Penn State
Lewis Katz Building, University Park, PA
twitter   facebook   linkedin   Instagram   webmail
Give Now Apply Now

Course Descriptions

The courses listed have been available in the current academic year or within the previous three academic years. For a list of courses anticipated for future semesters, please visit our registration page (https://pennstatelaw.psu.edu/registration-information).

GOVPL 952
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course is an introduction to the law of the administrative state—to the constitutional, statutory and judge-made rules governing what agencies may do, the procedures they must follow, and how they can be held to account. Topics include mechanisms for control of agencies by the legislative and executive branches; the constitutional basis for, and limits on, governance by agencies; the availability and effects of judicial review over agency action; and the features of agency rulemaking and adjudication.

Prerequisites:
None
IHCLN 997
Credits:
1-4
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This is a 1-4 credit clinical experience will be open to students who have previously enrolled in the 4 credit Civil Rights Appellate Clinic and will build upon the skills that they learned in their earlier experience in the Civil Rights Appellate Clinic. 

This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 915 (ULWR 997-SP21)
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course will engage with corporate law at a deeper level. It focuses on a few key questions: The Theory of the Firm, Corporate Governance, and Financing the Corporation. Students will meet twice a week to discuss assigned readings. Grades will be based on participation and a final paper. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
Corporations (BUSLW 963)
CRMLW 953
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course examines the constitutional, statutory and rule-based issues that arise in the formal processing of a criminal case. Subjects include the decision to charge, prosecutorial discretion, grand jury and preliminary hearing, joinder and severance, bail and pretrial release, discovery, plea bargaining and guilty pleas, speedy trial, jury composition and selection, pre-trial publicity, confrontation, cross-examination and the privilege against self-incrimination.

Prerequisites:
None
IHEAC 901
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This two-credit clinical experience will be open to students who have previously enrolled in the 4 credit Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic and will build upon the skills that they learned in their earlier experience in the Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic.  The two-credit course will involve a senior role in client projects at the Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic, assistance to first-time students at the Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic and participation in new initiatives undertaken by the Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic (IHEAC 900) and Faculty approval required
IHFLC 901
Credits:
2-3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This 2-3 credit clinical experience will be open to students who have previously enrolled in the 5-credit Family Law Clinic Course and will build upon the skills they have learned. The course will involve a senior role in pending clinic cases; leadership in clinic initiatives such as community legal workshops; and further development of close client relationships and casework developed in the student's previous semester. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Family Law Clinic (IHFLC 900) and Faculty approval required.
IHIMC 901
Credits:
1-5
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This clinical experience will be open to students who have previously enrolled in the 5 credit Center for Immigrants' Rights Course and will build upon the skills they have learned. The course will involve a senior role in pending cases at the Center; involvement in new initiatives undertaken by the clinic; and possible writing and editing of a publishable material in the area of immigrants' rights. There will be no classroom component. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Center for Immigrants' Rights (IHIMC 900) and Asylum & Refugee Law (INTR 961), Faculty Approval Required
IHIPC 901
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The Advanced Intellectual Property Clinic provides students who have already taken at least one semester of the Intellectual Property Clinic an opportunity to gain advanced practice-ready skills in intellectual property law. Under the clinic director, students will provide legal services to the clinic's start-up clients in much the same manner as practicing IP lawyers.

Students in the clinic will engage in client counseling regarding patents and trademarks and other intellectual property.  Projects may include: preparing and prosecuting US patent applications before the US Patent and Trademark office, performing patentability searches, developing a patent portfolio strategies for early-stage companies, performing diligence (i.e. freedom to operate studies and/or patent landscape analysis), and registering US Trademarks.  Students will adhere to standard patent law office practices such as conflict checks, maintenance of strict confidentiality, docketing, and time-recordation. Students will learn and conform to the professional responsibilities of lawyers engaged in IP transactional practice as well as the Rules of Ethics of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The clinic will meet as a weekly class to discuss current client cases, intellectual property law in practice, ethics, and special projects. In addition, students will inter face with clients in-person, via telephone, and via email to discuss client intake, IP evaluation, and counseling. Students will also meet individually, as necessary, with the clinic director regarding the representation of particular clients and special projects.

Visit the Intellectual Property Clinic site for more information.

This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Intellectual Property Clinic (i.e., at least 1 semester of the 4 credit class)
LLM 902
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Building on the Introduction to U.S. Legal Systems course, students will continue to develop legal analysis, writing and research skills in the persuasive writing context. Students will learn how to argue and practice advocacy in a courtroom setting.

Prerequisites:
LLM 902 enrollment is limited to LL.M. candidates.
BUSLW 976
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course focuses on torts not involving physical injury, such as misrepresentation, defamation, invasion of privacy, interference with business relations, and misuse of legal procedure. These subjects are not ordinarily covered in the four-hour Torts course required in the first year, but have become burgeoning areas of potential liability due to the emergence of electronic communications. An effort will be made to integrate substantive doctrine and practice implications with legal, economic, political and social theory.

Prerequisites:
None
IHVSC 901
Credits:
1-5
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This clinical experience will be open to students who have previously enrolled in the Veterans Clinic and will build upon the skills that they learned in their earlier experience in the Clinic. The course will involve a senior role in client matters, assignment to more complex client matters, and participation in new initiatives undertaken by the Clinic. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Veterans and Servicemembers Legal Clinic (IHVSC 900), Faculty Approval Required
BUSLW 956
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course will introduce students to the range of current and emerging issues that confront agricultural producers, agri-business firms, and other segments of that broader sector of the economy referred to as the "food industry." The course will address a variety of issues including the history and objectives of agricultural policy, land use planning for agricultural activities, resource use and allocation, industrialization in the agricultural sector, intergenerational transfers of farm businesses, international trade, and ethical issues that confront practitioners.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 997-SP22
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This seminar examines law and policy challenges introduced by AI and other emerging technologies. First, to better understand the legal impact of AI, this seminar will survey a range of topics that intersect with AI and the law: algorithmic bias and decision making; AI and ethics; autonomous vehicles and weapons; and robotics, autonomy, and personhood. Next, this seminar will explore the impact of AI on the law. These topics will include criminal and civil liability that may stem from the deployment of AI technologies, such as Fourth Amendment implications of cyber/data seizures and searches; Fifth Amendment implications of AI and self-incrimination; medical liability for AI diagnostics; the reach of civil rights and anti discrimination law for AI-enabled discrimination. As the law of AI is still nascent, this course will explore developments in law and policy that attempt to bring AI under increased regulatory and legal oversight. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
BUSLW 991
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course is principally an examination of antitrust law and policy in the U.S. as evolved through prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. There is brief coverage of: (a) European Union and Canadian competition laws plus evolving proposals for supranational norms; and (b) leading market regulatory schemes such as those affecting marketing of foods, drugs, textiles, toxic substances, securities, and consumer products. In the antitrust area, commercial conduct alleged to violate price fixing, market allocation, tying, exclusive dealing, asset acquisition, and price discrimination norms are considered at length with some attention to state antitrust law.

Prerequisites:
None
IHMLB 900
Credits:
4
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The Manglona Lab’s mission is to improve access to economic justice for individuals limited by conscious discrimination or subconscious bias on the basis of gender, particularly in technology professions. From equity in pay and promotion to equity in artificial intelligence and algorithmic design, tackling these complex issues will require a multi-faceted approach. Accordingly, the Manglona Lab will pursue solutions using a variety of strategies, which may include courtroom advocacy, media, and policy/legislation. At the Manglona Lab, students will have the opportunity to learn and practice lawyering skills necessary to research issues, analyze potential solutions, advocate for change, and represent those facing inequity.  

This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
PSLFY 912
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Applied Legal Analysis & Writing I introduces first year law students to analyzing and writing about clients’ legal issues.  Throughout the semester, students will represent fictional clients.  To assist those clients, students must learn to conduct accurate and in-depth legal analysis to help the clients with particular legal issues, and students must learn to communicate that in-depth legal analysis in both written and oral communications.  In Applied Legal Analysis & Writing I, the focus of the semester is on objective analysis, fact-finding, and writing. Students will learn to draft formal and informal office memoranda, which are fundamental tools for communicating objective analysis.  Students receive significant individual feedback on writing assignments.

Prerequisites:
None
PSLFY 914
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Applied Legal Analysis and Writing II continues to build on the skills learned in Applied Legal Analysis and Writing I, but now students will be learning to be an advocate for a fictional client. Students continue to analyze clients’ problems using various sources of legal authority and to further refine their writing style. However, Applied Legal Analysis and Writing II focuses on persuasive writing, so students will learn to draft client letters as a transitional exercise into persuasive writing.  Further, students will draft trial court briefs or memoranda of law that, in practice, would be filed with a court. Students also will learn other communication skills, including presenting an oral argument to a court. Applied Legal Analysis and Writing II continues to implement the problem-solving approach to teach persuasive writing, and students continue to receive significant individualized feedback.

Prerequisites:
None
IHASC 900
Credits:
1-2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This clinic is designed to acquaint students with the unique yet pragmatic knowledge and skills incident to rendering quality legal service in the art, sports, and entertainment professions. The clinic may be taken for 1 or 2 graded credits. Visit the Art, Sports and Entertainment Law Clinic for more information. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Law of Artistic Persons and Properties Seminar (ULWR 927) and Copyrights (IPLAW 960) (both may also be taken concurrently), Trademarks (IPLAW 985) is recommended. Faculty approval required.
INTR 961
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This class surveys the laws of political asylum and related protection for those fleeing danger in their home countries. It examines asylum and refugee law and policy in the United States, and sets forth the legal grounds for barring someone from asylum. It also explores the politics driving immigration policy, including asylum and refugee policy, and the federal agencies that implement those policies.

Prerequisites:
None
BUSLW 961
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

The rights, duties, and remedies of both debtor and creditor are examined. The course covers the collection process, enforcement of money judgments, and insolvency proceedings. Federal bankruptcy law is emphasized.

Prerequisites:
None
TAXLW 949
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course examines the basic substantive provisions of the federal income tax law. Included are the following general topics: gross income, exclusions, deductions, depreciation, basis, tax accounting, and other provisions affecting situations encountered by attorneys in general practice.

Prerequisites:
None
HLTLW 962
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course surveys the law of bioethics.  Most of the course will focus on the law of decision making in healthcare or medical settings.  We will begin by examining the treatment relationship between patients and their healthcare providers, focusing on the fiduciary nature of the relationship and the doctrine of informed consent.  Informed consent is also the foundation of human subjects research regulation, which is the next topic in the course.  We will then explore the law of organ transplantation before moving into special types of healthcare decision making-reproductive and end-of-life decision making.  We conclude the survey with the law of public health. 

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 902
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This seminar builds on the topics covered in Business Planning for Mergers and Acquisition I (BPMA I) and is principally based on the second half of Thompson, Business Planning for Mergers and Acquisitions: Corporate, Securities, Tax, Antitrust, International, and Related Aspects (Fourth Edition 2015, supplemented yearly).  The seminar is structured so that a student can take it simultaneously with BPMA I, after BPMA I, or independently of BPMA I.  The seminar focuses on, inter alia, (1) the drafting of various types of acquisition agreements, (2) leveraged buyouts,  (3) proxy contests, (4) hostile takeovers and going private transactions regulated by the Williams Act provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, (5) international M&A, including a look at M&A in China and South Africa, (6) acquisitions in regulated industries, such as banking, and (7) ethical issues in M&A. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
Business Planning for M&A I (BUSLW 964) recommended or may be taken concurrently.
BUSLW 964
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course first focuses on various topics that are important in M&A transactions involving both closely-held and publicly-held corporations, including directors duties, shareholder voting and dissenters' rights, basic issues under the Federal securities laws, fundamentals of Federal income taxation and accounting, use of modern valuation techniques, including DCF and CAPM, in M&A, and basic issues in antitrust and pre-merger notification. The course then turns to an analysis of various forms of negotiated acquisition, including acquisitions of stock and assets of closely-held corporations and acquisitions of publicly-held corporations in negotiated transactions. The course is based on the first half of Thompson, Business Planning for Mergers and Acquisitions: Corporate, Securities, Tax, Antitrust, International, and Related Aspects (2008).

Prerequisites:
Corporations (BUSLW 963)
IHIMC 900
Credits:
5
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The course component of the Center teaches students the skills necessary to be effective immigration advocates and attorneys. Principally through representation of organizations, students will work on innovative advocacy and policy projects relating to U.S. immigration policy and immigrants’ rights. Students should expect to put in as much time as is required to complete project work successfully, which will be an average of twenty hours per week. Working primarily in teams, students will build professional relationships with government and non-governmental policy makers, academics, individual clients, and others. Visit the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic for more information. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Advanced Immigration Clinic

Prerequisites:
Immigration Law (INTR 965) or Asylum & Refugee Law (INTR 961), Faculty Approval Required
CRMLW 974
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course examines the legal position of the child in society and the extent to which the child may be legally controlled by parent(s) or state. Subject matters include the right of the child to control reproductive decision-making, child support and paternity issues, child pornography and minors' access to pornography, child abuse and neglect, foster care, termination of parental rights, adoption, medical treatment of juveniles, and medical experimentation on juveniles. The course also examines the delinquency jurisdiction of juvenile court, the constitutional protections afforded the child accused of criminal activity, adjudications of delinquency, punishment or placement of the child in the dispositional phase of juvenile proceedings, and treatment of the child as an adult offender.

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 976
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr:N

Disposition before trial occurs in the vast majority of civil lawsuits (e.g., 98% of federal cases), which makes pre-trial advocacy the dominant part of legal practice at most law firms and agencies. This experiential learning course will engage students with a robust client fact pattern, including analysis of client documents and procedural and substantive law. Students will learn how to draft pre-trial advocacy pleadings, discovery, disclosures, and motions, culminating with learning how to draft a motion for summary judgment. Students will learn how to take depositions and negotiate a settlement. By simulating an actual complex civil litigation case, this “in-context” course will provide students with insight into the process of preparing a case for trial through the pretrial conference and improving the client’s position for a pre-trial disposition. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

RECOMMENDED PREPARATION: Applied Legal Analysis and Writing I & II

Prerequisites:
LL.M. students permitted to enroll with Faculty Approval.
EXPR 997
Credits:
4
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Disposition before trial occurs in the vast majority of civil lawsuits (e.g., 98% of federal cases), which makes pre-trial advocacy the dominant part of legal practice at most law firms and agencies. This experiential learning course will engage students with a robust client fact pattern, including analysis of client documents and procedural and substantive law. Students will learn how to draft pre-trial advocacy pleadings, discovery, disclosures, and motions, culminating with learning how to draft a motion for summary judgment. Students will learn how to take depositions and negotiate a settlement. By simulating an actual civil litigation case, this “in-context” course will provide students with insight into the process of preparing a case for trial through the pretrial conference and improving the client’s position for a pre-trial disposition.

This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
LL.M. students permitted to enroll with Faculty Approval
PSLFY 900
Credits:
4
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

Civil Procedure concerns the rules and principles that govern the litigation of a civil case. The course addresses systemic issues related to how and where a lawsuit is filed, including: personal and subject matter jurisdiction; venue; the notice required once a lawsuit has been filed; and which substantive law-state or federal-should apply in federal court. The course also familiarizes the student with the stages of a lawsuit, including: pleading; structuring the lawsuit; discovery; termination of a lawsuit without trial; trial; and actions that may be taken after a jury verdict or bench trial. Although reference is made to state laws, the course concentrates on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Prerequisites:
None
IHAPC 900
Credits:
4
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This clinical offering will provide exposure to drafting merits and amicus briefs in non-criminal civil rights cases in the state courts, federal appellate courts, and the United States Supreme Court. Cases may derive from various sources, such as civil rights advocacy organizations, Third Circuit pro bono referrals and from Penn State Law professors. In addition to brief preparation, students will participate in identifying potential cases for the clinic, case selection and the development of appropriate appellate strategy.

This offering will provide intensive training in appellate advocacy by involving students in non criminal civil rights cases before the state appellate courts, federal courts of appeal and the United States Supreme Court. Students will assist in case selection, the development of substantive legal positions, provide research, assist in appellate strategy development and draft briefs. In working on these cases students will have exposure to top civil rights and appellate litigators in the country. In addition to this work, there will be classroom sessions which will be augmented by presentations by experts in the field and attendance at oral arguments when appropriate. Visit the Civil Rights Appellate Clinic for more information. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Employment Discrimination (LABR 964) or related civil rights courses and a demonstrated interest in appellate work. Faculty approval required.
ULWR 916
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This seminar explores the class action device, tracing its historical origins from the earliest forms of aggregate litigation through various amendments to Rule 23 and passage of the Class Action Fairness Act. Although other non-class aggregation techniques are discussed, they are addressed only for comparative purposes. The unique nature of representative litigation and the special issues that arise during the course of a class action are the subject of discussion and student presentations during seminar sessions. Considerable discussion is devoted to the roles of the various "players" in a class action: the qualifications of the class representative, the qualifications and interest of class counsel, and the fiduciary role of the district judge. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 960
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Climate change is here and it is already transforming the law (not to mention the planet); the law we have inherited, in turn, is shaping our response to the threat. In this seminar, we will explore these sociolegal dynamics while also establishing a foundational understanding of the wide range of international, national, and subnational laws and policies that any lawyer in the emerging practice of “climate change law” must know. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 903
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The course is designed to study the methods that American lawyers use in your chosen profession.  The seminar will review basic concepts in common law reasoning, the response of legislatures who pass statutes when they are dissatisfied with the substance of the common law, the use of administrative agencies and their delegated power to supplement broadly worded statutes with detailed regulations, and the way judges interpret statutes and regulations..  This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 949
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This seminar explores constitutional law differences in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and South Africa. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
PROSK 958
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

In modern business and personal life, significant events frequently involve more than one state or nation.  What law applies to multi-jurisdictional transactions?   Which court has the authority to adjudicate any dispute that develops?  When can a judgment—or a marriage—in one state create legal rights in another?  Can one state make it illegal to do something—like pay bribes—in the territory of another?

This course examines the legal rules that have developed for resolving these conflict-of-law problems.  Specific topics include: domestic jurisdiction, international jurisdiction, domestic choice of law, extraterritorial application of national law, conflicts between state and federal law, and enforcement of judgments.  Course time is split roughly equally between domestic and international topics.

Prerequisites:
PSLFY 900 Civil Procedure
PSLFY 903
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

The course examines the roles of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches in determining limits of national and state powers and protection of the individual and civil rights provided in the United States Constitution.

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 997
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Students will learn principles of multi-party negotiations and parliamentary procedure as applied in historical and modern constitution-writing. They will then apply those principles in a simulated constitutional convention where they will be expected as a class to write a new constitution.   

This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 951
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This is a practical, simulation course in negotiating, drafting and construing contracts.  The course encompasses basic contract concepts and the development of the analytical skill essential to translate a business deal into a written contract. It involves the drafting of each component of a contract from the preamble to the signature line.  Students will participate in classroom discussion, work collaboratively in class, have regular drafting assignments and will individually draft one or more contract(s) during the semester. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
LL.M. students permitted to enroll with Faculty Approval
PSLFY 905
Credits:
4
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

Contracts is concerned with the formation of contracts. The traditional offer and acceptance are analyzed in light of problems presented by modern bargaining techniques. Voidability of contracts formed by fraud, mistake, illegality, and unconscionable advantage is also stressed. The performance of contracts and the parol evidence rule are discussed.

Prerequisites:
None
IPLAW 960
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

The course addresses the legal protection afforded to authors and artists under common law and statutory copyright. It considers the rights granted, procedure for their procurement, and protection through litigation. The course also deals with international rights, conveyancing, and interface with the antitrust laws.

Prerequisites:
None
TAXLW 948
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course examines the federal income tax consequences associated with the formation, operation, and liquidation of corporations and partnerships. Students will apply complex statutes and regulations to factual scenarios involving the life cycle of business entities. Students will also think creatively about how to modify a potential transaction to achieve superior tax consequences.

Prerequisites:
Basic Federal Income Taxation (TAXLW 949)
BUSLW 951
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course provides an introduction to the law and policy issues that touch on the responsibility of enterprises for their activities.  It provides an overview of corporate social responsibility (CSR), as a subject of legal regulation within states, as a matter of international law and compliance beyond the state, and as a tool and methodology of corporate governance and finance with governance effect through contract. The emphasis is on the study of the legal and regulatory frameworks, both existing and emerging within states, in international institutions, and within production chains and the apex corporations that manage them. The course begins with definitional issues and variations in approaches between major jurisdictions.  It then turns to the existing law of CSR, focusing specifically on charitable giving and disclosure regimes. It then considers the rise of CSR regulatory regimes as privatizing law making using the mechanisms of contract to regulate CSR related conduct throughout a production chain.  It then considers the emergence of international standards as they inform regulatory efforts in states and enterprises and as normative standards in their own right.

Prerequisites:
None
BUSLW 966 (BUSLW 997-Fall 2021)
Credits:
1
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The class will read all of Professor Thompson's forthcoming book: Corporate Valuation in M&A. Each class session will cover chapters of the book. Students will be assigned chapters to make presentations on the principal concepts in the chapters and present a final paper critiquing the assigned chapters.

Prerequisites:
None
BUSLW 963
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course primarily addresses organization and operation of commercial organizations in the Anglo-American community. Preliminarily, sole proprietorships and partnerships are considered, after which corporations-for-profit are emphasized with some attention to business trusts and non-profit corporations. In the corporate context, duties of promoters, directors, officers, and other insiders are considered. Availability in the U.S. of the derivative action is treated in terms of both unincorporated and corporate forms of organization. Also treated are the basics of securities regulation at the federal and state levels in the U.S. and the provincial level in Canada.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 997
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Governments are seeking information on how best to protect citizens from the spread of COVID-19. Multiple technology companies offered to collect data to help governments and citizens with pandemic reduction efforts. Technology companies offer methods of mass data collection and modes of mass communication that they claim can assist in advancing critical public health goals. Privacy experts, however, have warned that the technological solutions offered by some governments and technology corporations may violate the spirit and letter of data privacy laws. In the European Union (EU), for example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was recently enacted to safeguard the information privacy rights of EU citizens. The United States (U.S.), however, like many nations, lacks a uniform and comprehensive data protection plan. There is no omnibus federal law in the U.S. that protects and regulates personal data collection, storage, and processing. Instead, federal data privacy laws enacted within the U.S. designate protection for specific areas of data, such as the protection of health and patient data under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Individual states within the U.S. have enacted broader data privacy protections, for example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). In the criminal procedure context, the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects against unreasonable searches and seizures without a warrant.

This seminar will survey multiple technologies that have been deployed to combat COVID-19. It will particularly emphasize the legal and policy implications of pandemic surveillance technologies, such as digital contact tracing through Bluetooth tracking that is enabled by COVID-19 tracing apps. The seminar will focus on the topics of data privacy and cybersecurity, and data ethics. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
IHCAC 900
Credits:
3

The Criminal Appellate & Post-Conviction Services Clinic provides students with opportunities to not only represent indigent defendants in contested evidentiary hearings in the Centre County Court of Common Pleas, but also to advocate for broader changes in the criminal justice system through the filing of amicus briefs. While students learn a variety of trial skills in the context of hearings before a judge, they will also gain an appreciation for the vast array of problems in the justice system. This real-world experience is accompanied by a classroom component designed to foster practical skills as well as critical thinking.

Students represent indigent defendants at appellate and post-conviction proceedings, in trial and appellate courts, as well as at state prisons. This course includes a classroom component designed to foster both critical thinking and practical knowledge.

Students earn 3 credits per semester for the Post-Conviction/Amicus Track and must commit to participate in the clinic for two semesters (Fall and Spring). Visit the Criminal Appellate & Post-Conviction Services Clinic for more information. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Professional Responsibility (PRORP 934) and Evidence (PROSK 955). Faculty approval required.
PSLFY 910
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course deals with what is called substantive criminal law, i.e., crimes. Numerous crimes such as homicide, theft, and conspiracy are examined, and defenses such as self-defense and insanity are scrutinized. A primary focus of the course is the utilization and interpretation of criminal statutes.

Prerequisites:
None
PSLFY 907
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

Criminal Procedure explores part of the interface between the criminal justice system and the United States Constitution. It introduces students to constitutional analysis by examining key provisions of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments as they apply to police investigation and interrogation as well as to the circumstances under which indigent defendants are guaranteed the assistance of counsel.

Prerequisites:
None
LWPER 951
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course introduces students to Critical Race Theory and Feminist Legal Theory. The class will explore three major questions during the semester: What comprises Critical Race Theory and Feminist Legal Theory? Do these areas of study remain relevant? If so, what can legal scholars, educators, and practitioners draw from them to effect social justice through legal institutions? Students who successfully complete this course will: Identify, describe, and interpret the fundamental principles of critical race theory and feminist legal theory; Critically engage with scholarly literature; Use critical race theory and feminist legal theory as a lens for thinking critically about how to effect social justice through legal institutions; Demonstrate competency in academic legal writing; Demonstrate competency in public speaking, including the ability to engage in meaningful and respectful discussions around the topics of race and gender.

This course DOES NOT satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
Constitutional Law (PSLFY 903)
ULWR 997
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This seminar provides an overview of legal, technical, and law enforcement issues involving cybercrime. Contemporary events have led to a growing awareness of the interrelationship between information security and data privacy. Prominent cyberattacks and hacking incidences have led to high profile cases and rapid developments in the law. The internet, ecommerce, social media, and other developments in the digital age has expanded the vulnerability of online identities to theft and misappropriation. At the same time, the digital economy vastly increases law enforcement access to digital evidence. Examining cybercrime and digital law enforcement tools allows for an interrogation of the strength of constitutional protections afforded to users, the law that governs cybercrime detection, and developments in prosecutorial techniques that are dependent upon cybersurveillance. Cybercrime is especially challenging as an area of law and policy where criminal activities can be hidden and where geographic boundaries for an investigation are not readily understood. Consequently, this seminar will provide an opportunity for students to learn not only about cybercrimes and digital forensic evidence, but also, about the tensions in constitutional law that may be strained under these emerging technologies.

This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
GOVPL 954
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course covers federal and state election law and will examine the constitutional basis for the regulation of elections, the development of the law in this area over the last 30 years, as well as criminal and civil enforcement of the law, the role of the Federal Election Commission, the formation and regulation of political action committees, as well as related federal tax law provisions impacting operation of political committees and advocacy organizations. The course will also examine the intersection of the election law with congressional ethics rules, lobbying regulations and representation of political candidates and entities in election law matters.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 997
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Foreign interference of the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, and the 2018 midterm elections, have exposed unprecedented vulnerabilities: shortcomings to national cybersecurity policy and the failure to develop effective cyber deterrents; underregulation of social media platforms and Internet governance; how best to safeguard voter data and consumer data; and what federal oversight of election administration and voting systems may be necessary while still respecting federalism principles and state sovereignty. Multiple intelligence reports have described the interference as an influence campaign that blended covert cyber operations, and overt propaganda and misinformation operations. This seminar will explore how best to address the legal and policy challenges posed by the foreign interference in U.S. elections and vulnerabilities to election security.

This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 997-FA20
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Foreign interference of the 2016 presidential election and the 2018 midterm elections have exposed unprecedented vulnerabilities: shortcomings to national cybersecurity policy and the failure to develop effective cyber deterrents; underregulation of social media platforms and Internet governance; how best to safeguard voter data and consumer data; and what federal oversight of election administration and voting systems may be necessary while still respecting federalism principles and state sovereignty. Multiple intelligence reports have described the interference as an influence campaign that blended covert cyber operations, and overt propaganda and misinformation operations. This seminar will explore how best to address the legal and policy challenges posed by the foreign interference in U.S. elections and vulnerabilities to election security.

A central focus of the course will be on election security challenges in the 2020 election. Students will examine the development of legal and regulatory oversight to increase election security, and the technology and reforms needed to inform future policymaking and best corporate practices. Students will engage with policy debates surrounding the impact and abuse of technological developments, and ethics-based technological inquiries advanced by data scientists and mathematicians, technologists and product developers, and social scientists. In particular, students will explore the proposals for mandatory ethical training for those involved in the research, development, and production of the technologies implicated in the technologies that have been commandeered by foreign interference in US democratic institutions. The students will be invited to engage critically with the ethical and democratic dilemmas posed by some proposals, including increased censorship, and chilling expressive and associational freedoms.

The seminar will include a close examination of the Mueller Report: Volume I, intelligence reports, the Special Counsels indictments, and other original source material to better understand the nature of foreign interference in US elections. It will also include an in-depth discussion of interdisciplinary work authored by experts in multiple fields: data and information science, ethics, privacy law, cybersecurity, national security, federalism, state and local governments, corporate governance, election law and voting rights, media and communications law, internet governance, civil rights and civil liberties, international relations, and political science and political theory.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 969
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The seminar will cover the case law, procedural rules, evidence rules, and rules of professional conduct implicated by the unique attributes of information created and/or stored electronically, as well as the filing and courtroom presentation of documents in electronic format. There are three components to the course. The first part concerns the discovery of ESI, and covers the nature, sources, and terminology of ESI; the different formats of ESI and the implications for preservation and production of ESI attributable to the different formats; the evolution of the rules and case law regarding discovery of ESI; and the obligations of counsel with respect to the preservation of ESI. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
LABR 967
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

The course will include an analysis of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as they relate to employee benefit plans. The IRC requirements relating to retirement type plans (i.e., pension, profit sharing and stock bonus plans) will be covered generally. In addition, benefits frequently included as part of an employer's benefits package, such health care and equity compensation, will be discussed, as well as a heavy concentration on executive compensation. 

Prerequisites:
None
LABR 964
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course will provide an overview of significant doctrinal issues in employment discrimination law, and will seek to develop students' skills through a rigorous examination of statutory law, regulations and court decisions. It will introduce students to the fundamental legal theories underlying the substantive coverage of the most significant federal equal employment opportunity laws, and legal issues regarding their application.

Prerequisites:
None
ENVR 952
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course is the introductory course in the regulation of energy in the United States. It also considers some of the international impact of U.S. energy policy. The course examines each significant form of energy (oil, natural gas, nuclear power, electricity, coal and renewables) in terms of the manner in which each form is regulated by various government institutions. To understand the various forms of regulation, we will also consider a substantial amount of economic, political and socio/psychological information. Each segment of the course will be presented in terms of specific problems that participating students will help analyze and solve. At each stage of the course, we will consider the current policies and attempt to develop regulatory goals and positions that will improve those policies. The syllabus for this course is designed to avoid significant overlap with the course in oil and gas law and the course in energy, international security and the global economy.

Prerequisites:
None
IHEAC 900
Credits:
4
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Under the supervision of a faculty member/director of the clinic, students learn to represent entrepreneurs, start-ups and not-for-profit organizations in a setting that is similar to a small law firm.   Issues most frequently encountered include choice of entity, entity formation, founder and initial investor agreements, shareholder agreements, loan arrangements, certain intellectual property protection, commercial real estate leasing and acquisition, operating agreements, employee management and compliance with regulatory requirements.  Students will learn the basic skills necessary to attract and interview potential clients, organize a business plan, communicate orally and in writing with a client and third parties, conduct research, draft transactional documents, prepare for and manage closings.  Students will learn basic principles of law office administration and will be expected to comply with law office protocols (e.g. conflict screens, client confidentiality, and time and expense record keeping) and will learn and conform to the professional responsibilities of lawyers engaged in business transactional practice.  The faculty member will hold weekly class sessions for presentation and discussion of client projects, skill development, and legal issues affecting entrepreneurs and counsel for entrepreneurs.  This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Advanced Entrepreneurship Clinic

Prerequisites:
Faculty approval required.
ENVR 960
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course introduces the basic environmental statutes of the United States and the history from which they arose. It includes a focused examination of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and several other major U.S. environmental laws. It pays close attention to the regulatory tools of these statutes, cooperative federalism, the role of the federal courts, and to cost-benefit analysis in risk regulation generally.

Prerequisites:
None
BUSLW 997
Credits:
1
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

As we hurdle into a different future, innovation will play a leading role. Throughout the history of civilization, innovation, creativity and technology have transformed lives, organizations, entire communities and societies writ large. In almost every instance, our ancestors have grappled with the choice between the alchemy of greed and the freedom to develop market economies; alternatively, to seek to create a more just and fair society.

We would posit that going forward your and future generations are more likely to reframe the alternatives.  More specifically, and almost assuredly, people will ask if it is possible to sustain the free market system AND do so responsibly and ethically with an eye towards building a more just and fair society. By reframing the question, you will be able to resolve the tension implicit in the two opposable constructs and potentially form a new and superior model and attendant outcomes.

There may never be anything more interesting than the technological innovations being enabled by Artificial Intelligence (AI) today.  You will learn a bit about the origins of AI, what AI is, what it is not, its capabilities, consequences and implications for business and society. You will also learn about Ethical AI and the myriad issues that surround the design and development of AI-based applications, e.g., Bias, Privacy, Liability, Transparency, and more.

Stephen Hawking said: ”Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history.”  He went on to say: “Unfortunately it might also be the last....” Elon Musk called AI “...our greatest existential threat.”  Bill Gates has rhetorically asked why some are not concerned about AI. Others, many others, believe that the advent of AI, ML, Natural Language Processing, robotics, algorithms, correlations, probabilities, computational mathematics, etc., will have massive salutary effects on our workforce, business and society.  Furthermore, they believe the changes AI will reap are unstoppable. But will AI only be used for good, regardless of intention?  Are the changes unstoppable?

History suggests that unintended consequences oftentimes lead to inequitable outcomes.  What role does public policy play today?  What role should it play? Have policies in respect to technology kept pace with the exponential changes in technological capabilities over time? Should we attempt to be prescriptive? Or is there a better answer? We will explore these and other questions as well as the possible roles for which lawyers, elected officials, and Public Policy experts will be responsible.

If you are interested in the transformational effects of AI, the ideal of an ethical AI landscape and what role you might play in helping create it, this course is for you.

Prerequisites:
None
CONLW 963
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course studies the development of equal protection law under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, the state action issue, and the free exercise and establishment clauses of the First Amendment.

Prerequisites:
None
PROSK 955
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course presents evidence in trials under the Federal Rules of Evidence, at common law and in equity and with reference to administrative bodies. The reasoning from which rules arise in areas including relevancy, competency, privilege, examination of witnesses, writing, the hearsay rule and its exceptions, burden of proof, presumptions, judicial notice, and constitutional evidence problems is also addressed.

Prerequisites:
None
EXTRN 900
Credits:
3
Credit Only: Y Anon Gr: N

Externship Placements offer students the opportunity to work and learn in a variety of settings outside the Law School under the supervision of a full-time faculty member. Placements are in public service or nonprofit offices, including local, state and federal government and judicial offices. Students work with experienced supervisors in those offices to develop skills in legislative drafting, opinion writing, client counseling, research, administrative and criminal practice, statutory analysis and interpretation, and application and enforcement of regulations. Through their work and class discussions, students are expected to develop a heightened awareness of the methods and functions of the legislative, regulatory, judicial, and public interest representation functions.

Available placements include state cabinet level agencies, state and federal judicial chambers, legal services offices, legislative offices, local governments, Penn State offices, and state prosecutor and public defender offices. More detailed information on our Externship Placement program can be found on our Externships page.

Students may not register for this course until they have secured an approved placement and obtained the permission of the faculty supervisor.

This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Law School Faculty Supervisor approval is required before registering. In addition, individual offices may establish requirements, such as completion of relevant courses, completion of a minimum number of semesters, or status as a certified legal intern
EXTRN 903
Credits:
10
Credit Only: Y Anon Gr: N

The Washington semester externship will provide students with the opportunity to spend a semester in Washington, D.C. earning 10 hours of academic credit for approximately 32 hours of supervised work. Students will work in one of several selected and approved governmental or nonprofit entities.

The externship will enable students to pursue advanced training and research opportunities in a particular field beyond our curricular offerings. The areas of law will include federal criminal law, international law, federal civil regulatory agency practice and procedure, and public and private nonprofit law. Students will have the opportunity to analyze sophisticated areas of law in a real world context. In the classroom component students will analyze the legal obligations and professional responsibilities of both government lawyers and private counsel.

Students must register for Federal Regulatory and Legislative Practice Seminar (ULWR 914) – 2 credits the same semester as the Washington D.C. Externship Placement. The seminar will utilize a separation of powers analysis to examine federal regulatory and legislative practice. Topics covered will include congressional investigations, federal regulatory agency jurisdiction and procedure, and areas of federal criminal law that are most relevant to legal practice in Washington, DC. The seminar's primary focus will be those areas of Washington legal practice in which administrative and regulatory law, federal criminal law, politics, and public relations intersect to create special problems and challenges for attorneys in government and private practice. A "case study" approach will be used to analyze these topics from both perspectives, examining the legal obligations and professional responsibilities of both government lawyers and private counsel. Highlights of the course include analysis of the Watergate, ABSCA, Iran-Contra, Whitewater, and Clinton-Lewinsky scandals.

This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Faculty Approval Required.
EXTRN 904
Credits:
1-10
Credit Only: Y Anon Gr: N

Penn State Law’s exclusive Externships Everywhere program opens the door to a nearly limitless array of externship possibilities across the country and around the world by offering law students the opportunity to step out of the classroom for a semester and gain practical experience working in a legal office in practically any location around the world. The program provides second- and third-year law students the opportunity to spend a semester away from University Park, working and learning under the remote supervision of Penn State Law faculty. Students will be required to complete a minimum of 2 credits in a Research Seminar, including but not limited to an Independent Research and Writing Seminar (ULWR 996), or Independent Study (LWIND 996) during the same semester as the Externships Everywhere program.

This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Faculty Approval Required.
FESTL 962
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course studies legal problems pertaining to the organization, operation, and dissolution of the family. It includes material on privacy, alternative families, marriage and annulment, child and spousal support, termination of parental rights, adoption and care of the child, divorce, alimony, property distribution at divorce, and custody of children.

Prerequisites:
None
IHFLC 900
Credits:
5
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

In this clinic, up to seven students per semester represent indigent clients and domestic abuse victims in family law cases. All cases are in the Court of Common Pleas of Centre County. The work includes divorce, child support, spousal support, custody/visitation, domestic violence, and related matters. Students should expect to work as much time as is necessary to represent their clients successfully, which will be an average of twenty hours per week. Students also participate in a weekly clinic seminar which includes skills training, theoretical examination of clinical work, and case rounds. Each student also meets individually with the clinic supervisor to discuss their case work and their progress in the clinic. Only third-year law students are admitted in the Fall Semester. Students earn 5 graded credits. Visit the Family Law Clinic for more information. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Advanced Family Law Clinic

Prerequisites:
Family Law (FESTL 962) and Evidence (PROSK 955). Professional Responsibility (PRORP 934) is recommended. Faculty approval required.
PROSK 967
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course introduces contemporary issues in several topical areas of particular interest to litigating in federal courts. The course topics are varied, with the unifying theme being that each topic possesses either particular prominence or exclusive jurisdiction within the country’s federal court system. These topics include: the history and organization of the federal courts, the courts’ relationship with Congress, the arguments for and against diversity jurisdiction, the practical dynamics of federal procedure, strategic considerations involved in a litigant’s choice of federal court, ADR proceedings in federal courts, securities, bankruptcy, intellectual property, antitrust, employment discrimination, review of administrative agency decisions, immigration issues, federal criminal matters, sentencing, civil rights cases, and habeas.

PROSK 965
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course involves elements of constitutional law and civil procedure, addressing the relationship of federal courts to administrative agencies, state courts and private and ad hoc dispute resolution forums (e.g., arbitration, mediation, 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund). Building on the foundational knowledge of federal subject matter jurisdiction addressed in Civil Procedure, this course examines in greater detail advanced problems in standing, mootness, and ripeness. Building on the foundational knowledge of separation of powers and federalism addressed in Constitutional Law, this course examines the power of Congress to allocate judicial power among federal courts, federal agencies, and States. The heart of the course, however, consists of advanced topics including the power of federal courts to create common law, limitations (and complications) in suits against the federal and state governments and their officials, problems arising when administrative agencies or state courts are addressing matters related to the subject of a pending case in federal court, and limitations on federal appellate jurisdiction. This course should prove especially useful to students who anticipate clerking for a federal or state judge, or who plan to litigate before federal or state courts, administrative agencies, arbitral forums or other private or ad hoc dispute resolution entities.

Prerequisites:
PSLFY 900 Civil Procedure and PSLFY 903 Constitutional Law I
ULWR 979 (ULWR 997-Fall 2020)
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This seminar will provide an introduction to the unique aspects of federal criminal law, including jurisdiction, enforcement policy, case selection, and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. It will also cover offenses not typically included in white-collar crime courses, including those relating to narcotics trafficking, firearm regulation, child pornography, and anti-terrorism efforts.

This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 914
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The seminar will utilize a separation of powers analysis to examine federal regulatory and legislative practice. Topics covered will include congressional investigations, federal regulatory agency jurisdiction and procedure, and areas of federal criminal law that are most relevant to legal practice in Washington, DC. The seminar's primary focus will be those areas of Washington legal practice in which administrative and regulatory law, federal criminal law, politics, and public relations intersect to create special problems and challenges for attorneys in government and private practice. A "case study" approach will be used to analyze these topics from both perspectives, examining the legal obligations and professional responsibilities of both government lawyers and private counsel. Highlights of the course include analysis of the Watergate, ABSCA, Iran-Contra, Whitewater, and Clinton-Lewinsky scandals.  This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
BUSLW 986
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course is intended to provide an overview of the federal securities laws. Securities regulation plays a crucial role in many different fields of business law, and every lawyer should have at least a basic knowledge of its general principles. The course focuses on issues such as the offering of securities, civil liabilities connected with the sale and purchase of financial instruments, insider trading, proxy voting and M&As, takeovers, stock exchanges and brokers/dealers regulation. Specific attention is devoted to securities litigation aspects, including class actions.

Prerequisites:
Corporations (BUSLW 963) recommended
CONLW 965
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This is a course about the freedoms of speech, press, religion, association, and assembly under the First Amendment. Two-thirds of the course will be about freedoms of speech, press, and assembly. We will examine historical context, doctrinal development, and current caselaw. We will ask why government regulates speech, the methods it uses for doing so, and what justifications are ever sufficient for limiting speech. Among other topics, we will examine issues surrounding the use of public spaces, the role of the institutional press, campaign finance, symbolic speech, the law of obscenity and defamation, and the rights of private organizations to determine their membership. The final one-third of the course will provide an introduction to the First Amendment's treatment of religion. We will ask how the two clauses in the First Amendment dealing with religion--the Free Exercise and Establishment Clause--relate to each other, and explore a few of the most important debates about them.

Prerequisites:
None
HLTLW 960
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

When should a vaccine be licensed, a drug approved, or an N95 mask authorized for sale? How do we assure the safety of produce grown in widely dispersed locations or of seafood harvested throughout the world? Should herbal supplements be regulated as food, drugs, or something in between? How aggressively, and in what manner, should the federal government regulate the cosmetics, tobacco, medical device, and human tissue industries?

This course examines the work of the primary federal agency responsible for these issues, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In addition to covering this substantive material, the course will introduce you to the process of understanding a complex statute, its implementing regulations, and related enforcement policies.

Prerequisites:
None
ENVR 997-SP21
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The course will explore legal issues surrounding a number food-related issues not covered in traditional FDA or Ag Law courses, focusing on those affecting consumers and small producers.  These include food access and security, taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages and related measures, food fraud, the environmental and consumer-side effects of agricultural subsidies, and the regulation of small and local food production.

Prerequisites:
None
BAREX 900
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course provides students with a substantive review of selected material routinely tested on the bar exam, primarily through problems and exercises in a bar exam format designed to familiarize students with the exam and techniques for answering multiple choice questions. Individualized feedback is provided every week to assist each student identify areas of strength and weakness. The goal is to enhance student ability to prepare for the bar exam and is intended to supplement, not replace, commercial bar preparation courses. This course is not focused an any particular state, so all students will benefit regardless of where they are sitting for the bar exam. Students enrolled in BAREX 900 are not permitted to use laptops, phones or other devices during class. BAREX 900 is graded on a pass/fail basis, but does not count toward the one pass/fail course a student may take as described in the Pass-Fail Rules.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 997
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course surveys recent developments in global privacy and security trends, covering legal and policy frameworks in international data privacy and data protection. It focuses on current and proposed laws and regulations that govern information security and privacy domestically and abroad. Specifically, it will include a close investigation of how directives such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union impact state and federal law, and internal corporate policies, in the United States. It will also examine how multinational corporations navigate global privacy laws and regulations in North and South America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
LWPER 997
Credits:
3
Amon Gr: N

The global sports model operates quite differently than what Americans are used to.  “Major” sports are typically open sports leagues at the top of a pyramid or national representative teams; sports is largely governed by non-profit national governing board, not club owners.  Many of the issues confronting global sports law, however, have important lessons for American sports law.

This special topics course will be taught remotely (please confirm you comply with ABA and immigration requirements to take this course), which will consist of two hours per week of live interaction with leading sports lawyers and officials around the globe, and one hour of asynchronous interaction (via Canvas) with your classmates and me on the relevant issues.  Assessment will be based on your participation in on-line class discussions and a take-home final exam that will be due on the last day of exams.

Prerequisites:
None
GOVPL 950 (Spring 21 GOVPL 997)
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

In this seminar, students will receive an introductory overview into the world of Government contracts.  You will learn about the applicable statutes and regulations, and the policies that underlie many aspects of federal contracting.  You will appreciate the broad impact of the “Changes” clause, which affords many rights to the Government but also is the source of many theories of recovery for the contractor.  The Government’s “termination for convenience” rights, even when the contractor has done nothing wrong, will be covered.  The importance of the “Contracting Officer” in the procurement system will be addressed.  You will explore the choice of forum issues confronting contractors who contemplate filing a bid protest or contract appeal.  You will learn about the Government’s remedies against corrupt contractors, such as suspension and debarment, the False Claims Act, and the forfeiture of claims statute.  Pennsylvania procurement law also will be discussed, and contrasted to Federal procurement.  At the conclusion of the seminar, students should be equipped to consider and pursue Government contract positions in private law firms, contracting entities, or public agencies.  An alternative objective is to become familiar with a major area of business law in the modern world.

Due to the size and importance of federal procurement, a significant practice area has developed in Washington, D.C. (although opportunities also exist elsewhere).  Most large law firms in D.C. offer separate departments of specialized lawyers who practice Government contracts, both in counseling and litigation.  The U.S. Department of Justice (which defends the Government in many contract disputes), and other federal agencies hire staffs of lawyers in Government contracting.  Companies selling to the Government have corporate counsel who practice Government contracts.  Clerkships for judges who decide Government contract disputes also are attractive.

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 930 (EXPR 997-Spring 2021)
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Bridging theory to practice-a practical approach to litigating a civil lawsuit from inception to jury trial. The course will explore client interviewing, case investigation, discovery requests, including interrogatories, requests for production and requests for admission, conducting depositions, developing themes for trial, identifying and drafting motions in limine, direct and cross-examining lay and expert witnesses, crafting opening and closing statements and utilizing technology in all aspects of the case. The course will include extensive class participation including in-class depositions, openings and closings, and direct and cross examinations. The instructors are seasoned trial attorneys who will utilize real cases throughout the course. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
HLTLW 961
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course surveys U.S. health law, focusing primarily on health insurance, and the organization and regulation of healthcare providers, organizations, and industry, which are the essential areas of health law practice.  The first third of the course focuses on health insurance.  Public health insurance programs, Medicare and Medicaid, are covered first before moving onto the Affordable Care Act and the regulation of private insurance.  The remainder of the course covers topics such as regulation of healthcare entities and providers; tax exemption requirements for hospitals; healthcare fraud and abuse; and antitrust issues in the provision of healthcare.

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 998
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course is devoted to developing problem solving skills related to legal issues in higher education. Students will have a chance to confront problems the way university lawyers do, from the very beginning, before the facts are all known, before goals are clarified, before the full range of options is explored, and before a course of conduct is chosen. This course is intended to help prepare students for the actual practice of law by allowing them to actively to engage in the sorts of discussions and activities that occupy lawyers every day, combining their knowledge of law with practical judgment to help clients.  Topics include faculty and student rights and responsibilities; constitutional issues involving application of the guarantees of the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments; civil rights issues including diversity and affirmative action, the rights of the disabled, and gender-based issues. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

ULWR 910 (EXPR 997-SP21 ONLY)
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This research seminar introduces students to Intersectionality as both a theoretical and practical way to address social problems related to inequities around race, gender, poverty, disability, and more. Topics will include child welfare, disability law, public health, housing, environmental/food justice, poverty, intimate partner violence, religion, and restorative justice. As explained by the founding legal theorist, Prof. Kimberle’ Crenshaw, “emerging as a theory to articulate the multiple axis of discrimination encountered by women of color in employment, the family, and elsewhere, Intersectionality has found broader application in efforts to move beyond single-issue and identity-based approaches to societal marginalization.” This class situates Intersectionality as a tool to address, and redress, human rights, in both theory and practice. Students will learn the role of Intersectionality in the human impacts of social problems, and how to leverage that understanding to advance social justice. The class will include guest lecturers, mostly women of color, from various legal specialties and law-related disciplines. Students will also have skill-building opportunities with feedback on oral presentations, and developing legal strategies. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
INTR 965
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course is intended to provide students with a general knowledge of immigration law, including such critical subjects as the constitutional powers of the federal government over immigration matters, admission and exclusion, entry, deportation, and political asylum.

Prerequisites:
None
LWIND 996
Credits:
1-3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

In the Independent Study course the student, under the supervision of a full-time member of the faculty, will be permitted to do research and write a paper of a substantial nature on a significant subject.

Prerequisites:
None
IHCJP 900
Credits:
3 - 5
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The Indigent Criminal Justice Trial Clinic provides students with several opportunities to work in the criminal justice system within two different tracks.

The Criminal Appellate & Post-Conviction Services Clinic involves representation of indigent criminal defendants accused of misdemeanor offenses in the Centre County Court of Common Pleas under the supervision of an attorney from the Centre County Public Defender Office. Students learn litigation, negotiation and advocacy skills as they represent defendants through all stages of a criminal case. This hands-on experience is accompanied by a classroom component designed to give students guidance, feedback and an open forum to discuss their cases and the various facets of defense work. The subject matter of the classroom component is designed to follow the progress of each student’s cases as those cases work their way through the various stages of the criminal justice system.

The Criminal Appellate & Post-Conviction Services Clinic provides students with opportunities to not only represent indigent defendants in contested evidentiary hearings in the Centre County Court of Common Pleas, but also to advocate for broader changes in the criminal justice system through the filing of amicus briefs. While students learn a variety of trial skills in the context of hearings before a judge, they will also gain an appreciation for the vast array of problems in the justice system. This real-world experience is accompanied by a classroom component designed to foster practical skills as well as critical thinking.

The Indigent Criminal Justice Trial Clinic has two primary objectives: 1) provide criminal defendants who cannot afford private counsel with highly effective representation that is client-centered, professional and ethical, and 2) create a structured and supervised environment which enables each student to gain a detailed, working knowledge of how to represent a defendant; apply that knowledge to actual criminal cases; and gain feedback and reflection after each important stage of the case.

Students earn 5 credits per semester for the Trial Track and 3 credits per semester for the Post-Conviction/Amicus Track and must commit to participate in the clinic for two semesters (Fall and Spring). Visit the Indigent Criminal Justice Trial Clinic for more information. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Professional Responsibility (PRORP 934) and Evidence (PROSK 955). Faculty approval required.
IHCJC 900
Credits:
3

The Indigent Criminal Justice Trial Clinic provides students with the opportunity to work in the criminal justice system.

The  Indigent Criminal Justice Trial Clinic involves representation of indigent criminal defendants accused of misdemeanor offenses in the Centre County Court of Common Pleas under the supervision of an attorney from the Centre County Public Defender Office and the director of the clinic. Students learn litigation, negotiation and advocacy skills as they represent defendants through all stages of a criminal case. This hands-on experience is accompanied by a classroom component designed to give students guidance, feedback and an open forum to discuss their cases and the various facets of defense work. The subject matter of the classroom component is designed to follow the progress of each student’s cases as those cases work their way through the various stages of the criminal justice system.

The Indigent Criminal Justice Trial Clinic has two primary objectives: 1) provide criminal defendants who cannot afford private counsel with highly effective representation that is client-centered, professional and ethical, and 2) create a structured and supervised environment which enables each student to gain a detailed, working knowledge of how to represent a defendant; apply that knowledge to actual criminal cases; and gain feedback and reflection after each important stage of the case.

Students earn 3 credits per semester and must commit to participate in the clinic for two semesters (Fall and Spring). Students must also enroll in a two-credit companion criminal trial simulation course during both semesters that they are enrolled in the clinic course. Visit the Indigent Criminal Justice Trial Clinic for more information. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Professional Responsibility (PRORP 934) and Evidence (PROSK 955). Faculty approval required. Corequisites: Indigent Criminal Justice Trial Simulation (EXPR 940)
EXPR 940
Credits:
2

Through simulations, this course provides students the opportunity to practice and develop the Fundamental Lawyering Skills and Professional Responsibilities described above in a controlled, safe, supportive, and instructive environment prior to performing adversarial hearings before a Court in the Indigent Criminal Justice Trial Clinic. Specifically, students will learn client management skills, litigation, negotiation, ethics, criminal law and procedure, and advocacy skills as they simulate representation of defendants through all stages of a criminal case, including Pre-trial conferences, jury selection, and a full trial. 

These simulations are designed to provide students with enhanced expertise in all fields of advocacy. The simulations also provide students with the opportunity to play different roles and gain perspectives they would not otherwise have, advocating solely for the defense. The use of simulations dramatically increases the experience and preparedness of the clinic students who are expected to successfully argue and maneuver against prosecutors with years of courtroom experience. The simulations also vary in terms of preparation afforded to each student. Certain simulations permit students hours of preparation time to perfect cross-examination and argument. Other simulations happen with little or no preparation time to give students experience thinking quickly and actively listening in stressful adversarial situations. 

Students are required to enroll in the simulation course both semesters and earn two credits in Fall and two credits in Spring. Students in this clinic course attend a three-hour class one day a week in addition to the time they spend outside of class preparing for the simulations and doing readings for class. 

These four credits do not count against the clinic and externship cap at Penn State Law because no client representation is involved in this part of the course.

Prerequisites:
Evidence (PROSK 955) and Professional Responsibility (PRORP 934) Corequisites: Indigent Criminal Justice Trial Clinic (IHCJC 900)
LWPER 997
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course offers an overview of information privacy. In a digital economy and an increasingly networked information society, it is increasingly complicated to understand the legal frameworks available that allow for users to maintain control over one’s cyberself, dataself, and digital identity. As almost all aspects of our social, economic, and political lives are mediated through online technologies, the question of how to protect one’s personal information is challenging and complex. Federal agencies, courts, and Congress, as well as state and local governments, have struggled to find statutory, regulatory, and interpretative tools to protect information privacy with the advance of emerging technologies. The survey course introduces information privacy jurisprudence in constitutional law, tort law, and through statutes and regulations. The course examines cybersurveillance, including social media surveillance, and ubiquitous data tracking. The course further explores the information privacy impact of the Internet of Things, web and mobile data collection capacities, and real time situational awareness technologies that integrate live social media activity with other database screening capacities, such as facial recognition technologies. Finally, the course will look at future trends in information privacy protection.

Prerequisites:
None
LWPER 946
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course describes the substantive law relevant to the field of information security or "infosec" law, commonly known to policymakers as "cybersecurity." It examines how courts, legislatures, and regulators confront the major legal issues that information security presents.  The course includes three types of 'readings' - one set introduces you to a key aspect of the history and culture of information security; the second set introduces technical and policy standards; the third consists of statutes and caselaw. The early weeks in this class introduce you to the state of the law of information security and assist you in acquiring technical competence in the terms of art of the field. The later weeks in the course identify and frame current legal debates in Congress, state legislatures, regulatory agencies, and the business community on matters of information security.

Prerequisites:
None
BUSLW 969
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

Many types of insurance such as auto, health, and homeowners insurance are mandatory. Consequently, insurance law, which developed from tort and contract law, impacts both the personal and professional lives of attorneys and it is an integral area of the law for numerous practice settings including personal injury, insurance defense, and in-house counsel. The course addresses the subject of insurance law from both a theoretical and practical perspective. It covers the fundamentals of all major lines of insurance: property, life, health, disability, liability and auto.  It also covers “claims made” insurance, insurers’ defense obligations, insurer bad faith, broker liability, the rules of insurance policy interpretation, and the role of public policy in insurance law.

Prerequisites:
None for J.D. candidates. LL.M. candidates should have successfully completed, or be concurrently enrolled in, Torts (PSLFY 925) and Contracts (PSLFY 905).
IHIPC 900
Credits:
4
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The Intellectual Property Clinic provides Penn State Law – University Park students an opportunity to gain practice-ready skills in intellectual property law. Under the clinic director, students will provide legal services to the clinic’s start-up clients in much the same manner as practicing IP lawyers.

Students in the clinic will engage in client counseling regarding patents and trademarks and other intellectual property.  Projects may include: preparing and prosecuting US patent applications before the US Patent and Trademark office, performing patentability searches, developing a patent portfolio strategies for early-stage companies, performing diligence (i.e. freedom to operate studies and/or patent landscape analysis), and registering US Trademarks.  Students will adhere to standard patent law office practices such as conflict checks, maintenance of strict confidentiality, docketing, and time-recordation. Students will learn and conform to the professional responsibilities of lawyers engaged in IP transactional practice as well as the Rules of Ethics of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The clinic will meet as a weekly class to discuss current client cases, intellectual property law in practice, ethics, and special projects. In addition, students will interface with clients in-person, via telephone, and via email to discuss client intake, IP evaluation, and counseling. Students will also meet individually, as necessary, with the clinic director regarding the representation of particular clients and special projects.

Visit the Intellectual Property Clinic site for more information.

This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Introduction to Intellectual Property (IPLAW 952) and/or Patent Law (IPLAW 980) are co-requisites. Faculty approval required.
AULWR 964
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course develops students' skills in common legal writing formats other than memos and briefs. Not intended as a remedial course, this course rather provides an opportunity for students to sharpen legal writing skills with an emphasis on clarity and precision of expression. Weekly writing assignments include a few fully drafted documents (e.g., a short will, a short contract, a statute), as well as letters, short pleadings, jury instructions, and other short pieces. Students will concentrate on re-writing and editing their work. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
Applied Legal Analysis and Writing I (PSLFY 912) and Applied Legal Analysis and Writing II (PSLFY 914) required.
INTR 984
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course explores the legal frameworks, as well as the strategic considerations, practical skills and policy considerations that are implicated in international arbitration law and practice. International arbitration is the default means by which international commercial disputes are resolved. The effectiveness of its processes and outcomes are assured through a complex interaction of international treaties, national laws, contractual agreements, specialized procedural rules, and international customs and practice norms. The regime is designed to strike an appropriate balance between party autonomy with the sovereign and transnational regulatory interests implicated in disputes. In addition to the doctrinal and practical aspects of international arbitration, this course will also explore the larger trends and theoretical questions raised in contemporary debates about the future of international arbitration.  This course is one that will satisfy the prerequisite for participation in the Vis Moot Competition.

Prerequisites:
None
CRMLW 970
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course will concern the scope of international criminal law, the definition of international crimes, principles of jurisdiction, procedures for international criminal prosecutions, and examples of international criminal law.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 948
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This seminar examines selected aspects of international financial, securities, and banking law. It covers broadly four areas: First, it provides elements of financial law. This includes legal aspects of banking, securities, and money; the objectives of regulations and supervision; an overview of US regulation; and the public and private law of international monetary obligations. Secondly, it examines aspects of international financial and securities regulation. This includes an examination of the financial crisis of 2008 and the regulatory reforms resulting from it; selected comparative aspects of regulation in the US and the EU through a detailed discussion of legislation and case law (e.g. institutional structure, insider trading, rating agencies). Thirdly, it discusses economic and monetary union in the EU and the eurozone crisis. Finally, it provides an overview of the law of the IMF and the international financial architecture. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 968
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The course involves the study and analysis of the core United Nations-sponsored international human rights treaties with the following objectives: understanding the history and development of human rights protection in the post-UN Charter era; examining the substantive content of the major international human rights instruments; and measuring the relative compliance of the states that have ratified them. The course will assess the impact of these treaties on the enjoyment by the citizens of the various state parties of the rights provided therein. Particular attention will be paid to claims about the apparent decline and/or stagnation in the enforcement of these treaties in the post-Cold War period, especially in the last decade. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
INTR 971
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course introduces students to key concepts and doctrines of international law. The first half of the course examines fundamental issues including treaties and customary international law; actors in the international system, including the U.N. Security Council and the International Court of Justice; how international law is applied within the U.S. legal system; international dispute resolution; countries’ jurisdiction to prescribe and enforce their domestic laws abroad; and immunities for state and non-state actors.  The second half of the course focuses on four specific topic areas: human rights law; international criminal law; the law of the sea; and international law related to the existential threats of weapons of mass destruction and international environmental degradation.  The course provides students with basic knowledge needed for both public and private international law practice.

Prerequisites:
None
INTR 966
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course is intended to acquaint students with the impact of globalization upon the process of litigation. It focuses upon the adjudicatory resolution of disputes created by international contracts and global business transactions through the standard legal trial process and arbitration. Various basic topics are treated, including (1) the certification and training of international lawyers; (2) the liability exposure of multinational enterprises; (3) the State as an actor in global commerce; (4) problems of comparative jurisdiction, service of process and evidence-gathering, proof of foreign law, and the enforcement of foreign judgments; (5) the extraterritorial application of national law; and (6) attempts to establish a transborder law and legal process. The course also provides a thorough introduction to international arbitration and investor-state arbitration.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 997
Credits:
2

The global international taxation framework is currently in the midst of a historic upheaval aimed at making large corporations pay a fair share of tax. Understanding these developments and their context, including how they build upon the existing system, is important for students who aspire to practice in tax and corporate law, as well as those with an interest in how the international taxation system can be made more fair for developing countries.

The first part of this two-credit seminar will provide students an introduction to the fundamentals of the existing US international taxation system, addressing both the US activities of foreign persons and the foreign activities of US persons. Attention will also be devoted to key topics such as the potential for profit shifting through transfer pricing. The focus of this introduction will be on the policies underpinning the US rules.

The second part of the course will turn to recent global developments, including the 2013 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project and its successors, Pillars One and Two of the ongoing work to revamp the international tax system. Pillar One proposes to reallocate a portion of large multinational corporations’ profits to the countries where their products are sold, while Pillar Two proposes a new global minimum tax.

Prerequisites: Students must have completed, or must be concurrently enrolled in, Basic Federal Income Taxation. This requirement may be waived for students with prior income tax work experience.

Prerequisites:
Students must have completed, or must be concurrently enrolled in, Basic Federal Income Taxation. This requirement may be waived for students with prior income tax work experience.
IPLAW 951
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course presents the range of legal issues arising from the emergence of cyberspace. The course considers how the law has reacted to challenges posed by the Internet as well as how the law is shaping its future. Specific areas covered include jurisdictional analysis, First Amendment/free speech, digital copyrights, trademarks and domain names, electronic privacy, e-commerce, and Internet governance.

Prerequisites:
None
IPLAW 952
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course will survey the protection of proprietary rights in inventions, writings, creative expression, trade secrets, and other intangible intellectual products by federal patent, copyright, trademark and unfair competition law, and by state trade secrecy and unfair competition law.  A central theme will be the challenges to traditional legal paradigms posed by new technologies and the shift to an information-based economy.  The course is intended for all students who anticipate having corporate clients and seek a basic understanding of the laws applicable to key assets of most businesses, as well as for students interested in becoming intellectual property specialists.  This course does not replace (and is not a prerequisite for) Copyrights, Patent Law, Trademarks, or any other intellectual property course.

Prerequisites:
None
MLSLW 903
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course is divided into two parts. First, it introduces legal research skills: the basic skills necessary for identifying, locating, and effectively utilizing legal resources. This will include understanding distinctions among legal resources: primary sources of case law and federal/state statutes; sources of secondary legal authority; and research reference tools, to including online legal research tools, commonly used in the practice of law. The course will also introduce citation rules, including an overview of the basic Bluebook citation method. The course will explore the process of legal analysis to better understand sources of legal authority, legal issues, assess credibility and accuracy of primary and secondary sources, and tools for legal analysis and legal reasoning through the application of multiple sources of law. This introductory course will emphasize how legal research can play a critical role legal problem solving and effective legal writing.
 

Prerequisites:
This course is for students in the Master of Legal Studies (MLS) and Certificate in Legal Studies (CLS) programs only.
MLSLW 902
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course provides an introduction to private law and key concepts in business law. In the United States, there are many sources and classifications of law. This course is designed to integrate the various fields of private and business law. The first half of the course focuses on private law, including an introductory survey of the law of property, contract, and torts. The second half explores business law in corporate contexts. Business law will be taught through case law, the structure of business organizations, and corporate practice. 

Prerequisites:
This course is for students in the Master of Legal Studies (MLS) and Certificate in Legal Studies (CLS) programs only.
BUSLW 965
Credits:
1
Credit Only: Y Anon Gr: N

The course will provide a basic understanding of the goals and techniques used to help families plan for the management and distribution of their personal wealth. Legal concepts from the laws of property, business and tax will be integrated at a fundamental level.
 

Prerequisites:
None
MLSLW 901
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course provides an introduction to the legal framework of American constitutional and administrative government.  This course will cover the development of constitutional structural protections such as separation of powers principles (separated legislative, executive, and judicial functions) and federalism (division of power between federal and state governments), and a close examination of how those constitutional structures, separation of powers and federalism, function in the modern administrative state.  Key inquiries will focus on how administrative decision-making impacts due procedural due process; and how the judiciary and the political branches have responded to continuing questions of the constitutional legitimacy of the administrative state. Special emphasis in this course will be placed on statutory interpretation and judicial review of administrative actions by federal courts. The course will be divided into roughly four topical components: (1) Legislation and Statutory Interpretation; (2) Executive Power & Delegation of Legislative Power; (3) The Administrative State & The Regulatory Process; and (4) Judicial Review of Agency Rules. 

Prerequisites:
This course is for students in the Master of Legal Studies (MLS) and Certificate in Legal Studies (CLS) programs only.
LLM 900
Credits:
2
Credit Only: Y Anon Gr: N

To develop a good foundation for the LL.M. students' other course work, this course introduces the United States court system, the role of the Constitution in the United States legal system, and other foundation materials in United States law. The goal is to introduce students to distinctive aspects and/or fundamental principles in U.S. law.

Prerequisites:
Enrollment limited to LL.M. candidates
BUSLW 967
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

Investment treaty arbitration is essentially arbitration between foreign investors and host States under the public international law regime of international investment law. 

International investment law is a sub-specie of international economic law. The investor requests arbitration against the host State pursuant to alleged violations of international investment law as found in various international investment agreements or foreign direct investment laws (e.g., bilateral investment treaties). 

The field of investment treaty arbitration has grown exponentially the last century.

Furthermore, as this field of law has grown it is increasingly interacting with other public international law regimes, such as human rights and environmental law. This intersection will be covered to some extent.

This course is divided in three elements that inform each other: (1) International Dispute Resolution, the background to international investment law (“IIL”), and investor-state dispute settlement (“ISDS”), (2) International Investment Law, and (3) Procedural Aspects of Investment Treaty Arbitration (ITA): 

(1) We will briefly go over the core features and history of international dispute resolution (international courts and tribunals, commissions, arbitration bodies, etc.). This element will be short. Some knowledge in international litigation and ideally international arbitration is necessary, albeit not a strict prerequisite. 

(2) We will focus on protection of foreign investments under international law. We will look at treaty law and customary international law. We will also designate some time to the background of international investment agreements (“IIA”) and treaty interpretation based on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

(3) We will analyze and address procedural features (and issues) in connection with investment treaty arbitration. We will look at inter alia jurisdiction, applicable law, interim measures, remedies, challenges and annulments, confidentiality and transparency, enforcement of investment awards, and sovereign immunity from execution of arbitral awards.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 997
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This seminar course will focus on the processes - -procedural and intellectual - - that both trial and appellate courts employ in reaching their decisions. Besides emphasizing judges’ application of legal principles, discussion will focus on the role that judicial discretion plays in the legal process and the limitations placed on the exercise of such discretion. Attention will also be given to methods of selection of judges in federal and state courts, along with ongoing controversy over the extent to which “political” views impact judges’ decisions. The importance of stare decisis and judicial system hierarchy will also be examined.

Active participation by students in each session, including candid discussion of relevant and timely issues, raised by students themselves, will be required. It is expected that Judge Smith will invite experienced jurists from other courts to appear as guests to describe how they and their courts decide cases.

The textbook that will be used for the course is Judicial Decision-Making, by Barry Friedman, et al. It is a paperback volume which, at the time this course was developed, was the only textbook covering the subject matter. It seeks to “marr[y] the approaches and learning of social scientists about how judges and judicial bodies behave…with legal questions, problems, and discussion of legal institutions.”

This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
LABR 970
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course is an extended study of the federal National Labor Relations Act focusing on the right to form and join labor organizations, strikes, boycotts and picketing, collective bargaining, and the enforcement of collective bargaining agreements.

Prerequisites:
None
ENVR 955
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course will address legal and regulatory issues that arise during the process of developing land, such as using land for commercial, residential, agricultural, industrial, or other land uses. Land use law has common themes in all states, and we will address these themes by reading materials and cases from many states. Students will learn how local governments obtain authority to regulate land use and how these governments plan for the growth of a municipality and regulate that growth. We will also explore the processes that landowners and developers follow to obtain local or state government approval for land development projects and the legal tools used by opponents of land use change.

Prerequisites:
None
BUSLW 953
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

There are two parts to this course. We begin with financial accounting: a system for measuring and communicating the outcomes of business activities to parties outside the firm. This section will: 1) provide you with a basic understanding of the concepts and principles underlying financial accounting practices; 2) make you comfortable with financial data pulled from regulatory filings; 3) enable you to have a conversation with your business clients; 4) make you aware of the care that must be taken when using financial accounting data as an information source; 5) provide you with the technical tools and references to analyze how a particular transaction affects a firm’s financial statements. In the second part of the course, we will study basic finance concepts such as the time value of money, risk, capital budgeting, appraisals, and dividend policies. We will focus on the legal instruments that facilitate debt and equity transactions. Depending on time and student interest, we will also cover some basic derivatives and M&A.

Prerequisites:
None
LWPER 950, LWPER 997 (Spring 2022)
Credits:
1
Credit Only: Y Anon Gr: N

This course will explore the intersection between law and (in)equity with the goal of exposing students to the ways individuals and groups are impacted differently by historical and existing laws in the United States. Each week, one professor based or affiliated with Penn State Law will lead a lecture and discussion in an area of their expertise.

Prerequisites:
None
LWPER 948
Credits:
3
Credit Only:NAnon Gr:Y

This course will explore the different ways in which the law regulates and accounts for sexuality in general and sexual orientation in particular. Topics to be covered will include rights to privacy and their impact on the ability of the state to regulate sexual conduct; rights to equal protection by lesbians and gay men; the movement for relationship recognition, marriage equality, and other family rights; rights to free speech and associations of lesbians and gay men (and of those who do not want to associate with them); employment discrimination; and legal issues involving transgender.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 927
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The objectives of this course include an examination of the interface between law and the arts with an eye to both theoretical and practical implications and a striving to identify creative and serviceable solutions to the problems that have frustrated the growth and harvest of the creative effort. The investigation will be directed toward subject areas that reflect functional divisions within the arts; i.e., the visual arts, dance, music, the literary arts, and areas such as television and film. The course includes a mandatory overnight field trip to New York City at the students' expense. It is a prerequisite for the Art, Sports, and Entertainment Law Clinic. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 920 (ULWR 997-SP22, FA22)
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This seminar will explore the history, role, and regulation of police officers and police departments in American law.  Topics will include investigative policing, street policing, remedies for legal violations, and possible reforms. 

Criminal Procedure (PSLFY 907) is recommended but not required.

This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
PSLFY 908
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The primary goal of the Legal Research Tools and Strategies course is to familiarize first year students with the process of discovering, evaluating, critically analyzing, and applying sources of American legal authority used by lawyers to understand facts and resolve issues.  While much of the course necessarily focuses on students developing a comfortable facility for the discovery phase of the legal research process in which they learn to find law and legal commentary in its various publication formats, an equally important outcome of the course is to provide students with opportunities to evaluate, analyze and apply the legal authority they discover in the context of the legal matters they will be expected to handle as law students and lawyers.

Prerequisites:
None
IPLAW 982
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The retention of the intellectual property or the absolute transfer of such interests to other for purposes of economic exploitation is, however, declining in use and popularity. Rather, it has evolved that maximization of the holder's value in the intellectual property may, in some circumstances, be better achieved by sharing some of the rights, while retaining others. This is the topic of the course in the licensing of intellectual property. The offering explores the myriad business, legal, and negotiating issues involved in the drafting and use of intellectual property licensing agreements.

Prerequisites:
Students must have taken at least one of the following courses: Copyrights (IPLAW 960), Trademarks (IPLAW 985), and/or Patent Law (IPLAW 980); or receive specific permission of the faculty member after demonstrating special qualifications for the subject matter.
EXPR 997
Credits:
1
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course gives an overview of litigation and the role of litigators in business transactions. The course looks at commercial, corporate and bankruptcy litigation in general; contract-related issues for litigators to consider before or during litigation, such as choice of law provisions, forum provisions and dispute resolution mechanisms; litigation tactics, discovery and privilege; and advocacy. No prior experience with corporate or bankruptcy law is required. The emphasis is on practical litigating, and the course is designed to be of value to anyone interested in litigation and/or business transactions. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 997
Credits:
3

The practicum nature of this course will allow students to not only learn the fundamental principles of examination and deposition, but to demonstrate these skills in a supervised setting where feedback can be provided, and students can learn from their mistakes in a low-pressure environment. Students will also be taught how to authenticate and introduce evidence through witnesses.   

Prerequisites:
None
LLM 901
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course explores U.S. common law analytical methods and discourse. Students will analyze cases and statutes to solve client problems. Students will draft objective memoranda and other documents to communicate their legal analysis in writing. Students will also learn the basics of U.S. legal research.

Prerequisites:
Enrollment limited to LL.M. candidates
EXPR 972
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Conflicts between parties with different views of “the public good” are often difficult to resolve, especially in the environmental and natural resource arena. The judicial dispute resolution process is often not well-adapted to addressing conflicts among jurisdictions and meeting the interests of the public and private parties affected by the conflict. Mediation and other alternative dispute resolution techniques can be very useful tools in these cases. This experiential course uses case studies and simulations to explore techniques and strategies other than traditional litigation that lawyers can use to represent clients and resolve disputes in these settings. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 952 (ULWR 997-Spring 2021)
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This seminar is broken into the following three parts:

Part I, Introduction and in-Depth Analysis of the Minority-White Gap in Business Ownership, will focus on understanding the current state of the differences between white and minority business ownership and the underlying reasons for such differences. This section of the course will run for four weeks.

Part II, The Lawyer’s Essential Tools In Representing a Minority-Owned Small Business, will focus on some of the basic tools a lawyer needs when advising on the formation and operation of a small business, including a practical introduction to the following concepts: (1) the organization and operation of the basic forms of business (i.e., corporation, partnership, and limited liability company (LLC), (2) the federal income tax considerations in the choice of business entity (i.e., C corporation, S corporation, partnership, or LLC), (3) the private placement exception to the registration requirement of the Federal securities laws, (4) negotiating Small Business Administration assistance for a minority-owned business, and (5) the drafting of an agreement for the acquisition of a small business. In looking at each of these topics, consideration will be given to any issue that is unique to minority businesses. This section will run for eight weeks, and students will make joint presentations on assigned topics with a practicing lawyer.

Part III, The Big Ideas for Addressing the Minority-White Gap in Business Ownership, will focus on (1) a critique of various existing private and public proposals, and (2) the development of new public and private proposals, for addressing the problem. This section will run for two weeks, and students will make presentations on an assigned topic.

This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
LWPER 947
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This the first of a two-course sequence.  Students may take this course and later choose to not continue with National Security Law II (Leadership in Crisis Simulation); however, all students wishing to take the National Security Law II must take National Security Law I (Foundations) as a prerequisite.  National Security Law I examines the laws, processes, and institutions relevant to protecting the nation’s security.  The course first examines the critical relationships between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches in forming, overseeing, and executing national security policy and operations.  The course then examines the federal government’s authority to use force abroad, including covert and special operations; offensive cyber operations; the government’s authority to collect intelligence and conduct surveillance, both within the U.S. and abroad; the public’s right to obtain national security information and the government’s right to keep secrets; U.S. homeland security law; and legal issues associated with the North American Treaty Organization and the law of the sea.  The course also examines the practical challenges national security lawyers confront in practice.  Persistent themes include the balance between security and liberty, the allocation of authority within and between governments, and the perceived tension between national security and international obligations.  This course is appropriate for any student interested in better understanding some of the most important and even existential issues facing the nation today.  The course is also essential for students with specific career interests in national security or public international law. 

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 935; EXPR 997 (SP21); EXPR 997 (SP23-2 Credits National Security Practice)
Credits:
4
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This four-credit course meets twice a week for two 75-minute class sessions per week (like a three-credit course) and is the second of a two-course sequence. National Security Law I (Foundations) is a prerequisite.  National Security Law II (Leadership in Crisis Simulation) is an extended simulation course designed to replicate legal practice in the national security environment while developing leadership and communication skills.  Legal issues arise against an intense backdrop of competing domestic and international political interests under time constraints with lives often on the line.  Students represent members of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches as well foreign governments, the media, and non-governmental advocacy groups as they confront a complex national security problem across the semester.  Throughout the course, students fill leadership roles enriched by leadership readings and classroom discussion.  Students learn to write on short deadlines and communicate verbally with confidence, clarity, and efficiency.  Students receive extensive individual performance feedback to include multiple one-on-one mentoring sessions; regular written performance evaluations; and detailed writing critiques.  Visitors with high-level experience enrich the class by providing analysis and perspective.  This experience will be particularly valuable for students considering careers in national security specifically, the public sector generally, or within non-governmental advocacy groups; however, skills emphasized in the course will be relevant to any student wishing to think precisely, communicate clearly, and collaborate creatively under deadlines with high stakes. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
National Security Law I (Foundations) (LWPER 947) and Faculty Approval Required
LWPER 997
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course will provide a general overview of the federal policies toward Native Americans from Removal through Self-Determination.  Students will learn about the scope of tribal inherent sovereignty, as well as the legal principles governing tribal assertions of water, hunting, fishing and gathering rights.  And they will get an understanding of how federal, state, and tribal jurisdiction overlap in Indian country and on tribally owned lands.  The course will also cover federal and tribal protections for cultural and religious resources of Native Americans.  Finally, students will be introduced to Indigenous Peoples¿ rights in international law and consider its applicability to tribes in the United States.
 

Prerequisites:
None
ENVR 988
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course is an introduction to the public and private claims to natural resources. Its focus is the common law but brief introductions of major natural resource protection statutes like the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and others are included. The course also studies major resource-types like water, minerals, timber, recreation and scenery in their overall legal context. 

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 936
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Identifying opportunities for negotiating and resolving conflicts before they are litigated in the courts is the focus of this course. The course explores both negotiation theory and practice, as well how to design systems and processes for managing disputes. This experiential learning course will address and explore real world issues that may come up for attorneys in practice, including in person and online. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
ENVR 965
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course will address the basic concepts in oil and gas law within the United States as well as the specific legal issues associated with the development of the Marcellus Shale formation. This specific topics to be covered include the ownership or oil and gas, oil and gas leasing, oil and gas conservation laws, oil and gas interests, and government regulation of development.

Prerequisites:
None
IPLAW 980
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course is an examination of the legal requirements for obtaining patent protection for an invention. The statutory foundations of United States patent law are examined through an analysis of patent prosecution practice and patent litigation. The course also considers United States patent practice in the context of international intellectual property law.

Prerequisites:
None
BUSLW 978
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

Payment Systems and Financial Transactions is a general overview of the law of negotiable instruments (e.g., checks), and other mechanisms for making payments, including credit cards, debit cards, ACH payments, and wire transfers. The course also will cover credit enhancement systems such as guaranties and letters of credit. The course will address both uniform state law (UCC Articles 3, 4, 4A, and 5), and applicable federal statutes and regulations (such as the Expedited Funds Availability Act, the Truth-in-Lending Act, and the Electronic Fund Transfers Act).

Prerequisites:
None
LWPER 945
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course introduces you to current “hot-button” issues in technology policy and law through the eyes of policymakers, asking you to advance their conversations. The early weeks of the course introduce you to the substantive legal, technical, and policy background around these issues. The later weeks shift toward problem solving and building concrete, public-facing projects, working in interdisciplinary teams. The projects in this class are tailored to meet the current research needs of particular federal and state lawmakers and agencies based on their legislative and regulatory agendas for the year. Possible policy coverage and project areas include connected health; consumer/ investor protection in security and privacy; disinformation, governance, and tech literacy; internet availability and net neutrality; sustainability and ethics in computing design; the Internet of Things and the right to repair; machine learning/ AI suitability; tech competition; computing history; and tech workforce development. Successful projects will be shared with the policymakers whose work they advance.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 946
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This seminar is designed to improve students’ understanding of the theoretical and policy justifications underlying the prosecution of white collar crime. Students will examine current issues in the debate over corporate criminal liability, prosecutorial discretion, the use of plea agreements to achieve structural reform of corporations, and the federalization of crime. In addition, the class will examine white collar crime in particular industries such as health care and securities regulation. Students will examine these issues both theoretically and practically by reviewing law review articles, Department of Justice policies, pleadings, and case studies on some of the most notorious white collar crime cases in recent years. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
LWPER 997
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

Poverty Law & Advocacy will explore how the poor are disadvantaged and subject to unfair treatment by the law and systems in place, particularly within the realm of income assistance, food insecurity, housing, education, healthcare, and the criminal justice system.  It will look at federal and state programs and policies that have been created to help families living in poverty and question whether these have been effective at reducing poverty. It will evaluate biases and look at legal solutions.  The course will also focus on advocacy in the legal system, how to leverage outcomes for poverty-stricken individuals and families, and the critical role that lawyers play.  It will encompass some skills-based activities by having students create and develop favorable policy and/or legal argument, to improve outcomes for fictitious client(s) living in poverty, based on the textbook, current federal and state law and policy, and classroom discussions.  The course is intended to be a mix of theory, law, and practical content, with an emphasis on reform and effective lawyering.

 

Prerequisites:
None
PRORP 934
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

Through the use of hypothetical situations, this course attempts to generate student sensitivity to ethical problems faced by lawyers in various kinds of practice. The ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the older Code of Professional Responsibility are the basic tools, but discussion centers as well on case law, ABA opinions and standards, statutes, and the dictates of conscience. Discipline and professional malpractice are also treated.

Prerequisites:
None
PSLFY 920
Credits:
4
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course introduces the basic concepts and principles in the law of property. Topics include: acquisition and allocation of property rights; restrictions on owners' rights to use, limit access to, and sell or dispose of their property; and the relationships among multiple owners of rights in the same property. The emphasis is on real property, although the course also addresses intellectual property and other types of personal property.

Prerequisites:
None
LWPER 997
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The goal of the seminar is to examine the relationship between property and poverty with a particular focus on the work of Hernando de Soto. More generally, we will consider what happens to property rights and entitlements during periods of social change, and the implications of these changes for whether a country and its citizens remain poor. Case studies will be taken from across the developing world, with a particular focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. Special attention will be paid to the role of formal legal institutions in maintaining or transforming existing economic interests and social arrangements

This course DOES NOT satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
HLTLW 963
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course surveys public health law, which consists of local, state, federal, and international law used to protect the public from illness, death, and disability. The first part of the course will focus on the sources of state and federal legal authority to regulate for public health, as well as the tensions with public health regulation and civil liberties and individual rights. The second part of the course will focus on some common areas of public health regulation (e.g., drugs, tobacco, obesity, etc.). The third part of the course will focus on whether public health regulation is consistent with the U.S. constitution, specifically the first, second, and fourteenth amendments. The fourth part of the course will focus on public health tools such as testing, screening, and searching for health risks and corresponding issues with privacy, confidentiality and surveillance. If time permits, the course will also cover emergency preparedness and bioterrorism. The field of public health law is rapidly changing, and I encourage you to keep up on current events and legal changes.

Prerequisites:
None
BUSLW 979
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course will focus on the regulation of commercial banks in the U.S, and will include an overview of the regulation of other financial institutions, such as insurers, securities brokers-dealers and investment companies.

Prerequisites:
None
PROSK 986
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course addresses the various legal and equitable forms of relief that are available to private parties in various contexts (e.g., contract, tort and property claims) as well as in cases that involve issues of public importance (e.g., injunctive relief for civil rights violations).  This course will address remedies from a practical perspective (e.g., strategic decision-making regarding which remedies to pursue in order to achieve a client’s goals) and from a theoretical perspective (e.g., the public policies that underlie the various forms of relief).  Specific topics that will be covered in the course include: compensatory damages, criminal and civil contempt, injunctions, specific performance, rescission, declaratory judgments, punitive damages, restitution, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, constructive trusts, equitable liens, and equitable defenses such as unclean hands, estoppel and laches.

Prerequisites:
None for J.D. candidates. LL.M. candidates should have successfully completed, or be concurrently enrolled in, Torts (PSLFY 925), Civil Procedure (PLSFY 900), and Contracts (PSLFY 905).
EXPR 997
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This seminar will explore the range of legal issues that arise in the development of small scale (distributed), community scale, and utility scale renewable energy, focusing primarily on solar and wind energy development. The course will identify policy methods for mandating, incentivizing, and financing renewable energy development and associated infrastructure. We will also address land use issues such as local zoning for renewables, state preemption of local control, transmission line siting, and public and private legal tools for resolving landowner conflicts in the renewable energy sphere. The final portion of the course will tour the social, cultural, and environmental legal issues associated with renewable energy development, focusing on wildlife laws, environmental review statutes, and community negotiation tools.

Within each of these topics, the course will focus on the equity issues that arise in renewable energy development, meaning the extent to which individuals and groups experience different benefits and costs of renewable energy development. The course will analyze the extent to which energy law fails to address these equity issues and will identify improved legal tools that are emerging. Students will write papers and prepare presentations that propose solutions to an actual renewable energy policy issue.

This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 983
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course considers legal issues typically arising in the course of representing an entrepreneurial venture, including choice of appropriate entity, naming and trade names, agreements among initial and early owners, operational management, governance, succession, equity and debt finance, intellectual property issues, employment arrangements and applicable employment statutes, executive compensation, typical operational contracts, risk management and ethical issues.  This course will also review customary financial statements, business strategies in terms of long-term development or early exit, and common exit alternatives.  The objective is to give participants an introduction to the diverse legal problems that they are likely to encounter in an entrepreneurial setting, either as lawyers for the enterprise or as owners of an equity position in the enterprise. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 954
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course will address relationships and responsibilities of representing the professional athlete. Students will also get an introduction and in-depth examination of Representation through group exercises, class discussions and professional contract analysis. There will be time dedicated to the NCAA Rules that affect Agent interaction with potential clients and individual State enacted laws governing the modern Agent. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 968
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Students will learn about the role of judicial clerks, including the typical responsibilities of judicial clerks, and they will learn about various forms of judicial writing done by trial and appellate court clerks.  Students will recognize the impact of written advocacy on judicial writing as they switch roles from advocating as a lawyer to deciding issues raised by the advocates and writing opinions that implement subtle persuasive writing techniques. Students must critically read judicial files, including parties’ briefs; they also will conduct research, analyze the facts and law from a judge’s perspective, and apply the correct motion standard or standard of review. Students will develop a deeper understanding of the process for creation of legal precedent through opinions. With individualized feedback, students will develop precision in self-editing and revision skills and will practice producing concise, clear, and accessible written work.. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Enrollment limited to J.D. students only.
EXPR 934
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course explores sources of administrative law, with primary emphasis on federal administrative law, and provides students the opportunity to research regulations, agency decisions, and other administrative legal resources using a variety of sources.  The goal of the course is to give students a practical understanding of where administrative authority and law originates and how to find it.  Emphasis will be placed on using free, authentic resources to conduct much of this research, but attention to premium online resources will also be included. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Students should have taken or plan to take concurrently a course that deals with administrative law.
IHRDC 900
Credits:
4
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The Rural Economic Development Clinic will provide students with practical legal experience representing individuals and entities in Pennsylvania's rural communities, primarily within the broad fields of agricultural, food, and energy law. Students will work with agricultural producers, businesses, landowners, and nonprofit organizations on specific projects that will involve transactional work such as preparing / reviewing contracts, addressing basic business entity issues, and providing general legal counsel.

Students will receive instruction on basic skills associated with legal practice including those required to interact with clients. Students also will receive instruction in any substantive area necessary to represent their clients. This instruction will be provided in a group and individual setting. As part of their clinic responsibilities, students will interact directly with clients to ascertain the legal issues presented, advise the clients on the recommended legal strategy, and prepare or review any necessary legal documentation to effectuate the legal strategy. Visit the Rural Economic Development Clinic for more information. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Agricultural Law (BUSLW 956) suggested but not required, Faculty approval required.
BUSLW 984
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

Article Two of the Uniform Commercial Code is an integrated body of statutory law that prescribes the rights and obligations of parties involved in transactions in goods. Although we will review general principles of contract law and contrast them with the approach adopted in Article Two, this course emphasizes the special techniques of statutory construction utilized in interpreting a code as opposed to an isolated statute. Classroom discussion is devoted almost exclusively to developing analyses of written problems distributed to the students in advance of the class. The problems require students to fashion arguments based on the statutory language. The problems also require students to develop an understanding of the legal and commercial context based on the assigned readings, and then to interpret the statutory language in light of this context. The course topics are: code methodology (including the history and jurisprudence of Article Two), contract formation and interpretation, performance obligations, breach and remedies.

Prerequisites:
None
BUSLW 952
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course deals with the creation, enforcement, and priorities of personal property security interests under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code and related statutes. It addresses:(a) encumbrances on consumer, commercial, and industrial goods, (b) inventory and receivables financing for manufacturers, distributors, and dealers, and (c) personal property agricultural financing. Relevant provisions of other Articles of the UCC and other state and federal statutes are integrated into the course as required.

Prerequisites:
None
LWPER 999
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course explores how various areas of the law impact the sports industry. The "law" that is used by most sports lawyers is principally the application of settled principles of other legal fields to the sports industry: contract law, labor law, tax law, products liability law, intellectual property law, etc.

The Sports Law course, then focuses on important areas that provide the foundational principles that drive the outcome of most legal disputes arising in the sports industry. The course also examines on certain areas of the law such as antitrust, labor, and constitutional law, that have specific and unique applications to sports.

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 952
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course is designed to provide students with an advanced understanding of ways lawyers use primary and secondary legal research sources and finding tools to successfully represent their clients. An emphasis is placed on the development of effective legal research strategies that take into account choice of format (e.g., the relative advantages and disadvantages of print and electronic sources), cost/benefit analysis of format choice, evolving approaches by law firms and private practitioners to billable research hours, use of computerized tools to organize research results, and presentation of research results to case supervisors. Course content will be presented in a hybrid format consisting of two hours per week of in-class meetings with the remaining credit to be completed by coursework outside scheduled class time through online and written assignments. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 937
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

Street law teaches law students to use and develop interactive methods to teach young people about fundamental principles of the U.S. legal system and practical lessons about the law.  Participating law students attend a comprehensive orientation program and participate in weekly class sessions focused on pedagogical practices and community lawyering. 

Throughout the semester, law students learn how to design small group exercises, role-plays, and simulations of legal proceedings. The program has two focuses: a law course characterized by rich legal content, examining practical law and legal policy; the second, a legal literacy focus designed to further develop law student expressive skills, critical thinking, problem solving, and other professional skills.

This second dimension exposes law students to the culture and experiences of their students and helps them see the law through the eyes of others. It also teaches law students many of the skills necessary to be good lawyers, including: researching contemporary legal topics; breaking down complex legal concepts to laypersons; and working with a diverse clientele of a wide range of abilities.

This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Course is available to upper-level J.D. students only. Faculty approval required
INTR 985
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course will provide a broad introduction to the law and regulation of facilities and services used to provide international telecommunications. The course will examine how sovereign nations agree to manage shared resources such as radio spectrum and satellite orbital slots. Additionally, the course will use case studies to assess whether and how nations reach consensus on treaties and voluntary commitments.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 951
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This seminar will be based on Professor Thompson's 2019 book entitled Business Taxation Deskbook published by the Practising Law Institute. Students will develop a basic understanding of business tax principles generally.

This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
BUSLW 994
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course will examine and debate a series of legal and regulatory issues raised by spectrum management, broadcasting, cable television, common carrier, Internet, resource allocation, and technology planning topics.

Prerequisites:
None
CONLW 957
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course examines current constitutional doctrine concerning religion under the First Amendment to the Constitution. The focus will be on the essential cases and principles of the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment. These cases and principles are organized along three thematic lines: (1) the regulation of religious activity (free exercise and neutrality, governmental interests, legislative accommodation), (2) the funding of religious activity (establishment and neutrality, governmental support of religious institutions), and (3) the treatment of religion in government's culture shaping activities (public schools, school curriculum, religious speech). The course ends with a discussion of the definition of "religion" for purposes of federal constitutional law.

Prerequisites:
None
LABR 962
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course covers common law employment doctrines (at-will employment, contract and tort erosions of at-will employment, employee duties, including the duty of loyalty and trade secrets), noncompetition agreements, and employee rights in inventions, and workplace injuries (including workers compensation, OSHA, and criminal and tort approaches to promoting a safe workplace).

Prerequisites:
None
GOVPL 997
Credits:
1
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The course will explore the history, constitutional, legal foundation and separation of powers issues involved in the government independent counsel from Teapot Dome to Watergate, Iran-Contra, Whitewater and the Russian hacking investigations. It will explore in depth, the unique problems and legal issues encountered in these cases, including conflict with parallel congressional inquiries, assertion and application of Fifth Amendment, executive and DOJ authority over the independent counsel as well as Supreme Court and lower court jurisdiction limning the office. The course will also examine collateral constitutional issues under the pardon power and the relation to Congress’ impeachment processes.

Prerequisites:
None
LABR 966
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

Employer-provided pension and health care programs play a critical role in the lives of individuals, families, and communities. They also affect corporations, financial markets, and the economy as a whole. Employee benefit programs are, in short, an important staple of modern law practice. This course concentrates on the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and major issues in litigation related to such statutes.  Classes examine benefit plan operation and administration requirements, fiduciary duties, plan issues in bankruptcy and divorce, prohibited transactions, federal preemption of state law, and health care reform. The course also surveys other federal and/or state statutes benefiting workers generally, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), minimum wage and overtime pay requirements, and unpaid wage claim/wage theft statutes. Throughout the semester, students examine the policy goals underpinning benefits law.

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 947
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course examines the unique aspects of working as a lawyer within a corporation. The course explores the key roles today's in-house counsel play, including advising the Board of Directors and senior management, selecting and managing outside counsel, meeting corporate compliance and regulatory obligations, conducting internal investigations, drafting and negotiating commercial transaction agreements, managing litigation and balancing the dual roles of trusted business advisor and guardian of the ethical and reputational capital of the enterprise. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 907
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course examines the contribution of the judiciary to political governance in comparative perspective. It focuses on the Supreme Court and the European Court of Justice, which is the highest court of the European Union. It also takes into account selectively judgments of other constitutional courts. It seeks to explore the function of judicial review in modern democracy through a study of judicial decisions in selected areas. It examines the relationship between the judiciary and the other organs of government and the role of courts in protecting the citizen. It focuses on the following areas: federalism, the protection of human rights, the principles of democracy, non-discrimination, equality, proportionality, legitimate expectations, and fair hearing; Locus standi, remedies for the protection of constitutional rights, and the liability of public bodies and state agencies. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
BUSLW 962
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course provides an introduction to the domestic law and practice of arbitration. It assesses the statutory and decisional law basis for arbitration, especially the provisions of the Federal Arbitration Act. It investigates the central doctrinal issues in the field: the enforceability of unilaterally-imposed arbitration agreements, the arbitrability of statutory rights — in particular, civil rights matters, and the use of contract to establish the law of arbitration between the arbitrating parties. Emphasis is placed upon practical problems that have emerged in the practice of arbitration law: the selection of arbitrators, the use of discovery and evidence-gathering in arbitral proceedings, and the content of arbitration agreements. The course also addresses the new uses of arbitration in consumer, health, and employment fields.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 941
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The inexorable paces of globalization and interdependence over the past few decades have made the need for international cooperation among states more acute. The role of the United Nations, the premier global intergovernmental organization, in these processes has become more relevant, as has that of international law in general.  Notwithstanding the critical voices that have sometimes questioned the relevance or usefulness of the world body, and international law itself, on the basis of certain perspectives and points of view, the United Nations and its Specialized Agencies continue to have a considerable impact around the world, in such areas as the use of force, conflict prevention and resolution, refugees, human population displacement and forced migrations, humanitarian action, human rights, international trade, and economic and social development. These considerations, among others, make the study of the United Nations and international law more important today than it has ever been. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
PSLFY 925
Credits:
4
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

Tort law seeks to remedy civil wrongs that result in harm to person or property. The class will focus on basic concepts such as the intentional torts, negligence, strict liability, and products liability.

Prerequisites:
None
IPLAW 985
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

The law of trademarks is central to the concept of fair dealing in the commercial environment. The history of common law and statutory trademarks is explored as well as registration, conveyancing and foreign rights. The course deals with the duty of the merchant to compete honestly and remedies for failure to do so.

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 950
Credits:
4
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course introduces the fundamental skills of trial advocacy applicable in civil and criminal trials in any jurisdiction. In keeping with the theory that trial advocacy is best learned by "doing," each student will conduct written and oral exercises concerning the various stages of the trial process-pleadings, pretrial motions, discovery, settlement negotiations, trial preparation, jury selection, opening statements, direct and cross examination of lay witnesses, examination of expert witnesses, trial motions, and closing arguments. Students are able to evaluate their own progress through viewing videotapes of their performances. The class meets jointly for lectures, while the oral trial exercises are conducted in small sections. The teams for the national mock trial competitions that are conducted during the spring semester will be selected based upon students’ overall performance in Trial Advocacy. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Evidence (PROSK 955) (may also be taken concurrently)
BUSLW 997
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course introduces students to the main features of leading forms of unincorporated business associations, including limited liability companies (LLCs), partnerships, and limited partnerships. Topics covered include choice of entity, management structure, fiduciary duty, financial rights, transfer rights, and dissociation and dissolution, as well as the differences of these entities relative to corporations. This course is intended to be practice oriented and will survey the practical issues arising out of the formation, governance, operation and dissolution of unincorporated business associations. 

Prerequisites:
None
IHVSC 900
Credits:
4-5
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

The Veterans and Servicemembers Legal Clinic (Veterans Clinic) will provide focused and specialized legal assistance to veterans and servicemembers. Currently there are nearly 1.6 million veterans and military personnel located in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Under the supervision of a faculty member, students will learn the substance and process of representing veterans and current servicemembers and the unique legal issues they encounter.  Initially, the Veterans Clinic will focus on addressing state and federal policy matters affecting the rights of veterans and servicemembers, and providing legal assistance to a selected group of veterans whose claims have been rejected by the U.S. Department of Veterans Administration (VA) and appealed to the Board of Veterans Appeals.  The Veterans and Servicemembers Legal Clinic intends to accept and help litigate VA appeals cases referred to it by local and regional veterans associations.  The Veterans Clinic will also seek to develop and/or influence state and federal legislation that affects veterans or current servicemembers, including but not limited to policies addressing military voting issues, creation of veterans courts, issues arising under the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, and regulations to improve the lives of those sexually assaulted during military service.  The Veterans Clinic may also handle appellate matters addressing the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
Faculty approval required
LWPER 949
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course is designed to teach students about the veterans benefit system, by analyzing the statutes and regulations that govern that system, studying the administrative agency tasked with applying the law and distributing the benefits, and analyzing both administrative and judicial decisions interpreting those laws. Students will study the policy goals of the system, the role of attorney representation of veterans as it has changed over time, how to be an effective advocate for the veteran in this system, and the challenges the system faces due to the unprecedented number of claims filed and appealed.

Prerequisites:
None
ENVR 967
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course provides an overview of U.S.-focused law and policy related to water. This includes the allocation of water supplies under the riparian and prior appropriation doctrines, as well as the federal reserved rights doctrine, the Endangered Species Act, and cases testing the public interest. In addition, the course examines water quality concerns under the Clean Water Act, with a specific focus on the Chesapeake Bay. Finally, the course covers  special topics related to water law and policy, including flooding, drought, and climate change; drinking water, wastewater, and infrastructure; energy and the development of Marcellus Shale; and trans-boundary/ international water issues.

Prerequisites:
None
CRMLW 998
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course will cover the substantive law and procedures of major white-collar crimes, including conspiracy, fraud, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law (RICO), money laundering, public corruption, and economic crimes. It will also examine their civil counterparts and civil and administrative consequences and analyze the theory and policies of these hybrid criminal statutes. Finally, the class will learn and practice skills associated with white-collar crime cases, for example, investigative techniques, negotiation, and development of effective theories of the case.

Prerequisites:
None
FESTL 960
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This course examines the disposition of property at death by intestate succession and by will. The execution, revocation, construction, and contest of wills, as well as limits on the power to dispose of property by will, are studied. This course also examines the creation, purposes and termination of trusts, including informal trusts, and the interrelationship between trusts and wills.

Prerequisites:
None
EXPR 933
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

 As an overwhelming majority of civil cases in federal courts never go to trial or oral argument, federal courts decide cases primarily on the parties' written motions and briefs.  As such, knowing how, in a written document, to persuade courts to take a desired course of action is an essential skill for today’s advocates.  In this course, students will study the science of persuasion, from classical rhetoric to modern cognitive psychology, and will study the art of persuasion by examining how successful appellate advocates write.  Students will practice writing their own compelling motions and briefs in the context of an actual federal civil rights action.  Students will receive individualized feedback throughout the course. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisites:
ALAW I and ALAW II
ULWR 997 (Fall 2021 ONLY)
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course is intended to give students a practical knowledge base they can apply in their future law practice, whether principally in workers’ compensation practice, or in many other practice settings where knowledge of workers’ compensation law may prove useful, e.g., personal injury, disability, or employment law, as in-house counsel or in human resources management. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
ULWR 930
Credits:
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course is intended to give students a practical knowledge base they can apply in their future law practice, whether principally in workers’ compensation practice, or in many other practice settings where knowledge of workers’ compensation law may prove useful, e.g., personal injury, disability, or employment law, as in-house counsel or in human resources management. Grades will be based on participation and a final paper on a workers' compensation topic of the students' interest and choice.

This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Prerequisites:
None
PROSK 940 (PROSK 997-FA21, FA22)
Credits:
2
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: N

This course is designed to offer an intensive writing experience to improve students’ legal analysis, writing, and editing skills.  Students will be required to write legal memoranda responsive to legal and factual questions.  Students will practice written analysis and organization.  Students will learn how to write sentences that are accurate, brief, clear, and precise.  Further, the rules of grammar, punctuation, usage, tone, and style will be reinforced. This course is graded on a pass/fail basis, but does not count toward the one pass/fail course a student may take as described in the Pass-Fail Rules.

Prerequisites:
PSLFY 912 Applied Legal Analysis and Writing I