Course Descriptions
All CU Law courses are described below. You can sort by Course Title to view by alphabetical sections, or by Course Number. Selecting a course shows details for individual sections as well as term availability.
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Accounting Issues for Lawyers - LAWS 6281
Study of accounting and auditing problems in the form they are placed before the lawyer, including a succinct study of basic bookkeeping, in-depth legal analysis of the major current problems of financial accounting, and consideration of the conduct of the financial affairs of business.
Administrative Law - LAWS 7205
The law governing the administration of statutes by the executive agencies of the federal government. Topics include the relationships of the constitutional branches with the agencies, the availability and scope of judicial review of agency action, procedural due process rights of individuals, the nature of agency processes for rulemaking and adjudication, and laws requiring open meetings and records. There is a final examination; enrollment is limited only by the size of the room assigned. No prerequisites. The course is offered at least annually.
Adv Constitutional Law Equality and Privacy - LAWS 8005
Addresses "Equal Protection" rights under the Fourteenth Amendment and "privacy" rights to personal autonomy. Analyzes varied constitutional grounds for recognizing or rejecting abortion rights; limits on Congressional power to pass civil rights laws granting broader rights than the Fourteenth Amendment does; treatment of sexual orientation-related laws and government actions as "privacy" versus "equality" matters; and "benign"/"remedial" race- and sex-based government decisions such as affirmative action and same-sex schools.
Advanced American Indian Law - LAWS 8725
Examines the current state of the justice system within Indian nations today. It concentrates on the interplay among contemporary federal, tribal, state and local institutions which, taken together, comprise "justice" within Indian Country. Includes understanding the respective roles of tribal and state law enforcement authorities, as well as the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Justice Services, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Advanced Appellate Advocacy - LAWS 6213
Advanced study and practice of written and oral appellate advocacy. Builds on the foundation established in the required first-year course in appellate advocacy, but provides more extensive coverage, practice, and evaluation. Personalized instruction in brief writing, including detailed, one-on-one critique of their work. Include advanced techniques for organizing and writing a brief, and advanced instruction on the strategy and process of oral argument. Required to research, write, and rewrite an appellate brief, and conduct several oral arguments. Attend oral arguments of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the Colorado Court of Appeals.
Advanced Comparative Law - LAWS 8210
Examination of selected issues in comparative law. Past topics have included exploration of discrete issues in Jewish law.
Advanced Constitutional Law, Theory and Practice of Free Speech in the United States - LAWS 8095
This seminar allows students to explore the impact of our national commitment to freedom of speech, press, and various forms of expression. The theoretical justifications for the protection of speech in service of truth, self-governance and self-realization are explored primarily through analysis of the market metaphor. Students will study the role of the press, and evaluate current methods of suppressing speech in a democratic state. Pre-requisite: Constitutional Law (required); First Amendment (useful).
Advanced Contracts: Commercial Transactions - LAWS 7121
Studies Article 2 and Article 2A of the Uniform Commercial Code, together with the U.N. Convention for the International Sale of Goods. Advanced contracts topics are explored in depth. Among other subjects, warranties, title, remedies, and risk of loss in the sale of goods will be studied. In addition to substantive doctrine, students will learn drafting skills. The grade for this course will not include a final exam; instead, students will draft a contract for the sale of goods.
Advanced Corporate Law - LAWS 8251
Explores current issues in corporate and securities law, including developments in fiduciary duties of officers and directors, corporate governance, executive compensation, revisions to the model business corporation act, and state and federal litigation reform.
Advanced Criminal Justice - LAWS 8315
Studies policy and practice issues rather than case law. Focuses primarily on how American criminal justice is dispensed in cases that do not reach trial, including police behavior, prosecutorial discretion, defense services, bail, plea bargaining, and sentencing.
Advanced Criminal Procedure - LAWS 8335
Each time this seminar is offered, it concentrates on a different of criminal procedure for intense analysis. In Fall 2004, this seminar will focus on topics in prosecution and defense ethics.
Advanced Legal Research - LAWS 6856
This course offers an in-depth look at research resources and methods. Topics covered will include sources from the judicial, legislative, and executive branches of federal and state government; research in topical areas such as environmental law, taxation, and international law; and extensive coverage of secondary and non-law resources. Both print and electronic sources will be covered. Students will have several assignments and a final project.
Advanced Legal Writing - LAWS 6226
Focuses on improvement of legal writing skills including organizing, drafting, and revising legal writing. Improves research and analysis skills.
Advanced Natural Resources Law - LAWS 8112
Studies historical, literary, and scientific materials and analyzes current problems of natural resources law. Requires additional fieldtrip expenses for students.
Advanced Problems in Water Resource Law - LAWS 8302
Explores the use of watersheds as geographic and political entities for addressing water-related issues and how laws and institutions facilitate or impede watershed-based problem solving.
Advanced Topics in Federalism - LAWS 8025
Explores the development of "Our Federalism", the relationship betwen federal and state governments, from the founding period of the US Supreme Court's recent New Federalism jurisprudence. Studies historical material, commentary, and case law, and addresses how federalism is defined; the alues that federalism serve; the role of federalism in our interconnected, global society; the Supreme Court's boundaries of federalism; the direction of New Federalism.
Advanced Topics in Health Law and Policy - LAWS 8775
Addresses advanced legal issues in representing physicians, long-term care institutions, hospitals, and other healthproviders. Issues range from economic policy, distributive justice, and bioethical questions to antitrust and regulatory issues. Recommended prereq., LAWS 7425. To be taught at Health Sciences Center.
Advanced Torts - LAWS 7475
Studies selected tort actions and theories. Topics covered may include "dignitary torts" (e.g., defamation, privacy, etc.), business torts, and product liability.
Advanced Torts - LAWS 8425
Explores how dignitary interests have influenced the development of and have been incorporated into law, using the common law of torts and the constitutional rights of life and linerty as a general (but not exclusive) focal point of discussion.
Advanced Trial Advocacy - LAWS 7159
An advanced course covering trial practice elements. Open only to students who have taken Trial Advocacy.
Affordable Housing - LAWS 8705
This seminar will explore the law and policy of affordable housing. We will begin with an overview of the housing market and failures in that market and then turn to the primary public-policy tools that have developed in response. We will then examine in detail several cutting-edge topics in housing, including the subprime mortgage crisis, on-going challenges for ensuring Fair Housing, the intersection of affordable housing and planning, and sustainability. The seminar will conclude with student presentations on seminar papers.
Agency, Partnership and the LLC - LAWS 6201
Surveys agency law, whose principles are important in many other areas of law. Studies the legal organizations commonly used by small businesses: partnerships and limited liability companies (LLCs).
Alternative Dispute Resolution - LAWS 7429
Examines a variety of dispute resolution processes, such as mediation, arbitration, mini-trials, and court-annexed settlement procedures, as alternatives to traditional court adjudication. In some ways this is a foundation for other ADR courses offered.
Alternative Dispute Resolution Ethics - LAWS 8103
This seminar focuses on the major ethical issues raised for lawyers in negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. These issues include disclosure, fairness, and client loyalty, as well as impartiality and neutrality.
American Indian Law Clinic - LAWS 7309
Emphasizes the practice of federal and tribal Indian law. Students will represent individuals and Indian tribes in matters involving: the Indian Child Welfare Act, enforcement of federal and tribal rights, and code development. Focuses on select current Indian law topics and development of lawyering skills. Satisfies Practice Requirement. Recommended prerequisite or corequisite: American Indian Law and Evidence.
American Indian Law I - LAWS 7725
Investigation of the federal statutory, decisional, and constitutional law that bears upon American Indians, tribal governments, and Indian reservation transactions.
American Indian Law II - LAWS 7735
This course will investigate of the legal history and current legal status of Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. It will also address other current topics such as tribal water rights, tribal justice systems, religious freedom, and tribal natural resource and environmental management.
Antidiscrimination and First Amendment - LAWS 8035
Addresses past and continuing debates involving potential tensions between antidiscrimination principles and free speech, free exercise, and establishment clause values. Examines constitutional protections under the First Amendment and the equal protection clause, together with an array of existing and proposed federal and state antidiscrimination laws regulating employment, housing, and public accommodations, among other areas.
Antitrust - LAWS 7201
A study of American competition policy: collaborations among competitors, including agreements on price and boycotts, definition of agreement, monopolization, vertical restraints, such as resale price maintenance and territorial confinement of dealers.
Appellate Advocacy Clinic - LAWS 7029
Clinical course that enables students to work on briefs of criminal cases being handled by the Appellate Division of the Public Defender or Attorney General's Office. Instruction in oral advocacy will be given. Enrollment limited to 8 students.
Appellate Advocacy Competition - LAWS 7529
Participation in an intermural appellate advocacy competition, in which a brief must be filed and reviewed, critiqued, and deemed credit-worthy by a member of the faculty. (Law School Rule 3-2-9 [b] should be consulted prior to enrollment.)
Appellate Court Advocacy - LAWS 5223
Students prepare appellate briefs and related documents and deliver oral arguments before a three-judge court composed of faculty members, upper-class students, and practicing attorneys. Practice arguments are videotaped and critiqued.
Arbitration - LAWS 7751
Discusses the nature of arbitration, enforcement of arbitration agreements and awards, complexities of multi-party arbitrations, fairness and efficiency of the arbitral process, and other issues related to arbitration's prevalence in contexts ranging from corporate to consumer and employment disputes.
Bankruptcy - LAWS 7021
Explores the role of debt, credit, and debt forgiveness in American capitalist society. The course begins with an overview of the state court collection procedures, and then teaches the main provisions of the three primary chapters of the Bankruptcy Code dealing with personal and corporate bankruptcies (Chapters 7, 11, and 13).
Bioethics and Law - LAWS 7415
Provides an interdisciplinary study of law and bioethics. Students will read legal cases and clinical bioethics material to understand how the law has attempted to unify the goals of the two disciplines.
Bioethics and Law - LAWS 8415
Focuses on legal, moral, and economic analyses of problems posed or soon to be posed by advances in biomedical technologies.
Bioethics Law and Literature - LAWS 7428
Interdisciplinary study of law, medicine, and bioethics. Addresses such issues as confidentiality in medical treatment, rejecting life-sustaining treatment, death and dying, reproductive law and genetic technology, human experimentation, and access to health care.
Business Plan Preparation - MBAX 6170
Completion of a sophisticated business plan within task groups from concept through all the elements of a professionally written business plan. Provides students high interaction with businesses and entrepreneurs. Prereq., MBAC 6020 and MBAX 6100, or instructor consent. PREREQ MBAC 6020 & MBAX 6100 OR INSTRUCTOR CONSENT.
Business Planning - LAWS 7211
Focuses on the development and use of concepts derived from a number of legal areas in the context of business planning and counseling. Topics such as formation of business entities, sale of a business, recapitalization, division, reorganization and dissolution are considered. Prerequisites: Income Taxation and either Agency, Partnership and the LLC or Corporations.
Business Transactions - LAWS 7601
Course provides a practical understanding of how to apply the law in both transactional and litigation settings. Gives an interdisciplinary look at how various areas of the law are brought together in common factual settings. Students will negotiate, document, and close the acquisition of a business covering the areas of practice of corporate, contracts, real property, secured transactions, and bankruptcy law. Students will then test, in a litigation setting, the decisions made during the acquisition stage.
Capital Punishment in America - LAWS 6528
Surveys the history and current status of capital punishment in the United States, with a critical examination of arguments both for and against the death penalty.
Child Abuse and the Law - LAWS 8115
This seminar explores various topics relating to child abuse. Although by no means comprehensive, the seminar will permit students to explore certain issues in depth and write a paper on a topic of particular interest. We will read a variety of texts and watch a documentary on one family's struggle with the child welfare system. No one point of view is emphasized and students are encouraged to think critically about the current child welfare system and the various proposals to reform it.
Cities, Suburbs and Law - LAWS 8104
Explores dynamics that play out in the relationship between cities, suburbs, exurbs and other patterns of urban development. Explores the nature of local power, relations between local jurisdictions, and metropolitan and regional approaches to governance. Includes fiscal disparities, ethnic and racial segregation, sprawl and growth controls, affordable housing, transportation, and the urban/rural divide.
Civil Liberties Litigation - LAWS 8613
In-depth case studies of issues and litigation strategies relevant to the prosecution and defense of civil liberties cases. Focus is on significant historical and contemporary lawsuits.
Civil Practice Clinic I - LAWS 6009
Emphasizes procedural and practical remedies and defenses available in civil litigation. In conjunction with this course, students will be assigned civil cases related to the course material. Develops working knowledge of courtroom skills. Prerequisite or corequisite: Evidence LAWS 6353-3.
Civil Practice Clinic II - LAWS 6019
A continuation of Legal Aid Civil Practice I. Emphasizes procedural and practical remedies and defenses available in civil litigation. In conjunction with this course, students will be assigned civil cases related to the course material. Develops working knowledge of courtroom skills. Prerequisite or corequisite: Evidence LAWS 6353-3.
Civil Procedure - LAWS 5303
Studies modern practice in civil suits, including rules governing pleading, joinder of parties, discovery, jurisdiction of courts over the subject matter and parties, right to jury trial, appeals, and res judicata and collateral estoppel, with emphasis on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and their Colorado counterpart.
Civil Procedure - LAWS 5313
Studies modern practice in civil suits, including rules governing pleading, joinder of parties, discovery, jurisdiction of courts over the subject matter and parties, right to jury trial, appeals, and res judicata and collateral estoppel, with emphasis on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and their Colorado counterpart.
Civil Rights Legislation - LAWS 7025
Presents a comprehensive study of federal civil rights statutes briefly reviewed in other courses (e.g., Constitutional Law or Federal Courts). Studies federal civil rights statutes, their judicial application, and their interrelationships as a discretely significant body of law of increasing theoretical interest and practical importance.
Class and Law - LAWS 8535
Explores issues relating social class to such areas as labor relations, law enforcement, controls on radical movements, and the distribution of wealth and power. Considers problems defining social class.
Commercial Drafting - LAWS 7051
The primary purpose of this course is to expose the third-year law student to legal drafting techniques that will be useful in the private practice of law. The course will emphasize adversarial drafting of commercial and real estate contracts and other nonlitigation legal documentation.
Comparative Constitutional Law - LAWS 8045
Examines legal structures and concepts typically found in constitutions, including judicial review, distinction between legislative and executive authority, federalism and the principle of subsidiarity, the relationship between church and state, free speech and press, and social welfare rights. Examines differences between constitutional law and other domestic law, role of comparative constitutional law in domestic constitutional law adjudication. Emphasizes American and Swedish perspectives.
Comparative Criminal Procedure - LAWS 7345
Takes an in-depth look at some of the basic features of modern criminal justice systems that share the civil law tradition with the hope that such study will provide a vehicle for a deeper understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the American system of criminal justice. Prerequisite: Criminal Procedure, LAWS 6045-3.
Comparative Employment Law - LAWS 6531
In today's globalized world, lawyers are increasingly likely to encounter
issues involving foreign employment. The course will provide substantive
knowledge about foreign employment law and its relation to American law. It
will also provide a comparative framework to assess the relative merits of
the American approach to employment law.
Comparative Labor Law - LAWS 8521
Explores the laws and economic transformations that affect labor relations on a global scale.
Comparative Law - LAWS 6210
Considers methods and purposes of comparative law. Covers history and development of legal systems around the world, focusing on a particular topic (for example, succession laws or legal education) in different years.
Comparative Public Health Law and Ethics - LAWS 8430
Compares public health law systems to those in other countries. Studies the goals, legal structures, and services provided, together with such issues of coercion as quarantines, monitoring, mandates & prohibitions, and forcing pharmaceutical companies to make available inexpensive generic drugs.
Complex Civil Litigation - LAWS 7303
An advanced course in civil procedure in modern complex multiparty suits, including extended examination of class actions in such settings as employment discrimination and mass torts, and a study of problems in discovery, joinder, res judicata, collateral estoppel, and judicial management in such suits.
Computer Crime - LAWS 8311
Explores legal issues that judges, legislators, prosecutors, and defense attorneys confront with recent explosion in computer related crime. Includes Fourth Amendment in cyberspace, law of electronic surveillance, computer hacking and other computer crimes, encryption, online economic espionage, cyberterrorism, First Amendment in cyberspace, federal and state relations in enforcement of computer crime laws, and civil liberties online.
Constitutional Foundations: Core Ideas - LAWS 8508
This seminar will focus on core ideas in U.S. Constitutional Law such as means/ends analysis, institutional competence, rights definitions, juridical techniques for limiting governmental powers and more. The seminar will draw from a multitude of different sources--historical writings, contemporaneous press accounts, learned treatises, oral arguments, law review articles, and key judicial opinions such as McCullough v. Maryland, Lochner v. New York, Brown v. Board of Education. Students will be expected to become experts on a discrete chosen topic.
Constitutional History - LAWS 6248
Explores the history of constitutional law in America. The course will set the discussion of important cases in the context of social, economic, legal and other developments in America and stress the ways in which interpretation of our Constitution has not been the sole province of the Supreme Court but has also been performed by Congress, the executive, the states and the people.
Constitutional Law - LAWS 6005
Study of constitutional structure: judicial review, federalism, separation of powers; and constitutional rights of due process and equal protection.
Constitutional Theory - LAWS 8015
Examines the role of the courts and the other branches of government in defining and enforcing constitutional values. Relevant readings are from philosophy, social sciences, and legal scholarship, as well as cases.
Construction Law - LAWS 6114
Focuses on the basic principles and practices of construction law. Provides an overview of construction industry participants and players (engineers, contractors, insurers, etc.) and discusses and analyzes the various obligations and liabilities of these parties. Covers construction and design contracting, construction claims, professional negligence, construction insurance and suretyship, and ADR in construction. Provides transactional-practice oriented exercises.
Consumer Empowerment - LAWS 8021
Considers contract theories and principles emanating from classical and neoclassical law, legal realism, law and economics, and critical legal studies. Explores and questions tensions among theories, focusing on how they interact with norms, goals, and functions of contract and consumer protection law. Observes these tensions “in action” through volunteer work with Heritage House, a home for young women who are “at-risk” and cannot live with their families at this time for different reasons.
Contract Theory - LAWS 7111
Explores various contract theories and principles emanating from classical and neoclassical law, legal realism, law and economics, critical legal studies, law and society, relational theory, and others. Considers and critiques these theories as applied to particular contracting cultures, especially as applied to construction contracts.
Contracts - LAWS 5121
Covers basic principles of contract liability; offer and acceptance; consideration; statute of frauds; contract remedies; the parol evidence rule; performance of contracts; conditions; effect of changed circumstances; and other issues related to contract formation and enforcement.
Copyright - LAWS 7301
An examination of state and federal laws relating to the protection of works of authorship ranging from traditional works to computer programs. The 1976 Copyright Act as well as relevant earlier Acts are studied in detail. Some attention is given to state laws, such as interference with contractual relations, the right of publicity, moral right, protection of ideas, and misappropriation of trade values, that supplement federal copyright.
Corporate Finance - LAWS 7261
Examines a variety of important legal issues related to the funding and financing corporations including creditor protection laws, the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, fiduciary duties, bond indenture provisions, securities laws, and rights of equity holders. Covers efficient capitalization structures, corporate valuation techniques, capital markets and the efficient market theory, and cost of capital concept. Prereq., LAWS 6211 or 6251.
Corporate Taxation - LAWS 6157
Studies basic federal income taxation of C corporations. Coverage includes formation, operation, distributions, sale of interests, liquidations, personal holding company tax, and accumulated earnings tax. If time permits, may include a brief overview of principles of tax-deferred reorganizations, utilization of net operating losses, and consolidated income tax returns. Prerequisite: Income Taxation, LAWS 6007.
Corporate Transactions in Latin America - LAWS 6601
Corporations - LAWS 6211
Covers formation of corporations and their management; relations among shareholders, officers, and directors; the impact of federal legislation on directors' duties; and the special problems of closed corporations.
Corporations - LAWS 6251
Covers formation of corporations and their management; relations among shareholders, officers, and directors; the impact of federal legislation on directors' duties; and the special problems of closed corporations.
Counseling Families in Business - LAWS 8701
Explores the legal aspects of owning, managing, and participating in a successful family business system, including corporate structure, legal issues, succession planning and estate management, internal capital markets in private enterprise, ownership issues in private businesses, how lawyers can assist with family governance, planning for and managing family philanthropy, gender issues in family business, and conflict resolution.
Creative Writing For Lawyers - LAWS 6458
Requires substantial writing and reading. Begins with participants bringing to class a piece of creative writing consisting of three to five thousand words. Each session consists of one hour of discussion and critique of an assigned writing exercise that everyone has prepared for the class, and one hour of workshop critique of each participant’s longer work, in turn.
Creditors' Remedies and Debtors' Protection - LAWS 7011
Examines typical state rights and procedures for the enforcement of claims and federal and state law limitations providing protection to debtors in the process. Includes prejudgment remedies, statutory and equitable remedies, fraudulent conveyance principles, and exemptions and other judicial protections afforded debtors.
Criminal Defense Clinic - LAWS 6079
Thorough grounding in problems of criminal defense. Students will defend indigent misdemeanants. Develops working knowledge of courtroom skills, advocacy, and evidence presentation. Concludes with full mock trial. Prerequisite or corequisite: Evidence, LAWS 6353-3.
Criminal Defense Clinic I - LAWS 6029
Thorough grounding in problems of criminal defense. Students will defend indigent misdemeanants in Boulder courts. Develops working knowledge of courtroom skills. Prerequisite or corequisite: Evidence, LAWS 6353-3.
Criminal Defense Clinic II - LAWS 6039
Thorough grounding in problems of criminal defense. Students will defend indigent misdemeanants in Boulder courts. Develops working knowledge of courtroom skills. Prerequisite or corequisite: Evidence, LAWS 6353-3.
Criminal Law - LAWS 5503
Statutory and common law of crimes and defenses, the procedures by which the law makes judgments as to criminality of conduct, the purposes of the criminal law, and the constitutional limits upon it.
Criminal Procedure: Adjudicative Process - LAWS 7045
Criminal Procedure at the University of Colorado School of Law is taught in two parts. This second part, “The Adjudicative Phase,” focuses primarily on criminal procedure at and after trial. It examines such topics as bail, prosecutorial discretion, discovery, plea-bargains, speedy trial, jury trial, right to counsel at trial, double jeopardy, and appeal.
Criminal Procedure: Investigative Phase - LAWS 6045
Criminal Procedure at the University of Colorado School of Law is taught in two parts. This first part, “The Investigative Process,” focuses primarily on the constitutional limitations applicable to police investigative techniques such as arrest, search, seizure, electronic surveillance, interrogation, and lineup identification.
Deals - LAWS 7101
Explores the business lawyer's role in creating value by helping clients identify, assess, and manage business risks through efficient contract design while achieving the optimal legal, tax or regulatory treatment for the deal. Includes case studies of actual transactions.
Domestic Violence - LAWS 7513
Explores the law, policy, history and theory of domestic violence. Students will approach legal aspects of the problems from a variety of perspectives, which may include criminal justice, family law, civil rights law, tort and/or international human rights. The course examines the limits of legal methods and remedies for holding batterers accountable and keeping victims safe. Students will also study such topics as the dynamics of abusive relationships; the history of the criminal justice system's response to domestic violence; the defenses available to battered persons who kill their abusers; the legal paradigm of the sympathetic victim; psychological and feminist theories about abusive relationships; civil rights and tort liability for batters and third parties; and the intersection of domestic violence with international human rights. The goal of the course is to provide practical information about the challenges involved in legal advocacy for battered persons, as well as theoretical, ethical and historical approaches to the problem of domestic violence.
