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2020-2021 Law Catalog [ARCHIVED BULLETIN]
View Courses by Course Title
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LAW 4704 - 17-A Guardianship Demonstration Project
The Guardianship Demonstration Project (DP) offers students the opportunity to work in a pioneering interdisciplinary demonstration project sponsored by the Law School’s Center for Children, Families and the Law designed to improve the quality of representation provided to developmentally disabled or delayed children in Guardianship Proceedings under Section 17-A of the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act. Students in the DP will learn the governing law and the practice of guardianships. They will also be exposed to interdisciplinary knowledge concerning the nature and extent of developmental disabilities in children. Students will develop skills in interviewing, case assessment, counseling and courtroom advocacy. Students will interview and counsel their clients- often the parents of the child- and draft petitions for guardianship. Students will conduct hearings before the Surrogate’s Court of Nassau and Suffolk Counties which are cooperating with the Demonstration Project. In the final weeks of the DP students will help analyze and draft potential changes in the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act that their experience in the DP supports. Their work will be supervised by a former Judge of the Surrogate’s Court, a former Court Administrator and lawyer experienced in the area. This course is a Demonstration Project to be offered for two years and, if successful will be incorporated into the Law School’s more permanent curriculum.
Prerequisites & Notes
There are no pre-requisites or co-requisites for participation in the DP but enrollment preference will be given to students who have demonstrated interest in Family Law. The DP is open to second and third year law students by permission and only upon the submission of the appropriate application (in the form of a 200 word essay explaining their desire to take this course) and a personal interview.
Credits: 4
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LAW 2750 - Accounting and Finance for Lawyers
This course is designed to give law students the knowledge, tools, insights and confidence they need to work effectively in any one of a myriad of business, financial or commercial settings. We will begin with the history and purpose of corporations and other business entities. Students will study about how corporations are created and organized, the respective roles of boards of directors, management and shareholders and how conflicts arise and may be resolved. We will focus on corporate governance and best practices as well as the nature and limits of fiduciary and other legal obligations.
Considerable time will then be spent learning how to read and understand financial statements of both public and private companies. This is not delving into technical and arcane accounting rules but learning how the principal financial statements are related to each other and tell the story of a business, its operations and financial condition. This is always eye opening and often exciting. Thereafter, we will learn the most basic tools of financial analysis—including the time value of money and discounted cash flow analysis—and how they are used to value everything from bonds to investment projects and ultimately entire businesses. We will look in some detail at the finance of real estate and see how both legal and financial analyses are crucial to success in the field. Throughout the term students will explore in some depth the concepts of risk and return and learn the fundamentals and key drivers of financial analysis. Real world examples will constantly be used to illustrate these concepts as we develop them throughout the semester.
Quantitative analysis will be a core skill used throughout the course. However, no background in statistics, calculus or other advanced mathematical theory or practice is required. Each topic will be presented in an accessible manner and ALL students will be able to understand and master the skills taught in the course.
Credits: 2 or 3
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LAW 3700 - Administrative Law
This course provides a study of the processes of decision-making by administrative agencies and their control by legislators and courts. It centers on the tension between the need for delegation of power to agencies sufficient to ensure effective government and the need to limit that power and protect the citizen from government oppression. The course focuses particularly on administrative procedure and deals with the concept of administrative discretion and the constitutional, statutory and common-law doctrines that control discretion in administrative decision-making. Also considered are contemporary issues that bear upon the fairness of governmental action, e.g., right to notice and hearing, confrontation of witnesses, ex part e communications, institutional decisions, combination of functions.
Credits: 3
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LAW 2753 - Admiralty Law
This course provides an introduction to the general maritime law and practice and procedures in admiralty. It examines such issues as admiralty jurisdiction and federalism; procedure for admiralty claims; maritime liens; the carriage of goods by sea, including Hague-Visby Rules and the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act; charter parties and arbitration; the laws relating to salvage; general average; collision; personal injury and death; limitation of liability; international treaties and conventions; and pollution of the seas.
Credits: 2
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LAW 2757 - Advanced Bankruptcy
This course focuses on selected topics on federal bankruptcy law and practice. It covers bankruptcy court jurisdiction, litigation under the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, and professional responsibility and ethical issues facing bankruptcy lawyers. Other topics may include claims trading strategy and its impact on chapter 11 cases, cross-border bankruptcy cases under chapter 15, bankruptcy relief for municipalities under chapter 9, debtor-in-possession financing trends, asset acquisitions in chapter 11 cases, intellectual property rights in bankruptcy, and other timely topics. Recent controversial cases may be explored as well. A paper is required on a topic to be selected by the student in consultation with the teacher. There is no examination.
Prerequisites & Notes
Prerequisite: Bankruptcy or the consent of the instructor.
Credits: 2
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LAW 2758 - Advanced Competition Skills
The primary focus of the Advanced Appellate Skills course will be the introduction of students to advanced techniques in the crafting of an appellate brief, principally focusing on the crafting of briefs to the United States Supreme Court. This will be done through a series of workshops, combining lecture, readings, and interactive exercises. In addition, the course will introduce students to advanced techniques in the oral argument of an appeal, focusing principally on argument to the Supreme Court. Differences between actual briefs and argument before the high Court and conventions utilized in interscholastic moot court competitions will be pointed out.
Enrollment in the course is limited to, and mandatory for, those students selected by the Director of Student Advocacy Programs to represent Hofstra in interscholastic moot court competition. That selection, for most teams, occurs following tryouts typically held early in the fall semester. The course will be taught on weekday evenings and/or weekend days to minimize conflicts with students’ academic classes.
The course will be conducted, outside of the traditional semester structure, during the moot court competition “season,” which typically runs from October to April. It is anticipated that the course will begin shortly after September tryouts and team selections, and end in March, when the last briefs typically are submitted in competition. Early in the process there will be plenary sessions, attended by all competitors. Thereafter, the course will be conducted in smaller break-out sessions attended by students on a rolling basis, depending upon when in the “season” they will be submitting their briefs (and, eventually, orally arguing) in competition.
Students will earn one academic credit for satisfactory completion of the course in the semester in which their team brief is submitted in competition. They will earn a second credit following their satisfactory preparation for and performance of oral argument in their respective competition. It is possible that a student who participates in an interscholastic moot court competition will not earn any academic credit for his or her participation in the course and the competition, if that student is otherwise taking the maximum allowable number of academic credits in a semester.
Credits: 1 or 2
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LAW 4700 - Advanced Externship Program
This course is designed as a four-credit course for students who have already completed one semester or a summer session of an externship course and are continuing in the same field placement for an additional semester or will be working in a new field placement. Students must attend a two-hour weekly seminar and are expected to work a minimum of 12 hours each week in the field placement of the course of the 14-week semester. Note: this course will not be offered in the Summer Session.
Prerequisites & Notes
Note: In order to take this course, students must have successfully completed the 3 credit Externship course.
Credits: 4
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Law 2865 - Advanced Labor Law
This course is a seminar for students interested in acquiring a more in-depth understanding of labor law in the United States. We will address advanced labor issues including current hot topics such as the use of social media in the work place, non-traditional organizing methods; the legality of employer workers councils in the United States, and other labor topics that arise in the context of a global economy and the current political climate in our country. The course is designed to be interactive and to provoke discussion and debate over labor issues.
Credits: 2
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LAW 3708 - Advanced Legal Research
This course focuses on practical techniques and strategies of legal research and provides an in-depth view of American legal information with some emphasis upon current computer-assisted legal research. The goals of this course are: (1) to teach students to evaluate legal information sources effectively, to formulate a rational research methodology that maximizes efficiency, and to implement the strategy through concrete steps; (2) to expand students’ skills in using the primary American legal sources; (3) to introduce students to American legal sources in specialized subject areas; (4) to develop skills in compiling legislative histories; and (5) to familiarize students with the legal and non-legal information resources and electronic databases that are becoming increasingly important to the legal community. Students will learn how to formulate a research plan based on legal analysis of issues, how to find the most relevant information resources available, and how to integrate technology into the final work product.
Prerequisites & Notes
Pre-Req: Legal Analysis Research and Writing I and II
Credits: 3
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LAW 2772 - Advanced Tort Practice & Problems
This course explores the conceptual, legal and practical issues of handling a tort case from the initial intake to post-trial litigation. The course uses a case-study and problem-solving approach that takes the students step-by-step through the litigation process. Students will be able to simulate the handling of a hypothetical civil case by maintaining an actual file throughout the entire course. They will learn about each phase of a litigation through discussions, role-playing, and simulations.
Credits: 2
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LAW 3720 - Alternatives to Litigation
In recent decades, alternative methods have been developed to help people resolve legal problems without resorting to litigation. These techniques, known as alternative dispute resolution (ADR), often involve an independent third person or neutral who tries to help resolve or narrow the areas of conflict. The use of ADR, especially early in a case, may result in more efficient, cost-effective resolution of disputes with greater satisfaction to the parties.
While traditional legal education centers on litigation, this course focuses on the wider dispute resolution system, of which courts are a part. It examines how processes such as negotiation, mediation, arbitration, expert evaluation, collaborative law, along with their combinations and variations that take place outside of the courtroom, function as alternatives and supplements to litigation and judicial dispute resolution. The course traces the history of, and the recent rise of interest in, ADR. It also presents a conceptual framework for understanding the distinctions among ADR processes, and analyzing how each process can be helpful in achieving particular client goals.
The course will examine ADR processes as they are used in areas ranging from community and family disputes, to business transactions and civil rights actions. A major focus of the course is the lawyer’s key role as a “process counselor” – that is, an expert adviser who facilitates his/her client’s informed choice among dispute resolution options. This course combines theory and practice, including concrete examples in which students practice counseling clients on the choice of an ADR process. On the final exam, students are asked to use their ADR knowledge to analyze a problem of “process choice” for a hypothetical client, and advise the client on their options.
Credits: 3
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LAW 8010 - American Legal Studies Capstone
The capstone course, to be taken in the final semester of the American Legal Studies M.A. program, is intended to both reinforce the knowledge gained from previous courses and to integrate such knowledge into the program’s culminating final project. This is accomplished by the supervised writing of a capstone paper, which must incorporate research drawn from at least two separate subjects covered in at least two separate courses within the American Legal Studies M.A. degree program.
Prerequisites & Notes
This course is only available to students in the on-line program.
Credits: 3
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LAW 3727 - Animal Law
This survey course serves as an introduction to animal law and covers a broad range of cases, legislation and concepts as they pertain to nonhuman animals. Topics include a historical summary of the origins of animal law, and substantive law in the areas of property, contracts, torts, wills and trusts, and criminal law as they pertain to animals. Some specific topics include the concept of animals as property, the application of tort and remedies law to injuries by and to pets, protection of animals by statutes, and constitutional issues raised in cases involving animals. Various federal and state legislation impacting animals such as animal protection laws, the transportation of animals and xoological parks are examined. Students will write a paper on a current issue of animal law in lieu of a final exam, and will present their papers in class.
Credits: 2 or 3
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LAW 3732 - Antitrust
This course provides an examination of the law and policy embodied in the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act, which are the major federal statutes concerned with the control of private economic power.
Credits: 3
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LAW 2784 - Applied Evidence: Evidentiary Oral Argument in Trial Courts
An advanced evidence course that is designed to provide students with an opportunity to learn how to develop and present trial level evidence arguments. The course will cover both pre trial preparation of legal arguments as well as the skill of identifying evidence issues and creating a persuasive arguments under the heat of the moment, whether it be in the courtroom during trial or with opposing counsel and/or judges at bench conferences. In each class, students will argue different evidentiary issues that arise in the contexts of objections, motions in limine, or conferences with judges and opposing attorneys and will be critiqued in terms of substantive law and stylistic execution. Grading will be based on substantive and stylistic performance in class and on an final examination in which students will be required to present oral evidentiary arguments.
Prerequisites & Notes
Evidence
Credits: 2
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LAW 2734 - Approaches to Legal Analysis and Writing
Approaches to Legal Analysis and Writing (ALAW) will focus on practical skills that can be used now, in school, and later, on the bar exam and in practice. The course is designed to follow the Diagnostic exam. The Diagnostic tests writing and multiple choice proficiency in Crimes, Torts, Property and Contracts. ALAW will look at four topics within these subjects, specifically: (1) Homicide (2) Negligence, (3) Landlord and Tenant Issues, and (4) Contract Formation.
Credits: 2
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LAW 5801 - Asylum Clinic
Students in the Asylum Clinic represent clients who are fleeing from other countries because of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Supervised by the Clinic’s instructor, students represent their clients in hearings before asylum officers, Immigration Court proceedings, and appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. These cases require extensive investigation of country conditions, tracking down of key witnesses, and trial preparation. Any student interested in practicing immigration, human rights or international law should seriously consider this Clinical offering.
Prerequisites & Notes
Registration by permission of the professor. Immigration Law, while not a prerequisite, would be helpful.
Credits: 6
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LAW 2790 - Banking Law
This course examines the basic structure of bank regulation under federal law and the differences among banking institutions. Attention will be paid to the powers of national banks and bank holding companies and the limitations upon their operations. The course emphasizes the evolving role that banks (and other financial institutions) play both as lenders and deposit takers and as participants in the broader financial markets, and it considers certain consequences of the recent financial crisis, including relevant changes in applicable laws and regulations.
Credits: 2
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LAW 3734 - Bioethics and the Law
The following description applies to the course as it is offered in the JD program:
This seminar explores contemporary problems involving law, medicine and ethics. The rights of patients, the responsibilities of physicians and the interests of society are examined in the contexts of medical treatment, death and dying, abortion, the new reproductive technologies, genetics, research on human subjects and organ transplants.
The following description applies to the course as it is offered in the online MA and LLM programs:
This seminar explores contemporary problems involving law, medicine and ethics. The rights of patients, the responsibilities of physicians and the interests of society are examined in the contexts of medical treatment, death and dying, abortion, the new reproductive technologies, genetics, research on human subjects and organ transplants.
Credits: 3
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LAW 2737 - Business and Law of Marijuana
This course will introduce students to the rapidly-developing legal questions encountered in the operation of marijuana-related businesses. The course will use a fictional business, Cannabis Inc., to explore (1) the interplay between state laws legalizing recreational and/or medical marijuana uses and the Federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA); (2) enforcement and application of other regulatory regimes governing the operation of marijuana-related businesses, such as banking and securities laws; and (3) the ethical considerations for an attorney advising a client engaged in a marijuana-related business. Students will also be encouraged to develop normative arguments regarding the legalization of marijuana.
As this is a new, burgeoning industry, with few clear and concise rules and even fewer dispositive judicial rulings, this course will include numerous news articles that students will need to review, consider and be prepared to discuss in class.
Credits: 2
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LAW 2792 - Business Drafting Seminar
This course provides an opportunity to draft various instruments typically encountered in a business oriented practice. Depending upon the choices made by each individual instructor, students may be expected to draft and submit weekly for review by the instructor a number of the following: certificates of incorporation for a business entity and for a professional practice with various optional control and exculpatory provisions; an amendment of a certificate; minutes and bylaws; a shareholder buy-sell agreement; partnership agreement; articles of organization and operating agreement and notice of formation for a limited liability company; conversion agreement and certificate of conversion of the partnership to a limited liability company; assumed name certificates for a partnership and a corporation; a sale and security agreement; an employment or independent contractor agreement; and various other documents. Enrollment is limited.
Prerequisites & Notes
Business Organizations
Credits: 2
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LAW 4701 - Business Organizations
This course covers the fundamental forms of business organization: the sole proprietorship, the partnership and the corporation. It examines the nature of such organizations, their formation, financing and management. It also explores policy issues commonly raised in corporate law.
Credits: 4
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LAW 3500 - Business Transactions in Healthcare
This course will expose students to a variety of commercial transactions prevalent in the health care industry. The course will focus initially on health care as a regulated commercial enterprise. After studying the case law, statutes and regulations applicable to health care providers, students will begin an in-depth study of negotiated health care transactions. This study will begin with an examination of the fundamental elements of the acquisition process and an analysis of the tax, antitrust, and regulatory considerations generally addressed in health care combinations. Students will then be exposed to the various stages of the negotiated acquisition process: due diligence; preliminary negotiations and agreements; transaction structure; final negotiations; definitive agreements; and post-closing relationships. By the end of the course, the students will have acquired an understanding of the complexities of health care financing and will be familiar with the health care acquisition process from its inception to conclusion.
Prerequisites & Notes
This course is only offered in our on-line programs.
Credits: 3
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LAW 3735 - Child Abuse and Neglect
This three credit course will examine the various facets of child abuse and neglect, both theoretical and practical. Among the topics to be covered in detail are the laws regarding child abuse and neglect, the power of the state to intervene when allegations of abuse or neglect are made, the child protective process, mandated reporting laws, the investigation into allegations of abuse and neglect, the legal process, pretrial and trial practice and procedure, jury selection, trial strategy, demonstrative evidence, use of the professional literature, trial exhibits, direct and cross examination techniques, and courtroom psychology. We will explore allegations of child abuse and neglect from the perspectives of the prosecution, both criminal and civil, the parent(s) accused of abuse and/or neglect as well as the child allegedly abused and/or neglected.
Credits: 2 or 3
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LAW 1700 - Civil Procedure
This course provides an introduction to the nature and functioning of judicial systems, including a survey of the major phases of civil litigation under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Major emphasis is given to the reach of judicial authority, pleadings and amendments, pretrial discovery, the right to a jury trial, appellate procedure (including appeals from administrative decisions), and judgments and former adjudication. Major themes of the course are the relationship of procedure to substantive law and the purposes and characteristics of procedural rules in light of proposed reforms.
Credits: 5
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LAW 3706 - Civil Rights Litigation
This course focuses on the liability for state and federal government officials under 42 U.S.C. 1983 (and the line of cases beginning with Bivens) for violations of federal constitutional and statutory rights. The course will include a detailed analysis of Section 1983 (and other federal civil rights statutes) and the jurisprudence that has evolved in the area of civil rights law over the past century. It will address both the practical realities of litigating cases in this area, and the theoretical justifications for broad or limited exposure of governments and government officials to civil liability. Topics of study will include: determining the proper defendants in 1983 and Bivens cases (including questions of municipal and state liability), the kinds of legal claims that give rise to a cause of action, absolute and qualified immunity (and the statutory, doctrinal and theoretical justifications for both), other defenses that apply to civil rights claims, how damages are assessed, and when successful plaintiffs can recover attorneys’ fees. The course will review a wide range of substantive civil-rights violations, including substantive and procedural due process violations, equal protection violations, denial of free speech, excessive force, unlawful searches and seizures, and unlawful prison conditions.
Prerequisites & Notes
None.
Credits: 2 or 3
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LAW 2751 - Clinic Practicum
The Clinic Practicum provides an opportunity for students who have taken the Disaster Recovery Clinic, Community and Economic Development Clinic, Youth Advocacy Clinic, Criminal Justice Clinic, Law Reform Advocacy Clinic, or Asylum Clinic to continue to work on Clinic cases that carry over to a second semester, and to receive advanced training in the advocacy skills, professional responsibility obligations, and case strategy analysis required in client representation. Students advocate on behalf of the clients who they represented when they were enrolled in one of the Clinics, and may also be assigned to other cases that raise particularly complex issues of fact and law. Students are required to attend weekly supervision meetings that focus on strategic decision-making considerations, and each student must make at least one major presentation on a practice or professional responsibility issue drawn from one of his or her cases. Students are eligible for the Clinic Practicum only if they meet one or more of the following criteria: the student’s carry-over cases involve complex legal or factual issues which require more sophistication than would normally be expected of a one-semester student; the student’s carry-over cases involve upcoming trials or other significant court hearings; the student’s carry-over cases involve law-re f o rm related issues; the student has established a positive relationship with one or more of the significant professionals involved in the case that would be difficult for another student to emulate effectively; or, the student has established a positive relationship with his or her client that would be difficult for another student to emulate effectively.
Prerequisites & Notes
Disaster Recovery Clinic, Community and Economic Development Clinic, Youth Advocacy Clinic, Criminal Justice Clinic, Law Reform Advocacy Clinic, or Asylum Clinic. Instructor’s permission needed for enrollment.
Credits: 2
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Law 3991 - Clinical Bioethics I
This course is an advanced seminar that focuses on bioethical issues at the intersection of health law and clinical health care practice. It forms one part of a pair of courses that also includes Clinical Bioethics II. The two courses (together) constitute a Certificate Program in Clinical Bioethics. Both semesters of the program introduce students to theories of moral reasoning and clinical applications of bioethical theory. Students will gain practical experience handling disputes of the sort that come before hospital ethics committees and that are considered through ethics consultations in hospitals and other health care facilities. The first semester of the program (Clinical Bioethics I) focuses on issues of moral status, patient autonomy, medical decision making, and end-of-life care.
The seminar will be open to law students, students from other branches of the University, and practicing professionals (including health care clinicians and attorneys). Law students who register for Clinical Bioethics I should expect to take Clinical Bioethics II (though credit will be given for students who take only Clinical Bioethics I, but not II). Students who take and receive passing grades in Clinical Bioethics I and II will receive a Certificate of Bioethics.
Permission of instructor required.
Prerequisites & Notes
This course is part of a two-course sequence. Students who successfully complete both terms will receive a certificate in bioethics.
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Law 3992 - Clinical Bioethics II
This course is an advanced seminar that focuses on bioethical issues at the intersection of health law and clinical health care practice. It forms one part of a pair of courses that begins with Clinical Bioethics I. The two courses (together) constitute a Certificate Program in Clinical Bioethics. Both semesters of the course introduce students to theories of moral reasoning and clinical applications of bioethical theory. Students will gain practical experience handling disputes of the sort that come before hospital ethics committees and that are considered through ethics consultations in hospitals and other health care facilities.
The second semester of the program (Clinical Bioethics II) focuses on ethical dilemmas created by bias in clinical care and health care disparities as well as ethical challenges occasioned by technological developments such as challenges involving organ donation and transplantation, embryonic stem-cell research, neuroethics, and scientific research and rules of disclosure.
The seminar will be open to law students, students from other branches of the University, and practicing professionals (including health care clinicians and attorneys). This course follows Clinical Bioethics I and cannot be taken by students who have not taken that course. Students who take and receive passing grades in Clinical Bioethics I and II will receive a Certificate of Bioethics.
Permission of instructor required.
Credits: 3
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LAW 3740 - Collective Bargaining
This course examines major legal principles underlying collective bargaining and contract administration. The class considers, in a representative collective bargaining context, legal procedures and practical methods to achieve labor and management objectives and to resolve labor-management disputes in private employment. The course shall include active student participation in mock collective bargaining negotiation, grievance arbitration proceeding, National Labor Relations Board hearing and contract injunction exercises.
Prerequisites & Notes
Pre-requisite: Labor Law.
Credits: 3
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LAW 2733 - Combatting Corruption
This course will examine the legal instruments used to combat corruption and money laundering. We will delve into the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”), the Money Laundering Control Act of 1986, and the anti-money laundering sections of the Bank Secrecy Act and Patriot Act. We will also examine the False Claims Act, and the whistleblower and other related provisions of the Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes Oxley Acts. Additionally, we will examine the interplay between domestic and international cross-border anti-corruption efforts, including the UK Bribery Act. Special attention will be paid to the practical considerations of enforcement and defense, including the use of deferred and non-prosecution agreements, sentencing issues, implementing compliance programs, and lessons learned from recent enforcement actions.
Credits: 2
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LAW 5805 - Community and Economic Development Clinic
Clinic students will provide transactional assistance to nonprofits, community-based organizations, and micro-enterprises in low-income communities in and around Nassau County, with a focus on choosing clients that will increase social and economic justice in the target communities. The clients will include newly-forming organizations with start-up issues (such as choice of entity, incorporation, tax matters, governance structures and regulatory compliance) and more mature organizations that need help with the more complex issues that arise in connection with organizational success and growth. Students will learn the lawyering skills necessary to assist our clients to achieve their organizational goals and maximize their community impact. To do so, students will conduct interviews to determine client needs, counsel clients, negotiate and draft contracts and other agreements, draft documents and represent clients in oral and written communications with government agencies and other organizations. The Clinic will also emphasize the special ethical issues arising from the representation of groups.
Credits: 6
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LAW 2513 - Comparative European Union and U.S. Data Protection Law
Laws and regulations governing the protection of data are increasingly vital as more and more personal information is store online and held by private companies. Moreover, companies such as Google or Amazon face regulations in both the United States and in the European Union. This course will review and analyze the law governing data protection in both jurisdictions, two of the largest economies in the world.
In particular, this course will introduce students to the Genera Data Protection Regulation, a new important rule from the EU that will affect U.S. and other non-EU companies worldwide. It will situate these rules against the backdrop of pre-existing laws governing data protection and compare it to laws and regulations in the United States.
Prerequisites & Notes
None.
Course offered in the Pisa Summer Study Abroad Program.
Credits: 2
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Law 2502 - Comparative Family Law
This course provides an introduction to and comparative perspective on the Civil and Common Law legal systems, with a focus on how law regulates our intimate and family lives, and special attention to the family law and culture of Cuba. After a historical grounding in the contrasting legal systems, the course will spotlight the treatment of issues of family formation, dissolution, and relational rights within the common law and civil law tradition, as well as examine how the Cuban legal system emerged and how it deals with the family.
Credits: 1
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LAW 2709 - Computer Technology in Legal Practice
Computer technology has a unique position in legal practice – it is everywhere integrated with the activities of both clients and law offices. This seminar provides students with the basic knowledge needed to understand the technology of computers and mobile devices, and its impact on today’s legal practice – whether that practice involves management and professional responsibilities, client counseling and problem solving, or litigation and trial practice. Moreover, within many substantive areas of law, such as privacy law, private and public security, and patent and copyright law, issues arise relating to this technology. In this seminar, students will learn how computers and mobile devices work, and how legal documents and other files are stored and used, as well as the fundamentals of the Internet and cloud computing, data mining and computerized search, artificial intelligence and law, and computer and file security (hacking, encryption, and transmission interception). No technical background is needed, because the seminar will provide information at a level appropriate to lawyers. Students will be required to write an analytic paper on a topic of their choice that deals with a problem involving this technology in an area of importance to the legal professional.
Prerequisites & Notes
None.
Credits: 2
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LAW 3755 - Conflict of Laws
This course involves analysis of the complex legal problems arising when an occurrence cuts across state or national boundaries, including jurisdiction of courts, effects of out-of-state judgments and rules of decision applicable in multistate transactions.
Credits: 2 or 3
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LAW 8005 - Constitutional Law
The object of this course is to present the constitutional problems raised by the relationship of each of the branches of the federal government to one another and those presented by the relationship between the federal government and the states, and to provide a limited analysis of the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment (exclusive of criminal due process questions). Specifically, the course covers Articles I, II and III of the Constitution and the related problems of the federal courts in operation, the powers of Congress and the president, and the controls of each over the other, and state powers as they are affected by the existence or exercise of federal powers. The course will also cover constitutional developments in due process and equal protection with particular reference to the rights of the individual against state and federal authority.
Prerequisites & Notes
This course is only available to students in the on-line program.
Credits: 3
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LAW 3760 - Constitutional Law I
The object of this course is to present the constitutional problems raised by the relationship of each of the branches of the federal government to one another and those presented by the relationship between the federal government and the states. Emphasis is on the role of the courts as a part of and as a definer and arbiter of those relationships. Specifically, the course covers Articles I, II and III of the Constitution and the related problems of the federal courts in operation, the powers of Congress and the president, and the controls of each over the other, and state powers as they are affected by the existence or exercise of federal powers. The thrust of each inquiry is related to contemporary problems and issues. This is a required course during the fall semester of the second year.
Credits: 3
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LAW 3761 - Constitutional Law II
The object of the course is to present a thorough analysis of the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment (exclusive of criminal due process questions). Special emphasis is given to the constitutional developments in due process and equal protection with particular reference to the rights of the individual against state and federal authority. The extent of First Amendment protection is also examined. This is a required course during the spring semester of the second year.
Credits: 3
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LAW 3773 - Consumer Transactions
This course explores substantive law and policy considerations related to consumer protection and consumer behavior in the marketplace. The primary approach is transactional and is grounded in those purchase and use arrangements that are available to retail consumers of goods and services. The Federal Trade Commission Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and laws affecting telemarketing, billing, credit reporting and debt collection are discussed, as well as common law approaches to fraud and deception. The course also considers aspects of tort law and food and drug regulations as they relate to product liability and product safety.
Credits: 3
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Law 2510 - Contract Drafting in the Music Business
The purpose of this course is to provide the student with a practical understanding of drafting contracts through the drafting/redrafting/review of (i) a recording/performing/singer/songwriter’s recording agreement with its record label (a “recording agreement”), (ii) that artist’s agreement with one of its music producer (a “producer agreement”), (iii) that artist’s agreement with its manager (a “management agreement”), and (iv) that artist’s co-publishing agreement with its music publisher (“co-publishing agreement”). By the end of the course, the student should be able to understand the material deal terms of these core agreements in the music business as well as the boilerplate provisions (and some of the key revisions to the boilerplate language) of these agreements that are common to all lawyers who draft or review contracts (not just entertainment law practitioners).
Prerequisites & Notes
Students must have taken copyright law (if not, professor approval required).
Credits: 2
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LAW 8002 - Contract Law
The concept of contract, which is concerned with relations based upon consent, is central in law as well as in political philosophy and theology. The course in contracts provides an opportunity to explore conflicts between fundamental social values, such as stability versus reform and freedom of contract versus regulation of fairness in dealing. The study of contracts also provides an introduction to a variety of lawyering skills, including analysis, drafting, counseling, statutory construction, and adversary method. The course covers legal remedies of contracting parties, creation and termination of contractual rights, consideration, conditions, assignments, third-party beneficiaries, consumer credit transactions, sales of goods under the Uniform Commercial Code, the relationship between contract and tort, and professional ethics.
Prerequisites & Notes
This course is only available to students in the on-line program.
Credits: 3
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LAW 1705 - Contracts
The concept of contract, which is concerned with relations based upon consent, is central in law as well as in political philosophy and theology. The course in contracts provides an opportunity to explore conflicts between fundamental social values, such as stability versus reform and freedom of contract versus regulation of fairness in dealing. The study of contracts also provides an introduction to a variety of lawyering skills, including analysis, drafting, counseling, statutory construction, and adversary method. The course covers legal remedies of contracting parties, creation and termination of contractual rights, consideration, conditions, assignments, third-party beneficiaries, consumer credit transactions, sales of goods under the Uniform Commercial Code, the relationship between contract and tort, and professional ethics.
Credits: 5
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LAW 2959 - Controversies in Corporate Law
This seminar shall explore four broad (often overlapping) areas of controversy in corporate law today: (1) the nature of the corporation (e.g., is the corporation a nexus of contracts, or an entity owned by its shareholders?); (2) corporate governance (e.g., should the board of directors follow the shareholder primacy norm, or a multi-fiduciary stakeholder model instead?); (3) corporate social responsibility (e.g., can and should a corporation adopt more environmentally sound practices if that would come at the expense of corporate profitability and shareholder returns?); and (4) the Constitution and the corporation. Each student in the seminar shall draft and present a paper within one of these general areas (of his or her choosing), and finalize the paper in response to the feedback received.
Prerequisites & Notes
Prerequisite: Business Organizations
Prerequisite or Co-requisite: Securities Regulation
Credits: 2 or 3
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LAW 3778 - Copyright
This course examines basic principles of copyright law, including unfair competition and other topics bearing on the protection of literary, musical and artistic works. There are also discussions of contract negotiations in the literary, theatrical and entertainment fields.
Credits: 3
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Law 2738 - Corporate Compliance and Ethics
This course will introduce our students to the core concepts of corporate compliance and ethics. We will review the role of compliance as well as the role of compliance officers in today’s corporations. Their role is especially important in the current environment of heightened scrutiny by regulators, shareholders and the media. We will spend several classes on the ‘nuts and bolts’ of compliance: setting the tone and getting the culture right, the code of conduct, helplines/hotlines and training. They we will focus on specific areas of compliance such as privacy (including Gramm Leach Bliley, HIPAA, US Safe Harbor), human resources/employment issues (e.g. Discrimination, ADA, Harassment), import export and other trade issues as well as FCPA, AML and OFAC issues. We will finish the course discussing whistleblowers, internal investigations and finally the role of the board of directors and audit committee in corporate compliance. This will be a very practical “how to” class, with special focus on current evolving issues and how companies are dealing with them.
Prerequisites & Notes
None.
Credits: 2
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LAW 2807 - Corporate Finance
This course deals with financial theories and legal doctrines relating to the publicly held corporation, including problems of valuation, financing options, capital structure and dividend policy.
Prerequisites & Notes
Business Organizations.
Credits: 2 or 3
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LAW 2810 - Corporate Governance Seminar
This seminar will focus on the governance of the modern American corporation. We will look more deeply at recent governance failures such as Enron and WorldCom, and evaluate efforts to address those failures. The seminar begins by reviewing the structure of the corporation, paying close attention to the different stakeholders in the corporation and examining other potential corporate structures. The role of the board will be closely examined, with particular focus on the role of independent directors and the importance of the board as a corporate monitor. We will explore new federal investor protections, particularly the Sarbanes Oxley Act, and discuss the responsibilities that investors have for good corporate governance. The seminar will also look more closely at the role of employees, particularly employees as shareholders. Finally, we will discuss the role of corporate counsel in promoting good governance, as well as reporting bad governance. An effort will be made to bring in speakers and set up field trips in order to better understand the issues we will cover. Enrollment is limited. A paper is required.
Prerequisites & Notes
Business Organization
Credits: 2
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LAW 3603 - Courtroom Technology and Advanced Advocacy
The primary focus of the Course will teach students advanced trial techniques and the fundamentals of courtroom technology and advocacy. This will be done through a series of lectures, readings and interactive exercises. The course will introduce students to courtroom technology software and create state of the art trial exhibits/documents and demonstratives. Students will conduct full trials with advanced trial advocacy skills of examinations and opening and closing statements, while using technology.
Prerequisites & Notes
Students should have completed a minimum of two semesters toward their Juris Doctorate prior to enrolling in this class and completed Evidence.
Credits: 2 or 3
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LAW 5800 - Criminal Justice Clinic
Students in this clinic represent indigent clients charged with misdemeanors in Nassau County District Court and Queens County Criminal Court. Pursuant to New York’s Student Practice Order and under close faculty supervision, students provide the entire range of legal representation, from initial interview to sentencing. Courtroom advocacy includes arraignments, bail arguments, bench conferences, evidentiary hearings, oral arguments on motions, bench and jury trials, plea dispositions and sentencings. Lawyering skills practiced outside the courtroom include interviewing, counseling, fact and crime scene investigation, negotiation with assistant district attorneys, and researching and drafting pleadings, motions and other memoranda.
Prerequisites & Notes
Students are expected to have taken Criminal Procedure and Evidence.
Credits: 6
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LAW 1710 - Criminal Law
This course is designed to enable the student to deal with substantive criminal law problems in both practical and policy terms. There is inquiry into the proper scope and objectives of the criminal law and exploration of the practicality of using the criminal law to achieve posited objectives. The elements of a crime are examined expositionally and critically, as are problems of criminal responsibility. The course also provides an opportunity for critical examination of statutes at an early stage in the law student’s career.
Credits: 3
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LAW 8008 - Criminal Law
This course is designed to enable the student to deal with substantive criminal law problems in both practical and policy terms. There is inquiry into the proper scope and objectives of the criminal law and exploration of the practicality of using the criminal law to achieve posited objectives. The elements of a crime are examined expositionally and critically, as are problems of criminal responsibility. The course also provides an opportunity for critical examination of statutes at an early stage in the law student’s career.
Prerequisites & Notes
This course is only available to students in the on-line program.
Credits: 3
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LAW 2714 - Criminal Law in the Workplace
This course addresses criminal statutes that impact employers and employees in a business setting. It is designed to provide insight to students interested in the criminal, labor, employment and commercial fields to better enable them to advise clients as to possible liabilities and regulatory pitfalls. Those interested in workers’ rights advocacy will learn how to work with government agencies in charge of protecting workers and their wages. Prospective criminal practitioners who have an interest in white collar crime will gain knowledge of how to prosecute and defend criminal cases involving businesses and their employees, as well as strategies employed during investigations of business and corporate clients or targets. The course reviews corporate criminal liability, various theories of larceny, and the criminal statutes most commonly violated by businesses and their principals. Students will also learn about the various criminal laws designed to address wage and benefit theft, as well as tax crimes committed by multi-employee businesses.
Credits: 2
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LAW 4751 - Criminal Procedure I: Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments
This course considers the administration of criminal justice in all its aspects, with a focus on the constitutional issues raised during the investigatory phase of a criminal case. Particular attention is given to the right of counsel, transcripts and other aids; police/court relations; the law of arrest, search and seizure; wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping; entrapment; police interrogation and confessions, lineups and other identification procedures; and the scope of the exclusionary rule. It also examines the legal and practical problems presented in the administration of criminal justice, such as, preliminary examination, discovery, joinder and severance of parties, speedy trial, guilty pleas, and the function of the jury.
Credits: 4
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LAW 2767 - Criminal Procedure II: Adjudication
This course examines selected criminal procedure topics that arise during the adjudication of a criminal case, organized along the procedural stages of a typical prosecution. Such issues may include the following: bail and pretrial release, prosecutorial charging discretion, discovery battles, plea bargaining, grand jury practice, petit jury selection and trial tactics, double jeopardy, trial by the media, sentencing issues, appeals and collateral attacks on convictions, and other related issues.
Credits: 2 or 3
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LAW 3605 - Critical Legal Theory and Critical Lawyering/Advocacy
This course seeks to introduce students to social justice critiques of U.S. Law and the legal system, and to consider current and innovative reform and advocacy projects to address these issues. For the first part of the course, the class will explore a variety of critical social justice perspectives, including Feminist Legal Theory, Critical Race Theory, Queer Theory, and ClassCrit Theory. In the remaining part of the class, the class will consider strategies for reforming certain aspects of U.S. law and legal systems in the interest of a more inclusive justice. Along with relevant readings, in this part of the course, guests may be invited to engage the class on innovative scholarship or perhaps “out of the box” work being done to effectuate such reform.
Credits: Two or three credits at the teacher’s discretion and based on course content coverage.
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LAW 3791 - Death Penalty
This seminar is an introduction to a controversial and expanding field of law that implicates a number of fundamental problems of our judicial and political systems. Topics covered include the problems posed by the unique finality of the death penalty, the requirements that the Supreme Court has imposed in an attempt to deal with these problems, the procedural requisites for invoking those requirements, and the history and effectiveness of political agitation on the issue.
Credits: 2 or 3
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LAW 3704 - Delivering Access to Justice In a Challenged Society
The economic downturn both nationally and in New York State has forced many litigants to appear in court without an attorney. Many individuals are facing life altering legal issues such as eviction, immigration, family, foreclosure and consumer credit. The justice system is faced with numerous challenges in ensuring equal justice to all in an increasingly diverse society.
Students will explore the delivery of legal services to low and moderate income individuals within the context of bread and butter areas of the law including housing, foreclosure. consumer debt and family.
The course will explore various delivery of legal services models such as unbundling, pro bono and low fee models and the use of technology to provide legal assistance. Students will also explore cultural competency issues and its effect on access to justice. Students will be exposed to substantive New York law. The course will be conducted partially in a seminar format, but will also include interactive exercises. Students will be required to either participate in a program run by Nassau Suffolk Legal Services in the District Court of Hempstead providing assistance in housing cases by providing legal information and assistance to unrepresented litigants or a program overseen by Judge Jeff Goodstein in the Matrimonial Part of Nassau Supreme Court providing legal information and other assistance to individuals seeking modifications of child support orders. Students will be expected to spend 50 hours participating in one of the programs. Students will be required to log-in their hours of participation in the programs. Judge Fisher will work out a schedule of participation for each student. Best efforts will be made to ensure that students are assigned to the program of each student’s choice, but is subject to the capacity of each program.
Students will receive 3 credits for the seminar and the participation in one of the Court programs will satisfy the 50 hour Pro Bono Rule. Participation in both the seminar and the court component is mandatory.
Prerequisites & Notes
None. Students must take both the Seminar and participate in a Court Program
Credits: 3
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LAW 5811 - Deportation Defense Clinic
Students in the Deportation Defense Clinic will represent and advocate for immigrants from Long Island who are affected by raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and changes in immigration enforcement policy. Students will represent clients in Immigration Court proceedings, as well as in proceedings in front of the Department of Homeland Security. Further, students will participate in community advocacy, including Know Your Rights presentations, Immigration Relief screening events, meetings with government officials, cooperative work with non-profit organizations, and, when required, impact litigation. Students will work under supervision of the DDC attorneys and will have weekly supervision meetings as well as a weekly seminar. Instructor permission is required to register for the course.
Prerequisites & Notes
None, although Immigration Law is preferred.
Credits: 6
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LAW 2974 - Derivatives Law
The purpose of this course is to teach the current law and practice regarding the documentation, negotiation, regulation and enforcement of derivatives and other related financial products. Subjects covered include: (i) the Commodity Exchange Act’s regulatory regime for commodity futures, exchange-traded commodity options and foreign exchange; (ii) the swaps regulatory regime imposed by Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act; (iii) the registration categories of markets, such as designated contract markets and swaps execution facilities, and market participants, such as futures commission merchants, derivatives clearing organizations, swap dealers and major swap participants; (iv) the drafting and negotiation of ISDA Master Agreements; (v) inter-jurisdictional differences in regulation and the extraterritorial application of U.S. regulation; and (vi) enforceability issues in bankruptcy. By the end of the course, you should be familiar with the regulatory regime applying to derivatives and be able to draft and negotiate a derivatives contract.
Prerequisites & Notes
None.
Credits: 2
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LAW 3795 - Disability Law
This course provides an introduction to the legal protections of the rights of people with disabilities. It will focus on the Americans with Disabilities Act, but may also examine the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and its guarantee of equal access to education, the Fair Housing Act’s prohibition against disability-based discrimination in housing transactions, and parts of the Rehabilitation Act that prohibit disability-based discrimination in federally assisted and operated programs. We will consider application of these statues to a wide range of public and private conduct, with special emphasis on employment. Throughout the course, we will critically evaluate the distinct response of disability rights law to the problem of disability-based disadvantage and will consider the merits of alternative responses.
Credits: 3
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LAW 5808 - Disaster Recovery Clinic
In this Clinic, students represent individuals affected by “Superstorm” Sandy in Nassau County and the Rockaways. The cases taken by the Clinic will fall into four categories: (1) representation of homeowners in disputes with insurers in the NYS Department of Financial Services insurance claim mediation program; (2) representation of tenants in disputes with landlords for nonpayment of rent, violations of lease terms, or breach of the warranty of habitability; (3) representation of individuals in administrative appeals of denied FEMA grants; and (4) transactional representation of non-profits and community organizations that seek to provide assistance to communities affected by the storm. Students engage in client interviewing and counseling, intensive fact investigation, legal research, strategic decision-making, document drafting, mediation, negotiation, and litigation. Students work in teams of two and are accompanied in court and in mediations by the supervisor, who provides ongoing feedback. The course has three components: a minimum of 300 hours of client casework over the semester; a two-hour weekly seminar; and a weekly 90-minute supervision session with the instructor. The course also begins with an intensive week-long training program. Evidence is strongly recommended for students interested in the course; Administrative Law, Contracts, Insurance Law, Negotiation, Property, Real Estate, and Trial Techniques are all relevant courses. Instructor permission is required to register for the course.
Credits: 6
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LAW 3792 - Domestic Violence Seminar
This course examines the problem of domestic violence between adult intimate partners (not as against aged parents or regarding direct child abuse, although the course will look at the effects upon children exposed to domestic violence and the law’s response). The course considers problems of domestic violence starting with psychological origins of violence. It focuses on domestic violence and its consequences in the legal system in a number of arenas, including family law, civil litigation in various forms (from restraining orders to tort recovery), criminal law response, federal law response, race issues, immigration, and legal responses to same sex or other forms of non-marital intimate domestic violence. The class will meet generally in the three-hour conventional seminar format, with individual students or teams of students occasionally being in charge of particular classes. A paper is required.
In addition to the classroom component, there is an externship component that will be available to a limited number of students. This will involve one day a week spent in the domestic violence division of the Suffolk County court system, representing abused complainants who are seeking orders of protection. Under the Suffolk Student Practice Order students can appear in court, can argue before the bench and can examine witnesses. One additional credit will be given for the externship experience. The one-credit externship may not be taken apart from the course, and is not a requirement of the three-credit course.
Credits: 3
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LAW 3789 - Drafting and Negotiating Contracts, Statutes, and Other Governing Provisions
Lawyers draft contracts, statutes, local ordinances, administrative regulations, injunctions, corporate and other organizational bylaws, and similar provisions and documents — all of which govern behavior. In this course, students learn how to resolve public and private problems through wording they draft and sometimes negotiate.
Credits: 3
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LAW 2996 - E-Discovery Practice
Building on foundational information on discovery learned from the first year Civil Procedure course, this intensive skills course introduces students to the practical elements of the e-discovery process in federal litigation, including “meet and confer,” motions to compel, and sanctions. Using the NITA method, students will have the opportunity to apply the relevant Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as they work through e-discovery obligations in a series of simulated hypotheticals,. Students will be assigned to teams as they meet and confer with opposing counsel, strategize with co-counsel, and argue a motion to compel and a motion for sanctions. This course satisfies one credit of skills.
Prerequisites & Notes
Pre-Req: Civil Procedure I and Civil Procedure II
Credits: 1
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LAW 2777 - Elder Law
This seminar focuses on the legal problems of the elderly and the disabled. It will approach the Elder Law practice from an interdisciplinary perspective. Topics include planning with Government benefits, including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Disability and SSI benefits; long-term care insurance; and estate planning and the utilization of trusts to protect and preserve assets. Additional topics will include Guardianship proceedings under Article 81 of New York’s Mental Hygiene Law as well as the Health Care Decisions Act, and advance directives such as health care proxies, living wills and MOLST forms.
Credits: 2
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LAW 3806 - Employment Discrimination
This course explores the federal statutes that govern nondiscrimination in employment The focus is on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin), the Civil Rights Act of 1991, Section 1981, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Credits: 3
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LAW 3805 - Employment Law
This course analyzes state and federal regulation of the employment relationship. Among the issues to be considered are the employment-at-will doctrine; the regulation of wages; worker health and safety; workers’ compensation; the use of lie detectors and drug testing; the regulation of benefits such as health insurance and family and medical leave; pensions and Social Security; and unemployment compensation.
Credits: 3
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LAW 3808 - Energy Law and Policy
This course examines the federal regulation of the natural resources used in the production, distribution and consumption of energy. It explores the basic ideas behind government regulation and the basic concepts of energy law and policy in the context of decision making and policy-making processes. The course takes an interdisciplinary approach and considers the economic, legal, political and ethical dimensions of energy law.
The course is comprised of three parts. Part I is Decision-Making and Policy-Making Structures and presents the necessary background for the course. It presents basic economic and political concepts and analyzes the legal framework in which energy law and policies are made. Part II is Decision-Making Methodologies and examines two analytic tools, rate making and cost-risk-benefit analysis, which are used to make decisions involving public policy. Part III is Energy Resources and applies the concepts in the first two parts to specific natural resources. A detailed examination is made of oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear power, hydropower, electricity and alternative energy sources such as solar, geothermal and synthetic fuels.
Credits: 3
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LAW 2728 - Environmental Dispute Resolution
Dispute resolution arises in many contexts and forms in environmental law. This course will provide instruction in the professional skills necessary to resolve and prevent environmental disputes. Course work will include the study and practice of environmental negotiation, mediation and facilitation, and will provide an opportunity for students to develop these skills in a broad range of contexts including, among others, a two-party Clean Air Act environmental enforcement negotiation, a multi-party hazardous waste mediation, and a complex multi-stakeholder climate change consensus-building process involving local zoning law. Students will learn how to determine the appropriate environmental dispute resolution process for a given matter, deal with high conflict situations, and manage disparate factual and scientific information in a dispute. Students will leave the course with skills they can apply to a wide variety of environmental law practices and to other fields of law as well.
Prerequisites & Notes
None.
Credits: 1
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LAW 3812 - Environmental Law
This course examines the common law and statutory responses to contemporary environmental issues. These responses are considered on local, state and national levels. Federal statutes that are emphasized include the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (Superfund). Legal intervention in areas such as resource management and allocation are considered, as well as emerging legal, political and economic issues surrounding land ownership and use.
Credits: 3
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LAW 2835 - ERISA and Employee Benefit Plans
This course introduces fundamental concepts essential to a basic understanding of the pension benefits field. The course reviews relevant provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA together with related regulations, administrative rulings and court cases. Initial class sessions and readings provide a basic introduction to the legal concepts and complicated technical requirements applicable to tax-qualified retirement plans and review alternative types of retirement plans and demographic, economic and practice considerations related to plan selection and administration. The course then branches out to explore the interaction of pension rules and concepts with other areas of law such as fiduciary principles, corporate law (e.g., mergers, acquisitions and divestitures), labor management relations, securities laws, employment discrimination laws (Title VII, ADEA, ADA, FMLA, etc.), bankruptcy laws, debtor-creditor rights and domestic relations laws. The course examines legislative regulatory and case law developments in the context of contemporary legal and policy considerations.
Credits: 2
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LAW 2838 - Estate Planning
This course provides an extensive examination of the techniques of estate planning and the drafting of wills and trusts. Through the distribution of problem and other materials, students are provided with an opportunity for analysis of various methods of handling potential estates in light of income, gift and estate tax considerations. Prerequisite or co-requisite: Federal Estate and Gift Tax. For third-year students only, the professor may waive the prerequisite.
Credits: 2 or 3
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LAW 2786 - Ethics in Criminal Advocacy
This course will examine the ethical responsibilities of prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers, as well as related jurisprudential issues. It will examine the roles, rules and best practices for prosecutors and defense lawyers in state and federal criminal justice systems. This course explores a wide range of sources that enforce professional standards for prosecutors and defense lawyers. It will cover the topics discussed in the general course on Professional Responsibility but will deal with most of these topics in the context of criminal practice. This course satisfies the Professional Responsibility requirement.
Prerequisites & Notes
Pre or Co-Req: Criminal Procedure I, Criminal Procedure II or Evidence
Credits: 2
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LAW 4761 - Evidence
This course introduces students to the body of law that protects the integrity of our trial process. Information is the factual material that parties wish to introduce in judicial proceedings. Evidence is the set of rules that have been created to distinguish between admissible and inadmissible information. The law of evidence is the set of policies and rules that have been developed to ensure that the information considered by the trier of fact is of sufficient integrity to justify its use to decide a case. Students learn the core concepts of relevance and competence. They are introduced to the special problems of expert witness and hearsay testimony, as well as on the critical rules concerning the introduction of documentary evidence. The focus of these studies is on the applied use of the rules of evidence in a trial context.
Credits: 4
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LAW 2985 - Expert Witness - Homicide
Expert Witness-Homicide is an interdisciplinary course that will be taught by law school and forensic sciences faculty. Upper level forensic sciences students will take the course along with law students and work on a simulated homicide case. The student lawyers and forensic experts will work together on building and presenting a prosecution and defense case. They will become familiar with, 1) crime scene investigation and evidence collection; 2) forensic evaluation and analyses of the collected evidence; 3) interpretation of forensic expert reports; and, 4) preparation for and participation in a pre-trial hearings; and eventual trial. Emphasis will be placed on skills and techniques necessary to overcome the manifold technical problems of Daubert hearings, which include credentialing witnesses and understanding the underlying science. The student experts will be prepared by the student lawyers and their testimony will be presented on behalf of the prosecution and defense. The students will also be exposed to the difficult ethical and evidentiary problems that surround many complex homicide case.
Prerequisites & Notes
Pre-Req: Evidence
Credits: 2
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LAW 2999 - Export Laws and Export Controls
In this class the students will learn about the Export Administration Act (EAA), the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), and the amendments to IIEPA pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Enhancement Act. The EAA expired in 1994. Since then, each U.S. President has extended the EAA by declaring a state of emergency under the IIEPA. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), an agency of the United States Department of Commerce, administers and enforces the EAA.Students will learn the key licensing provisions and procedures of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). These include the Commerce Control List (CCL), the Export Classification Numbering System (ECCN), and the 10 General EAR Prohibitions. Another topic of this course is the Trading with the Enemy Act. While we cannot focus on this Act in depth in a one-credit course, we will look at the restrictions on travel to Cuba that come under it. Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 515, are amongst the many regulations that implement this Act. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a part of the United States Department of the Treasury, administers and enforces these regulations.
Prerequisites & Notes
None.
Credits: 1
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LAW 3822 - Externship Program, Civil Law
In this course, students’ civil placements can include judicial chambers, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, legal counsel offices of corporations, and law firms. Each student works 12 hours per week at the assigned office, and must produce a minimum of 25 pages of substantial written work based upon legal research over the course of the semester. The course includes a weekly one-hour seminar in which students examine substantive and ethical legal issues that have arisen during their placements and participate in professional skills exercises and weekly written assignments. The faculty supervisor is also in contact with the attorney in charge of each placement during the semester to ensure the continued quality of the placement. This course may be taken only once by a student. The students’ field placement work is graded on a pass/fail basis and students receive a letter grade for the seminar component.
Credits: 2 - 4
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LAW 3824 - Externship Program, Criminal Law
In this course students are placed in the offices of prosecutorial and legal defense agencies and judges handling criminal cases. Each student works a minimum of 12 hours per week at the assigned office, and must produce a minimum of 15 pages of substantial written work based upon legal research over the course of the semester. The course includes a weekly one-hour seminar in which students examine substantive legal, ethical and professionalism issues and participate in professional skills exercises and weekly written assignments. The faculty supervisor is also in contact with the attorney in charge of each placement during the semester to ensure the continued quality of the placement. This course may be taken only once by a student. The students’ field placement work is graded on a pass/fail basis but students receive a letter grade (A-F) for the seminar component.
Credits: 2 - 4
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LAW 2523 - Externship Seminar, Matrimonial Law
This specialized externship seminar is a required companion course for students who are working in a field placement in the Matrimonial Law Center of the Nassau County Supreme Court. In the Seminar, students will discuss the work they are doing and the skills they are building in their field placements, as well as the skills necessary to be an effective and ethical matrimonial lawyer, their impressions of the field placement, their field supervisor and other attorneys with whom they interact, and the justice system as a whole, and issues relating to ethics and professionalism in their field placement and in the larger matrimonial law community. In addition, students will engage in a few exercises designed to enhance their professional lawyering skills and reflective practice. Each student will be required to maintain both objective and subjective journals, and submit a final reflective paper based on their experience in the field placement. Students will receive a letter grade for the course.
Prerequisites & Notes
The course requires instructor approval and interested students must submit a resume, statement of interest, and transcript. Family Law is a pre- or co-requisite.
Credits: 1
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LAW 3825 - Externship, Matrimonial Law
In this specialized externship, students have the opportunity to experience working in the field of matrimonial law, working in a field placement in the Matrimonial Law Center of the Nassau County Supreme Court. Students will be assigned to work with a matrimonial judge, where they will have the opportunity to observe the parties and their lawyers in court proceedings, work under the supervision of the judge in ruling on motions, and engage in legal research and writing of memos. Students will also be trained as volunteers in the Navigator Program, providing legal information to self-represented litigants in the Nassau County Matrimonial Center to help them navigate their matrimonial cases. Students will be expected to work at least 60 hours during the 14-week semester, produce a minimum of 15 pages of writing based on legal research, maintain both objective and subjective journals, and submit a final reflective paper based on their experience. The students will receive a pass/fail grade and be required to attend weekly one-hour seminar sessions.
Prerequisites & Notes
The course requires instructor approval and interested students must submit a resume, statement of interest, and transcript. Family Law is a pre- or co-requisite.
Credits: 1
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LAW 3831 - Family Law
This survey course is a study of state intervention in family relationships. The teacher may select topics from among the following: informal and nontraditional familial relationships, control of reproduction and current reproductive technology, antenuptial and separation agreements, adoption, termination of parental rights, divorce, property distribution, child custody, spousal and child support, paternity proceedings, and the role of the lawyer as counselor.
Credits: 3
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LAW 3830 - Family Law (With Skills Component)
Family Law (with Skills Component) will integrate skills training into the traditional basic family law course, which focuses on state intervention in family relationships. The teacher may select topics from among the following: informal and nontraditional familial relationships, control of reproduction and current reproductive technology, antenuptial and separation agreements, adoption, termination of parental rights, divorce, property distribution, child custody, spousal and child support, paternity proceedings, and the role of the lawyer as counselor. In addition, the course will include regular skills training sessions, designed to afford the students the opportunity to learn skills related to modern family and matrimonial court practice.
Prerequisites & Notes
Students may not take both Family Law and Family Law (with Skills Component)
Credits: 4
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LAW 2871 - Family Law LL.M. Thesis II
This course is substantively a continuation of Family Law LL.M. Thesis I. (See description for LL.M. Thesis I.) LL.M. Thesis II will consist primarily of intensive mentoring and close review of drafts by the instructor as the students continue the thesis drafting process.
Enrollment is limited, and instructor permission is required for enrollment. Students must successfully complete Family Law LL.M. Thesis I in order to enroll in Family Law LL.M. Thesis II.
Credits: 2
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LAW 2869 - Family Law LLM: Thesis I
This course is required for students enrolled in the LL.M. in Family Law program. It offers the students guidance in drafting an original research paper on a family law topic. In addition to weekly class meetings, students will meet individually with the instructor to develop appropriate research skills and select a topic. Students will be expected to complete a first draft of their Thesis during the Fall semester. In addition, students are expected to make presentations of their work and critique each other’s work.
Enrollment is limited, and instructor permission is required for enrollment.
Credits: 2
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LAW 3817 - Family Law Practicum
The Family Law Practicum offers students the opportunity to work in Hofstra’s Center for Separating and Divorcing Parents. The Center is an interdisciplinary demonstration project involving the Law School and the Psychology Department in providing alternative dispute resolution, parenting plan drafting services, and short-term therapy to separating and divorcing parents with minor children. After an intensive training in various dispute resolution methods, law students will be paired with Psy.D. students to work with the families. Law students will develop skills in interviewing, case assessment, provision of targeted legal education, co-mediation, and drafting of parenting plans and settlement agreements. The students will attend weekly two-hour seminars, and will be supervised in all contacts with the families receiving services.
Prerequisites & Notes
Pre-Req: Family Law or Family Law with Skills
Credits: 6
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LAW 3835 - Federal Courts
This course analyzes the jurisdiction and functioning of the federal courts, the distribution of authority between federal and state courts, and the roles of federal and state law in the federal system. Topics include the constitutional limits of federal judicial power, the original jurisdiction of the district courts, the role of state courts in enforcing federal law, the distinction between state and federal questions, the rule of decision in federal litigation, and the conflicts between the state and federal judicial systems. Emphasis is placed on legislative proposals with respect to the jurisdiction of the federal courts.
Prerequisites & Notes
Constitutional Law I (Pre-Req or Co-Req)
Credits: 3
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LAW 3785 - Federal Income Taxation of Corporations
A study is made of the basic concepts of federal income taxation of corporate transactions. Among the areas included are incorporation, dividends, redemptions and liquidations.
Prerequisites & Notes
Federal Income Taxation of Individuals. Suggested: Business Organizations.
Credits: 3
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LAW 4805 - Federal Income Taxation of Individuals
The federal income tax system is studied with emphasis on basic concepts rather than detailed computations. Significant attention is given to the public policy served by various provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. The Internal Revenue Code, Regulations, Revenue Rulings, and other publications of the Internal Revenue Service, as well as case law, are analyzed in depth.
Credits: 4
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Law 2864 - Federal Tax Clinic Practicum
Students in the Federal Tax Clinic represent taxpayers in disputes with the Internal Revenue Service concerning the determination, collection or refund of any tax, additions to tax, penalties or interest under the Internal Revenue Code. Representation may take place at any stage of a tax controversy including, but not limited to, examination (audit), collection, IRS Appeals, and litigation in the United States Tax Court. Students engage in client interviewing and counseling, intensive fact investigation, legal research, drafting of court and administrative documents and briefs, and negotiation. Students meet regularly with supervisors and attend a weekly seminar. Instructor permission is required to register for the course.
Prerequisites & Notes
Pre-Req: Federal Income Taxation of Individuals
Credits: 2 or 3
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LAW 2843 - Federal Tax Procedure
This course examines the basic rules of federal tax procedure, focusing primarily on civil tax matters. Topics covered include the sources of federal tax procedure; IRS organization, operation and administration; ruling requests and determination letters; retroactive and prospective changes in IRS interpretations; the doctrine of estoppel, consistency and equality as applied to IRS actions; audit and summons powers of the IRS; deficiencies, interest and penalties; refund claims; statute of limitations, waivers and the mitigation provisions; appeals and settlement procedures within the IRS; forums available for judicial review of IRS determinations; assessment and collection procedure; injunctions and suits to restrain assessment and collection; disclosure obligations imposed by the IRS and the Freedom of Information Act; confidentiality of tax returns; and criminal investigations.
Credits: 2
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LAW 2848 - Foreign Affairs and the Constitution
This course examines how U.S. law both constrains and is constrained by U.S. foreign relations and the foreign policy-making process. The course focuses on the constitutional allocation of responsibility among the executive, legislative and judicial branches in matters relating to foreign affairs, including war, treaty-making and spending powers. Unique aspects of the lawmaking process in the foreign relations context are illuminated through historical case studies to include, among others, the use of force in Grenada, Panama, the Persian Gulf, Somalia and Haiti; the Iran-Contra Affair; and the controversy surrounding interpretation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The involvement of state and local governments and of private actors in foreign affairs is also considered from a constitutional pragmatic. Finally, the course examines how treaties, international instruments and international law in general interact with domestic legal mechanisms, and how the national security context affects such individuals’ rights as those provided under the First and Fourth Amendments. All topics address the need for possible reform of foreign relations law as the United States continues to move forward in the post-Cold War era. A paper is required.
Credits: 2
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LAW 3200 - Foundational Lawyering Skills
This required course offered in the fall semester of the second year is designed to provide students with a basic introduction to core lawyering skills essential to effective practice in a variety of areas (trial practice, litigation, transactional lawyering, alternative dispute resolution, etc.) and an assessment of their performance of entry-level competencies in those areas. Students will learn how to perform essential lawyering skills, practice those skills, and have their performance assessed. After taking this course, students will be better positioned to enroll in upper-level simulation, externship and clinical courses.
The course will be taught in a series of three intensive consecutive modules. Each of the modules will begin with a lecture presentation to teach students a particular lawyering skill, followed by one or more break-out classes where students will perform and practice the lawyering skill that is being taught and receive individualized feedback from an instructor. The three primary modules of lawyering skills will focus on: (1) practice-ready research and writing, (2) fact investigation and witness examination, and (3) client interviewing, counseling, and negotiation.
Credits: 3
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LAW 2515 - Fundamentals of Cybersecurity
The course will familiarize students with the geometrically expanding array of cyber risks and educate them on the ever-evolving statutory, regulatory and case law that has arisen in response to these most modern torts and crimes. The course will highlight the most common and devastating types of cyberattacks. Acknowledging that we are undoubtedly in the early stages of the development of laws relating to cybersecurity, the course will inform the students about an inter-disciplinary approach to the problem with presentations by technologists, insurance experts and investment bankers, legal experts and law enforcement, supported by in-depth analysis of the primary statutes and case law governing cybersecurity.
Prerequisites & Notes
None.
Credits: 2
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LAW 2856 - Global Climate Change and U.S. Law
This course introduces students to domestic legal, administrative, and market mechanisms – both
existing and possible – for addressing global climate change in the United States. The absence of
direct federal action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, coupled with growing recognition of
the need for U.S. emissions reductions, has resulted in a multiplicity of (frequently highly
creative) efforts to force reductions through other means. These include litigation to require
federal regulation of greenhouse emissions under the Clean Air Act, litigation and other actions to mandate the consideration of climate change impacts under other existing federal statutes (such as NEPA and the ESA), common law tort actions, and independent emissions-reduction measures adopted by localities, states, regions, and market sectors.
Now, however, a changing political landscape suggests the emergence of substantial federal
legislation directly mandating greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Additionally, the success of
one of the above noted litigation strategies in Massachusetts v. EPA raises the possibility that
EPA may soon propose federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.
Interesting questions arise in considering how the possible advent of direct, federal greenhouse
gas emissions regulation will impact other litigation; local, state and regional greenhouse gas
reduction measures (including motor vehicle GHG emissions standards adopted by states under
the Clean Air Act); and existing (voluntary) private sector strategies for reducing GHG emissions.
There is also an interesting question as to where, going forward, regulatory responsibility for
addressing greenhouse gas emissions should be located. This course will educate students about
the domestic legal options available to address greenhouse gas emissions and invite them to
develop opinions about their viability, interplay, and desirability.
Prerequisites & Notes
No pre-requisites or co-requisites are required, but Environmental Law is recommended. A basic understanding of major environmental statutes, such as the Clean Air Act, NEPA, and the ESA will assist students in understanding how climate change issues intersect with those statutes.
Credits: 2
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LAW 2724 - Global Compliance in the Digital Age
This course will explore and analyze the statutory and regulatory compliance challenges for management of electronic information across industries and national borders. We will analyze various industries, including financial services, health care and the tech sector, and consider the opportunities and challenges presented to legal and compliance professionals from increased business access to information.
An analysis of the compliance network for electronic information requires an understanding of the daily interfaces essential to e-commerce. These include consideration of privacy and data protection notions for personal data. Students will examine a practical framework for analysis of electronic information management from the U.S. and abroad, including health data, financial data and other protected information. They will look at U.S. federal and state information compliance schemes; privacy and data protection approaches in Europe, Asia and South America; how U.S. courts have approached the conflicts of laws dilemma, from the five-factor balancing test of Aerospatiale v. District Court of Iowa in 1987 to the present; trends toward reconciliation of the blurred cyber-borders of international e-commerce with established political boundaries; and collection of electronic evidence from abroad. We also will consider anti-money laundering regulations that are implicated through increased electronic activity in banking and other industries.
The practical effects of how these statutes and cases affect the daily activities of corporations and individuals will be seen in drafting exercises that will include preparation of discovery requests and responses; internal memoranda regarding potential motions to quash and Protective Orders; information governance policies and procedures; and training materials. We also will identify monitoring, testing and control functions that allow businesses to protect themselves from litigation and regulatory matters in this rapidly changing environment.
Prerequisites & Notes
None.
Credits: 2
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