courses

This course examines the theory behind patent protection and the societal ramifications of providing limited legal monopolies to inventors. The course explores patentable subject matter, the requirements for obtaining a patent, patent rights, infringement, remedies, and different patent types—e.g., utility patents, design patents, and plant patents.

In the modern economy commercial parties use a variety of payment mechanisms. This course provides an overview of different payment systems, the credit system, and the devices that enhance creditworthiness (including guaranties and letters of credit). Classroom discussion is devoted almost exclusively to developing analyses of written problems contained in the course text. Because this course requires familiarity with the Uniform Commercial Code, students should take another Uniform Commercial Code course prior to or concurrently with this course.

This course is an introduction to law relevant to assisting people in poverty including law addressing public benefits, housing, consumer issues, custody, domestic violence, and private rights of action. It will also address realities of existence for people in poverty and consider historical and policy perspectives. Finally, the course will focus on some practical skills, and students will participate in mock hearings and/or mock interviews.

This course focuses on the regulation of lawyers. Although we will study other law, the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct will be the primary focus of the course. The class will be taught primarily through the hypotheticals found in the casebook. The class discussions will focus on what the ABA Model Rules require, state variations that are common, and other sources of law that regulate lawyers’ behavior. The class discussions will explore whether students agree with the policy choices reflected in ABA Model Rules, how the rules might apply in particular fact settings, the pressures that might cause a lawyer to ignore regulatory rules, and the steps that a lawyer might take to better serve his or her clients and to minimize the chance of a regulatory violation.

The course examines the nature of property. While intellectual property and personal property are explored, the focus of the course is on real property—i.e., land. The course explores what real property ownership entails, estates and future interests, concurrent ownership, marital property, leasing property, selling property, private land use planning, public land use regulation, eminent domain, and regulatory takings.

This course analyses the theory and practice of arguing for and against greater protection of individual rights under state constitutions than is afforded by the floor of rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. Students will apply each of the individual concepts covered in the course to a brief and oral argument before the state supreme court in a case of their choosing.

Public health issues are in the news every day. This course is a survey of the constitutional, statutory, administrative, and common law that govern the field of public health in the United States. We will explore the legal and policy aspects of addressing public health problems such as new disease epidemics, drug overdoses, mass shootings, drunk driving, hospital patient injuries, contaminated food and water, and others.

This co-curricular program will explore Slavery, its continuing impact on Black Americans, how our legal system perpetuates inequality, and our sworn duty as lawyers to ensure the equal protection of the laws. We will examine systemic racism in health care, housing, criminal justice, education, commercial law and in our democratic institutions. Participation in the monthly program will seek to not only impart information, but to awaken the critical consciousness of students and encourage them to be agents of positive societal change.

This course explores the role law has played in both the subordination and promotion of the rights of people of color in America. Subjects for discussion will include: how law helped create the social construct of race, race and the American criminal justice system, affirmative action policies, and the quest for effective schools. This course examines critical race theory and social dominance theory which posits that due to the nation's racist past, racial inequality has been locked into American institutions. Students are required to research and write a paper on a professor approved topic that is at the intersection of race and law, and make a presentation to the class on their paper topic. Paper topics may be restricted to a particular era or subject such as slavery, civil rights, etc.

This seminar examines 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 focuses on the theory and application of legal and equitable relief. Substantive areas include injunctions, specific performance, damages, unjust enrichment, and declaratory relief, along with affirmative defenses to these causes of action.

This seminar is concerned with the development of the law, legal system, and legal institutions of what is popularly known as Russia but also correctly and officially known as the Russian Federation within the boundaries presently occupied and, historically, within the boundaries of the Russian Empire. By “law” we mean formal legislation, customary rules, relevant international legal rules, legal doctrine, and anything else regarded by the Russian State or by Russian jurists as comprising part of the “law.” For our purposes “legal institutions” encompasses all law enforcement agencies or any other agencies of the State or empowered by the state which are concerned with the law in any manner whatsoever, including educational institutions.

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. This course emphasizes the special techniques of statutory construction utilized in interpreting a code as opposed to an isolated statute. The course topics are: code methodology (including the history and jurisprudence of Article Two), contract formation and interpretation, performance obligations, breach and remedies.

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.

The Semester-in-Harrisburg Program allows students to spend a semester in the Pennsylvania state capital earning academic credit for approximately 24 hours per week of supervised legal work at an approved state government agency, the state legislature, or a nonprofit group that focuses on state government affairs. The program is recommended for students who are interested in pursuing a career in state government or a particular regulatory area, such as banking regulation, environmental law, or securities regulation. The program provides advanced study in state government law and serves as a capstone experience for students interested in a state governmental practice.

The Semester-in-Washington, D.C. Program allows students to spend a semester in Washington, D.C. earning academic credit for approximately 32 hours per week of supervised legal work at an approved federal government agency, nonprofit organization or public interest group during the third year of law school. The program provides advanced study in federal law and serves as a capstone experience for students interested in federal practice.

This course explores how various areas of the law impact the sports and entertainment 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 course then focuses on important areas that provide the foundational principles that drive the outcome of most legal disputes arising in the sports and entertainment 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 and entertainment.

This course survey important issues in governmental organization and management. Emphasis is placed on intergovernmental relations, the legislative process, personnel issues, financing, and contracting. The course will conclude with a consideration of recent trends toward metropolitan regionalism.

Beginning with historical and constitutional aspects, students will analyze in detail recent developments in state and local taxation and their impact on client representation. Attention will be concentrated on corporate, sales and use and other business taxes, death duties, and property taxes and exemptions.

This seminar examines fundamental issues in tax policy, focusing on trends and current legislative proposals.

This course covers the taxation of common business structures including corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies. It covers the tax aspects of the organization, operation, and dissolution of business entities and the consequences to their owners. The course explores from the perspective of business planning the distinction between separate double taxation of corporations and their shareholders, and the single tax pass through tax regime applicable to partnerships, limited liability companies, and Subchapter S corporations.

Tort law seeks to remedy civil wrongs that result in harm to people or their property. The course will focus on the elements and proof of intentional, negligence, and strict liability causes of action, along with affirmative defenses.

This course examines numerous theoretical justifications for trademarks—i.e., words, names, symbols, or devices that identify and distinguish goods and indicate the source of the goods. The course also explores what can be trademarked, infringement standards, federal registration, trademark dilution, defenses to infringement, and remedies.

This course provides an introductory overview of the investigation, prosecution, and defense of white-collar criminal cases. The objectives of the course are to introduce the principal white-collar offenses, to provide an understanding of the legal process through which white-collar crimes are investigated and prosecuted, and to impart a familiarity and comfort level with the special "rules of the game" that apply to lawyers (both prosecutors and defense counsel) in white-collar criminal cases.

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.

The course will provide a discrete summary of the relevant history preceding the ratification of the 19th Amendment, specifically touching on the American Revolutionary period, the antebellum period, the Civil War, and the Post-Civil War Reconstruction Act and Amendments. The course discussion will center on the splintered movement to grant suffrage for African American men at the national level before achieving women’s suffrage, while also examining the further splintering of the movement that effectively sought to continue the disenfranchisement of non-whites, with specific emphasis on African-American women, resulting from the imposition of Black Codes and Jim Crow.

The purpose of this course is to unveil the fundamental tenet that voting is an act of political and social self-determination, specifically for those who lack political power and/or who are among the most vulnerable in our society. The course will address the modern application of the lessons learned from the splintered suffrage movements, due to the departure of coalition partners to continue to support the goal of universal suffrage in the United States. Finally, students will be asked to critique the hypothesis that African-American women are the symbol of universal suffrage in that their indefatigable commitment to securing the vote for all citizens was and is a remarkable illustration of the promise of the rule of law.