Fall 2025 Timely Registration News

Updated 4/10/2025

Important Registration Information

• Current Schedule of Classes – Law class offerings are available in LionPATH through the Student Center. To view available law classes:

  • Log into LionPATH and go to the Student Center.
  • Click on Find Classes and Enroll.
  • Select University Park as your location.
  • Under Course Career, choose LAW
     
• ​After the course registration process opens for all students, the Associate Deans for Academic Affairs and Registrar will assess enrollments to determine if any Carlisle taught courses have the capacity to connect with students in University Park.  Doing this analysis after the initial registration period ensures student access to courses by location. Additional courses may be made available as a result of this process.
   
• The final exam schedule will be posted closer to the start of the fall semester to account for potential course additions. Please check back for updates.

Courses with Special Enrollment Criteria

• Independent Study (LWINP 996)
  To enroll in this course, you must first obtain approval for an independent study from a law faculty member who agrees to supervise your project.  Once you have identified the supervising faculty member, please email the law school Registrar with their name and number of credits. After approval, the Registrar will enroll you in the course. Please review the independent study policy in the academic handbook. 

• Individual Research and Writing Seminar (LWSEM 996)
  Enrollment in this course requires completing the approval process outlined in the Required Upper-Level Writing Seminar Course Policy. Once approved the law school Registrar will enroll you in the course.

Distance Education Courses

The following courses will be taught via distance education, and therefore, the credits for J.D. students will be applied against the 15-credit maximum allowed for distance education by the American Bar Association (ABA).  See the Academic Handbook. Please note F-1 and J-1 students should follow enrollment requirements provided by Penn State Global.

• LWLLM 910-201 - Introduction to the United States Legal System - Professor Chong
• LWELA 926-201 - Disabilities Law (Law and Individuals with Disabilities) - Professor Martin
• LWELA 997-202 - Comparative Constitutional Law - Professor Kareithi
• LWSEM 914-201 - Reg & Leg Practice Seminar - Professor Brand
• LWSEM 997-202 - Health Justice Seminar - Professor Makhlouf
• LWSEM 997-203 - Trans Rights Seminar - Professor Spottswood
• LWELA 998-201 - White Collar Crim - Professor Copeland

Course Information & Updates​

The following courses from the Carlisle location will be available for registration in LionPATH on Friday, April 11^th at 1:30 p.m.

These courses will count toward the 15-credit maximum for distance education. Please note F-1 and J-1 students should follow enrollment requirements provided by Penn State Global.

Disabilities Law (Law and Individuals with Disabilities)
LWELA 926-201 (Class Number 29469)
Tu 5:30 p.m. -7:20 p.m.
Adjunct Professor Darlene Hemerka Martin
2 Credits
Zoom
Description: This course will address legal issues and concepts for people living with disabilities. It will cover issues surrounding civil rights discrimination, and public benefits ranging from employment, housing, income supplements, health, and education. Students will review legislation, case law, and rules, and will focus on the practical and social concerns of individuals living with disabilities.

Comparative Constitutional Law
LWELA 997-202 (Class Number 29471)
W 4:00 p.m. – 5:50 p.m.
Adjunct Professor Wanjiru Kareithi
2 Credits
Zoom
Description: In an era marked by evolving legal doctrines and complex constitutional developments, how do courts, legislatures, and executive bodies interpret and balance their respective powers? What are the implications when judicial decisions influence the scope of fundamental rights or when executive actions raise important constitutional questions? This course critically engages with these themes through a transcontinental comparative lens, examining legal and institutional responses to constitutional challenges across the United States, Africa, Europe, and Asia.

Students will analyze the role of constitutional law in contemporary governance, considering issues such as judicial interpretation, the scope of executive authority, and legislative responsiveness. Through the study of key case law, constitutional amendments, and legal institutions, the course will explore how various systems uphold constitutional principles during periods of institutional stress or transition.

This course goes beyond the study of doctrine; it invites students into a deeper exploration of the legal frameworks that underpin national governance. By engaging with diverse legal traditions and historical contexts, students will be equipped to thoughtfully assess constitutional resilience and innovation in an interconnected world. For those interested in critically examining the intersections of law, power, and governance, this course offers an intellectually rigorous foundation.

Reg & Leg Practice Seminar
LWSEM 914-201 (Class Number 29472)
Tu 5:00 p.m. – 6:50 p.m.
Professor Stanley Brand
2 Credits
249 Katz Building
Description: This seminar examined the unique aspects of federal and state regulatory and legislative practice. The course will focus on those areas of federal and state legal practice in which criminal and administrative law, regulatory regimes, (including lobbying regulations, ethics-in-government rules and criminal code provisions restricting gifts to officials), litigation and exercise of governmental powers and the public relations and media aspects of these areas intersect to create special problems and challenges for attorneys in the government and private sectors. The context in which these cases are managed will also involve an examination of the principles of governmental separation of powers set out in the federal and state Constitutions, how they work in practice and the role they play in developing legal strategies for representing clients before the government. Some of the "case studies" presented during the course will involve actual cases from federal and state practice and will be used to explicate the above principles. This course satisfies the upper-leveling writing seminar requirement.

Health Justice Seminar
LWSEM 997-202 (Class Number 29476)
Professor Medha Makhlouf
Th 12:30 p.m.-2:20 p.m.
2 Credits
241 Katz Building
Description: Health Justice is a scholarly framework and movement that aims to leverage law, policy, and institutions to dismantle systems of subordination that drive health inequities. This seminar introduces the theories, definitions, and frameworks applicable to Health Justice. It covers aspects of the legal system that undermine health justice: the shortcomings of various branches of government as they carry out their roles in population health; certain health-harming legal doctrines; the lack of a human rights focus in U.S. law and policy; and the limits of antidiscrimination law. The seminar will explore both structural inequity and the unique health injustices suffered by different historically marginalized populations. Seminar papers will analyze the key elements of a more robust health justice agenda, including efforts underway and efforts not yet fully realized.

Trans Rights Seminar
LWSEM 997-203 (Class Number 29477)
Professor Emily Spottswood
Th 2:00 p.m. -3:50 p.m.
2 Credits
249 Katz Building
Description: This seminar will explore the legal rights of transgender and other gender non-conforming people in the United States. To orient ourselves, we will first discuss some foundational issues, such as the nature of gender identity, the ways that transgender people have attempted to carve out spaces in which to be themselves over time, and the history of social and legal responses to those attempts.  We will then survey a number of modern legal debates concerning different aspects of trans lives.  Our topics will include disputes over legally assigned sex classifications, identification documents, access to transition-related medical care, and discrimination against trans people in contexts such as housing and employment.  We will also focus on the special challenges trans people have faced in their interactions with law enforcement and the criminal justice process, such as the use of masquerade laws, discriminatory enforcement of laws relating to sex work, police violence, the use of enforcement discretion and “trans panic” defenses to sanction anti-trans violence, and the unique burdens placed on incarcerated trans people.  For many of these topics, our readings will include both background information as well as briefs and supporting materials from present-day litigation concerning the extent and scope of these rights, including (when possible) guest lectures by the attorneys who have been handling such disputes in court.  Your assignments will include at least one in-class presentation on the legal issues at stake in one of these areas, and a final paper relating to the topics we have explored.  

White Collar Crime
LWELA 998-201 (Class Number 29473)
Professor Katrice Bridges Copeland
TuTh 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
3 Credits
241 Katz Building
Description: 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.

LionPATH Wait List

The law school uses the University's Wait List in LionPATH.  You are encouraged, before you register, to learn more about the LionPATH Wait List. The information is located under Enrollment. A procedure runs hourly to monitor the Wait List. As a courtesy to your classmates, please remove your name from a course wait list if you are no longer interested in the course. 

Important Note: You will not be registered in a class from the waitlist if any of the following apply to you:

1) You have an active registration hold.

2) Course controls prevent your registration in the course.

3) There is a time/date conflict with a course already on your registration.

4) The addition of the course will cause the 17-credit registration limit to be exceeded. 

To avoid # 3 and #4, the course that is being Wait Listed must be added using the course swap feature in LionPATH at the time the Wait Listed registration is being added.  See the LionPATH Wait List help for more information.