STU Law Handbook and Catalog

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J.D. Program First Year Courses

This one semester course builds upon and extends legal research, writing and analytical skills acquired in the first semester. The primary focus of the course is to familiarize students with research tools not covered in the first semester research and writing course, including federal and state constitutions, complex statutory regimes and legislative history, as well as administrative regulations and rulings. The legal problems presented are designed to expose students to documents they will encounter in practice, such as pleadings, motions, discovery documents, contracts, settlement agreements, and memoranda of law. This is a required course in the spring semester of the first year.

Prerequisite: Legal Analysis, Writing and Research.

This course provides an introduction to civil litigation processes, with particular attention to United States district courts. Students familiarize themselves with each major step in the litigation process, including pleadings, joinder of claims and parties, discovery, and pretrial and post-trial motions. Students also learn about the structure of American court systems, the subject matter jurisdiction of the federal courts, the power of courts to exercise personal jurisdiction over parties, and proper choice of venue. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, federal statutes, the United States Constitution, and judicial opinions provide the sources of law. This is a required course in the first year. This course is required for graduation.

This course is an introduction to the structure of the U.S. Constitution and the rights and liberties it defines. Judicial review, federalism, congressional powers and limits, the commerce clause, and the 10th Amendment are covered, as are the equal protection and due process clauses. This course is a required for graduation.

This course is an introduction to the principles that govern legally enforceable agreements and promises, including offer, acceptance, consideration and its substitutes, and to other problems that arise in the formation process. Contracts may also examine performance and breach of contract, defenses, remedies for breach, third-party rights and excuse. This course is a required for graduation.

This course is an overview of the common law and statutory elements of criminal liability. Topics include selected crimes against persons and property with emphasis on the act and intent requirements; principles of justification and excuse; inchoate crimes; and the theories of punishment. This course is a required for graduation.

The purpose of this course is the development of a first-year law student’s analytical ability. Legal writing is a thinking process and legal research methods affect and shape the thinking process involved. The program integrates research skills with analytical thought, requiring students to resolve legal problems by researching the law, briefing cases, understanding legal reasoning and composing arguments. This course is required for graduation

The course is mandatory for first-year students and consists of pre-coursework; a three-day, in-class workshop; and post-coursework. Students will improve learning and analytical abilities while continuing to lay ground work for development of stronger problem-solving skills through: (1) instruction; (2) exercises; and (3) debriefing. The course will build and refine fundamental lawyering skills including reading comprehension, rule mastery, issue spotting, outlining, and the mechanics of essay writing. Students are provided individual attention and feedback to improve. This course is required for graduation.

Property introduces students to foundational legal doctrines that govern how people may possess, own, share, transfer, and otherwise use “things.” The course begins with a study of the means of acquiring property, including, but not limited to, adverse possession. The course then explores the system of estates and future interests. The course also examines various types of co-ownership, marital interests, and landlord-tenant law. The course then explores the stages of the land sale transaction, including contracts of sale; the statute of frauds; marketable title; risk of loss and equitable conversion; mortgage financing; interpretation of deeds; methods of title assurance; and the recording system. The course concludes by examining private land use arrangements, including easements, covenants, and servitudes. This course is required for graduation.

This course examines the civil liability for an intentional or unintentional breach of duty imposed by law. In addition, it explores the various theories for distributing losses due to harmful conduct. The torts to be studied include intentional torts, negligence, and strict liability for certain types of conduct. The affirmative defenses and privileges with respect to tortious conduct will also be covered. Students will develop greater proficiency in applying the rules of tort law to complex fact patterns and in recognizing, analyzing, and clearly expressing the legal issues and public policy arguments arising from actual and hypothetical cases. This course is required for graduation.

J.D. Program Upper-Level Required Courses

Students participate in “Moot Court,” a simulated courtroom experience involving the writing of an appellate brief followed by the presentation of an oral argument. This is a required course in the fall semester of the second year.
Prerequisites: Legal Analysis, Writing and Research and Advanced Legal Research and Writing. This course is required for graduation.

The course will provide substantive review and test-taking skills based in the following courses: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Evidence, and Property. The course will focus on topics that are tested on the bar examination. The goals are to (1) acclimate students to the bar exam and preparation process; (2) provide substantive review; and (3) refine multiple-choice and essay exam test-taking skills. Students should generally plan to take this course in their last semester of school. The course is graded, without a mandatory curve.
Prerequisites: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Evidence, and Property are prerequisites for this course. This course must be taken after a student has completed 60 credits. This course is required for graduation.

This course covers the law governing incorporated as well as unincorporated business associations including corporations, general partnerships, limited partnerships and other limited liability entities. The course begins with the common law of agency to explore the legal and economic relationships among principal, agent, third party and independent contractor. The course moves on to the modern law of partnerships and various forms of unincorporated limited liability entity such as the limited partnership and the LLC. The legal obligations of the firm, the partners or members inter se and to third parties are explored in the context of economic and business considerations. The course proceeds to an in depth study of the corporation including, inter alia, the nature of the corporate entity and its various constituencies, shareholder derivative actions, the duties of officers, directors and other insiders (including duty of care, duty of loyalty, duties of disclosure and fairness, duties with respect to inside information, short swing profits and rights to indemnification). The course will also explore basic concepts of corporate finance including the components of the balance sheet and the economic and legal motivations behind decisions on capital formation, dividend distribution and investment. In addition the course explores the problems of corporate control including proxy fights, control in closely held corporations, statutory dissolution upon abuse of control and transfer of shareholder voting control. The course then moves on to cover the law of mergers and acquisitions and hostile takeovers. Statutory material for the course includes the Revised Uniform Partnership Act, Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act, Limited Liability Company Act (all as enacted in Florida), the Modern Business Corporation Act, the Delaware General Corporation Law, the Florida Business Corporation Act, and several federal statutes including inter alia, the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Williams Act and the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. This course is required for graduation.

The study of the preparation and presentation of evidence, examination of witnesses, the opinion rule and expert testimony, cross-examination and subsequent examination of witnesses, impeachment of witnesses, the procedure of admitting and excluding evidence, competency of witnesses, the scope and effect of the evidentiary privileges, relevancy, demonstrative evidence, authentication of writings, the “best evidence” rule, the hearsay rule and exceptions, judicial notice, and the burden of proof and presumptions. This course is required for graduation.

An examination of the attorney’s ethical obligations to the client, the court, the profession, and society, with special attention to the conflicts inherent in these duties. Included within the course is a history of ethical standards and a study of the character and fitness required for admission to the practice of law, and the disciplinary process of those who do not abide by appropriate regulations in the practice of law. Confidentiality, loyalty, advising of clients, client perjury, handling client funds, and the unauthorized practice of law are also covered. The course includes discussion of advertising, solicitation, and specialization within the profession. Pro bono work and the reputation and image that attorneys project to the public are also examined. Finally, the course discusses the role of the judiciary as it relates to clients, society, and the profession. This is a required course.

J.D. Program Upper-Level Menu Courses*

This course will provide a review of three-first year substantive courses: Torts, Contracts, and Criminal Law. The course will also introduce students to Criminal Procedure. The course will highlight topics from these courses that are tested on the bar exam. The course is designed to provide students with substantive review and to acclimate them early to the bar preparation process.

The course will emphasize essay writing and multiple-choice test-taking skills. The course will include periodic exercises and exams in both formats and a final exam with an essay and a multiple-choice component. The periodic essays will cover important topics in the substantive subjects covered in the course.

Prerequisites: Torts, Contracts, and Criminal Law are prerequisites or co-requisites for this course. Students must take this course before they have completed 60 credits. This course is required for graduation.

This course will provide a review and overview of four substantive areas covered on the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE). The course will review: Torts, Contracts, Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure. The course will highlight topics from these areas of the law and provide students a framework for organizing the doctrinal law in the way it is tested on the MBE. The course is design to provide students with substantive review and enhance their multiple-choice question-taking skills.

The course will include lectures, including an opportunity for questions and feedback from the students, that highlight key aspects of each area of the law. The course will emphasize memorization of black letter law and application of the “law” to questions in the MBE-hypothetical format. The course will include periodic exercises and exams and a final exam in a mock-MBE format covering these areas of the law. The course is an elective meant as a complement to the required Bar Prep Skills course for students who want additional practice and guidance on Bar preparation. The course is open to students in either of their last two semesters, but is suggested to be taken in the semester of graduation. The course is graded pass/no pass.

Prerequisites: Torts, Contracts, and Criminal Law are prerequisites for this course. Students can only take this course after they have completed at least 58 credits.

This practical course prepares students for Civil Procedure questions on the Multi-State Bar Exam (MBE). It covers the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and other federal law relating to Civil Procedure, such as subject matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction. The course helps students develop and hone multiple-choice skills, including critical reading and analytical thinking, necessary for MBE preparation. All students are encouraged to take this course to [re]familiarize themselves with aspects of Civil Procedure. This course is only offered to students in their final year of law school and is graded pass/no pass.

Prerequisites: Civil Procedure.

This practical course prepares students for federal Constitutional Law questions on the Multi-State Bar Exam (MBE). It covers separation of powers and civil liberties. The course helps students develop and hone multiple-choice skills, including critical reading and analytical thinking, necessary for MBE preparation. All students are encouraged to take this course to [re]familiarize themselves with aspects of federal Constitutional Law. This course is only offered to students in their final year of law school and is graded pass/no pass.

Prerequisite: Constitutional Law

This course prepares students for Contract related questions on both the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) and the Florida Contract based essays. The course will primarily focus on bar-exam development while also operating to refresh students on Contract related, bar tested material. More specifically, the course will cover the most frequently tested Contract MBE test materials. It will also focus on the Florida specific Contract law distinctions tested on the essay portion of the bar exam. This course will help students develop their essay writing skills as well as hone their multiple-choice test taking skills, including critical reading and analytical thinking. This course is graded pas/no pass.

This course focuses on preparing students for the essay portion of the Florida Bar exam, including reading comprehension, issue spotting, rule statements, and effective application of the rules to the facts. Students will receive formative assessment feedback on a regular basis. The course focuses on areas of law that may be heavily tested on the essay portion of the Bar Exam. The course is not graded on a curve and is only open to students in their final year of law school. This course counts towards the final four credits for the Bar course requirement.

This practical course prepares students for Evidence questions on the Multi-State Exam (MBE). It covers the Federal Rules of Evidence and other federal law relating to Evidence, such as Confrontation Clause. The course helps students develop and hone multiple-choice skills, including critical reading and analytical thinking, necessary for MBE preparation. All students are encouraged to take this course to [re]familiarize themselves with aspects of Evidence. This course is only offered to third-year law students and is grade pass/no pass.

Prerequisite: Evidence.

This is a one or two-credit course designed to prepare students for the Florida Section of the Florida Bar. This course covers the topics in Florida Law that have been tested by multiple choice on the Florida Bar Exam: Florida civil and criminal procedure, business entities, evidence, wills, and administration of estates. The course is team taught by faculty as well as adjunct professors. Students will learn the subjects in depth and have numerous opportunities to practice multiple-choice questions. Essay writing strategies for the Florida Bar subjects may also be covered. The course is graded pass/no pass.

This course focuses on providing students with the knowledge and understanding of substantive and procedural law; legal analysis and reasoning; written and oral communication; and other professional skills needed for competent and ethical participation as a member of the legal profession. Students will receive ongoing formative assessment feedback on a regular basis. This course is graded on the elective curve.

This practical course prepares students for Property questions on the Multi-State Bar Exam (MBE). It covers key areas of the common law of Property. The course helps students develop and hone multiple-choice skills, including critical reading and analytical thinking, necessary for MBE preparation. All students are encouraged to take this course to [re]familiarize themselves with aspects of Property. This course is only offered to students in their last year of study. This course is graded pass/no pass.

Prerequisite: Property.

J.D. Program Elective Courses

The study of the powers and procedures of administrative agencies, including their investigatory, rule-making, adjudicatory, and enforcement functions, and the concomitant requirements of due process. The Administrative Procedure Act is studied. Topics covered include the doctrine of separation of powers; formal and informal rule-making and adjudication; the standard, scope, timing, and other aspects of judicial review of agency action; procedural due process; agency acquisition of information from individuals and businesses; standing, ripeness, exhaustion of remedies, and sovereign immunity.

An exploration of the legal doctrine governing maritime activities, including personal injury, statutory protections for seamen and maritime workers, wrongful death, maritime liens, mortgages, limitation of liability, marine insurance, sovereign immunity, forum shopping, and, if time permits, wreck and treasure salvage and pollution.

The course explores the issues of jurisdiction and federalism, the sources of Admiralty Law and modern trends on Maritime Conflict of Laws and on forum selection. A brief excursus on Maritime Law as applied in the rest of the world will complement this part. This course focuses on Admiralty Procedure, the special Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, in particular the “Supplemental Rules” B (attachment), C (ship’s arrest), E (in rem/quasi in rem general provisions) and Supplemental Rule F (Limitation of Liability). A major part of this course is marine financing, theory and practice of maritime liens and mortgages and boat sales and registration.

This is an advanced civil procedure course focusing on some important aspects of civil procedure that are only superficially considered (or not considered at all) in the first year. It is useful for anyone interested in civil litigation or practice involving multi-party, multi-forum events, such as antitrust, securities, environmental, product liability, mass torts, consumer protection, civil rights, and other complex transactions. The topics considered include transfer of cases by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation; class actions; and discovery, case management, settlement, attorney’s fees, and ethical issues in complex cases.

This elective course builds upon the required Constitutional Law course, offering a more in-depth analysis of select topics regarding the allocation of powers and individual rights, possibly including, but not limited to the reach of executive power, equal protection and substantive due process. Key cases will be analyzed in their historical context and evaluated in light of preferred policies. Hot issues of the day will be picked up, as they merit. The course will also focus in on current doctrine, placing precedent, methodologies, and frameworks of analysis in both a historic and modern perspective to best prepare students for understanding and practicing constitutional law in changing times.

This course focuses on torts other than those covered in the basic Torts course, Law 650. These include the strict liability torts arising from the harboring of animals, ultrahazardous activities, and contaminated food, products liability, nuisance, defamation, invasions of the common law right to privacy, and other torts chosen by the professor. Coverage will be broader when the course is offered for three credits.

An examination of the principal methods of resolving disputes outside the judicial system. Client counseling is explored in depth. Additionally, the nature, uses, application, and legal status of arbitration, mediation, conciliation, fact-finding, and negotiation are explored. The philosophy and attributes of the methods of dispute settlement are compared with court and administrative agency litigation.

An examination of the control of private economic power through legal institutions promoting competition under the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act. Emphasis is placed on an understanding of the policies and objectives underlying the antitrust laws and the extent to which the enforcement of these laws has fulfilled these objectives. Particular areas discussed are: legal and economic concepts of monopoly; collaboration among competitors to fix prices, operate trade associations, and regulate methods of competition; “vertical restraints” including retail price maintenance; horizontal, vertical and conglomerate mergers; and the relationship of antitrust law and patents.

This course will take a hands-on approach to U.S. asylum and refugee law, to give you the tools you need to represent asylum seekers at all stages of the process, from their initial entry, through the Court process, until they can become legal permanent residents.
Prerequisites: Immigration Law.

This course is designed to provide a general overview of bankruptcy law including the various forms of relief under Chapters 7, 11 and 13. Topics to be covered include the bankruptcy estate, exemptions, claims in bankruptcy, the rights of secured and unsecured creditors, discharge, automatic stay, executory contracts and leases, preferences, avoiding powers of the trustee and fraudulent transfers. The course is offered in the fall term and is a pre-requisite to the Bankruptcy Clinic offered in the spring term.

This is an interdisciplinary course covering the intersection of public law, economics, finance, and corporate usage shaping ongoing public policy discussions and governmental regulatory efforts concerning blockchain, distributed ledgers, cryptocurrencies and virtual currency. Technical considerations underlying the course will be presented in a mostly abstract manner; there is no requirement of students to possess a background or expertise in computer science generally or cryptography specifically for success in this class.

Students will become familiar with basic history, moral background, and constitutional rules governing the implementation of the death penalty in the United States, and particularly the State of Florida. Given the dramatic changes in Florida’s death penalty law over the past two years, this course will provide students with an inside look at the response of the death penalty litigation community to the new law both in practice and theory.

This course provides an introduction to civil litigation processes, with particular attention to United States district courts. Students familiarize themselves with each major step in the litigation process, including pleadings, joinder of claims and parties, discovery, and pretrial and post-trial motions. Students also learn about the structure of American court systems, the subject matter jurisdiction of the federal courts, the power of courts to exercise personal jurisdiction over parties, and proper choice of venue. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, federal statutes, the United States Constitution, and judicial opinions provide the sources of law. This is a required course in the first year. This course is required for graduation.

This course will introduce students to class actions as seen through the lens of the hundreds of such lawsuits that address various legal consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The class action is a procedural device available to address harms experienced by a large number of similarly-situated people stemming from the same or similar events. The course will cover class action prerequisites, types of class actions, non-statutory requirements of ascertain ability and standing, and subject matter jurisdiction. To illuminate these topics, the class will study several recently-filed class action suits of varying types, such as civil rights, consumer protection, torts, wage and hour, contracts, or securities fraud, and consider which types of suits are more likely to succeed under class action law. Because we will study cases that have only recently been filed, the cases will provide a learning laboratory as the class will follow the procedural progress of the suits, addressing doctrinal issues as they arise.

This course is designed to introduce students the skills needed by lawyers writing amicus briefs and preparing policy documents and to help students begin to acquire some of those skills. The Commercial Law Amicus Initiative (CLAI) provides students from participating law schools an opportunity to weigh in on, and attempt to influence, the development of the commercial law and public policy in the courts. CLAI assists state and federal courts in faithfully interpreting and applying the Uniform Commercial Code, other commercial statutes, and related common law, in order to achieve the laws? underlying policies and to facilitate consistent decision-making by the courts. CLAI pursues this purpose through the filing of amicus curiae briefs. CLAI also provides research and recommendations on matters of commercial law to non-profit organizations such as the American Law Institute and the Uniform Law Commission, in connection with such organizations? preparation of uniform or model legislation or restatements of the law. Students will assist CLAI in these efforts.

This course offers a comparative exploration of various environmental law regimes from around the world. It first provides a basic foundation of both United States environmental law and international environmental law, as well as specific environmental legal programs of selected countries. The course then examines the similarities and differences in how other countries address environmental problems to discover how the varied regulatory approaches impact the success of the particular program in question. Topics to be discussed include global climate changes; hydraulic fracturing; water pollution; biodiversity and land preservation; and environmental human rights.

The Institute of Medicine has stated that “The mission of public health is to fulfill society’s interest in assuring conditions in which people can be healthy.” The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This course will examine the international, federal, state and local laws and policies that govern activities relevant to the public’s health. We will also consider the ethical implications of legal and policy decisions and explore prevalent issues facing lawyers from a legal and policy perspective. Topics covered will include the fundamentals of public health law, the AIDS pandemic and access to AIDS Pharmaceuticals, the Obesity Epidemic, the SARS Epidemic and Quarantine, the Global Tobacco Pandemic and International Law, and other country specific public health law and ethics topics.

This is an advanced civil procedure course focusing on some important aspects of civil procedure that are only superficially considered (or not considered at all) in the first year. It is useful for anyone interested in civil litigation or practice involving multi-party, multi-forum events, such as antitrust, securities, environmental, product liability, mass torts, consumer protection, civil rights, and other complex transactions. The topics considered include transfer of cases by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation; class actions; and discovery, case management, settlement, attorney’s fees, and ethical issues in complex cases.

This is an advanced civil procedure course focusing on some important aspects of civil procedure that are only superficially considered (or not considered at all) in the first year. It is useful for anyone interested in civil litigation or practice involving multi-party, multi-forum events, such as antitrust, securities, environmental, product liability, mass torts, consumer protection, civil rights, and other complex transactions. The topics considered include transfer of cases by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation; class actions; and discovery, case management, settlement, attorney’s fees, and ethical issues in complex cases.

This course provides an overview of selected topics of laws governing consumer-financial products and services, including deposits, auto lending, credit cards, mortgages, small-dollar lending, student loans, debt relief, debt collection, and credit reporting. The course will focus particularly on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the persons and entities it regulates, and its broad authority to prohibit unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices.

The study of unique aspects of the rules and regulations, and consumer credit including the Truth in Lending Act, the Consumer Leasing Act, and the Equal Credit and Opportunity Act.

This course will focus on the principles of contracts (including contracts for Sales of goods) that are implicated in an ongoing crisis, whether pandemic, hurricane, terrorism or other crisis. Particular emphasis will be on formation and modification of these contracts, as well as how defenses to contract formation, such as illegality and the impact of governmental regulations, may be implicated and to what extent parties may claim impossibility, impracticability and frustration of purpose during the pandemic. The course will also include the review and drafting of contract provisions, including modifications, conditions and force majeure clauses, as will the impact of a crisis on particular types of agreements.

Copyright law stands at the forefront of law of the digital era, fostering and sometimes frustrating the creation and dissemination of human culture. By providing exclusive—but limited—rights to “original works of authorship,” copyright protects not just traditional media such as books, songs, and movies, but also electronic works found in YouTube videos, streaming media, and computer code. Because copyright issues are so prevalent in modern society, a modern lawyer should have a solid grounding in copyright law. This course covers major topics in domestic copyright law, such as originality, authorship, ownership, duration, the exclusive rights, infringement, fair use, and enforcement. It also pays close attention to the interplay of technology and law.

Economics, finance, and law will be interrelated in the course. Emphasis will be placed on financing corporate activity, including valuation of businesses, the efficient market hypothesis, and the issuance of debt securities, common and preferred stock, and convertible securities. The course will also focus on dividends, distributions, and acquisitions.

Prerequisite: Business Associations.

This course will provide a comprehensive overview of the historical foundations of Corporate Justice and how it can be used as a tool for legal activism. In this course we will further explore the following issues: foundational aspects of corporate governance; how issues of gender and racial diversity affect the corporate decision making processes; the causes and effects of the financial market crisis; regulation of credit default swaps and other derivative instruments; director/officer fiduciary duties; the Dodd-Frank Act; the prison industrial complex; and finally, we will explore the impact and effect of social movements like the “Occupy Wall Street Movement” on financial reform.

Federal income tax consequences of the formation, capital structure, operation, and liquidation of corporations; treatment of distributions as dividends (taxable or non-taxable), redemptions or partial liquidations; determination of earnings and profits; and the disposition of corporate business by asset or stock sales.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation.

This course will offer students an introduction to the judicial process by which the Roman Catholic Church adjudicates ecclesiastical crimes (delicta) and imposes penalties. In doing so, students will become familiar with the categories of ecclesiastical crimes, the workings of a canonical trial, and the kinds of penalties that can be imposed. Where appropriate, suitable comparisons to American Common Law will be made. Various resources will be used, especially the Code of Canon Law, relevant documents of the Apostolic See, the jurisprudence of the tribunals of the Roman Curia, and the scholarship of canon lawyers.

An examination of the constitutional rights of the accused with regard to arrest, search, interrogation, wire-tapping and other forms of eavesdropping, and entrapment. This course considers the limitations upon police agencies in the various areas of the individual rights of the accused. The mechanics of the criminal process, such as grand juries and preliminary hearings are also examined.

The procedural problems experienced in the preparation and prosecution of a criminal proceeding are presented in this course. Major areas of analysis include arraignment and bail; an examination of the problems encountered in a preliminary hearing; the scope, extent and goals of a grand jury proceeding; pre-trial discovery, motions and suppression hearings; and the “plea bargaining” process.

Prerequisite: Criminal Procedure I.

Cyberlaw examines the effect of the Internet on the law, and of the law on the internet. In one sense, Cyberlaw provides a petri dish to examine how technology interacts with and impacts the entire law. In a richer sense, Cyberlaw shows how intermediated network technologies can disrupt existing forms of power—laws, markets, and social norms—in unexpected ways, creating new centers of norms and power. In that sense, Cyberlaw is a study of how technology brings chaos as well as unexpected order. Whether the chaos and order is good will be a central and recurring question. Topics covered will vary depending on current developments in law and technology and one can expect the class to regularly confront ongoing events. Topics in any semester may include: online jurisdiction; cyber-speech; trolling and bullying; privacy and anonymity; defamation; online intellectual property disputes; service provider liability; social networks; cybersecurity, cyberwar, and cybercrime; and network neutrality.

This course explores the growing needs of the elderly throughout the nation and the legal response to those needs including federal & state responses and legislation. Topics to be discussed in the course will include a study of the demographics of the elder population, ethical issues raised in representing the elderly, age discrimination in employment, income maintenance, health care, long-term care, housing, guardianship, property management, health care decision making, and elder abuse neglect and crime. The weighting of various topics will depend on the needs of the class and the avoidance of duplicate coverage with other courses that may touch on one or more of topics. Efforts will be made to familiarize the students with the medical considerations of an aging population and the relevant tests of competency in common uses. The course may include visits to nursing homes and Probate Court of Miami Dade and Broward County.

This course will give students a basic understanding of the legal regulation of elections and politics. It will cover federal and state cases on a variety of topics, including: the 2000 presidential election controversy; reapportionment and racial gerrymandering; ballot access and the initiative process; campaign financing and the regulation of political parties; the degree to which courts intervene in the electoral process; and the Voting Rights Act and other civil rights legislation.

The study of substantive rules of federal law in employment discrimination, blending the constitutional and statutory sources of employment discrimination law with the rapidly developing case law. Employment discrimination in the major classifications of race, sex, age, and national origin are analyzed and studied especially in light of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972.

This course is designed to introduce law students to the legal, business, and creative aspects of the entertainment industry. The course surveys the many legal doctrines that help shape the entertainment industry and explores how these doctrines interact. The primary entertainment areas surveyed include film, television and music. The course is designed to prepare the student to analyze a wide variety of entertainment law issues at a general level.

A survey of environmental law, policy, and regulation with particular emphasis on issues of current concern in Florida. Topics may include the role of the courts in environmental decision-making, techniques of pollution control in the major environmental statutes, the regulation of toxic substances, and the relationship between energy and environmental policy. A substantial writing component is required, e.g. comments on an EPA rulemaking, client memoranda construing environmental statutes and regulations, briefs in environmental litigation, and practical research problems.

This course will introduce the law student into the basic concepts of business and taxation needed by the lawyer to better understand and with greater sophistication courses in business law, finance, accounting for lawyers, real estate development, securities, bankruptcy, tax, estate planning, wills, trusts, and related areas. This course will focus on four specific areas: (1) Accounting and Financial Statements; (2) Principles of Finance and Valuation; (3) Financial Instruments and Capital Markets; and (4) Federal Income Taxation.

An exploration of the various means of effecting the most beneficial results in the planning of a client’s estate. Consideration is given to drafting techniques, choice of marital deduction formulas, selections of fiduciaries, federal estate tax credits, inheritance, and income taxes.

Prerequisites: Federal Income Taxation and Federal Estates and Gift Taxation.

The study of the law of marriage in depth including who may marry and the constitutionality of both substantive and procedural restrictions on the right to marry. Marital agreements including ante-nuptial and post-nuptial contracts are examined. Divorce and the role of counsel in a dissolution of marriage are examined, including issues such as jurisdiction, custody, visitation, support, property division, and modification and enforcement of court orders. Child neglect, children born out of wedlock, and adoption are included in this course.

This course is designed to provide the student with a basic understanding of financial planning needs of every family and how these needs are accommodated by lawyers and other professionals. It provides a foundation for a better understanding of courses dealing with business associations, federal taxation, wills & trusts, property ownerships and transfer, investment, insurance and related courses. Topics covered included accounting practices, investment strategy, risk and return, portfolio theory, property succession, income and wealth transfer taxation, housing, life and disability insurance, retirement planning and elder law. By providing an understanding of the basic structures supporting family wealth the student will be in a better position to make decisions on the areas of law the student would like to pursue.

A detailed comparison of the federal court system to the various state court systems on both the trial and appellate level. The limitations on the federal courts contained in the United States Constitution and the implications of the concept of federalism embodied in the Constitution are discussed in addition to federal judicial review.

The basis of this course is the federal government’s model role within the U.S. criminal justice system. Some of the federal crimes discussed may include drug trafficking, immigration crimes, firearms regulation, extortion, mail and wire fraud, corruption at the local level and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Additional important offenses concern national security, i.e., international terrorism and organized crime. The course focuses on public policy, the interests involved and a critical view of the present law. The procedural aspects are federal jurisdiction, plea bargaining and sentencing.

An examination of methods used to tax estates, trusts, beneficiaries, grantors, persons having power over an estate or trust, decedents, donees and successors-in-interest. Income tax implications are discussed, with the balance of the course being devoted to the federal estate tax, the federal gift tax, and the federal tax on certain generation-skipping transfers.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation.

The main objectives of this course are to help students learn, first, how to use the Internal Revenue Code and the Regulations to solve tax problems, and, second, how to use the tax laws for business and individual tax planning. This is a basic tax course requiring little business, accounting or mathematical background. The substantive content includes the basic principles of federal income taxation as they relate to the determination of income and deductions and when they are reported. Special emphasis is placed upon transactions that most individuals engage in and tax avoidance techniques. The underlying elements of tax policy are discussed. Students who do not have a business background should consider taking Legal Accounting prior to or concurrently with this course.

This course explores the relationships between the United States Federal Government, the several State governments, and the governments of Indigenous nations. Federal Indian Law therefore explores constitutional law, civil and criminal procedure, property, torts, contracts, decedents estates, tax, gaming, administrative law, natural resources, and water law. Students do not need to have an in-depth knowledge of each of these areas, but this course provides some understanding of these fields by highlighting the ways in which the law differs when it involves Indigenous peoples, lands, and governments.

An examination of the First Amendment guarantees concerning expression and religion. In particular, the course focuses upon theories of values underlying freedom of speech and of the press, processes and consequences of speech classification, special considerations regarding modern media, regulatory methodologies that are constitutionally consonant, and freedom of association. The Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause are also covered. Attention is given to historical and contemporary context as it relates to the First Amendment’s general meaning and the guarantee’s specific clauses.

A study of the unique aspects of Florida Law, including the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, the preparation of pleadings and materials for trial, the court system, legislative procedures, and the significance of Florida’s integrated Bar with an emphasis on professional responsibility. The course examines jurisdiction, venue, and process. The Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, with specific emphasis on pleadings, the discovery process and sanctions are reviewed in depth. Students are required to prepare pleadings, discovery motions, orders and judgments.

The goal of this course is to provide a basic understanding of the issues impacting condominium owners, tenants and real estate investors, among others. It provides an in-depth look at how condominium and homeowner associations operate, and covers the condominium board’s responsibility for enforcement of the community’s covenants and restrictions. It also examines statutory rules, administrative regulations and case law, in addition to how governing documents are drafted and disputes are resolved. Students will be exposed to the contractual aspects of this area of law, including the interpretative and litigation issues affecting members of the community. Further, students will be given a primer on how the recent foreclosure crisis has impacted this area of the law.

An examination of the Florida Constitution, recognized as a model for state constitutions throughout the United States. Special emphasis is given to the role of state constitutions in the United States federal framework. Students are asked to weigh the values underlying state constitutions. The course also focuses on Florida Constitutional provisions involving court jurisdiction, legislation, prohibited statutes, administrative penalties, access to the courts, homestead, privacy, contract impairment, due process, equal protection, amending the constitution, counties, municipalities, and taxation.

This course covers construction contract law, industry forms and contracting techniques. Students will review the various types of Florida construction lien laws, explore construction insurance issues, and surety and bond claims. Students with have the opportunity to follow a construction litigation claim from filing the complaint through trial.

Analysis of the Florida Statutes, Flo¬rida Rules of Criminal Procedure, and leading case law regu¬lating the trial of criminal cases. The course explores all aspects of Florida criminal procedures including: arrest, filing of charges and arraignment, bail, pretrial release and pretrial detention, discovery, pretrial motion practice, speedy trial, jury selection, proof and argument at trial, jury instructions and deliberation, verdict and judgment.

This course covers family law topics that may be frequently tested on the Florida Section of the Bar Exam, including formation of marriage, parentage, dissolution of marriage, equitable distribution, alimony, child custody, child support, and related jurisdictional issues. The course reviews major topics in Florida family law while helping students develop and hone their essay writing skills. It will include multiple formative assessments drawn from past Florida Bar Exams and a final essay exam. This course is only open to students in their final year of law school and is graded pass/no pass. This course counts towards the final four credits for the Bar course requirement.

This course will explore the history, substantive law, and procedures in the practice of Social Security law. Topics to be discussed in the course will include classes of qualified recipients of government benefits, basic coverage of benefits, with detailed discussions on procedures applied in implementing the eligibility determination process. The weighting of the various topics will depend on the needs of the class and the avoidance of duplicate coverage with other courses that may touch on one or more of the subjects. Efforts will be made to familiarize the students with an overview of government benefits available to eligible individuals through the Social Security Administration, qualification criteria, disability determination, calculation and payment of benefits and introduction to the Social Security practice and procedures.

Guardianship Law entails many areas of the law including: public and private assistance, advance directives, property and constitutional rights. This class is intended to teach students about how to plan for disability beyond personal and financial maintenance should the client become mentally or physically disabled. Traditional methods such as selecting beneficiaries on death and taking efforts to save income should be considered and the tools used to accomplish these objectives include guardianship, trusts, POD accounts, jointly held property, TOD accounts, convenience accounts, health care surrogate designations, POA and living wills. The weighting of the various topics will depend on the needs of the class and the avoidance of duplicate coverage with other courses that may touch on one or more of the subjects. Efforts will be made to familiarize the students will the medical considerations and financial concerns of an aging population and the relevant tests of competency as well as the legal process of determining incapacity. The course may include visits to the Probate Court of Miami-Dade, Broward County and to the Jackson Memorial Hospital Baker Act Court

Proactive regulatory compliance programs are, or soon will be, mandatory throughout the health care industry in the U.S. as a result of federal mandates. Effective compliance programs also are mandated by prudent business practices. This course is designed to introduce law students to health care compliance. Students will learn the background and general theory of compliance, what health care compliance programs are, how they are developed, how they operate and the consequences of inadequate and ineffective compliance programs. Special attention will be paid to the role and operation of compliance programs – with respect to both routine compliance matters and those that are complaint-based. The roles and responsibilities of government enforcement agencies such as the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and state Medicaid agencies in defining, directing and overseeing compliance and corporate integrity programs will also be considered. The future of compliance programs, including the potential for collateral liabilities as a result of compliance activities, will be addressed.

This course acquaints students with some of the important health law and policy issues facing us today. Special attention is given to understanding some of the major provisions of the Affordable Care Act and its regulatory impact. Other focal issues include physician and hospital liability for substandard care or refusal to treat; distinctions between health, disease, and what is covered as treatment; confidentiality and disclosure of medical information; Medicare and Medicaid; public health and health as a human right.

This course is an exploration of hip-hop culture as it takes shape in different locations around the world in relation to international human rights law; more specifically the freedom to express, associate, assemble, and openly practice political thought. It will draw upon hip-hop culture’s tremendous ability to be leveraged in multiple localities while always referencing larger global issues. In each international context, we will analyze how voices from the margins, be they immigrant communities in Europe, indigenous communities in Australia, or political movements in Africa and Latin America, are using hip-hop not only to express themselves and their feelings but also to change their societies, and establish transnational networks. Particular attention will be paid to the transnational, geopolitical, and popular cultural vibrancy of the networks that hip-hop wields; and hip hop’s connection to international human rights law around the globe.

This course examines how lawyers get paid. Topics covered may include methods of attorney compensation in law firms, referrals, the billable hour and its alternatives, contingency fees, settlements, and aggregate litigation (e.g. mass torts, class actions). The course explores these topics from the perspective of economic theory, public policy, legal ethics, and practical considerations. This is a skills course.

This course analyzes human trafficking as a transnational organized crime, as a crime under U.S. federal law, and under Florida law. It explores the doctrinal issues related to human trafficking and slavery, the smuggling of people, involuntary servitude, as well as the case law related to each issue. It focuses on the main forms of human trafficking: forced labor, domestic servitude, and commercial sexual exploitation. It looks at the intersection of human trafficking law with other areas of law such as immigration law and foreign sovereign immunities act, and it examines questions related to jurisdiction. On a more practical level, it teaches tools of prosecuting successfully a trafficking case and brings in the perspectives of prosecutors, victim’s attorneys, law enforcement and service providers. Finally, it assesses human trafficking as an egregious violation of human rights and evaluates international cooperation in criminal matters as well as the challenges of prosecuting transnationally.

An overview of the laws, theory, practice, and procedures that enable aliens to enter, to reside in, and ultimately to become citizens of the United States. Legal and social aspects of this process, including visas, detention, exclusion, deportation, judicial review, and citizenship by birth and naturalization are examined.

New Course Title: Innovations & Patent Management Old Course Title: Innovations & Inventions – Petents & Trade Secrets Innovation Policy is so important to this country that the Founders addressed patents in the Consitution and made patent protection one of the first laws passed by the new Republic. Since then, patent law-along with its cousin, trade secret law-has become even more important to the development of the economy, with many business being built on a foundation of patents and trade secrets. Ironically, patents and trae secrets are mirror opposites of one another: patents hinge on disclosure, whereas trade secrets require secrecy. Yet any substantial business plan involving technology may require both. Regardless of their benefits, both patents and trade secrets are being increslingly criticized by those who lament these laws, ctiricizing “patent trolls,” pharmaceutical price-gauging, and a lack of tranparency in porprietary computer code. With both the practical and policy issues in mind, this course addresses innovation law with a heavy emphasis on placing legal doctrine in a real-world context. The course will emphasize practical aspects of these doctrines as well, spending class time learning the basics of reading patents, construing claims, and considering NDA and employment issues. Relevant state and federal laws to be studied include the Patent Act of 1952, the America Invents Act of 2012, the Uniform Trade Secrets Act and the Defend Trade Secrets act. This course may be used to satisfy requirements for the IPIT at STU Certificate Program (Intellectual Property, Information, and Technology Law).

This course focuses on the legal and practical issues involved in the field of insurance. Specific areas covered include basic principles of insurance (risk, underwriting, claims), the nature and extent of state regulation under the McCarran-Ferguson Act; the rights, duties, and liabilities associated with property/casualty, liability, and life/health insurance and with reinsurance; the defenses available to insurers in general and for each broad area of insurance; and problems associated with the claims process (“bad faith”).

Intellectual property, or “IP,” is at the center of some of today’s most important legal disputes. Accordingly, any well-studied lawyer ought to have knowledge of the topic. This course serves as an overview of major areas of intellectual property law, namely, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secrets, and right of publicity. The class serves three purposes. First, it is aimed at students who want to learn the basics of IP law so that they become better able to identify IP issues that may arise in practice. Second, this course serves as a foundation for students wishing to explore the IPL @ STU certificate program, which offers specialized IP courses. Third, it serves as a way for students to integrate concepts found in other 1L and foundational courses, because IP law often reflects concepts arising from the law of torts, contracts, property, procedure, and even criminal law.

The Intercultural Human Rights Law Review is a scholarly journal publishing original articles stimulating global intercultural dialogue about issues in the field of human rights. It is operated jointly by J.D. and LL.M. students and provides students with extensive writing, editing and managing experience. Membership is determined on the basis of academic excellence and/or demonstrated writing ability. A publishable article, comment or note must be completed to qualify for membership. J.D. members of the Intercultural Human Rights Law Review receive one academic credit per semester, starting in the spring semester of their second year, up to a maximum of three credits overall. The J.D. members of the Executive Board, which is composed of third-year students, earn an additional academic credit in each of the two semesters of the third year, up to a maximum of five credits overall. The Editor-in-Chief earns two credits in their first semester in that position and two credits in their second semester and may register for one additional credit. The faculty advisor is responsible for determining whether Intercultural Human Rights Law Review participants have completed their responsibilities and are thus entitled to credit. No student can earn more than a total of 6 credits from participating in the Intercultural Human Rights Law Review.

Prerequisite: International Law.

An examination of the legal problems arising under American, international, and foreign law which affect businesses whose affairs cross national boundaries. Topics include aliens and economic activities, foreign investments, foreign corporations, choice of law, sovereign immunity, and economic regulations. Special attention is given to various forms of enterprise and financing of foreign investment, as well as to forms of international dispute resolution, such as arbitration.

This course is designed to prepare students to compete in Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court Competition. The course consists of two semesters: Fall (students will attend lectures and research issues presented in the Problem and prepare and submit Claimant’s and Respondent’s Memoranda); and Spring (students compete in Pre-Moots in preparation for the Oral Argument rounds, which will be held during the Spring semester). By the end of the competition, which will be help in the spring at the Law Faculty of the University of Vienna, students will have learned how to write a memorandum focusing on question of a transnational contract – flowing from a transaction relating to the sale or purchase of good under the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and other uniform international commercial law- in the context of an arbitration of a dispute under specified Arbitration Rules. Students will also have practiced and improved their oral advocacy skills.

This is a general course in public international law. It focuses on the process of making and implementing lawful international decisions. The emphasis is on the sources of international law – treaties, customary international law and general principles of law — and the many roles of the nation-state, its establishment, transformation and termination, as well as the regulation of protection and control of resources and persons, via the mechanisms of nationality and human rights. The subject-matter of this course will be delivered through lectures ex cathedra and applications of the Socratic style, power point presentations and practice exercises. International law is too vast a field to cover comprehensively in one course, but this class will familiarize you with the basic concepts of international law and will serve as springboard for those who, later, will need or might wish to explore in greater depth areas such as international criminal law, international environmental law, international corporate practice, the law of the sea, etc. It is a dynamic field that intersects ever more with other fields of law. Living in an increasingly inter-connected world, whether your career goals include working for the government, inter-governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, or being a local prosecutor, a corporate attorney or a civil rights activist, you must have a thorough grounding in international law. This course will help you identify the concepts and acquire the skills necessary for influencing future decisions in the range of arenas in which international lawyers must operate–parliamentary, diplomatic, business, criminal and civil litigation, judicial and arbitral practice — nationally and internationally.

This course will emphasize legal research strategies and the practical use of research materials in foreign and international law. Print and online resources will be discussed. Students will evaluate sources, basic terms and research techniques. Students will be expected to discuss their research ideas and objectives. The course is pass-fail and the grade will be based on class attendance, four homework assignments, and a final take-home exercise.

This course will explore the protections afforded by international human rights instruments modeled on and derived from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on the practice of the major world religions. Students will explore the major tenants, practices, and beliefs of the worlds’ religions and the conflicts that arise when such tenants, practices, and beliefs interact with the civil authorities and with other religions. Case studies will explore the response of various religious traditions to the human rights standards and demonstrate ways such standards have protected vital interests such as liberty of conscience, religious pluralism and equality, free exercise of religion, nondiscrimination on religious grounds, and autonomy for religious groups. The course will seek to understand the importance of an appropriate balance for the interaction between law and religion in a thriving twenty-first century global society.

The purpose of the international moot court classroom component is to strengthen the forensic skills of all international moot court members, with special focus on training them to be competitors and coaches in future international moot court competitions. International moot court problems from past and current competitions will be used within the confines of the rules of the respective competitions, focusing on problem analysis, research, brief writing and oral argument. The maximum credit allowed for any combination of competition team(s) (Mock Trial, Moot Court, and International Moot court) and their classroom components is four (4). The course is graded pass/no pass.

Prerequisite or Co-Requisite: International Law

Students who are selected to participate in an interschool competition are eligible for up to two credits in the semester in which this competition occurs. This course provides advanced training in international litigation practice, including both the briefing and argument of cases, through participation in international court proceedings. The maximum credit allowed per semester is two. The maximum credit allowed for any combination of competition team(s) (Mock Trial, Moot Court, and International Moot court) and their classroom components is four (4). The course is graded pass/no pass.

Prerequisites or Co-Requisites: International Law; International Moot Court Classroom Component

Students who are selected to participate in an interschool competition are eligible for up to two credits in the semester in which this competition occurs. This course provides advanced training in international litigation practice, including both the briefing and argument of cases, through participation in international court proceedings. The maximum credit allowed per semester is two. The maximum credit allowed for any combination of competition team(s) (Mock Trial, Moot Court, and International Moot court) and their classroom components is four (4). The course is graded.

Prerequisites or Co-Requisites: International Law; International Moot Court Classroom Component

This course studies the development of the law of International Organizations with reference to its parameters and constitutionality. The course will refer to the limits of the mandates, to express powers and limitations thereof, implied powers and the effect of dismemberment on the corpus of law. Reference will be made to the democratic structure (one state-one vote), the variations on that theme (weighted voting, etc.), and the question of recognition, representation, and relations between the host state and representative government. The operations of the Organizations will be discussed, inter alia, Secretariat staffing and structure, national affinities therein, privileges and immunities, external relations, and budgetary matters. Universal and regional organizations will be analyzed with special reference to peacekeeping, individual and collective self-defense, human rights, international adjudication, women’s rights, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.

A study of the basic theories and techniques needed to develop competent lawyering skills for interviewing clients and witnesses, counseling clients, and negotiating with opposing parties. Skills are developed through simulated exercises, discussions, live demonstrations and may include videotaping student presentations. Emphasis is on student performance.

The St. Thomas Journal of Complex Litigation is a scholarly journal publishing original articles submitted by faculty, students, and members of the bar and bench about issues in the field of complex litigation. It is operated by J.D. students and provides students with extensive writing, editing, and managing experience. Member candidacy is determined on the basis of academic excellence and/or demonstrated writing and editing ability. Full membership is contingent upon the member candidate’s completion of a publishable comment, note, or similar work.
Each member of the Editorial Board, which is composed of third-year students, receives two credits in the fall and two more credits in the spring. Second-year and third-year members receive one credit for each semester they are members. An additional credit may be available to the second- and third-year students, at the discretion of the faculty advisor, for service as an Articles Editor. A maximum of five credits may be earned overall. The faculty advisor is responsible for determining whether Journal participants have completed their responsibilities and are thus entitled to credit. No student can earn more than a total of 5 credits from participating in the Journal of Complex Litigation.

In this course students will explore the different modalities used by judges in interpreting constitutional and statutory texts, as well as how others through various works of scholarship have tried to gauge the various factors that are perceived as being part of the decision-making process. Students will review the case law to see how judges have utilized the differing modalities to render opinions. In this course, students will approach the following questions: Why we should care about how judges make decisions? Isn’t it enough that judges make the “right” decision? Students will explore how judges make decision can be as important as the resulting decision.

An examination of the law and legal process relating to juveniles. Emphasis will be placed on juveniles who commit unlawful acts, but coverage will also include juveniles who are neglected or abused. The recurring tensions in Juvenile Law between punishment and treatment, immaturity and accountability, judicial discretion and consistency, and the rhetoric and reality of the juvenile system will also be explored. Juvenile Law is a Florida bar-exam subject.

The federal law of labor relations, including the relevant Constitutional provisions, the National Labor Relations Act, the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, and the Norris and LaGuardia Act are examined. Selected topics include unfair labor practices, picketing, strikes, organization and representation of employees, federal preemption, collective bargaining, antitrust, and labor arbitration.

Land use law deals with whether and how the development of land shall occur. Grounded in government’s police power, land use controls are properly designed and implemented to advance the public’s interest-including environmental, aesthetic, health, safety and economic interests, among others. Often pitched against the exercise of such governmental power are the interests of the private property owner, interests shielded by the full force of Constitutional protections and, in recent years, a growing body of private property-oriented legislation. Land use law provides the legal and political framework for resolving these conflicts and achieving the best allocation of limited land resources.

Technology has changed the practice of health care and has given rise to ethical quandaries in determining when, whether, and how to integrate these technologies into patient care. Ethical principles are applied along with legal reasoning in dealing with the issues. Some of the areas explored include genetic engineering; surrogate decision-making; reproductive technology; human and animal organ transplantation; euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide; stem cell research; and regulation of care when patients are also the human subjects of medical research.

Economics for Lawyers will provide you with an overview of basic tools involved in microeconomic analysis (including game theory, and some basic financial and statistical concepts), and an application of these tools to various areas of the law, including property, contracts, tort, and antitrust. This course will prepare you to think critically about the economic implications of legal rules. The ability to draw on economic arguments to shape legal arguments will make you more effective advocates.

The use of critical theory and works of literature to help students gain new perspectives on their chosen profession and to improve student skills in interpretation and composition. The course may include the study of: (1) critical theory from the Law and Literature movement; (2) law as literature; and (3) legal themes in literature.

This course is designed to help you develop the skills and learn what you will need to succeed in the practice of law. The class will be both substantive and practical. The course was developed for law school students who plan to start their own practice, whether after law school or at a future time. Topics covered include professional responsibility and responsiveness, time management, calendar and other monitoring systems, malpractice avoidance, client satisfaction, office location, office library and equipment, personnel management, marketing, fees and billing, specialization, trust accounting and formulating a business plan.

The St. Thomas Law Review is a student-operated scholarly journal publishing articles submitted by faculty and members of the bench and bar nationwide. Membership is determined on the basis of academic excellence and/or demonstrated writing ability. A publishable comment or note must be completed for membership. The Law Review provides students with extensive writing, editing and managing experience. The Editor-in-Chief earns two credits in her or his first semester in that position and two credits in her or his second semester and may register for an additional credit. Members of the Board, which is composed of third-year students, receive two credits in the fall and two more in the spring. Second-year staff members receive no credits in the fall and one in the spring. Third-year staff members receive one credit in the fall semester, one in the spring semester, and an additional credit, at the discretion of the faculty advisor, for service as an Articles Editor. The faculty advisor is responsible for determining whether Law Review participants have completed their responsibilities and are thus entitled to credit. No student can earn more than a total of 6 credits from participating in the St. Thomas Law Review.

This limited-enrollment, practical skills course, often taught by a current or retired judge, uses role plays, reading and presentations to explore professionalism’s ideals and the Florida’s bar exam tested mandates. Students will appreciate how character, competence, commitment and civility define a lawyer’s reputation, while considering the relationship between professionalism, ethics, morality and zealous legal advocacy.

A basic introduction, for students with little or no business background, to the approaches and methodology used in reporting and analyzing business or investment activity. No special mathematical skill is required. The business background, fundamental skill, and familiarity with financial statements developed in this course will be helpful in other law school courses such as Business Associations, Bankruptcy, Securities Regulation and Taxation. Course material emphasizes the underlying meaning, legal as well as financial, to be extracted from financial statements whenever there is a need for reporting the results of business or investment endeavors.

This course will provide an overview of the legal issues that arise for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Specific topics will include entity formation, angel financing and venture capital, intellectual property, acquisition of talent and employment law issues that arise at the early stage of a business, initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, business torts, social entrepreneurship, and liquidation. The course will also cover business ethics and potential conflicts of interests that may arise when attorneys take an equity stake as payment for their services. Students will study real cases and will address concrete legal issues through simulations and drafting exercises for a startup. The course will feature guest speakers including entrepreneurs and business lawyers to provide context for the assignments.

Prerequisite or Co-Requisite: Business Associations is preferred but not required prior to taking the course but students who have not taken BA are strongly encouraged to take it during the same semester as this course.

An intensive legal research course covering advanced techniques which will allow students to become proficient in performing legal research to be used in internship programs and employment opportunities which specifically involve federal law. The course will cover topics such as federal legislative history, federal regulations, federal court operating procedures and rules, and filing procedures in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

This course will emphasize legal research strategies and the practical use of research materials in foreign and international law. Print and online resources will be discussed. Students will evaluate sources, basic terms and research techniques. Students will be expected to discuss their research ideas and objectives.

An intensive course designed to build on existing legal research skills, with its focus specifically on the research of Florida law. This course will cover techniques for researching state decisional law, state legislation and legislative materials, state administrative resources, and state court rules, including the rules governing filing procedures in the state court system. The course will also include advance training in online research techniques of state law databases.

This short course introduces students to the world of legislation, regulation, and administration that creates and defines much of our legal order. At the same time, it teaches students to think about processes and structures of government and how they influence and affect legal outcomes. The course may include materials on most or all of the following topics: the structure of American Government (especially federalism), the separation of powers; the legislative process, statutory interpretation; delegation and administrative agency practice; and regulatory tools and strategies.

Marine Insurance is the most pervasive discipline in the field of Admiralty and Maritime Law. There is virtually no legal and business issue that is not subject or related to Marine Insurance. Marine Insurance even extends to cover risks for events “on land”, which have a legal or logistic connection with maritime transportation or business at large. This course will explain and describe the rules that govern insurance “markets” and will also look at insurance of building and repair operations, the so-called “Builders’ Risk. The course will then shift to the fundamental principles of “insurable interest” and “no-wagering”, which pervade the whole discipline, with vital twists of international and comparative law, as these principles find heavy trans-border application.
The course will then shift to the fundamental principles of “insurable interest” and “no-wagering”, which pervade the whole discipline, with vital twists of international and comparative law, as these principles find heavy trans-border application.

This course is designed to introduce students to Media Law and the First Amendment’s protections and limitations. Students will learn about and discuss relevant topics, such as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and the role social media plays in today’s press. The course is interactive and requires student participation for class discussions. Students should ultimately gain an understanding of how the First Amendment and intellectual property, advertising, libel, and privacy laws intersect to protect and balance competing interests in an era of constant news consumption.

Government and private agencies enact laws and regulations in an effort to steer the behavior of society; providing penalties for any breach of the safety and welfare of its population. However, mental illness poses a challenge for the law given that the disorder affects self-perception, behavior, and appreciation; compromising individuals? ability to understand their circumstances, reality, and the consequences of their actions. This course, grounded in constitutional principles, will provide the factual and legal framework for resolving conflicts in civil and criminal proceedings including representation, hospitalization, competence and insanity, confidentiality, and competing interests of due process.

This course will provide a survey of the U.S. military justice system as it applies to the military establishment. The primary text will be the Manual for Courts Martial (MCM). The U.S. system will be contrasted with a national Model Code of Military Justice developed by the Military Law Committee of the Americas. Human rights critiques of the system will also be covered.

The purpose of the mock trial classroom component is to strengthen the trial practice skills of all mock trial members, with special focus on training mock trial members to be competitors and coaches in future mock trial competitions. The course provides advanced training in all aspects of trial practice, including problem analysis, research, and presentation of cases. The skills that participants develop in the classroom will make them better competitors and coaches in the actual competitions in which the team participates, and better lawyers when participants pass the Bar. The maximum credit allowed for any combination of competition team(s) (Mock Trial, Moot Court, and International Moot court) and their classroom components is four (4).The course is graded pass/no pass.

Students who are selected to participate in an interschool competition are eligible for up to two credits in the semester in which the interschool competition occurs. This course provides advanced training in trial practice, including the presentation of cases in the context of a mock trial competition. In all other circumstances, credit will be limited to one (1) credit per semester. Maximum credit allowed per semester is two. The maximum credit allowed for any combination of competition team(s) (Mock Trial, Moot Court, and International Moot court) and their classroom components is four (4).

Prerequisite or Co-Requisite: Mock Trial Classroom Component

J.D. Program Seminar Courses

The course is intended to introduce students to this developing area of the law. Our society depends on a stable and safe Internet, and there is growing concern about the misuse of the Internet. With the increasing proliferation of mobile technologies and the growing real-time borderless exchange of information, cybersecurity has become a relevant subject with international connotations that require a global approach to finding a solution. Cyber attacks are a personal threat to all users of the Internet, and impose great dangers to nation-states. The course will examine the social and legal processes developed by governments, the private sector, and civil society to secure the Internet. The course will also examine the regulatory role played by nations, in particular the U.S. government, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, and legislative and treaty-based mechanisms for global governance, but with a focus particularly on the management and security of the Internet’s critical internet resources. The seminar will also consider the policy choices faced by the involved stakeholders.

This seminar surveys the law of democracy-that is, legal facets of the American electoral system. Election law, however, is by its very nature interdisciplinary, crossing disciplines of law, political science and even psychology.

This seminar will examine the various rules that comprise the law of employment discrimination. The law’s historical evolution will be discussed for both the public and private sectors. To that end, the roles of the federal constitution, executive orders, federal and state statutes, and court responses to these regulations will be considered. The course will also show how workplace discrimination law continues to evolve along with the adjudicatory processes for dispute resolution. In addition, the class offers students the opportunity to work on employment discrimination exercises, and write a thoughtful paper on this subject, consistent with the law school’s rules for the intensive writing requirement.

This seminar will focus on some specific topics of first amendment law. For example, the student might look at hate speech, symbolic speech, or commercial speech, or might concentrate on a particular justification for speech like the pursuit of truth or the actualization of one’s identity.

Hispanic and Latino name a United States Census category of ethnicity. As of 2013, people of Hispanic origin numbered 54 million, or seventeen percent, of the U.S. population. In Florida, Hispanics composed almost twenty-four percent of the populace, and in Miami-Dade County, they constituted sixty-five percent. How have law and policy shaped the social conditions of the diverse peoples who are called Hispanic, and how can lawyers shape law and policy to chart the future of Florida and the U.S. in general? This course will educate students about how U.S. law has mediated the territorial incorporation, and contradictory inclusion and exclusion, of diverse Hispanic peoples, highlighting their commonalities while nuancing their differences through an array of civil rights laws, migration patterns, and social struggles, and by highlighting their relations with Brazilians, Haitians, and other Caribbean peoples. This course may be used to satisfy the Senior Writing Requirement.

This is a research and writing seminar intended to satisfy the Senior Writing Requirement as well as to engage students in an exploration of some of the cutting-edge issues in U.S. immigration and citizenship law. The seminar will focus on changes in the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws and shifting government priorities. Are we facing an identity crisis as a Nation? Do Americans still consider this a nation of immigrants? Immigration litigation is occurring around the country, mostly on behalf of immigrants and refugees, but also in the opposite direction. Immigration restrictionists introduce legislation to cut back on family-based immigration and to impose an English-language requirement on persons seeking permanent residence. State and local governments respond either by seeking to assist the government in immigration enforcement, or through acts of resistance to enforcement priorities. Meanwhile, immigrant advocates and service providers are developing new strategies for defending immigrants facing removal. Ongoing developments, both in and out of government, provide a rich context for examining important questions of U.S. immigration law and policy, executive power, federalism, and due process. Students may fulfill their writing requirement through a traditional law review comment or case note, as a policy paper for decision-makers at the local, state or federal level, or through a manual for service providers. It should reflect substantial original research and writing, and be 30 double-spaced pages (or 15 single-spaced pages), including extensive footnotes. Students not seeking to fulfill the writing requirement may use other media, including art, film or music, as approved by the professor.

An introduction to the structure and dynamics of the process in which law beyond the nation-state is generated, changed and terminated. It reviews relevant, if conflicting, theories of and about international law, assesses the participants and their bases of power, analyzes problems arising from conflicting claims regarding people, territory and resources, and develops recommendations to address these problems with a view toward approximating a world public order of human dignity.

The course will analyze the legal and technological landscape faced by nations as they seek to adopt internet governance policies. The class analyzes the Internet’s infrastructure, its impact in society and why the international community must be aware of the governance of this technology. The course will consider governance activities, their relationship to the technical coordination of the Internet and the interests of all stakeholders. Topics to be discussed include, among others, the role of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and the U.S. Department of Commerce. The course will consider the governance models proposed for the control of the Internet. The policies discussed in class recognize that participation in the global debate of this issue represents a significant challenge, but one rooted in human rights and the protection of access to information.

This seminar acquaints students with the culture of the law and enables them to clarify their own theories about the law. With a frame of inquiry that focuses on both legal authority and effective power, the seminar examines major schools of jurisprudential thought to discover the insights and procedures, if any, that these schools can offer to the contemporary lawyer and to the range of legal and social tasks to be performed. A prior course in Jurisprudence is helpful, but not mandatory.

This course encourages students to (1) examine law as a form of literature (using critical theory from the Law and Literature movement), and (2) analyze images of law and lawyers in literature, film, and television, in order to gain new insights into their chosen profession. Topics may include the following: interpretation in law and in literature; the good lawyer in popular culture; race, gender, and justice in legal stories, etc. Readings typically range from judicial opinions to Shakespeare to slave diaries to graphic novels.

An exploration of legal storytelling from several traditions, including: behavioral decision theory, cognitive psychology, classical rhetoric, trial practice and jurisprudence. There will be consideration of such issues as “how does a jury reach its decision?” and “how can an advocate use legal storytelling concepts and findings to be more persuasive?” The goal of the seminar is to give students a solid theoretical background for use in practical application.

A consideration of several of the more elusive ethical and moral dilemmas confronted in the practice of law. Examples will be drawn from a variety of areas of practice, including criminal law, domestic relations, corporate law, and civil litigation. Most are situations which have been treated in a superficial or confusing manner, if at all, by the ABA model codes of ethics. Accordingly, the codes will play a diminished role in our analysis.

A survey of racial pattern in America law. Insight into race as social and legal constructs will be discussed in detail. In focusing on the interconnection of race and the law, seminar participants will study case law, statutes, and the works of historians and critical race theorists in such areas as public facilities, voting rights, criminal justice, protest, public education, housing and environmental justice.

The principle of the “rule of law” is commonly seen as one of the hallmarks of good government. Notwithstanding its contrast to the “rule of men” [or “women”], its meaning is tough to grasp. Rather formal understandings, “thin” definitions, stand against “thicker” concepts that include ideas of substantive justice or an order of human dignity; benefits and drawbacks might exist with either of these competing notions. All of these understandings are arguably subject to modification in times of crisis. This seminar will discuss the various approaches in light of concrete questions that highlight their relative usefulness or lack thereof. Students will write and defend papers on topics of their choice. Any societal problem that threatens or impinges upon the rule of law may be addressed. This includes case studies of individual problems in individual countries or cross-country comparisons of issues.

The seminar addresses the emerging field of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender-related litigation. Seminar topics will include: the history of sexual identity in law, the humanities, and the social sciences; workplace discrimination; sexual orientation discrimination and the Equal Protection clause; the debate over same-sex marriage, domestic partnership, and legal recognition of non-marital relationships; anti-sodomy laws (Model Penal Code and state laws); the exclusion of lesbians and gays from the military; the constitutional rights of gay students and gay political organizations; sexual minorities and human rights; legal protections available to gay parents (both biological and adoptive); and the legal status of hate crimes statutes and anti-gay referenda.

A review of the selected criminal law and procedure topics including the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendment rights, which safeguards one’s rights regarding unreasonable searches, and seizures, self-incrimination, due process, cruel and unusual punishment, as well as a criminal defendant’s right to a fair trial, as it has evolved since the 1960’s. The functional and symbolic roles of these Amendments will be viewed through the prism of the rights to counsel, to confrontation, to compulsory process, to a jury, and to a speedy trial, and the sometime conflict between a free press and the Sixth Amendment assurance of a fair trial free from prejudicial publicity. The goal of the course is to determine the Court’s adherence to the core values embedded in the primary criminal procedure Amendments and their related criminal law context.

Prerequisite: Criminal Law.

This course will explore the contemporary search for an adequate global ethics through a study of major global issues before the United Nations, the role of the United Nations in global governance, and the global ethical perspective of Catholic Social Teaching. The United Nations and its agencies represent the most world’s most important instrument for global governance. The philosophical side of Catholic Social Teaching carries the legacy of Western cultures most significant traditions of ethical wisdom, and today it is being expanded by dialogue with all wisdom traditions of the human family. Catholic Social Teaching strongly supports the United Nations and in turn advocates within the United Nations for a global ethics founded on the common truth of human wisdom traditions.
The course, which requires a research paper, serves in part as a preparation for law students interested in the semester long-internship at the United Nations with the Pax Romana Non-Governmental Office, Inter-Governmental Organizations, Permanent Missions and Offices of the United Nations in New York.

A perspective on the law’s approach to social policy issues relevant to women and an introduction to contemporary feminist thought. The topics include the workplace (occupational inequality), the family (no-fault divorce, custody and support), pornography, the law of rape, and domestic violence. The special issues of Native American women and black women will also be explored.

J.D. Program Clinical Courses

This is a year-long clinical program open to third-year students. Students must register for each semester. Students must be cleared by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners and certified by the Florida Supreme Court to participate in this clinic. The Appellate Litigation Clinic provides experience in handling criminal cases in state appellate court on behalf of clients represented by the Miami-Dade Office of the Public Defender. Each student will have primary responsibility for at least two cases in which the record on appeal has been filed and the case is ready to be briefed. Working in a team of two students, each student will prepare an initial brief of appellant in the first case and an answer brief of appellee in the second case. Each student will present the oral argument before the Third District Court of Appeal in one of their two cases. This is a graded clinic with a weekly classroom component.

Prerequisites: Evidence.

Co-requisite: Criminal Procedure.

Florida Bar Notice of Registrant Clearance: Yes.

Minimum Hourly Requirement: 16 hours per week

This is a Spring semester externship that offers a comprehensive set of legal services focused on assisting and empowering low-income individuals in their interaction with the bankruptcy system. Under the supervision of adjunct law faculty, the attorneys at Put Something Back and the mentors from the local bankruptcy bar, students represent debtors in bankruptcy cases and proceedings, meet with judges and local practitioners, participate in several joint classes with other local law schools’ bankruptcy clinics, and may be invited to attend events sponsored by the Bankruptcy Bar Association.
Students are required to attend the weekly class component.Prerequisites: Bankruptcy.

Co-requisite: None required.

Florida Bar Notice of Registrant Clearance: No.

Minimum Hourly Requirement: 16 hours per week.

This is a single semester externship, available for four or eight credits, which provides opportunities for students to observe and participate in lawyering at government agencies and non-profit, public interest settings. Typical placements include legal aid services, city and county attorneys, state and local government agencies, school boards, and healthcare facilities. Participation enhances the development of a broad range of lawyering skills, advance personal career goals, enable critical reflection of the legal profession and legal institutions, encourage self-directed learning through reflection, and promote core competencies and professional values that produce skilled and ethical lawyers and professionals in our society. Those students whose placement requires a Certified Legal Intern status must have completed four semesters (a minimum of 48 semester hours) and have received Florida Bar Notice of Registrant Clearance.

Students are required to attend the weekly class component.

Prerequisite: Completion of one year of law school in good academic standing.

Co-requisite: None required.

Florida Bar Notice of Registrant Clearance: Depending on placement.

Minimum Hourly Requirement: 16 hours per week minimum 4 credit; or

30 hours per week minimum 8 credits.

* The summer semester is four credits with a minimum hourly requirement of 32 hours per week for seven weeks.

This is a single semester externship for students who are eligible for Certified Legal Intern status by having completed four semesters (a minimum of 48 semester hours) and received Florida Bar Notice of Registrant Clearance. Both prosecution and defense placements are available. These placements provide intense exposure through actual trial experience. Students assigned to the State Attorney’s office receive a docket of cases, engage in plea bargain negotiation, and try cases to the court, or in some cases, to a jury. Students assigned to the Public Defender’s office defend indigent adults and minors charged with felonies and misdemeanor crimes. Students assigned to the United States Attorney’s Office will draft motions and memos on issues involving the legality of searches and seizures, identification procedures, or confessions along with defenses of insufficient evidence, mistaken identity, alibi, entrapment, or self-defense.
Students are required to attend the weekly class component. Students will NOT be able to take any other courses that are offered during the day, while taking the Criminal Practice Externship.Prerequisites: Criminal Procedure and Evidence.

Co-requisite: Trial Advocacy Practice or Mock Trial.

Florida Bar Notice of Registrant Clearance: Yes

Minimum Hourly Requirement: 30 hours per week.

* The summer semester is six credits with a minimum hourly requirement of 32 hours per week for seven weeks.

This is a Spring semester externship that addresses the ethical and practical issues of representing the elderly. Issues include income maintenance, health care, long-term care, competency, guardianship, and probate. Students will become familiar with the medical considerations of an aging population. Students will be assigned to the Probate division of the Circuit Court and work, together with members of the Florida Bar’s Elder Law section, to learn strategies and case management skills in dealing with an aging population.

Students are required to attend the weekly class component.

Pre-requisites: Wills and Trusts.

Co-requisite: Elder Law.

Florida Bar Notice of Registrant Clearance: No.

Minimum Hourly Requirement: 16 hours per week.

Eligible Students: 2L’s and 3L’s

For one semester, the intern will function as a law clerk to an individual Justice or as a central staff law clerk working for all of the Justices. Duties include: reviewing and making recommendations on petitions for discretionary review, attorney discipline matters, and extraordinary writ petitions; and conducting legal research and preparing memoranda on pending cases. The intern will have the opportunity to attend oral argument, discuss cases with staff attorneys and the assigned justice, and assist in the drafting of orders or opinions. The intern also will attend special lectures, group discussion, and training sessions. The intern will be awarded a certificate of recognition upon successful completion of the program. This Internship requires the student to have his or her Notice of Registrant Clearance.

This placement is based in Tallahassee. Housing in Tallahassee is provided by the law school.

Prerequisites: Second- or third-year students with an outstanding academic record (generally top 25 percent) and exceptional research and writing skills. Civil Procedure; Evidence. Criminal Procedure and Florida Constitutional Law are recommended.

Co-requisite: None required.

Florida Bar Notice of Registrant Clearance: Yes.

Minimum Hourly Requirement: 40 hours per week.

* The summer semester is six credits with a minimum hourly requirement of 40 hours per week for seven weeks.

This is a year-long clinic available to second- and third-year law students designed to provide the legal, ethical, and moral tools needed to provide high-quality immigration services to the under-served community. Students will represent asylum seekers, battered spouses and children, and other non-citizens seeking immigration relief in Immigration Court, before the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Prerequisites: Immigration Law.

Co-requisite: None required.

Florida Bar Notice of Registrant Clearance: No.

Hourly Requirement: Minimum 20 hours per week.

This is a single semester internship that provides experience within the judicial system. Students learn about judicial decision-making and use their analytical, research, and writing skills to draft opinions and memoranda for pending matters under the direct supervision of judges, their law clerks, and staff attorneys. By observing court proceedings, students become familiar with court procedures and legal advocacy. Placements include the judicial circuit courts, the Florida District Courts of Appeal, the United States District Court, and the United States Circuit Court of Appeals. A student must be in academic good standing to apply.

Students are required to attend the weekly class component.

Prerequisite: Completion of one year of law school in good academic standing.

Co-requisite: None required.

Florida Bar Notice of Registrant Clearance: No.

Minimum Hourly Requirement: 16 hours per week.

* The summer semester is a minimum hourly requirement of 32 hours per week for seven weeks.

This is a single semester internship that provides experience within the judicial system. Students learn about judicial decision-making and use their analytical, research, and writing skills to draft opinions and memoranda for pending matters under the direct supervision of judges, their law clerks, and staff attorneys. By observing court proceedings, students become familiar with court procedures and legal advocacy. Placements include the judicial circuit courts, the Florida District Courts of Appeal, the United States District Court, and the United States Circuit Court of Appeals. A student must be in academic good standing to apply.

Students are required to attend the weekly class component.

Prerequisite: Completion of one year of law school in good academic standing.

Co-requisite: None required.

Florida Bar Notice of Registrant Clearance: No.

Minimum Hourly Requirement: 16 hours per week.

* The summer semester is a minimum hourly requirement of 32 hours per week for seven weeks.

The United Nations Internship aims to form global legal leaders by instilling in students the knowledge of multilateral international organizations, the importance of globalizing international relations, and a desire to use law to assist the world’s most vulnerable. United Nations interns are accredited to the United Nations by permanent missions, intergovernmental organizations and nongovernmental organizations as well as by various offices of the United Nations Secretariat. Interns obtain access to meetings, events and discussions available only to diplomats and delegates. United Nations interns have attended meetings of the Security Council and spoken to the UN General Assembly, Commissions, Committees, High-Level Dialogues and have engaged in formal and informal resolution consultations.

Member states, permanent missions and non-governmental organizations partnering with the St. Thomas Law United Nations Internship program include, the Permanent Missions of South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras, Dominica, Costa Rica, United States of America and Grenada. Intergovernmental Organizations with Permanent Observer Missions at the United Nations include the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Malta, Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization, International Criminal Court, International Union for the Conservation of Nature and a spectrum of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and NGO committees, among them the Committee on Disarmament, the Committee on Africa, the Committee on Child Rights, the Committee on the International Decade for the World’s Indigenous People, Committee on Financing for Development and the Committee on Sustainable Development.

The United Nations Internship is highly sought after; it operates year round and typically provides credentials for between six and eight interns at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and Geneva.

Prerequisite:

Co-requisite: None required.

Florida Bar Notice of Registrant Clearance: No.

Minimum Hourly Requirement: 40 hours per week.

* Twelve credits are awarded in the Fall and Spring semesters. Six credits are awarded in the Summer semester. The academic component is graded and the field work is Pass/Fail.

This is a single semester internship for second- and third-year students, which may be extended to a second semester with the permission of the Director. This clinic gives students the opportunity to work with underserved communities and, under supervision, represent low-income clients involved in tax controversies before the IRS, District Counsel, and the U.S. Tax Court. Students perform outreach services by providing education on the rights and responsibilities of U.S. taxpayers to the community particularly for those whom English is a second language. Students are required to attend Tax Court sessions and the weekly clinic class component.
This clinic requires prior acceptance by the Tax Clinic Director and enrollment is limited.
Students are required to attend the weekly class component.Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation.

Co-requisite: None required.

Florida Bar Notice of Registrant Clearance: No.

Minimum Hourly Requirement: 16 hours per week.

LL.M. Program in Cybersecurity Law and Policy

Description to be provided . . .

How does digital surveillance influence power and privilege? This course dissects how domestic digital surveillance, including video and GPS surveillance measures, identification systems, social networking, online advertising, health records, big data, data mining analytics, revenge pornography, and the war on terror have all shaped a patchwork of State, Federal, and International regulations concerning digital privacy.

This is a graduate-level distance-learning course. The course will examine the legal and policy issues related to cybersecurity, including the history and complex nature of computer-related crime and how societies have attempted to respond. Students will discuss the different types of cyber-criminals, including motives, rationale, and methods of attack. The course will evaluate the technology landscape in this dynamic area and will provide students with opportunities to discuss cutting-edge issues at the intersection of law, technology, and policy. Students will be presented with the challenge of a fast pace technological environment to highlight the tools necessary to identify problems in the world arising from the existing and perceived vulnerabilities. At the end of this course, participants should be able to, and offer informed opinions and potential solutions.

Description to be provided . . .

This is a graduate-level distance-learning course. The course discusses the various impacts of information security risks on corporate practices, preparing students for tomorrow’s market as legal counsels or other similar business advising position. Specifically, this course is divided into three parts which can be simplified as the what, who, and how of cybersecurity corporate practices as it relates to their legal aspects. The what covers the sources of legal obligations and/or concerns for corporations; the who discusses the entities and individuals that are held accountable; and the how articulates the notions reviewed in this course into a specific case study. This course will feature prominent guest speakers discussing top of the market technologies and methodologies, while providing real-life examples from their practices.

This is a graduate-level distance-learning course. The course will examine the social and legal processes developed by governments, the private sector, and civil society to secure the Internet. The course is intended to introduce students to an evolving area of the law. Our society depends on a stable and safe Internet, and there is growing concern about the misuse of cyberspace. News of large-scale cybersecurity threats and cyber-attacks overshadow the daily life of governments, corporations, and individuals. The challenge at hand is one that threatens the peaceful utilization of cyberspace. With the increasing proliferation of mobile technologies and the growing real-time border-less exchange of information, cybersecurity has become a vital subject with international connotations that requires a global approach to find a solution. Cyber-attacks are a personal threat to all users of cyberspace, and impose great dangers to nation-states. The course will also examine the role played by nation-states and other stakeholders. The seminar will also consider the concept of cyber-power and cyber-war.

This course offers a study of the role of authority in the decision-making processes of the world community, including both the basic constitutive process by which international law is made and applied and the public order established. Consideration is given to formal prescriptions and effective practice with respect to the participants in such processes (nation-states, international governmental organization, multinational enterprises, and other private associations and individuals), arenas of interaction, bases of power (control over people, resources and institutions), practices, outcome and effects. The principal emphasis is on the many roles of the nation-state.

Description to be provided . . .

In this practical course, students will be introduced to risk management activities in which legal knowledge can be combined with other expertise to significantly improve organizations’ preparedness for crisis, such as ransomware attacks. Students will benefit from an interdisciplinary approach which will combine legislative knowledge with information security expertise to exemplify how lawyers can significantly contribute to protect their organization by playing a proactive role, including by establishing legal privilege strategies over risk mitigation exercises. In the second part of these courses, students will discover some principles of crisis management, should an incident occur. This course is intended to provide practical knowledge, and students should expect to complete and participate in hands-on activities. Each course includes reading, and online videos which complete the readings with additional content.

Students will have seminar electives from which to choose for their remaining 2 credits. For purposes of the LL.M., the seminar will require a scholarly research paper of at least 30-pages. Qualifying seminars have to be approved ahead of their offering by the Program Director as consonant with the LL.M. Program.

LL.M. Program in Intercultural Human Rights

Required LL.M. Courses

This course offers a study of the role of authority in the decision-making processes of the world community, including both the basic constitutive process by which international law is made and applied and the public order established. Consideration is given to formal prescription and effective practice with respect to the participants in such processes (nation-states, international governmental organizations, multinational enterprises, and other private associations and individuals), arenas of interaction, bases of power (control over people, resources and institutions), practices, outcomes and effects. The principal emphasis is on the many roles of the nation-state.

This introductory course on the International Law of Human Rights provides an overview of the standards, structures, and procedures designed to effectuate the international protection of human rights. The course primarily addresses the sources and processes of making international human rights law, encompassing universal and regional legal systems of human rights protection. The International Bill of Rights is commonly defined as encompassing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the twin Covenants on Civil and Political Rights as well as Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966. Starting from this normative framework, the scope of the Covenant rights as well as the duties of the States parties will be discussed. The course will also analyze the distinction between United Nations treaty bodies entrusted with monitoring and enforcing human rights obligations under various conventions, and United Nations Charter bodies, including the Human Rights Council, with its procedure of universal periodic review, as well as the Security Council and the issue of humanitarian intervention. An overview will be given of international criminal law, humanitarian law and their crossroads with the international law of human rights as well as the roles played by nation-state governments, non-governmental organizations and individual actors.

This course will provide students with an introduction to the substantive norms of human rights in the inter-American, European, and African systems of human rights protection, the main theoretical issues concerning the nature and scope of rights that appear in conventional instruments, and the diverse procedures available at the regional level for defense and protection of human rights. The course is broken down into three main sections:

  1. The Inter-American System of Human Rights Protection
    This part of the course will provide students with an introduction to the substantive norms of human rights in the inter-American system, the main theoretical issues concerning the nature and scope of rights that appear in conventional instruments, the diverse procedures available at the regional level for defense and protection of human rights, and the ways in which policymakers in the countries of the Western Hemisphere attempt to reconcile the demand for enforcement of human rights with the current of foreign policy objectives.
  2. The European System of Human Rights Protection
    This part of the course will give an overview of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights and its procedural as well as substantive guarantees. The Convention is applied by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. In the last half-century the Court has developed its own, rich jurisprudence. Its doctrines cover the right to life, the prohibition of torture, slavery and forced labor, criminal procedure and the principle of legality, privacy and family law issues, freedoms of speech, of press, of assembly and association, equal protection, right to property, prohibition of death penalty, right to free elections, etc.
  3. The African System of Human Rights Protection
    The part of the course will examine the practice of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) regarding the review of individual NGOs complaints, with a case study of the implementation of the right to a fair trial, since it has developed important case law on this guarantee. The course will also deal with the development of in-site investigations and the thematic procedures, especially those relating to the mandates and work of the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary and arbitrary executions and of the Special Rapporteur on the conditions of prisons in Africa. The course will conclude with an evaluation of the work done by the ACHPR under its protective mandate and consideration on its future role in the context of the establishment of an African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights.

This course explores issues of humanitarian law, i.e. the law of armed conflict, faced by professionals of war, relief workers, humanitarian organizations and others working in complex emergencies. Students will explore and analyze emerging and controversial aspects of law and policy. With the proliferation of conflicts around the globe, humanitarian organizations are being forced into new and unfamiliar territory. Increasingly, humanitarian professionals are attempting to provide relief in settings of diminished security and are grappling with the growing involvement of non-state actors – from rebel groups to private corporations to humanitarian organizations themselves – in situations of armed conflict.

This course also explores novel issues of criminal liability under international law, resulting from war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and the crimes of aggression. It examines substantive elements of such crimes; jurisdictional elements of domestic and international law over international criminal activities; the implications of international cooperation in criminal matters, such as extradition and mutual legal assistance; and the history, practice, and impact of international war crimes tribunals, including the International Criminal Court under the Statute of Rome.

Elective LL.M. Courses

This course explores the religious and philosophical roots of the development of human rights, ranging from natural law in the Aristotelian, Thomist and Kantian tradition to more pragmatic philosophies designed to bring about a public order of human dignity.

The purpose of this class is to introduce students to the assessment and analysis of a given human rights situation and the employment of human rights advocacy via hands-on instruction in the representation of victims of human rights abuses, the litigation of pertinent issues, and the public advocacy, using old and new media, in the articulation and propagation of key human rights concerns. Emphasis will be placed on client relationships, strategy building and an overview of useful tools in the practice of human rights lawyering.

This online course looks at the linkages between human rights and the environment, how such linkages can assist efforts to protect both human rights and the environment, and what further collaboration between these two fields might be pursued. This includes discussion of specific human rights that implicate the environment and the cases interpreting such rights, the use of the United Nations and regional human rights systems, as well as national courts, for enforcing human rights to protect environmental interests, and how human rights may be applied directly to corporations to protect the environment. A field trip to Florida’s Everglades National Park may be included as part of this course.

This course will explore the parameters of the essential norms of religious human rights — liberty of conscience, religious pluralism and equality, free exercise of religion, nondiscrimination on religious grounds, and autonomy for religious groups. Individual religious rights include the right to change one’s religion, to proselytize, and to reject one’s religion; allied rights include freedom of speech, association, and travel. While these are civil and political in nature, the rights of religious minorities are social, cultural, and possibly economic. These norms will be explored from various religious and non-religious perspectives with a view to understanding groups in the formation and protection of cultural heritage.

The COVID-19 crisis has created an unprecedented disturbance in the enjoyment and the realization of human rights. Rights of the individual have been curtailed on account of a national emergency, to pursue the legitimate aim of securing public health. International human rights law foresees limitations on rights under very strict criteria. However, many times there is a clash between rights. This course addresses human rights in extreme situations, real or claimed, that pose a threat to a country’s or its people’s survival. This involves situations such as war and other man-made attacks, natural disasters and pandemics. The issues are whether, and to what extent, the peacetime structure and content of human rights survive the actual and claimed fundamental crisis. The course will draw a comparison of standards and their application through examples including inter-state war, terrorism, earthquakes, with a particular emphasis on the present COVID-19 crisis.

This course seeks to explore and critically analyze the continuum of terror violence, its goals, its means, its perpetrators, and its intersection with all aspects of human rights. It will begin with a history of the phenomenon of terrorism, the rise of the human rights idea and the interrelationship between the two. Before, but especially after September 11, 2001, legal systems both domestic and international have responded to the unprecedented assault with a concerted global effort. This course will closely scrutinize the international legal issues arising in this context.

The principal objective of this course is to analyze the process of transformation of international economic law and to assess what has been achieved in light of ever more important concerns relating to the effective protection of human rights. Special emphasis will be put on the WTO, the World Bank, the IMF, the OECD, and the EU. Economic freedoms such as the freedoms of establishment, movement of persons, goods, services, and capital will be discussed, just as the content and impact of economic, social, labor as well as civil and political rights.

This course dives in-depth into the practice of high-level international negotiations, conflict management and related issues. While the course is focused on the negotiations practiced by governments and international organizations, the class will explore the basic principles of negotiating, which apply much more broadly and encompass conflict management, crisis situations, business (both domestic and international) as well as everyday life. Participants will absorb the basics and then engage in an exercise aimed at simulating a negotiation, allowing them to grapple with real world issues. The course provides a practical set of tools for conducting international negotiations, provides an understanding of theories of international negotiation, develops students’ capacity to analyze international negotiation strategies and tactics, and improves their negotiation skills through a simulation exercise and a discussion of how policy decisions for conducting negotiations are achieved.

This course will start with an introduction to the concept of international protection of refugees and an examination of the various international attempts since 1921 to meet the problem of the forced movements of people due to persecution or armed conflict. This will be followed by an introduction to the basics of international refugee law, including the gaps in this body of law. This will in turn lead to a comparative study of the refugee definitions as a basis for the determination of refugee status, the issue of the safe third country and the problem of responsibility for determining asylum claim, and other contentious issues relating to refugee status determination.

Other themes will include: the mandate of work and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; refugee protection and human rights; asylum; non-refoulement under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugee under general human rights law; temporary or time-limited protection and “subsidiary protection”; refugee detention and freedom of movement; refugee protection in armed conflict and complex emergencies; security of refugee camps and settlements; the protection of refugee women and the problem of sexual violence against refugees; the protection of refugee children; the developing law of internally displaced persons; the solutions to the refugee problem; the challenge of repatriation; and the future of international protection.

This course analyzes the right to development as a human right, the notion of sustainable development, and the search for a new model of development that integrates, links and promotes dialogue amongst various social systems in order to achieve a development that is “founded on the dignity and freedom of every human person, to be brought about in peace, justice and solidarity.” Integral human development includes the idea of development as freedom, affording the material and spiritual resources that allow every human being to flourish.

This course addresses water as the source of life, considering that the right to drinking water and sanitation is unquestionably a human right, without distinction of any kind: race, color, sex, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. The human right to water is inextricably linked to the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, as well as to the right to life and human dignity, and constitutes a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights and integral human development.

In lieu of taking a three-credit elective course or a two-credit seminar, students may write a thesis specifically for the LL.M. Program on a topic of the students choosing within the field of human rights. The topic has to be related, in the broadest sense possible, to the field of human rights. If it relates to a societal problem addressed by the law, we suggest using the detailed problem- and policy-oriented analysis developed by policy-oriented jurisprudence. The thesis should consist of at least 15,000 words. Students must arrange supervision of their papers with a member of the law or LL.M. faculty who has indicated his or her willingness to act as supervisor.

This course explores issues arising from the universal and regional legal instruments designed to protect the rights of women and the rights of the child, including, but not limited to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as their various protocols.

  1. Women’s Human Rights
    While human rights law has become a staple in legal discourse, women’s human rights law still lacks this universal recognition. Human rights violations of women tend to be recognized only if such violations resemble those of men. Women who are tortured for their political beliefs are granted the same protections as men in the same position. However, if the abuse takes other, gender-specific forms, such as rape and forced impregnation, involves non-political, i.e. social and economic rights, or is inflicted by private rather than governmental actors, human rights protections are being disregarded. In part, this is a function of the universal subjugation of women; in part it is the function of current human rights systems which values male-identified rights, i.e. political rights, above others and focuses on abuses by government actors. Because of the general disregard of women’s rights it is important to highlight the particular issues women face which involve violations of human rights. Such violations occur in the United States as well as internationally. In some cases, women are treated differently even though there is no justifiable, gender-based reason; in others, women are treated the same as men even though unequal treatment would be more appropriate; in a third group of cases women are treated unequally because of a received gender difference.
  2. Human Rights of the Child
    This part of the course will consider issues and problems affecting children in light of the 1989 Convention of the Rights of the Child and related protocols, its background, and its normative policy dimensions. It considers the identification of the child as the holder of certain rights, with the grant of procedural status to assert these rights in appropriate domestic judicial and administrative proceedings. It treats the substance of the Convention alongside implementation of its provisions and the guiding principles of interpretation and construction of the child’s “best interests”; the “evolving capacities of the child,” and equality in treatment (non-discrimination). It also addresses a variety of situations identified by the human rights community as making children especially defenseless, and discusses the child’s means of international protection.

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