printer friendly pageLAW 793: Constitutional Litigation and Public Policy: Race and Criminal Justice
This course will examine the ways in which race and perceptions of race influence our criminal-justice system, with an emphasis on interactions between individuals and the police. Topics will include racial profiling, stop-and-frisk tactics, police use of force, the over- and under-policing of communities of color, and the impact of the war on drugs on these communities. We will discuss the doctrinal, policy, and practical issues that these topics raise, as well as the question of how to effectively use litigation and other types of advocacy to address problems within the criminal-justice system. My goal is for students in the course not only to gain an understanding of the subject matter but also to develop their litigation, writing, and advocacy skills. Readings will include Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow, Randall Kennedy's Race, Crime, and the Law, as well as cases and articles. Students will be required to write a number of short papers. Grades will be based on those papers and on class participation.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 2
Instructors:
Risher, M. (PI)
LAW 794: Introduction to Finance
This course is a basic introduction to the principles of finance and is intended as a primer on principles of valuation that are useful in everything from settlement negotiations to family law. No prior knowledge of finance will be assumed. If you want an introduction to corporate finance and won't take the full 3 credit course, this is for you. The first part of the course (approximately 6 weeks) will consist of on-line modules and problem sets that you will complete on your own and in small groups. We will cover topics such as: earnings, cash flows, income statements, interest rates, time value of money, estimating firm value, risk and return and the cost of capital. We will provide a framework for answering questions such as: how much is this project (or firm) worth? How should the firm raise money for a new investment? There will be weekly problem sets and you will get experience with building a simple model (excel spreadsheet) that will help you estimate the value of a potential new project. The second part of the course will consist of in-class discussions of case studies that apply these valuation principles to particular legal settings: e.g. valuing settlement offers, merger proposals, appraisal proceedings, and the efficient capital markets hypothesis. We hope that this flexible format will allow more students to take finance. If you wish, you can take this course and then later take Corporate Finance 1. The class will meet 2:15PM to 3:45PM on April 2, May 14, May 21, and May 28. Additional small group meetings will be scheduled with the instructor. On-line component. Elements used in grading: Written Assignments, Final Project.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 2
Instructors:
Daines, R. (PI)
LAW 802: TGR: Dissertation
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 0
| Repeatable
for credit
LAW 221: Intellectual Property: Commercial Law
This seminar, co-taught by eBay's first In-House Counsel and former Director of Law & Public Policy, Brad Handler, examines the ways in which intellectual property rights are asserted, exchanged, protected, and respected, both in theory and in practice. Special attention is devoted to the regulatory and strategic considerations involved in the business and legal decisions implicating intellectual property. See SLS Registrar's website for prerequisites.
LAW 229: Equal Protection: Race and the Law
This course will examine the application of constitutional and statutory antidiscrimination law to race related controversies across a variety of settings. The course will begin with an exploration of the historical developments that led to antidiscrimination law, and with an introduction to the competing frameworks that define current antidiscrimination law: the discriminatory purpose and anti-classification approaches that feature prominently in equal protection doctrine, and the disparate impact framework that is incorporated into some statutory law. After some exploration of the historical origins of antidiscrimination law and its alternative formulations, the course will then turn to the specific contexts in which controversies arise. The settings that will be examined include criminal justice, college admissions, political participation, primary/secondary education, employment, housing, hate speech, and the formation of family relationships. In each of these settings, we will devote close attention to the role of antidiscrimination law in specific controversies. Throughout, our intellectual goals will be twofold: to understand the special challenges that race poses, and to appreciate more generally some of the dilemmas of legal regulation.
LAW 238: Administrative Law
Administrative agencies affect vast areas of life -- from employment to food and drug safety, from the environment to energy markets, and from telecommunications to immigration. But who is in charge of government agencies, and what precisely can those agencies do? These are the major questions that permeate administrative law, which is the body of legal rules and standards regulating how government is administered. Accordingly, this course is concerned with the constitutional rules and political pressures that shape agencies; how agencies interpret statutes, promulgate regulations, and adjudicate disputes; the major statutes affecting how agencies work, particularly the Administrative Procedure Act; how the leadership of the executive branch tries to control agency actions; how agencies make judgments about the costs and benefits of regulatory policies; and how courts review agency action. The course will cover these topics through cases and examples drawn from a variety of areas, including, separation of powers, the constitutional law of due process, environmental policy, health and safety, and national security. A major theme cutting across these topics is how the law seeks, yet often fails to resolve, tensions between political accountability, scientific and technical rationality, and adjudicatory fairness. Elements used in grading: Class Participation (including participation in exercises and simulations in class), Attendance, Final Exam (in-school: four hour, essay, open book).
LAW 241: Payment Systems
Negotiable instruments, letters of credit, checks, credit cards, electronic fund transfers, and cash. This course surveys the legal mechanisms by which funds can be transferred, including new mechanisms that have become more important as a result of (a) changes in electronic technology and (b) increased international trade. Designing a system for transferring funds is not easy -- as e-firms like PayPal have discovered -- and the law has had to deal with the difficulties of each new system in turn. The principal focus will be on articles 3, 4, 4A, and 5 of the Uniform Commercial Code, with occasional reference to other statutes and to international conventions and treaties. Bankruptcy is the first of three courses (the other two are Secured Credit and Payment Systems) dealing with the financing of commercial ventures through means other than the sale of corporate stock. These courses may be taken in any order: neither presupposes any knowledge of the others. Students who cannot take all three should probably prioritize them in the order they are listed-that is, Bankruptcy is the single most important course to take, then Secured Credit, then Payment Systems. Elements Used in Grading: In-School, open book.
LAW 251: Conflict of Laws
Instances are common in law where more than one legal authority potentially governs a particular event, occurrence or transaction. When the outcome required by these authorities differs, which law governs? Beginning with the classic problem of choosing an applicable law in cases with facts touching more than one jurisdiction, this course is designed broadly to explore the variety of theories and systems used to resolve this question. The course thus uses state/state conflicts to develop a set of approaches and then extends these to such other problems as adjudicatory jurisdiction, judgments, federal subject-matter jurisdiction, and public and private international law. Elements used in grading: Attendance, preparation, participation and final examination.
LAW 267: Law of Nonprofits
This course provides an overview of the rules governing the formation and operation of nonprofit organizations. The course will focus both on the state laws governing nonprofit corporations and on federal tax laws. Topics will include the fiduciary duties of nonprofit directors, obtaining and maintaining tax-exempt status, nonprofit lobbying and political activities, and nonprofit earned income strategies, including social enterprise.
LAW 273: Deals I
This course applies economic concepts to the practice of structuring contracts. Our goal is to understand common problems and solutions that arise in complex deals. The course extends over two quarters, meeting three hours per week the first quarter and two hours per week the second quarter. Students enrolled in the course must take both quarters. The first quarter will be spent in a traditional classroom setting, discussing economics articles and case studies of actual contracts that illustrate the concepts described in the articles. We focus on the issues arising from transaction costs, adverse selection, moral hazard, problems of enforceability, agency problems, and contracting over time. During the second quarter, we will explore the connection between economic theory and contracting practice by studying specific deals. Students, divided into groups, will study a deal and give a class presentation based on their deal. A lawyer or another participant in the deal will also lead a class discussion of that deal. When it works, the students' and the practitioners' analyses are mutually enlightening. In the past, we have studied movie financings, biotech alliances, venture capital financings, cross-border joint ventures, private equity investments, and corporate reorganizations. This course is capped at 30 Students, 12 GSB, 18 Law School students. Students enrolled in the course must take both quarters. The course is open to first-year Law School students. Writing (W) credit is for 3Ls only. No exam in Winter Term. An In-School exam will be given at the conclusion of the course in the Spring Term. Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, presentation, written assignments, a group paper, and exam. Grades will be given at the end of the second quarter and will be applied to both quarters. This course is cross-listed with
GSBGEN 304. Consent Application: To apply for this course, students must complete and e-mail the Consent Application Form available on the SLS Registrar's Office website (see Registration and Selection of Classes for Stanford Law Students) to the instructors. See Consent Application Form for submission deadline.
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