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Seminars
The law school offers a diverse range of subjects in a seminar
format. All seminars require the completion of a substantial writing
assignment by the participants, in a form designated by the seminar
instructor. All seminars are limited to 14 students.
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601:706
Seminar: American Legal History-Special Topics (2)
An introduction to research and historiography in American legal history. Current issues in American legal history and historiography. Each student prepares a paper based on original research in legal history.
Lawyer-Presidents in American History
Including Barack Obama, our current president, 26 men who served as president of the
United States have been lawyers. That means that nearly one-third of the
men who served in the White House were lawyers (exactly 59.09 percent). The American Legal
History Special Topics seminar will look at how the vocation of lawyering may have had an
impact on the highest office in the land and the way the lawyers who served in that office had an
impact on our country's history. How well did lawyers do in the role of president? Did their
legal training have an observable impact on the way they performed in office? Can we credit the
legal profession with our country's success? We will also look at the "also-rans"--candidates
who lost the presidential prize; how many of them were lawyers? In particular, we will look at
the quintessential lawyer-president: Abraham Lincoln. Self-taught but famously effective in
court, how much of his reputation as a lawyer is myth? Who was the better lawyer: Lincoln or
his 1861 presidential (and 1858 senatorial) opponent Stephen Douglas? How did Lincoln's
lawyer's perspective impact his defense of the Union and his views on slave emancipation?
Two general books on the backgrounds and biographies of the presidents and the
losing presidential candidates will be assigned as an introduction to the topic. We will also read a biography of
Abraham Lincoln as a lawyer. Class discussions for the first several weeks will focus on these
books. We will also discuss the process of researching and writing a seminar paper and its
applicability to the practice of law. Students will research and write a seminar paper on one
lawyer-president or one of the lawyer-presidential candidates who failed to win the office. They will also give a class presentation about their topic.
Hull
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601:718
Seminar: Animal Law (2)
Relevant legal doctrine includes constitutional law (e.g., standing), environmental law (e.g.,
Endangered Species Act), food and drug law (e.g., the regulation of organic animal products),
state statutory law (e.g., anticruelty statutes), and state common law (e.g., property rights in
animals). The course will begin with philosophical, literary, and scientific texts dealing with the
relationship between animals and humans. We will explore rights-based, utilitarian, religious,
and other traditions that inform how we might approach the question of animal rights and welfare
in relation to human interests. Moving from first principles to the law, we shall focus on federal
practice, including standing doctrine, the administrative law related to farmed animals and
laboratory animals, the relationship between animal and environmental law, and the economics
of animal protection. The course will emphasize how legal reasoning takes shape in emerging
fields, the interplay between law and social movements, and the role of information as a
regulatory tool. Readings will include works by Cass Sunstein, Martha Nussbaum, and Richard
Epstein.
Goodman
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601:735
Seminar: Citizenship and the Constitution (2)
Through readings in constitutional law and theory, as well as relevant statutory provisions, the seminar examines questions concerning the acquisition and loss of citizenship, and citizenship's significance more generally. Focuses on the institution of citizenship in the United States, but also considers certain citizenship questions that have recently arisen in Europe. Topics include birthright citizenship, citizenship by descent, naturalization, dual citizenship, denaturalization, expatriation, voting and citizenship, and citizenship prerequisites for other rights and benefits.
Prerequisite: Constitutional Law.
Bosniak
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601:712
Seminar: Constitutional Theory (2)
What is a constitution? What reasons are there for having a constitution? Who should have the power to interpret a constitution? And how should a constitution be interpreted? In this seminar, we will consider these questions, among others, with a special emphasis on the role that substantive moral judgment plays in their answers.
Prerequisite: Constitutional Law or permission of instructor.
Vildostegui
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601:806
Seminar: Copyright and User-Generated Content (2)
This seminar will examine the legal issues that are arising today at the intersection of copyright law and the public use of computer networking technologies. The primary subject of the course will be the emerging law of user-generated content, meaning forms of popular creativity enabled by social networking platforms such as Facebook, Google, and other content-sharing sites. We will investigate how these new authorship and distribution technologies are being used, monetized, and regulated. Students will complete research papers on topics related to the themes of the course.
Prior courses in intellectual property, such as Introduction to Intellectual Property or Entertainment Law, will be helpful but not required.
Lastowka
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601:798
Seminar: Corporate Governance (2)
The past decade witnessed waves of major corporate scandals and misunderstood financial risk, culminating in the economic meltdown of 2008. The upshot has been a revolution in the law of corporate governance regarding the personal accountability of officers and directors of public companies and other large organizations. The lawyer who advises public companies or nonprofit organizations stands on the ramparts of that revolution. This seminar will seek to equip that lawyer to counsel effectively as the "architect" of structures and processes that balance principles of accountability with organizational effectiveness. We will examine the rules, agencies, institutions, and processes that seek to deter self-dealing and undue risk and to hold the society's largest organizations and their officers accountable to their owners and public stakeholders. Topics will include lessons drawn from the scandals; the role of institutional investors, gatekeepers, and other intermediaries in publicly held companies; the philosophical basis for the law of corporate governance; institutions and mechanisms of corporate governance; boards of directors as fiduciaries; the "market for corporate control" (mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers); the revolution in division of roles between state and federal law; the parallel revolution in rules governing directors and officers of nonprofit organizations; regulating disclosures versus regulating conduct; executive compensation as "ground zero"; and the globalization of principles of good governance.
Prerequisite: Business Organizations.
Coleman
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601:711
Seminar: Corporations and Constitutional Personhood (2)
This seminar will explore the historical development and current status of the corporation as a fictitious but legal person embodied with rights and privileges granted by federal and state law, with special emphasis on the rights and privileges granted to corporations by the U.S. Constitution. Particular emphasis will be placed on corporate First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights and cases such as Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and FCC v. AT&T, Inc.
Prerequisite: Constitutional Law.
Moffa
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601:726
Seminar: Current Issues in Civil Rights Litigation (2)
Selected issues in civil rights litigation, including substantive and procedural due process standards, Fourth and Eighth Amendment standards, doctrines of absolute and qualified immunity, municipal liability, and aspects of 43 U.S.C. Section 1983. Focus is on both Supreme Court decisions and further development of doctrine in the federal courts.
Ricks
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601:775
Seminar: Current Issues in Constitutional Law (2)
Students enrolling in this seminar are required to brief and argue selected cases from the current
docket of the United States Supreme Court.
Maltz
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601:745
Seminar: Diversity in the Law (2)
This seminar will explore the intersections of law with diversity, race, equal protection, civil rights, and pluralism/multiculturalism. Through an examination of judicial opinions, legislation, legal scholarship, social science research, and case studies, students will evaluate and critique diversity as an established and evolving legal, social, and political construct in our post-racial American democracy.
Hawkins
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601:719
Seminar: Duty and Fairness in Corporate Law (3)
Development of seminal doctrines of corporate law, including fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, good faith and disclosure, as well as the fairness doctrine, through examination of select cases, especially from the transactional context, and readings from the theoretical literature.
Prerequisite: Business Organizations.
Beckerman
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601:720
Seminar: Elder Law Special Topics (2)
This seminar will focus on different topics in the field of elder law. The topics covered will
vary each semester. Currently, the seminar focuses on an Introduction to the Law of Employee Pension and Welfare Benefits (ERISA).
As Colleen Medill points out: "Once upon a time, employee benefits law was the domain of a
select group of pension tax lawyers. Today, employee benefits law issues are part of the
everyday life of the corporate lawyer, the litigation lawyer, the estate planning lawyer, the lawyer who specializes in family law, and the general practitioner." The primary law covering employee pension and benefits plans is the much amended federal Employee Income Retirement Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). In conjunction with the Internal Revenue Code, ERISA regulates the retirement pension and health (as well as other) benefits plans offered by employers to their employees. How plans are marketed to employees, how they are administered in the interest of employees, and how employees' and retirees' expected benefits are protected when a plan is bankrupt or discontinued falls under the purview of these federal statutes. This seminar will provide an introduction to the major provisions of employee benefits law. The primary text will be a casebook that offers a narrative text along with problems and discussion questions. There is no exam. Students will be required to participate in seminar discussions and write a supervised seminar paper on a specific provision, case, or aspect of employee benefits law.
This seminar qualifies for intensive writing credit.
Hull
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601:761
Seminar: Election Law and Political Process (2)
A practicum in politics and the electoral process. We will examine federal and state constraints on political campaigning, with emphasis on the Federal Election Campaign Act. Among topics to be considered are presidential campaigning and the Electoral College; fundraising and reporting in federal elections; political activity by business and labor organizations; operation of political action committees; grassroots organizing and campaigning; the Federal Voting Rights Act and voter registration; broadcast regulation; election law reform; ballot access; the right to vote; election day operations; counting the votes and challenging the results; political patronage. There is also a hands-on component: Students participate in the Voter Assistance Project on Election Day. Each student spends two to three hours on Election Day at the Essex County Courthouse representing people attempting to vote. The training session takes place the week before.
Distance learning class taught by Professor Frank Askin at School of Law–Newark.
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601:746
Seminar: European Union: History, Politics, and Prospects (2)
The European Union (EU) has become an important economic and political power in the
world today. Its development up to its present stage was a rather complex process that may
appear somewhat surprising against the background of historical experience, since it emerged in
a fully peaceful way from a series of international treaties by which its member states have
voluntarily submitted. So the EU represents a pretty new type of international community
whose political character and legal structure raise many questions. Of course, it is also subject to
considerable controversies as to its policies and politics. While large parts of Europe are still
in favor of the EU and support its further strengthening, others think that it has already become
too mighty or developed in the wrong direction. Because of these controversies, the EU presently
faces a considerable crisis that makes its future prospects uncertain.
The seminar aims at illuminating the history, politics, and prospects of the EU with particular
attention to its driving forces, political decision-making procedures, and legal structure.
Furthermore, special consideration shall be paid to the relationships between the EU and the
United States. These topics will be dealt with in successive steps on the basis of selected texts,
which should not only offer sufficient information on the most significant features of the EU, but
also provide a proper basis for its understanding and critical evaluation.
Peter Koller, Visiting Professor from University of Graz, Austria.
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601:728
Seminar: Intellectual Property Current Issues (2)
This seminar will explore hot topics in intellectual property today. Emphasizing copyright and patent law, the course will cover patent trolls, the smartphone patent wars, drug patent settlements, gene patents, the music industry, privacy, technology, property, trade agreements, and other issues.
Prerequisite: Any intellectual property course (taken previously or concurrently) or permission of instructor. Carrier.
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601:717
Seminar: International Human Rights Advocacy (2)
After an introduction to international law and human rights norms, the seminar will focus on
international and domestic mechanisms to enforce international human rights. Students will
engage in critical analysis of the methods and strategies for human rights advocacy at the local,
national, regional, and international levels and will examine the work of United Nations and
regional human rights bodies and domestic enforcement options. The seminar makes use of
simulated exercises such as the conduct of human rights investigations, planning and design of
advocacy and educational campaigns, client representation, and oral arguments. Students will
draft and revise three human rights complaints, each directed to a different domestic or
international tribunal.
Stephens
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601:803
Seminar: Law and Neuroscience (1)
Neurolaw--advocacy for increased use of neuroscience in legal proceeding--is the fastest-growing interdisciplinary focus of legal, scholarly, and policy attention. From blogs, books, journals, and conferences, the message is clear: developments in neuroscience have potentially transformative applications in law both at the theoretical level and in institutional contexts. Scholars, scientists, and journalists alike all proclaim the great promise of neuroscience for law. Research into the neural workings of the human brain--with the aid of sophisticated brain-imaging techniques such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)--will, some predict, probably completely change nearly every area of law. Some believe that, in time, neuroscience will dominate the entire legal system. Current proposals for the confluence of law and neuroscience have focused widely from specific doctrinal (i.e., legal) matters and areas of law to general evidentiary issues, philosophical questions involving justice, morality, freedom, rationality, and general jurisprudence. This course will require students to attend a short series of seminar-style class meetings followed by the Law and Neuroscience: State of the Art Conference hosted by Rutgers School of Law–Camden on September 7 and 8, 2012. Students will write a paper for submission after the conference.
Patterson
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601:733
Seminar: Law and Urban Problems (2)
Focuses on the role of government and law in solving housing, development, poverty, and other
urban problems. Individual study of topics that are important and relevant to urban life and
government, such as municipal financing, housing, mass transportation, homelessness, racial
issues, group homes, historic preservation, urban environmental issues, and urban economic
development.
Washburn
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601:786
Seminar: Law, Politics, and Democracy (2)
Drawing upon case law, legislative sources, and nonlegal writings, the course explores: the
origins and character of American democratic institutions; the concepts of representative
government, majority rule, citizen rights, and universal suffrage; the principles of the sovereignty
of the people, equality and individualism; the role of mediate institutions in the political process
(like political parties, voluntary associations, and special interest groups); and alternative models
to the traditional Anglo-American forms of representation. The course is not a survey of the
American political system; nor is the focus on the mechanics of the electoral process. Rather,
while the course considers both process and mechanics, the emphasis is on the identification of
principles susceptible to universal application and the study of American democracy as a
normative ideal.
Robreno
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601:732
Seminar: Legalism (2)
Commentators and ordinary citizens often criticize attorneys, judges, political leaders, and even their fellow citizens for being legalistic or resorting to legal hairsplitting. These attacks, and their occasional vehemence, should trouble us as lawyers and law students. For if the worst examples of rhetorical weaseling and even absurdity can honestly be described as forms of legalism, then our profession has some explaining or soul-searching to do. And even if genuine legalism is something else entirely, then we need to try to understand, and communicate, the difference. When critics assail someone or other for being legalistic, they sometimes mean that he or she is hiding behind overly technical distinctions that defy common sense. But the relationship between legal thinking and common sense is necessarily complex. On the one hand, we have learned from the first day of law school that the law is a special place, with its own language, logic, and concerns. Legal meanings, legal rules, and legal results often violate everyday intuition, and that,s sometimes a good thing. Arguably, legalism, in at least some form, is a necessary aspect of the rule of law itself. On the other hand, when law diverges too sharply from ordinary thinking, it risks its moral and intellectual legitimacy.
This seminar will ask what legalism is, and whether there are good and bad forms of it. It will also try to make moral and legal sense of legalistic thinking, in a variety of settings. For example, we will try to unravel the law's relationship to testimonial truth. How does the law treat evasive, misleading, and half-true statements? What does it take to commit perjury? Does the law enforce different standards of truth-telling for different legal purposes? If so, why? Is legalistic evasion ever morally justified? The seminar will also look at legalism in other contexts, including, for example, the interpretation of statutes, wills, and other legal instruments. When does the law follow the ordinary reading of language, and when does it go its own way? Does legalism always mean hairsplitting? Might there be instances in which outlandish lawyerly interpretations make more sense than ordinary reading? Most importantly, the seminar will try to provide a larger historical and theoretical perspective on the problem of legalism. Is criticism of legalism bound up with criticism of law itself? And are there circumstances, such as some that we've witnessed during the war on terror in the past few years, in which forms of legalism can become a tool to subvert the rule of law?
Course requirements include active class participation and paper-writing. The seminar will also provide opportunities for in-class oral presentations and student-led discussions.
Dane
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601:765
Seminar: Litigation, Insurance, Torts (2)
Selected topics in the litigation process, insurance law and practice, and tort law and the civil justice system. A particular emphasis will be on empirical research and theoretical approaches to litigation, with special reference to tort and insurance issues. Topics will vary from year to year but may include settlement; characteristics of and influences on plaintiff and defendant personal injury practice; the role of insurance and insurance companies in the tort system and litigation process; and the landscape of disputes and dispute processing.The seminar is directed at students with a strong interest in civil litigation, particularly in the areas listed. Students should have relevant experience or interest, such as participation in an intensive litigation course.
Feinman
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601:782, 784
Seminar: Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Fellowship Program (2)
The Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Fellowship Program enlists law students in an effort
to increase civic literacy and participation in American democracy. Talented second- and third-year law students prepare and teach a course in constitutional law to Camden high school
students. The aim is to make the U.S. Constitution come alive for young people in Camden, while
simultaneously improving law students' ability to translate and explain complicated legal concepts
into lay terms. Marshall-Brennan is a sequential two-semester course. In the fall semester, meeting weekly in a
two-hour seminar, the fellows will study constitutional law with a focus on cases and concepts
concerning young people and schools. They will draft and execute lesson plans relating to these
topics and will discuss pedagogy. Fellows also will research and write a paper on a relevant topic.
The fall seminar provides two course credits and qualifies as writing intensive. In the spring, teams of two fellows each will teach constitutional law courses at Camden high
schools, typically conducting four, 45-minute class sessions each week. Fellows will be entirely
responsible for their courses. They will interact with high school teachers, design lesson plans, lead
classes, and evaluate students. With a continuing focus on issues of law, the spring seminar
sessions also will explore teaching strategies and classroom dynamics and will provide general
support for fellows. The spring course provides 3 noncourse credits and no writing credits.
Fellows are chosen through a competitive process during the spring semester of each year. All
interested students are encouraged to apply. A faculty selection committee will choose applicants
based on their academic preparation, motivation, maturity, and intellectual interest in constitutional
issues. Interested students should attend the informational session(s) held during the spring
semester. Note: While every effort will be made to accommodate the convenience of the fellows, teaching
in the spring is a significant time commitment that may require significant flexibility. In particular,
students may be required to teach during all or part of the law school's spring break.
Prerequisite: Constitutional Law.
Friedman, McLaughlin.
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601:700
Seminar: Philosophy of Law: The Limits of Responsibility (3)
This course, offered as a graduate seminar in philosophy in New Brunswick and cross-listed as a
law course, will examine philosophical issues revolving around legal and moral responsibility
and its limits. Issues to be addressed may include the justifiability of strict liability in torts and criminal law, the importance of fault to responsibility and whether all wrongs are faults, the possibility of moral luck, as well as related topics.
Taught in New Brunswick. Prerequisite: Permission required from Professor Oberdiek. Oberdiek, Husak.
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601:793
Seminar: Politics, Policy, and Federal Law (3)
This course examines the influence of politics upon the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the intricate relationship between policies set by the White House and the DOJ mandate to enforce federal law. The course focuses on the genesis and function of the DOJ as the nation's law firm, and the issues that arise as the DOJ, an executive agency under the direction of the president, fulfills its duty to its number-one client. We will begin by taking an in-depth look into the political appointment and function of the DOJ key management and its role in the appointment of federal prosecutors and judges. We will then take a top-down approach, focusing on the impact that policy set by the White House, and carried out by its appointees, has on the department's divisions, offices, and programs. The course then zeros in on the role of one of the most important offices within the DOJ, that of the U.S. Attorneys. We will highlight the interaction between the U.S. Attorneys and the other DOJ agencies, and ultimately focus on the tools used by Assistant U.S. Attorneys to enforce the law. The course will conclude with an examination of the revolving door between the DOJ and the private sector. This seminar is 3 credits, WI (2 meeting hours, plus 1 credit for intensive writing work).
The Honorable Noel L. Hillman and John Giordano.
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601:728
Seminar: Theories of Intellectual Property (2)
This seminar will explore theories of intellectual property (IP), with a particular focus on innovation.
It begins by discussing the application of Locke's labor theory and Hegel's personhood rationale
to IP. It then turns to the primary theory justifying IP--utilitarianism--and asks whether IP's scope
and duration are justified. It examines dangers of IP protection such as diminished speech and
cumulative innovation. And it explores innovation-related issues including open source software,
peer-to-peer (p2p) systems, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, potential patent reforms, and
the biotechnology industry.
Prerequisite: Intellectual Property or permission of instructor. Carrier
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601:738
Seminar: Tort Law Current Issues (3)
Exploration of the law and policy implications underlying contemporary tort issues involving legislative and judicial reform. Topics may include abrogation of joint and several liability, categorical liability, contingency fee elimination, class-action reform, damage caps, design defect jurisprudence, government standards defense, immunity, mandatory arbitration clauses, market share liability, medical liability reform, offers of settlement, preemption, pre judgment interest elimination, punitive damage reform, state-of-the-art defense, statutes of limitation, and statutes of repose. Readings will be a mix of case law, photocopied materials, and hyperlinks posted to the course website. Students will serve as first-year associates in a law firm presented with cutting-edge issues in a personal injury case. They will engage in a writing experience and will present their paper to the class.
Prerequisite: Torts. Exclusions: Students taking Tort Law-Current Issues are not permitted to take Products Liability. Gavin.
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601:767
Seminar: Tort Theory: Risk, Responsibility, and Rights (2)
A survey of central topics in tort theory. Through contemporary philosophical readings as well as case law, the seminar analyzes the concepts of risk, responsibility, and rights, among others, as they figure in tort law. Questions to be examined include: "What constitutes carelessness?", "When can one be responsible for unintentional harm?" "How are compensatory duties related to rights?" and "Does tortious wrongdoing presuppose fault?".
Oberdiek
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