Sunday, October 11, 2009

Spring 2010 UT Law courses related to coastal law

UT Law Spring 2010 coastal courses:

Climate Change Law & Policy
Class Unique #: 28633 Course #: 179M Instructor: Benjamin/Gholz Credits: 1
Wednesday 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Friday 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Exam type: Early
CLASS MEETS JANUARY 20-FEBRUARY 5.
What the course is about. This one-credit lecture course intends to be an introduction to the expanding area of Climate Change Law & Policy.
Objectives. The main objective of the course is to give students basic knowledge of some of the most important issues in the world debate on climate change. In additon, it will discuss the science behind climate change and the policy challenges that it presents. Finally it will review the most recent legislative efforts and judicial litigation both in the U.S. and in other countries.
The greatest benefits from the topics covered will be to students who plan to work for major law firms with international clients, multilateral organizations, multinational corporations and international NGOs. The course will also provide those who intend to practice Climate Change Law & Policy in the United States a better understanding of the rationales for the international, national and state mechanisms adopted to face this major problem.
Methodology. The course will use four types of learning tools:
a) Texts
b) video conference
c) short-presentations by students
d) Guest lectures
Reading materials. There is no single book that covers the subject matter in full detail. The course will use reading materials from different authors, most of them Americans. The texts written by foreign authors will be in English. If necessary, readings listed will be supplemented or substituted from time to time.
Grading. Grades will be determined primarily on the basis of a final in-room examination, but substantial weight will also be given to class participation (20%).
Prerequisites. There are no prerequisites. The students are not expected to have taken Environmental Policy, Environmental Law, International Law or Comparative Law. However, previous knowledge in those areas would be useful.
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Community Development Clinic
Class Unique #: 28930 Course #: 397C Instructor: Way Et Al.
Credits: 3 - pass/fail
Monday 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Tuesday 9:30 am - 10:20 am
Exams: None
You must take this class concurrently: 29015
Clinic - APPLICATION REQUIRED. Application and/or instructions on how to apply for this clinic can be
accessed on the web: https://www.utexas.edu/law/depts/sao/academics/apps.html. The application deadline, during early registration, is 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 9. Following this date, it is at the discretion of the clinic administrator whether to accept additional applications.
** This course meets the Professional Skills requirement for graduation
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CLINIC IS A 6-HR. CLINIC. STUDENTS MUST REGISTER FOR BOTH 397C AND 397D.
Taught by: Heather K. Way, Frances Leos Martinez, Eliza Platts-Mills
The Community Development Clinic provides students with a unique opportunity to develop business law and problem solving skills while addressing systemic causes of poverty.
Students will provide nonprofit organizations with business law services needed to promote sustainable economic development in low-income communities, including job creation, affordable housing, and asset building strategies. Students will also represent small businesses. Students will learn how to represent their clients on a broad variety of business law matters. Typical legal matters include:
* incorporating nonprofit corporations
* applying to the IRS for tax exempt status
* drafting and negotiating contracts
* providing legal advice to nonprofit board of directors and staff
* drafting lending and real estate documents
* assisting businesses with choice of entity decisions
The Clinic will also offer a special tract involving policy development: At least four of the students in the Clinic will focus on assisting community groups develop local and statewide policy solutions to urban community development issues.
The Clinic is conducted in partnership with Texas Community Building with Attorney Resources (Texas C-BAR), a project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. The Clinic class will meet on Mondays from 12:30-2:30 pm. Several of our classes will meet off-site from the Law School. The Clinic will also meet at the Law School on Tuesdays from 9:30-10:20 am for case discussions. There will be a mandatory orientation class on Friday, January 22, from 1-4 pm. The Clinic is a significant time commitment. Students are expected to devote an average of 17- 20 hours a week to the Clinic (including class time). Students need to have access to a car to travel to meetings with their local clients. There are no prerequisites for this clinic, although a background in business law (such as corporate, real estate, or tax law) or policy work will be useful.
The Clinic classes emphasize the substantive law as well the larger social and theoretical context of community development work. Classes and out-of-class simulations also emphasize the development of practical lawyering skills such as interviewing and counseling clients.
Enrollment is by application only. Students are encouraged to apply for the Clinic during early registration, as the clinic fills up quickly. The deadline for early registration is October 9. Students may request to be placed on a waiting list, if space is unavailable during registration. Grading is on a pass/fail basis for this six-credit hour clinic.
To apply for the clinic, please submit the clinic APPLICATION and a RESUME to mpajon@law.utexas.edu. For additional information, please contact Heather K. Way (hway@law.utexas.edu, 512-232-1210).
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Environmental Clinic
Class Unique #: 29040 Course #: 397D Instructor: Haragan, K
Credits: 3 - pass/fail
Exams: None
You must take this class concurrently: 28945
Clinic - APPLICATION REQUIRED. Application and/or instructions on how to apply for this clinic can be accessed on the web: https://www.utexas.edu/law/depts/sao/academics/apps.html. The application deadline, during early registration, is 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 9. Following this date, it is at the discretion of the clinic administrator whether to accept additional applications.
** This course meets the Professional Skills requirement for graduation
ENVIRONMENTAL CLINIC IS A 6-HR. CLINIC. STUDENTS MUST REGISTER FOR BOTH 397C AND 397D.
In this clinic, students will work on one or more projects to improve environmental quality in Texas. Projects may include helping citizens of low income communities in Travis and surrounding counties improve the quality of the water and wastewater systems in their communities, as well as representing state and national environmental organizations and analyzing issues, drafting legal memoranda, participating in administrative proceedings, and, potentially, court cases. The students may work on issues related to endangered species and wildlife protection, clean air, toxics pollution, and climate change. Clinic students will work closely with the professor and local attorneys, community leaders, government officials, and elected officials to provide needed legal services.
In the clinic, students will perform a variety of tasks. These include: (1) consulting with and counseling citizens: (2) preparing letters, legal memoranda and other documents; (3) meeting with public and private officials; (4) and organizing, participating in, and/or attending public meetings.
Clinical students must complete and document twelve hours of clinical work per week during the semester, in addition to class meeting time. The clinic will be graded on a pass/fail basis.
The clinic will meet for two hours per week. There is no prerequisite for the clinic.
In addition to selecting the Clinic during Early Registration, students must fill out a short application.
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Environmental Clinic
Class Unique #: 28945 Course #: 397C Instructor: Haragan, K
Credits: 3 - pass/fail
Tuesday 3:30 pm - 5:20 pm
Exams: None
You must take this class concurrently: 29040
Clinic - APPLICATION REQUIRED. Application and/or instructions on how to apply for this clinic can be accessed on the web: https://www.utexas.edu/law/depts/sao/academics/apps.html. The application deadline, during early registration, is 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 9. Following this date, it is at the discretion of the clinic administrator whether to accept additional applications.
** This course meets the Professional Skills requirement for graduation
ENVIRONMENTAL CLINIC IS A 6-HR. CLINIC. STUDENTS MUST REGISTER FOR BOTH 397C AND 397D.
In this clinic, students will work on one or more projects to improve environmental quality in Texas. Projects may include helping citizens of low income communities in Travis and surrounding counties improve the quality of the water and wastewater systems in their communities, as well as representing state and national environmental organizations and analyzing issues, drafting legal memoranda, participating in administrative proceedings, and, potentially, court cases. The students may work on issues related to endangered species and wildlife protection, clean air, toxics pollution, and climate change. Clinic students will work closely with the professor and local attorneys, community leaders, government officials, and elected officials to provide needed legal services.
In the clinic, students will perform a variety of tasks. These include: (1) consulting with and counseling citizens: (2) preparing letters, legal memoranda and other documents; (3) meeting with public and private officials; (4) and organizing, participating in, and/or attending public meetings.
Clinical students must complete and document twelve hours of clinical work per week during the semester, in addition to class meeting time. The clinic will be graded on a pass/fail basis.
The clinic will meet for two hours per week. There is no prerequisite for the clinic.
In addition to selecting the Clinic during Early Registration, students must fill out a short application.
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Emerging Issues In Renewable Energy Policy
Class Unique #: 28650 Course #: 279M Instructor: Humble, M
Credits: 2
Thursday 8:30 am - 10:20 am
Final, Friday, May 14
This course will cover current federal legislative initiatives regarding climate change, renewable energy standards, and transmission policy as well as the economic stimulus legislation affecting renewable energy from a renewable developer's perspective. We will discuss the impact of provisions of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 intended to encourage the development of renewable energy. These incentives include federal income tax breaks, Department of Energy loan and grant programs. Finally, we will examine the development of requirements for utilities to purchase renewable electricity as a percentage of the power they supply, potential changes to federal transmission regulation designed to encourage development of renewable power projects, and the potential impact of climate change legislation on renewable energy projects. The primary focus of the course will be on practical (rather than theoretical) consequences of policy choices in the renewable energy business.
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Energy Law
Class Unique #: 28736 Course #: 379M Instructor: Wiseman, H
Credits: 3
Thursday 3:30 pm - 6:20 pm
Final Monday, May 10
This three-credit class will provide an introduction to the policies, statutes, regulations, agency orders, and legal cases addressing the many aspects of energy use. We will briefly explore controls imposed on the extraction and transportation of fuels, focusing on coal mining and natural gas pipelines. Further, we will discuss changing trends in the regulation of the utilities that burn these fuels to produce electricity, investigating ratemaking and deregulation at the federal and state level. Transmission and distribution of electricity will also play a central part in the course. We will explore international, federal, and regional regulation of electricity transmission; recent shifts toward mandatory standards to ensure reliable transmission; and challenges associated with transmitting electricity from dispersed electricity generators to population centers, where it is distributed to consumers. Finally, several classes will be devoted to recent developments in renewable electricity production and the legal issues associated with these developments. All materials, including relevant statutes, regulations, agency orders, legal cases, and introductory explanations of energy trends, will be provided in a course packet. Students will be graded based on an in-class final examination.
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Environmental Law: Air & Water
Class Unique #: 28375 Course #: 341L Instructor: McGarity, T Credits: 3
Monday 2:00 pm - 2:50 pm
Tuesday 2:00 pm - 2:50 pm
Wednesday 2:00 pm - 2:50 pm
Final Thursday, May 6
This course will investigate how federal and state entities control pollution of the air, water, and soil, and how they limit human health impacts caused by toxics in consumer goods. In addition to discussing the traditional environmental laws and courts' interpretations of these laws -- such as the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, "Superfund," and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act -- we will look at major state-led programs and voluntary initiatives. Finally, we will study international efforts at pollution control, focusing on ozone-depleting substances, greenhouse gases, and hazardous waste.
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Environmental Law: Toxics
Class Unique #: 28370 Course #: 341L Instructor: Wagner, W
Credits: 3
Tuesday 9:05 am - 10:20 am
Wednesday 9:05 am - 10:20 am
Exam: Floating
This seminar will explore the regulation of potentially dangerous levels of toxic substances in products and workplaces. Particular attention will be devoted to considering the structure of the current legal framework for ensuring that the public is adequately represented in these highly complicated regulatory programs that impose substantial costs on manufacturers. After studying key aspects of the major federal programs that oversee the manufacture and marketing of toxins in products and workplaces, seminar participants will consider the role that tort law plays in supplementing regulation. The seminar will conclude by considering whether there are additional, more rigorous means of overseeing the long-term safety of products and workplaces. Students will be expected to write a substantial research paper related to one of the themes or topics of the course.
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Green Technology Law & Policy
Class Unique #: 28715 Course #: 379M Instructor: Adelman, D
Credits: 3
Tuesday 3:30 pm - 6:20 pm
Exams: None
This course will examine the legal, business, and policy dimensions of current efforts in the U.S. to promote the development and diffusion of green technologies. Drawing on recent legislative and policy developments at the state and national levels, the course will assess the merits of different policy instruments (e.g., market-based forms of regulation, renewable-energy portfolio standards, tax breaks, direct subsidies, prizes) as means of overcoming market barriers to green technologies. The viability of markets for green technologies and technological obstacles will also be evaluated. A series of technology-specific case studies will be discussed over the course of the semester, with technologies including energy efficient products, renewable sources of power, carbon capture and sequestration, and biofuels. In conjunction with each case study, outside speakers from around the University, as well as the legal and business communities in Texas, will discuss their research or work experience. Students will work in teams on projects that could range from evaluating the legal, business, and technological viability of a specific green technology to drafting or evaluating a specific policy or law.
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Insurance Law
Class Unique #: 28510 Course #: 369 Instructor: Avraham, R
Credits: 3
Tuesday 9:05 am - 10:20 am
Wednesday 9:05 am - 10:20 am
Final Wednesday May 12
Insurance is one of the most important tools for the management of risk by both private and public enterprises. Insurance law is a hybrid of contracts and administrative law: parties enter contractual relationships which are regulated by the state. The course introduces students to the core principles and institutions of insurance. We will approach insurance law from a law and economic perspective, aiming to understand how insurance institutions affect economic behavior of insureds, insurers and their lawyers. Broad issues to be covered include fraud, moral hazard, adverse selection and other types of divergence of incentives. We will build on these theoretical issues and attempt to understand the various doctrines developed by common law courts as strategies to deal with these problems. In addition, the course provides knowledge of basic insurance law governing insurance contract formation, the interpretation of insurance contracts, insurance regulation and more, especially in areas such as property, life, health, disability, automobile (including uninsured motorist coverage), professional and liability insurance.
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Maritime Injuries Litigation
Class Unique #: 28620 Course #: 377D Instructor: Robertson, D Credits: 3
Tuesday 3:30 pm - 6:20 pm
Exams: None
1. Prerequisite: Admiralty.
2. Scheduling: The first meeting will be on Tuesday, January 19. Thereafter we'll meet on Tuesday from 3::30-6:20 p.m.
3. General description: The course is organized along the lines of an appellate court. We will present and review recent important admiralty and related decisions.
4. Student responsibilities:
a. First round of cases:
(1) Each student will be assigned the role of counsel for appellant (or rehearing applicant, petitioner for certiorari, etc.) in a recent case. In that capacity, the student will be obligated to: (i) prepare an appropriate brief and turn it in together with a copy for each member of the class at a prearranged date and time1; and (ii) deliver a 20-minute oral argument.
(2) In addition each student will be assigned the role of counsel for appellee in a different case. In that capacity, the student will be obligated to (i) prepare an appropriate bench memorandum2, and turn it in together with a copy for each member of the class at a prearranged date and time3; and (ii) deliver a 20-minute oral argument.
b. Second round of cases:
(1) Each student will be counsel for appellant in a recent case. The drill will be that described at 4-a-(1), but with appellants preparing bench memorandum2 rather than full briefs.
(2) Each student will be counsel for appellee in a recent case. The drill will be that described at 4-a-(2).
c. Judging: The instructor and the students who are not counsel in the case under consideration will sit as an appellate court to hear arguments and render decision. Thus, each student's responsibilities include functioning as a member of an appellate court hearing oral argument whenever not functioning as a lawyer. This responsibility entails a significant amount of preparation, including studying each appellant's brief, doing enough research to discover whether appellant's brief is accurate as to the state of the background law, and creating in imagination an appellee's brief. Each judge is expected to ask counsel just the right number of intelligent questions. Each judge is also expected to participate in deliberations looking toward a decision in the case, and (as to cases in the first round) to offer a cogent critique of the appellant's brief. d. The instructor will critique and edit the appellants' briefs. Each student will be responsible for rewriting the brief in response to that edit and turning in a final copy by 5 p.m. on May 1.
(1) Appellants' briefs and bench memoranda are due by 9 a.m. on the Monday preceding oral argument. Please e-mail a copy to me and to each member of the class.
(2) Unlike the full briefs, the bench memoranda need not follow any particular form. In general the bench memorandum should be no longer than five double- spaced pages. It should set forth the main factual and legal arguments counsel expects to make, together with any authorities that are squarely on point or otherwise centrally important. 3-Appellees' bench memoranda are due by 9 a.m. on the day of oral argument. Again, please serve me and each member by e-mail.
5. Summary of students' responsibilities: Each student will:
* write an appellant's brief;
* after argument in the case, rewrite that brief to take account of the argument and the instructor's editorial critique;
* write three bench memoranda;
* deliver four 20-minute oral arguments (twice as appellant, twice as appellee);
* serve as a member of the court when not acting as counsel.
6. Grading: There is no examination. The course grade will be determined on the basis of the student's demonstrated ability and effort in fulfilling each of the obligations outlined above. There is no formal weighting of the assigned tasks, although obviously the appellant's brief and the four oral arguments count the most. The assessment for grading purposes will be made on the basis of the entire semester's oral and written work.
7. Rules: (a) Missing a session of the course is impermissible except by prearrangement. (b) As is true in most appellate courts, late submission of the brief means forfeiture of oral argument. (c) Missing oral argument is a capital offense. (d) The briefs must conform to the applicable rules of court in every particular save length; as to length, they must not exceed 25 double- spaced typewritten pages.
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Mass Tort Litigation
Class Unique #: 28515 Course #: 370T Instructor: Mullenix, L Credits: 3
Monday 10:30 am - 11:20 am
Tuesday 10:30 am - 11:20 am
Wednesday 10:30 am - 11:20 am
Take-home Thursday, May 13
This course examines problems in complex mass tort litigation that emerged during the 1980s and now have become a permanent part of the litigation landscape. Initially, the course surveys the paradigmatic mass tort cases such as those involving the Dalkon Shield, Agent Orange and asbestos litigation to understand and define the peculiar problems arising in the context of mass tort litigation, as opposed to simple two-party tort litigation. During the course we also will examine other mass tort cases involving mass disasters such as Bhopal, Three Mile Island, the Hyatt-Regency Skywalk collapse and the Dupont Plaza Hotel fire; and mass products liability litigation involving bendectin, DES, the silicon breast implant litigation, defective heart valve litigation, repetitive stress injury litigation.
The course is divided into five parts. In the first section we deal with jurisprudential issues, including the debate between proponents of aggregative procedure versus litigant autonomy. In an economic framework, we examine the problem of balancing justice, cost, and delay as these values relate to economic efficiency and sound judicial administration. Finally, this portion of the course examines special ethical dilemmas in mass tort litigation.
The second portion of the course canvasses procedural problems entailed in mass tort litigation, including the failures and successes of federal and state procedural rules to adequately handle these massive cases through the class action rule, consolidation, MDL procedure, and preclusion doctrine. The third section of the course examines how mass tort litigation has challenged and transformed existing substantive tort law doctrines, including problems of indeterminate plaintiffs, indeterminate defendants, joint liability, causation and use of scientific evidence, and aggregate damages. The fourth part of the course canvasses the intricate choice-of-law complications involved in federal diversity mass tort cases, as well as "horizontal" choice-of-law problems involved in state-based mass tort cases. Finally, the last portion of the course addresses alternative methods of resolving mass tort litigation, including administrative approaches, claims facilities, latent injury registries, bankruptcy and trust mechanisms, and settlement classes.
Throughout the course, reference will be made to various reform proposals for resolving mass tort litigation that have been suggested during the last decade, including the recommendations of the ABA Mass Tort Commission, the American Law Institute's Project on Complex Litigation, the Supreme Court Reaveley Commission, and pending federal legislation.
Course materials: The casebook will be Linda S. Mullenix, MASS TORT LITIGATION; CASES AND MATERIALS (2d ed. 2008)(Thomson West).
Prerequisites: Civil Procedure; Torts.
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Oil & Gas
Class Unique #: 28910 Course #: 390 Instructor: Dzienkowski, J Credits: 3
Monday 12:30 pm - 1:20 pm
Tuesday 12:30 pm - 1:20 pm
Wednesday 12:30 pm - 1:20 pm
Final Wednesday, May 5
This course includes a study of various kinds of property interests that are commonly created in oil and gas and in the land from which they are produced. Included are concepts as to the nature of a landowner's interest in oil and gas; the creation and duration of mineral leases; the rights and duties between lessor and lessee; the nature and characteristics of a mineral fee; the rights and duties between mineral and surface owners; the different kinds of royalty and mineral interests; the protection of interests in oil and gas properties against trespassers and wrongful claimants. State regulation of drilling and production will also be covered.
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Property
Class Unique #: 28175 Course #: 431 Instructor: Rodriguez, D Credits: 4
Monday 12:30 pm - 1:37 pm
Tuesday 12:30 pm - 1:37 pm
Wednesday 12:30 pm - 1:37 pm
Final Friday, May 7
A survey of interests in land and limited topics involving chattels: estates, cotenancy, landlord and tenant issues, conveyancing, private and public control of land use.
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Property
Class Unique #: 28180 Course #: 431 Instructor: Sturley, M
Credits: 4
Monday 9:13 am - 10:20 am
Tuesday 9:13 am - 10:20 am
Wednesday 9:13 am - 10:20 am
Thursday 9:13 am - 10:20 am
Final Friday, May 7
Take-home Friday, May7
A survey of interests in land and limited topics involving chattels: estates, cotenancy, landlord and tenant issues, conveyancing, private and public control of land use.
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Property & Governance
Class Unique #: 28685 Course #: 279M Instructor: Cohen, J
Credits: 2
Tuesday 3:30 pm - 5:20 pm
Paper
This course will explore some of the controversies over governance that current hot-button land-use decision-making involves. Should solar roof owners beat out neighbors using properties in competing ways? Should local governments grant tax incentives to deluxe non-local retailers to create a vibrant economic mix, or should they maintain a level playing field to help locally-owned businesses to thrive? How should scarce or over-burdened water resources be protected and from whom? Should governments "take" privately-owned land for re- development if other private interests benefit from the taking? How should local governments deal with neighborhood deterioration due to bankruptcy- related abandonments? How can tragic outcomes like disaster- mismanagement be avoided or, as a first-rung issue, be understood? Examining the governance choices that issues such as these implicate requires that we use the analytic training that legal studies provide in places that we will-- as citizens and as lawyers, judges, entrepreneurs, or politicians--be using those skills ongoingly: at ground-level, where law and politics converge. That is where these kinds of governance decisions get made.
The materials for this course will be eclectic and will include case law, case studies, popular accounts, scholarly commentary, film, and guest-participants who have been involved in studying our topics as experts or as decision-makers themselves.
This is a writing course. It will require three short papers. At least one of them will be based on the materials you will read for the course. At least one will be a closed research paper, for which the research materials will be provided. There will not be a requirement that includes open research. And there will not be an exam.
This course will meet conjointly with the upper-level seminar of the same name, but it will be graded as a separate course. There are no prerequisites. Even students taking Property in the Spring may, if they are interested, take this course.
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Comparative Environmental Law
Class Unique #: 29200 Course #: 397S Instructor: Benjamin, A Credits: 3
Tuesday 5:30 pm - 7:20 pm
Thursday 3:30 pm - 6:20 pm
Paper
This is an upper level class. You must have at least forty-three credit hours to register.
CLASS MEETS JANUARY 19-FEBRUARY 18.
What the Seminar is about. This seminar intends to cover a variety of complex modern environmental issues which interest both common and civil law jurisdictions. Traditional Comparative Law courses start from existing national legislation and legal institutions. This approach will not be followed here. Instead, the course uses a problematic methodology, departing from a group of controversial environmental law issues common to most countries in the world. In this context, then, the legal solutions and instruments adopted by the different jurisdictions are analyzed. This approach is designed to reach two basic goals. First, it is meant to, as much as possible, free the student from the legal framework in place in her or his country, stimulating creativity in the use of law as a tool for the protection of the environment. Second, it stresses the desirability of studying core environmental problems from a global perspective, irrespective of established national legal orders or traditional normative instruments.
Objectives. The seminar intends to give the student basic knowledge on some of the most important Environmental Law issues of the world, enabling her to analyze and understand the different forms of environmental regulation and legal solutions adopted in various countries and legal systems.
The purpose of the seminar is not to train the student on international environmental law or on national environmental law from specific countries, but rather to provide the means to identify the major legal environmental problems in any jurisdiction and come up with reasonable solutions which could be applied worldwide.
Students who plan to work for major law firms with international clients, multilateral organizations, multinational corporations and international NGOs will benefit the most from the topics covered. The seminar will also provide those who intend to practice Environmental Law in the United States a better understanding of the rationales for the national solutions and mechanisms adopted to face environmental problems.
The seminar is divided into five (not necessarily equal) parts: (1) foundations of Comparative Environmental Law, (2) constitutional basis for environmental protection, (3) property rights and the environment, (4) legal dimension of sustainable development, and (5) environmental enforcement.
Part 1 is a general introduction to the course in which the main characteristics, regulatory approaches, objectives, principles and tools of Environmental Law are discussed from a comparative and international perspective.
Part 2 mainly asks the question whether we need a constitutional clause in order to adequately protect the environment. The examples of some U.S. States, the European Union Treaty, and the cases of countries like Germany, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Brazil, Russia, Colombia and South Africa will be covered.
Part 3 will deal with the relationship between property rights and the protection of the environment, from both an international and domestic perspective, benefiting from the current debate and judicial experience in the U.S. and Europe. It will survey issues such as a) the concept of property rights in the environmental protection age; b) the just compensation doctrine; c) regulatory takings; d) the German concept of "social obligation" inherent in ownership; e) the notion of "ecological function" of property; and, f) the international implications of the American "wise use" movement.
Part 4 will study the legal concept of sustainability and the role of and challenges to law in securing sustainable development. It will cover the recent developments in that particular topic, stressing the analysis of the intergenerational equity concept, as well as the precautionary, the polluter- pays (civil liability and natural resources damage) and the user-pays principles.
Part 5 intends to examine, from a comparative perspective, the challenging global problem of environmental compliance and enforcement. Environmental citizen and class actions will be reviewed and also the role of criminal sanctions, the judiciary and non-governmental organizations.
Methodology. The Seminar will use five types of learning tools:
a) legal (and also non-legal) texts
b) video conference discussions
c) lectures by experts from outside the Law School
d) short oral presentations by students
e) research paper
Reading materials. There is no single book that covers the subject matter in full detail. The Seminar will use reading materials from different authors, most of them Americans. The texts written by foreign authors will be in English.
Video conferences. There will be one or two video conferences among the students and the author of one of the articles or chapters of books previously assigned. In past years scholars from the U.S., U.K., Australia, Austria, France, Italy, Belgium, New Zealand, Canada, Brazil and Germany joined the discussions.
Lectures by outside experts. Finally, there will be at least one opportunity in which outside experts will visit the Law School and exchange their views with the students on a specific issue of the seminar program.
Oral Presentations to Class. Each student must make a presentation of her/his paper, during which she will lead a class discussion about her topic for approximately 30 minutes.
In addition to that, students will be required to make short 15-20 minute oral presentations of assigned texts. The use of hand-outs and PowerPoint is encouraged.
Research Paper. The paper should be a minimum of 30 pages long, typed, double spaced, in 12 point type size. Students are expected to choose their paper topics in consultation with the class instructor.
Interim drafts will not be graded. Failure to meet deadlines in timely fashion without the instructor's prior permission will affect the overall assessment. A copy of the second draft of each student's paper will be circulated to the group before its presentation.
The final version of the paper should be submitted no later than March 31 and reflect relevant commentary during the presentation.
Grading. There are six components to the final grade:
a) final paper: 40%
b) paper presentation: 15%
c) paper criticism: 10%
d) short-presentations: 15%
e) class participation: 10%
f) class attendance: 10%
The paper will be graded on five criteria (in order of decreasing importance): a) critical thinking; b) quantity of research; c) quality of research; d) organization; and e) overall impression.
Prerequisites. There are no prerequisites. The students are not expected to have taken environmental law, international law or comparative law. However, previous knowledge in those areas would be useful. Students from other departments are most welcome.
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Crises, Catastrophes & Constitutions
Class Unique #: 29220 Course #: 397S Instructor: Levinson, S Credits: 3
Monday 3:30 pm - 5:20 pm
Paper
This is an upper level class. You must have at least forty-three credit hours to register.
The fundamental purpose of constitutions, one might argue, is to settle some basic issues that are likely to arise in any political system.. Among these issues, especially in classically liberal systems, is what limits exist on governmental power. Consider, though, two statements that can be found in what I personally believe to be by far the most important opinion written by Chief Justice John Marshall and, indeed, perhaps the most important opinion in our constitutional history, McCulloch v. Maryland. Marshall first states, "This government is acknowledged by all to be one of enumerated powers. The principle, that it can exercise only the powers granted to it, would seem . . . apparent " (emphasis added). But then, he writes what Justice Frankfurter once described as the most important single sentence in our corpus: " we must never forget, that it is a constitution we are expounding" (emphasis in original), and then, a few paragraphs later, he fleshes out what might be the implication of this reminder. Ours is "a constitution intended to endure for ages to come, and, consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs" (emphasis in original). This is, of course, the fundamental question posed by the notion of "emergency powers." To what extent will/should we feel confined by ordinary constitutional norms when facing something that can legitimately be described as a "crisis" or "imminent catastrophe," as against tolerating quite controversial "adaptations" that will purportedly enable us better to confront those possibilities?
Perhaps the ultimate constitutional "adaptation" involves the acceptance of the possibility of "constitutional dictatorship," the title of the reading course that I offered last year at Harvard. Dictatorship, after all, is thought to instantiate rule by fiat, ultimately by whim, whereas constitutionalism, at least of the "liberal" variety, sets out not only often rigorous procedural hurdles through which any proposed legislation or decree must run, but also substantive limits -- i.e., protections of "rights" -- as to what can be required even if every procedural hurdle is successfully navigated. Yet Clinton Rossiter published a remarkable book in 1948 titled Constitutional Dictatorship: Crisis Government in the Modern Democracies, and Carl J. Friedrich, one of Harvard's leading lights in political theory during the mid- 20th century, devoted a full chapter of his well-known textbook, Constitutional Government and Democracy, to consideration of "constitutional dictatorship," which was significantly contrasted with its more ominous counterpart, "totalitarian dictatorship" of the kinds fought against during World War II (and then during the Cold War). Yet I think it is safe to say that this work has not generated a rich legacy. Friedrich is largely forgotten, and Rossiter is now probably best known as the editor of a widely- used edition of The Federalist. Political scientists may still consult his important work on the institutional presidency and the various "hats" worn by the modern President, including, of course, Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, but his far more probing (and disturbing) work appears to languish. It may be worth noting,, though, that Oren Gross and Fionnuala Ni Aolain spend much of the first chapter in their new and illuminating book, Law in Times of Crisis: Emergency Powers in Theory and Practice, with a discussion both of the Roman dictatorship and the genuine respect expressed for it by political theorists over the centuries, including, notably, Machiavelli and Alexander Hamilton. It is, I believe, a topic well worth our attention. Thus this course! My original interest in this subject was sparked by a number of developments during the prosecution of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, particularly involving the use of torture and other "enhanced" methods of interrogation. Indeed, that was the topic of reading courses I have given at both Harvard and the University of Texas Law School. Although that topic continues to be of obvious importance, it is equally obvious that in the past year, especially, we have become aware of at least two other types of "emergencies" beyond "national security" ones, one dealing with the general economy, the other involving public health and pandemics. And, of course, there are emergencies provoked by "natural disasters" such as Hurricane Katrina. The responses engendered by one kind of emergency detention of "security threats," for example scarcely seem relevant for others, such as the breakdown of financial markets. And, even if one wishes to tolerate the possibility of "dictatorial" authority as a response to these emergencies, it may well be the case that one would select out quite different officials to possess such authority, depending on the particular emergency envisioned. A current book very much relevant to these debates is by Wall Street Journal economics reporter David Wessel, In Fed We Trust; Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic (2009), which is rife with discussions about the importance of doing "whatever it takes" in situations of "urgency." In any event, these will be the kinds of issues we'll be discussing during our time together. Recent events regarding the economy, not to mention certain continuities between the Obama and Bush Administrations underscore the point that the replacement of Presidents, with whatever attendant joy that might bring to some (and dismay to others) does not in the least mean that the issues presented by "emergencies" have been fundamentally transformed, save perhaps that some people may be willing to repose more confidence in President Obama as a "constitutional dictator" than was the case with his predecessor.
We will discuss together some readings for roughly the first six-eight weeks of the seminar, and it is then my intention that we take a bit of a recess while you prepare seminar papers on whatever aspect of the broad issue interests you. The last several weeks will be devoted to student presentations and feedback.
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Environmental Litigation
Class Unique #: 29240 Course #: 397S Instructor: Civins, J
Credits: 3
Monday 3:30 pm - 5:20 pm
Paper
This is an upper level class. You must have at least forty-three credit hours to register.
This seminar focuses on different types of environmental litigation, including: permit hearings and appeals; enforcement hearings and litigation; rule-making and appeals; citizen suits; Superfund litigation; toxic tort litigation; and commercial litigation involving environmental issues. The purpose of the course is to provide practical guidance on litigation aspects of a substantive environmental practice. The course will address procedural as well as substantive issues and public policy considerations. Grading will be based primarily on a 30-page term paper, on a topic selected by the student in consultation with the instructor. For the first ten weeks, there will be weekly reading assignments and class discussions; in the remaining sessions, students will present their draft papers. Prior experience or class work in environmental law is helpful, but not a prerequisite.
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Global Climate Change Policy
Class Unique #: 29210 Course #: 397S Instructor: Coleman, L
Credits: 3
Monday 3:30 pm - 5:20 pm
Paper
This is an upper level class. You must have at least forty-three credit hours to register.
Professor Lynn R. Coleman
1440 New York Ave, NW
202-371-7600
lcoleman@skadden.com
Washington, D.C. 20005
Projected impacts of global warming are environmental problems largely caused by use of fossil fuels for energy. Proposed solutions involve major environmental measures and huge changes in the way energy is made and used. It is therefore appropriate to study the subject from the standpoints of both energy and environmental policy. The seminar will examine how the world got where it is now and how that has been influenced by previous environmental and energy law, regulation and other government policies, including national security, economic development, taxation and consumer protection. This will include characteristics of energy industries and natural gas and electric utilities and how their structure and regulation has influenced fuel choices over the last century. We will review current scientific and economic studies of future impacts of global warming and the effectiveness, economic and political feasibility of proposed solutions by states, regional organizations, the U. S. Congress and international institutions.
Each student will select, in consultation with the instructor, the topic for a research paper, prepare a short outline and make an oral presentation to seminar colleagues and the instructor for discussion and questions and then prepare and submit a final paper.
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Maritime Law: Commercial Problems
Class Unique #: 29295 Course #: 397S Instructor: Sturley, M
Credits: 3
Thursday 3:30 pm - 5:20 pm
Paper
This is an upper level class. You must have at least forty-three credit hours to register.
This seminar will examine current issues in commercial maritime law, with a focus on the rules governing the carriage of goods by sea. In the spring 2010 semester, particular attention will be paid to the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (the Rotterdam Rules), a new multilateral convention to modernize and unify international transport law. The U.N. Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) completed the final draft of the new convention in June 2008, the General Assembly adopted the convention in December 2008, and the United States formally signed the convention on September 23, 2009.
In the early weeks of the semester, students will be introduced to the commercial and legal background in this field, including a discussion of both domestic legislation (such as the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act and the Harter Act) and the prior international regimes (such as the Hague, Hague-Visby, and Hamburg Rules). Subsequent sessions will consist largely of discussions of ongoing student research and student presentations of the results of their original research.
A traditional seminar paper will be required and the student will be assigned a letter grade based on the quality of the paper and his/her participation in class.
Although students who have completed the Admiralty course will have some advantage, prior study of Admiralty is not a prerequisite.
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Texas Water Law
Class Unique #: 29355 Course #: 397S Instructor: Torres, G
Credits: 3
Tuesday 3:30 pm - 5:20 pm
Paper
This is an upper level class. You must have at least forty-three credit hours to register.
Is water different from every other kind of property? Why have distinct regimes of control and allocation evolved around the water resource? What values and interests are judges and legislatures advancing as they construct the rules governing its use? How differently have the various water poor areas responded to these questions? What are the major constants and changes in Texas Water Law? This course will look at the law that has evolved to answer these questions. Federal Environmental Law and Federal Indian Law are useful companion courses since each has its special rules governing water allocation and use.
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Trade, Environment & Human Rights
Class Unique #: 29360 Course #: 397S Instructor: Hansen, P
Credits: 3
Friday 10:30 am - 12:20 pm
Paper
This is an upper level class. You must have at least forty-three credit hours to register.
This writing seminar is designed to explore the linkages between international trade law, environmental protection, and human rights. It will focus on disputes involving environmental and human rights issues in the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the European Union (EU). The first six weeks of class will be devoted to discussion of scholarly articles on specific areas of conflict. During the next four weeks, students will work on their papers and meet with me individually to discuss their progress. The last four weeks will be devoted to student presentations of their papers. Prior coursework in international, environmental or human rights law is helpful, but not required.
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Water Law & Policy In The 21st Century
Class Unique #: 29365 Course #: 397S Instructor: Cohen, J
Credits: 3
Wednesday 3:30 pm - 5:20 pm
Paper
This is an upper level class. You must have at least forty-three credit hours to register.
In this course, we will explore some of the most crucial issues that are emerging in our young century in relation to the use, conservation, and allocation -- including the just distribution -- of water.
At the beginning of the course, we will take up three issues of concern world- wide: scarcity; sustainability; and the international human rights-related campaign for the recognition of a human right to water.
Next, we will examine issues that stem from public and private claims to the ownership of water and water resources. In this section of the course, we will attend with some particularity to the development of water law and some of its central doctrines and we will examine the viability of these as mechanisms for the ongoing development of twenty-first --center water law and policy.
Within the furthest portion, we will treat Texas, especially central Texas, as our living laboratory. Here, we will consider the efforts of three Texas cities to acquire long-term water rights and to conserve existing resources efforts that involve dramatically different choices about strategy and expenditure. We will have several local water law experts participate in our work in this regard.
As this tour demonstrates, we will be considering new efforts to come to terms with and to site water law and water policy in relation to developing issues in the face of altering realities, both around the world and right close to home.
This is a writing seminar. Students will write a supervised research paper, in lieu of an exam. This course may qualify for fulfillment of the upper-level writing seminar requirement, but need not, if a student has already satisfied the requirement through another 397s course.
The class will meet together with the first-year course of the same name, but the upper-level group will be graded independently from the 1L students.
There is no prerequisite for this course.
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Water Law & Policy In The 21st Century
Class Unique #: 28690 Course #: 279M Instructor: Cohen, J
Credits: 2
Wednesday 3:30 pm - 5:20 pm
Paper
In this course, we will explore some of the most crucial issues that are emerging in our young century in relation to the use, conservation, and allocation -- including the just distribution -- of water.
At the beginning of the course, we will take up three issues of concern world- wide: scarcity; sustainability; and the international human rights-related campaign for the recognition of a human right to water.
Next, we will examine issues that stem from public and private claims to the ownership of water and water resources. In this section of the course, we will attend with some particularity to the development of water law and some of its central doctrines and we will examine the viability of these as mechanisms for the ongoing development of twenty-first century water law and policy.
Within the furthest portion, we will treat Texas, especially central Texas, as our living laboratory. Here, we will consider the efforts of three Texas cities to acquire long-term water rights and to conserve existing resources efforts that involve dramatically different choices about strategy and expenditure. We will have several local water law experts participate in our work in this regard.
As this tour demonstrates, we will be considering new efforts to come to terms with and to site water law and water policy in relation to developing issues in the face of altering realities, both around the world and right close to home.
This is a writing course. Students will write three short papers. At least one will be based on materials we will be reading for the course. At least one will be based on research materials to be provided. There will not be a paper based on open research and there will not be an exam.
The class will meet together with the upper-level course of the same name, but the 1L group will be graded independently from the upper-level students.
There is no prerequisite for this course.
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