The following Spring 2010 course options at UT Law may be of interest to students seeking coursework related to the fields of international, transnational, or comparative law.
Short courses
European Constitutionalism
Class Unique #: 28655 Instructor: Ferreres, V
Course #: 279M Credits: 2
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
CLASS MEETS MARCH 1-APRIL 23.
The aim of this course is to examine and assess the distinctive features of European constitutionalism. Different countries in the world have developed this abstract political idea in different ways. What are the specific characteristics of the European approach? What internal variations can one identify? What are their advantages and disadvantages?
The course will focus on different topics. Some of them are structural, such as: the European preference for parliamentary over presidential democracy; the centrality of legislation within the legal system; the option in favour of Constitutional Courts; the openness of the domestic legal systems to international and supranational law; the strength of supranational courts -in particular, the European Court of Justice, and the European Court of Human Rights.
Other topics are of a more substantive nature: How should fundamental rights be interpreted and enforced? Are private individuals bound by them? What duties must the government comply with? We will focus on particular rights, in order to distil some distinctive principles of European law. When it comes to freedom of speech, religious liberties, and the rights of criminal defendants, for example, interesting differences emerge between the European and the American approaches.
Two credits. There will be a final exam. Writing a paper is an alternative option.
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Constitutional Strategies In Latin America
Class Unique #: 28645 Instructor: Ferreres/Sager
Course #: 279M Credits: 2
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
CLASS MEETS MARCH 1-APRIL 23.
The goal of this course is to examine the different strategies that countries may pursue in order to realize constitutional ideals. We will try to draw lessons from different parts of the world, but our main focus will be Latin- America.
We will deal, first, with foundational questions: What matters should the Constitution speak to, and how specific should its provisions be? How hard should it be to amend them in the future? Are social rights
to be included? What should the Constitution say about the basic rules of the economic system? Concerning the principle of separation of powers, how should it be articulated? What, in particular, should be the relationship between the President and Congress? How does the presence of political parties affect the operation of the system?
Another question we will explore relates to the best ways to guarantee the Constitution's status as higher law. Should the ordinary judiciary be entrusted with constitutional review of legislation, or should a special organ (whether a Constitutional Court, or a special chamber within the Supreme Court) be instituted for these purposes?
A final theme concerns the relationship between the domestic legal system and international law. What role should the Inter-American Court of Human Rights play, for example, and how should its jurisprudence be enforced by domestic courts? In the area of economic cooperation and integration, as in NAFTA and MERCOSUR, how should the international and the domestic institutions and players interact with each other?
Two credits. There will be a final exam. Writing a paper is an alternative option.
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Clinics
Human Rights Clinic
Class Unique #: 28950 Instructor: Dulitzky, A
Course #: 397C Credits: 3 - pass/fail
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
** This course meets the Professional Skills requirement for graduation.
HUMAN RIGHTS CLINIC IS A 6-HR. CLINIC. STUDENTS MUST REGISTER FOR BOTH 397C AND 397D.
In the Human Rights Clinic, an interdisciplinary group of law students and graduate students work on human rights projects and cases from the advocate's perspective. Through working on specific projects and participation in the classroom component of the clinic, students learn substantive human rights law, practice important advocacy techniques and explore different models for ethical, responsible and effective human rights advocacy.
Students participating in the clinic take on primary responsibility for their cases and projects, with guidance and mentoring from the clinic faculty. The cases and projects handled by the Human Rights Clinic are diverse and illustrate the breadth of human rights practice, including fact finding, reporting and press and other public advocacy. The Clinic seeks to develop both theoretical and practical skills, through student involvement in activities such as supporting litigation of human rights claims in domestic and international fora; investigating and documenting human rights violations; supporting advocacy initiatives before United Nations, regional, and national human rights bodies; and engaging with global and local human rights campaigns.
The Clinic draws from the successful experience of the Advanced Human Rights Advocacy Course taught in the spring of 2008. In that course, students helped to prepare an amicus brief submitted to the Peruvian Court trying former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori for human rights abuses; analyzed and documented human rights violations taking place as a result of plans to construct a wall along the Texas/Mexico border; documented the situation of rural workers in Guatemala; supported the request of the Ecuadorean Truth Commission for the declassification of documents related to human rights abuses in that country; drafted a legal analysis supporting the reopening by a prosecutor of a criminal investigation into a 1980s forced disappearance in Honduras; prepared a study for a Colombian think tank regarding the functioning of public institutions dealing with discrimination in Latin America; and prepared a claim for protection of traditional lands to be brought by an Afro- Brazilian quilombo community before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
The Clinic employs an innovative approach. While all the projects and cases entail working in partnership with international institutions national agencies and/or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) some of those projects will be part of long-term relationships with partner organizations and community activists to advocate for the advancement of the specific rights. As part of this long term involvement, students will be offered the opportunity of continuing to work with their projects, through summer internships with our partner organizations.
All the cases and projects involve research, writing, and an opportunity to discuss the strategies used by our organizational and individual partners. The cases and projects provide the students an opportunity to gain practical skills in partnering with other students, institutions, and organizations, thus forming a team of advocates. Finally, all the projects and cases allow a multidisciplinary approach and permit working across disciplines and use the perspectives of different fields to enhance the overall theoretical framework.
In addition to selecting the Clinic during Early Registration, students must fill out a short application.
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Immigration Clinic
Class Unique #: 28955 Instructor: Hines, B/Gilman
Course #: 397C Credits: 3 - pass/fail
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
** This course meets the Professional Skills requirement for graduation.
IMMIGRATION CLINIC IS A 6-HR. CLINIC. STUDENTS MUST REGISTER FOR BOTH 397C AND 397D.
Student attorneys in the Immigration Clinic provide crucial representation to vulnerable low-income immigrants. Through legal representation of clients and participation in the classroom component of the clinic, students learn substantive immigration law, practice important legal advocacy techniques and explore models for ethical, responsible and effective lawyering. The cases handled by the Immigration Clinic are diverse and illustrate the breadth of immigration practice. The clinic has handled cases for clients from, among other countries, Colombia, El Salvador, Eritrea, Guinea, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe. The Clinic's cases range from asylum claims based on political persecution or religious, ethnic or gender-based violence to claims of United States citizenship by individuals born abroad to U.S. citizen parents whose status has not been recognized by immigration authorities. An important component of the clinic's caseload involves work at the T.Don Hutto Detention Center in nearby Taylor, Texas. The controversial facility previously held families and now holds women immigrants who are seeking asylum. Student attorneys seek release for detainees at Hutto and provide representation throughout their asylum cases in some circumstances.
Student attorneys in the clinic take on primary responsibility for their cases, with guidance and mentoring from the clinic faculty. Each semester, the clinic's student attorneys conduct a range of lawyering activities including: client interviewing, development of case strategy, brief writing, preparation of witnesses, and presentation of cases before the courts and the immigration agency. Some of the clinic's cases are handled administratively before the Department of Homeland Security and involve an interview process while other cases require full trials in the immigration courts, including document submission, witness examination and closing arguments. Yet other cases involve appellate brief writing and legal argument before the federal and immigration courts. The Immigration Clinic advocates on broader immigration issues and policy as well.
The Immigration Clinic meets for class two times per week for an hour and a half. Grading is on a pass/fail basis for this six-credit hour clinic. There is no final exam or paper. Students should expect to spend 10-20 hours per week on Clinic work, including class time and office hours. Students will occasionally travel to the Hutto facility and to San Antonio where the Immigration Court and the offices of the Department of Homeland Security are located.
Students are encouraged to apply for the clinic during early registration as enrollment is limited. Faculty permission is required to register. Students should submit an application by the end of the early registration period. The application questionnaire should be returned to the clinic's administrator, Sonja Hartley, by e-mail at shartley@law.utexas.edu or by hand to the clinic office at CCJ 1.310. Students may request to be placed on a waiting list if space is unavailable during registration.
For more information about the Immigration Clinic, contact Barbara Hines (bhines@law.utexas.edu, 232-1310) or Denise Gilman (dgilman@law.utexas.edu, 232-7796). We also invite you to visit the Clinic offices.
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National Security Clinic
Class Unique #: 28970 Instructor: Natarajan, R
Course #: 397C Credits: 3 - pass/fail
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
** This course meets the Professional Skills requirement for graduation.
NATURAL SECURITY CLINIC IS A 6-HR. CLINIC. STUDENTS MUST REGISTER FOR BOTH 397C AND 397D.
The National Security Clinic offers students the opportunity to work directly on issues relating to the government's counter-terrorism efforts both domestic and abroad. Students in the clinic work on a wide variety of legal issues, including: the detention, treatment, and prosecution of alleged terrorists; the designation and closing of charitable organizations on allegations of terrorism financing; military justice issues such as the jurisdiction and procedures of military commissions; the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendment impacts of national security policies; and the scope of executive powers during wartime. In past semesters, students have participated in federal court litigation in civil, criminal, and habeas cases before district courts and appellate courts, either through direct representation of parties or through amici. Students have also worked on legislative and advocacy projects and drafted legal materials for policymakers. While honing their lawyering skills through casework, students will also explore the intersections of national security law, international humanitarian law, and human rights.
There are no prerequisite courses. Students who have taken the Rule of Law in Wartime course or the National Security Law course are encouraged to apply. First-semester second-year students are welcome to apply. Enrollment is limited.
Permission of the instructors is required to register. To apply, all interested students should send a cover letter, resume, and law school transcript to Sonja Hartley, the Administrator for the National Security Clinic, at shartley@law.utexas.edu. In the cover letter, students should include, among other things, their reasons for applying to the Clinic, any related work or academic experience or interests, and a list of all academic, work, volunteer, and other commitments for the semester. The initial application deadline for applications is the end of the early registration period. Applications submitted after early registration will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and additional students may be admitted if spots are available.
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Transnational Worker Rights Clinic
Class Unique #: 28980 Instructor: Beardall, W
Course #: 397C Credits: 3 - pass/fail
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
** This course meets the Professional Skills requirement for graduation.
TRANSNATIONAL WORKER RIGHTS CLINIC IS A 6-HR. CLINIC. STUDENTS MUST REGISTER FOR BOTH 397C AND 397D.
Students in this clinic will represent low-income transnational migrant workers mainly in the Austin area in cases recovering unpaid wages for work performed, and will engage in related advocacy projects asserting the rights of low-wage workers here and abroad. The Clinic gives students hands-on experience with civil litigation, basic employment law, public interest practice, and the emerging field of transnational migrant worker rights. The Clinic seeks to make the links between advocacy for the employment rights of transnational workers laboring in Central Texas and advocacy for the labor and human rights of low-wage working people around the globe.
Clinic students will serve as primary legal counsel representing and advising migrant worker clients in wage rights litigation, administrative actions, community- based enforcement strategies, and wage claims filed for criminal prosecution on wage theft charges. Depending on the requirements of each case, students will: interview and advise clients; investigate cases and develop case strategy; negotiate with opposing parties; initiate and manage active litigation; prepare legal documents including pleadings, motions and discovery; research legal issues; and represent clients in hearings or court proceedings. The clinic's legal advocacy is based on a community-lawyering model which seeks to accomplish more than just winning individual cases; the clinic also aims to promote systemic reforms that make the justice system more fair for transnational workers and to empower clients with the knowledge, skills, and collective capacity through which they can advance their own employment rights. In addition the clinic seeks to ground each student's particular casework within the dynamic, emerging field of transnational and international labor rights advocacy.
Bill Beardall, the clinical instructor, is a graduate of Harvard Law School, the Executive Director of the Equal Justice Center, the former Director of the Migrant Worker Division of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and a nationally recognized expert on low-wage employment rights. He has over 30 years of experience representing migrant workers and mentoring young employment litigation lawyers.
The casework component of the Clinic is conducted in collaboration with the Equal Justice Center, a non-profit public-interest law center, based in Austin and San Antonio, which advocates for the rights of low-income workers. The clinic requires students to devote substantial time each week to handling active cases for real clients, including scheduled office hours at the Equal Justice Center office in South Austin and periodic conferences with the clients as needed. During the first week of the course, before starting their casework assignments, students will receive an intensive classroom orientation on low-wage employment litigation practice.
The classroom component of the clinic will meet once a week for two hours. The classroom work will place the employment rights of transnational workers in a broader, interdisciplinary framework of evolving national and international labor and human rights advocacy. Instruction will address the challenges of adapting U.S. and international law and legal practice to our increasingly transnational labor market. Subtopics include: U.S. and international immigration and labor policy; wage laws and contract law as they affect transnational workers; the tension between immigration laws and labor rights; rights of transnational "guest workers"; civil litigation and representation skills specific to transnational worker cases; freedom of association and the right to organize; ethical issues in employment rights representation; community-based legal strategies and civic participation rights; international labor and human rights standards; and evolving domestic and international mechanisms for the enforcement of worker rights.
The clinic is open to students who have completed the first year of law school. While there are no prerequisites, students will benefit from previous course work or experience relating to employment law, immigration law, international law, human rights law, low-wage working people, migrant workers or immigrant communities, and experience in or regarding Latin American communities. Most clinic clients are Spanish-speakers from a variety of Latin American countries. Spanish proficiency accordingly is preferred, but is not required.
Questions about the clinic may be directed to Bill Beardall at bill@equaljusticecenter.org. Please put "Worker Rights Clinic" in the subject line of any communication.
TO APPLY, DOWNLOAD AN APPLICATION.
This clinic has been established through a generous grant from the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation.
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Regular Courses.
Con Law II: Foreign Affairs & The Constitution
Class Unique #: 28800 Instructor: Frumkin, E
Course #: 381C Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
This is a course about the legal authority of the national government over foreign affairs. The course examines the constitutional origins of authority over foreign affairs, and the legal mechanisms that limit the exercise of that authority, including separation of powers, federalism, and the protection of individual rights. The course proceeds by examining the legal responses to important events in American life, including President Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus, the Vietnam, Kosovo and Iraq wars, as well as recent tensions between civil liberties and responses to the war on terrorism. The topics to be considered include the distribution of foreign affairs authority between the three branches of the federal government (including the power to initiate and regulate the use of force); the role of courts in foreign affairs (including foreign sovereign immunity, the political question and act of state doctrines); the relationship between the federal government and the states in regulating foreign affairs; the domestic status and scope of treaties and other international agreements; the status of international law in U.S. courts; and the extraterritorial application of the U.S. Constitution and federal statutes.
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Conflict Of Laws
Class Unique #: 28835 Instructor: Weintraub, R
Course #: 382 Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
Every legal system has choice-of-law rules that tell a court or arbitrator what law to apply when the facts have contacts with more than one jurisdiction with laws that would produce different results. Over the past 50 years there have been important changes in these rules both in the U.S. and abroad. Transactional attorneys can do much at the planning stage to control choice of law, primarily by drafting a choice-of-law agreement without the ambiguities and omissions common in such agreements. Litigators have to master choice of law both in arguing that issue to a judge or arbitrator and deciding where to sue.
The course concentrates on choice of law with a substantial comparative component. The European Union and Japan have in the last few years-enacted choice-of-law codes.
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Emergence Of Modern European Law
Class Unique #: 28387 Instructor: Markesinis, B
Course #: 243E Credits: 2
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
The aim of the course will be to sketch the different developments of modern European law both on the Continent of Europe and in England and the U.S.A. The content of the course will be historical and cultural as it will proceed to demonstrate the impact which Roman law, political and other geographical factors have had on the emergence of modern European culture and legal science.
The course will be especially interesting to students who wish to take a break from "black letter" law courses.
A collection of photocopied materials has been assembled for the purpose of sparing students the task of looking up articles and other materials from many sources.
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International Trade
Class Unique #: 28840 Instructor: Hansen, P
Course #: 382D Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
This course examines the law of international trade in goods and services, focusing principally on the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). We will examine international rules concerning, among other things, tariff and non-tariff barriers, discrimination, dumping, government subsidies, and safeguards. We will also study the role of regional trade systems, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The course will also spend time considering the relationship between trade and other regulatory areas or social values, such as environmental protection, health and safety standards, human rights, and intellectual property protection.
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International Human Rights & Justice Workshop
Class Unique #: 28670 Instructor: Engle, K
Course #: 279M Credits: 2
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
This course is an interdisciplinary speaker-based workshop on international human rights law. We will read academic papers and hear them presented by their authors. Roughly half of the class weeks will involve outside speaker presentations. The other classes will involve discussions of background readings on international human rights and class discussions of the papers to be presented by outside speakers. Students will be expected to write critical reaction papers for several of the papers presented and to provide additional readings to facilitate increased understanding of one of the papers.
The course is open to application for all rising 2Ls and 3Ls and non-law grad students. It is limited to students who have taken courses at the undergraduate, graduate or professional level in international human rights, public international law or international relations. Appropriate experience might also substitute for the background course requirements. Students must receive the professor's approval to enroll in the class. To apply to enroll, please send a short (300 words, one-page) statement explaining your background and interest in human rights, including any international law courses you have taken, and a one-page resume, to Alia Hasan at ahasan@law.utexas.edu.
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International Investor-State Arbitration
Class Unique #: 28744 Instructor: Tyler Et Al.
Course #: 379M Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
Large investments in foreign countries are vulnerable to mistreatment by the host government. The recent wave of nationalizations in Venezuela and the Russian government's treatment of oil giant Yukos are examples of the troubles encountered by foreign investors with interests in sometimes unfriendly locales. Such government actions have triggered the rise in international investor-state arbitration. Billions of dollars worth of arbitral claims against foreign governments are currently pending in arbitration proceedings worldwide.
Most of these claims arise from a network of treaties that protect investors against the political risk of improper actions by governments in countries receiving foreign investment. This network includes multilateral treaties like the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA"), the Energy Charter Treaty, over 2,600 bilateral investment treaties ("BITs"), and the Washington (or ICSID) Convention. Substantive provisions protect against expropriation, unfair treatment, and discrimination. Procedural protections include arbitration by foreign, private investors directly against States, outside the host country.
The global economic crisis may contribute to the woes of foreign investors. As regimes (and commodity prices) change, host governments will sometimes seek to change the terms of the foreign investor's deal. This has occurred in recent years with special frequency in the energy and banking sectors. Bolivia announced nationalizations of foreigners' oil and gas interests there. Venezuela has taken over foreign companies' oil and gas projects as well as foreign-owned banks. The front page of any international newspaper is rife with such disputes. All sectors face political perils when investing overseas, including construction, telecommunications and food processing.
Investor-state arbitration has had an obvious impact on foreign governments. Even the most hostile foreign governments are concerned because they can now be sued, directly, by foreign investors. Awards are paid from the national treasury. The course will therefore address the inevitable political, economic, and policy questions raised by this significant cession of sovereignty to private actors.
The course will introduce students to the network of treaty protection and its practical implementation. Students will be taken through the identical arbitration process as that experienced by investors in some of the most important cases in recent years. Core materials for this course include the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and arbitral awards involving claims against foreign governments. To provide the business background of energy deals, guest speakers from major international companies will clarify the real stakes of this emerging area of international arbitration.
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International Litigation & Arbitration
Class Unique #: 28850 Instructor: Weintraub, R
Course #: 382R Credits: 3
** This course meets the Professional Skills requirement for graduation.
The course considers the special problems of litigating or arbitrating a dispute that has significant connections with more than one country. Although of obvious interest to litigators, the focus is on planning and drafting to be in the best tactical position should litigation or arbitration result. A major focus is comparative--how various countries deal with the same issues. The course is open to first year students. Frequently a first year student has received the top grade. Students who have taken International Business Litigation may not take this course. Topics covered in the course are:
1. Suing foreign defendants including problems of in personam and in rem jurisdiction; agreements selecting a forum for litigation or arbitration; enjoining suit abroad; service of process on foreign defendants; obtaining evidence in foreign countries.
2. Suits in U.S, courts by foreign plaintiffs including tactics by plaintiffs and defendants to prevent or obtain forum non conveniens dismissal of such suits.
3. Recognition of domestic judgments in foreign countries.
4. The Act of State doctrine.
5. Foreign sovereign immunity from suit and attachment or execution. Many commercial enterprises are considered foreign sovereigns if they are majority owned by a foreign country.
6. Application of public law, such as antitrust and securities regulations, to persons and events in foreign countries.
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Introduction To European Union Law
Class Unique #: 28750 Instructor: Dammann, J
Course #: 379M Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
This course provides a general introduction into the law of the European Union. We will cover the European Union's history, institutional structure, and general constitutional architecture as well as various areas of substantive law. Particular emphasis will be placed on the law governing the so-called fundamental freedoms as well as on the role, structure, and functioning of the Court of Justice of the European Communities.
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Invisible Global Marketing
Class Unique #: 28745 Instructor: Mahajan, V
Course #: 379M Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
Developing markets, which are home to 86 percent of the world's population, not only represent the future of global commerce but present rich opportunities today. These opportunities can be seen in growing markets for luxury goods among a newly minted luxury class, entry-level automobiles and appliances for a burgeoning middle class and low-cost products for poor and rural customers. Today about half of the estimated 1.7 billion members of the "consumer class" live in the developing world and this percentage is increasing year by year.
But companies won't realize these opportunities through the market strategies that work in the markets of the developed world. In developing markets, there are no smooth superhighways, no distribution networks, and, in many cases, no electricity. These markets are younger, behind in technology (but rapidly catching up) and inexperienced as consumers. These characteristics, which can present obstacles, also create opportunities for companies with the right strategies.
Specifically the course objectives are:
* Provide students with an understanding of the unique market realities of the developing counties.
* Discuss creative and profitable market strategies that are being implemented by companies to leverage in 86% opportunity.
The course will be of particular value to students planning careers in management consulting, NGOs, foundations, and multinational companies.
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Legal Research, Adv: Foreign & International Law
Class Unique #: 28270 Instructor: Pratter, J
Course #: 132C Credits: 1 - pass/fail
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
** This course meets the Professional Skills requirement for graduation.
The sources and methods of research in foreign and international law are largely excluded from the first year training in legal research. Yet, both international law and the law of foreign countries are today of ever-increasing significance to American lawyers. The purpose of the course is to introduce the information sources in these fields and the ways of doing research in them, tailored to the needs of American law students and lawyers. Areas covered include: public international law, including treaty research; documentation of international organizations, including the UN and the European Union, particularly as available on the WWW; the law of other countries, with the emphasis on jurisdictions that American lawyers are likely to encounter, e.g., Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany; selected topics with an international component, e.g., commercial arbitration, intellectual property, international litigation.
The grade is based on the completion of research exercises. There is no exam. This is a one-credit, mandatory Credit/No Credit course. It is taught during the first seven weeks of the semester.
Prerequisite: A law school course with an international or comparative focus, which may be taken simultaneously. Familiarity with online legal research, including Westlaw, Lexis, and WWW.
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Mexican & Latin American Law
Class Unique #: 28675 Instructor: Munoz, M
Course #: 279M Credits: 2
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
The objective of this class is to provide you with the vocabulary and information you will need to communicate with Spanish-speaking lawyers and clients and to help you understand their different legal cultures. Spanish differs from country to country in Latin America. You will learn some of the subtleties that differentiate how legal Spanish is used throughout Latin America, and the way to communicate with Spanish-speaking lawyers and clients who do not speak any or very limited English. The class will be taught 50% in English and 50% in Spanish. Therefore, ability to read, write and converse in Spanish is required. You will learn not only to communicate with clients and lawyers from Latin America but also some differences between the common law and the civil law systems, and how to explain in Spanish some American legal terms and concepts that do not exist in Latin American legal systems. There will be guest lecturers from both the U.S. and Latin America who will bring a range of perspectives to the course.
Attendance is required and your participation will be fundamental to take the final examination.
There will be a final essay examination and three short papers, written in Spanish, that will be required during the semester. Enrollment will be limited to twenty students.
Readings will be assigned from M&P The Civil Law Tradition (John Henry Merryman, Rogelio Perez-Perdomo, Third Edition 2007), C&L Spanish-English Compendium of Law (Contreras & Leutwyler), and ML Mexican Law (Sthephen Zamora, Jose Ramon Cossio, Leonel Pereznieto, Jose Roldan-Xopa, David Lopez, 2004). I may distribute additional materials.
Students will be required to prepare and present in class two group presentations in Spanish on assigned problems.
STUDENTS WHO TOOK SPANISH FOR LAWYERS IN SPRING 2008 ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO TAKE THIS CLASS; DUPLICATIVE COURSE.
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Policy Making In A Global Age
Class Unique #: 28525 Instructor: Gavin, F
Course #: 371V Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
The The United States is will likely remain the most important actor on the international stage for some time. Understanding how America engages the rest of the world -- and how it develops and executes U.S. foreign policy -- is of fundamental importance. One of the most effective ways to examine U.S. foreign policy development is through historical analysis. Moreover, because policymakers use their understanding of the past when developing current foreign policies (whether they realize it or not), developing sophisticated historical skills is critical for anyone involved in policy development.
Week to week, we will explore the following questions: How does the U.S. foreign policymaking process work? What forces and interests shape the policymaking and implementation process? Who and what are the most important actors and institutions making American foreign policy, and how do they interact? What role does ideology, economics, bureaucratic politics and public opinion play? How does the influence of these forces change over time? How can we evaluate whether particular policies were successes or failures? How do policymakers use the past to understand the present? Furthermore, American foreign policy takes place within an international context. How is the American foreign policymaking process different from that of other countries? How does the US foreign policy apparatus interact with the foreign policy institutions of other states, or with international and non-governmental actors?
This course will investigate these issues by exploring how American foreign, foreign economic, and national security policy has been made and implemented in the past.
After a broad historical overview of American foreign policy during the 20th century, we will study in depth the development of American policy over time in two specific cases: U.S. policy in Southeast Asia during the Cold War and U.S. nuclear non-proliferation policy. This will allow us to examine how particular policies and processes develop and evolve over time and across administrations. It will also give us a more in-depth understanding of how the foreign policy making process works and why certain policies succeed and other fail.
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Public International Law
Class Unique #: 28845 Instructor: Jinks, D
Course #: 382G Credits: 3
This course provides a basic introduction to public international law. It will survey the basic principles of international law including: the sources of international law; the law and interpretation of treaties; the relationship between international and domestic law; and jurisdictional competencies. It will also examine a number of specific subjects including: the use of force; human rights; humanitarian law; international criminal law; and terrorism.
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Ancient Greek Law
Class Unique #: 29165 Instructor: Gagarin, M
Course #: 397S Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
Greek law was, in certain respects, very different from modern Western legal systems. Most strikingly, it was almost entirely in the hands of amateurs. In Athens, litigants came to court themselves and pleaded their cases directly to large juries composed of ordinary citizens. There were no trained judges, lawyers or legal scholars. There were also no public prosecutors and no police (except for a few slaves who helped with crowd control at public gatherings). Legal actions were initiated by the individuals who were directly or indirectly affected. Traditionally legal historians have regarded such a legal system as a recipe for certain disaster, but more recently scholars have begun to recognize that it actually worked quite well and that it was in fact not so different from our own system as one might think.
We are particularly fortunate to have about 100 speeches preserved that were delivered in actual trials in Athens during the period 420-320 BCE. These speeches take us directly into the world of litigation, and they show that in many respects, issues, attitudes, and legal strategies have changed little over time. Most of this course will be structured around the reading of a selection of these speeches, and we will focus on the nature of law and litigation in Athens in this period. But we will also examine the historical background to Athenian law and the evidence for law in other Greek cities (especially the law code of the city of Gortyn). These will help us understand Athenian law in its proper context.
The aim of this course is to understand Greek law both in itself and for the light it can shed on the nature of our own law and law in general. To this end we will try to understand the attitudes and assumptions that lie behind the speeches, as well as the issues that are addressed explicitly. In the course of reading the speeches we will also consider legal issues relating to social class, sexual roles, slavery, rhetoric, truth, political ideology, and others. Ultimately we will be asking why these litigants are using the legal system and how well the law is serving their needs.
The course will be structured as a writing seminar. During the first few weeks students will choose topics (I will be quite flexible about the topics), and will prepare first an oral presentation in class and then a substantial seminar paper (20-30 pages) on this topic. The class will be small, and class periods will be devoted primarily to discussion, both of the reading and of the other students' reports. There will be no exams. The final grade will depend largely on the paper, but the student's oral report and participation in discussion during the semester will also be counted.
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Comparative Constitutional Design
Class Unique #: 29205 Instructor: Levinson/Elkins
Course #: 397S Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
"Constitutional design" is a growth industry these days, especially since 1989 and the breakdown of the USSR (not to mention the extremely important constitution drafted in South Africa in the early 1990s). There is also, of course, the example of Iraq. This course will draw on a variety of comparative materials in order to examine a variety of questions facing anyone engaging in the enterprise of designing a constitution. One question, of course, is whether any specific answers will be so context specific, depending on the culture and political situation of a particular country, that there are no useful generalities that could possibly learned about such stock issues as, for example, electoral systems; parliamentarianism v. presidentialism; bicameralism v. unicameralism within the legislative branch; authorizing presidential vetoes (and whether such vetoes such be overridable and, if so, with what percentage of votes in the legislature); structuring the judiciary; allowing the "suspension" of the Constitution during times of "emergency"; and amending the constitution itself. There are also questions surrounding the method of selecting those entrusted with designing a constitution and then what process of ratification, if any, will monitor the designers' handiwork. Although we will certainly look at the United States Constitution along the way, the course will necessarily be comparative, looking a constitutions, both existing and defunct, around the world. The assignments will be drawn primarily from books and articles written by political scientists (in part because legal academics, fixated as they/we are on the "litigated constitution," have strikingly little that is useful to say about the issues that are the core of this course. Students will be expected to write research papers focusing either on a range of topics confronted in drafting a specific constitution or how a specific issue was resolved (or not) in a variety of recent constitutions.
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Con Law II: Foreign Affairs & The Constitution
Class Unique #: 28800 Instructor: Frumkin, E
Course #: 381C Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
This is a course about the legal authority of the national government over foreign affairs. The course examines the constitutional origins of authority over foreign affairs, and the legal mechanisms that limit the exercise of that authority, including separation of powers, federalism, and the protection of individual rights. The course proceeds by examining the legal responses to important events in American life, including President Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus, the Vietnam, Kosovo and Iraq wars, as well as recent tensions between civil liberties and responses to the war on terrorism. The topics to be considered include the distribution of foreign affairs authority between the three branches of the federal government (including the power to initiate and regulate the use of force); the role of courts in foreign affairs (including foreign sovereign immunity, the political question and act of state doctrines); the relationship between the federal government and the states in regulating foreign affairs; the domestic status and scope of treaties and other international agreements; the status of international law in U.S. courts; and the extraterritorial application of the U.S. Constitution and federal statutes.
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Comparative Constitutional Law
Class Unique #: 29195 Instructor: Markovits, I
Course #: 397S Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
A constitution is the idealized self-portrait of a nation: it reflects where a country stands no less than how it would like to be perceived. In this seminar, we will examine how similar constitutional issues are resolved in various countries around the world in order to gain insight both into the nature of the societies involved and of the possibilities and limits of constitutional law. Some of the topics we will deal with: constitutional points of departure (adaptations, new beginnings, utopias, constitutions as lies); constitutions as social blueprints (constitutional views of the family, of education, the welfare state); varieties of constitutional rights (political rights, social rights, constitutional goals); the impact of constitutions (judicial review, political questions, the impact of constitutions on ordinary law). Students will write and present papers that interpret and analyze a particular constitution of their choice. Xeroxed materials.
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Global Climate Change Policy
Class Unique #: 29210 Instructor: Coleman, L
Course #: 397S Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
Professor Lynn R. Coleman
1440 New York Ave, NW
202-371-7600
lcoleman@skadden.com
Washington, D.C. 20005
Projected impacts of global warming are environmental problems largely caused by use of fossil fuels for energy. Proposed solutions involve major environmental measures and huge changes in the way energy is made and used. It is therefore appropriate to study the subject from the standpoints of both energy and environmental policy. The seminar will examine how the world got where it is now and how that has been influenced by previous environmental and energy law, regulation and other government policies, including national security, economic development, taxation and consumer protection. This will include characteristics of energy industries and natural gas and electric utilities and how their structure and regulation has influenced fuel choices over the last century. We will review current scientific and economic studies of future impacts of global warming and the effectiveness, economic and political feasibility of proposed solutions by states, regional organizations, the U. S. Congress and international institutions.
Each student will select, in consultation with the instructor, the topic for a research paper, prepare a short outline and make an oral presentation to seminar colleagues and the instructor for discussion and questions and then prepare and submit a final paper.
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Immigration Law & Crimes
Class Unique #: 29310 Instructor: Hines, B
Course #: 397S Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
The immigration consequences of criminal convictions have severe effects on a non-citizen's ability to remain in the U.S. Due to the expansion of and retroactive application of criminal grounds of removal (deportation), many non-citizens, including those who have lived for many years in this country, have few avenues that allow them to remain in the U.S. Others face mandatory detention with no possibility of release while their immigration case is pending. Many criminal lawyers have no familiarity with the immigration consequences of criminal conduct and counsel their clients to accept pleas that result in deportation.
Because of increased federal and local government efforts to identify non-citizens with criminal convictions, greater numbers of non-citizens are entering the immigration system. The government has also increasingly not only applied civil removal proceedings against non-citizens but has criminally prosecuted them. While some oppose the expansion of the deportation of non-citizens, particularly those with significant family ties, others support the immigration laws and the expanded efforts to deport this population, on grounds of public safety and differentiation between citizens and non-citizens. This seminar will focus on the intersection between criminal and immigration law. We will focus on specific grounds of deportation and inadmissibility related to criminal conduct, case law and statutory analysis relating to these provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. We will analyze the laws, policies and constitutionality of retroactive application of the immigration statutes and mandatory detention of non-citizens convicted of crimes. In addition, we will consider the recent federal and local governmental policies regarding non-citizens convicted of crimes and their effectiveness and impact on the immigrant community.
Students must have previously taken the Immigration Law survey course or have had other significant immigration law experience.
Students must receive the professor's approval to enroll in the class. Please send a short one-page statement explaining your coursework, background and interest in immigration law to shartley@law.utexas.edu. You may include a resume if you wish.
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International & Comparative Art & Antiquities Law
Class Unique #: 29270 Instructor: Baade, H
Course #: 397S Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
We will discuss (1) international agreements for the protection of national cultural heritage, especially the UNESCO Convention; (2) national legislation for the protection of antiquities, e.g., in Mexico or in Turkey; (3) rules of bona fide purchase in the key art trading countries: England, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, the United States; (4) United States customs and stolen-property trade law; (5) conflict-of-laws aspects of the international art trade; (6) practical problems of museum administration, artists' rights, and the like; and finally (7) actual cases in these countries in recent years. I have participated in a number of these, and have a fairly extensive collection of records: briefs, testimony, customs, documentation, etc.
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Law & Terrorism
Class Unique #: 29280 Instructor: Chesney, R
Course #: 397S Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
This seminar aims to provide students with a rich grounding in a range of areas relating to the problem of terrorism. First, we will examine the scholarly literature relating to terrorism, with a special emphasis on political violence associated with what some describe as the global jihad movement. Second, we will examine the history of U.S. counterterrorism law and policy, with particular attention paid to those topics in the years immediately prior to 9/11 and to subsequent changes. Third, we will examine a broad selection of scholarship, memoirs, and other materials examining, defending, and criticizing post-9/11 law and policy.
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Emerging Issues In National Security Law
Class Unique #: 29225 Instructor: Lashus, K
Course #: 397S Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
This seminar provides a comprehensive introduction of developing issues in national and international law relating to insuring the national security. It is a study of the separation of powers in national security matters; presidential war powers; congressional and presidential emergency powers; the domestic effect of international law; the use of military force in international relations; investigating terrorism and other national security threats; prosecuting terrorists; access to national security information in the federal courts; and restraints on disclosing and publishing national security information.
This course, for second and third year students, builds upon a strong foundation of constitutional law and goes much farther in its treatment of the fundamental tension that exists in our foreign and domestic affairs by virtue of the constitutional separation of powers between the respective branches of government.
This seminar should appeal to any student who either has an interest in national security matters, including military law, or to one who is considering possible employment with the federal government in any capacity. Assessment by: class preparation and participation (30%); the required written work is in the form of a well-crafted Circuit Court opinion or legal note of interest at least 30 double-spaced pages in length (40%); and, evaluation of small group hypothetical (30%).
* Week 1 Introduction and Overview: Historical and Legal
* Week 2 Policy and Implementation: Congress, the President, and U.S. Agencies
* Week 3 Presidential war powers
* Week 4 Congressional national security powers
* Week 5 The role of the Judiciary in national security matters
* Week 6 National Security Act, FISA, and the Joint Inquiry into the Attacks of 9/11
* Week 7 National Defense and the Persian Gulf Wars
* Week 8 Homeland Security and Law Enforcement
* Week 9 The National Intelligence community
* Week 10 Prosecuting terrorists
* Weeks 11-15 In-class hypothetical: immigration law and national security
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Maritime Law: Commercial Problems
Class Unique #: 29295 Instructor: Sturley, M
Course #: 397S Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
This seminar will examine current issues in commercial maritime law, with a focus on the rules governing the carriage of goods by sea. In the spring 2010 semester, particular attention will be paid to the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (the Rotterdam Rules), a new multilateral convention to modernize and unify international transport law. The U.N. Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) completed the final draft of the new convention in June 2008, the General Assembly adopted the convention in December 2008, and the United States formally signed the convention on September 23, 2009.
In the early weeks of the semester, students will be introduced to the commercial and legal background in this field, including a discussion of both domestic legislation (such as the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act and the Harter Act) and the prior international regimes (such as the Hague, Hague-Visby, and Hamburg Rules). Subsequent sessions will consist largely of discussions of ongoing student research and student presentations of the results of their original research.
A traditional seminar paper will be required and the student will be assigned a letter grade based on the quality of the paper and his/her participation in class.
Although students who have completed the Admiralty course will have some advantage, prior study of Admiralty is not a prerequisite.
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Trade, Environment & Human Rights
Class Unique #: 29360 Instructor: Hansen, P
Course #: 397S Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
This writing seminar is designed to explore the linkages between international trade law, environmental protection, and human rights. It will focus on disputes involving environmental and human rights issues in the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the European Union (EU). The first six weeks of class will be devoted to discussion of scholarly articles on specific areas of conflict. During the next four weeks, students will work on their papers and meet with me individually to discuss their progress. The last four weeks will be devoted to student presentations of their papers. Prior coursework in international, environmental or human rights law is helpful, but not required.
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Terror & Consent: Const & Intl Law
Class Unique #: 28770 Instructor: Bobbitt, P
Course #: 379M Credits: 3
This course is restricted to upper class students only.
The world didn't change on September 11th, 2001; it had already changed in 1990 and 9/11 and the ensuing wars against terror were the result. Thus the Wars against Terror are the successor conflict to the Long War of the 20th century that ended in 1990, and they will drive further changes to the constitutional order beyond those that the end of the Long War brought about.
The Wars on Terror embrace the three distinct but related struggles: to prevent market state terrorism, protect against gross diminution of humane conditions, and preempt the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The outcome of these wars will determine whether the new, emerging constitutional order of the market state will be composed of states of consent or states of terror.
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