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After its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, many wondered whether the law and literature movement would retain vitality. Within the last few decades there has, however, been an explosion of energy in the field, which has expanded beyond the boundaries of the literary text narrowly conceived and incorporated a range of other genres and humanistic approaches. While the U.S. origins of the movement had tied it more closely to a liberal tradition and the role of the judge, recent engagements with law and literature have looked to work from the Global South, questioned the centrality of cases and judicial decisions, and asked what law and literature might look like outside of liberalism. This course will begin with the classic account of law and literature as framed by twentieth-century jurist Benjamin Cardozo and scholars Robert Cover and Martha Nussbaum, then examine alternatives. Primary texts to be considered include, among others, Bertolt Brecht's The Exception and the Rule, Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Claudia Rankine's Citizen, The Murder Case of Xu Qiuying, and the Constitution of the White Earth Nation. Nearly every session will pair recent scholarship in the field with a literary or artistic work. After the term begins, students accepted into the course can transfer from section (01) into section (02), which meets the R requirement, with consent of the instructor. Students taking the course for R credit can take the course for either 3 or 4 units, depending on the paper length. This class is limited to 22 students, with an effort made to have students from SLS (16 students will be selected by lottery) and six non-law students by consent of instructor. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Written Assignments, Final Paper. Cross-listed with Comparative Literature ( COMPLIT 350L) and English ( ENGLISH 350).

This course will examine the implications of psychological theory and research for normative legal theory and for contemporary legal policies, procedures, and practices. The course will draw on contemporary cognitive, social, and clinical psychology to address the concepts of intent, responsibility, deterrence, retribution, morality, and procedural and distributive justice. We will examine evidence law (e.g. eyewitness testimony, polygraphy, expert testimony, psychiatric diagnosis and prediction), procedure (e.g., trial conduct, jury selection, settlement negotiations, alternative dispute resolution), and various topics in criminal law, torts, contracts, property, discrimination, family law, and other areas. We will compare "rational actor" and psychological perspectives on decision making by juries, judges, attorneys, and litigants. Special Instructions: After the term begins, students accepted into the course can transfer from section (01) into section (02), which meets the R requirement, with consent of the instructor. Elements used in grading: Series of shorter papers or final independent research paper totaling 28 pages.

This one credit course, based on materials taught at the Aspen Institute, will read and discuss selected classical Greek documents (in translation, of course) of particular relevance to the contemporary practice of law. We will begin with a reading of two Platonic dialogues -- Crito and the Apologia -- to frame the question of whether Socrates should have resisted the lawful, but unjust, verdict condemning him to death. We'll focus of the tension between law and justice, perhaps peeking forward to Melville's Billy Budd, and MLK Jr.'s Letter from the Birmingham Jail. We will continue with the third play in Aeschylus' Oresteia, focusing on the decision to remit Orestes to the judgment of the people of Athens, rather than to the Furies, in connection with the murder of Clytemnestra. We'll focus on the decision to vest secular authorities with the definition of justice. We'll close with a reading of Antigone, focusing on the relationship between the individual and the state, and the gendered nature of justice. I often end the seminar with an informal public reading of the Antigone. I play Creon, maybe this year in a Trump mask. I anticipate five meetings, usually over dinner in one of the seminar rooms. Class will meet five Wednesdays, 6:15PM-8:15pm, April 11, April 25, May 9, May 23, May 30. Discussion will be informal, and non-hierarchical. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation.

This seminar will briefly examine recent debates about the role of the financial sector in the United States, considered in light of the long history of American debates over regulation of economic activity. It will be structured as a continuing dialogue between recent debates about regulation and finance, and historical debates over the role of law in capitalist development. It will touch upon the regulation of corporations, banking and the financial system, movements for deregulation in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, the roots of the financial crisis of 2007-08, and its aftermath up to the present day. The seminar will be structured as a short and necessarily tentative (given the time constraints of the course) examination of the social, institutional and intellectual history of economic regulation, as a means of contextualizing our continuing and unresolved arguments over scope and purpose of corporations and the financial sector. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation. Class meets 7:15 p.m. - 9:15 p.m., January 9, 10, 14, 16, and 17.

This seminar will explore the connections between the arts and questions of law and politics, using several performances from the 2019-2020 Stanford Live season to form the basis of a conversation. Students will attend the multiple performances and discussions before or after each performance. The performances will be on the evenings of 1/15, 1/17, 1/22, 1/29, 2/5, 2/21, 2/22 and 2/26---student must attend at least 6 performances so please confirm your availability before enrolling. Specific meeting times TBD with instructor and the Bing event schedule. The discussions will be a combination of public lectures and exclusive pre or post performance conversations with the artists, artistic directors, and Stanford faculty members. Students will be expected to write four reflection papers over the course of the term. Enrollment limited to 7 law students. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, please submit a short written statement of interest to cparis@ law.stanford.edu. Mandatory Pass/Fail, 3 units. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Written Assignments.

The aim of this seminar is to produce a number of student-written studies of the lives of lawyers. In the first half of the seminar, we will read some exemplary biographies of lawyers. In the second half, students in the seminar will report on their own research into the life of a lawyer, preferably a lawyer who undertook public engagements as an official, elected officeholder, law writer or reformer, or judge as well as private practice. Students who wish to enroll in the course should, at the time of enrollment, submit a short proposal with (1) the name of the lawyer or lawyers they plan to write about; (2) the materials, including in substantial part primary sources, they plan to use in writing the biography; and (3) a summary of other sources, such as secondary biographical or contextual materials that they plan to consult. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Final Paper. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available on the SLS website (Click Courses at the bottom of the homepage and then click Consent of Instructor Forms). See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.

Legal doctrines require a minimum level of mental competence for legal accountability. Yet, this requirement is not uniform across legal domains, only applies to some people, and has changed over time. This seminar will explore the concept of the "unreasonable person," those who do not fulfill the threshold of legal accountability, and its implications. We will discuss the developments of doctrines, such as insanity, incapacity, minority, and senility, that attempt to define those who fall short of full legal accountability. We will also examine how the law has grappled with the activities of "unreasonable people." We will also consider legal fictions, such as the reasonable person standard, which attempts to clarify those who qualify for full legal accountability and how they have shifted historically. This class will appeal to those interested in disability law, elder law, children and the law, and those who desire a cross-doctrinal conversation incorporating criminal law, torts, and constitutional law. Student assessment is based on class participation and a final project or paper. Students writing an R paper may receive three credits. Students may transfer into the R paper section after the term begins with the consent of the instructor. Non-law students are welcome to apply for enrollment. Attendance, class participation, written assignments, final paper.

All writing is fundamentally making an argument, from fairy tales to novels to law review articles. The most effective writing contains both story and argument, whether for a courtroom, a scholarly journal or a general audience. In this course, students will be led through the craft of such composition, how to construct a life history within a framework of argument. How can you make someone who has done terrible things be more than the summation of those terrible things? What are the craft elements good writers use to fill out a life on the page? How can mitigating factors become tools of craft and argument? We will consider both the limitations of the law, and the use of media for garnering public support in a case. Students will be asked to present a craft deconstruction to the class, as well as a final paper showcasing elements we cover in class. Pedagogic materials include long form narrative journalism piece, white papers from legal journals and essays. Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, class presentation, written assignments, final paper.

No period in American history has generated as much creative political thinking as the era of the American Revolution. This course explores the origins and development of that thought from the onset of the dispute between Great Britain and its American colonies over liberty and governance through the debates surrounding the construction and implementation of the United States federal Constitution. Elements used in grading: Class participation, Canvas posts, and a final paper. Cross-listed with American Studies ( AMSTUD 253F) and History ( HISTORY 253F/353F).