181 - 190 of 873 results for: LAW

This course combines intensive field research into the psychological and neurological effects of prolonged solitary confinement (including data collection from mental health questionnaires and structural magnetic resonance imaging scans) with doctrinal research into constitutional, statutory, and regulatory standards for solitary confinement to support client(s) involved in prison conditions litigation under 1983 (including the constraints imposed by the Prison Litigation Reform Act). Elements used in grading: Attendance, Performance, Class Participation, and Written Assignments.

Consumers face insurance contracts and living with their fine print throughout their daily lives. Whether it's with healthcare, housing, or their cars, there are choices to be made about what insurance contract fits a person best, and how to actually make use of it when problems arise. Technology is bringing new opportunities to how consumers will interact with contracts, and this class will explore what is possible, what consumers might need and want, and what actually works in practice. In this jointly hosted project between CodeX and the Legal Design Lab, students will work on teams to interview consumers about their experiences with contracts, to test new interactive and computable contract models with them, and to propose best practices about how technology might improve consumer's ability to understand, use, and benefit from insurance contracts. The policy lab will contribute to regulators' understanding of what the near-future of consumer contracts might be, and how to take a human-centered, data-driven approach to consumer empowerment. Students will contribute new insights to good practices and products that better protect consumers by assessing, developing, and testing the advantages and limitations of legal technology. The project is open to graduate students and qualified undergraduates in law, business, computer science, product design, and communications. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Performance, Class Participation and Written Assignments. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available at https://law.stanford.edu/education/courses/consent-of-instructor-forms/. See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.

Client: American University of Afghanistan (AUAF). The fall of the Afghan government to the Taliban in August 2021 has created an urgent crisis for millions of Afghans. Those at particularly high risk of Taliban attacks and reprisals include women and girls, ethnic and religious minority groups, human rights advocates, journalists, and individuals who worked with or on behalf of the United States during the 20-year war in Afghanistan. The U.S. government was able to evacuate some of these individuals and their families, but hundreds of thousands more remain in Afghanistan, and many are seeking any opportunity for safe passage out of the country. They include thousands of staff members, former students, and other affiliates of the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), a U.S.-funded institution in Kabul that has provided educational opportunities to thousands of graduates. The U.S. government has pledged to continue to support vulnerable Afghans who want to leave the country, but the situation remains highly uncertain. Afghans are eligible for humanitarian parole, a temporary status that could allow them to come to the United States. However, few Afghans have been granted this status. Other avenues for legal immigration, such as the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) process, have also faced substantial delays. The U.S. government will need to look for new and creative policy solutions to address the ongoing refugee crisis in Afghanistan. Students in this policy lab will advise AUAF in its efforts to pursue legal and policy options to support its students, alumni, staff, and affiliated families who are seeking to evacuate the country. Student researchers will track bottlenecks and other challenges in processing humanitarian parole, visas, asylum, and refugee applications. Research includes understanding the roles of U.S. government agencies, tracking updates to U.S. government policy regarding Afghan refugees, and proposing avenues for additional legal and policy advocacy that could help Afghans seeking to come to the United States. Students will gain experience with laws and policies related to immigration and refugees and leverage their research to improve the U.S. government's overall policy approach to the refugee crisis in Afghanistan. This experience will culminate in a policy brief and presentation for AUAF (Winter) and in a full report for U.S. policymakers (Spring) about potential policy and legal pathways to resettle Afghan refugees in the United States. This policy lab welcomes all students with a strong interest in immigrant and refugee rights. A background in law, public policy, political science, Central Asian studies, or human rights would be useful, but is not necessary. Dari, Pashto, or Farsi language capabilities are a bonus, but are also not necessary. We are also looking for students with experience in design thinking for social innovations. Students from the School of Law, Department of Political Science, Public Policy Program, Program in International Relations, Freeman Spogli Institute, Design School, Middle Eastern Language Program, are encouraged to apply. After the term begins, and with the consent of the instructor, students accepted into the course may transfer from section 01 (2 units) into section 02 (3 units), which meets the R requirement. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Performance, Class Participation and Written Assignments. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available at https://law.stanford.edu/education/courses/consent-of-instructor-forms/. See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.

Clients: Stanford Dean Kathryn "Kam" Moler and Vice Dean Stephan Graham, respectively transition dean and vice dean of the new School. The mission of Stanford University's new School of Climate and Sustainability is to "create a future where humans and nature thrive in concert and in perpetuity." The School intends to pursue this mission through three pathways: 1. Advancing knowledge critical to sustaining life on Earth and to ensuring the benefits of a healthy planet extend to all people. 2. Preparing students as future sustainability leaders through rigorous, engaged education and research. 3. Engaging with partners to generate and scale local, national, and global solutions to the defining challenge for humanity. This Policy Lab practicum will examine how the School can marshal its resources most effectively to advance knowledge through research, prepare students for leadership roles, and engage with partners to scale these core functions. With respect to the advancement of knowledge, we will seek to understand how research aimed at improving sustainability in several areas (e.g., climate change, agriculture) can be supported and disseminated to educate and influence decisions and behaviors of policy makers, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and citizens, while remaining impartial and balanced throughout the process. Without limiting ourselves to these areas, we will look at examples where research has and has not influenced decision making, with an eye to understanding conducive pathways and barriers. To use a recent example, suppose that a researcher wishes to influence policy makers', builders', or homeowners' decisions to install residential gas stoves because of the climate and health problems caused by their methane emissions: What are the roles of publication in peer-reviewed journals, publication in popular media, public lectures, and legislative testimony on the pathway from research to decision making? In addition to online research, we will interview faculty at Stanford and elsewhere. With respect to education, we will ask what mixture of theoretical knowledge and practical skills will best prepare graduates for positions where they will lead sustainability efforts in government, business, and the nonprofit sector. We have much to learn from Stanford's Sustainability Science and Practice (SUST) program and similar programs at other universities. At the same time as we identify pathways, or "theories of change," for achieving the new School's objectives, we will identify indicators of progress along the way. Referring to the example of methane emissions from residential stoves, if reaching an intended audience requires publicizing the findings in popular media, relevant indicators would be the size and influence of the audience being reached. Given the multitude and fluidity of variables that contribute to outcomes, we will use what's been termed "contribution analysis" rather than statistical evaluation techniques to assess the impact of particular efforts. Based on our proposed frameworks for the School's research and teaching, we will ask how engagement with external partners can contribute to its mission. The Policy Lab's deliverable with respect to research will be a generalized framework that will enable researchers to chart a path from developing and testing hypotheses to disseminating their findings and influencing decision makers to act on them. The framework will also enable researchers to assess their progress along the path. The deliverable with respect to teaching will be the identification of analogies in the preparation and certification of professionals in medicine, law, and other fields, with the aim of assisting the new School in improving its preparation of students as sustainability leaders. The course is limited to 12 students from across the University. While there are no prerequisites, we hope to include students with backgrounds in sustainability and social metrics. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Performance, Class Participation, Written Assignments. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available at https://law.stanford.edu/education/courses/consent-of-instructor-forms/. See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.

Client: San Francisco Human Rights Commission Reparations Committee (SFHRCRC), https://sf-hrc.org/. The HRCRC has been tasked by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to propose policies to repair enduring historical harms to San Francisco's Black community. HRCRC invited the Stanford Law Gould Center for Conflict Resolution to develop a Policy Lab practicum to assist with a Report on the History of Black Disenfranchisement in San Francisco (Report). The Report drafted by the Spring 2022 Policy Lab studied the key housing policies and laws that resulted in relevant racial disparities in housing, education, health, and intergenerational wealth. The Lab will continue in the Autumn 2022 term to complete the Report and expand the scope of research through design of a Community-Led Oral History to Capture Perspectives from Past to Present. The oral history will capture the lived experiences of San Francisco's Black community. This goes beyond what may already be in the historical literature and extends to oral narratives from those who lived through important chapters in San Francisco's history. Their perspective is especially important in connecting the past with the recent present harms and providing a roadmap to achieving the HRCRC's goal of systemic change (not just policy change). The project invites applications (both graduate and undergraduate) from the Law School, the Stanford Center for Racial Justice, CCSRE, Sociology, Human Rights, the Documentary Program in the Department of Art, the dSchool, and SPARQ. After the term begins, students accepted into the course can transfer, with consent of the instructor, from section 01 (MP/R/F) into section 02 (H/P/R/F), which meets the R requirement. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Performance, Class Participation, Written Assignments. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available at https://law.stanford.edu/education/courses/consent-of-instructor-forms/. See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline..

Client or Policy Partner: Rand Corporation. Over the past 10 years, climate change litigation has exploded globally. While there is some disagreement about what litigation should be understood as arising from or directed at "climate change," the category encompasses large numbers of lawsuits challenging permitting of new fossil fuel projects, claims by indigenous communities and others about contemporary effects of climate change on their health and livelihoods, and claims on behalf of children about the future effects of climate change on their lives. Increasingly, plaintiffs claim government failures to address climate change constitute violations of international human rights. About three-quarters of identified cases have been brought in the United States, but a growing fraction have been litigated in other jurisdictions, including the global south. Claims have been brought against both governments and private corporations, seeking injunctive relief and damages. Although much of this litigation is ongoing and plaintiffs have failed to prevail in many, there have also been high profile successes in which courts held governments or corporations liable and ordered them to adopt policies to achieve greater reductions in global warming. The RAND Institute for Civil Justice and the Feinberg Center for Catastrophic Risk at RAND are considering developing a new research agenda focusing on climate change litigation. To assist in their planning, this Practicum proposes to conduct a series of case studies of recent climate change lawsuits focusing on the procedural strategies that parties are using to achieve their goals, and with what success. Who are the plaintiffs that are bringing these suits? Are their efforts coordinated internationally? Who are the lawyers representing the claimants? Who is funding the litigation? What jurisdictions and tribunals, domestic and international, have proved most attractive from the plaintiffs' perspective? What is the nature and extent of corporate, insurers' and reinsurers' liability? What real world impact are these lawsuits having on the environment? At the beginning of the quarter, the students will meet via zoom with principals from the two RAND centers that are the clients for this project to discuss their goals for the project. After refining the overall plan for the case study research, each student will select a case to research. Students will meet from time to time with Prof. Hensler and the Teaching Assistant for the practicum to discuss progress and share findings. As part of their research, students may also have the ability to speak with local scholars or attorneys involved in climate litigation in relevant international jurisdictions. At the end of the quarter, students will collaborate on a white paper summarizing the findings of the case studies, to be shared with RAND. Some or all students will then travel to RAND in Santa Monica, CA to share and discuss their findings with RAND researchers. There is potential for these case studies to eventually be shared publicly. Law and graduate students with coursework, research, or practical experience related to environmental law and policy, global litigation, advanced civil procedure, or comparative law preferred. 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: Attendance, Performance, Class Participation, Written Assignments. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available at https://law.stanford.edu/education/courses/consent-of-instructor-forms/. See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.

In 2017, the FCC eliminated all net neutrality protections and renounced its authority over broadband. That stunning reversal of two decades of FCC policy set off a public firestorm, prompted states like California to step in with their own protections, and led to protracted legal battles. Though the timing is unclear, a new FCC will likely revisit net neutrality with the goal of restoring open internet protections at the federal level. Two of the current four commissioners have said restoring net neutrality is a high priority. Gigi Sohn, a long-time supporter of net neutrality, is the nominee for the fifth seat. Additionally, the European Union's political leadership is promoting a plan to require some online apps to pay broadband providers directly so that their services can be used by those broadband providers' customers. This would reverse decades of precedent and is a direct assault on the EU's net neutrality protections. That means this fall will present a unique window for research and policy papers on net neutrality. Historically, the FCC has given deep consideration to input from citizens, companies, interest groups, and public policy experts. The EU's proposal will also likely have an open public consultation window, where filings from experts will be given great weight. This policy lab gives students the opportunity to participate in these processes, and be trained to become the next generation of net neutrality and telecommunications law experts. Students will have an opportunity to make a lasting mark on real public policy both domestically and internationally. The FCC's and EU's choices are crucial to issues like platform dominance, digital equity, and the digital divide. Students in this policy lab will work alongside Stanford Law Professor Barbara van Schewick, widely considered to be the world's foremost expert on net neutrality. Her work has shaped net neutrality policies around the world, including the FCC's 2015 net neutrality protections and California's 2018 net neutrality law, as well as the European Union's 2016, 2020, and 2022 guidelines implementing Europe's net neutrality law. Students will do research and produce materials related to the upcoming proceedings. Documents include white papers, explainer documents, official submissions, and more. A background in net neutrality or telecom law is helpful, but not required. We hope to draw students from a variety of disciplines, including computer science, economics, statistics, public policy, and journalism. Law students wishing to undertake R credit will perform additional research or take on additional tasks analyzing the issues and results of the collective research. R credit is possible only by consent of the instructor. After the term begins, and with the consent of the instructor, students accepted into the course may transfer from section (01) into section (02), which meets the R requirement. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Performance, Class Participation, Written Assignments. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available at https://registrar.law.stanford.edu/. See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.

Political, social, cultural, and racial polarization compromise the mission of higher education to promote intellectually rigorous, open, inclusive inquiry; to train a diverse student population to work productively across difference in a pluralistic society; to produce cutting edge research; and to train leaders capable of creating innovative solutions to major social problems. The policy lab will explore curricular and co-curricular interventions that have the potential to reduce the adverse effects of polarization. Lab members will gather research in social and cognitive psychology, history, conflict mediation, racial, gender and political subordination, deliberative democratic theory, and other fields to identify methods that can be adapted to higher education. Students will also gather and assess evidence of recent interventions and reforms at Stanford and other universities. Our goal is to develop and publish guidance for universities considering reforms that treat free speech and inclusion as mutually constitutive, rather than contrary, principles. Emphasis will be given to guidance showing how skills acquisition by all stakeholders can promote open discourse, meaningful inclusion, and support understanding alternative perspectives. Students will conduct research, meet with experts, design policy reforms, and develop content for a website that publishes the research, guidance, and reform models. The client for this policy lab is the Stanford President's office. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Written Assignments, Final Paper. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available at https://registrar.law.stanford.edu/. See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.

Orphan works--copyrighted works that have no readily identifiable owner--represent the single greatest legal hurdle to creativity today. A film maker wants to make a documentary about the portrayal of minority groups in 1950s motion pictures, but cannot track down the present copyright owners of the dozens of film clips that must be licensed to complete the project. A video game producer has found just the right sound recordings to sample in its latest release, but cannot locate their copyright owners to negotiate a license. The examples can be multiplied across all forms of creative commerce. The copyright doctrine of fair use will excuse some, but far from all, of these uses, and the doctrine's application is at best unpredictable. Legislative fixes for the orphan works problem have been attempted both in the US and abroad, but with little success. Following two years of hearings, Congress in 2008 came close to passing an orphan works bill proposed by the US Copyright Office, but ultimately stepped away from the effort. This policy lab will evaluate the prospects for an alternative--but so far untested--solution to the problem of orphan works: private insurance products that will underwrite the legal and economic risk of using copyrighted works in situations where transaction costs make the negotiation of a license impracticable. Participants in the lab will interview stakeholders to investigate the feasibility of private insurance covering the use of orphan works. Among the stakeholders interviewed will be insurers and other insurance industry institutions; content owners across a range of industries and content users across a range of institutions. Experts from the US Copyright Office will also participate in a teaching capacity, on a periodic basis, to provide context for the challenge of orphan works and the work the Office has done on this issue. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Written Assignments, Final Paper. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available at https://registrar.law.stanford.edu/. Interested students should apply by September 16, 2022 at 5:00 PM.