Course Descriptions

The Colorado Law courses and seminars listed below have been taught in the last three academic years, however, they are not always offered every year. Frequently, faculty develop new seminars to reflect current developments in the law and in their research interests; these seminars may be offered only periodically. The listed courses are taught regularly. Consult "Planned Course Offering Schedule" to determine the next term a course will be taught. Go to "Calendars and Schedules" to find a list of the courses and seminars being offered in the current academic term.

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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 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 Clinical Practicum - LAWS 7019
Enables a clinical; student an optional 1-2 credit course to complete an ongoing clinic project that does not reach its natural conclusion during the regular term of the clinic. The practicum may be used in connection with any existing clinical course, but only with permission, and under the supervision of the clinical faculty member. A clinical student must complete a minimum of 50 hours of work per credit taken.

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 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 Deals Lab: Advanced Real Estate Transactions - LAWS 7004
Using documents from actual real estate transactions, this course will focus on the drafting and negotiation skills required for the successful practice of real estate transactions law. Students will negotiate and draft actual real estate transaction documents. Prerequisite: Real Estate Transactions

Advanced Evidence: Forensic Science and the Criminal Courts - LAWS 7333
Explores the admissibility of forensic science opinion and expert testimony, its use as evidence at a trial, and the challenges that such evidence may pose for the courts and the entire criminal justice system in the future.

Advanced Legal Negotiation - LAWS 7709
Deepens students’ understanding of the economic, psychological, cultural, and critical literatures related to legal negotiation and bargaining, provides students an advanced set of negotiation experiences and simulations that introduce new dynamics and problems not dealt with in the core course, and deepens students’ self-understanding and ability to learn from experience. Must have advanced instructor approval. Prerequisite: Legal Negotiation

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 Research and Analysis - LAWS 6886
Develops students' ability to think critically about and solve current legal problems. Evaluates the benefits and detriments of both print and on-line legal resources, and how to create an efficient research plan. Formulates and applies research strategies to real-world legal problems, and uses legal analysis to refine and improve research results. Note: Students who have taken LAWS 6856 Advanced Legal Research course may not enroll in this course.

Advanced Legal Research and Writing for Practice - LAWS 6896
This course builds on the fundamental legal research and writing skills covered during the first year of law school, and requires students to develop and practice these skills in real-world ways. Every assignment will have a realistic purpose and audience, giving students the opportunity to complete work similar to that of summer associates or new attorneys. The assignments will primarily require objective analysis, but will include at least one persuasive piece of writing. Each assignment integrates the legal writing and research goals of the course, including the final project of the semester, an actual legal memo for Colorado Legal Services. Students will receive individual feedback on every assignment. The course is co-taught by a legal writing professor and a law librarian, with approximately 2/3 of the course devoted to writing, and 1/3 to research.

Advanced Legal Writing - LAWS 6226
This course is designed to improve skills in developing, organizing, drafting, and revising legal arguments.

Advanced Natural Resources Law - LAWS 8112
Studies historical, literary, and scientific materials and analyzes current problems of natural resources law. Requires additional field trip expenses for students. Any three natural resources/environmental courses. Foundations is strongly recommended and Indian Law can count as one of the three courses. Prerequisites can be taken concurrently with the seminar.

Advanced Oil & Gas Law - LAWS 7302
Topics include the history of oil and gas conservation and its regulation, proration and allowable regulation, compulsory pooling and unitization, permitting and environment regulation, and the interplay between federal, state, and local regulation. Prerequisite: Oil & Gas Law.

Advanced Topics in American Indian Law - LAWS 8725
Explores a variety of current issues related to American Indian Law. The topics will change to reflect the subjects that emerge at each time that the seminar is offered. Some examples of topics considered in this seminar include legal protections for American Indian religion and culture, cultural property, Tribal law, gaming law, and Native American natural & cultural resources law.

Advanced Topics in Family Law - LAWS 8235
Explores a variety of current issues related to family law; topics will change to reflect emerging issues and will draw from legal and social science scholarship as well as relevant statutes and cases. Possible topics include reproductive technology, children’s rights, the role of religion in family law, and political theories of the family. Prerequisite: Family Law OR Parent, Child, and State.

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.

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 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 fishing and hunting rights, tribal justice systems, religious freedom, and tribal natural resource and environmental management. Prerequisite: LAWS 7725.

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
This Clinic enables students to work directly on Appellant briefs in cases where appeals from serious felony convictions are pending before the Colorado Court of Appeals or Colorado Supreme Court. In addition to instruction by the Clinical Professor, students will have an opportunity to work with an attorney appointed to the case by the Alternate Defense Counsel of Colorado. Instruction in oral advocacy will also be a component of this course. Enrollment is limited to 8.

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.)

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.

Business Law Colloquium - LAWS 8101
Business law scholars from CU and around the country present research papers at this weekly colloquium. Topics may include contracts, corporate law, securities regulation, tax, intellectual property, venture capital and private equity, and the legal profession. No prior knowledge of law and economics is expected, although some knowledge of business organizations will be useful.

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.

Charitable Giving - LAWS 7007
Addresses the tax rules concerning charitable giving, including the theory and policy of charitable deductions, qualified donees, quid pro quos and return benefits, valuation and substantiation rules, limits on otherwise allowable charitable deductions, charitable trusts and planned giving vehicles. Prerequisite: Income Tax

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.

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.

Climate Change Law and Policy - LAWS 6712
Examines the science of climate change and the broader role of science in public policymaking. Reviews the changing legal landscape to abate greenhouse gas emissions, and key issues in policy design. Reviews the Supreme Court's April 2nd, 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, overturning EPA's refusal to regulate greenhouse gas pollution from motor vehicle tailpipes, and the aftermath in the courts, Executive Branch and Congress.

Climate Justice - LAWS 6702
This course introduces the field of climate justice and seeks to identify legal and policy tools for advancing fair outcomes in climate change decision-making. Climate justice is concerned with the intersection of race and/or indigeneity, poverty, and climate change. This course will examine climate impacts globally and identify the strengths and weaknesses of international and domestic legal and policy frameworks regarding the most vulnerable.

Colorado Legal Research - LAWS 6866
Surveys resources and methods to effectively research Colorado law. Covers primary and secondary resources including Colorado statutes, cases and digests, regulations, and constitution and practice materials. Covers how to research Colorado municipal law and other Colorado topics.

Colorado Workers Compensation Theory and Practice - LAWS 6541
Introduces the legal theories that underlie the no-fault compensation system, its historical evolution, policy conundrums, and ethical quandaries. Teaches the application of the procedural rules most frequently utilized in administrative setting. Studies the Workers' Compensation Act, the Workers' Compensation Rules of Procedure, and the Office of Administrative Courts Rules of Procedure.

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 Constitutional Law: US, UK, and Australia - LAWS 8211
Takes a comparative law approach to the constitutional law of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The seminar’s intellectual purpose is to understand all three nations more deeply (especially our own) by seeing what they do similarly, what they do differently, what the advantages and disadvantages of each nation’s approach appear to be, and whether any lessons learned in one place could profitably be transferred to another.

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 Family Law - LAWS 7145

Comparative Family Law - LAWS 8105
Examines and critiques law, legal institutions and traditions of the country of focus and the US as they affect children, families, and work. Prepares students for collaborative work and leadership in a global environment. Enhances research and writing skills, including field and international research. Contributes to host country through scholarship and service. Increases cultural competence through active engagement with peers and with social justice issues in another country. Includes required field study component and wervice learning project over spring break.

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 6321
Explores the legal issues that judges, legislators, prosecutors, and defense attorneys are confronting as they respond to the recent explosion in computer-related crime. Includes the Fourth Amendment in cyberspace, the law of electronic surveillance, computer hacking and other computer crimes, encryption, online economic espionage, cyberterrorism, First Amendment in cyberspace, federal/state relations in the enforcement of computer crime laws, and civil liberties online.

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.

Computers and the Law - LAWS 8321
Explores a range of topics surrounding the juxtaposition of computers and law. Most are aware of the impact that law has on computers through the myriad of regulations that govern computers and related technologies. Less well known is the impact that computer technology is having on governance and on the practice of law. Explores both sides of this dynamic interplay between law impacting computing, and computing impacting law.

Conflict of Laws - LAWS 6108
Addresses the conflicts that arise when the significant facts of a case are connected with more than one jurisdiction, whether that jurisdiction belongs to a state, the federal government, or a foreign government. The subject is studied in its theoretical and historical context, with special emphasis on the international aspects of extraterritorial jurisdiction.

Conflict of Laws - LAWS 8650
This seminar addresses the conflicts that arise when the significant facts of a case are connected with more than one jurisdiction, whether that jurisdiction belongs to a state, the federal government, or a foreign government. The subject is studied in its theoretical and historical context, with special emphasis on the international aspects of extraterritorial jurisdiction.

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 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 Drafting - LAWS 7061
Begins with value creation by transactional lawyers, and emphasizes the opportunity for lawyers to reduce information and agency costs, and mitigate strategic behavior by using tools such as disclosure, representation and warranties, incentive compensation and earnouts. Shifts to negotiation and drafting, focusing on basic drafting principles and strategies to advance one’s clients’ interests. Introduces the basic framework of contracts (recitals, reps, and warranties, capitalized terms, definitions, indemnifications and escrow.

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 Health Law - LAWS 7565
This course introduces key corporate and regulatory issues impacting the delivery of health care. The course focus will be transactional, with students first gaining an understanding of basic corporate law and regulatory principles, and then learning to integrate core federal and state laws into choice and use of corporate structures and operational strategies. As the health care industry undergoes tremendous consolidation and reorganization in response to the changing market and environment ushered in by the Affordable Care Act, the course will examine health care transactions from both the hospital’s and the physician’s perspective.

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.

Courtroom Observation Civil - LAWS 5323
This course, available to first year students only, is an elective course, not required. It will require students to spend fifteen hours observing actual civil proceedings in a courtroom or courtrooms, to attend a two-hour class meeting every other week, and to prepare and submit a journal recording his or her observations. Figuring out how to gain access to appropriate proceedings is part of the student’s work, although the professor is available for advice and guidance if needed. The professor will also read and evaluate the students’ journals; encourage sharing and reflection on their experiences; suggest further research when useful to address perplexities or confusion encountered during their observations; and provide information designed to clarify and enrich their observations. The course is pass-fail, and the size of a section is limited to 20.

Courtroom Observation Criminal - LAWS 5513
This course, available to first year students only, is an elective course, not required. It will require students to spend fifteen hours observing actual criminal proceedings in a courtroom or courtrooms, to attend a two-hour class meeting every other week, and to prepare and submit a journal recording his or her observations. Figuring out how to gain access to appropriate proceedings is part of the student’s work, although the professor is available for advice and guidance if needed. The professor will also read and evaluate the students’ journals; encourage sharing and reflection on their experiences; suggest further research when useful to address perplexities or confusion encountered during their observations; and provide information designed to clarify and enrich their observations. The course is pass-fail, and the size of a section is limited to 20.

Courtroom Observation International - LAWS 5803
This course, available to first year students only, is an elective course, not required. It will require students to spend fifteen hours observing proceedings before an international tribunal or tribunals, to attend a two-hour class meeting every other week, and to prepare and submit a journal recording his or her observations. The proceedings observed will be available streaming online, and the professor will provide guidance and information about how to gain access to them. The professor will also read and evaluate the students’ journals; encourage sharing and reflection on their experiences; suggest further research when useful to address perplexities or confusion encountered during their observations; and provide information designed to clarify and enrich their observations. The course is pass-fail, and the size of a section is limited to 20.

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 and Immigration Defense Clinic - LAWS 6029
Thorough grounding in problems of criminal defense. Students will defend indigent misdemeanants in Boulder courts. Develops working knowledge of courtroom skills.

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.

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 Law in Context:Legal and Social Images of Victims and Perpetrators - LAWS 8533
Addresses sentencing process and schemes, direct appeals, probation modification and revocation, parole revocation, pardon and commutation processes, post-conviction litigation and appeal in both state and federal court, federal review of state convictions through habeas and/or the AEDPA, and ethical issues that arise in post-conviction proceedings.

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.

Criminal/Immigration Advocacy for the Spanish-Speaking Client - LAWS 6105
This course will address the legal procedures, pleadings and client advocacy matters involved in the representation of Spanish-speaking clients who have been arrested for criminal offenses and have also been issued a detainer by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for possible immigration removal proceedings. The class will begin with a basic overview of criminal defense concepts in the context of Spanish-speaking clients, and finish with an overview of how criminal defense attorneys must now be prepared to competently counsel their clients who are facing removal proceedings in the federal immigration system. We will also discuss cultural issues in the representation of Spanish-speaking clients, as well as aspects of poverty, class and race and their intersection with our legal justice system.

Critical Law and Economics - LAWS 8412
Explores some of the more successful and enduring critiques of Chicago Law and Economics. Starts with an introduction to economic analysis, including basic analytic tools like rational actor theory, supply and demand, efficiency notions, and cost concepts. Later classes will explore more advanced works in the area.

Crme Victim Rght Cnsel & Advoc - LAWS 6513
Involves highly experiential and participatory form of learning related to the rights and needs of victims of crime. Legal and constitutional aspects of crime victims' rights and advocacy are considered. Includes a training component by Moving to End Sexual Assault, a Boulder based organization. After training by MESA, students will complete 120 hors of volunteer service on the MESA hotline as well as attend various meetings.

Cultural Property Law - LAWS 6602
Concerns domestic and International regulation of property that expresses group identity and experience. Organized around traditional categories of property (real, personal, and intellectual), the course covers historic preservation, archaeological resources, art and museum law, with attention to indigenous people’s advocacy on burial sites, traditional lands, ceremonies, music, symbols, ethnobotany, genetic information, and language. May satisfy upper-level writing requirement.

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.

Deals Lab - LAWS 6271
Provides an umbrella for several advanced business law sections, each of which provides an intensive intellectual experience for law students by requiring them to connect deep concepts and knowledge from basic business courses to complex transactional environments. Students are required to solve client problems and negotiate transactions in the face of intricate and conflicting legal regimes that sprawl across doctrinal fields. Examples of specific offerings include Advanced Venture Capital; Advanced Securities Offerings; Advanced Securities Regulation (Investment Funds, Intermediaries, and Markets); and Advanced Mergers & Acquisitions.

Deposition Skills - LAWS 6119
Provides valuable skills to assume active roles in the deposition process. Explores why and when to take depositions; drafting and objecting to deposition notices for individual deponents, non-party witnesses, and corporate designees; drafting successful outlines, proper questions and objections; using exhibits; furthering case theory, making and using stipulations; using depositions in pretrial motions and at trial.

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.

Drug Product Liability - LAWS 6415
Explores product liability lawsuits and litigation. Explores law of product liability and the tools necessary to successfully litigate these cases. Considers the theory and practice of lawsuits now and after the Supreme Courts landmark decision in Wyeth v. Levine (2009). Focuses on similarities and differences between the special context of FDA regulation. Considers the legal principles governing such lawsuits such as inadequate warning, the Learned Intermediary Doctrine and medical causation.

E-discovery - LAWS 6170
Exposes students to the legal and practical challenges presented by e-discovery and how electronically stored information shapes litigation and the pretrial process. The progression of class topics will roughly parallel the pretrial process, starting with the challenges of electronically stored information that exist even before the litigation commences. Students will leave with an understanding of how electronically stored information can impact or be incorporated into an overall discovery strategy and how such issues complicate a lawyer’s ethical and professional obligations.

Economic Analysis of Law - LAWS 6318
Introduces the basic elements of economic theory and their application to legal problems. Emphasizes demand and utility, cost, and optimality.

Education and the Constitution - LAWS 8285
Teaches the substantive constitutional law governing public education. Students will teach constitutional materials to high school students in the local Denver Metro area high schools. Interested students must apply, and requires a commitment to a full-year curriculum. Encourages individual development as teachers, writers, and critical thinkers, and provides an opportunity to grow as colleagues and teammates.

For information on how to become a Marshall-Brennan Teaching Fellow please see this page.

Education Law - LAWS 7055
Considers issues raised by the interaction of law and education. Issues may include the legitimacy of compulsory schooling, alternatives to public schools, socialization and discipline in the schools, and questions of equal educational opportunities.

Election Law - LAWS 7325
Examines the rapidly evolving field of election law: The right to vote, voting procedures, redistricting, candidate selection, campaign finance laws, and direct democracy. Emphasizes federal law, including applicable constitutional jurisprudence.

Employ Benefits & Comp Law - LAWS 6551
Examines past and present employee benefits and compensation practices among private and public employers. Covers ERISA and defined benefit, defined contribution, and welfare benefit plans; equity awards granted by corporations; equity awards granted by LLCs and partnerships; nonqualified deferred compensation and Section 409A of the IRC; golden parachutes and Sections 280G and 4999 of the IRC.

Employment Discrimination - LAWS 7541
Examines statutory and constitutional prohibitions of discrimination in employment on the basis of race, gender, age, religion, national origin, and disability.

Employment Law - LAWS 6521
The course examines the rights and obligations of employers and employees. It is a far broader course than Employment Discrimination but covers discrimination only minimally. The wide range of topics includes: the status and decline of the employer’s traditional right to terminate employees “at will”; employees’ rights to sue for termination against public policy or under various statues, such as whistleblower and discrimination laws; minimum/overtime wage claims; public employees’ constitutional First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, and Due Process rights; the enforceability as of employment handbooks, letters, and oral communications; employees’ rights to family/medical leave; and various employee/employer rights and obligations – for example, privacy rights, defamation, and non-competition/non-solicitation agreements; employers’ mandatory arbitration policies for employee claims; unemployment insurance; and workplace health and safety regulation.

Energy Insecurity and Sustainable Energy - LAWS 7132
This course will examine how national security deals not only with armed aggression and the ability to thwart military invasions or subversion, but also includes critical threats to vital national and international support systems such as the economy, energy and the environment.

Energy Justice - LAWS 7232
Establishes why nearly a third of the world populated by the energy oppressed poor, presents a major national and international “legislative” or socio political problem calling for answers from governments and civil societies in the developed and developing world. Explains and elucidates the concept of energy justice, its jurisprudential heritage, and its meaning and relevance in contemporary society. Case studies present problem solving frameworks spanning the political, social, behavioral, engineering, natural sciences, and law.

Energy Law and Regulation - LAWS 6722
This course provides an introduction to energy law and regulation in the United States. It covers basic principles of rate regulation and public utilities, the division of jurisdiction between federal and state governments, and the key federal statutes and regulatory regimes governing natural gas, electricity, and nuclear power. Much of the course will focus on the basic federal frameworks for natural gas and electricity regulation, with an emphasis on understanding the messy and uneven transition to wholesale competition in these sectors and, in the electricity context, the experience with state restructuring and retail competition. The course will also introduce students to the distinctive federal regime governing nuclear power. The last part of the course will address new challenges confronting electricity regulation (and energy law generally) as a result of emerging mandates for renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions. This course does not cover traditional oil and gas law.

Entrep Innovation & Public Pol - LAWS 5201
Explores cutting edge questions around entrepreneurship, including being an entrepreneur, leadership and what makes a great founding team, building and scaling a business, entrepreneurial communities, financing entrepreneurial companies, leadership in government, entrepreneurship and innovation policy.

Entrepreneurial Finance - MBAX 6110
Addresses a variety of topics including financial valuation, various sources of funds, structures and legal issues in arranging financing, the private and public venture capital markets, and preparation for, and execution of, an initial public securities offering. Prereq., MBAC 6020. PREREQ MBAC 6020.

Entrepreneurial Law Clinic - LAWS 7619
Entrepreneurial Law Clinic (“Clinic”) students provide legal services to clients in connection with the founding and/or development of a small business. The Clinic exposes students to legal issues often faced by young entities, such as entity formation, financing, employment agreements, and exit strategies. Typical tasks include incorporation of entities, registering LLCs, and drafting employment and intellectual property agreements.

As a prerequisite, a student must take two of the following courses: Agency Partnership and the LLC, Corporations, Securities, Advanced Corporate Law, Corporate Finance, Accounting Issues for Lawyers, Patent Law, Trademark and Unfair Competition, Copyright, Telecommunications Law, and/or International Business Transactions.

In addition to work on behalf of clients, each week students are required to complete assigned readings on a topic salient to entrepreneurial law. Writing is also a required part of this Clinic. Students draft documents on behalf of clients and such written work is graded. Additionally, each student is expected to complete a paper and make a class presentation concerning a business problem addressed for a Clinic client. Finally, each student also completes a short paper relating to a due diligence exercise.

Environmental Decision-Making - LAWS 7222
Explores the foundational issues the underlie agency decision-making, including environmental ethics, cost-benefit analysis, risk assessment, constitutional law, and administrative law. Compares and contrasts National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act and the Endangered Species Act.

Environmental Law - LAWS 7202
Examination and analysis of important federal pollution control statutes, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, Solid Waste Act, and Superfund. Related economic theory, ethics and policy issues are considered.

Environmental Litigation - LAWS 7212
Examines the litigation strategies and procedures used to enforce and defend against enforcement under environmental protection statutes, such as the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conversation and Recovery Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, and the Toxic Substances Control Act. Covers civil enforcement, and citizen's suits.

Environmental Philosophy and Law - LAWS 8222
Investigates the changing philosophical underpinnings of U.S. environmental law and policy and how philosophy and legal institutions interact.

Estate Planning - LAWS 7217
Deals with the practical application of estate planning principles to a broad array of client situations, some of which present federal wealth transfer taxation issues. Topics include planning for young adults, individuals contemplating marriage, unmarried couples, couples with children, gifts to grandchildren, asset protection, perpetual trusts, charitable gifts, and an overview of estate administration. MANDATORY PREREQUISITES: Federal Estate and Gift Tax. Suggested prerequisites: Income Taxation.

Evidence - LAWS 6353
A study of the methods and forms of proof in litigation, including detailed consideration of hearsay, impeachment of witnesses, relevancy, character evidence, authentication, best evidence, and privileges.

Evidence and Trial Practice - LAWS 6363
Studies methods and forms of proof in litigation, including detailed consideration of hearsay, impeachment of witnesses, relevancy and certain restrictions on authentication and best evidence doctrines, and privileges. Applies rules and doctrine of evidence in simulated trial settings. Combined Evidence and Trial Practice course. Satisfies the trial practice requirement and counts two hours toward the 14 credit hour maximum in clinical hours. MAY NOT GET CREDIT FOR BOTH TRIAL ADVOCACY (LAWS 6109), EVIDENCE (LAWS 6353), AND THIS COURSE (LAWS 6363).

Extern Program - LAWS 7939
Extern credit may be earned for uncompensated work for a sponsor, which may be any lawyer, judge, or organization that employs lawyers or judges, and is approved by the Academic and Student Affairs Committee. Work is done under the direction of a field instructor, who shall be a lawyer or judge at the sponsor, and of a member of the law faculty. A substantial writing component is required. Fifty hours of working time per credit hour is required. A minimum of 1 and a maximum of 4 credit hours may be earned. Classified as practice credit.

Family Law - LAWS 7105
This course will address the legal rules regulating the family, examining in detail the rules of marriage and divorce. The course will focus in particular on how these rules differ depending on whether the family is wealthy or poor, traditional or nontraditional, self-supporting or receiving public aid. This course will cut across traditional law school disciplines, such as civil, criminal, and constitutional law. We will consider some of the following important and complex questions: What is a "family"? This theme will arise throughout the course as we examine how the definition of "family" varies according to the context, reflecting society's values and policy goals. How does, and how should, family law address nontraditional families? How do race, gender, and class affect family law?

Family Law Clinic - LAWS 6099
Represents low-income clients in family law cases in local state district court. Students will gain court-based experience in dissolutions and allocations of parental responsibilities. Seminar component includes instruction on substantive family law, related ethical issues, and theoretical backgrounds of poverty lawyering. Students must enroll for both semesters of the Clinic. No prerequisites required.

Federal Courts - LAWS 7003
Structure and jurisdiction of the federal courts, with particular emphasis on problems of federalism and separation of powers and their relationship to resolution of substantive disputes. Invaluable for students planning a federal court practice or clerkship.

Federal Estate and Gift Tax - LAWS 7207
Analysis of federal estate and gift taxation of inter vivos and testamentary transfers; introduction to the income taxation of estates and trusts; elementary estate planning.

Federal Litigation – Everyting But the Trial - LAWS 6373
Litigates through all pretrial phases as plaintiff's counsel, a mock federal case: an employee's challenge to compensation and termination, with possible claims including breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, violation of wage payment statutory and regulatory requirements, and fraudulent inducement to contract. Prereq., LAWS 6353.

Federal Tax Politics - LAWS 6138
Studies the tax system as the nexus of politics and economics. Examines how various interests and entities use the many tools of political power to shape the tax system. Intended for those interested in politics and legislation, rather than for the tax specialists.

Financial Decision-Making - LAWS 6328
Applies concepts, ideas, insights, and principles of modern finance to real-world situations that lawyers will face in many areas of law. Analyzes present discounted value (time value of money), risk versus return, asset diversification, portfolio theory, efficient markets hypothesis, arbitrage, financial options, real options, financial signals, human capital, behavioral finance, socially responsible investing, neurofinance, happiness finance, and financial bubbles and crashes.

First Amendment - LAWS 7015
Examines speech and religion clauses of the First Amendment. Includes the philosophical foundation of free expression; analytical problems in First Amendment jurisprudence; and the relationships between free exercise of religion and the separation of church and state.

FIRST YEAR BLOCK COURSE - LAWS 9999

Food Law - LAWS 6515
Provides a general overview of the laws, regulations, history, and policies that govern food regulation in the United States within the context of risk regulation. Includes regulatory compliance, administrative procedure, WTO litigation on food issues, private certification programs, products liability litigation, food and color additive approval, nutritional labels, urban agriculture and consumer choice. Considers legal, scientific, economic, and ethical principles of food regulation.

Food Law and Policy - LAWS 8545
Introduces students to the laws and regulations that govern our food supply. The focus is federal law provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, with additional readings, videos and speakers. Topics to be covered include legal definitions for food, rules on food labeling, standards for food safety, biotechnology, international trade, organic and environmental regulation, hunger, farmer’s markets and obesity.

Foundations of Natural Resources Law and Policy - LAWS 6112
Introduces students to the law of natural resources. Examines the legal, historical, political, and intellectual influences that shape natural resources development and conservation.

Framing and Legal Narrative - LAWS 5211
Explores the role of framing effects in constructing a legal argument. From an appellate court opinion to closing statement to a jury to a white paper to a regulatory agency to a public campaign for a ballot proposition, the role of an overarching narrative is critical to effective persuasion.

Gender Law - LAWS 8765
Examines the relationship of law and gender in criminal law, education law, and constitutional law, using feminist theoretical perspectives as the organizing principle. Each perspective is applied to cases and materials on such topics as violence against women, prostitution, pornography, and discrimination in education and athletics.

Gender, Law and Public Policy - LAWS 7775
Examines the relationship of law and gender in criminal law, and constitutional law, using feminist theoretical perspectives as the organizing principle. Each perspective is applied to cases and materials on such topics as violence against women, prostitution, pornography, and discrimination in education and athletics.

Government Regulation of Business - LAWS 7221
This course surveys the legal, economic and policy framework that governs American business. In doing so, it examines the core principles that guide our economy and, against the backdrop of the proposition that non-regulated markets are generally preferred, introduces a number or areas of regulation, including antitrust, securities, environmental, patents, health-care, advertising/information and consumer protection. We will critically examine economic rationales, legal ground rules and regulatory models. One objective will be to gain a good understanding of how government intervention has actually played out in selected markets. We will also examine markets that, though once regulated, have since been deregulated.

Health Law I: Finance, Administration and Organization of Health Care - LAWS 7425
This course examines the law that controls access to health care, the cost of health care and the quality of health care delivered in the United States. Employing health economics as an overarching paradigm, the course surveys a wide range of law including the federal law that prohibits patient dumping, managed care liability, restraints of trade and fraud; regulatory law that controls federal financing programs such as Medicare and Medicaid; and state laws that control private insurance financing, for-profit conversions and unfair trade practices. There are no pre-requisites or caps in this class. Grading is based upon a 3-hour examination and class participation.

Health Law II: Medical Malpractice Litigation - LAWS 7405
Explores (1) the law controlling ethical issues that arise during the delivery of medical care, (2) the substantive law of medical malpractice and tort reform aimed at reducing the frequency and severity of medical malpractice verdicts, and (3) the practical aspects of litigating a medical malpractice case. Cross-listed at the Health Sciences Center; will include field trips there.

Healthcare Systems - HLTH 6010
University of Colorado at Denver School of Business and Health Sciences Center. Introduces the structure and function of the medical care delivery system. Includes basic concepts and measures of health, disease, quality, values, needs and utilization; issues in health care manpower, institutions and system organization; general issues in policy, reimbursement and regulation; broad community and organizational considerations in medical care organizations. The student is introduced to the principles of epidemiology and environmental health and demonstrates the application of epidemiology concepts to planning for the healthcare service needs of a population.

Higher Education and the Law - LAWS 8755
Examines the goals, governance, norms, and ideals of American institutions of higher education, and how those policies are shaped by the legal system. Examines the legal relationship between institutions of higher education and its various constituents: faculty, presidents, governing boards, students, alumni, and staff. Spans several traditional doctrinal categories, including contract, torts, employment law, constitutional law, intellectual property, tax, and antitrust.

Immigration and Citizenship Law - LAWS 7065
Covers legal issues pertaining to noncitizens of the United States, especially their right to enter and remain as immigrants and nonimmigrants. Specific topics include admission and exclusion, deportation, and refugees and political asylum. This course approaches these topics from various perspectives, including constitutional law, statutory interpretation, planning, ethics, history, and policy.

Immigration Law and Immigrants' Rights - LAWS 7615
Addresses four broad questions: Who is a citizen of the United States? Who else can come to this country? When and why can noncitizens be forced to leave? Who has the authority to answer these questions? These questions prompt us to examine the history of U.S. immigration, the constitutional-statutory-regulatory framework that governs immigration and citizenship law, and the federal agencies that administer it. Also addresses contemporary challenges to, and assertions of, immigrants’ rights.

Income Taxation - LAWS 6007
Explores the federal income taxation of individuals and is the introductory course for most taxation courses at the Law School . Studies the Internal Revenue Code, regulations and rulings issued by the Treasury and the IRS, and judicial opinions.

Independent Legal Research - LAWS 7846
Independent study and preparation of a research paper under supervision of a faculty member. The student must produce a research paper at least equivalent to a seminar research paper. The normal expectation is that a draft will be submitted, subjected to critique by the faculty member, and redrafted. Specific permission of the supervising faculty member is required before registering. Available during or after the fifth semester of law school. Two credits may be earned by doing two projects, each for one hour of credit, under the supervision of different faculty and involving different areas of law.

Independent Legal Research: Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy - LAWS 7916
Participation in the research, writing, and editing activities involved in publishing the Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy.

Independent Legal Research: Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy - LAWS 7926
Participation in the research, writing, and editing activities involved in publishing the Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy.

Independent Legal Research: Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law - LAWS 7936
Participation in the research, writing, and editing activities involved in publishing the Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law.

Independent Legal Research: Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law - LAWS 7946
Participation in the research, writing, and editing activities involved in publishing the Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law.

Independent Legal Research: Law Review - LAWS 7896
Participation in the research, writing, and editing activities involved in publishing the University of Colorado Law Review.

Independent Legal Research: Law Review - LAWS 7906
Participation in the research, writing, and editing activities involved in publishing the University of Colorado Law Review.

Information Privacy - LAWS 8361
Explores the laws that regulate the basic technologies of the Internet and the management of information in the digital age. It examines the most significant statutes, regulations, and common law principles that comprise this emerging legal framework, including the Federal Wiretap Act, the HIPAA Privacy Rule, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Intellectual Property Counseling and Prosecution - LAWS 7381
Introduces strategic development and procurement of IP, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Evaluates the latest cases and legal trends from a practical and strategic perspective. Focuses on widely accepted best practices and critical thinking in these areas. Prerequisites: Introduction to Intellectual Property OR Patent Law.

Intensive Intro to Fin Info, Accounting & Law: Accounting Bootcamp - LAWS 6280
Exposes students to the basics of financial accounting and when and how lawyers encounter accounting problems. Students will leave the course with an understanding of the basic framework of accounting, including the double-entry method, balance sheets, income statements, and statements of cash flows. They will also understand basic financial concepts including the time value of money, discount rates, basic methods of business valuation, and risk and diversification concepts. This knowledge is relevant to the practice of law in a wide range of areas, including family law, commercial law, business law, employment law, and tax.

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Law and Social Change - LAWS 8505
Introduces legal institutions engaged in social change, from courts, to Congress, to bureaucracies and organizations. Posits tension between tasks of dispute resolution and public policy development and institutional adaptations. Considers the role of public opinion and the classics of legal formalism to more critical accounts. Considers postmodern theory and empirical legal scholarship. Presents alternatives to court-centered approaches to change, including community lawyering and organizing, law and social movements, and legislation.

International Business Transactions - LAWS 7611
Examines the sources of international business law, the relationship between such law and the U.S. legal system, the choice of law in international business disputes, the special issues that arise when doing business with foreign governments, the law governing international sales and the shipment of goods, and international intellectual property protection.

International Crime and Punishment - LAWS 8310
Addresses issues in international criminal law in three parts: 1) basic content of international criminal law such as the law regarding aggression, genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, 2) international criminal tribunals that enforce international criminal law, 3) national efforts to bring international criminal prosecutions. Prerequisite, International Law (LAWS 6400); Recommended prior course: International Human Rights (LAWS 7440).

International Criminal Law - LAWS 7320
This course will begin with an overview of the notion of international crimes, the fundamental principles of international criminal law and the sources of that law. Subsequently, the course will focus on the substantive legal elements of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, modes of liability for such international crimes and the growth in international criminal jurisdictions for holding individuals accountable for atrocities. As such, the course will consider the Nuremburg and Tokyo trials in the aftermath of World War II and the proliferation, post-Cold War, of international and “mixed” criminal courts and tribunals for prosecuting atrocities committed in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, and East Timor, among other places. In addition to covering the development of substantive international criminal law, the course will trace the development of an international criminal procedure. Specific issues to be explored include the efficacy of international criminal jurisdictions for fighting impunity for international crimes while upholding due process norms; the development of a consistent body of international criminal law jurisprudence; the relationship of international criminal jurisdictions to prosecution of international crimes by national courts; alternative mechanisms for effecting justice for international crimes including truth commissions and awarding reparations; State responsibility for international crimes; and the future of international criminal law.

International Criminal Law: Theory and Practice - LAWS 7100
Exposes students to the rapidly growing body of jurisprudence, both international and national, wherein international humanitarian and human rights law are being applied for the purposes of prosecution, trial and punishment of individuals alleged to be responsible for the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and, more recently terrorism

International Dispute Resolution - LAWS 7310
Examines various mechanisms for the settlement of international disputes, including negotiation, inquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration and adjudication. Focuses on intergovernmental dispute resolution before the International Court of Justice. Recommended: International Law (LAWS 6400).

International Environmental Law - LAWS 6510
Examines international environmental law, including transboundary impacts and global issues. Addresses such issues as intergenerational equities, principles of compensation, and if developing countries should receive special environmental norm consideration.

International Human Rights Law - LAWS 7440
Surveys international human rights both in law and in philosophy, both current and historical. Consists of three parts: (1) the concept and philosophical foundations of human rights; (2) the content of international human rights law; (3) selected rights from a comparative perspective. Strongly recommended prior course: International Law (LAWS 6400).

International Law - LAWS 6400
Examines the nature, structure and sources of international law, the relationship between international law and domestic U.S. law, the role of international organizations such as the United Nations, the methods of resolving international disputes, the bases of international jurisdiction, and select substantive areas of international law that may change from semester to semester.

International Legal Theory: Structure and Critique (1500-1945) - LAWS 6008
This course offers an introduction to the philosophy of international law. It begins with a survey of Aristotelian political theory, and its application in the work of influential scholars of international law, Francisco Vitoria (1483-1546) and Hugo Grotius (1583-1646). After fleshing out this “Scholastic” style of international law, we move to the heart of the course and a study of classical liberal international law. This examination begins with Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), and the inclusion of their ideas in Emerich de Vattel’s (1714-1767) influential Eighteenth Century treatise on international law, and decisions from Justices John Marshall (1755-1835) and Joseph Story (1779-1845). The study of classical liberalism then shifts to its darker sides, and in particular, international law’s deep association with Nineteenth Century imperialism. The course concludes with an introduction to early Twentieth Century perspectives on international law, including post-colonial theory, the rise of international institutions, human rights, and the functionalist critique of the sovereign state. This course is intended as an introduction to the field of international law, and has no pre-requisites.

International Moot Court Competition - LAWS 7406
Open only to students who actively participate in the seminar preparing for the competition, in the preparation of memorials for the competition, and in the practice oral arguments or regional oral arguments.

International Natural Resource Law and Policy - LAWS 6122
Examines the suite of policy issues and Legal ramifications associated with sustainable natural resource development. Examines most recent recent research on the "resource curse" theory. Examines recent policy developments and discussions that have occurred among industry, NGOs, multilateral development agencies and governments. Examines issues related to bribery and corruption in developing country environments, and dispute resolution mechanisms at national and local levels.

International Taxation - LAWS 7617
Deals with the basics of U.S. income taxation of international activities, in the context of U.S. persons doing business abroad and foreign persons doing business in the U.S. The principal focus is on interpretations of the Internal Revenue Code and the U.S. Model Income Tax Treaty. Coverage includes exclusion for foreign earned income, transfer pricing, controlled foreign corporation provisions, foreign tax credit rules, branch profits tax and inbound business structures, and investment in U.S. real estate by foreign investors. Subject to overall class size, four memoranda addressing selected problems of international taxation typically supplant a final examination. Prerequisite: Income Taxation, LAWS 6007.

International Trade Law - LAWS 6410
Examines the law of the World Trade Organization and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Examines rules restraining national restrictions on trade that addresses tariff and non-tariff barriers, discrimination, regionalism, anti-dumping, countervailing duties, and safeguards. Considers the relationship between trade and other regulatory areas or social values, such as environmental protection, health and safety standards, human rights, intellectual property protection.

Introduction to In-House Practice of Law - LAWS 7629
Explores cutting edge questions around the practice of law as an employee of a business. Demonstrates how the combination of law and business can be valuable to businesses and also innovative, challenging and rewarding to legal professionals. Legal services to corporate America is changing dramatically with more entities relying on in-house counsel, compared to private practitioners, to obtain legal advice and counsel.

Introduction to Intellectual Property Law - LAWS 6301
Provides an overview of our nation's intellectual property laws, including patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, and also discusses other assorted matters related to intellectual property, including licensing, competition policy issues, and remedies.

Introduction to Islamic Law - LAWS 6518
Examines the Formative Era of Islamic Law, through its sources and methodologies. Examines the Established Era of the Schools of Law including differences between Sunni and Shiite Islamic Law. Examines human rights, terrorism, political Islam, women's rights and rights of religious minorities, criminal law, and finance law, and the growing role of fundamentalism in these areas. Examines the relevance of Islam and Islamic Law in today's world.

Introduction to Jewish/Israeli Law - LAWS 6220
Outlines the history and basic principles of Jewish Law, Halakhic system that encompasses Biblical law and the Rabbinic law. Covers Legal Sources of the Jewish laws, interpretation, legislation, custom, precedence and legal reasoning. Explores the study of modern legal system of the state of Israel and examines the problematic nature of the incorporation of the Law of personal status in the Rabbinical and in general courts.

Introduction to United States Legal System/Legal Reasoning, Research, and Writing - LAWS 6246
Introduces students without a law degree to the basic structure and content of the United States legal system, examining how the three branches of government at the state and federal levels make law and policy in the United States. The course will provide a basic introductory overview of the following: the various sources of law, including and understanding of how statutes are enacted by legislative institutions; the role of the United States court system in interpreting laws; application of judicial precedent in common-law systems; trial and appellate court procedures; and judicial review standards. The course will also introduce students to the methodology of American law, including legal reasoning, research, and writing, through a variety of in-class and outside research and writing assignments.

IP and Technology Contracting - LAWS 7321
Covers transactions, and often high-tech deals involving intellectual property rights. Studies IP ownership; assignment or rights; commercialization transactions (licensing, distribution, strategic); antitrust; and emerging issues. Gives students essential tools to draft and analyze technology contracts. Prereqs., LAWS 6301 or 7301.

Judicial Opinion Writing - LAWS 6236
Places contemporary American judicial opinion in historical and comparative context. Analyzes individual and institutional writing choices that authors of judicial opinions must make and ethical dilemmas they must confront. Builds upon the first-year legal-writing curriculum. Challenges students to develop and defend their own opinion-writing approaches and styles as well as to write from approaches and in styles that are not their own.

Jurisdiction in Indian Country - LAWS 7745
Examines the current state of the justice system within Indian nations today. 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. Examines relationship between federal and tribal courts; substantive laws; and advocates who appear before them.

Jurisprudence - LAWS 7128
This course addresses a number of fundamental questions, such as: What is law? What should it be? How is it generated? Our readings consist mostly of articles from leading modern/postmodern schools of thought including legal formalism, legal realism, interpretive theory, law and economics, feminist jurisprudence, critical legal studies, law and literature, and legal aesthetics.

Jurisprudence - LAWS 8128
This seminar addresses a number of fundamental questions, such as: What is law? What should it be? How is it generated? Our readings consist mostly of articles from leading modern/postmodern schools of thought including legal formalism, legal realism, interpretive theory, law and economics, feminist jurisprudence, critical legal studies, law and literature, and legal aesthetics.

Jury Selection and History - LAWS 7023
Studies the history of the jury from ancient times through the implications of Apprendi, the grand jury from the time of Henry II through modern federal practice, and current jury selection procedures, both federal and Colorado, both civil and criminal. Experienced trial attorneys will work with students to demonstrate jury selection.

Juvenile Justice - LAWS 7115
Juvenile delinquency poses difficult and interesting problems for youth policy and criminal justice policy. This course is devoted exclusively to the misconduct of youths that bring them within the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts. Children's rights as they relate to the processes of investigation and prosecution will be studied. Topics will include history and jurisdiction of juvenile courts; pre-trial procedures and diversion programs; detention; constitutional rights of juveniles; waiver and transfer to the adult system; trial and disposition. Various state juvenile laws, including Colorado, will be compared and contrasted. A goal of this course is to provide practical information as to the appropriate and ethical way of providing effective assistance of counsel to clients in the juvenile court. Knowledge gained from this course will assist students as future lawyers and policy makers to better shape the juvenile court system.

Juvenile Law Clinic - LAWS 7449
This is a year-long course.

Students in the Juvenile Law Clinic represent children and youth who have been abused and neglected or accused of a crime. This year long clinic allows the student to develop significant attorney client relationships, providing the student attorney with the best information to advocate for his clients. The clinic involves clients, when age appropriate, in all legal decisions, and actively encourages client participation in the legal process. Student attorneys represent the whole child, addressing all of the legal needs of the child client. In addition, student attorneys represent school districts as the petitioner in truancy matters, which allows the students ample court experience in presenting a case. The second semester of the clinic continues with an advance trial advocacy focus, culminating in a mock child welfare trial with the juvenile law clinic students of DU law school, judged by local child welfare practitioners. The clinic seminar focuses on the substantive law of child welfare, delinquency, and education law as well as the collateral areas of mental health, immigration, poverty, disability, family law, and alternative dispute resolution. The clinic begins with a three-day orientation seminar before classes begin. This pre-semester class time is deducted from class time during the term.

Labor Law - LAWS 6511
Studies the subjects of evolution of labor relations laws; how a collective bargaining relationship is established; negotiation of the collective bargaining agreement; labor and the antitrust laws; and rights of the individual worker. The course materials frame the issue of how a developed or post-industrial democracy deals with the problems that arise out of the employment relationship: of the choices between laissez-faire, substantive regulation, and the private ordering of the employment relationship through the collective bargaining process. This course is offered at least every other year.

Land Conservation Law - LAWS 7164
Focuses on private land conservation efforts in the United States, and particularly Colorado, and also considers public land conservation programs. Analyzes real property principles and instruments used to protect land, and the development and acceptance of conservation easements in gross as a mechanism for protection, financing mechanisms for land conservation, including direct government funding and indirect funding through tax incentives at the federal, state and local levels. Understanding of Real Property and Tax concepts helpful.

Land Use Planning - LAWS 7154
The course focuses on the regulation of private land use and development, with topics that include planning, zoning and other primary land-use regulatory regimes, as well as the constitutional and statutory limitations on the public regulation of land use. There are no prerequisites for this course.

Law and Democratic Governance - LAWS 8205
Explores cutting-edge debates in election law. Studies different perspectives on the current controversies in the field, in addition to select opportunities to engage scholars directly about their work. Develops students’ understanding of the law of democracy, exposing students to some of the best scholarship, and improving students’ ability to evaluate and critique legal scholarship.

Law and Economic Development - LAWS 8450
Explores past and present debates over the role of the legal order in economic development. Studies the relationships among economic ideas, legal ideas and the development policies pursued at the national and international level in successive historical periods, beginning in the Seventeenth Century to the present. Focuses on the potential for an alliance of various traditions from economics, law and other disciplines to understand development.

Law and Economics of the Information Age - LAWS 8341
Examines basic regulatory and legal challenges of our information economy and digital age. Emphasis will be placed on the "networked" information industries, the proper role of "unbundling" policies to advance competition, and how intellectual property and antitrust rules should be developed. Prerequisite: Telecommunications Law and Policy, Antitrust, Law and Economics, or Copyright.

Law and Economics of Utility Regulation - LAWS 8351
Discusses economics of regulation and matters ranging from neoclassical economic analysis to public choice theory to new institutional economics. Discusses several regulatory domains, including antitrust law, telecommunications regulation, and energy regulation. Highlights both economic and non-economic goals, including universal service, sustainability (e.g., renewal energy), and architecture (e.g., free speech concerns with regard to telecommunications networks).

Law and Literature - LAWS 8458
This seminar offers an opportunity to study various works of literature with an eye to investigating the following questions, among others: How do the techniques of literary writing resemble and differ from those of legal writing?

Law and Neuroscience - LAWS 6308
Covers some neuroscience basics, including a brief history of neuroscience, how neurons and neurotransmitters work, what is currently known about how the brain is organized, both structurally and functionally, how modern neuroscience views the so-called Cartesian dichotomy between emotion and cognition, and the basics of the most common types of neuroimaging. We will then explore the law and neuroscience of pain, memory, lie detection and criminal responsibility, discussing how neuroscientific discoveries might or might not change how the law handles these discrete problems, and the related evidentiary issues of how to get neuroscientific evidence admitted or excluded in cases involving these problems. We will finish, time permitting, with some speculations about artificial intelligence and neuroprosthetics.

Law and Politics Colloquium: Race in America - LAWS 8645
This co-taught colloquium will expose students to highly prominent scholars conducting research on current topics at the intersection of race, social science, and the law, including racial profiling, hate crime, and affirmative action (among others). Each week will include an introduction to the landscape of that week's topic and a colloquium with that week's invited speaker. Students will complete a final paper satisfying the CU Law seminar writing requirement on a relevant topic of their choosing. This cross-listed class does not require that students possess any prior background in social science techniques or legal doctrine.

Law and Religion - LAWS 7085
Uses judicial decisions and historical and theoretical materials to explore significant aspects of the relationship between law and religion. The religion clauses of the First Amendment are a central but not exclusive subject of study.

Law and Social Sciences - LAWS 6503
Explores disparities in criminal sentencing and death penalty cases; quality and effectiveness of legal representation for indigent criminal defendants; relationship between modifications in traditional steps in legal process; connection between alternative tort doctrines and volume of litigation, trial rates, plaintiff success rates and award size; impact of congressional statutes and US Supreme Court decisions on handling and outcomes of habeas corpus petitions.

Law and the Holocaust - LAWS 6420
Explores comparative law, jurisprudence, conflicts of laws and international law. Examines the Nazi philosophy of law emanating from its egregious racial ideology, and how it was used to pervert Germany's legal system to discriminate against, ostracize, dehumanize, and eliminate certain classes of people. Studies the role of international law in rectifying the damage by bringing perpetrators to justice and constructing a legal system designed to prevent a repetition.

Law of Presidential Selection - LAWS 7335
Examines the laws and regulations that uniquely shape presidential selection, analyzing practical applications as well as the broader constitutional and policy considerations. A combination of federal, state, and local laws shapes how Americans select their president. But more than ever before, Americans are questioning the rules that influence presidential selection, such as the major party primary system, ballot access, presidential campaign financing, and the electoral college.

Law Practice Management - LAWS 7609
Studies the establishment of a solo or small-firm legal practice. Topics include the business structure (PC, LLC, etc.) office systems, marketing and development, staffing, liability insurance, managing time, technology, and billing. (This is a practice course that counts toward the 14 credit maximum of practice hours.) Course supported by the Section of Law Practice Management of the ABA in memory of Harold A. Feder, CU Law '59.

Lawyers for Social Change - LAWS 6205
Helps students expand their perspective to understand the ways in which lawyers more broadly participate in social change work in this service learning class. Analyzes case histories of cause lawyering. The service learning component is based on the precept that one of the most effective ways to learn a role is to perform that role. Students will participate as social change lawyers by working with a local community to help it develop projects that the community believes will help it better itself.

Legal Ethics and Professionalism - LAWS 6103
Examines the legal profession as an institution, its history and traditions, and the ethics of the bar with particular emphasis on the professional responsibilities of the lawyer. Discusses the Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

Legal Ethics and Professionalism: What Kind of Lawyer Do You Want to Be? - LAWS 5103
Explores both the kind of law students might decide to practice and the ethical, personal, and professional commitments central to the practice of law. Students who elect to participate in this 1-unit elective are committing to enroll in the fall of the 2nd year in LAWS 6133 for 2 units, focusing on the Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

Legal Interpretation and Legislative Process - LAWS 6128
Examines theories of legislation and of the relation between legislatures and courts, with emphasis upon problems of statutory interpretation and other issues in the judicial use or misuse of statutes.

Legal Negotiation - LAWS 7409
Explores the fundamentals of effective negotiation techniques for lawyers. Students engage in simulations of legal disputes, transactions, and other kinds of negotiations.

Legal Reasoning - LAWS 6823
This course of seven 100-minute classes aims to present legal reasoning skills crucial to the crafting and criticism of legal arguments. The classes will cover seven topics: rules and standards, the art of the legal distinction, dealing with legal contradictions, facts and framing, level of abstraction, baselines, and legal interpretation.

Legal Research Skills for Practice - LAWS 6876
Approaches legal research from a practice-focused perspective using hands-on sessions in the library. Instructs: How to find and use resources specific to a particular practice area; how to evaluate and weigh strengths and weaknesses of the various legal resources available; and, how to use legal resources efficiently. Includes research strategies and methods, primary and secondary resources, and research using library catalogs and Westlaw, Lexis and other vendors.

Legal Writing I - LAWS 5226
This course provides an intensive introduction to the resources available for legal research. Students also prepare written material of various kinds designed to develop research skills, legal writing style, and analysis of legal problems.

Legal Writing II - 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.

Legislation and Regulation - LAWS 5205
Introduces lawmaking in the modern administrative state. Examines the way Congress and administrative agencies adopt binding rules of law (statutes and regulations, respectively) and the way that implementing institutions – courts and administrative agencies – interpret and apply these laws. Considers the structure of the modern administrative state, the incentives that influence the behavior of the various actors, and the legal rules that help to structure the relationships among Congress, the agencies, and the courts.

Legislative and Policy Drafting - LAWS 6123
Exposes students to the process of drafting and amending enacted legal texts such as statutes, regulations, and polities of both governmental and non-governmental entities. Students will critically examine lawyers’ roles as counselors, advocates, and experts in different legislative and policy-drafting contexts.

Litigation Drafting - LAWS 6206
Examines the intersection of civil procedure and legal writing. Emphasizes the drafting of persuasive adversarial litigation documents, including complaints, answers, motions in limine, motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment, and jury instructions. Intensive writing and workshop format.

LL.M Thesis - LAWS 9856
LL.M students are required to write a thesis in order to graduate. Requires significant work of original research on a topic chosen in close consultation with advisors and other law school faculty, and assignments include due dates for topic selection, drafts, and workshop delivery. Thesis is worth two credits. In exceptional circumstances and only after pre-approval, an LL.M student may enroll for a third or fourth credit.

LLM Seminar - LAWS 9846
LLM students study academic legal writing in this 1-credit per semester yearlong course. Topics covered will include: the purpose of academic legal writing; how academic legal writing differs from other forms of legal writing; topic selection; legal research (methods and ethics); first drafts; editing; academic workshops; and publishing. In addition, guest speakers will talk to LLM students about career planning and job seeking. International LLM students will learn about the American legal system. Restricted to Law students only.

Local Government - LAWS 7255
State legislative and judicial control of the activities, powers, and duties of local governmental units, including home-rule cities and counties; some problems of federal, state, and local constitutional and statutory limitations on governmental powers when exercised by local governmental units (e.g., the powers to regulate private activities, tax, spend, borrow money, and condemn private property for public uses).

Media, Popular Culture and the Law - LAWS 6065
Examines how the institutions, practices, and the very identity of law are in part affected by the media through which law is apprehended and communicated. Hence the general question posed in this course: To what extent and how are the forms and methods of the new media having an effect on the perception, role, and identity of law?

Media, Popular Culture, and Law - LAWS 8055
Examines how the institutions, practices, and the very identity of law are in part affected by the media through which law is apprehended and communicated. Hence the general question posed in this seminar: To what extent and how are the forms and methods of the new media having an effect on the perception, role and identity of law?

Mediation - LAWS 7439
Explores mediation, one of the more important methods of alternative dispute resolution, and the legal issues that may arise related to mediation. Considers what kinds of persons and disputes are most appropriate for mediation. Includes role playing exercises.

Mergers, Acquisitions and Reorganizations - LAWS 7411
Studies the planning of corporate mergers, acquisitions, and reorganizations, examining the application and integration of state corporate law, federal securities law, accounting principles, tax law, labor law, products liability law, environmental law, ERISA, and antitrust law.

Mining and Energy Law - LAWS 7122
Addresses major issues affecting the development of mineral resources in the western United States. Includes the regulation of the impacts of hardrock and coal mining and oil and gas development on the environment under federal and state laws. Covers the Mining Law of 1872, the Mineral Leasing Act, 'split estates,' and state regulation of mineral development

Modern Legal Theory: Core Ideas - LAWS 8538
Explores key ideas that have shaped American law and legal thought, such as Holmes; bad man, the Coase Theorem, the "hunch" theory of law, and others. Focuses on researching and writing many short papers.

Motions Advocacy - LAWS 7169
Practical training in preparing and arguing pretrial, post-trial, and chambers motions to an experienced federal judge based on materials from actual case files. Some research papers assigned. Limited to 15 third-year students with interest in trial advocacy and willingness to participate in confrontational exercises. Counts as practice hours.

Natural Resources & Environmental Law Clinic - LAWS 7209
In this clinic, students will engage in litigation and advocacy aimed at protecting the natural resources of the Rocky Mountain region. Students will represent clients in matters involving public lands, wildlife, and other resources. The seminar component will focus on practical aspects of environmental litigation, including administrative practice and decision-making, client representation, citizen suits, and ethical issues. No prerequisites necessary.

Non Profit Law - LAWS 7251
Examines the legal and policy issues raised by non-profits, including the formation of a non-profit, qualification for federal tax exemption, the rise and role of private foundations, fiduciary duty issues, restrictions on political activity and private benefit, etc. Also focuses on the broader social questions raised by giving, charities, and philanthropy.

Oil & International Relations - LAWS 8320
This seminar will address the extent to which the international community of nations is oil dependent. It will assess the impact, and the geo-political dangers to international relations arising from the expanding demand for scarce oil from developing as well as developed economies.

Oil and Gas - LAWS 7102
Deals with the legal problems associated with private arrangements for the ownership and development of oil and gas: deeds and leases to oil and gas rights, trespass, adverse possession, implied covenants in leases, conveyances of fractional interests, and the interaction of private rights and conservation regulation.

Parent, Child and State - LAWS 7135
This course will examine the legal rights of parents and children in a constitutional framework, as well as the state's authority to define and regulate the parent-child relationship. This course will be offered every other year.

Partnership Taxation - LAWS 6167
Studies federal income taxation of pass-through entities such as are used by most small businesses in the U.S. Includes creation, operation, distributions, sale of interests, and liquidation. PREREQUISITE: LAWS 6007 INCOME TAXATION

Patent Law - LAWS 7311
Covers selected topics such as patentable subject matter, patentability, and utilization of patent rights through licensing and infringement litigation. Practice and procedure of the Patent and Trademark Office will also be covered.

Patent Litigation - LAWS 7323
Focuses on unique aspects of patent litigation: substantive patent law, civil procedure, federal jurisdiction and litigation strategy; includes claim construction, infringement, anticipation and obviousness defenses, unenforceability challenges, declaratory judgments, injunctions, damages, settlements, licenses and trial strategy. Of interest and useful to those interested in intellectually property generally, not just patents or litigation.

Payment Systems - LAWS 6011
Examines the methodology and policies of Articles 3 and 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code, dealing with such topics as negotiable instruments, bank deposits, collections, letters of credit, and electronic fund transfers.

Philosophy of Law - LAWS 6508
Questions the nature of law, characteristics and considerations of a legal system, rights and from where they come; thinking like a lawyer, basic techniques of legal reasoning, difference between doctrinal and normative legal analysis. Explores law's frontier and what distinguishes law from morality or politics. Focuses on influential texts from the end of WWII to the end of the Cold War.

Post-Conviction Criminal Procedure - LAWS 6055
Addresses sentencing process and schemes, direct appeals, probation modification and revocation, parole revocation, pardon and commutation processes, post-conviction litigation and appeal in both state and federal court, federal review of state convictions through habeas and/or the AEDPA, and ethical issues that arise in post-conviction proceedings.

Poverty Law - LAWS 7515
Explores the legal and policy responses to poverty in the United States and addresses how the law shapes the lives of poor people and communities. Examines the extent of poverty in the United States, the root causes, and the historical development of social welfare policy. Focuses on the rights-based aspect of poverty law and various policies that attempt to ameliorate poverty.

Poverty, Health and Law - LAWS 7535
Introduces students to the substantive areas of health and poverty law. Topics include health disparities and the role of law, cultural competence, standards of care for vulnerable populations, relationships between income, employment, housing, education, and health. Students will also help with intake of clinic patients and support client representation by the attorney of record.

Poverty, Health and Law Practicum - LAWS 7545
A service learning course in which students draw from the substantive materials studied in LAWS 7535 (Poverty, Health and Law) to develop competency in case planning, problem solving, cooperative decisionmaking, and client counseling. Students will staff cases under the supervision of a Colorado Legal Services (CLS) staff attorney or a pro bono attorney working on behalf of CLS. Prerequisite: Poverty, Health and Law.

Power, Ethics, and Professionalism - LAWS 8608
Examines critically the possibility and character of ethical reasoning within the legal profession in light of its institutional structures. Explores descriptive/normative accounts of the profession's structure, "professionalism," and individual conscience. Put simply, the seminar explores whether it is possible to be a good lawyer and ethical person.

Press and Constitution - JOUR 6651
Graduate seminar in communications law. Studies changing law and applied legal research techniques. Does not satisfy law seminar requirement.

Principles of Auditing, Compliance, and Risk Management - LAWS 6221
Introduces the fundamental legal and business rules and processes involved in performing audit, compliance, and risk management. Investigates understanding and measuring risk, establishing standards for aggregating disparate information, gathering market data, calculating risk measures, and creating timely reporting tools for managing risk. Covers important regulations including Sarbanes-Oxleyk, HIPAA, and FISMA.

Privacy and Security in the Digital Age - LAWS 7361
This course will introduce students to the evolving legal framework governing information management and the basic technologies that have been the impetus behind its evolution. In so doing, this course will examine delve into the constituent elements of this legal framework, including common law and constitutional privacy principles, the Federal Wiretap Act, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rule, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the European Union Data Protection Directive.

Problem Solving, Professional Judgment, and Decision Making - LAWS 6813
Drawing from materials in psychology, behavioral economics, and mathematics, the course studies a range of patterns, fallibilities, and best practices concerning the complex problems commonly encountered by attorneys. Topics include general problem-solving strategies, techniques for operating in environments of uncertainty and complexity, empirically supported cognitive biases and errors, and strategies for recognizing and overcoming those errors.

Property - LAWS 5624
Topics include personal property, estates and interests in land, landlord-tenant, basic land conveyancing, and private land use controls.

Property II - LAWS 5634
Topics include personal property, estates and interests in land, landlord-tenant, basic land conveyancing, and private land use controls.

Proposed Federal Civil Practice Clinic - LAWS 6089
Studies evidence and procedural issues, discovery (including document management), pretrial preparation, motions, pretrial conferences, and jury selection. Focuses on opening and closing statement strategies, elements of direct and cross-examination, and impeachment; how to present evidence using technology, including presentation software. Students participate in preparing and arguing motions in federal court and may participate in trial proceedings.

Protected Public Lands - LAWS 8022
Explores the effectiveness of various techniques to balance the increasing interest in visiting national parks, wilderness, and other protected areas against the need to preserve ecological systems and biological diversity.

Public Health Law and Ethics - LAWS 8405
Explores rules of law pertaining to the American public health care system and the ethical issues raised by the government's effort to protect the health of the American people. To be held at Health Sciences Campus.

Public Land Law - LAWS 6002
Deals with the legal status and management of resources on federal lands, including national forests, parks, and BLM lands. Explores federal law, policy, and agency practice affecting the use of mineral, timber, range, water, wildlife, and wilderness resources on public lands. Prereq. LAWS 6112.

Quantitative Methods - LAWS 6803
Equips students to deal effectively with experts, whether as consultants or as adverse witnesses, and to enable the identification of a quantitative issue. Helps students to become multi-dimensional in quantitative literacy. Enables students to be comfortable reading statistical arguments, performing basic analyses, writing about statistics, expressing quantitative ideas in graphs, questioning an expert, and understanding the power of computer programming.

Race and American Law - LAWS 7525
Examines the judiciary's approach to racial discrimination from America's colonial period to the present day. Concludes with an analysis of the contemporary status of racial subordination in the legal system and considers recent scholarly critiques of the law's limitations in effecting racial justice. Employs an interdisciplinary approach and covers the experiences of American Indians, African Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, and Chicana/os.

Real Estate Planning - LAWS 7024
Considers various contemporary legal problems involved in the ownership, use, development, and operation of real estate. Particular emphasis on the income tax and financing aspects of commercial and residential use and development such as shopping plazas and apartment buildings. PREREQUISITE: INCOME TAXATION (LAWS 6007)

Real Estate Transactions - LAWS 6004
Focuses on legal issues that arise in all phases of real estate transactions, with an emphasis on the role of the lawyer in the business of real estate as well as on the regulation of real estate markets.

Refugee and Asylum Law - LAWS 7605
Focuses on protections offered under international and domestic law for persons who are threatened by persecution or other adverse conditions in their country of origin. Covers who is a refugee and the protections they have or do not have under United States and international law.

Regulation of Financial Institutions - LAWS 7031
Focuses on the core banking law and works outward to cover a broader spectrum of bank-like financial institutions. Covers bank licensing, restrictions on bank business, regulating safety and soundness of banks, consumer protection of depositors and other bank customers, and regulatory examination and enforcement.

Renewable Energy Project Finance and Development - LAWS 6732
Examines renewable energy and how legal topics impact financing projects. Reviews structure, regulation, and functioning of electric energy industry and laws applicable to development, ownership and operation of renewable energy projects across technologies. Addresses legal policy, economic and financing issues associated with expansion and improvement of the transmission grid to support renewable energy development.

Research and Writing in Income Taxation - ACCT 6420
This course is designed to provide you with tax research and legal writing skills. To this end, you will:
Analyze IRS and AICPA rules and ethics in tax practices.
Delineate the steps of the tax research process.
Understand the federal tax legislative process.
Examine the primary sources of federal tax law and evaluate the nature and structure of these sources, including the US Constitution, Internal Revenue Code, Treasury Regulations, IRS administrative rulings, and judicial decisions.
Understand the function of the citator in the tax research process.
Examine secondary sources of federal tax law.
Evaluate the hierarchy of primary sources of federal tax law.
Locate tax resources using the internet and develop internet tax research skills.
Study CREAC form of legal analysis.
Understand the structural format of the office memorandum, including question presented, short answer, statement of facts, and discussion.
Write technical memoranda using CREAC method of legal analysis.

Rothgerber Moot Court Competition - LAWS 7106
Intensive involvement in legal research, appellate brief writing and oral arguments in a competitive context. Student finalists may continue involvement in regional and national competitions. Credit is limited to students who complete two rounds of the competition.

Secured Transactions - LAWS 6021
Explores the methodology and policies of Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, dealing with financing transactions in personal property.

Securities Litigation and Enforcement - LAWS 8401
Designed for students interested in studying topics related to securities litigation. Covers civil liability under the Securities Act of 1933, proxy fraud, class actions (with special emphasis on the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act), market manipulation, SEC enforcement actions, enforcement issues involving attorneys and accountants, criminal enforcement, international securities fraud, and securities arbitration.

Securities Regulation - LAWS 7401
Concerned with the various federal statutes regulating the issue of corporate securities and the cases and regulations that have arisen out of those statutes; stress on statutory interpretation.

Seminar: Critical Theory Cllqm - LAWS 8728
Surveys critical legal theory; introduces the discipline of analytical engagement with law review literature; feminist legal theory, and critical race theory. Offers a deeper understanding of the purposes behind legal reforms, the interaction between law on the books and law in action, how different groups experience the law in different ways, and difficult yet rewarding nature of working through seemingly intractable and emotionally charged race, sex, and class issues.

Separation of Powers - LAWS 8395
The law governing the relationships of the three constitutional branches of the federal government. Topics include judicial control of the presidency, congressional control of federal jurisdiction, budgeting and spending processes, the President's veto power, impeachment, officers' immunities from liability, executive privilege, congressional and executive supervision of the agencies, foreign policy powers, and war powers. This is a seminar limited to twelve students, with a research paper meeting the graduation requirement and no examination. No prerequisites. The course is offered annually.

Sexuality and the Law - LAWS 7505
This course will be a survey of the main topics that fall under the rubric of “sexuality and the law,” with hopes that we can identify persistent themes and issues. We will discuss the federal and state constitutional rights of sexual minorities (GLBTI peoples), the status of same sex marriage under statutory law (federal and state DOMA’s) and federal and state constitutional law, the centrality of gendered heterosexuality to family law, other legal regulation of sexual conduct, and the legal system’s abilities/inabilities to deal with the breakdown of dichotomous sexualities (the challenges presented by transgender and intersex groups).

Social Disparities in Health - SOCY 7002
Presents social disparities in health in their social context. Includes the sociology of health behavior; links between health status and social statuses including gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status; fundamental causes and other explanations for social disparities in health; environment and health; health insurance disparities; the physician-patient interaction and its consequences.

Special Problems in Conflict Resolution and Management - LAWS 8409
Develops a comprehensive description of dispute; creates a conflict assessment of the stakeholders in and dynamics of dispute; assess obstacles to and opportunities for mediation; recommend strategy for addressing and managing the dispute. While there are no prerequisites, Mediation and/or Legal Negotiation are encouraged/helpful.

Special Topics - LAWS 6708
Course topics vary. See topic titles and descriptions each semester.

Specialized Legal Research: Selected Topics - LAWS 6836
Builds upon first-year legal research problem-solving skills by exposing students to the nuances of research topics in a specialized topic and tracking related doctrinal classes – e.g., environmental and natural resources law.

Sports Law - LAWS 7331
Covers the application of rules from agency, antitrust, contracts, constitutional law (including sex discrimination), labor law, property, torts, unincorporated associations, and other subjects to those persons involved in the production and delivery of athletic competition to consumers. Explores the development of the application of these rules to a sports setting and related economic issues.

Standards and Standardization Wars - LAWS 7371
This course will look at the standardization process and the products that result from "standards wars" and analyze the business, legal and practical implications of achieving market dominance.

Supreme Court Decision Making - LAWS 7013
Students will deliberate over several important cases as Justices of the Supreme Court. Class will be divided into three "courts" with the first hour spent in deliberation and the second hour in discussion of the deliberative process as well as the substantive issues.

Tax Policy - LAWS 8407
Explores current issues in tax policy. Topics may include the tax legislative process, consumption taxes, taxes and distributive justice, the tax exemption for nonprofits, carbon taxes, corporate taxes and integration, and taxes and entrepreneurship. Federal Income Tax is a prerequisite.

Technology Law and Policy Clinic - LAWS 7809
Features technology law advocacy before administrative and legislative bodies. The mission of TLPC is: 1) to train and produce students equipped to conduct thoughtful analysis, and 2) provide unbiased assistance in the public interest concerning technology issues to regulatory entities, courts, legislatures and standard setting bodies. No prerequisites, but at least one technology-related course such as Telecom Law, Intro to IP, Copyright Law, or Information Privacy is recommended as a corequisite.

Technology of Privacy - LAWS 6331
Explores the escalating debates by policymakers, scholars, advocates, and industry representatives about the growing spread of tracking and surveillance in society. Debates are being spurred by the pace of changes to technology and particularly of changes to Internet and mobile technology. Practicioners in information privacy law or technology policy must understand the past, present, and likely future of the technology of privacy.

Telecommunications Law and Policy - LAWS 7241
Examines laws governing telecommunications industries, including federal and state regulation and international aspects. Includes telephone; cable; satellite, cellular, and other wireless systems; and the Internet.

Telos Project - LAWS XXXX

The Law of the Colorado River - LAWS 8312
Addresses the many areas of law and policy that affect management of the Colorado River and the communities that depend on it. The seminar will also include material and presentations from experts in other disciplines, including conservation biology, climate science, anthropology, geology, and hydrology. The centerpiece of the class will be a two-week raft trip through the Grand Canyon.

The Practice of Labor and Employment Law - LAWS 6501
The course focuses on aspects of the practice of employment law, rather than the examination of legal doctrines. The instructors are both members of the Labor and Employment Department at Sherman & Howard L.L.C. Focusing on examples from their practice, the course discusses typical issues presented in advising and litigating on behalf of employers and employees. Each topic includes special attention to ethical issues.

The Rhetoric of Law - LAWS 8138
Considers how Anglo-American law operates rhetorically, how it persuades, builds character, offers proof, approximates the truth, establishes legitimacy, and makes things happen. It will also explore the ethics of rhetoric and note the relationship of rhetoric to other bodies of legal scholarship (e.g., law and literature, legal pragmatism, law and culture).

Theory of Punishment - LAWS 8548
Explores the various justifications that philosophers have developed to explain why we have the right to punish. Examines the historical evolution of our punishment system and focuses on the death penalty as a critical contemporary issue in the debate about the proper role of punishment in our society.

Torts I - LAWS 5425
Study of the nonconsensual allocation of losses for civil wrongs, focusing primarily on the concepts of negligence and strict liability.

Toxics and Hazardous Waste - LAWS 7402
Examines the EPA's federal hazardous waste statutes, including the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). Analyzes the RCRA "cradle-to-grave" hazardous waste program, and addresses the evolving CERCLA liability scheme and cleanup process.

Trademark and Unfair Competition Law - LAWS 7341
Examines the subject matter of trademark protection, the interaction of trademark and unfair competition law with other intellectual property doctrines, the requirements for acquiring and retaining federal trademark rights, false advertising and other misrepresentations, the right of publicity and related claims, remedies for infringement, and international aspects of trademark protection.

Transactional Drafting - LAWS 7051
This course will teach the principles of contemporary commercial drafting and introduce documents used in a variety of transactions. The skills gained will be applicable to any transactional practice and will also be useful to litigators. On finishing the course, students will know the business purpose of each contract concept, how to translate the business deal into contract concepts, how to draft each of a contract’s parts with clarity and without ambiguity, how to add value to a deal, how to work through the drafting process, and how to review and comment on a contract.

Trial Advocacy - LAWS 6109
Focuses on voir dire, opening statement, direct examination of witnesses, and cross examination.

Trial Competition - LAWS 7509
Student teams further develop trial and advocacy skills in a competitive mock-trial format involving two or more rounds of trials. Preparation of trial briefs and drafting other court pleadings and documents is required. Credit is limited to the top two teams (six students). Student finalists may continue involvement in regional and national competitions.

Trial Practice - LAWS 6179
Students apply the rules and doctrine of evidence in simulated trial settings. Must be taken with the corresponding section of Evidence. Enrollment is limited to 24. Satisfies the trial practice requirement and counts two hours toward the 14-hour maximum of clinical hours counted toward graduation. This is a graded course--not pass/grade.

Undrstnd Global Fin Crisis - LAWS 6338
Explores the causes and consequences of the global financial crisis. Analyzes financial instruments and institutions at the heart of the crisis -- including asset-backed securities, credit derivatives, government-sponsored entities, credit rating agencies, hedge funds, and financial conglomerates -- and places them in the context of a larger "shadow banking system". Examines the building blocks of financial reform.

Venture Capital and Private Equity - LAWS 7271
Provides overview of the legal and financial principles to represent privately held companies, their founders and managers, and their investors. Emphasizes transaction structuring rather than judicial opinions. Includes the organization and financing of start-ups, structuring buyout transactions, exit strategies, legal organization of investment funds and other financial intermediaries. Discusses the relevant regulatory landscape, including securities law, bankruptcy, ERISA, and tax law.

Wal-Mart - LAWS 8511
Examines issues raised by Wal-Mart's size, power and business model. The issues that we will consider bring numerous areas of law into play, including employment and labor law, social welfare legislation, class actions, antitrust, zoning, international labor and human rights regulation, and international trade. The course will show how different areas of the law are integrated in practice.

Water Resources - LAWS 6302
Analysis of regional and national water problems, including the legal methods by which surface and ground water supplies are allocated, managed, and protected.

White Collar Crime - LAWS 6035
Examines distinctions between white collar crime and other types of criminal activity and the needs for and arguments against white collar laws and law enforcement. Studies securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, insider trading, money laundering, false statements, conspiracy and criminal forfeiture statutes. Includes use of the grand jury, privileges applicable in the corporate setting, immunity, discovery and the impact of parallel civil proceedings. Examines effect of government policy on corporations and their counsel, pre-trial and trial strategy, jury selection, and victim notification and restitution options.

White Collar Crime Practicum - LAWS 6060
Addresses the non-trial portion of white collar criminal law. Drawing examples and problems from wire fraud, securities fraud, healthcare, and computer fraud contexts, explores a white collar case’s major investigative and charging phases, corporate and organizational issues, as well as pleas and punishment.

Wildlife and the Law - LAWS 6502
Examines the law that protects wildlife, its habitat, and biodiversity. Explores human-caused threats including habitat destruction, illegal trade, and climate change. Focuses on statutes, case law, environmental ethics, and current controversies to highlight legal, scientific, and political strategies for protecting biodiversity. Particular emphasis is placed on the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Wills and Trusts - LAWS 6104
Intestate succession; family protection; execution of wills; revocation and revival; will contracts and will substitutes; creation of trusts; modification and termination; charitable trusts; fiduciary administration, including probate and contest of wills; construction problems in estate distribution.

Writing for Employment Lawyers - LAWS 6561
Exposes students to a wide range of client counseling and writing problems in the employment context. Examples include drafting demand letters, responses to EEOC charges, portions of employee handbooks, settlement agreements, document requests and interrogatories, and letters to opposing counsel. Prerequisite or Corequisite: Employment Law OR Employment Discrimination.

Writing in the Regulatory State - LAWS 6207
Focuses on developing the research, writing, and analytical skills necessary to operate within any highly-regulated field. Weekly research and writing assignments will focus on exposing students to the kinds of authority typical in the regulatory context: legislation, legislative history, administrative regulations, agency opinions, cases, and advanced secondary sources. Student writing assignments will include drafting opinion letters, pleadings and motions, contracts, and policies and procedures.

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