Ut austin course schedule

Same as LAW P, Reading Group: Academic Freedom, The First Amendment, and the American University.

This non-writing seminar will meet every other week to discuss the professor’s book in progress, Academic Freedom, the First Amendment, and the American University.  The book explores the emergence of academic freedom as a distinctive First Amendment right and its relationship to general First Amendment rights of free speech.  It observes that judicial decisions have extended this right to professors, universities, and students, whose interests in academic freedom may conflict.  It also observes that state interests and the constitutional rights of individual citizens may conflict with interests in academic freedom.  Examples of state interests include national security, public health, and the enforcement of laws prohibiting employment discrimination and harassing speech.  Examples individual constitutional rights include free speech, the free exercise of religion, and equal protection.  After reviewing the case law, the book proposes a theory of First Amendment academic freedom to address these complicated issues.  Students will write two to three page reaction papers for every seminar meeting.  Class discussions will address the process of legal scholarship as well as the substantive contents of the book.  The course does not satisfy the law school’s writing requirement.  Grading will be pass/fail.

Same as LAW P, Topic: Advanced Criminal Law Skills.

This course will take a criminal case from its inception through trial, plea or dismissal. Students will perform skills weekly on different elements of the case such as intake evaluation, pretrial motions, plea negotiations, witness preparation and trial. Ethics will also be included. The course is recommended for those with an interest in a career in criminal law, especially those considering employment in either a prosecutor's or public defender’s office.

The class will be a combination of remote and in person exercises.  No student will be required to appear in person, but students will be given the option of doing so on some of the class days.  The hope is to give students the chance to perform in ways that are currently being used in different jurisdictions around the country.    Obviously this is evolving and subject to change.  The plan is also to involve guest appearances by some former students who took this class and are now working in public defender or prosecutor’s offices.

Students who have taken LAW P, Adv Skills: Criminal Court may not take LAW P, Advanced Criminal Law Skills.

Same as LAW W, Advocacy Practice & Theory for the New Millennium.

This class is limited to 3L students. It is for students who have mastered the basic and advanced advocacy skills and will focus on cutting-edge advocacy theories and techniques. The class combines both discussion and practice sessions focusing on both traditional legal exercises and other experimental approaches to advocacy. Students will also spend several weeks learning and practicing how to conduct a voir dire examination and will perform a full voir dire using independent jurors.  Students will work with Dell Medical students on a trial. This class operates in a seminar fashion as well as focusing on skills-based training. The class has an extensive reading/discussion list in addition to the skill work and outside research. Suggested prerequisites: Evidence, Advocacy Survey, and Advanced Advocacy work such as appellate advocacy,  ADR courses, clinics or interscholastic work.

• MON, WED am – pm

P/F Allowed (JD only)

Course Information

Course ID:

D

Experiential learning credit:

3 hours

Description

Same as LAW N, Advocacy Survey: Skills.

Students get hands-on practice in areas such as opening and closing statements, the use and relevance of technology in litigation, transferable skills for a transactional practice, and the basic skills necessary to try a case. The skill sessions will end with the trial of a case.

Same as LAW N, Advocacy Survey: Skills.

Students get hands-on practice in areas such as opening and closing statements, the use and relevance of technology in litigation, transferable skills for a transactional practice, and the basic skills necessary to try a case. The skill sessions will end with the trial of a case.

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (3 HOUR COURSE) The Alternative Dispute Resolution Survey course is designed to provide a broad-based introduction to negotiation, mediation, and arbitration, for students interested in either advocacy or transactional practices.  ADR methods are now more common than the courtroom for resolving civil disputes; more than 99% of civil cases are settled before trial, if cases are even filed at the courthouse. Many commercial agreements now contain mandatory mediation/arbitration provisions, and statutory and case law both favor ADR. This course will examine the policy and business reasons for the rise in ADR; explore the various ADR methods; discuss negotiating and why lawyers must learn successful negotiating skills; and provide students with an opportunity to experience these concepts through class exercises. The professor is a 30+year litigation attorney with substantial experience to both trial and ADR disputes, and he brings a practical, real-world approach to the lectures and exercises. There will be no exam, but a final written project is required. Grading will be based upon class participation, attendance, and the final paper. Please note: Students may only miss two classes per semester, additional absences will be reflected in a lower grade.

Course Information

Course ID:

P

Registration Information

• Upperclass-only elective
• Prof. keeps own waitlist
• Will use floating mean GPA if applicable

Description

This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom. Same as LAW M, Antitrust: Economic Analysis/Legal Interpretation.

The course begins by explaining why the American antitrust laws' critical expressions -- "restraint of trade," "monopolizes," "decreases competition" -- should be interpreted in ways that make the legality of the various types of business conduct covered by those laws depend on economic analyses of the motivations of those who engage in them or certain consequences that they have. It then analyzes the economic factors that determine the legality of the various practices that the American antitrust laws cover. Approximately three-fourths of class-time will be devoted to economic analysis. The remaining time will be devoted to explaining the positive case-law and guidelines and analyzing the respects in which the courts and antitrust enforcement agencies are analyzing the legality of the conduct in question correctly and incorrectly. No background in economics will be presupposed, though students without such a background will have to work harder, particularly at the beginning of the course. Diagrams but no more advanced type of mathematics will be used. This course can be taken instead of or in addition to the regular antitrust course.

Same as LAW H, Appellate Clerkship Writing.

This pass-fail course teaches students to do the work of an appellate clerk. We will analyze briefs and record excerpts, write sample bench memos, and draft and edit opinions. I expect students to attend every class unless excused. The class is only open to students who have accepted an appellate clerkship or who plan to apply to one.

Same as LAW M, Arbitration: Theory and Practice.

In recent decades there has been an explosion of interest in arbitration. The aim of this course is to think deeply about this trend, and in particular about the justifications for arbitration as a method of dispute resolution, its limits, and the principles that govern its practice. We will select topics that allow us to connect the debates over arbitration with larger debates about the function and the forms of law in modern societies. To illustrate the range of questions we might address, consider the following. Is the increased interest in arbitration a response to perceived defects in the regular court system and if so, what are those defects? More generally, how do arbitration courts and the ordinary judiciary interact? Would arbitration work in a world without courts? What about criticisms of arbitration, such as that it systematically advantages the more powerful party in a contractual relationship? Are there any matters that the state should declare nonarbitrable, and on what grounds? What kind of law are arbitrators supposed to apply in rendering their awards? How does that law relate to the law courts use? How does it relate to broader notions of justice and equity? Is there a role for stare decisis, and should there be? How should arbitrators vote? Should dissents be allowed? Also, a number of very important and interesting topics arise in special forms of arbitration. For example, under the ICSID system in Washington, an individual is allowed to sue a state in its international capacity before an international arbitral body. Is a strong form of transnational law being created in these cases? Are there any structural biases in such a system? How does the law developed in these cases fit with democratic values?

• MON, TUE, WED – pm

P/F Not Allowed

Course Information

Course ID:

R

Registration Information

• Upperclass-only elective
• Will use floating mean GPA if applicable

Description

• MON, TUE, WED – am

P/F Not Allowed

Course Information

Course ID:

C

Registration Information

• Upperclass-only elective
• Reverse-priority registration
• Will use floating mean GPA if applicable

Description

This course will examine some general jurisprudential and moral issues related to the American system of capital punishment. The course will focus primarily on the development of the law governing capital punishment in the United States since Some of the main themes include: the legal structure of the Supreme Court's post death penalty jurisprudence, the scope of available appellate and post-conviction review in capital cases (particularly federal habeas review), the ubiquitous problems surrounding the representation afforded indigent capital defendants, proportionality limits on the imposition of the death penalty for various offenders (e.g., juveniles and persons with mental retardation), the role of racial discrimination in the administration of the death penalty, and the likely trajectory of the American death penalty. The course will be graded on a letter-grade basis for all students.  This course will satisfy the constitutional law II requirement.

Same as LAW M, Topic: Capital Punishment, Adv Topics: Providing Effective Assistance of Counsel in Capital Trials.

The ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Cases () state that “the responsibilities of defense counsel in a death penalty case are uniquely demanding, both in the knowledge that counsel must possess and in the skills he or she must master.” This advanced death penalty course studies various aspects of capital trial defense that must be mastered to meet contemporary standards of practice. The course addresses defense counsel’s duty to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the client’s social history; counsel’s duty to identify and investigate issues of trauma, race, culture, and mental health presented by the client and the case; counsel’s duty to pursue a negotiated settlement of the case; and counsel’s duty to develop an integrated theory of the case. Classes alternate between traditional lectures and class discussion of assigned readings, presentations by occasional guest speakers, and workshops in which students will apply course reading and instruction to a series of lawyering assignments related to an actual pending capital case.

Same as LAW M, Topic: Capital Punishment, Advanced: Race & the Death Penalty.

• MON, TUE, WED, THU – am

P/F Not Allowed

Course Information

Course ID:

Description

• TUE, WED, THU – am

P/F Not Allowed

Course Information

Course ID:

Description

ACTUAL INNOCENCE CLINIC IS A 6-HR. CLINIC. Students screen and investigate claims by inmates that they are actually innocent of the offenses for which they are incarcerated. While investigating cases, students typically interview witnesses, research cases, review trial transcripts, and occasionally visit inmates in prison. The weekly clinic class addresses topics relevant to actual innocence law and procedure.

APPLY ONLINE: https://law.utexas.edu/clinics/application-information/