FIRST YEAR ELECTIVES INFORMATION SHEET – SPRING 2016 A schedule of elective courses available to first-­‐year full-­‐time students has been posted on MyWCL and the WCL Registrar web site. From Monday, November 2, until midnight Sunday, November 22, first-­‐year students must enter their top three choices, in order of preference, of the electives. [All students will be registered for their assigned doctrinal and rhetoric sections. Full-­‐time students will have Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Legal Rhetoric, and Property. Part-­‐time will be registered for Civil Procedure, Criminal Law and Legal Rhetoric] Full-­‐time 1L students will be registered for electives after November 22. Beginning on Monday, November 2 , there will be a link on the Registrar’s web page (http://www.wcl.american.edu/registrar/). You will be able to indicate your three choices through that link. NOTE: It does not matter on what day or at what time full-­‐time during the selection period students submit their three elective preferences. Those who do not submit preferences will be registered for open electives after those who responded have been placed in sections. While the electives will have enrollment limits, every effort will be made to place students in their first choices of available classes. Should there be more first choices for a class than there are spaces, we will use a lottery system to determine which students will be registered for that class. After the class is full, the process will default to the second priority selection, and then to the third. Students will be able to view their schedules through the university web portal, my.american.edu. Deans Epperson, Jaffe and Varona will hold an information session on November 2 from 12:00-­‐12:45 PM in room 602. The session will be podcast for those students who were not able to attend. Students will have the entire month to review the information provided. COURSES Comparative Law and Development (Professor Nicola) Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Professor Hurwitz) Food and Drug Law (Professor L. Grossman)* Immigration & Naturalization (Professor Frost)* International Law (Professor Orentlicher)* International Law (Professor Mendez)* Introduction to Intellectual Property Law and Policy (Professor Farley) Introduction to Public Law: Legislation and the Regulatory State (Professor Varona) Introduction to Public Law and Religion (Professors Correia and Katskee) Public Interest Practice (Professor R. Wilson) *These are 3-­‐credit classes and will meet for 1 hour and 20 minutes twice per week. Each of the other electives is a two-­‐credit course (one hour and fifty minute class once per week).
FIRST-­‐YEAR ELECTIVE CLASSES SPRING 2016 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS LAW-619C-001 Comparative Law and Development
(2 hrs)
W 10:00AM-11:50PM
Nicola
Offers a survey of comparative law – its meaning, purpose,
and effect in today’s world with a specific application to the
law and development field. Through the study of
comparative law, one is better able to understand one’s own
legal system, and gain a perspective on the reasons for the
differences that do exist among legal orders around the
world. The law and development perspective offers
important insights on the global diffusion of legal norms as
well as specific legal reforms promoted by International
Financial Institutions, the ABA rule of law initiative, NGOs
and foreign governments. The course offers a number of
case studies of comparative law in practice, showing the
difference between civil law and common law legal systems,
the tendency of legal systems towards convergence or
divergence and the migration of ideas in comparative
constitutional law. The subjects of this course rage from
public to private law topics such as gender equality,
administrative law, constitutional law, comparative criminal
procedure, corporate, trade, property and privacy law. The
materials draw upon the law of the U.S., as well as that of
countries around the world including Canada, Latin America,
Europe, China, Africa and India. (E)
LAW-648-002 Food and Drug Law (3 hrs)
MW 11:00AM-12:20PM
L. Grossman
Approximately 25 cents out of every dollar spent by
American consumers is spent on a product regulated by the
federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Food and
drug regulation is a thriving area of legal practice, pursued
by lawyers in government, law firms, public interest
organizations, and industry. It plays a central role in the
growing fields of life sciences law and health law, and it
weaves its way through an extraordinary amount of litigation
and corporate transactional work. Finally, food and drug law
is a matter of great public concern, and FDA-related stories
are featured in the major news media on a regular
basis. This course surveys FDA’s responsibilities generally
and focuses intensively on its regulation of food and drugs in
particular. It also introduces students to issues in
administrative law and statutory interpretation. No science
background is necessary. Students who take this course
will not be eligible for the general Food and Drug Law course
(LAW-648) in the second, third or 4th years. (E)
LAW-652-001 Public Law: Legislation and the
Regulatory State (2 hrs)
M 10:00-11:50 AM
Varona
Provides an introduction to the main topics that govern the
field of federal public law including: the structure of
government and separations of powers, theories of
representative democracy, theories and doctrines of
statutory interpretation, the role of administrative agencies in
our system and the relationship between the agencies and
the rest of the government, and the role of the press and
other public observers in the development and
implementation of federal legislation and regulation. (E)
LAW-652-002 Intro to Public Law: Religion, Law, and
the State (2 hrs)
W 9:00-10:50 AM
Correia, Katskee
Religious and religious-liberty claims play a significant—if
sometimes unspoken—role in many of the most important
and challenging legal and policy debates today. This course
will explore the theoretical underpinnings for those claims by
analyzing the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of
the First Amendment and the historical and contemporary
roles of religion in American law and public life. The course
will also offer a comparative-law perspective on these issues
by addressing the concept of religious liberty and the roles of
government and religion in the Middle East and elsewhere
around the world. (E or P to be decided at beginning of
semester)
LAW-655-002 Immigration & Naturalization (3 hrs)
MW 10:30AM-11:50AM
Frost
This course provides a survey of U.S. Immigration law. The
course begins with a history of immigration policy in the
United States and provides a brief overview of the
constitutional basis for regulating immigration into the United
States, as well as the constitutional rights of noncitizens in
the United States. Most of the class is devoted to a close
analysis of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952
(INA), as amended by numerous laws, and the Act’s
implementing regulations. In particular, we will focus on the
Act’s provisions regarding the admission of nonimmigrants
and immigrants into the U.S.; the deportation and exclusion
of nonimmigrants and immigrants; refugee and asylum law;
the regulation of noncitizen employment; and the acquisition
of citizenship. We will also study the immigration
bureaucracy, focusing on the roles played by federal
agencies and their interactions with the legislative and
judicial branches. Throughout the course we will discuss the
policy questions that shape the INA and other immigration
laws. The goal of this class is to provide students with a
foundation in immigration law, as well as to introduce
students to the administrative state and to methods of
statutory interpretation. (E)
LAW-660-002 International Law (3 hrs)
MW 10:30AM-11:50AM
Orentlicher
Provides an introduction to the international legal system
and processes. We will explore the fundamental elements
of international law: the sources and subjects of international
law and the processes by which international law is
enforced. We will explore these questions through close
examination of how international law has been crafted and
applied to deal with specific problems, such as protection of
international human rights, international economic law, and
the use of force.
We will also consider theoretical
perspectives on international law and international relations.
Students who take this course will not be eligible for the
general International Law survey course (LAW-660) in
the second, third or fourth years. (E)
LAW-660-003 International Law (3 hrs)
MW 9:00AM -10:20AM
Mendez, Abi-Mershed
Provides students an introduction to public international law
and processes. It explores core concepts, including basic
sources of international law, subjects of international law,
enforcement of international law both at the international
level and through domestic systems, and principles of state
and individual responsibility for breaches of international
law. In addition, the course examines key issues relating to
United States' approach to international law. Students who
take this course will not be eligible for the general
International Law survey course (LAW-660) in the second,
third or 4th years. (E)
E = Exam
P = Paper
O = Other
LAW-670-001 Introduction to Intellectual Property Law
and Policy (2 hrs)
M 10:00AM-11:50 AM
Farley
This course is designed to introduce student to the
landscape of intellectual property law. It can serve as the
gateway to the field for students who want to pursue a
career in IP, or as survey for those who only want an
introduction. We will cover copyright, trademarks, patents,
design patents, trade secrets, right of publicity, moral rights
and misappropriation. Primary emphasis is on the subject
matter of protection and the interrelations of intellectual
property protections. No technical background is required.
(E)
LAW-861-002 Econ. Social and Cultural Rights (2 hrs)
W 9:00AM -10:50AM
Hurwitz
A close examination of the content, implementation and
enforcement of ESCR through judicial and quasi-judicial
bodies. The course will explore key case law, both
international and national; prejudices against and
challenges to the justiciability of ESCR; the nature of states’
obligations with respect to ESCR; and the relationship of
ESCR to globalization. (E or P to be decided at beginning of
semester)
LAW-893-001 Public Interest Practice (2 hrs)
W 10:00AM-11:50AM
Wilson
The course will examine 1) who public interest lawyers were,
at the origins of the movement, and who they are today; 2)
what public interest lawyers do; and 3) challenges for public
interest lawyering, with particular focus on ethical dilemmas,
the globalization of law, and new directions in the field. The
course will examine international human rights advocacy as
well as domestic advocacy, with an eye toward preparing
students for careers in the field of public interest practice,
whether here or abroad. (P)