5397 Advanced Bankruptcy - LEE/SHANNON (offered in Spring 2025)
While bankruptcy has rightly been described as the last bastion of the generalist, it is also unlike ordinary litigation or transactional practice. Contested matters are litigated with notice and time for discovery measured in days, not months or years. Transactions involving millions and billions of dollars occur with only the barest of covenants from the seller. The Bankruptcy Code and Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure make that possible.
This course provides an in-depth look at the core aspects of business bankruptcy, using fact patterns and briefing from actual recent cases. You will become familiar with not only the law, but see how that law is put into practice in real cases.
5397 Advanced Bankruptcy - LEE/SHANNON (offered in Spring 2026)
While bankruptcy has rightly been described as the last bastion of the generalist, it is also unlike ordinary litigation or transactional practice. Contested matters are litigated with notice and time for discovery measured in days, not months or years. Transactions involving millions and billions of dollars occur with only the barest of covenants from the seller. The Bankruptcy Code and Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure make that possible.
This course provides an in-depth look at the core aspects of business bankruptcy, using fact patterns and briefing from actual recent cases. You will become familiar with not only the law, but see how that law is put into practice in real cases.
5397 Advanced Drafting for Corporate Transactions - GINSBURG (offered in Fall 2023)
The purpose of this course is to prepare students for their first year of general corporate practice, whether in an in-house, law firm, or solo practice setting, by completing a simulated financing for an M&A transaction. The course will focus on how secured transactions law, bankruptcy law and corporate law influence the structuring and documenting of the financing for a typical M&A transaction. Students will work through a hypothetical transaction that will be the focal point of the entire semester. The class will begin by discussing alternative capital structures and how bank loans are used to finance acquisitions, along with growth and working capital needs. We will then analyze and draft credit and security documents, and learn how specific contract provisions are important to both borrowers and lenders. We will analyze all stages of a finance transaction, and discuss the often divergent strategies and goals of lenders and borrowers. The fundamentals of negotiating critical provisions of a leveraged finance transaction will be stressed, with emphasis on private equity investors and their finance sources. The professor will relate many of his experiences in global finance transactions and share provisions from actual loan documentation to demonstrate how those fundamentals are applied in actual transactions. Although the course will be of particular interest to those pursuing a corporate or commercial law career, the concepts are applicable to any transactional practice.
5397 Advanced Drafting for Corporate Transactions - GINSBURG (offered in Spring 2024)
The purpose of this course is to prepare students for their first year of general corporate practice, whether in an in-house, law firm, or solo practice setting, by completing a simulated financing for an M&A transaction. The course will focus on how secured transactions law, bankruptcy law and corporate law influence the structuring and documenting of the financing for a typical M&A transaction. Students will work through a hypothetical transaction that will be the focal point of the entire semester. The class will begin by discussing alternative capital structures and how bank loans are used to finance acquisitions, along with growth and working capital needs. We will then analyze and draft credit and security documents, and learn how specific contract provisions are important to both borrowers and lenders. We will analyze all stages of a finance transaction, and discuss the often divergent strategies and goals of lenders and borrowers. The fundamentals of negotiating critical provisions of a leveraged finance transaction will be stressed, with emphasis on private equity investors and their finance sources. The professor will relate many of his experiences in global finance transactions and share provisions from actual loan documentation to demonstrate how those fundamentals are applied in actual transactions. Although the course will be of particular interest to those pursuing a corporate or commercial law career, the concepts are applicable to any transactional practice.
5197 Advanced Legal Research: Appellate Advocacy - BROWNELL (offered in Spring 2024)
This is a specialized course on legal research methods as they pertain to appellate advocacy. It will cover general legal research topics and resources (issue analysis, secondary sources, statutes, cases, etc.) within the context of appeals. It will also cover topics and resources that are especially useful to the practice of appellate advocacy such as finding and using court rules, filings, and resources; practice books, forms, and checklists; dockets; and legislative history.
5197 Advanced Legal Research: Appellate Advocacy - BROWNELL (offered in Spring 2023)
This is a specialized course on legal research methods as they pertain to appellate advocacy. It will cover general legal research topics and resources (issue analysis, secondary sources, statutes, cases, etc.) within the context of appeals. It will also cover topics and resources that are especially useful to the practice of appellate advocacy such as finding and using court rules, filings, and resources; practice books, forms, and checklists; dockets; and legislative history.
5197 Advanced Legal Research: Trial Advocacy - BROWNELL (offered in Fall 2023)
5197 Advanced Legal Research: Trial Advocacy - BROWNELL (offered in Fall 2024)
This is a specialized course on legal research methods as they pertain to trial advocacy. It will cover general legal research topics and resources (issue analysis, secondary sources, statutes, cases, etc.) within the litigation context, focusing on practical application. Students will apply their skills through research problems that simulate legal practice.
5297 Advocacy Survey - LAWRENCE/JONES (offered in Summer II 2023)
This unique course is designed to provide students the opportunity to experience a wide spectrum of legal advocacy. Course segments include Pre-Trial Litigation, Trial Advocacy, Appellate Advocacy, Negotiation, Mediation, and Arbitration. Each course segment contains a brief overview of 1) the legal underpinnings for each topic area and, 2) the skills necessary to be an effective advocate in that topic area.
5397 AI Regulation - TODD/LEVINE (offered in Fall 2024)
The objective of the class is to provide the students and future practitioners with the tools necessary for addressing and engaging with the dynamic and rapidly evolving area of artificial intelligence law, policy and regulation, including a review of its foundations.
5397 AI Regulation - TODD/LEVINE (offered in Fall 2025)
The objective of the class is to provide the students and future practitioners with the tools necessary for addressing and engaging with the dynamic and rapidly evolving area of artificial intelligence law, policy and regulation, including a review of its foundations.
5297 Alternative Energy Transactions and Contracting - BORREGO (offered in Spring 2024)
Alternative Energy Transactions and Contracting: This course is designed to familiarize students with the most common forms of alternative energy currently in use in Texas, or which may become sources of alternative energy. In addition, the course will familiarize students with the problems involved in carbon sequestration. Students will prepare research papers and documents addressing issues common to alternative energy and carbon sequestration.
5397 Appellate Civil Rights Clinic - SIEGEL (offered in Spring 2023)
Students in the Appellate Civil Rights Clinic will represent clients and amici in appeals of civil rights claims in federal and state courts. Our appeals will include § 1983 cases arising from law enforcement misconduct and unconstitutional prison conditions; cases alleging discrimination in employment and public accommodations; First Amendment speech and religion clause cases; and others. We will not take criminal appeals or post-conviction petitions. Students will assume responsibility for all aspects of appellate representation, albeit with close faculty supervision. Tasks will include reviewing the trial court record, “big picture” strategizing about appellate themes, conducting legal research, drafting main and reply briefs, editing classmates’ briefs, and presenting oral argument where appropriate. Classroom instruction will teach the essentials of appellate advocacy: using the lower court record, thorough but well-tailored legal research, persuasive writing, close editing, and effective oral argument.
5297 Attorney Communication and Persuasion - LAWRENCE/JONES (offered in SummerMini 2024)
Communication is at the very heart of what we do as lawyers. Knowing how to establish rapport, ask the right questions and present compelling arguments is as important to the transactional lawyer as it is to the trial lawyer. This course helps students become more effective, precise, clear, credible, and persuasive. The course teaches students about the psychological underpinnings of the communication process, identifies how people process information and outlines how to communicate more clearly, powerfully and persuasively in a variety of legal settings.
5297 Attorney Communication and Persuasion - LAWRENCE/ROBINSON (offered in SummerMini 2025)
Communication is at the very heart of what we do as lawyers. Knowing how to establish rapport, ask the right questions and present compelling arguments is as important to the transactional lawyer as it is to the trial lawyer. This course helps students become more effective, precise, clear, credible, and persuasive. The course teaches students about the psychological underpinnings of the communication process, identifies how people process information and outlines how to communicate more clearly, powerfully and persuasively in a variety of legal settings.
5297 Business Planning - GNAIM (offered in Spring 2025)
The objectives of this course are (i) to provide an introduction to business planning, (ii) for students to obtain a better understanding of entity types, choice of entity considerations (from both a tax and business perspective), and common issues that may be encountered with businesses, (iii) to consider ethical and professional questions related to the subject matter, and (iv) to integrate the subject matter with the analytical and practical skills necessary to the practice of law.
5297 Cannabis/Psychedelics Law - ZORN (offered in Spring 2024)
This course will provide an overview of the law relevant to the emerging cannabis and psychedelic industries. Topics for discussion will include constitutional law, criminal law, administrative law, and agriculture laws. We’ll cover developments in cannabis and psychedelic legalization at both the state and federal levels, including Texas. Every week will discuss a new topic.
5497 Civil Justice Clinic I - MARQUEZ, Ryan/KRASNY (offered in Spring 2023)
Students will represent clients in connection with a wide range of Texas civil litigation matters, including family, guardianship, probate, landlord/tenant, deceptive trade practices, real property, bankruptcy, and debt-collection. Representation will include court/trial appearances, mediation, negotiation, document drafting and case investigation.
The Clinic has a classroom component that meets for two hours each week over the course of the semester. The classroom component will focus on (a) cultivating students’ civil litigation practice skills, (b) introducing substantive law topics within the Clinic’s practice areas, and (c) reviewing and discussing the Clinic’s active cases.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at https://uhlc.wufoo.com/forms/m1263f5v0xj9tln/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in this course. If you are accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services. For fullest consideration, please apply before course registration opens.
Students must work in the Clinic 50 hours per course credit hour.
5497 Civil Justice Clinic I - MARQUEZ, Ryan/KRASNY (offered in Summer I 2023)
Students will represent clients in connection with a wide range of Texas civil litigation matters, including family, guardianship, probate, landlord/tenant, deceptive trade practices, real property, bankruptcy, and debt-collection. Representation will include court/trial appearances, mediation, negotiation, document drafting and case investigation.
The Clinic has a classroom component that meets for two hours each week over the course of the semester. The classroom component will focus on (a) cultivating students’ civil litigation practice skills, (b) introducing substantive law topics within the Clinic’s practice areas, and (c) reviewing and discussing the Clinic’s active cases.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at https://uhlc.wufoo.com/forms/m1263f5v0xj9tln/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in this course. If you are accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services. For fullest consideration, please apply before course registration opens.
Students must work in the Clinic 50 hours per course credit hour.
5497 Civil Justice Clinic II - MARQUEZ, Ryan (offered in Summer I 2023)
Students will represent clients in connection with a wide range of Texas civil litigation matters, including family, guardianship, probate, landlord/tenant, deceptive trade practices, real property, bankruptcy, and debt-collection. Representation will include court/trial appearances, mediation, negotiation, document drafting and case investigation.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at https://uhlc.wufoo.com/forms/m1263f5v0xj9tln/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in this course. If you are accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services. For fullest consideration, please apply before course registration opens.
Students must work in the Clinic 50 hours per course credit hour.
5397 Civil Justice Clinic II - MARQUEZ, Ryan (offered in Summer I 2023)
Students will represent clients in connection with a wide range of Texas civil litigation matters, including family, guardianship, probate, landlord/tenant, deceptive trade practices, real property, bankruptcy, and debt-collection. Representation will include court/trial appearances, mediation, negotiation, document drafting and case investigation.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at https://uhlc.wufoo.com/forms/m1263f5v0xj9tln/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in this course. If you are accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services. For fullest consideration, please apply before course registration opens.
Students must work in the Clinic 50 hours per course credit hour.
5297 Civil Justice Clinic II - MARQUEZ, Ryan (offered in Summer I 2023)
Students will represent clients in connection with a wide range of Texas civil litigation matters, including family, guardianship, probate, landlord/tenant, deceptive trade practices, real property, bankruptcy, and debt-collection. Representation will include court/trial appearances, mediation, negotiation, document drafting and case investigation.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at https://uhlc.wufoo.com/forms/m1263f5v0xj9tln/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in this course. If you are accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services. For fullest consideration, please apply before course registration opens.
Students must work in the Clinic 50 hours per course credit hour.
5297 Civil Justice Clinic II - MARQUEZ, Ryan (offered in Spring 2023)
Students will represent clients in connection with a wide range of Texas civil litigation matters, including family, guardianship, probate, landlord/tenant, deceptive trade practices, real property, bankruptcy, and debt-collection. Representation will include court/trial appearances, mediation, negotiation, document drafting and case investigation.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at https://uhlc.wufoo.com/forms/m1263f5v0xj9tln/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in this course. If you are accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services. For fullest consideration, please apply before course registration opens.
Students must work in the Clinic 50 hours per course credit hour.
5397 Civil Justice Clinic II - MARQUEZ, Ryan (offered in Spring 2023)
Students will represent clients in connection with a wide range of Texas civil litigation matters, including family, guardianship, probate, landlord/tenant, deceptive trade practices, real property, bankruptcy, and debt-collection. Representation will include court/trial appearances, mediation, negotiation, document drafting and case investigation.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at https://uhlc.wufoo.com/forms/m1263f5v0xj9tln/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in this course. If you are accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services. For fullest consideration, please apply before course registration opens.
Students must work in the Clinic 50 hours per course credit hour.
5497 Civil Justice Clinic II - MARQUEZ, Ryan (offered in Spring 2023)
Students will represent clients in connection with a wide range of Texas civil litigation matters, including family, guardianship, probate, landlord/tenant, deceptive trade practices, real property, bankruptcy, and debt-collection. Representation will include court/trial appearances, mediation, negotiation, document drafting and case investigation.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at https://uhlc.wufoo.com/forms/m1263f5v0xj9tln/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in this course. If you are accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services. For fullest consideration, please apply before course registration opens.
Students must work in the Clinic 50 hours per course credit hour.
5397 Civil Procedure (FLLM Only) - WARREN (offered in Spring 2024)
This course provides an introduction to the civil adjudicative process, primarily that of the federal courts, including jurisdiction, pleading, dispositive motions, discovery, and trial procedures.
5397 Civil Procedure (FLLM Only) - NGUYEN,H (offered in Fall 2024)
This course provides an introduction to the civil adjudicative process, primarily that of the federal courts, including jurisdiction, pleading, dispositive motions, discovery, and trial procedures.
5297 Clean Air Act - COOK (offered in Spring 2024)
With a focus on issues EPA is currently wrestling with, this course will examine critical air pollution challenges and the tools the federal Clean Act provides federal and state governments and local communities to use in addressing air pollution. The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments were comprehensive and established numerous timelines and programs for achieving various clean air standards. As time and science has marched on, over three decades later, some problems have been solved, others improved, and yet others are still awaiting an implementable solution. Each class period will explore a particular air quality problem and the associated statutory and regulatory programs designed to address the issue. Among the topics the course will explore include aspects of climate change, regulation of mobile sources, acid rain, environmental justice, and ozone. Readings will mostly come from judicial decisions, filed briefs and relevant articles. No casebook is assigned. See the syllabus for more details.
5397 Constitutional Law ( FLLM ONLY) - JOHNSON (offered in Spring 2024)
This introductory course will cover the text of the United States Constitution, the power of judicial review over federal and state legislation, and the scope of (and limitations on) the federal government’s power via sources such as commerce, spending, taxing, war and enforcement sections of the post-Civil War amendments. It will cover constitutional constraints on the allocation of federal power amongst the executive, legislative and judicial branches. Individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution will also be addressed, including rights to free speech and religious freedom under the first amendment, as well as rights such as due process and equal protection created or incorporated by the 14th amendment. The course will also briefly consider the treatment of Indians, immigrants and territories under the Constitution.
5397 Contracts (FLLM Only) - NGUYEN,H (offered in Spring 2024)
This course examines legally enforceable promises. The topics include contract formation, contract interpretation, the performance of contractual obligations, defenses to breaches of contract, and remedies.
5397 Contracts (FLLM Only) - NGUYEN,H (offered in Spring 2025)
This course examines legally enforceable promises. The topics include contract formation, contract interpretation, the performance of contractual obligations, defenses to breaches of contract, and remedies.
5297 Crime in The Information Age - HU (offered in Spring 2026)
This course examines the intersection of two fields, criminal law and the law of information and intellectual property. This new area of the law has evolved to protect information products from unauthorized use that is facilitated by the internet and digitization.
5297 Criminal Defense Clinic II - LOCASCIO/TOUCHSTONE (offered in Spring 2025)
The Criminal Defense Practice Clinic 2 is a hybrid program offered through the UHLC Clinics Program. It consists of a weekly classroom component along with hands-on practical experience handling misdemeanor and felony cases in the Harris County Criminal District Courts and County Criminal Courts at Law. These cases will be handled by the student attorney from initial arraignment of the client to either a plea bargain, dismissal, or trial at the end of the process. The student attorney will be responsible for all aspects of his or her case, including client interviews and updates; legal research of any issues in the case; analysis and evaluation of the State’s evidence; weighing and considering the various options available to the client for case resolution; and, if needed, sitting first chair during a criminal trial if the client so chooses.
During the classroom component, a variety of topics will be discussed, including a detailed walkthrough and analysis of the Harris County criminal justice system, law practice management, trial strategies, and more.
Students will also be exposed to the many aspects of the criminal justice system, including hearings before a judge, plea negotiations with prosecutors, and interviews with witnesses. Cases will be selected to provide students with a variety of experiences.
It should be noted that essentially all court settings begin at 8:30am, 9am, or 9:30am each day depending on the court, if a case is set for a given day. If you have other classes you need to take that are only held in the morning, you will miss out on a significant source of clinic hours. Please set your schedule accordingly. If you have questions regarding this, please feel free to contact Professors Locascio and Touchstone.
Text:
Required: O’Connor’s Texas Crimes & Consequences, T.B. Todd Dupont II Required: O'Connor's Texas Criminal Offenses & Defenses, Jani Maselli Wood
*If you have the required books from previous semesters/years, those can be used for Clinic 2*
5397 Criminal Defense Clinic II - LOCASCIO/TOUCHSTONE (offered in Spring 2025)
The Criminal Defense Practice Clinic 2 is a hybrid program offered through the UHLC Clinics Program. It consists of a weekly classroom component along with hands-on practical experience handling misdemeanor and felony cases in the Harris County Criminal District Courts and County Criminal Courts at Law. These cases will be handled by the student attorney from initial arraignment of the client to either a plea bargain, dismissal, or trial at the end of the process. The student attorney will be responsible for all aspects of his or her case, including client interviews and updates; legal research of any issues in the case; analysis and evaluation of the State’s evidence; weighing and considering the various options available to the client for case resolution; and, if needed, sitting first chair during a criminal trial if the client so chooses.
During the classroom component, a variety of topics will be discussed, including a detailed walkthrough and analysis of the Harris County criminal justice system, law practice management, trial strategies, and more.
Students will also be exposed to the many aspects of the criminal justice system, including hearings before a judge, plea negotiations with prosecutors, and interviews with witnesses. Cases will be selected to provide students with a variety of experiences.
It should be noted that essentially all court settings begin at 8:30am, 9am, or 9:30am each day depending on the court, if a case is set for a given day. If you have other classes you need to take that are only held in the morning, you will miss out on a significant source of clinic hours. Please set your schedule accordingly. If you have questions regarding this, please feel free to contact Professors Locascio and Touchstone.
Text:
Required: O’Connor’s Texas Crimes & Consequences, T.B. Todd Dupont II Required: O'Connor's Texas Criminal Offenses & Defenses, Jani Maselli Wood
*If you have the required books from previous semesters/years, those can be used for Clinic 2*Locascio and Touchstone.
5297 Criminal Defense Clinic II - LOCASCIO/TOUCHSTONE (offered in Fall 2024)
The Criminal Defense Practice Clinic 2 is a hybrid program offered through the UHLC Clinics Program. It consists of a weekly classroom component along with hands-on practical experience handling misdemeanor and felony cases in the Harris County Criminal District Courts and County Criminal Courts at Law. These cases will be handled by the student attorney from initial arraignment of the client to either a plea bargain, dismissal, or trial at the end of the process. The student attorney will be responsible for all aspects of his or her case, including client interviews and updates; legal research of any issues in the case; analysis and evaluation of the State’s evidence; weighing and considering the various options available to the client for case resolution; and, if needed, sitting first chair during a criminal trial if the client so chooses.
During the classroom component, a variety of topics will be discussed, including a detailed walkthrough and analysis of the Harris County criminal justice system, law practice management, trial strategies, and more.
Students will also be exposed to the many aspects of the criminal justice system, including hearings before a judge, plea negotiations with prosecutors, and interviews with witnesses. Cases will be selected to provide students with a variety of experiences.
It should be noted that essentially all court settings begin at 8:30am, 9am, or 9:30am each day depending on the court, if a case is set for a given day. If you have other classes you need to take that are only held in the morning, you will miss out on a significant source of clinic hours. Please set your schedule accordingly. If you have questions regarding this, please feel free to contact Professors Locascio and Touchstone.
Text:
Required: O’Connor’s Texas Crimes & Consequences, T.B. Todd Dupont II Required: O'Connor's Texas Criminal Offenses & Defenses, Jani Maselli Wood
*If you have the required books from previous semesters/years, those can be used for Clinic 2*
5397 Criminal Defense Clinic II - LOCASCIO/TOUCHSTONE (offered in Fall 2024)
The Criminal Defense Practice Clinic 2 is a hybrid program offered through the UHLC Clinics Program. It consists of a weekly classroom component along with hands-on practical experience handling misdemeanor and felony cases in the Harris County Criminal District Courts and County Criminal Courts at Law. These cases will be handled by the student attorney from initial arraignment of the client to either a plea bargain, dismissal, or trial at the end of the process. The student attorney will be responsible for all aspects of his or her case, including client interviews and updates; legal research of any issues in the case; analysis and evaluation of the State’s evidence; weighing and considering the various options available to the client for case resolution; and, if needed, sitting first chair during a criminal trial if the client so chooses.
During the classroom component, a variety of topics will be discussed, including a detailed walkthrough and analysis of the Harris County criminal justice system, law practice management, trial strategies, and more.
Students will also be exposed to the many aspects of the criminal justice system, including hearings before a judge, plea negotiations with prosecutors, and interviews with witnesses. Cases will be selected to provide students with a variety of experiences.
It should be noted that essentially all court settings begin at 8:30am, 9am, or 9:30am each day depending on the court, if a case is set for a given day. If you have other classes you need to take that are only held in the morning, you will miss out on a significant source of clinic hours. Please set your schedule accordingly. If you have questions regarding this, please feel free to contact Professors Locascio and Touchstone.
Text:
Required: O’Connor’s Texas Crimes & Consequences, T.B. Todd Dupont II Required: O'Connor's Texas Criminal Offenses & Defenses, Jani Maselli Wood
*If you have the required books from previous semesters/years, those can be used for Clinic 2*Locascio and Touchstone.
5297 Criminal Litigation and Legal Issues in Criminal Procedure - HAKIMZADEH (offered in Fall 2025)
Criminal Litigation Practice is designed to incorporate the substantive law of criminal procedure into a trial advocacy course. The course will cover virtually all of the stages of a criminal case—from the probable cause hearing through the sentencing hearing and hearing on a motion for a new trial. Most of the issues addressed in this course implicate federal constitutional law principles applicable to all criminal prosecutions, whether they occur in state or federal court.
5297 Criminal Sentencing Law and Policy - MARTIN, S (offered in Spring 2024)
The purpose of this course is to examine the law and policy of criminal sentencing. The course will explore why society punishes; who holds the power to set sentences (the social institutions); what elements factor into sentencing decisions (offense and offender characteristics); and how sentencing and punishment decisions are made (procedure and proof). The course will also explore the typical outcomes of the sentence decision, including the most expensive and visible outcome: imprisonment. Finally, the course will consider sentencing-review doctrines, including new laws and advocacy surrounding “second look” sentencing mechanisms, and the role of executive clemency.
5297 Criminal Sentencing Law and Policy - MARTIN, S (offered in Spring 2023)
The purpose of this course is to examine the law and policy of criminal sentencing. The course will explore why society punishes; who holds the power to set sentences (the social institutions); what elements factor into sentencing decisions (offense and offender characteristics); and how sentencing and punishment decisions are made (procedure and proof). The course will also explore the typical outcomes of the sentence decision, including the most expensive and visible outcome: imprisonment. Finally, the course will consider sentencing-review doctrines, including new laws and advocacy surrounding “second look” sentencing mechanisms, and the role of executive clemency.
5297 Death and Taxes - BORRETT/CORORVE (offered in Spring 2024)
Postmortem Estate Planning: Covers issues associated with estate administration with a goal toward minimization of income and estate taxes. Covers the estate tax system generally, income taxation of estates and planning opportunities associated therewith, issues associated with funding of pecuniary and residual bequests, disclaimers, special use valuation, and estate tax deferral techniques. Examines the use of Trusts and Partnerships in removing assets from exposure to estate tax and distribution and release agreements. Course uses material developed by the instructor, primarily from current advance estate planning and probate seminar material.
5297 Death and Taxes - CORORVE (offered in Spring 2025)
Postmortem Estate Planning: Covers issues associated with estate administration with a goal toward minimization of income and estate taxes. Covers the estate tax system generally, income taxation of estates and planning opportunities associated therewith, issues associated with funding of pecuniary and residual bequests, disclaimers, special use valuation, and estate tax deferral techniques. Examines the use of Trusts and Partnerships in removing assets from exposure to estate tax and distribution and release agreements. Course uses material developed by the instructor, primarily from current advance estate planning and probate seminar material.
5297 Disabilities & the Law - FRIEDEN/NGUYEN,V (offered in Spring 2025)
This course will explore the social meaning of disability, along with the legal rights afforded by three key federal statutes:
(1) Americans with Disabilities Act
(2) Rehabilitation Act
(3) Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
5297 Disabilities & the Law - FRIEDEN/NGUYEN,V (offered in Fall 2025)
This course will explore the social meaning of disability, along with the legal rights afforded by three key federal statutes:
(1) Americans with Disabilities Act
(2) Rehabilitation Act
(3) Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
5397 Energy Tax Policy - JULIEN (offered in Spring 2026)
5297 Energy Taxation - MATLOCK (offered in Spring 2024)
The course will focus on the unique U.S. federal income tax aspects of (and tax planning and tax structuring related to) energy transition related investments (such as carbon capture use and sequestration), renewable and alternative energy (such as wind and solar), as well as each of the traditional energy sectors (including mining and mining and metals, power and utilities, and oil and gas).
5297 Energy Transition Policy - PRASAD (offered in Fall 2024)
This course will provide a practical/hands-on understanding of key concepts for law students (JD and LLM) aspiring to practice in the fields of energy and/or climate policy. Topics will be relevant for those planning to practice law exclusively in the United States as well as those practicing overseas or having international clients.
5397 Entertainment Law Clinic - ALONSO/BARKS (offered in Spring 2023)
The Entertainment Law Clinic is an advanced entertainment law course for students who have completed the prerequisite substantive Entertainment Law course and seek practical experience in transactional and administrative entertainment practice. Students will represent clients in various entertainment fields, including music, film and television, dance, and art, as well as small businesses and non-profits operating in these fields. Students will principally focus on trademark and copyright prosecution and counseling, contract drafting and negotiation, royalty stream creation and retention.
5397 Entertainment Law Clinic - ALONSO/BARKS (offered in Fall 2023)
The Entertainment Law Clinic is an advanced entertainment law course for students who have completed the prerequisite substantive Entertainment Law course and seek practical experience in transactional and administrative entertainment practice. Students will represent clients in various entertainment fields, including music, film and television, dance, and art, as well as small businesses and non-profits operating in these fields. Students will principally focus on trademark and copyright prosecution and counseling, contract drafting and negotiation, royalty stream creation and retention.
5297 Entertainment Law Clinic II - BARKS/RODGERS (offered in Spring 2024)
The Entertainment Law Clinic is an advanced entertainment law course for students who want to further expand their practical skills in transactional and administrative entertainment practice. Students, having successfully completed the Entertainment Law Clinic I will continue representing clients in various entertainment fields, including music, film and television, dance, and the visual arts.
The Entertainment Law Clinic I classroom component will be supplanted by a semester-long case study of litigation in a relevant field, including copyright, trademark, right of publicity or NIL, or entertainment contracts. Students will be expected to develop strategies, analyze legal theories, and critically assess defensive and prosecutorial postures.
Students must apply to the clinic by submitting an online application located at http://law.uh.edu/clinic. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in the clinic via PeopleSoft. If your application is accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5397 Entertainment Law Clinic II - BARKS/RODGERS (offered in Spring 2024)
The Entertainment Law Clinic is an advanced entertainment law course for students who want to further expand their practical skills in transactional and administrative entertainment practice. Students, having successfully completed the Entertainment Law Clinic I will continue representing clients in various entertainment fields, including music, film and television, dance, and the visual arts.
The Entertainment Law Clinic I classroom component will be supplanted by a semester-long case study of litigation in a relevant field, including copyright, trademark, right of publicity or NIL, or entertainment contracts. Students will be expected to develop strategies, analyze legal theories, and critically assess defensive and prosecutorial postures.
Students must apply to the clinic by submitting an online application located at http://law.uh.edu/clinic. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in the clinic via PeopleSoft. If your application is accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5397 Entertainment Law Clinic II - ALONSO/BARKS (offered in Fall 2023)
The Entertainment Law Clinic is an advanced entertainment law course for students who want to further expand their practical skills in transactional and administrative entertainment practice. Students, having successfully completed the Entertainment Law Clinic I will continue representing clients in various entertainment fields, including music, film and television, dance, and the visual arts.
The Entertainment Law Clinic I classroom component will be supplanted by a semester-long case study of litigation in a relevant field, including copyright, trademark, right of publicity or NIL, or entertainment contracts. Students will be expected to develop strategies, analyze legal theories, and critically assess defensive and prosecutorial postures.
Students must apply to the clinic by submitting an online application located at http://law.uh.edu/clinic. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in the clinic via PeopleSoft. If your application is accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5297 Entertainment Law Clinic II - ALONSO/BARKS (offered in Fall 2023)
The Entertainment Law Clinic is an advanced entertainment law course for students who want to further expand their practical skills in transactional and administrative entertainment practice. Students, having successfully completed the Entertainment Law Clinic I will continue representing clients in various entertainment fields, including music, film and television, dance, and the visual arts.
The Entertainment Law Clinic II classroom component will be supplanted by a semester-long case study of litigation in a relevant field, including copyright, trademark, right of publicity or NIL, or entertainment contracts. Students will be expected to develop strategies, analyze legal theories, and critically assess defensive and prosecutorial postures.
Students must apply to the clinic by submitting an online application located at http://law.uh.edu/clinic. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in the clinic via PeopleSoft. If your application is accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5297 Entertainment Law Clinic II - BARKS/RODGERS (offered in Summer I 2024)
The Entertainment Law Clinic is an advanced entertainment law course for students who want to further expand their practical skills in transactional and administrative entertainment practice. Students, having successfully completed the Entertainment Law Clinic I will continue representing clients in various entertainment fields, including music, film and television, dance, and the visual arts.
The Entertainment Law Clinic I classroom component will be supplanted by a semester-long case study of litigation in a relevant field, including copyright, trademark, right of publicity or NIL, or entertainment contracts. Students will be expected to develop strategies, analyze legal theories, and critically assess defensive and prosecutorial postures.
Students must apply to the clinic by submitting an online application located at http://law.uh.edu/clinic. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in the clinic via PeopleSoft. If your application is accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5397 Entertainment Law Clinic II - BARKS/RODGERS (offered in Summer I 2024)
The Entertainment Law Clinic is an advanced entertainment law course for students who want to further expand their practical skills in transactional and administrative entertainment practice. Students, having successfully completed the Entertainment Law Clinic I will continue representing clients in various entertainment fields, including music, film and television, dance, and the visual arts.
The Entertainment Law Clinic I classroom component will be supplanted by a semester-long case study of litigation in a relevant field, including copyright, trademark, right of publicity or NIL, or entertainment contracts. Students will be expected to develop strategies, analyze legal theories, and critically assess defensive and prosecutorial postures.
Students must apply to the clinic by submitting an online application located at http://law.uh.edu/clinic. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in the clinic via PeopleSoft. If your application is accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5297 Entrepreneurship Law and Venture Capital Finance - LUMPKIN (offered in Fall 2023)
This course is designed to introduce students to the unique challenges entrepreneurs face and related legal considerations. The course approach is practical and will encourage students to think critically about the tension between risk and return when advising start-ups and growth-stage companies. Topics will include preparation for an initial investment, due diligence, entity governance, equity compensation, founders agreements and vesting, intellectual property rights, the fundraising process, basic terms negotiations, convertible debt and future equity instruments, venture capital-style equity investments, and exit transactions. The objective is to introduce students to the legal issues most frequently encountered by high-growth early stage companies, and purchasers of equity in those companies, throughout the fundraising cycles. The course will seek to expose students to the skills transactional lawyers need when advising entrepreneurial ventures and their investors.
5397 Env'l Law for New Technologies - HESTER (offered in Fall 2025)
Environmental law is usually one of the first and most important tools used to control or challenge the use of new and disruptive technologies. For example, environmental disputes have strongly influenced the development of:
•nanotechnology,
•genetically modified or synthetic biological organisms,
•geoengineering and climate control,
•advanced renewable energy technologies (including biofuels and offshore wind), and
•unconventional fossil fuel production.
In return, emerging technologies can affect the growth and scope of environmental regulations, including toxicogenomics, advanced laboratory detection techniques and remote laser sensing of air pollutants. This course will explore the interplay between environmental law and emerging technologies, including how environmental law creates the demand and market for some new techniques (such as carbon capture and sequestration).
We will invite guest speakers from each of these emerging technological fields to discuss their research and whether they pose environmental legal concerns.
5397 Environmental Appellate Advocacy - HESTER (offered in Spring 2024)
This course offers a comprehensive introduction to appellate advocacy through participation in cases important to the development of environmental law. We will identify emerging issues through new cases in federal and state appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, that would play critical roles in the effective and comprehensive application of federal and state environmental law. Some of these issues include standing, representation of untraditional plaintiffs, scope of judicial relief, administrative law questions important to the functioning of environmental agencies, and key issues of statutory interpretive doctrine.
This course will use a combination of lectures, class discussions, in-class drafting sessions, and case selection reviews. Students will review dockets from each federal circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court to identify new cases and appeals that pose important issues. Each student may assist in preparation of briefs on those selected cases, and the class will include moot presentations or mock oral arguments related to pending disputes.
5397 FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) - KOEHLER (offered in Fall 2023)
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is a top legal and compliance concern for business organizations – both public and private and across a variety of industry sectors – doing business in the global marketplace.
This online course is an in-depth study of the FCPA, FCPA enforcement, FCPA compliance, and related legal and policy issues. You will learn of the FCPA’s modern era and in doing so will dissect legal authority such as the FCPA statutory text, legislative history and judicial decisions as well as non-legal sources of information such as resolved FCPA enforcement actions and enforcement agency guidance.
5297 Global Health Law - DIAMOND (offered in Spring 2024)
Global health law has emerged as a field that sits at the timely intersection of public health and international law. More specifically, it is defined by the norms, processes, institutions, and actors that shape global governance for health. This course introduces students to both the theory and practice of global health law, with an emphasis on how the law can be a tool to respond to the most urgent health threats of our time. This course first provides an overview of the normative foundation of global health law, encompassing the adjacent fields of both global health ethics and global justice.
5297 Government Contracts - HERRERA (offered in Spring 2026)
5297 Government Contracts - HERRERA (offered in Spring 2026)
Think you know contract law? Think again.
This course introduces the unique and complex world of U.S. Government Contracts Law (i.e., federal procurement law) that governs how our government buys everything from paper clips to aircraft carriers. This isn’t “Contracts 2.0”—government contracting follows its own rules, driven by statutes, regulations, politics, and public policy rather than pure market freedom. From contract formation to administration, students will explore legal issues central to the daily work of government contracts attorneys and learn how federal deals are conceived, contracted, and contested.
5297 Health Care Institutions - HEBBAR/WARD (offered in Fall 2025)
This core health law course is an introductory tour of Texas/federal laws governing health-sector businesses, which together account for 18% U.S. Gross Domestic Product. The course covers traditional 20th-century institutions such as hospitals, but the main focus is on academic medical centers, which provide patient care, perform research, and train the next generation of health professionals. contract research organizations; health data exchanges; and management and informational services). Academic Medical Centers are a large part of the health industry and students entering the health law workforce of today need to know the laws that affect them and the unresolved policy issues they raise. Students who choose to practice health law, will inevitably encounter and advise academic medical centers in some capacity, whether serving as in-house counsel or engaged as outside counsel on a specific project. This year’s course will include multiple visits from, and opportunities for students to have close interactions with, practicing attorneys—who work in major area academic medical centers. They will guide students in practical problem-solving discussions of real-world legal issues related to the substantive law topics covered in the course and offer insights on how to get and build a career working for or representing academic medical centers as clients.
5297 Health Care Institutions - HEBBAR (offered in Fall 2024)
This core health law course is an introductory tour of Texas/federal laws governing health-sector businesses, which together account for 18% U.S. Gross Domestic Product. The course covers traditional 20th-century institutions such as hospitals, but the main focus is on academic medical centers, which provide patient care, perform research, and train the next generation of health professionals. contract research organizations; health data exchanges; and management and informational services). Academic Medical Centers are a large part of the health industry and students entering the health law workforce of today need to know the laws that affect them and the unresolved policy issues they raise. Students who choose to practice health law, will inevitably encounter and advise academic medical centers in some capacity, whether serving as in-house counsel or engaged as outside counsel on a specific project. This year’s course will include multiple visits from, and opportunities for students to have close interactions with, practicing attorneys—who work in major area academic medical centers. They will guide students in practical problem-solving discussions of real-world legal issues related to the substantive law topics covered in the course and offer insights on how to get and build a career working for or representing academic medical centers as clients.
5297 Health Care Institutions - EWER (offered in Spring 2023)
This core health law course is an introductory tour of Texas/federal laws governing health-sector businesses, which together account for 18% U.S. Gross Domestic Product. The course covers traditional 20th-century institutions such as hospitals, but the main focus is on the expanding array of new players that supply innovative products and services (clinical laboratories; biobanks; academic medical centers, which conduct research as well as providing patient care; contract research organizations; health data exchanges; and management and informational services). These latter entities are a vibrant and growing part of the health industry and students entering the health law workforce of today need to know the laws that affect them and the unresolved policy issues they raise. This year’s course will include multiple visits from, and opportunities for students to have close interactions with, practicing attorneys—UH Law Center alums—who work in major area academic medical centers. They will guide students in practical problem-solving discussions of real-world legal issues related to the substantive law topics covered in the course and offer insights on how to get and build a career working for or representing academic medical centers as clients.
5297 Hot Topics in Health Law - EWER/KALEEMULLAH (offered in Fall 2025)
This course explores the contemporary issues of health law. The course will require each student to present a formal lecture on some aspect of health law that is timely, of special interest to the student, and relevant to health policy.
5697 Immigration Clinic I - CABOT (offered in Spring 2024)
As a student in this clinic, you will represent an asylum seeker from the first client interview, all the way through to the hearing in front of an immigration judge. You will be your client’s attorney and therefore responsible for all aspects of the case—client interviewing and counseling, fact investigation and development, working with expert witnesses, legal research and drafting documents, negotiations, and trial advocacy. You will work in pairs or groups of three under the supervision of one of the professors.
In addition to the work you do on your client’s case, known as fieldwork, there is a classroom component to the clinic. The class will meet twice a week and will include learning lawyering skills, substantive law, procedural rules, and ethical considerations, practicing new skills through simulation, workshopping written product, and participating in case rounds. Case rounds are group problem solving sessions where a team presents a problem to the class and the class helps the team to examine the problem, consider their own goals, and brainstorm solutions.
5697 Immigration Clinic I - CABOT (offered in Fall 2023)
Students will represent clients with asylum cases—people who are seeking protection in the U.S. because they fear persecution at home on the basis of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in another protected group like a sexual or gender minority. Students, with the guidance of professors, will be responsible for every aspect of representation including client interviewing and counseling, fact investigation and development, document and application drafting, working with expert witnesses, and trial advocacy.
The Clinic has a classroom component that meets for three hours each week over the course of the semester. The classroom component will focus on (a) developing students’ lawyering skills, (b) introducing substantive law topics within the Clinic’s practice areas, and (c) reviewing and discussing the Clinic’s active cases.
Students will also meet with their supervisor weekly at a mutually convenient time.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at
https://uhlc.wufoo.com/forms/m1263f5v0xj9tln/.
Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in this course. If you are accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services. For fullest consideration, please apply before course registration opens
5397 In-House Counsel Fundamentals - BOOTH,K (offered in Spring 2023)
This course will give students insight into the complex function of in-house counsel and provide the basic tools needed to succeed in an in-house role. The course will focus on developing skills in risk management, negotiation, corporate communications, commercial contracts, compliance, ethics, and gaining the trust of your organization. Students will also see how basic legal principles regarding attorney-client privilege, contract formation, and corporate governance are used on an everyday basis. Course instruction will take students through their first year as in-house counsel at MiniPrivateCo and MegaPublicCo using case studies based on real-world examples. This course will benefit all students interested in a legal career advising businesses, whether it be as in-house or outside counsel.
5397 In-House Counsel Fundamentals - BOOTH,K/HOLMES (offered in Spring 2024)
This course will give students insight into the complex function of in-house counsel and provide the basic tools needed to succeed in an in-house role. The course will focus on developing skills in risk management, negotiation, corporate communications, commercial contracts, compliance, ethics, litigation management at all stages, advising and counseling on common employment issues, and gaining the trust of your organization. Students will also see how basic legal principles regarding attorney-client privilege, contract formation, and corporate governance are used on an everyday basis. Course instruction will take students through their first year as in-house counsel at MiniPrivateCo and MegaPublicCo using case studies based on real-world examples. This course will benefit all students interested in a legal career advising businesses, whether it be as in-house or outside counsel.
5297 Initial Public Offerings - OELMAN (offered in Fall 2025)
Course description: In this course you will learn, from organizational meeting through opening of trading on the stock exchange, all the significant components of completing an IPO. Each class session will focus on a discrete part of the IPO process, with examples drawn from the SEC filings and other deal documents for the IPOs of Sunnova (Nasdaq: SUN) and New Fortress Energy (Nasdaq: NFE) – IPOs the instructor led and with which he continues to work. The course will include three short written assignments and a final paper.
5297 Intermediate Legal Research - DRAKE (offered in Spring 2024)
Building on the legal research process introduced in Lawyering Skills and Strategies, Intermediate Legal Research focuses on using print and electronic research tools to find and analyze legal information. Students will apply their research and analysis skills to simulated research problems from clients and build on their basic techniques for finding and analyzing legal information in the major electronic databases and cost-effective alternatives. Students will also be introduced to research tools and strategies not included in the LSS curriculum, including regulatory research, legislative history research, and more.
5297 Intermediate Legal Research - DRAKE (offered in Spring 2024)
Building on the legal research process introduced in Lawyering Skills and Strategies, Intermediate Legal Research focuses on using print and electronic research tools to find and analyze legal information. Students will apply their research and analysis skills to simulated research problems from clients and build on their basic techniques for finding and analyzing legal information in the major electronic databases and cost-effective alternatives. Students will also be introduced to research tools and strategies not included in the LSS curriculum, including regulatory research, legislative history research, and more.
5297 Intermediate Legal Research - DRAKE (offered in Spring 2023)
Building on the legal research process introduced in Lawyering Skills and Strategies, Intermediate Legal Research focuses on using print and electronic research tools to find and analyze legal information. Students will apply their research and analysis skills to simulated research problems from clients and build on their basic techniques for finding and analyzing legal information in the major electronic databases and cost-effective alternatives. Students will also be introduced to research tools and strategies not included in the LSS curriculum, including regulatory research, legislative history research, and more.
5297 Intermediate Legal Research - WATSON (offered in Fall 2023)
Building on the legal research process introduced in Lawyering Skills and Strategies, Intermediate Legal Research focuses on using print and electronic research tools to find and analyze legal information. Students will apply their research and analysis skills to simulated research problems from clients and build on their basic techniques for finding and analyzing legal information in the major electronic databases and cost-effective alternatives. Students will also be introduced to research tools and strategies not included in the LSS curriculum, including regulatory research, legislative history research, and more.
5297 Intermediate Legal Research - WATSON (offered in Fall 2023)
Building on the legal research process introduced in Lawyering Skills and Strategies, Intermediate Legal Research focuses on using print and electronic research tools to find and analyze legal information. Students will apply their research and analysis skills to simulated research problems from clients and build on their basic techniques for finding and analyzing legal information in the major electronic databases and cost-effective alternatives. Students will also be introduced to research tools and strategies not included in the LSS curriculum, including regulatory research, legislative history research, and more.
5297 Intermediate Legal Research - WATSON (offered in Fall 2023)
Building on the legal research process introduced in Lawyering Skills and Strategies, Intermediate Legal Research focuses on using print and electronic research tools to find and analyze legal information. Students will apply their research and analysis skills to simulated research problems from clients and build on their basic techniques for finding and analyzing legal information in the major electronic databases and cost-effective alternatives. Students will also be introduced to research tools and strategies not included in the LSS curriculum, including regulatory research, legislative history research, and more.
5397 International Energy Law - ANOZIE (offered in Spring 2025)
Global Regulation and Impact explores the relationship between international law, global energy, and natural resource activities. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the legal and policy frameworks governing global extraction, production, management, and transport of energy and natural resources, as well as trade and investment in this sector. It analyzes the legal and policy framework governing the global energy extractive industry and its intersection with the environment, providing students with real-world examples and case studies. This course will also provide an overview of sustainability governance in energy and natural resource development and the global utilization of energy policies as an enforcement tool, inspiring students to engage with these issues in their future careers.
5397 International Energy Law - ANOZIE (offered in Spring 2026)
Global Regulation and Impact explores the relationship between international law, global energy, and natural resource activities. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the legal and policy frameworks governing global extraction, production, management, and transport of energy and natural resources, as well as trade and investment in this sector. It analyzes the legal and policy framework governing the global energy extractive industry and its intersection with the environment, providing students with real-world examples and case studies. This course will also provide an overview of sustainability governance in energy and natural resource development and the global utilization of energy policies as an enforcement tool, inspiring students to engage with these issues in their future careers.
5397 International Environmental Law - HASAN (offered in Spring 2025)
The International Environmental Law course examines the legal frameworks, regulations, and principles of environmental protection and sustainable development at the international level. It covers treaties, conventions, and agreements related to various environmental management, from the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment to the Paris Climate Agreement. The course provides an updated implementation of the principles of international environmental law and the role of major actors, including the states, non-state actors, and international organizations such as UNEP, IPCC, and IUCN. This course assists students in understanding international environmental challenges and responses to these challenges at international and national levels.
5297 Introduction to Venture Capital and Private Equity Deals - BASS (offered in Spring 2025)
This course will introduce the student to both Venture Capital and Private Equity Deals. The instructor for this course is Jason Bass, former Director of Finance at Mercury Fund (established in 2003, the oldest VC firm in the state of Texas) and current VP of Finance at Genesis Park (Credit and Debt Private Equity Fund based in Houston, TX). The ideal student for this course is 2L or 3L that has an interest in VC or PE and working with either entrepreneurs or early-stage investors. Focus of the course is mostly transactional with a couple guest lectures on special topics (Fund Formation, Intellectual Property, Tax). Guest lecturers for this course include attorneys from Gunderson Dettmer LLP , Dwyer Murphy Calvert, LLP, Porter Hedges LLP, and other practicing attorneys.
5397 Investment Management & Reg - DAVIDSON (offered in Fall 2024)
With approximately $30 trillion in assets under management registered investment companies (commonly referred to as mutual funds and now ETFs) perform a significant role in raising and deploying capital within the U.S. financial system. This course is designed to familiarize students with the legal and regulatory framework of the investment management industry. The course gives primary emphasis to applicable federal securities law requirements found in the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The principal legal topics covered include: the definition of “investment company” and “investment adviser”, prohibitions and regulations relating to conflicts of interest, disclosure obligations of investment companies, and the governance of such entities. The course also examines the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in regulating the investment management industry and the responsibility of legal counsel in practicing before the SEC.
5197 IPIL Legal Research - MORRIS (offered in Spring 2025)
This course will expand on research skills explored in your first-year lawyering skills and strategies course with a focus on Intellectual Property & Internet Law (IPIL) specific resources. Topics for the class will include sources for IPIL case law, statutory and regulatory research, secondary sources, and practitioners’ materials specific to IPIL.
? Design a successful research strategy, including selecting appropriate sources, creating effective searches, and refining your strategy when needed;
? Critically select and efficiently locate the most appropriate sources for a research problem, considering time, cost, and availability of resources;
? Evaluate relevance and reliability of information, including its authority, credibility, currency, and authenticity;
? Confirm and validate your research results; and summarize and consolidate your research findings and communicate them orally and in writing
5197 IPIL Legal Research - MORRIS (offered in Spring 2026)
This course will expand on research skills explored in your first-year lawyering skills and strategies course with a focus on Intellectual Property & Internet Law (IPIL) specific resources. Topics for the class will include sources for IPIL case law, statutory and regulatory research, secondary sources, and practitioners’ materials specific to IPIL.
? Design a successful research strategy, including selecting appropriate sources, creating effective searches, and refining your strategy when needed;
? Critically select and efficiently locate the most appropriate sources for a research problem, considering time, cost, and availability of resources;
? Evaluate relevance and reliability of information, including its authority, credibility, currency, and authenticity;
? Confirm and validate your research results; and summarize and consolidate your research findings and communicate them orally and in writing
5397 Large Language Models for Lawyers - CHANDLER (offered in Fall 2024)
Introducing an exciting new course on how large language models are transforming the legal field. This hands-on course will provide students with practical experience using AI tools like ChatGPT to enhance legal research, drafting, and litigation skills. Through workshops and simulations, students will learn how to leverage these powerful models to work more efficiently and creatively both in law school and legal practice. The course covers the leading AI applications in legal tech, discusses ethical considerations, and teaches the basic math and programming concepts behind neural networks. The course culminates in final projects where students demonstrate mastery of legal AI. With expert guest lecturers and a focus on real-world applications, this course will equip students to be at the forefront of the AI revolution in law.
5397 Large Language Models for Lawyers - CHANDLER (offered in Spring 2024)
Introducing an exciting new course on how large language models are transforming the legal field. This hands-on course will provide students with practical experience using AI tools like ChatGPT to enhance legal research, drafting, and litigation skills. Through workshops and simulations, students will learn how to leverage these powerful models to work more efficiently and creatively both in law school and legal practice. The course covers the leading AI applications in legal tech, discusses ethical considerations, and teaches the basic math and programming concepts behind neural networks. The course culminates in final projects where students demonstrate mastery of legal AI. With expert guest lecturers and a focus on real-world applications, this course will equip students to be at the forefront of the AI revolution in law.
5297 Law Practice Management - POWERS,R (offered in Spring 2026)
Learn how to manage and grow a successful law firm by exploring the key components of the roles and responsibilities of a law firm manager, financial planning and accounting, setting legal fees, developing internal policies and procedures, and managing client relationships. You’ll gain the skills to build a brand and market the firm's services. Additional topics include hiring and staffing, project management, technology and automation tools to run successfully.
Through interactive lectures, practical assignments, and the development of a personalized business plan, you will develop a comprehensive understanding of what it takes to manage a law firm effectively. By the end of the course, you’ll be equipped with the strategic mindset and operational tools to begin powering up your practice by running a successful law firm.
5297 Lawyers as Leaders - GRATZ (offered in Spring 2024)
Throughout history, lawyers have played critical leadership roles in both the public and private sector. In every aspect of American society, lawyers lead and actively serve in leadership capacities in their communities and the legal profession. While leadership training is part of the fabric of law school, specific emphasis and training is important and helpful to adequately equip our graduates with the leadership skills needed in this increasingly-complex and ever-changing professional environment. Recent studies show that an ever-increasing number of employers are seeking graduates with leadership skillsets. Topics will include leadership styles and strategies, personality assessments, public service and professional responsibilities, and leadership opportunities for lawyers. Using a variety of study methods, students will discuss leadership lessons learned by experienced leaders through challenging circumstances. Using introspective tools and team-building exercises, students will boost strengths and minimize weaknesses to better equip them for their future.
5297 Lawyers as Leaders - GRATZ (offered in Spring 2023)
Throughout history, lawyers have played critical leadership roles in both the public and private sector. In every aspect of American society, lawyers lead and actively serve in leadership capacities in their communities and the legal profession. While leadership training is part of the fabric of law school, specific emphasis and training is important and helpful to adequately equip our graduates with the leadership skills needed in this increasingly-complex and ever-changing professional environment. Recent studies show that an ever-increasing number of employers are seeking graduates with leadership skillsets. Topics will include leadership styles and strategies, personality assessments, public service and professional responsibilities, and leadership opportunities for lawyers. Using a variety of study methods, students will discuss leadership lessons learned by experienced leaders through challenging circumstances. Using introspective tools and team-building exercises, students will boost strengths and minimize weaknesses to better equip them for their future.
5197 Legal Methods - SIMMONS (offered in Fall 2023)
This listing is a non-operational placeholder. Students cannot directly register for this course.
General information about this course is available here:
[_link forthcoming_]
5197 Legal Methods - SIMMONS (offered in Spring 2024)
This listing is a non-operational placeholder. Students cannot directly register for this course.
General information about this course is available here:
[_link forthcoming_]
5197 Legal Methods - DAVIS (offered in Spring 2024)
This listing is a non-operational placeholder. Students cannot directly register for this course.
General information about this course is available here:
[_link forthcoming_]
5197 Legal Methods - HASTINGS (offered in Spring 2024)
This listing is a non-operational placeholder. Students cannot directly register for this course.
General information about this course is available here:
[_link forthcoming_]
5197 Legal Methods - HEARD (offered in Spring 2024)
This listing is a non-operational placeholder. Students cannot directly register for this course.
General information about this course is available here:
[_link forthcoming_]
5197 Legal Methods - REED (offered in Spring 2024)
This listing is a non-operational placeholder. Students cannot directly register for this course.
General information about this course is available here:
[_link forthcoming_]
5197 Legal Methods - BREM (offered in Spring 2024)
This listing is a non-operational placeholder. Students cannot directly register for this course.
General information about this course is available here:
[_link forthcoming_]
5197 Legal Methods - GOMEZ (offered in Spring 2024)
This listing is a non-operational placeholder. Students cannot directly register for this course.
General information about this course is available here:
[_link forthcoming_]
5397 Legal Writing - DAVIS (offered in Fall 2023)
This is a course in two parts: As a preliminary matter, this course focuses on an introduction to the American legal education system and the skills a student must possess to succeed. The curriculum will include instruction in the case method of the study of law in the United States, including briefing a case and recitation; the importance of outlining as a method of exam preparation; and actual exam writing skills, especially if a majority of students are more familiar with an oral exam tradition. Then this course shifts focus to a skills-based examination of the U.S. legal system. This curriculum will be problem-based, using fact-pattern simulations to develop oral communication, legal writing, research, and analysis skills essential to practice in the U.S. legal system.
5397 Legal Writing - SIMMONS (offered in Fall 2023)
This is a course in two parts: As a preliminary matter, this course focuses on an introduction to the American legal education system and the skills a student must possess to succeed. The curriculum will include instruction in the case method of the study of law in the United States, including briefing a case and recitation; the importance of outlining as a method of exam preparation; and actual exam writing skills, especially if a majority of students are more familiar with an oral exam tradition. Then this course shifts focus to a skills-based examination of the U.S. legal system. This curriculum will be problem-based, using fact-pattern simulations to develop oral communication, legal writing, research, and analysis skills essential to practice in the U.S. legal system.
5297 Marital Property Rights - WILHITE (offered in Fall 2025)
The Course description is: This course is a comprehensive overview of Texas marital property rights, including key constitutional provisions, statutes and case law. The course will cover the characterization, valuation and division of marital property in Texas, including homestead rights, allocation of liabilities, corporate and partnership interests and distributions, taxation as it pertains to the division of property, retirement benefits and other employee benefits.
5397 Mediation Advocacy: Representing Clients in Mediation - MOULTON (offered in Spring 2023)
Mediation Advocacy is a simulation, skills-based class that will teach you the art and skill of utilizing mediation to negotiate disputes. Most lawsuits settle and, in Harris County, most courts require participation in mediation before setting a case for trial. This course will: (1) expose students to mediation practice, early dispute resolution (EDR), and general negotiation techniques; and (2) provide students with the skills needed to represent clients effectively in mediation. Students will participate in at least one mock mediation and will learn from experienced mediators, practicing lawyers, and entrepreneurs who will participate as guest speakers. Professor Moulton is also a trial lawyer with over 30 years experience.
5397 Mediation Advocacy: Representing Clients in Mediation - MOULTON/HAWASH (offered in Spring 2024)
Mediation Advocacy is a simulation, skills-based class that will teach you the art and skill of utilizing mediation to negotiate disputes. Most lawsuits settle and, in Harris County, most courts require participation in mediation before setting a case for trial. This course will: (1) expose students to mediation practice, early dispute resolution (EDR), and general negotiation techniques; and (2) provide students with the skills needed to represent clients effectively in mediation. Students will participate in at least one mock mediation and will learn from experienced mediators, practicing lawyers, and entrepreneurs who will participate as guest speakers. Professor Moulton is also a trial lawyer with over 30 years experience.
5397 Mediation Clinic I - WILLIS (offered in Summer I 2024)
Mediation Clinic students add to their list of lawyering skills learned prior to graduation by mediating real cases in Justice Courts, the Better Business Bureau, the EEOC, and for parties who have been ordered to mediate by local judges. Students will mediate 2-3 mediations per week throughout the semester.
For more information regarding the Mediation Clinic contact Tasha Willis, tlwillis@central.uh.edu.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at http://www.law.uh.edu/clinic/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in these courses via PeopleSoft: if you’re accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5397 Mediation Clinic I - WILLIS (offered in Spring 2024)
Mediation Clinic students add to their list of lawyering skills learned prior to graduation by mediating real cases in Justice Courts, the Better Business Bureau, the EEOC, and for parties who have been ordered to mediate by local judges. Students will mediate 2-3 mediations per week throughout the semester.
For more information regarding the Mediation Clinic contact Tasha Willis, tlwillis@central.uh.edu.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at http://www.law.uh.edu/clinic/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in these courses via PeopleSoft: if you’re accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5397 Mediation Clinic I - WILLIS (offered in Fall 2023)
Mediation Clinic students add to their list of lawyering skills learned prior to graduation by mediating real cases in Justice Courts, the Better Business Bureau, the EEOC, and for parties who have been ordered to mediate by local judges. Students will mediate 2-3 mediations per week throughout the semester.
For more information regarding the Mediation Clinic contact Tasha Willis, tlwillis@central.uh.edu.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at http://www.law.uh.edu/clinic/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in these courses via PeopleSoft: if you’re accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5297 Mediation Clinic II - WILLIS (offered in Fall 2023)
Mediation Clinic students add to their list of lawyering skills learned prior to graduation by mediating real cases in Justice Courts, the Better Business Bureau, the EEOC, and for parties who have been ordered to mediate by local judges. Students will mediate 2-3 mediations per week throughout the semester. The Mediation Process class is required at the same time. The Mediation Clinic and Mediation Process Class go together to create one three hour course.
For more information regarding the Mediation Clinic contact Tasha Willis, tlwillis@central.uh.edu.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at http://www.law.uh.edu/clinic/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in these courses via PeopleSoft: if you’re accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5397 Mediation Clinic II - WILLIS (offered in Fall 2023)
Mediation Clinic students add to their list of lawyering skills learned prior to graduation by mediating real cases in Justice Courts, the Better Business Bureau, the EEOC, and for parties who have been ordered to mediate by local judges. Students will mediate 2-3 mediations per week throughout the semester. The Mediation Process class is required at the same time. The Mediation Clinic and Mediation Process Class go together to create one three hour course.
For more information regarding the Mediation Clinic contact Tasha Willis, tlwillis@central.uh.edu.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at http://www.law.uh.edu/clinic/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in these courses via PeopleSoft: if you’re accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5497 Mediation Clinic II - WILLIS (offered in Fall 2023)
Mediation Clinic students add to their list of lawyering skills learned prior to graduation by mediating real cases in Justice Courts, the Better Business Bureau, the EEOC, and for parties who have been ordered to mediate by local judges. Students will mediate 2-3 mediations per week throughout the semester. The Mediation Process class is required at the same time. The Mediation Clinic and Mediation Process Class go together to create one three hour course.
For more information regarding the Mediation Clinic contact Tasha Willis, tlwillis@central.uh.edu.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at http://www.law.uh.edu/clinic/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in these courses via PeopleSoft: if you’re accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5297 Mediation Clinic II - WILLIS (offered in Spring 2024)
Mediation Clinic students add to their list of lawyering skills learned prior to graduation by mediating real cases in Justice Courts, the Better Business Bureau, the EEOC, and for parties who have been ordered to mediate by local judges. Students will mediate 2-3 mediations per week throughout the semester. The Mediation Process class is required at the same time.
For more information regarding the Mediation Clinic contact Tasha Willis, tlwillis@central.uh.edu.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at http://www.law.uh.edu/clinic/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in these courses via PeopleSoft: if you’re accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5397 Mediation Clinic II - WILLIS (offered in Spring 2024)
Mediation Clinic students add to their list of lawyering skills learned prior to graduation by mediating real cases in Justice Courts, the Better Business Bureau, the EEOC, and for parties who have been ordered to mediate by local judges. Students will mediate 2-3 mediations per week throughout the semester.
For more information regarding the Mediation Clinic contact Tasha Willis, tlwillis@central.uh.edu.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at http://www.law.uh.edu/clinic/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in these courses via PeopleSoft: if you’re accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5497 Mediation Clinic II - WILLIS (offered in Spring 2024)
Mediation Clinic students add to their list of lawyering skills learned prior to graduation by mediating real cases in Justice Courts, the Better Business Bureau, the EEOC, and for parties who have been ordered to mediate by local judges. Students will mediate 2-3 mediations per week throughout the semester. The Mediation Process class is required at the same time.
For more information regarding the Mediation Clinic contact Tasha Willis, tlwillis@central.uh.edu.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at http://www.law.uh.edu/clinic/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in these courses via PeopleSoft: if you’re accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5297 Mediation Clinic II - WILLIS (offered in Summer I 2024)
Mediation Clinic students add to their list of lawyering skills learned prior to graduation by mediating real cases in Justice Courts, the Better Business Bureau, the EEOC, and for parties who have been ordered to mediate by local judges. Students will mediate 2-3 mediations per week throughout the semester. The Mediation Process class is required at the same time.
For more information regarding the Mediation Clinic contact Tasha Willis, tlwillis@central.uh.edu.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at http://www.law.uh.edu/clinic/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in these courses via PeopleSoft: if you’re accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5397 Mediation Clinic II - WILLIS (offered in Summer I 2024)
Mediation Clinic students add to their list of lawyering skills learned prior to graduation by mediating real cases in Justice Courts, the Better Business Bureau, the EEOC, and for parties who have been ordered to mediate by local judges. Students will mediate 2-3 mediations per week throughout the semester.
For more information regarding the Mediation Clinic contact Tasha Willis, tlwillis@central.uh.edu.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at http://www.law.uh.edu/clinic/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in these courses via PeopleSoft: if you’re accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5497 Mediation Clinic II - WILLIS (offered in Summer I 2024)
Mediation Clinic students add to their list of lawyering skills learned prior to graduation by mediating real cases in Justice Courts, the Better Business Bureau, the EEOC, and for parties who have been ordered to mediate by local judges. Students will mediate 2-3 mediations per week throughout the semester. The Mediation Process class is required at the same time.
For more information regarding the Mediation Clinic contact Tasha Willis, tlwillis@central.uh.edu.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at http://www.law.uh.edu/clinic/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in these courses via PeopleSoft: if you’re accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services.
5497 Military Justice Clinic - MARQUEZ, Jason (offered in Spring 2023)
Students in the Military Justice Clinic will be assigned to defense teams in military criminal justice cases pending adverse administrative board hearings and felony-level courts-martial. As members of the defense team, students will participate in pretrial conferencing, strategy sessions, investigation, witness interviews, discovery, expert consultant identification, motions practice, and representation at hearings.
The Military Justice Clinic will serve to familiarize students with practice before military courts and administrative boards. At the conclusion of their clinical work, those students with an interest in further military service will have demonstrated their commitment to service along with valuable practical experience. The Clinic’s supervising attorney will advise and assist those students interested in further service with applications to the multiple services Judge Advocates General Corps.
Clinic coursework will consist of a classroom component and a practical component. All case-specific work will remain confidential and protected under the Attorney-Client Privilege.
5397 Military Justice Clinic - MARQUEZ, Jason (offered in Spring 2023)
Students in the Military Justice Clinic will be assigned to defense teams in military criminal justice cases pending adverse administrative board hearings and felony-level courts-martial. As members of the defense team, students will participate in pretrial conferencing, strategy sessions, investigation, witness interviews, discovery, expert consultant identification, motions practice, and representation at hearings.
The Military Justice Clinic will serve to familiarize students with practice before military courts and administrative boards. At the conclusion of their clinical work, those students with an interest in further military service will have demonstrated their commitment to service along with valuable practical experience. The Clinic’s supervising attorney will advise and assist those students interested in further service with applications to the multiple services Judge Advocates General Corps.
Clinic coursework will consist of a classroom component and a practical component. All case-specific work will remain confidential and protected under the Attorney-Client Privilege.
5397 Military Justice Clinic II - MARQUEZ, Jason (offered in Spring 2023)
Students in the Military Justice Clinic II course will continue to work with their assigned defense teams on military criminal justice cases pending adverse administrative board hearings and felony-level courts-martial. As members of the defense team, students will participate in pretrial conferencing, strategy sessions, investigation, witness interviews, discovery, expert consultant identification, motions practice, and representation at hearings.
The Military Justice Clinic II course will continue the student’s education through practice before military courts and administrative boards. At the conclusion of their clinical work, those students with an interest in further military service will have demonstrated their commitment to service along with valuable practical experience. The Clinic’s supervising attorney will advise and assist those students interested in further service with applications to the multiple services Judge Advocates General Corps.
Clinic coursework will consist of a classroom component and a practical component. All case-specific work will remain confidential and protected under the Attorney-Client Privilege.
5297 Military Justice Clinic II - MARQUEZ, Jason (offered in Spring 2023)
Students in the Military Justice Clinic II course will continue to work with their assigned defense teams on military criminal justice cases pending adverse administrative board hearings and felony-level courts-martial. As members of the defense team, students will participate in pretrial conferencing, strategy sessions, investigation, witness interviews, discovery, expert consultant identification, motions practice, and representation at hearings.
The Military Justice Clinic II course will continue the student’s education through practice before military courts and administrative boards. At the conclusion of their clinical work, those students with an interest in further military service will have demonstrated their commitment to service along with valuable practical experience. The Clinic’s supervising attorney will advise and assist those students interested in further service with applications to the multiple services Judge Advocates General Corps.
Clinic coursework will consist of a classroom component and a practical component. All case-specific work will remain confidential and protected under the Attorney-Client Privilege.
5497 Military Justice Clinic II - MARQUEZ, Jason (offered in Spring 2023)
Students in the Military Justice Clinic II course will continue to work with their assigned defense teams on military criminal justice cases pending adverse administrative board hearings and felony-level courts-martial. As members of the defense team, students will participate in pretrial conferencing, strategy sessions, investigation, witness interviews, discovery, expert consultant identification, motions practice, and representation at hearings.
The Military Justice Clinic II course will continue the student’s education through practice before military courts and administrative boards. At the conclusion of their clinical work, those students with an interest in further military service will have demonstrated their commitment to service along with valuable practical experience. The Clinic’s supervising attorney will advise and assist those students interested in further service with applications to the multiple services Judge Advocates General Corps.
Clinic coursework will consist of a classroom component and a practical component. All case-specific work will remain confidential and protected under the Attorney-Client Privilege.
5297 Military Law - MARQUEZ,J/MAAG (offered in Spring 2023)
This course will examine the statutory and regulatory framework of the U.S. military justice system and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Lecture will provide an overview of constitutional issues and case law analyzing the legal issues in the military system of criminal jurisprudence. The course will further address operational law in the military context with an emphasis on the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law.
5397 Partnership Tax - MCGOVERN (offered in Spring 2025)
This course provides an overview of the US federal income taxation of business entities treated as partnerships for US federal income tax purposes with the objective of imparting a practical understanding of fundamental principles through a problem oriented approach to the subject matter.
5397 Partnership Tax - JULIEN (offered in Spring 2026)
This course provides an overview of the US federal income taxation of business entities treated as partnerships for US federal income tax purposes with the objective of imparting a practical understanding of fundamental principles through a problem oriented approach to the subject matter.
5297 Patent Remedies & Defenses - LARSON (offered in Spring 2024)
The basic doctrines governing modern U.S. patent litigation; details of the main injunctive and monetary remedies for patent infringement and the limitations thereon; jurisdictional and venue problems. Four kinds of estoppel; details of fifteen affirmative defenses; discovery controversies and governing case law; impact of prior judgments on the same patent.
5297 Private Investment in Healthcare - HOOD/WEITZNER/FLORES (offered in Fall 2025)
This course is designed to help you understand the basics of healthcare transactions. The course will begin with an overview of the regulatory framework applicable to transactions, and students will learn the fundamentals of evaluating and executing a healthcare deal. Students will also learn the basic agreements that are utilized to structure various investment models and discuss key provisions and negotiating points therein. The course will also look beyond the current law to examine proposed legislation impacting healthcare transactions generally.
5397 Pro-Se Assistance Clinic (PAC) - ACOSTA (offered in Fall 2025)
This clinic will focus on helping people help themselves with various legal issues they may encounter. Many people need help with drafting simple legal documents such as: (1) demand/notice letters; (2) repair requests; (3) simple wills and estate planning documents; (4) deeds; (5) simple petitions; motions, and orders; and (6) any other legal document potential clients may need.
This clinic will also focus on providing people with much needed legal advice. You will learn how to interview clients and gather facts to discern legal issues and possible resolutions. You will learn how to communicate with clients through verbal and written means to help them decipher what legal concepts mean and how to proceed to resolve their legal issues. This would include on providing advice on litigation matters.
Most of your cases will primarily relate to landlord and tenant law, real estate issues, deceptive trade practices, debt collection, simple wills and probate matters, real property disputes, guardianship, and family and domestic relations cases. Other cases of interest will be taken occasionally as well. After completing this course, students will have the necessary legal and practical knowledge to effectively interview and advise clients to resolve their legal issues as well as drafting simple to moderately complex legal documents.
The Clinic has a classroom component that meets for two hours each week over the course of the semester.
Enrollment preference is given to the part time students.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at https://uhlc.wufoo.com/forms/m1263f5v0xj9tln/.
Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in this course. If you are accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services. For fullest consideration, please apply before course registration opens.
Students must work in the Clinic 50 hours per course credit hour.
5397 Property (FLLM Only) - SCHEIN (offered in Spring 2026)
This course covers the doctrines, underpinnings and policy of property law. We will examine what makes property rights distinctive; how property rights are created, transferred, and destroyed; and what the powers and duties of property owners are.
5397 Property (FLLM Only) - WARREN (offered in Fall 2023)
This course covers the doctrines, underpinnings and policy of property law. We will examine what makes property rights distinctive; how property rights are created, transferred, and destroyed; and what the powers and duties of property owners are.
5297 Public Health Law - EWER (offered in Fall 2023)
This course provides an in-depth examination of public health law principles and challenges. Students will explore constitutional issues related to public health and develop an understanding of the state’s public health powers and duties as they are balanced against an individual's legally protected rights. The course will explore a range of public health law issues, including infectious disease control measures, immunization policy, emergency preparedness and bioterrorism, government regulation of unhealthy products, the state’s role in promoting healthy behaviors, and public health surveillance and privacy issues.
5397 Renewable Energy Law - WARREN (offered in Fall 2024)
This course will provide a broad overview of U.S. renewable energy law and policy. It reviews existing renewable energy technologies and resources, discusses the practical limitations involved in their development, siting, and integration into the U.S. electricity grid, and analyzes the legal and regulatory framework for renewable energy development, the climate, and the environment.
5297 Reproductive Rights - RAINE (offered in Spring 2024)
This course introduces issues in reproductive health rights, including regulation of sex, pregnancy, and reproductive decision-making. Specifically, we will address legal and ethical questions that arise in the context of family planning and pregnancy. We will examine the issues from a historical and contemporary perspective, considering the role culture, gender, race, class, religion, sexual orientation, and social institutions play in shaping reproductive rights.
5297 Reproductive Rights - LAUGHTON (offered in Spring 2023)
This course introduces issues in reproductive health rights including regulation of sex, pregnancy and birth, family autonomy, and reproduction. Specifically, we will address legal and ethical questions that arise in the context of providing family planning services, assisted reproductive technologies, and pregnancy. We will examine the issues from both a historical and contemporary perspective, considering the role that culture, gender, race, class, religion, sexual orientation, and social institutions play in how law shapes reproduction.
5297 Reproductive Rights - RAINE (offered in Spring 2025)
This course introduces issues in reproductive health rights, including regulation of sex, pregnancy, and reproductive decision-making. Specifically, we will address legal and ethical questions that arise in the context of family planning and pregnancy. We will examine the issues from a historical and contemporary perspective, considering the role culture, gender, race, class, religion, sexual orientation, and social institutions play in shaping reproductive rights.
5397 Sexual Orientation & the Law - DEVINE/GRAFTON (offered in Spring 2025)
In this course we will explore the relationship between sexual orientation (and/or identity) and the law. We will examine the manner in which the state regulates sexuality, gender, gender roles, and sexual orientation, in a variety of substantive legal areas. We will explore how the law is influenced by theories or myths regarding homosexuality and sexual identity as well as prevailing styles of judicial reasoning. The doctrinal discussions will focus both on the substantive law and a number of larger themes: the nature/nurture debate and its legal ramifications; the public/private distinction as exhibited in the legal conflicts between free expression and “coming out” and the right to be let alone; the reason/desire distinction, as manifested through sexual status versus sexual conduct; and the equality/diversity distinction which arises in the context of assimilation versus difference.
5397 The Law of Patient Care - KOCH (offered in Spring 2023)
This three-credit course introduces students to basic legal and theoretical concepts related to the study of health law. Major topics include bioethical theories and their relevance to the law, medical malpractice, and the role of the courts in defining and applying standards of care. We will cover an array of interesting and challenging issues over the course of the semester, including the meaning of health, the nature of the physician-patient relationship, including privacy, access to care, and informed consent, public health, reproductive and genetic technologies, and end-of-life care. This class has a heavy discussion component and students are expected to come to class prepared to engage in an in-depth conversation about the assigned material. To that end, students enrolled in this course will become well-versed in the theory underlying the law and policy we study, as well as the black letter law.
5397 Toxic Torts - SANDERS (offered in Spring 2025)
This course strives to give students an overview of the law of environmental and toxic torts. It includes cases in which there is a personal injury or property damage due to exposure to toxic substances, including drugs. It combines a historic overview of the field with coverage of the current issues confronting the courts and Congress.
The legal system’s response to these substances is both proactive and retroactive. Statutes such as the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) seek to prevent injury by assessing a drug’s safety before permitting it to be marketed and by regulating the handling of hazardous waste. Common law torts suits sounding in negligence, products liability, nuisance, trespass, and strict liability for abnormally dangerous activities – provide potential redress for injuries caused by toxic substances and drugs and as do statutes such as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), which seeks to ensure that sites that have been contaminated are cleaned up to safe standards. This course explores both responses within the context of private tort law and statutes.
5397 Trade & Sustainable Development - TRUJILLO (offered in Spring 2023)
This course introduces students to basic legal principles for international trade and its relevance to sustainable development. Students will review U.S. trade policy in the context of international trade rules established through the World Trade Organization and relevant regional trade agreements. Basic trade law will be examined, with a focus on the rules that relate to sustainability. As countries begin to transition their economies towards clean methods of supply-chain production and clean energy, international trade rules become increasingly relevant in both promoting sustainability and in managing domestic policies that comply with trade rules. The course will address the topic through the lens of the United Nations Sustainability Goals as well as through domestic policy, allowing for a fluid discussion of the local and global aspects of sustainable development. Specifically, related trade topics that impact environmental policy such as dispute settlement, supply-chain management, corporate social responsibility and international standards, border tax adjustments, tariff and non-tariff policies will be discussed. Though the focus of this course is primarily on environmental sustainability, it will also address other relevant areas of sustainability such as human rights and energy policy from the local, regional, and global perspectives.
This course will have a final take-home exam.
No pre-requisites are required to take this course.
.
5397 Trade & Sustainable Development - TRUJILLO (offered in Spring 2024)
This course introduces students to basic legal principles for international trade and its relevance to sustainable development. Students will review U.S. trade policy in the context of international trade rules established through the World Trade Organization and relevant regional trade agreements. Basic trade law will be examined, with a focus on the rules that relate to sustainability. As countries begin to transition their economies towards clean methods of supply-chain production and clean energy, international trade rules become increasingly relevant in both promoting sustainability and in managing domestic policies that comply with trade rules. The course will address the topic through the lens of the United Nations Sustainability Goals as well as through domestic policy, allowing for a fluid discussion of the local and global aspects of sustainable development. Specifically, related trade topics that impact environmental policy such as dispute settlement, supply-chain management, corporate social responsibility and international standards, border tax adjustments, tariff and non-tariff policies will be discussed. Though the focus of this course is primarily on environmental sustainability, it will also address other relevant areas of sustainability such as human rights and energy policy from the local, regional, and global perspectives.
This course will have a final take-home exam.
No pre-requisites are required to take this course.
.
5297 Trademark Prosecution Clinic - KING (offered in Fall 2025)
Students will represent clients from various industries, primarily small business owners, and they will focus on trademark prosecution and counseling, including creating search strategies, employing legal and fact-based analysis, and giving advice to clients on successful trademark protection strategies both at the USPTO and in commerce.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at https://uhlc.wufoo.com/forms/m1263f5v0xj9tln/. Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in this course. If you are accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services. For fullest consideration, please apply before course registration opens.
Students must work in the Clinic 50 hours per course credit hour.
5397 U.S. Export Regulation - HANSON (offered in Spring 2024)
U.S. Export Regulation will focus on the export control procedures of the primary federal agencies that regulate U.S. Export Policy. Specifically included will be the procedures of the Department of Commerce and Bureau of Export Administration, the Department of the Treasury and the Office of Foreign Asset Control and the State Department through the Office of Defense Trade Controls. Attention will also be given to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Anti-Boycott aspects of U.S. Export Policy.
5397 U.S. Export Regulation - HANSON (offered in Spring 2023)
U.S. Export Regulation will focus on the export control procedures of the primary federal agencies that regulate U.S. Export Policy. Specifically included will be the procedures of the Department of Commerce and Bureau of Export Administration, the Department of the Treasury and the Office of Foreign Asset Control and the State Department through the Office of Defense Trade Controls. Attention will also be given to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Anti-Boycott aspects of U.S. Export Policy.
5197 U.S. Legal skills - BREM (offered in Fall 2023)
This listing is a non-operational placeholder. Students cannot directly register for this course.
General information about this course is available here:
https://www.law.uh.edu/llm/US-Legal-Skills-Class.asp
5197 U.S. Legal skills - BREM (offered in Fall 2024)
This listing is a non-operational placeholder. Students cannot directly register for this course.
General information about this course is available here:
https://www.law.uh.edu/llm/US-Legal-Skills-Class.asp
5197 US Attorney Clinical Lab - KWOK/HEARD,C (offered in Fall 2024)
Students will have the opportunity to continue advanced criminal law studies in a small group. The clinic work component will provide students with practical experience and valuable exposure to real USAO cases.
5197 US Attorney Clinical Lab - KWOK (offered in Fall 2025)
Students will have the opportunity to continue advanced criminal law studies in a small group. The clinic work component will provide students with practical experience and valuable exposure to real USAO cases.
5397 Vaccine Law - ABRAMSON (offered in Spring 2026)
This course covers the development, regulation and licensure of vaccines; equitable distribution and administration issues; public and private vaccination mandates, exemptions, exclusions, and accommodations; the National Vaccine Injury Compensation System and other means of compensation for vaccine adverse events; legal responses to antivaccination activism; bioterrorism and pandemic response; and international and comparative issues in vaccine law.
5397 Vaccine Law - ABRAMSON (offered in Fall 2024)
This course covers the development, regulation and licensure of vaccines; equitable distribution and administration issues; public and private vaccination mandates, exemptions, exclusions, and accommodations; the National Vaccine Injury Compensation System and other means of compensation for vaccine adverse events; legal responses to antivaccination activism; bioterrorism and pandemic response; and international and comparative issues in vaccine law.
5297 VOIR DIRE: The Art of Juror De-Selection - WEEMS/ZIMMER (offered in Spring 2024)
The most important part of any trial is picking your jury - the audience that will hear your presentation and ultimately decide your case. In this class, the students will learn about the psychology as well as the law behind choosing a jury for any kind of case. Through practical exercises as well as a study of the applicable legal principles and case law, the class will learn techniques to try to get the panel talking so you can get the information you need from jurors to determine whether they will be a good fit for your case, how to properly strike for cause and preserve error as well as the best way to use peremptory strikes to ultimately try to get the best panel possible. The class will end with the students doing a full voir dire as well as closing arguments with the opportunity to watch jury deliberations to see how the panel they ended up with impacted the decision that was made.
5297 VOIR DIRE: The Art of Juror De-Selection - WEEMS/ZIMMER (offered in Spring 2023)
The most important part of any trial is picking your jury - the audience that will hear your presentation and ultimately decide your case. In this class, the students will learn about the psychology as well as the law behind choosing a jury for any kind of case. Through practical exercises as well as a study of the applicable legal principles and case law, the class will learn techniques to try to get the panel talking so you can get the information you need from jurors to determine whether they will be a good fit for your case, how to properly strike for cause and preserve error as well as the best way to use peremptory strikes to ultimately try to get the best panel possible. The class will end with the students doing a full voir dire as well as closing arguments with the opportunity to watch jury deliberations to see how the panel they ended up with impacted the decision that was made.
5397 Well-Being in the Law - HOFFMANL (offered in Spring 2023)
This course rigorously explores the challenges to well-being and happiness facing law students and legal professionals and then examines possible paths to overcoming those challenges. We will consider a number of questions and hard issues that bear directly on the lives of students now and after they enter the legal profession. For more, see the syllabus
5397 Well-Being in the Law - MOULTON (offered in Fall 2024)
This course will offer an in-depth exploration of the factors that influence physical, emotional, social, and financial well-being, particularly in law students and lawyers. We will learn techniques and participate in mindfulness activities (including meditation, yoga, sound baths, and others) designed to improve awareness of—and enhance—our own well-being. Experienced practitioners in various mindfulness disciplines, financial professionals, and practicing lawyers will join as guest speakers throughout the semester. This is an experiential course and will require your active participation.
7397 WRC: Colloquium - HOFFMANL (offered in Spring 2025)
For much more about the class, see the syllabus (insert hyperlink here) but here’s a summary:
Premise of course/learning objectives. The Colloquium is an attempt to create a cooperative scholarly enterprise in which students and faculty from other schools work collaboratively. Each week, the invited faculty speaker presents a work in progress to the class. Prior to class, students read the paper and come prepared to discuss and critique it. Students benefit from being exposed to scholarly analytic treatment and discussion of a subject in ways that few other, if any, law school classes provide. By the end of this class, you should be more capable in summarizing the material points in other written work and crafting an original evaluative thesis in your own writing.
Structure of Course. Each week, the invited faculty speaker presents a work in progress to the class. Prior to class, students read the paper and come prepared to discuss and critique it.
Class Size, Student Requirements and Grading. This three-credit course is limited to twelve students. Students are evaluated as follows:
Weekly submissions. Each week, students will submit two or three questions or issues that the paper for the week raises. They are worth, collectively, 30% of the final class grade.
Long papers. In addition to the weekly papers, students will write two long papers (first one ungraded; second one graded. Graded paper is worth 50% of the final class grade.
Class Engagement. Finally, 20% of your final grade will be based on class engagement.
For Spring 2025, we have a terrific lineup of speakers (see below). The topics will cover a wide range of different subject matter. At least two weeks before each speaker’s visit, we’ll have their papers to distribute.
Spring 2025 Schedule of Speakers:
February 3 TBD
February 10 Victor Flatt (Case Western)
February 17 Len Riskin (Northwestern)
February 24 Adam Gershowitz (William & Mary)
March 3 Christine Hurt (SMU)
March 10 [spring break]
March 17 Zach Bray (Kentucky)
March 24 Joan Krause (North Carolina)
March 31 Sapna Kumar (Minnesota)
April 7 Summer Chavez (UH, political science department)
April 14 Leslie Griffin (UNLV)
7397 WRC: Colloquium - HOFFMANL (offered in Spring 2026)
For much more about the class, see the syllabus (insert hyperlink here) but here’s a summary:
Premise of course/learning objectives. The Colloquium is an attempt to create a cooperative scholarly enterprise in which students and faculty from other schools work collaboratively. Each week, the invited faculty speaker presents a work in progress to the class. Prior to class, students read the paper and come prepared to discuss and critique it. Students benefit from being exposed to scholarly analytic treatment and discussion of a subject in ways that few other, if any, law school classes provide. By the end of this class, you should be more capable in summarizing the material points in other written work and crafting an original evaluative thesis in your own writing.
Structure of Course. Each week, the invited faculty speaker presents a work in progress to the class. Prior to class, students read the paper and come prepared to discuss and critique it.
Class Size, Student Requirements and Grading. This three-credit course is limited to twelve students. Students are evaluated as follows:
Weekly submissions. Each week, students will submit two or three questions or issues that the paper for the week raises. They are worth, collectively, 30% of the final class grade.
Long papers. In addition to the weekly papers, students will write two long papers (first one ungraded; second one graded. Graded paper is worth 50% of the final class grade.
Class Engagement. Finally, 20% of your final grade will be based on class engagement.
For Spring 2025, we have a terrific lineup of speakers (see below). The topics will cover a wide range of different subject matter. At least two weeks before each speaker’s visit, we’ll have their papers to distribute.
Spring 2025 Schedule of Speakers:
February 3 TBD
February 10 Victor Flatt (Case Western)
February 17 Len Riskin (Northwestern)
February 24 Adam Gershowitz (William & Mary)
March 3 Christine Hurt (SMU)
March 10 [spring break]
March 17 Zach Bray (Kentucky)
March 24 Joan Krause (North Carolina)
March 31 Sapna Kumar (Minnesota)
April 7 Summer Chavez (UH, political science department)
April 14 Leslie Griffin (UNLV)
7397 WRC: General Drafting for Smaller to Midsize Firm Attorneys - SWIFT (offered in Summer I 2023)
In this course you will develop skills necessary for drafting precise, clear, and complete documents. You will be exposed to drafting litigation documents, contracts, and other legal documents covering a wide-range of practice areas, similar to what some small to mid-size attorneys do, particularly early on in their careers. You will learn to research, evaluate, and use forms and checklists.
7397 WRC: Health Transactions - MANTEL/McSTAY/GUSART (offered in Spring 2025)
In this advanced health law course students learn and apply substantive laws and lawyering skills to model health care transactions. Working in teams of associates under the supervision of the professors, including practicing health care attorneys, students will engage in health care contract drafting, client interviews, negotiations, due diligence, and regulatory analysis. The model health care transactions are based on deals commonly entered into by hospitals and health systems, including hospital-physician employment agreements, health care joint ventures, and acquisitions.
7397 WRC: Health Transactions - MANTEL/McSTAY/GUSART (offered in Spring 2026)
In this advanced health law course students learn and apply substantive laws and lawyering skills to model health care transactions. Working in teams of associates under the supervision of the professors, including practicing health care attorneys, students will engage in health care contract drafting, client interviews, negotiations, due diligence, and regulatory analysis. The model health care transactions are based on deals commonly entered into by hospitals and health systems, including hospital-physician employment agreements, health care joint ventures, and acquisitions.
7397 WRC: Law & Literature - WATSON (offered in Fall 2025)
This class uses literary texts to explore concepts in law such as justice, punishment, reward, and order. Instead of looking at these topics through the laws themselves, we will use texts to view them through the lens of those they impact. The texts will seek to help find the intersection of law and humanity through literature, from poetry to novel, from Shakespeare to Kingsolver.
7397 WRC: Law & Literature - WATSON (offered in Spring 2024)
This class uses literary texts to explore concepts in law such as justice, punishment, reward, and order. Instead of looking at these topics through the laws themselves, we will use texts to view them through the lens of those they impact. The texts will seek to help find the intersection of law and humanity through literature, from poetry to novel, from Shakespeare to Kingsolver.
7297 WRC: Poetry Law Interpretation - MARK DOW/DOW (offered in Spring 2023)
This course will focus on the work of American modernist poet Wallace Stevens and the problem of interpretation as it applies to poetry, law, and language in general.
7397 WRC: Texas Consumer Law - MARQUEZ, Ryan (offered in Fall 2023)
This upper-level writing course will teach skills necessary for a practicing lawyer while learning substantive aspects of Texas and federal consumer law. It is designed to enable students to learn to practice using various resources such as CLE articles, statutes, case law, practice guides, local rules, and judges rules to complete the assignments. There will also be a small presentation or oral argument component graded on a “good faith effort” completion. Students will work to improve their writing, fact investigation/review, and research skills. The course will require the completion of several short writing assignments. Drafts of the assignments will be reviewed with the instructor for feedback.
7397 WRC: Well-Being in the Law - HOFFMANL/MOULTON (offered in Fall 2023)
This course rigorously explores the challenges to well-being and happiness facing law students and legal professionals and then examines possible paths to overcoming those challenges. We will consider a number of questions and hard issues that bear directly on the lives of students now and after they enter the legal profession. I have previously taught this class as a non-writing course; that syllabus is available here:
https://www.law.uh.edu/faculty/lhoffman/well-being.asp.
This summer I will post an updated syllabus for this WRC-version of the class.
7397 WRS: Advanced Topics in Constitutional Law - CHANDLER (offered in Spring 2024)
In this writing seminar, students will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of constitutional law, exploring both standard and frequently overlooked areas within the field. The course emphasizes rigorous analytical thinking and meticulous writing. It also introduces students to the effective use of modern AI tools for research and editing purposes. Participants will be required to develop a law-review quality paper on a doctrinal topic negotiated during the seminar, with the goal of enhancing both their understanding of constitutional law and their writing skills. The instructor prefers topics drawn from contemporary debates though historical perspectives are also fair game. The curriculum covers established areas such as federalism, the post-Civil War amendments, and the Bill of Rights, while also expanding to include topics often omitted from standard courses, such as Indian law, immigration law, territories, and voting rights. The instructor welcomes students with diverse ideologies and backgrounds and sees class as providing a forum for the safe and respectful exploration of ideas.
7397 WRS: Advanced Topics in Constitutional Law - CHANDLER (offered in Fall 2025)
In this writing seminar, students will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of constitutional law, exploring both standard and frequently overlooked areas within the field. The course emphasizes rigorous analytical thinking and meticulous writing. It also introduces students to the effective use of modern AI tools for research and editing purposes. Participants will be required to develop a law-review quality paper on a doctrinal topic negotiated during the seminar, with the goal of enhancing both their understanding of constitutional law and their writing skills. The instructor prefers topics drawn from contemporary debates though historical perspectives are also fair game. The curriculum covers established areas such as federalism, the post-Civil War amendments, and the Bill of Rights, while also expanding to include topics often omitted from standard courses, such as Indian law, immigration law, territories, and voting rights. The instructor welcomes students with diverse ideologies and backgrounds and sees class as providing a forum for the safe and respectful exploration of ideas.
7397 WRS: Constitutional Design - FROOMKIN (offered in Spring 2026)
In this seminar on normative constitutional theory, topics will include bicameralism and presentment, congressional procedure, appointments and removals, electoral rules, oversight and impeachment, judicial review and judicial independence, and constitutional amendment. We will assess the U.S. Constitution’s rules as well as alternative or additional rules that it could have included. An overarching question will be the value of hard-wiring constitutional rules rather than permitting innovation and experimentation. We will also think about how normative arguments about constitutional design relate to interpretive arguments about constitutional law, and we will apply this analysis to some important cases on separation of powers and the law of democracy."
7397 WRS: Constitutional Design - FROOMKIN (offered in Spring 2025)
In this seminar on normative constitutional theory, topics will include bicameralism and presentment, congressional procedure, appointments and removals, electoral rules, oversight and impeachment, judicial review and judicial independence, and constitutional amendment. We will assess the U.S. Constitution’s rules as well as alternative or additional rules that it could have included. An overarching question will be the value of hard-wiring constitutional rules rather than permitting innovation and experimentation. We will also think about how normative arguments about constitutional design relate to interpretive arguments about constitutional law, and we will apply this analysis to some important cases on separation of powers and the law of democracy."
7397 WRS: Current Issues in Intellectual Property Law - GEBRU (offered in Spring 2025)
This advanced-level seminar will take a deep dive into some of the latest trends, challenges, and innovations in the dynamic intellectual property (IP) law field. Topics such as artificial intelligence, social media, the metaverse, international IP protection, indigenous knowledge protection, and open access frameworks will be explored within the context of IP law. Drawing from contemporary writings, case law, legislation, and news reports, students will critically analyze the evolving legal frameworks and their implications for creators, businesses, consumers, and the general public.
7397 WRS: Current Issues in Intellectual Property Law - GEBRU (offered in Spring 2024)
This advanced-level seminar will take a deep dive into some of the latest trends, challenges, and innovations in the dynamic intellectual property (IP) law field. Topics such as artificial intelligence, social media, the metaverse, international IP protection, indigenous knowledge protection, and open access frameworks will be explored within the context of IP law. Drawing from contemporary writings, case law, legislation, and news reports, students will critically analyze the evolving legal frameworks and their implications for creators, businesses, consumers, and the general public.
7397 WRS: Digital Markets - GUGGENBERGER (offered in Spring 2024)
This seminar will explore the law of networks, platforms, and utilities and examine its potential application to the digital economy. The course will cover the foundations of various regulated industries, antitrust law, and competition policy. There are no substantive prerequisites, although you might find a basic understanding of economics, digital platforms, or technology helpful. A paper is required.
7397 WRS: Digital Markets - GUGGENBERGER (offered in Spring 2023)
This seminar will explore the legal framework that makes and defines digital markets. We will focus on antitrust law and discuss various recent proposals to address economic concentration and predatory business practices online. We will also cover select aspects of privacy protections, intermediary liability and online speech governance, regulatory impulses from abroad, and telecommunications law. Overall, we will emphasize policy and its consequences on the digital economy. While you might find a basic understanding of economics, antitrust, digital platforms, or technology helpful, there are no substantive prerequisites. A paper is required.
7397 WRS: Feminist Legal Theory - GOMEZ (offered in Spring 2024)
This seminar will provide students with an opportunity to learn about different strands of feminist legal theory and to examine emerging topics in modern feminism. Students will read several classics in feminist thought, analyzing their pre-suppositions about sex, sexuality, gender, power relations, and the role of law in constructing or de-constructing those ideas. We will then discuss modern feminist dilemmas and analyze how the various strands of feminist legal theory might explain, support, or attack them. This course fulfills the UHLC writing requirement, with students writing academic legal papers on a topic related to the seminar and that is at least 10,000 words, (including footnotes) or approximately 35 pages
7397 WRS: Feminist Legal Theory - GOMEZ (offered in Spring 2025)
This seminar will provide students with an opportunity to learn about different strands of feminist legal theory and to examine emerging topics in modern feminism. Students will read several classics in feminist thought, analyzing their pre-suppositions about sex, sexuality, gender, power relations, and the role of law in constructing or de-constructing those ideas. We will then discuss modern feminist dilemmas and analyze how the various strands of feminist legal theory might explain, support, or attack them. This course fulfills the UHLC writing requirement, with students writing academic legal papers on a topic related to the seminar and that is at least 10,000 words, (including footnotes) or approximately 35 pages
7397 WRS: Free Speech and the University - TEN CATE (offered in Fall 2024)
This course examines the boundaries of speech in universities through the lens of some of the most compelling defenses and criticisms of free speech and academic freedom. The course exposes students to the complex legal, social, and philosophical interests that are implicated in questions regarding the value and limits of free speech in universities. Students also develop their research, writing, and analytical skills by researching and writing a substantial paper. Lastly, students are expected to conduct themselves as members of a scholarly community, culminating in paper presentations and discussions.
7397 WRS: Freedom of Speech and Social Media - DOW (offered in Spring 2023)
This course will cover the Supreme Court's free speech and free press jurisprudence from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. The overarching theme will be to explore whether (and, if so, how) the emergence of social media, and the proliferation on online media and media platforms, require a fundamental rethinking of First Amendment jurisprudence.
In addition, we will examine whether various immunity doctrines should be shrunken (or expanded), and whether certain categories of speech (e.g., obscenity, hate speech, speech presenting a so-called clear and present danger) remain coherent and, if so, remain entitled to the same level of protection.
In addition to the writing requirement, grading will be based on student participation.
7397 WRS: Gender, Power, Law & Leadership - KNAKE JEFFERSON (offered in Summer I 2023)
This seminar is inspired by the glaring omission of women from positions of power and leadership in the legal profession and beyond. While women continue to enter law school and the legal profession in relatively equal numbers to men, they remain outside of the structures of power---in the judiciary, law firms, the corporate world and even legal education---in the United States and beyond. This reality is even worse for women of color. Researchers, scholars, and practitioners commit a great deal of time, energy and resources to trying to change the landscape, yet progress seems stalled. Interestingly, very little attention is paid to the site where it all begins: law school. In this way, it makes sense to devote attention in an academic context to this topic. Students must write a substantial research paper, and will receive guidance about how to potentially publish their research as an op-ed, trade publication essay, or scholarly article.
7397 WRS: Global Environmental Justice - ANOZIE (offered in Spring 2025)
2. This course will focus on the concept and meaning of environmental justice (EJ) and its intersection with sustainability. It will explore the causes of unequal distribution of environmental goods and harms domestically and globally and why it is significant. Using case studies, we will compare and contrast the disparate impacts of energy and environmental activities, corporate activities, and government regulation across various population segments globally. Our goal is to analyze the various reasons for these disparities and seek fair and just solutions grounded in law, policy, or practice. Additionally, the seminar explores the intersection between the negative externalities of renewables and environmental justice. Students are expected to discuss current EJ initiatives and their efficacy in addressing global environmental injustices. Students will make in-class presentations and write a final paper on a current environmental justice issue.
7397 WRS: Health & Technology - FOWLER (offered in Spring 2025)
This writing seminar examines the complex interplay between health, law, and consumer technology. Our journey will traverse the eras of 19th-century patent medicines to the cutting-edge frontiers of transhumanism. We'll analyze how technological innovations in healthcare have shaped—and been shaped by—legal frameworks and regulatory policies. Key topics will include the evolution of food and drug laws, the rise of digital health and wearables, and the emerging challenges posed by new technology. Throughout the course, we'll critically evaluate how society has responded to these developments and debate the appropriate role of law and regulation. By exploring historical contexts and contemporary case studies, students will gain a nuanced understanding of how law can both facilitate and constrain technological progress and the tradeoffs that can both promote and harm health.
7397 WRS: Health & Technology - FOWLER (offered in Spring 2026)
This writing seminar examines the complex interplay between health, law, and consumer technology. Our journey will traverse the eras of 19th-century patent medicines to the cutting-edge frontiers of transhumanism. We'll analyze how technological innovations in healthcare have shaped—and been shaped by—legal frameworks and regulatory policies. Key topics will include the evolution of food and drug laws, the rise of digital health and wearables, and the emerging challenges posed by new technology. Throughout the course, we'll critically evaluate how society has responded to these developments and debate the appropriate role of law and regulation. By exploring historical contexts and contemporary case studies, students will gain a nuanced understanding of how law can both facilitate and constrain technological progress and the tradeoffs that can both promote and harm health.
7397 WRS: Hot Topics in Energy Law - HESTER (offered in Spring 2026)
This course explores the evolving legal issues impacting the energy and natural resources sectors. Students will analyze regulatory changes, landmark legal decisions, and policy shifts that influence the governance of energy production, natural resources, and land use. Through case studies, legislative reviews, and discussions on executive actions, students will explore, and respond to, current legal challenges and opportunities in energy and natural resource law.
7397 WRS: Hot Topics in Energy Law - WARREN (offered in Fall 2025)
This course explores the evolving legal issues impacting the energy and natural resources sectors. Students will analyze regulatory changes, landmark legal decisions, and policy shifts that influence the governance of energy production, natural resources, and land use. Through case studies, legislative reviews, and discussions on executive actions, students will explore, and respond to, current legal challenges and opportunities in energy and natural resource law.
7397 WRS: How to Try Jury Trial - CRUMP (offered in Fall 2025)
This course will have a background book called How to Try a Jury Trial, by the Professor, consisting mostly of descriptive advice about how to do it, from the Professor’s own experience. The course will cover preparation for trial, voir dire, opening statements, presentation of evidence, motions for directed verdict and judgment as a matter of law, jury instructions and verdict forms, and final arguments. Each student will turn in a research paper covering one of these topics. In some instances, more than one student may be assigned to the same topic.
7397 WRS: Law and Artificial Intelligence - SALIB (offered in Spring 2023)
What can artificially intelligent machines do? What should they do? This course will explore those two questions, especially as they relate to law and legal process. Already, artificial intelligences make many explicitly-legal decisions—for example, about pre-trial incarceration and policing. They also make many other decisions that, when humans make them, the law closely regulates. AI systems determine which candidates are interviewed for jobs, which applicants’ loans are approved, and what stocks hedge funds buy and sell.
Are these systems up to the job? Can they perform their assigned tasks competently and fairly? Or does their use generate systemic risks in the arenas where they operate? Even if they can perform these tasks, should we trust them? Or will AIs reproduce their human creators’ greatest flaws, acting unfairly and discriminatorily and thereby further entrenching already-dire social inequalities?
7397 WRS: Leadership, Law & Power - KNAKE JEFFERSON (offered in Summer I 2025)
This seminar exposes students to theories of leadership and examines pipelines to power within the legal profession and beyond. The seminar focuses less on “how” to be a leader and more on the structural paths followed by those who succeed in leadership roles with an eye toward reforms. Students will develop a rich understanding of the importance of storytelling to inform and persuade, and they will acquire knowledge of numerous transformative leaders in law and other professions. Students will develop competency in research/scholarly writing while working collaboratively with their peers and presenting their ideas. Students will produce a high-quality scholarly research paper that may fulfill the UHLC writing requirement. Additionally, students will receive guidance about how to potentially publish their research as an op-ed, trade publication essay, or scholarly article.
7397 WRS: Local Government Law - ZALE (offered in Fall 2024)
While much of law school focuses on federal law, local and state laws often affect people more directly and concretely. States and local governments have substantial law-making and regulatory authority in areas as diverse as education policy, civil rights, taxation, public safety, and land use. States and local governments are also responsible for the financing and provision of most public services, and are the locus of political participation by voters. States and local governments may have differing policy objectives and constituent demands, and how policy-making authority and service responsibility is allocated is a central question of local government law. This course examines the laws governing the powers of—and limitations on—states and local governments across a variety of substantive contexts, with a focus on the laws governing the relationship between states and local governments, as well as intergovernmental relations among local governments. The course requires a seminar paper examining current doctrinal and policy issues in local government law.
7397 WRS: Mass Incarceration - FRANK (offered in Fall 2024)
This seminar will encourage students to explore the rise of mass incarceration, its consequences for prisoners and communities, prison litigation, and the emerging reforms that seek to reduce prison populations and improve the justice system. Central to this course is exploration of First Amendment rights for people incarcerated and avenues for expression within the confines of incarceration. Students will also examine how First Amendment and other rights are upheld and challenged within prison walls while scrutinizing the significance of these rights in preserving public safety and maintaining incarcerated person dignity. The text for this course is Incarceration and the Law: Cases & Materials.
7397 WRS: NAFTA 2.0: North American Trade After the USMCA - TRUJILLO (offered in Spring 2024)
This course will introduce you to the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") and its revised version under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), along with the emerging legal and commercial issues surrounding the treaty. Because the NAFTA was the first U.S. regional trade agreement, it has been used as model for other regional trade agreements. We will discuss the context which brought about the NAFTA, study various USMCA provisions to understand the ways in which the USMCA changed (or not) the original NAFTA. Specifically, we will examine its dispute settlement processes (specifically current US disputes against Mexico on energy, environment, and labor), tariffs and the rules of origin and how they impact North American supply chain production, and the ways that the USMCA addresses environmental and labor controversies in the three countries. We will also examine the relationship between regional trade agreements like the USMCA to multilateral agreements and institutions such as GATT and the WTO as well as the impact of the USMCA on the economic, political, and social structures of the three participating countries. General issues of international law and trade will be discussed in the context of regional trade agreements and the ramifications of having (or not) a free trade agreement for the production supply-chains of the North American region.
This course will have a final paper as the grade assessment which will meet the upper-level (WRS) writing requirement.
No pre-requisites are required for this course.
7397 WRS: NAFTA 2.0: North American Trade After the USMCA - TRUJILLO (offered in Spring 2023)
This course will introduce you to the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") and its revised version under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), along with the emerging legal and commercial issues surrounding the treaty. Because the NAFTA was the first U.S. regional trade agreement, it has been used as model for other regional trade agreements. We will discuss the context which brought about the NAFTA, study various USMCA provisions to understand the ways in which the USMCA changed (or not) the original NAFTA. Specifically, we will examine its dispute settlement processes (specifically current US disputes against Mexico on energy, environment, and labor), tariffs and the rules of origin and how they impact North American supply chain production, and the ways that the USMCA addresses environmental and labor controversies in the three countries. We will also examine the relationship between regional trade agreements like the USMCA to multilateral agreements and institutions such as GATT and the WTO as well as the impact of the USMCA on the economic, political, and social structures of the three participating countries. General issues of international law and trade will be discussed in the context of regional trade agreements and the ramifications of having (or not) a free trade agreement for the production supply-chains of the North American region.
This course will have a final paper as the grade assessment which will meet the upper-level (WRS) writing requirement.
No pre-requisites are required for this course.
7397 WRS: NAFTA 2.0: North American Trade After the USMCA - TRUJILLO (offered in Spring 2026)
This course will introduce you to the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") and its revised version under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), along with the emerging legal and commercial issues surrounding the treaty. Because the NAFTA was the first U.S. regional trade agreement, it has been used as model for other regional trade agreements. We will discuss the context which brought about the NAFTA, study various USMCA provisions to understand the ways in which the USMCA changed (or not) the original NAFTA. Specifically, we will examine its dispute settlement processes (specifically current US disputes against Mexico on energy, environment, and labor), tariffs and the rules of origin and how they impact North American supply chain production, and the ways that the USMCA addresses environmental and labor controversies in the three countries. We will also examine the relationship between regional trade agreements like the USMCA to multilateral agreements and institutions such as GATT and the WTO as well as the impact of the USMCA on the economic, political, and social structures of the three participating countries. General issues of international law and trade will be discussed in the context of regional trade agreements and the ramifications of having (or not) a free trade agreement for the production supply-chains of the North American region.
This course will have a final paper as the grade assessment which will meet the upper-level (WRS) writing requirement.
No pre-requisites are required for this course.
7397 WRS: Oligarchy and Democracy - BUSH (offered in Fall 2025)
When Congress passed the antitrust laws, they expressed concern about the relationship between economic power and political power. Beyond the populist movements of the 1890s, additional legislation was passed post-World War II, with concern that economic power could lead to political control, totalitarianism, and the erosion of democracy. This course explores the economic foundations of freedom, democracy, and capitalism, and the structures and dynamics that cause their erosion. Readings will be assigned from the literatures of economics, law, psychology, and history.
7397 WRS: Reproductive Rights & Justice - PORTUONDO (offered in Fall 2023)
In the wake of Dobbs, the question of whether and how the government should regulate reproduction is more pressing than ever. This course will provide students with the tools to answer this question by exploring the law and theory of reproductive regulation in the United States. Students will learn both historical and contemporary approaches—including reproductive rights and reproductive justice frameworks—equipping them to understand how the law reached this point and how it might change going forward.
7397 WRS: Reproductive Rights & Justice - PORTUONDO (offered in Fall 2024)
In the wake of Dobbs, the question of whether and how the government should regulate reproduction is more pressing than ever. This course will provide students with the tools to answer this question by exploring the law and theory of reproductive regulation in the United States. Students will learn both historical and contemporary approaches—including reproductive rights and reproductive justice frameworks—equipping them to understand how the law reached this point and how it might change going forward.
7397 WRS: Transnational Petroleum Law - CARDENAS (offered in Spring 2023)
Transnational petroleum law or lex petrolea is conceived as the rules of law and the transnational legal order created by the transnational petroleum community constituted by States, corporations, professional industry associations and other industry actors participating in the oil and gas sector. Therefore, the course will focus on the transnational rules commonly associated with the petroleum industry such as: investment protection standards included in international investment treaties, industry standards and best practices, general principles of international law, model contracts, and arbitration jurisprudence. All these sources of law have a common element which is their transnational legal nature that transcends parties’ agreements and the regulation enacted by oil and gas producing nations. Indeed, this plurality of sources of law is considered altogether “the network” that governs transnational petroleum operations in the 21st Century.
The course will also provide model contracts, standardized regulation and a collection of excerpts of arbitral awards in the oil industry which will guide our understanding of the new legal practices in the oil and gas sector. The cases under review will cover oil and gas arbitration in Latin America, North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. For example: cases of international arbitration related to expropriation or indirect expropriation in Russia, Venezuela, and Ecuador; the use of industry best practices in Nigeria, Sudan, Mexico and Canada; the protection of foreign investments in the case of armed conflicts (Libya, Sudan, and Colombia); the imposition of sanctions against the oil industry in Iran, Russia, Libya, and Venezuela, and environmental litigation related to oil and gas investments.
