open only to LAW students.

Continuation of Small Business Clinic I. Open to Law students only.

Covered topics include offenses relating to fraud and political corruption, terrorism, narcotics, money laundering, organized crime, false statements and obstruction of justice.

Intersectionality, deconstruction and critical histoiography; specifically affirmative action in education, hate speech and immigration reform. Open only to Law students.

Regulation by state and federal authorities of issuance of, and trading in, stocks, bonds, and other securities. Particular reference to SEC regulations.

Explores laws response to questions of sex discrimination and gender identity and expression, with emphasis upon legal issues facing transgender and intersex persons.

Source-checking and preliminary editing of articles and comments for publication in the Interdisciplinary Law Journal. For third year students serving as staff members on the Journal. Graded IP/CR/NC.

Students will write journal notes as members of the Interdisciplinary Law Journal.

Supervision and final editing of articles and comments for publication in the Interdisciplinary Law Journal. Graded IP to CR/69/65.

Survey of legal aspects of international trade and investment transactions, including tax considerations.

Special seminars to provide a forum for students who wish to produce a paper for academic publication to receive guidance and feedback.

Writing, source- checking, and preliminary editing of articles and comments for publication in the Southern California Law Review. For second year students serving as staff members on the Review. Graded IZ..

Writing, source-checking and preliminary editing of articles and comments for publication in the Southern California Law Review.

Supervision of research and writing, and final editing of articles and comments for publication in the Southern California Law Review. For officers of the Review. Graded IP to CR/69/65.

Provides law students with the ability to represent clients (under the supervision of the professor) in cutting-edge issues of intellectual property and technology law. Corequisite: LAW 772 or LAW 841. Graded CR/NC.

The protection of intellectual property and encouragement of creativity. Explores copyright, trademarks, patents, and selected state law theories.

Students represent clients before Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Immigration Court, and certain law enforcement agencies in cases including applications for relief under the Violence Against Women Act, for asylum, and for relief against deportation. Open only to LAW students.

Analysis of the buying and selling of goods both in domestic and international transactions with a heavy focus on Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code.

A judicial externship allows a student to gain hands-on legal experience in legal settings. Students will be assigned to a legal services program, government agency, or state or federal judge under faculty supervision.

Advanced externship.

Designed to support student learning at externship field placements, and support student growth in becoming ethical, professional, confident and successful law students and attorneys.

Focuses on one or two topics per year at the intersection of law, mental health and ethics and explores them from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Medical and law students, in conjunction with public policy advocates, work together to identify and improve health outcomes for vulnerable populations.

Emphasizes strategies and tactics in asking and objecting to questions at a deposition in a civil case. Students will conduct mock depositions.

Patent laws, litigation, and the process of prosecuting the patent application. The concept of invention and ownership of rights under patents.

Examines methods of dispute resolution used in other countries and compares them to those employed in the United States.

Provides law students, lawyers and professional neutrals with an in-depth examination of the rules guiding our behavior in various dispute resolution processes. Open only to law students.

Examines conceptual and practical aspects of interviewing, counseling, negotiation, settlement, drafting and formal advocacy in the handling of legal cases.

Examines decicion-making by counsel in the litigation of cases. Emphasis is given to decisions involving tactics, strategies, and their implications for the functioning of legal institutions and substantive doctrine. Extensive use of simulated trial practice exercises.

Explores a variety of contract provisions, and teaches students the important drafting skills necessary to achieve a clients goal.

Covers basic aspects of international commercial arbitration and prepares a USC Law School team for participation in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.

Provides hands-on experience in mediation of the complex issues of disability, wage and hour, sex and sex harassment, age, race, religion, and national origin.

Brings an international perspective to understanding the impact of culture in the most commonly used international and domestic dispute resolution practices (negotiation, mediation, and arbitration).

Allows students to hone their legal skills while representing veterans of the United States Armed Forces in administrative proceedings.

Students will write and present papers discussing topics in tax policy.

Allows students to practice trial techniques and covers cutting-edge techniques in trial preparation.

Develops students' negotiating skills through role plays, reflection and instructor feedback.

Students work under close faculty supervision on cases and projects that involve the application of international law to address human rights violations.

Examines the psychological factors that hinder the making of accurate factual findings.

Covers the prosecution, trial and punishment of individuals suspected of crimes considered among the most serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

Introduction to negotiation and mediation from an international perspective. Development of essential skills for effective client representation in negotiation and mediation. Open only to Law students.

Explores the spectrum of interrelated legal and policy issues known as "homeland security" since the events of September 11, 2001.

Assist in teaching writing and advocacy. Responsibilities include helping prepare lesson plans and drafting writing assignments and sample answers; leading class exercises; and judging first-year moot court practice rounds. Graded CR/D/F.