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This seminar is designed for students who have already participated in the Three Strikes Project. Students will gain additional hands-on experience in advanced criminal law litigation by assisting ongoing litigation in California and federal courts on behalf of Project clients who have been sentenced to life in prison for minor crimes. Students may also contribute to research and policy development projects in coordination with the California Committee on Revision of the Penal Code. This course requires weekly class meetings and participation in field trips. Meeting dates and times to be arranged by the instructor and students. Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, written assignments. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete a Consent Application Form available at SLS Registrar https://registrar.law.stanford.edu/.

This seminar will explore sentencing law and procedure, with particular attention to the federal system. After brief general consideration of the purposes of sentencing and of the rationales for determinate and indeterminate sentencing regimes, we will proceed to a detailed examination of the mechanics of the federal sentencing guidelines, their authorizing legislation, the three decades of judicial interpretation, the role of the US Sentencing Commission as policy maker, the boundaries of judicial discretion, and the norms and strategies of plea bargaining under the guidelines. The overall goal is pragmatic--to help students become "literate" (and "numerate") with the system. Each student will do two brief presentations on weekly material and then produce a 20-page paper on a topic to be selected with the instructor's approval. There is no casebook to purchase. All materials will be documents posted on CANVAS. To enable the class to be interactive, enrollment will be limited to 20 students, to be selected by the lottery system. The only prerequisite is completion of the first-year course in Criminal Law, so applicants must be 2Ls or 3Ls, and transfer students must have already taken the course in substantive criminal law at SLS or at their previous law school. Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, class presentations, and a final paper.

The Stanford Criminal Justice Center is organizing a two-week S-Term class in partnership with the University of Göttingen in Germany. During the first week of the course, Stanford Law School students will travel with Stanford Law School instructors to Germany and meet up with University of Göttingen instructors and students. Together with their German counterparts, SLS students will visit a prison, participate in police ride-alongs, observe criminal court proceedings, and meet with prosecutors, defense attorneys, and formerly incarcerated people. During the second week, the Stanford and German students and instructors will replicate those experiences in Northern California at county, state, and federal criminal law institutions. Throughout the course, the SLS students and their German counterparts will jointly analyze and discuss differences between the German and American criminal legal systems. SLS students will be partnered with German students to help lead the discussions. Seven SLS students will be selected to participate in the course. Economy class airfare between San Francisco and Germany, seven nights of lodging in Germany, and meals in Germany will be covered. Students are required to attend every session of the course, including two Zoom sessions that will take place prior to the German portion of the course, to co-lead course discussions, to participate actively in discussions, and to write a 10-page paper. Students who successfully complete all requirements of the course will earn 3 units of academic credit. Grading for the course will be Law Mandatory P/R/F. Rising 2Ls and 3Ls are eligible to apply at https://law.stanford.edu/education/international-and-global-opportunities/global-law-program/sls-in-germany/. Applications are due by Wednesday, May 7 at 5:00 pm. Questions can be directed to Debbie Mukamal at dmukamal@ law.stanford.edu. S-Term early start for Autumn Quarter.

Modern criminal investigations and prosecutions often involve digital crimes and digital evidence. This course covers the legal issues they raise. It addresses three questions. First, what is the law of substantive computer crime, such as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act? Second, what is the law governing the collection of digital evidence under the Fourth Amendment and the Stored Communications Act? Third, what are the jurisdictional limits of computer crime investigations and prosecutions, both in terms of federal vs. state powers and the role of the United States in the world? No technical background is assumed. Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, exam.

This course will examine the law, underlying policy, history, philosophy, and administration of criminal sentencing. It will focus on the shared and intertwined powers and responsibilities of legislators, prosecutors, judges, defense lawyers, probation and pretrial officers, treatment providers, law enforcement, victims, sentencing commissions, and the community on sentencing outcomes. The course will explore the foundational role of the criminal code in sentencing and how different forms of statutory crimes and sentencing guidelines impact the sentencing process and the distribution of sentencing power. Students will learn the basic elements of the federal sentencing guidelines, apply those elements to various fact patterns. The course will also explore the issues of prosecutorial and judicial discretion, plea-bargaining, mandatory minimum sentencing statutes, truth-in-sentencing, racial, ethnic and gender disparities in sentencing, and recent congressional and state efforts to reform sentencing. Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, class presentation, final paper.

In 1989, brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez shot and killed their parents in their Beverly Hills home. Their trials and ensuing appeals became one the most notorious criminal cases in modern American history--and it also raises some of the most complicated and vexing issues in criminal law and policy. This class will use the case as a vehicle to explore these issues from multiple angles and include guest speakers closely involved with the case, including key prosecution and defense figures. The class will be taught by Mike Romano, who is one of the attorneys currently representing Lyle and Erik in post-conviction proceedings. At trial, Lyle and Erik gave graphic testimony that they killed their parents after suffering years of sexual and physical emotional abuse. The prosecution argued that the brothers were lying about the abuse, that they murdered their parents for substantial inheritances, and that they should receive the death penalty. After a first trial ended with a hung jury, Erik and Lyle were retried, convicted, and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. After 35 years behind bars, newly discovered evidence and newly enacted legal reforms prompted reevaluation of their case, and in May of this year both brothers were given a chance to go before the parole board to determine if they should be released from prison. This class will examine the brothers' trial, appeals, post-conviction litigation, and parole process as a lens to explore significant legal, ethical, and social challenges within the criminal justice system. The case raises important questions about criminal culpability, punishment, and in-prison rehabilitation. We will delve into a wide variety of legal themes and criminal law doctrine, including the law of murder and manslaughter, self-defense, capital punishment, and the evolution of intimate partner violence. Other topics covered will include the growing trend of revisiting old cases for resentencing, recent reforms aimed at juvenile offenders, and the parole and clemency processes. With consent of the instructor, a limited number of students will have the option to write an independent research paper (at least 26 pages) for Law School Research (R) credit. After the term begins, students approved to write an independent research paper may transfer from section (01) into section (02), which meets the (R) requirement. Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, written assignments.

This course will address significant areas of procedural law and design that go beyond the first- year civil procedure course, with special attention to aggregate and multiparty litigation (e.g., class actions and Multidistrict Litigation (MDL)). Contemporary litigation frequently involves multiple related actions, multiple parties, and multiple claims that may interact in complex ways, and often aspires to reform institutions in addition to seeking remedies for discrete past harms. Moreover, much of American law is enforced via complex private lawsuits -- a phenomenon termed, private enforcement. In nearly every legal area--from civil rights and securities law to environmental law--the average enforcement action takes place in a private civil suit. This course introduces procedural doctrine, theory, norms, and practice related to complex and/or private enforcement litigation, including such topics as the joinder of claims and parties, claim and issue preclusion, class action law, multidistrict litigation and other forms of aggregation, and the turn towards mandatory arbitration. We will spend much of the quarter on class actions and MDLs (which account for 20-40% of all federal cases!). The course should be of particular interest to aspiring litigators (in any substantive area), future judicial clerks, and public interest lawyers, and complements other curricular offerings in complex and constitutional litigation. By the end of the course, students should be able to identify a range of mechanisms for aggregate litigation in the federal courts; distinguish counsel's responsibilities in class actions as compared to multidistrict litigation; explain the requirements for class certification and settlement approval under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; articulate and evaluate arguments for and against class certification or settlement approval in a given case or fact pattern; and appreciate the logistical and ethical challenges presented by modern MDLs. Elements used in grading: Exam, class participation.

This course will address significant areas of procedural law and design that go beyond the first-year civil procedure course, with special attention to the relevance of procedural choices to civil rights and public law litigation. Contemporary litigation frequently involves multiple related actions, multiple parties, and multiple claims that may interact in complex ways, and often aspires to reform institutions in addition to seeking remedies for discrete past harms. This course introduces procedural doctrine, theory, and practice related to complex and/or public law litigation, including such topics as the joinder of claims and parties, claim and issue preclusion, class action law, multidistrict litigation, mandatory arbitration, and nationwide injunctions. The course should be of particular interest to aspiring litigators (in any substantive area) and social justice lawyers (litigators or otherwise), and complements other curricular offerings in complex and constitutional litigation. Elements used in grading: Class participation, Exam.

Evidence rules constrain proof at criminal and civil trials. We will study the Federal Rules of Evidence, related caselaw, and those constitutional concepts that limit proof at criminal trials. Topics include relevance, unfair prejudice, character evidence, impeachment, the rape shield law, hearsay, the Confrontation and Compulsory Process Clauses, and expert testimony. Please note that the California Bar Examiners have posted this announcement: "Applicants should be prepared to answer questions that have issues concerning the Federal Rules of Evidence and the California Evidence Code. Applicants should be prepared to compare and contrast the differences between the Federal Rules and the California Evidence Code, especially where the California rules of evidence have no specific counterparts in the Federal Rules." This evidence course covers only the Federal Rules of Evidence and does not address the California Evidence Code. Though similar principles govern the Federal Rules and California Code, the two sets of rules are not identical. Students preparing for the California Bar Exam will have to learn some new material. Elements used in grading: Final exam (one-half essay and one-half multiple choice).