Designed to teach basic legal analysis, writing and research skills which are fundamental to practicing law. Objectives include: Ability to state and synthesize common law rules; Understand and apply doctrine and tools for statutory interpretation to state, and apply rules; Demonstrate inductive, deductive, and analogical reasoning; Develop efficient writing process to draft legal correspondence and memoranda; Deliver a short, persuasive, well-organized oral presentation; Understand and incorporate U.S. Legal Writing Style, including use of analytical paradigm; Demonstrate capability to complete thorough legal research to solve assigned problems; Understand basic ethical considerations and comply with rules for professionalism, including prohibitions against plagiarism; Ability to work collaboratively; Demonstrate appropriate planning and project management.
This first-year course deepens the students' engagement with the building blocks of legal reasoning, case analysis, and interpretation of statutes and other legislative texts. Enrollment with permission of the instructor.
A study of the formation, essentials, interpretation, and operation of contracts as well as the discharge of contractual duties and remedies for breach.
This course examines the circumstances in which courts will shift loss from those who have suffered harm to their person, property, reputation, or psyche to those who have been involved in causing that harm. It is limited to civil (non-criminal) cases that are not typically based on mutual promises made by parties to a contract. The primary focus is on accidental injuries that cause physical harm where negligence or fault is the predominant liability standard, although intentional torts such as assault and battery as well as strict liability (no-fault) may be covered. Justifications for the law imposing liability, both philosophic and economic, are also considered. Procedural aspects, including the respective roles of judge and jury and difficulties of proof, which are central to tort law in the U.S., are raised continuously throughout the semester.
General principles of criminal law, specific crimes, and defenses.
Seminar instruction in the lawyering skills of case analysis, statutory interpretation, persuasive argument, and legal research through the preparation of legal memoranda and briefs.
Introduction to general principles of legal research. Students will learn how to select sources, execute research strategies, and evaluate information.
This required first-year course helps students link the knowledge gained in doctrinal classes with professional opportunities. The objective is to acclimate students to the professional world they will enter. Students will examine individual strengths and interests; learn about career opportunities in law firms, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and other settings; and explore professional habits and values that are expected across all sectors of the legal profession.
Introduction to basic concepts and principles of Anglo-American law as they relate to personal and real property.
A survey of proceedings in a civil action, including jurisdiction of state and federal courts, law for the case, pleading and parties, pre-trial and discovery, trial and appeal.
A survey of the protection of individual liberties under the Constitution with emphasis on the application of the Bill of Rights to the states; substantive due process, including the right to privacy; First Amendment guarantees of free speech and religion; the state action requirement; and the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of equal protection. The course also focuses on types of constitutional argument and analysis.
Seminar instruction in the lawyering skills of case analysis, statutory interpretation, persuasive argument, and legal research through the preparation of legal memoranda and briefs.
Introduction to general principles of legal research. Students will learn how to select sources, execute research strategies, and evaluate information.
This required first-year course helps students link the knowledge gained in doctrinal classes with professional opportunities. The objective is to acclimate students to the professional world they will enter. Students will examine individual strengths and interests; learn about career opportunities in law firms, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and other settings; and explore professional habits and values that are expected across all sectors of the legal profession.
This course surveys the legislative process, fundamentals of statutory interpretation, and the work of administrative agencies, with special emphasis on administrative rule-making process.
A study of the nature, powers, and obligations of private corporations, including their formation, management, and dissolution; the rights and duties of promoters, directors, officers, and stockholders; and the rights of creditors and others against the corporation; together with a study of the creation, nature, and characteristics of business partnerships.
Entrepreneurs and their companies face different legal risks than larger and more established companies. Emerging companies often have little leverage in the marketplace, requiring novel business and legal approaches to differentiate themselves from competitors. However, entrepreneurs also compete for the capital of VCs and other investors, whose focus on financial returns makes them more risk-averse than the entrepreneurs in whom they invest. Finally, many entrepreneurial enterprises begin as small as the proverbial mustard seed but often have correspondingly small legal budgets, creating issues in instances where assuring legal compliance will require significant resources of outside counsel. These distinctions significantly impact entrepreneurs’ legal needs and relationships with their outside attorneys. It is counsel’s job to deftly steer his or her entrepreneur clients between the Scylla of reinventing the wheel and the Charybdis of conforming with other companies, all while observing the requirements of legal ethics (and hopefully being paid for the work performed). P-LAW 203.
Federal income tax is life. This class lives in a statute, the Internal Revenue Code. It focuses on reading, interpreting, and applying the rules of the Code. It is primarily a statutory interpretation class. Students will calculate the federal income tax liabilities of taxpayers by determining each taxpayer's gross income, determining and subtracting above the line deductions, noting adjusted gross income, subtracting either itemized deductions or the standard deduction, applying tax rates, and then calculating and subtracting any available tax credits. We will do calculations using only the +, -, multiply, and divide functions on a $5ish calculator.
A study of the rules and standards by which the admission of proof at a trial is regulated. Special reference to the Federal Rules of Evidence.
This course will focus on North Carolina’s unique constitutional history and principles, comparing the text and structure of the North Carolina Constitution to the United States Constitution. The course will use Chief Justice Paul Newby and Professor John Orth’s book The North Carolina State Constitution (Oxford University Press, 2013) and will incorporate outside speakers, including judges and lawyers who practice in the area. The course will be assessed through a research paper on the text, history, interpretation, and public policy implications of a particular provision of the North Carolina constitution.
Delves into Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court's effort to dismantle the lingering effects of slavery and to align the Constitution with the promise in the Declaration of Independence that "all men are created equal." Focus is on the text of the Constitution and legal doctrine but also on the path-breaking litigation strategy developed and implemented by the NAACP to topple longstanding and pernicious precedent, including, especially, Plessy v. Ferguson, which approved government segregation of the races (the “separate but equal doctrine.”)
The “Southern Journal of Policy and Justice” is dedicated to fostering a robust academic platform for the critical examination, analysis, and discourse surrounding the myriad of social, economic, and political issues particularly affecting the Black community in the South. The journal’s mission is to foster sound legal scholarship that stimulates thought and triggers positive societal change. While it primarily focuses on the southern Black community, the SJPJ is inclusive, welcoming contributions from all backgrounds.
The course is designed to acquaint you with the lawyer’s obligations—both individual and as a member of the legal profession—to the world in which the lawyer (you, very soon) lives and works. In addition to a discussion of ethical concerns inherent in the practice of law, we will cover lawyer regulation, primarily under the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. We also will consider what it means for you to become a member of the legal profession at a time of economic pressure, technological advancement, and international competition.
An examination of the role of the Congress and the Supreme Court in the American legal system with emphasis on the powers of Congress, especially over commerce; judicial review, justiciability; separation of powers; executive authority; limitations on state power under preemption, the dormant commerce clause, and the interstate privileges or immunities clause; and procedural due process as a limit on government power. Students also study types of constitutional arguments and analysis.
The 3 credit section of this course is designed both for students who wish to pursue Constitutional Law in more depth and for students who may have struggled in Con Law I and feel they could benefit from additional exposure to this material. Coverage will track the subject matter of Law 252, but the additional classes will allow the class to enjoy in-depth analysis of constitutional arguments and analysis. Time will also be spent reviewing major themes of Con Law I and linking the Court's approaches there to the Court's approaches to the topics covered in Con Law II.
Experience in the preparation, research, and writing of an appellate brief and in oral argument before an appellate court. Participation in the intramural Stanley Moot Court competition is an option in the Fall. This course satisfies the Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research III Requirement.
This is an introductory course on Environmental Justice Law. Although no federal environmental justice laws have been enacted, federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have made efforts to work with other federal agencies to integrate environmental justice into policies and practices. Environmental justice theory and practice begins with the recognition that environmental goods (such as clean air and water) and environmental harms (such as toxic waste) are not always distributed equitably among populations. This course will examine the various bases for these disparate impacts and will look for solutions grounded in law, policy, and practice.
This course focuses on legal drafting in the business setting. Students will be required to draft and evaluate typical documents including corporate documents, loan and purchase contracts, partnership agreements, and employment agreements.
This "best practices" course introduces students to commercial law and to the structuring, negotiation, drafting, and review of common commercial agreements. These agreements include: (1) non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, (2) employment agreements, (3) services agreements, (4) agreements for the sale of goods, and (5) lending and security agreements. In addition to exploring applicable law and theory, students analyze, draft, redline, and actively discuss actual commercial contracts. In so doing, students explore both the specific effects of various contractual provisions and the potential broader commercial implications of such provisions. If not taken to satisfy LAWR III, this course will also satisfy the Experiential Learning requirement. This course is a writing course with no exam. Contracts I and II are prerequisites.
This course is an intensive writing course that simulates the work of a judicial clerk. Students research, draft, and edit a bench memo, a majority and dissenting opinion in a state appeal, and an order in a federal trial court case. Students also observe an oral argument. Guest speakers (judges and law clerks) address students several times during the semester.
This course is a 2-credit, seminar-sized, workshop-style legal analysis and writing course that focuses on public interest legal writing, working with underrepresented clients, and social justice/poverty themes.
This writing-intensive course focuses on several hot topics in health law, including public health issues, physician employment contracts, regenerative medicine and the right to try, and telemedicine. The content units will be taught through a series of simulations and case files. While learning substantive health care law, the students will also draft and/or critique both transactional and litigation-based documents.
This course is designed to satisfy LAWR III. It is geared to teach drafting from the point of view of a commercial real estate attorney. In this context, drafting includes both drafting your own documents, as wells as re-drafting documents submitted to you by other parties (including how to spot issues when re-drafting a document). The types of real estate documents that will be covered include a broad sampling of purchase contracts, leases, loan documents, and deeds/easements. The class will review core concepts of real estate law that must be considered in drafting a binding and enforceable real estate contract.
This course is intended to provide students with a general understanding of some of the skills required in transactional law (with a focus on entertainment), including how to analyze, edit, and draft purchase agreements, employment agreements, cease and desist letters, sweepstakes rules, guest releases, and media licenses. This course cannot be taken if you have taken LAW 257 Business Drafting.
This course offers an overview of the historical, legal, and policy framework for food and agriculture in the United States. Agricultural and food laws and regulations play a vital role in determining both the health outcomes for our nation and the level of environmental impact on shared natural resources such as air, water, soil, and biodiversity. The course discusses federal environmental statutes in the context of food and agricultural production and provides an introduction to the U.S. Farm Bill, pesticides, farmed animal welfare, genetically modified foods, food access, food safety, and labeling schemes.
Legal drafting in the litigation setting. Students will be required to draft and evaluate typical litigation documents. Students can take both Litigation Drafting and Pre-trial Practice and Procedure.
Designed to give students further opportunities to develop their legal writing, research, and analysis skills in the context of preparing a securities offering document (i.e., a prospectus). Such offering documents contain disclosures about the issuer of the bond, stocks, or other securities, including (i) material risks to the business; (ii) an overview of the business (history, products, material property, etc.); (iii) a discussion of result results and financial position; and (iv) standard language provided in the context of similar securities offerings. The goal is to understand how legal counsel prepares the securities offering documents drawing on various sources of information and with reference to SEC rules and client instructions.
The course invites students to consider the different roles that lawyers play throughout their careers, including that of advocate, counselor, business person, and leader. Students will also focus on personal and professional development, as well as discussing the importance of work-life balance and prioritizing wellness.
This course examines the ways a civil court might provide redress for a plaintiff's harm. It covers damages, restitution, injunctions, and declaratory judgments.
A study of the descent of property by operation of wills and intestacy and the nature, creation, and elements of a trust.
A student may receive 1 or 2 pass/fail credits for an externship with an unpaid judge or law-related placement of the student's choosing, subject to the approval of a faculty supervisor whom the student has enlisted. The student will submit a statement of goals to the faculty supervisor and will meet with the supervisor on the goals before the externship begins. For a one-hour externship, the student will meet with the supervising faculty member for one hour each week of the semester (for a total of 15 meeting hours); for a two-hour externship, the student will meet with the supervising faculty member for two hours each week (for a total of 30 meeting hours). For a 1-hour externship during the school year, the student works at the placement for a minimum of 30 hours; for a 2-hour externship, 60 hours. For an externship during the summer, those hours are doubled for a total of 60 and 120 hours, respectively. The student will write a minimum of bi-weekly reflection papers as well as a final paper. At the end of the externship, the student will also submit to the supervisor a sample of the student's work for the placement.
This is the field placement component of a part-time externship program and is paired with the Externship Lecture course. Total credits between Externship Placement and Externship Lecture will total either 6 or 10. The number of credit hours awarded to an individual student will determine the hours of work required at the field placement and meet or exceed the ABA standards. In accordance with ABA guidelines, students work at a placement under a supervising attorney. C-LAW 300.
This is the field placement component of a full term externship program and is paired with the Externship Lecture course. Total credits between Semester in Practice and Externship Lecture will total 13. The number of credit hours awarded to an individual student will determine the hours of work required at the field placement and meet or exceed the ABA standards. In accordance with ABA guidelines, students work at a placement under a supervising attorney. C-LAW 300.
A student may receive 1 or 2 hours of credit for an unpaid externship related to the subject matter of a doctrinal course. The faculty member and a practicing lawyer or other professional supervise the student in a practical experience “extending” the course. The faculty member may limit the number of students eligible for the Practicum Extension in a given semester. The extension may be available for a course taken currently or in a past semester. A student may enroll in the Practicum Extension more than once if the underlying subject areas for the different Practicum Extensions are substantially different, as determined by the Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. The student submits a statement of goals to the faculty supervisor and meets with the supervisor on the goals before the externship begins. The student writes a minimum of bi-weekly reflection papers as well as a final paper. For a 1-hour externship during the school year, the student works at the placement for a minimum of 30 hours; for a 2-hour externship, 60 hours. For an externship during the summer, those hours are doubled for a total of 60 and 120 hours, respectively. At the end of the externship, the student submits to the supervisor a sample of the student’s work for the placement.
Specialized project(s) falling under the purview of one or more of the clinical programs offered at Wake Law.
This course provides students with hands-on opportunities to assist clients with transactional intellectual property matters. Student services include advising clients on basic intellectual property principles, drafting contracts (or contract provisions) that affect intellectual property rights, prosecuting copyright and/or trademark applications, and preparing policy documents and guidelines. In addition to direct client representation, students will attend a two-hour seminar, and meet with the clinic faculty supervisor to discuss fieldwork each week. Intellectual Property is a prerequisite.
Students who have completed Intellectual Property Law Clinic I may take this continuation course during the same academic year. Students will attend a one-hour seminar, and meet with the clinic faculty supervisor to discuss fieldwork each week.
This experiential clinic course focuses on the attainment of fundamental lawyering skills through direct client representation and advocacy, with a particular emphasis on problem solving and legal remedies to address health-harming legal needs. Through collaboration with healthcare providers, students will identify legal issues that negatively contribute to the health of low-income patient-clients and develop a comprehensive, interprofessional strategy to overcome barriers to health justice. Seminar topics educate students about fundamental lawyering skills and substantive law essential for the cases students will work on over the course of their time in the clinic.
This experiential clinic course focuses on the attainment of fundamental lawyering skills through direct client representation and advocacy, with a particular emphasis on problem solving and legal remedies to address health-harming legal needs. Through collaboration with healthcare providers, students will identify legal issues that negatively contribute to the health of low-income patient-clients and develop a comprehensive, interprofessional strategy to overcome barriers to health justice. Fieldwork also include case rounds: facilitated conversations about student casework with their peers.
In this clinic, which lasts for both semesters of the 3L year, students work in pairs and represent real clients in various appellate courts. The supervising attorney is their professor. In addition to representing clients, students learn about advocacy skills and various aspects of appellate practice, using reading materials, some lecture, and class discussions. They help other pairs through brainstorming and judging practice oral arguments. Students also visit the Supreme Court of the United States to attend oral arguments and meet with court personnel. Prerequisite: Appellate Advocacy
In this interdisciplinary course, students will examine the legal, scientific, cultural, and psychological causes of wrongful convictions. They will apply this knowledge to actual cases by reviewing and investigating claims of actual innocence by inmates and, where appropriate, pursuing legal avenues for exoneration and release from prison. Students will meet for two hours per week to examine and complete field work assignments.
Students who have completed the Innocence and Justice I course are allowed to take this course in order to continue working on the innocence cases on which they in the prior semester and to continue the interdisciplinary study of the causes of and remedies for wrongful convictions. Students will meet for one class hour per week and for one hour a week with the instructor to examine and complete fieldwork assignments.
During this semester-long experiential course, students will represent low-income former servicemembers and veterans in a range of legal proceedings. The clinic primarily represents North Carolinians who are seeking potentially life-saving health care and compensation benefits for service-connected disabilities, but who have been unable to access such benefits because of the nature or characterization of their military discharge. Almost all clinic clients were separated from the military because of minor misconduct that was related to behavioral health conditions that were incurred or aggravated during military service. Unfortunately, these conditions were highly stigmatized and widely misunderstood until recent years, which led to an inequitable dismissal from military service for tens of thousands of North Carolinians. Clinic students are on the front lines of correcting those mistakes and injustices.
A continuation course to the Law 365 Veterans Legal Clinic I. Students continue to represent low-income former service members and veterans in a range of legal proceedings. Many students continue working on the cases they worked on from the prior semester. Students having completed Law 365 Veterans Legal Clinic I may request permission from the instructor to register for the class.
The course will allow students to learn about the real work of environmental law and policy through a combination of intensive training on the skills needed to work with clients and grappling with environmental law and policy matters with which clients need help. At the commencement of the semester, students’ classwork will focus on lawyering skills and the basics of administrative and environmental law through two Saturday intensives. During the course of the semester, a weekly, two-hour class meeting will build upon these skills and include practitioners from industry, private practice, government, and non-profits. In addition, this weekly meeting will serve as a touch-point for learning and sharing with other students how their representation of clients is progressing, what concerns and issues are arising, and what learnings they are taking away. Students will be expected to put 10-12 hours of effort into the clinic per week in keeping with the 4 credit requirement. They will keep timesheets and a journal of their experience.
Open only to students who have completed LAW 367. This continuation of the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic in the fall semester allows students to focus on active Clinic matters that need support during the fall semester. Students will work on Clinic matters and meet to discuss their progress with the Clinic Director and each other.
This seminar provides a guide to representing corporate clients throughout the corporate life cycle - from the formation of the entity to taking it public. We would begin the course by reviewing the entity choice considerations covered in Business Organizations but also discuss the practical steps required to form each entity type. Then, we will outline some of the most significant issues growing companies face. This would include ownership disputes, administrative considerations, vendor and sales contracts, employee relations, basic financing arrangements, offering ownership interests, and consolidation. Finally, we will discuss the process of going public. Each day, we would introduce documents we use in our practices and ask students to draft key sections in light of concepts introduced in the course of the class.
Before acquiring, merging, or selling a company or assets, purchasers and sellers need to engage in a process of better understanding the company or assets in the transaction as well as the risks inherent in the transaction. A key element of corporate law practice is engaging in "due diligence" to help the client understand the transaction's elements, risks, and possibilities.
New attorneys are often asked to conduct due diligence without any significant training. This course seeks to fill that gap by first establishing the legal reasons for conducting due diligence and a lawyer's professional obligations in the process. It will then use a combination of lectures and skills exercises to explore how to conduct due diligence on corporate matters such as minutes and bylaws; commercial matters such as contracts; and compliance matters such as environmental and sustainability.
This course reviews the stages of juvenile court proceedings that apply when the state investigates and files petitions based on potential criminal behavior by minors. The primary reading materials are North Carolina state statutes and North Carolina appellate opinions. Class activities include simulated hearings.
A study of the principal and agent relationship and rights and obligations of third parties with regard to principal and agent. Agency is one of the most practical and useful courses you can take. Virtually everyone who practices any type of civil law will face agency issues on a regular basis, whether it be in contract, tort, fraud, or business relationships. The course is taught by an adjunct professor who has a wide-ranging civil and criminal litigation practice (from employment discrimination and civil rights to business and personal injury) and uses the class to teach practical litigation skills and tips for the civil practitioner, breathing life into legal concepts learned in various other courses, such as contract, torts, civil procedure, and evidence.
In this course, we will attempt to come to grips with the right to keep and bear arms as a matter of law. We will do so by thoroughly examining the constitutional history, theory, and practice of gun rights and regulation in the United States. We will cover the foundational Supreme Court cases as well as the broader historical and political debates in which they are embedded, and the theoretical questions they raise. Our goal is to understand both the relevant legal doctrine and the context in which that doctrine is embedded.
A study of the choice of law rules applicable where at least one of the operative issues in a case is connected with some state or country other than the one in which suit is brought at the national level or the international level; jurisdiction of courts over persons, things, and property in the national and transnational context; recognition and enforcement of judgments on the national and international levels; business and estate planning issues in law in different jurisdictions. (although this course is traditionally known as conflict of laws in the United States, it is known as private international law elsewhere)
Freedom of conscience and freedom of religion are two distinct but often conflated rights, both of which have been integral in United States legal and political discourse since before its founding. This course will examine the history of these rights and invite students to ask why these legal protections exist, what presuppositions led these protections to be structured as they are, and whether they might profitably be restructured in the future. As part of this course, we will examine theoretical underpinnings of what the conscience is understood to be and how it fits into a general “moral anthropology” (the latter loosely defined as an understanding of how persons determine right and wrong). The tension between personal and communal conceptions of the conscience will also be explored.
A study of the legal and institutional limits on law enforcement conduct in the investigation of crime, with particular focus on the constitutional limits established by the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Topics include searches and seizures, police interrogations, and the identification of suspects.
A study of the selection, prosecution, and resolution of criminal charges. Topics will be chosen from the following: selection and grouping of charges, availability of defense counsel, pretrial release, discovery, speedy trial preparation, guilty pleas, jury trials, right to confrontation, jury deliberations and verdicts, sentencing, appeal, and collateral challenges to convictions. Criminal Procedure: Investigation is not a prerequisite for this course.
This course focuses on the negotiation and drafting of commercial real estate leases from the initial letter of intent stage to the final lease closing. Items studied and drafting exercises include: (1) letters of intent, (2) brokerage agreements, (3) commercial leases and lease provisions at various levels of the negotiation process, (4) subordination, nondisturbance, and attornment agreements, (5) estoppel certificates, and (6) lease memoranda. The course covers various forms of commercial leases, including ground leases, retail leases, subleases, and license and occupancy agreements. This course also focuses on professionalism and ethics in the negotiation and drafting process. In addition to learning applicable law, students receive regular evaluations of substantial drafting and negotiation assignments typical of those encountered in actual practice. The negotiation and drafting skills learned in this course apply to other areas of commercial practice. P-LAW 111.
The Law School publishes the Journal of Law and Policy. This publication features articles, notes, and comments from practitioners, students, and faculty on public policy issues relating to law. The JLP also hosts a daylong symposium each year focused on a specific, dedicated law and public policy topic. Membership is determined through academic performance and/or participation in a writing competition.
The Trade and Development Clinic is a transaction focused clinical offering that provides students a forum to identify, practice and refine the following skills:
* Recognizing and applying core business law concepts
* Reviewing and drafting contracts
* Understanding international transactions and financing
* Client interviewing and advising
* Practicing with cultural competency
We will work with cooperatives, development intermediaries and NGO's in Central America or Mexico to assist them in navigating the legal and business issues that come up when exporting products to the U.S. or accessing capital from the U.S.. Our principal focus will be small hold farmers and the entities that support them. This experiential course that places students into supervised practice. As part of our work, you will have the option to travel to work directly with our clients in Latin America. Locations will be in Mexico or Central America. There are no prerequisites or language requirements.
Explores the relationship between international trade and economic development. Examines the theoretical foundations of trade and development and evaluates the impact of trade policies on economic growth, poverty alleviation, and income inequality in both developed and developing economies.
This course offers students a comprehensive overview of current NCAA rules, policies, enforcement procedures, and the manner in which they are applied at the Division I intercollegiate level. Students study NCAA rules and policies and NCAA infractions and judicial decisions that interpret these rules. Students also examine materials that offer differing perspectives on the NCAA regulatory system. Student performance is assessed on the basis of written memos and in-class presentations that evaluate case studies. Students are given a short final exam.
This course looks at the law and policy related to US energy sources (hydro, coal, petroleum, natural gas, nuclear, renewables) and energy uses (electric power, transportation, efficiency) -- integrating legal, historical, technical, economic, and environmental analysis. The readings come primarily from an online wikibook prepared by the professor and students over a number of years, as well as various online materials.
This course reinforces and expands on the student's understanding of many of the fundamental principles of intellectual property law and focuses specifically on its development and commercialization. Considerations include licensing strategy and alternatives, confidentiality, joint venture and other types of collaborative agreements, technology transfer, and related contracting and documentation. A pre-requisite or co-requisite of either Intellectual Property (Survey), Patent Law, Copyrights, or Trademarks is strongly suggested, but not required.
In recent years, corporate governance concepts and techniques have become increasingly important to effective corporate counseling and, in particular, in advising board of directors and board committees. This course presents a general overview of corporate governance, with an emphasis on matters important to advising boards of directors, including (i) the structure of the corporation and its purpose, ownership trends, corporate philanthropy and social initiatives and other governance concepts, (ii) composition and operation of the board of directors, including the importance of "independence" and diversity, (iii) obligations of directors, including fiduciary duties, conflicts of interest and the responsibility of "leading," (iv) routine and non-routine board operations, (v) shareholder and director participation in executive compensation decisions, (vi) director accountability and director protections, (vii) the role and rights of shareholders, (viii) shareholder activism, including tactics of activists and tools for dealing with activists, (ix) the market for corporate control, (x) legislative and regulatory governance initiatives, and (xi ) sources of governance law and practice (such as stock exchange rules, shareholder advisory firm policies and "best practices").
This course focuses on the laws regarding the status, treatment, and disposition of human remains. We are in the midst of a "death revolution" in the United States - cremation rates are rising fast and traditional funeral service providers are under stress. This course examines these trends and the role that the law is playing in shaping and responding to social norms and economic realities. Students will engage in significant legal research and writing in this course, "representing" a non-traditional funeral services provider and analyzing the provider's ability to operate under existing laws.
This course covers the practice of public interest law, how the lawyer's professional role differs in this type of law practice, and how the public interest lawyer can affect and influence public policy and justice in the courts, legislatures, and administrative agencies. Students participate in simulations that explore public interest law, speak with public interest lawyers and the public interest organizations that they represent, and write a paper that invites them to reflect on and expand the information and materials covered in the course.
This sales financing course covers the essentials of both articles 2 and 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, articles covered separately in the two courses, 517 Sales (article 2, 3 hours) and 516 Secured Transactions (article 9, 3 hours). Students who take the combined course, 442 Sales and Secured Transactions, may not receive credit for either of the other courses. Likewise, students who have taken either of the separate courses may not receive credit for the combined course. Both articles, 2 and 9, are included as topics on the multistate bar examination.
This course considers the sustainability of the modern U.S. corporation – that is, whether the corporation is capable of meeting current social needs while enabling future generations to meet their needs. The course looks at the corporation’s current design: its externalization of social costs, the short-termism of corporate decision-making, the “groupthink” culture of corporate management, and the corporation as a political actor. It then considers some current responses to these non-sustainable attributes: planet (voluntary environmental stewardship), people (voluntary EG movement), and profits (institutional shareholder activism). The course concludes by considering paradigm shifts: the new benefit corporation form, revamped ESG disclosure, new shareholder-management consortia — as well as the corporation as a moral organism and re-conceptualizations of corporate leadership. Students work in groups on a weekly basis, submit reflection papers for each unit, and write a paper at the end of the term on a “corporate sustainability” topic of their choice.
This course will allow students to observe juvenile court judges and to represent juveniles in delinquency proceedings and related matters, under the supervision of practicing attorneys. Juvenile Justice in North Carolina 398 is a pre-requisite. Trial Practice Lab 610 and Evidence 207 are co-requisites, unless the student obtains the permission of the instructor to waive these requirements. Consult the calendar notes in the registration materials for special scheduling requirements.
As a matter of baseline knowledge, law students should have a better understanding of business entities and our complex economy. The purpose of this class is to give students a working knowledge of essential concepts in business. The class focuses on teaching useful intellectual skills associated with a working knowledge of accounting, financial statement analysis, finance, valuation, capital structure, financial instruments, capital markets, corporate transactions, operations, and business strategy. The course concepts are interconnected and their mastery serves two purposes: (1) to better appreciate a business client's legal problems; and (2) to better appreciate concepts seen in other upper-level courses such as Business Organizations, Securities Regulation, Corporate Finance, Bankruptcy, Taxation, Business Planning, Mergers & Acquisitions, and any other business-related course. No prior business experience or exposure is required or necessary.
This course will examine the current legal, political, social, and technological aspects of US privacy law. Topics will include traditional privacy theory and torts; contracts; commercial and financial privacy; medical privacy; cyberlaw privacy (i.e., metadata, cookies, cybersecurity, revenge pornography); governmental privacy (i.e., surveillance, freedom of information, leakers like Edward Snowden); workplace privacy (i.e., algorithmic decision-making, trade secrecy); and international developments (i.e., the European Data Protection Directive, "right to be forgotten").
Focuses on relevant practice areas that touch on business. Topics may include section 1231's favorable treatment of property used in the active conduct of a trade or business, like-kind exchanges, installment sales, the tax treatment of injury and non-injury damages, and the basics of balance sheets. P-LAW 206.
The Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization rejected the idea of a constitutional right to abortion grounded in substantive due process. Scholars and advocates have long argued, however, for the fundamental right to abortion based on alternative legal frameworks. This course will cover the basic liberty/privacy framework as announced in Roe v. Wade and rejected in Dobbs, but then expand the frame to consider some of these alternative frameworks – including those based on other constitutional provisions as well as those based on state constitutions, international law, and common law principles.
This course provides students with the opportunity to be critical and effective implementers of cutting-edge technologies that are disrupting the legal services market. This experiential seminar provides students with the critical thinking and technological skills necessary to position them as leaders in modern legal practice.
Students who complete the course will be exposed to the role of the lawyer lobbyist in the shaping of state and federal public policy. The course is designed to provide students with the historical and legal background of legislative advocacy. Students will gain the practical skills necessary to succeed in the legislative advocacy field. The goals of this course are for the students to understand how to effectively advocate on behalf of a cause, company, or non-profit entity, review laws and regulations affecting lobbying and lobbyists, and comprehend the competitive landscape of public policy. It is the goal of this course to effectively train students in all the essential ideas necessary to become an influential advocate before a state legislature or the United States Congress.
Covers the different ways to get a commercial project financed by securing a loan with real estate. As with other contracts, the form of the loan and the real estate serving as collateral vary from deal to deal and, depending upon the type of loan, may or may not be negotiable. This course will teach the fundamentals of real estate loans, including notes, mortgages/deeds of trust, different types of loans, ancillary loan documents, loan commitments, due diligence for loans, opinions on title, and opinions on the validity of loan documents, default and foreclosure, and ethics opinions in loan transactions. Real Estate Finance will include federal and North Carolina laws. The course will look at what happens when things go wrong, such as defective mortgages, failure of consideration, and documentation errors. Real Estate Finance will teach the practical aspects of commercial real estate, including how to interpret and negotiate loan documents, depending upon whether you represent the interests of the lender or the borrower. Examples from actual closings will be used to see what life as a commercial real estate lawyer is like. The skills learned in this class will benefit students contemplating a career in real estate transactions as well as business transactions.
This course will leverage research findings from psychology and neuroscience to explore the intersection of mental health, performance, and professional identity development for law students and lawyers. Topics include anxiety and stress, depression and suicide, anger management, grief/loss, burnout, compassion fatigue, substance abuse and process addictions, impaired cognition, over-functioning, "active bystander" training, navigating law firm culture, and preparing for a satisfying legal career.
Focuses on representing clients in a commercial real estate practice. The class will follow a commercial project from site selection through development, financing, and completion of construction. The course will include the steps, from start to finish, on how to represent developers as clients. It will cover getting land under contract, due diligence, financing, negotiating leases, options and eventual sale to an investor. The skills in this class would easily transfer to any transactional practice. Real Estate Development is a companion course to Real Estate Finance, although you can take one course without the other.
The mission of this class will be to train legal professionals to incorporate contemplative practices, mainly mindfulness and meditation practices, into daily life and into the practice of law in order to be more effective and ethical practitioners as well as achieve balance in life. This course will introduce students to the practice of meditation and explore the ways that contemplative practices can help to develop skills that are directly relevant to the work of a lawyer. It will explore, from a meditative perspective, the ethical responsibilities of the lawyer, the stresses and challenges of the lawyer's life, and the management of the complex emotions that affect the lawyer (including anger, self-righteousness, and compassion). There will be instructions on "how to" meditate, and the different opportunities for "mindfulness" that arise during the day and during law practice. Students will be required to engage in a regular practice of meditation, and keep a journal of their reflections. Classes will be enriched by presentations from lawyers, physicians, psychologists, and others who have integrated the meditative perspective with their law practice. There will also be presentations from neuroscientists who have studied the effects of contemplative practices on our brains, or minds. A paper will be required that addresses the direct application of mindfulness practices to legal practice. Some of the topics could be: how mindfulness practices create space for proper reflection before making ethical decisions or reacting to the stress of opposing counsel during heated litigation; avoiding the effects of secondary traumatic stress in public and capital defense, or prosecution of child sex abuse cases, family law cases, or immigration cases; mindfulness practices that enable attorneys to be aware of implicit bias in practice and litigation.
Electronically stored information (ESI) is growing exponentially. With the rapid growth of data, attorneys engaged in a variety of practices are faced with the challenges of handling Electronic Discovery, whether it be their client's email, mobile devices, computers, etc. Attorneys now have an obligation to understand not only the substantive legal issues of their matters but the fundamentals surrounding eDiscovery that they will undoubtedly encounter in the legal profession. This course will provide students with a foundational knowledge of the eDiscovery landscape including the technical, legal, and ethical aspects they will encounter as attorneys. Students will gain a practical understanding of all aspects of the eDiscovery Reference Model (EDRM) and learn to use an industry-leading document review platform through hands-on learning, skills that will be of immediate value if tasked with managing discovery in a litigation or investigation as a new attorney.
This course covers the state law governing unsecured creditors. It also introduces basic bankruptcy, focused on Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which is most often pursued by individuals, sole proprietorships, and some small and medium-sized businesses. The course also introduces Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This course sets the stage for the serious, in-depth study of large business bankruptcies which is the subject of LAW 515 but it is not a prerequisite for LAW 515.
This writing-intensive course focuses on several hot topics in health law, including public health issues, physician employment contracts, regenerative medicine and the right to try, and telemedicine. The content units will be taught through a series of simulations and case files. While learning substantive healthcare law, the students will also draft and/or critique both transactional and litigation-based documents.
This course examines distributed ledger/blockchain technologies and computational law, and the related evolving regulatory environment. Topics covered include cryptocurrency use and regulation, legal forensic analysis of tokens, Ethereum-based smart contract governance frameworks, patent strategy, and the professional responsibility considerations when working in a space that is popular, but not well understood. Students will learn about distributed ledger technologies and even get an introduction to programming a decentralized game. No previous programming experience is needed for this course, but a willingness to read and reread, and discuss technical documentation and literature is essential.
The course is designed to introduce students to both the legal and practical aspects of representing a company under investigation by government authorities, a common matter in commercial law firm work. Lawyers representing companies in the modern landscape face wide-ranging challenges, including investigations by federal, state, and international authorities, scrutiny from shareholders, and the threat of civil litigation. The course will provide students with an understanding of what practitioners consider when guiding their clients through such investigations. Students will have a unique opportunity to receive insight from both the outside counsel and in-house counsel perspectives.
This course aims to introduce students from across the professional schools to classic and contemporary texts regarding ethical leadership; to promote creative, cross-disciplinary dialogue regarding the responsibilities of professionals; and to facilitate reflection, and action, regarding concrete strategies for cultivating the habits, skills, and character traits needed to lead with integrity. The Leadership and Character Program, in general, and the “Leadership and Character in the Professions” course, in particular, reflect Wake Forest’s longstanding commitment to “Pro Humanitate” and also distinguish Wake Forest as a place where students develop both the knowledge and character to lead purposeful lives committed to excellence and guided by integrity.
In this course, we explore current topics in artificial intelligence. We first understand methods of data collection, analysis, artificial neural networks, and general software development methodologies. Topics we explore include data manipulation, unconscious bias, algorithmic bias, AI-enabled content generation, and legislative standards aiming for "algorithmic accountability." Assessments include the creation and analysis of machine learning systems, and drafting a short comment to a government agency that is considering adopting an AI system.
Independent Writing Project: Field Work Paper is an opportunity for a student to do an independent scholarly study of their own design, to build upon fieldwork, whether that work was paid or unpaid. Credit may not be awarded for work that duplicates the work of a course, clinic, externship, or practicum for which the student has already received credit or duplicates work for which they were paid. Credit may be awarded for work that expands on work initially assigned in, or conceived during, a course, clinic, externship, practicum, or paid work experience but only if the continued work represents a meaningful and substantial contribution to the already existing project, significantly beyond mere editing or polishing. If a student seeks to continue or expand on work that the student initiated previously (whether for a course, clinic, externship, practicum, or paid work) a student must (1) share the initial work with the professor supervising the field work paper, to the extent that work is non-privileged, and (2) obtain permission for the expansion from the instructor or supervisor who supervised the initial project. Once you have secured the necessary permissions and defined your project, you can register for this course by completing the Independent Writing Project: Field Work Paper form. In this form, to be submitted to the Registrar's Office, indicate whether you are seeking one credit (a 15-page paper, double-spaced, exclusive of endnotes, tables, appendices, etc.) or two credits (a 30-page paper, double-spaced, exclusive of endnotes, tables, appendices, etc.) The course must be taken pass/fail and counts toward your limit of pass/fail credits. No more than three hours of 505, 494, and 495 credit may be awarded to an individual student.
Directed Reading Project is an opportunity for a student to do a directed reading project of their own design in consultation with a supervising faculty member. Writing reflection papers and meeting with the supervising faculty member, students read a collection of materials in an area of interest that cannot be explored in the context of existing classes. Credit may not be awarded for work that duplicates the work of a course, clinic, externship, or practicum for which the student has already received credit or duplicates work for which they were paid. Credit may be awarded for work that expands on work initially assigned in, or conceived during a course, clinic, externship, practicum, or paid work experience but only if the continued work represents a meaningful and substantial contribution to the already existing project. If the student seeks to continue or expand on work that the student initiated previously (whether for a course, clinic, externship, practicum, or paid work) a student must (1) share the initial work with the professor supervising the directed reading project, to the extent that work is non-privileged, and (2) obtain permission for the expansion from the instructor or supervisor who supervised the initial project. Once you have secured a supervising faculty member and have defined your project, you can register for this course by completing the Directed Reading Project form. In this form, to be submitted to the Registrar's Office, indicate whether you are seeking one credit (producing a total of 15 pages of written work, double-spaced, exclusive of endnotes, tables, appendices, etc.) or two credits (producing a total of 30 pages of written work, double-spaced, exclusive of endnotes, tables, appendices, etc.) No more than three hours of 505, 495, 495 credit may be award to an individual student.
This course, which will include both classroom and field components, offers an overview of juvenile delinquency proceedings. The class component will cover substantive and procedural aspects of juvenile delinquency proceedings along with relevant social science background. The field component will allow students to observe juvenile court judges and to represent juveniles in delinquency proceedings and related matters, under the supervision of practicing attorneys. Trial Practice Lab 610 is a pre-requisite or co-requisite for this course unless the student obtains the permission of the instructor to waive this requirement.
This course will touch on each of these interconnected areas of law: Food, Agriculture, and the Environment; however, we will focus on the “Ag” in our course title. We at Wake Forest Law are lucky to have many adjacent courses in Food and the Environment, including Animal Law; Energy Law; Environmental Law (course and clinic!); Environmental Justice; FDA Law; Food Law; and Natural Resources. (I can also recommend Biotech Law and Policy, Immigration Law, International Trade Law, Land Use Regulation and Planning, Lobbying Theory and Practice, Real Estate Finance, Regulatory Law and Policy, and our tax courses for those interested in an Ag Law practice.) That said, you can’t separate agriculture from food or the environment, for they are intertwined, as we will see. During this course, we will, among other things: consider the role of the Farm Bill in food production, critique various federal farm support programs, study the distinct attributes of farm finance, analyze the pros and cons of industrialized agriculture, and consider the role land ownership and use plays in US agriculture.
A detailed study of one or more selected aspects of criminal procedure. The topics covered in recent years have included sentencing law, police accountability, and the jurisprudence of the death penalty.
An examination of the nature of international law, sources and evidence of international law and agreements, and international dispute resolution, including the use of force.
This seminar explores the foundational beliefs that define our legal system. We will study how leading thinkers have conceived of the law during the Classical Era, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and Modern Times. This class will challenge you to think about thinking.
A survey of the rights and duties of employers, unions, and employees under the National Labor Relations Act.
Independent Writing Project: Research Paper is an opportunity for a student to do an independent scholarly project of their own design, meant to lead to the production of an original research paper. Once you have secured a supervising faculty member and have defined your project, you can register for this course by completing the Independent Writing Project: Research Paper form. In this form, to be submitted to the Registrar’s Office, indicate whether you are seeking one credit (a 15-page paper, double-spaced, exclusive of endnotes, tables, appendices, etc.) or two credits (a 30-page paper, double-spaced, exclusive of endnotes, tables, appendices, etc.). The course must be taken pass/fail and counts toward your limit of pass/fail credits. No more than three hours of 505, 494, and 495 combined credit may be awarded to an individual student.
This course will broadly study American poverty, poverty programs, and constitutional, federal, state, and municipal laws that directly affect the poor. Students will survey wealth disparities in the U.S. through demographic data relating to income, educational attainment, housing, access to medical care, and voting.
An exploration of how laws address family relationships: the rights and responsibilities of family members to each other, the rights and responsibilities of family members to third parties, and how these rights and responsibilities are enforced at divorce. Special attention will be paid to the family law issues arising most frequently in a family law practice – asset and liability division, alimony, child support, child custody, and modification of prior orders.
In the words of one author, "Insurance ideas and practices define central privileges and responsibilities within a society. In that sense, our insurance arrangements form a material constitution, one that operates through routine, mundane transactions that nevertheless define the contours of individual and social responsibility. For that reason, studying who is eligible to receive what insurance benefits, and who pays for them, is as good a guide to the social compact as any combination of Supreme Court opinions.” Accordingly, this course will cover an array of insurance law issues, including contract law foundations, insurance regulation, first-party insurance (including life, property, and disability), and liability insurance (including its implication on tort law), always keeping in mind the broader societal implications of insurance as a risk- and cost-spreading device.
A study of the law of state and local government, legislative and municipal process, bill drafting, and interest groups. Guest speakers include state and local legislators, mayors, and elected officials. Study of the role of the lawyer in public process and representation.
This course will teach students about the emerging field of hemp law; and how it impacts growers, processors, retailers, and other parts of the supply chain. Although hemp cultivation has been legalized at the federal level, the laws in each state still vary. This class will explore the intersection of federal and state law and the USDA’s final rule for the domestic hemp production program. In addition, the class will explore the role of other federal agencies in regulating hemp and hemp products.
This course will help you understand modern environmental law - its genesis, its strengths, and its weaknesses - and how you can use it, and perhaps shape it, in your career. After covering basic principles of constitutional and administrative law as they apply to environmental regulation, the course focuses on the major federal environmental statutes, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act. The course uses actual case examples to illustrate major concepts.
This course surveys the federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on account of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, and disability. It includes theories of liability, defenses, administrative procedures, and remedies. Students may not take this course and Employment Discrimination: Selected Topics 562.
A study of issues related to the jurisdiction of the U.S. trial and appellate courts, including subject matter jurisdiction, venue, judicial jurisdiction, standing, and other issues particularly related to federal courts, such as the abstention doctrine, forum non conveniens, choice of law, and joinder of state and federal law issues in the same case.
This class offers an introduction to how business entities address financial distress and existential threats. By exploring preeminent bankruptcy cases – including Purdue Pharma, FTX, Boy Scouts of America, WeWork, Lehman Brothers, and Toys ‘R Us – we will connect theory to practice and illuminate the opaque world of corporate rehabilitation.
There are no prerequisites. The class includes an overview of the general principles and forms of relief offered by the federal Bankruptcy Code and discusses the options available to and strategy employed by corporate debtors. The class will provide students with an understanding of not only substantive legal rules but also the structure of the bankruptcy system and the policy goals that it seeks to achieve. Because bankruptcy law is statutory, we will focus on the Bankruptcy Code, supplemented by caselaw, and discussed in class through the medium of thought-provoking problems. Grades will be based on a final exam.
A study of Articles 9 and 6 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), which apply to transactions in which a debtor borrows money from a creditor and grants to the creditor a security interest in the personal property of the debtor to secure the debtor's promise to repay the loan.
A study of Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) , which applies to sales or transactions in goods, and related topics.
This experiential course is ideal for prospective law clerks or future litigators who wish to learn more about the perspective behind the bench. It explores the purpose and function of a law clerk, the nature and structure of the judiciary, how to apply for and obtain a clerkship, and most importantly, how to perform it well. Topics of discussion include judicial ethics, chambers confidentiality, docket management, courtroom decorum, professionalism, judicial drafting, and other issues that law clerks commonly encounter. Among other things, students draft an 11-day memo, bench memo, and judicial opinion. The course also includes Lunch & Learn events with federal judges, field trips to the U.S. Supreme Court, FBI, etc., and visits from guest speakers, including a prosecutor, in-house counsel, DOJ attorney, and partners at prominent law firms.
The subject matter includes a variety of communications industries - print media, film, broadcasting, and the Internet - and a variety of legal topics - copyright infringement, defamation, censorship, and privacy. The course focuses on the impact of new technologies on the topic.
The Law School publishes the Journal of Business and Intellectual Property Law. This publication features articles, notes, and comments from intellectual property practitioners, students, and faculty. The JBIPL encourages students to submit articles focusing on topics such as trademarks, copyrights, patent, trade secrets, unfair competition, cyberlaw, Internet business law, or any other subject of intellectual property. These items can be papers already completed for coursework or articles specifically written for the journal.
An in-depth study of the law of products liability, with emphasis on problems of proof and other litigation problems.
An exploration of legal aspects of the practice of medicine focused primarily on medical malpractice but also includes the duty to treat, confidentiality, informed consent, and end-of-life treatment decisions. In some semesters, a "Practicum Extension" (350) will be available for 1 or 2 students to work with local lawyers at the Veteran's Administration health care system.
This course introduces students to the structure, financing, and regulation of the health care system and proposals for its reform. Legal topics include Medicare, medical staff disputes, health care antitrust, tax exemption, corporate organization, and insurance regulation.
A survey of common, state, and federal laws applicable to non-union employees, including at-will employment and its exceptions; workers compensation; the Fair Labor Standards Act; the Occupational Safety and Health Act; civil rights laws; and employer liability for employee screening, testing, and referrals.
Covers the essentials of employment law that practicing lawyers use on a day-to-day basis.
Our economy, livelihoods, and society rest upon natural resources. This course explores the legal and policy norms for owning, managing, and stewarding natural resources such as land, ocean, wildlife, forests, minerals, oil and gas, and our climate. We will also study how the U.S. manages the recreational and spiritual values of our natural resources.
This course will include an overview of juvenile delinquency law, as well as criminal child abuse and neglect issues, and a comprehensive look at child abuse and neglect law and procedure, including termination of parental rights actions, relevant federal legislation, and interstate compacts. The course will also cover the major types of adoption - agency, relative, stepparent, independent, and adult - from adoption petition to entry of final decree and post-adoption issues.
Examines the areas in which legaltech is changing the practice of law: e-discovery, legal operations, and privacy/security. Students will learn about the technological state of the legal industry today and what the future holds. As Artificial Intelligence, data analytics, and cyber security continue to emerge, the traditional legal service delivery model is no longer adequate to meet heightened client expectations.
Explores the development and use of artificial intelligence as it applies to legal institutions, analyzing legal cases involving artificial intelligence, and evaluating legal frameworks for regulating artificial intelligence.
A survey course designed to provide the prospective general practitioner with knowledge of the basic principles of intellectual property and unfair competition law.
A study of the public regulation of land use and its alternatives. The primary focus is on the scope of the police power in the zoning process.
An overview of federal antitrust law or competition law, including laws related to agreements restraining trade (especially agreements between competitors), monopolization and attempted monopolization, unfair trade practices, and merger policy and practice. These topics are relevant to all businesses and their lawyers. The course focuses on learning the fundamentals and a practical approach for counseling clients in this area.
The study of American banking laws and regulations taught from a historical standpoint from pre-colonial times to the present.
This course is a study of the policy and constitutional underpinnings of the U.S. Patent System including consideration of economic justifications; exploration of basic requirements of patentability including patentable subject matter, novelty, and non-obviousness; overview of U.S. Patent Office procedures; exploration of patent infringement standards and procedures including claim construction, determination of liability, defenses and remedies; and consideration of the role of patents in business transactions and licensing.
Overview of the law regarding administration and litigation of employee benefit plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Aside from employee benefits being an in-demand practice area in and of itself, students interested in employment law, tax law, family law, or estate planning will also come away with valuable knowledge on how ERISA intersects with all of these areas and will be better equipped to address employee benefits issues in their future practices.
Seminar in advanced appellate advocacy involving research and drafting of briefs and presentation of oral arguments as a member of an interscholastic moot court team. Students may repeat this course for a maximum of two hours of credit.
In this course, you will be exposed to major court decisions that have shaped elementary and secondary education in the U.S. Although we will at times discuss the legal authority and legal problems faced by private schools and institutions of higher education, the emphasis of the course is K-12 public and charter schools and the unique challenges faced by these governmental entities. A broad range of education law topics will be covered at a very quick pace, including compulsory education; the establishment clause; local board control; the use of school facilities; desegregation; gender equality; student rights; special education; and the rights of public employees.
Covers the essential aspects of state-mandated, no-fault, programs that compensate employees injured or killed at work. The focus is on determining under what circumstances an employer is liable for the injury or disease suffered by an employee, the employment relationship, what constitutes a compensable injury and occupational disease, and the exclusivity of the workers' compensation remedy in place of the traditional tort remedy. The course will highlight the difference between the tort system that focuses on fault as a basis for liability and workers' compensation that focuses on the connection to work as the basis of liability.
This course covers the basic federal tax considerations relevant to entity choice (the choice of an entity to be a sole proprietorship, passthrough entity (including LLC, partnership), or corporation. It introduces students to the passthrough regime of partnerships and LLCs and the double tax regime of C-Corporations. Then it covers the tax rules applicable to the lifecycle of a C-Corporation, including the tax implications on C-Corporations and their shareholders of corporate formation, corporate earnings, corporate spending, corporate operations, dividends, redemptions, stock sales, and corporate dissolution. P - LAW 206 Taxation: Federal Income.
Covers the path from assessment of a tax with the filing of a return, through the audit process, to the various paths available to contest an assessment including the Tax Court and the Federal Court of Claims, then how the IRS goes about collecting the tax once assessed and what defenses are available to taxpayers. If time permits, we will briefly cover the procedures that apply to North Carolina’s Department of Revenue.
An in-depth analysis of federal and state regulation of corporate takeovers to include acquisition techniques, legal protection afforded shareholders and others, federal tender offer and disclosure rules, state corporate fiduciary law, and anti-takeover statutes. P-LAW 203.
A two-credit seminar-style course in which students study recent developments in key areas of employment law including, but not limited to, discrimination; harassment; retaliation; accommodation; wages and hours; safety and health; labor law; and common-law claims. The course often focuses on circuit splits and recent agency rulings. Each student must write a research paper and make a class presentation on the research.
This course will cover a broad range of topics as we survey the landscape of immigration law: Who is a citizen of the United States? Who else can enter and reside lawfully as a permanent resident or on a short-term visa? When can noncitizens be forced to leave? Who has the authority to answer the preceding three questions? Immigration law is a statutory course, focusing on provisions of the Immigration & Nationality Act. We will also cover important cases of constitutional law.
This course introduces the student to the rapidly evolving field of national security and counterterrorism/homeland security law, including law enforcement/intelligence operations to prevent acts of terrorism; and measures to apprehend, detain, and prosecute such perpetrators in civilian and military tribunals. If time permits, the course will also discuss the legal and policy approaches to terrorism/terrorist organizations in other countries such as the UK and Israel among others.
This course provides a comprehensive overview of elder law, focusing on the legal issues and challenges faced by older adults. Students will explore the legal principles and practices essential for advising and representing elderly clients, encompassing topics such as estate planning, long-term care, guardianship, housing, and elder abuse. The course will also address the intersection of law and Government benefits, including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Disability, and SSI while highlighting the importance of a holistic approach to meeting the needs of older individuals.
This course exposes students to the fundamentals of civil pre-trial litigation with an emphasis on equipping participants for the real-world practice of law. By working through a hypothetical case, students learn about litigation strategy and case analysis while practicing foundational lawyering skills including drafting pleadings, motions, and discovery; interviewing clients and witnesses in formal and informal settings; conducting oral arguments; and engaging in a mediated settlement conference. The class has a heavy practical focus and includes regular written assignments and in-class exercises.
A survey of the significant laws and policies of the European Community, including the legal and institutional framework, the internal market, competition and environmental laws, and an overview of external relations and commercial policy.
This course examines the legal issues arising in high school, college, and professional sports. It addresses legal issues traversing multiple substantive areas of law, including rules governing contractual relationships in sports, defining tort liability in sports, embodying antitrust and labor law issues in sports, governing gender equity issues in sports, and governing agency relationships in sports. It provides an opportunity for students to develop their statutory and analytical skills by interpreting sports-related cases, statutes, collective bargaining agreements, and player association regulations.
This course examines the legal issues associated with technology, with a particular focus on the Internet. Among other topics, the course covers primers on the technical underpinnings of the Internet, the regulation of Internet access and domain names; contract formation, execution, and enforceability; jurisdiction and choice of law; speech; intellectual property focus; artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and the Internet of Things. A background in computer science and/or intellectual property law is not required.
This course is about complex civil litigation and covers a variety of civil procedure topics not taught in the first-year course (and a few that are) that bear on complex litigation. Topics that are covered include consideration of what makes a civil case complex, advanced joinder devices (intervention, necessary parties, interpleader, consolidation), multidistrict litigation, overlapping state and federal actions, including injunctions against prosecuting duplicative actions, discovery and the conflict between zealous representation and the obligation of cooperation in discovery, confidentiality orders, appellate jurisdiction, attorney’s fees, and mechanisms to structure the trial, such as bifurcation of issues. A substantial portion of the course covers class actions.
A study of a wide range of international transactions, including marketing of goods and services; license or transfer of technology; distribution and franchising; joint ventures; finance and governmental regulation. Various multi-lateral initiatives, such as the Vienna Convention on Contracts for the Sale of Goods, will be discussed. Discussion and analysis of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
This seminar is designed to examine concepts of race and racism and how they intersect historically and currently with law in the United States. It is intended to equip students to think critically about legal policy, practice, and analysis and how those areas impact race-related concerns. Typical topics have included concepts of race; race and constitutional interpretation; education; desegregation; and voting rights.
This seminar will prompt students to consider fundamental changes in our models of policing and the ways that various institutions – including criminal courts, tort plaintiffs, local governments, federal civil rights enforcers, insurance companies, media companies, and others – might drive that change.
Immerse yourself in the English Renaissance! While learning about the history of Elizabethan courts, explore the art, poetry, sermons, manuscripts, and public speeches that intersected with Renaissance law. You’ll visit the Old Bailey, see a Shakespeare play, transcribe manuscripts, turn the pages of four-hundred-year-old books in rare book libraries, and explore the London sites where law, art, and literature intertwine. You will explore the development of the common law through historical and legal texts as well as speaking with judges and lawyers who are experts in the subject. And by reading John Donne’s “Sermon Upon the Fifth of November,” George Herbert’s “Justice” poems, Elizabeth I’s speeches, William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, and passages from Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene and John Milton’s Paradise Lost that center on law and justice, you will experience the cultural context of one of law’s most dynamic and pivotal periods. In addition to daily group learning experiences, the group will together draft an article on the development of the jury and its role as a source of restorative justice, as a democratic body, and as a nullifier of unjust laws.
This course will explore religious freedom as defined by the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Described as the “first freedom,” the concept of religious freedom has figured prominently in a variety of culture clashes during the past few decades, including same-sex marriage; racial justice advocacy; reproductive rights; immigration; and pandemic-related regulations. These clashes have legal implications as the Supreme Court has considered a religion-related case almost every year of the Roberts Court. While principally focused on the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses, this course will also give attention to other aspects of religious freedom such as the relevant aspects of the Free Speech Clause and federal statutes and state laws relating to religious freedom. This course will offer a greater examination of religious freedom than provided in Constitutional Law classes by exploring familiar topics and cases in greater depth, while also introducing new areas for analysis and discussion. Major topics will include the sociological foundation for religion; the history of religious freedom in the United States; the current law governing religious accommodations; and the current law implementing the Establishment Clause.
This course focuses on the basics of copyright law, including the subject matter of copyright; how copyright is secured and maintained; the scope of protection; and the duration, renewal, and transfer of rights. It also explores the enforcement of copyright, the impact of new technologies, and issues relating to access and use of copyrightable subject matter.
This course focuses on the basics of trademark law, including: how trademark rights are acquired at common law and under the Lanham Act; the distinctiveness spectrum and the problems of "genericness;" and how to protect product packaging and design as source identifiers. It also explores issues relating to traditional trademark infringement as well as dilution and anti-cybersquatting.
The course will include problems and writing assignments to help students learn new areas (ones we were unable to cover in Constitutional Law I) and explore familiar areas in greater depth. Topics that may be covered will include the creation of the media in the Founding Era, a couple of historical controversies as a lens to understand free expression issues, is there a First Amendment freedom of expression right to receive, in the privacy of one's home, sexually oriented materials that meet the obscenity test (e.g., over the computer, cable, etc.), first amendment rights of government employees, free expression and secrecy orders in civil cases, political gerrymanders and the First Amendment, the tension between freedom of expression and other interests in student free speech rights in public schools, and more.
This course will explore questions central to public law issues in the United States and across the world. It will consider the purposes for which constitutions are established, and the processes of constitution-making and constitutional change. Students will write a paper contrasting the constitutional law on a particular topic of a given country with the comparable law in the United States. Weekly films will explore the culture of the countries selected by the students for their papers.
This course examines human rights law at the United Nations and regional levels and in U.S. law. It also covers international criminal law.
The Wake Forest Law Review is a student-run organization that publishes four issues annually, hosts a lecture series, and sponsors a daylong symposium focused on a specific, dedicated Law Review topic. Membership is determined through academic performance and/or participation in a writing competition. Students may repeat this course once, for a maximum of four hours of credit.
This seminar is intended for students who are already familiar with the main contours of intellectual property law and would like to explore the subject further. During the semester students will explore in-depth a variety of material (such as law review articles, book chapters, and other media) related to the selected topic. Each student will research and write an academic paper related to the selected topic. The draft of the paper will be presented and discussed in class. Students will then produce a final version of the paper, with an aim of producing a paper of publishable quality. Prerequisite: Any one of the following courses: Intellectual Property Survey, Copyright Law, Patent Law, Trademark Law, or the IP Clinical course.
This course examines the law and legal theories related to identifying and protecting competitive business interests and confidential business information — one of the fastest-growing areas of intellectual property law outside of traditional patent, copyright, and trademark concerns. In general, the course covers trade secret identification, protection, and misappropriation; covenants not to compete and other forms of restrictive covenants, including noncompetition, non-solicitation, confidentiality and assignment of invention agreements; applicable state and federal statutes, case law, and common law duties; litigation strategies and the many practical issues regarding the protection of confidential information, customers and other legitimate business interests given today’s highly mobile and computerized workplace. Litigation and client counseling strategies are also explored, with a practical focus on applying legal theories to typical situations confronted in this rapidly developing area of law.
This course is designed to introduce law students to the legal, business, and creative aspects of entertainment law, with a particular emphasis on the film and television industries. It also provides a survey of some of the other areas touched by entertainment law, including intellectual property, rights of privacy and publicity, food libel, parody, fair use, libel and slander, music, obscenity, and contracts. Whether you intend to practice it or are just interested in the subject matter, students will gain an understanding of how entertainment law can be used to protect and empower creative people.
This course explores the theory and practice of negotiation skills across multiple disciplines of legal practice. Through negotiation simulations, class readings, and lectures/discussions, it seeks to prepare students for one of the most vital components of being a practicing attorney -- the ability to properly represent your client's interests within the inevitable context of give-and-take that most areas of law involve.
This is the field placement component of the Litigation Externship and is paired with the Litigation Externship Course. In accordance with ABA guidelines, students work at a placement under a supervising attorney. The placement may be criminal, civil, or a combination of both. C-LAW 603.
The course provides students with an opportunity to build upon their placement experience with a litigation-focused curriculum. The course is complementary to other litigation-focused courses but is developed to meet or exceed ABA standards for experiential learning. C-LAW 602.
Provides students with the opportunity to expand their skills in using primary and secondary legal sources in the context of legal practice so they can competently represent their clients. The course covers a range of topics, including statutory and case law research, practice materials, specialized topical resources, and cost-effective research strategies. Upon completion of this course, students will have gained experience in formulating efficient research methodologies and evaluating sources of legal information in various formats.
A study in the conception, development, and management of contemporary law practice. Students will engage in various projects under simulated business conditions and client pressures.
A series of lecture/discussion and lab classes devoted to the study of examining witnesses and trying cases that include the following topics: pretrial motions, jury selection, opening statement, direct and cross-examination, impeachment, laying foundations for exhibits, and closing arguments. Students learn how to separate fact from argument, how to mine and polish facts, and how to examine witnesses and introduce exhibits, which are critical skills in both depositions and trials. Each element of the trial is studied in discrete weekly lectures/discussions and lab classes that culminate in a final mock jury trial with a presiding judge and jurors in the box. P-LAW 207
A series of lecture/discussion and lab classes devoted to the study of examining witnesses and trying cases that includes the following topics: pretrial motions, jury selection, opening statement, direct and cross-examination, impeachment, laying foundations for exhibits, and closing arguments. Students learn how to separate fact from argument, how to mine and polish facts, and how to examine witnesses and introduce exhibits, which are critical skills in both depositions and trials. Each element of trial is studied in discrete weekly lecture/discussion and lab classes that culminate in a final mock jury trial with a presiding judge and jurors in the box. P-LAW 207.
This course covers several subject areas not covered in depth in the basic trial practice course: voir dire, witness preparation, expert witness examination, and case planning. Students will perform exercises in each of these areas. They will try two cases during the semester. The last trial is an advanced civil case that serves as their final exam and requires the use of courtroom technology. P-LAW 207, 610, and 610L.
Interscholastic trial competition for selected students. Students may repeat this course for a maximum of three hours of credit.
Introduces U.S. housing law and policy with a focus on low and moderate income tenants as well as homeowners. Examines the history of housing policies and problems, public housing and federally subsidized housing, habitability and code enforcement, foreclosure, gentrification, eviction, and fair housing law. Students will develop an understanding of the legal, social, and historic underpinnings of contemporary housing challenges, and how these insights inform advocacy strategies to promote housing justice.
Intimate relationships are deeply personal, yet they are also subject to extensive state regulation. Laws attempt to balance the desires of individuals and the needs of society. But that can often be challenging. How should the state safeguard people’s ability to pursue personal happiness, while at the same time ensure that individuals behave responsibly towards others? Can the government stay out of private spaces and simultaneously protect individuals from oppression and abuse? Is it possible for the law to recognize a variety of intimate relationships without privileging some over others?
This course will take up these and other questions, asking how, when, and why the state regulates intimate relationships. Students will discuss the tradeoffs that these regulations require between the rights to privacy, autonomy, and equality. The course will consequently both provide an overview of current regulatory frameworks as well as challenge students to think about what the law should be as a normative matter.
This course is your ticket into the world of securities regulation. You will learn the "ins and outs" of federal regulation of securities offerings (IPOs, private placements, and crowdfunding) under the Securities Act of 1933, as well as become familiar with the basics of federal regulation of securities markets and trading under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. P-LAW 203.
An introduction to the federal estate and gift tax system. Students learn how to draft a simple will, a will with a trust for a disabled spouse or minor children, a revocable trust to avoid probate, a life insurance trust to provide liquidity to an otherwise illiquid estate, and a special needs or supplemental needs trust to provide for a relative who is receiving benefits from Medicaid. P or C-LAW 306.
Students will write a biography of a justice of the Supreme Court. The first part of the course will examine the nature of history; the second part will consist of studying the justices students have selected. Weekly films will explore the eras of American history the justices represent.
This course deals with lawsuits against federal, state, and local governments, with special emphasis on Section 1983 suits and immunity doctrines. Course readings will draw extensively on actual case files and documents.
Examination of selected legal problems relating to some of the following topics: choice of business entity, forming a partnership, forming a corporation, corporate restructuring transactions (shifting ownership interests among shareholders), purchase and sale of a business. P-LAW 203.
Examines some of the largest and most infamous fraud cases of the century. The course focuses on the salacious details of each case and discusses (i) why these prominent and once-successful companies failed; (ii) what this failure highlights about human nature and corporate governance; and (iii) the resultant legacy and lessons. The course provides an overarching perspective on corporate malfeasance that crippled some of the most successful companies in the world.
Partnership Tax teaches students a “pass-through” tax regime that applies not only to all forms of partnerships (general partnerships, LPs, LLPs, and LLLPs) but also to LLCs and (with some modifications) S-Corporations. Business entities that are taxed as partnerships make up a huge portion of tax filings and students looking to do legal work for family-owned or small businesses should have a solid background in Partnership Tax. P - LAW 206 Taxation: Federal Income.
Classical rhetoric is the art of proper persuasion and therefore central not only to the practice of law but to social life itself. Litigation, negotiation, public speaking as well as interactions with clients, colleagues, teachers, students, government, and all others encountered in daily life require proper and effective rhetoric. Such rhetoric is much more substantive than mere style. Its basic principles were refined by the ancient Greeks and Romans who understood its critical role in good citizenship, good government, and in the good life. This course will study these basic principles of persuasion and their application in legal arguments, court decisions, famous speeches, and other materials and will practice putting these principles into application with the hope of not only improving legal skills but life skills as well. Offered periodically.
This two-credit course builds on traditional doctrinal courses such as contracts and torts and tracks the use of these doctrines by attorneys who advise and advocate for parties involved in construction projects. It incorporates practical problems that require students to learn and exercise “lawyering” skills such as (a) contract drafting, (b) contract review, (c) client counseling about the management of risk, (d) claim identification, and (e) claim preparation. The substantive topics to be covered include competitive bidding, project design, contract documents, project scheduling, payment issues, construction changes, damages, workplace safety issues, insurance, mechanic’s liens, suretyship, and alternative dispute resolution.
In your legal practice, you will be exposed to race-related issues—in the facts of your cases; in your interactions with clients, opposing counsel, witnesses, judges, and jurors; and in the law itself. You will also face race-related issues in your professional life—in the policies and practices of the bar and your firm; in your interactions with colleagues; and in your attempts to gain and manage clients. This course explores the ways in which race is relevant to the law and legal practice, with an eye on what social science research can tell us. The course will also explore how you might be a leader on race issues in your professional life.
This course taught as a seminar, examines the advocacy skills that lawyers use in regulatory practice to persuade agencies to adopt actions that their clients favor. Any student who thinks she or he might practice in front of a regulatory agency should benefit from the course.
A survey of legal, ethical, and policy issues regarding non-human animals. Topics include anti-cruelty laws; medical and scientific research; liability for injuries to, or caused by animals; hunting laws; and standing for animals.
Law schools classically prepare attorneys to represent clients by teaching the law, theory, procedures, and, skills necessary to prepare for and try cases in court. This approach is based upon the underlying assumption that our legal system works best when disputes are determined by an impartial judge or jury after a zealous presentation of the facts and law by the attorneys for all parties. Instead, this mediation practice class is based upon the assumptions that: 1) most parties know what is in their own best interest; 2) if given the opportunity and tools, most litigants are able to solve their own problems and 3) litigants are generally more satisfied when they are involved in determining the outcome of their cases instead of the results being dictated to them by a judge or jury. The course will focus on mediation as a method of dispute resolution from the perspective of attorneys representing clients at mediation as well as from the perspective of mediators facilitating mediated settlement conferences. Students will participate in simulated mediation sessions. This course is 50% lecture and 50% practical skills. Local attorneys assist me by observing students in simulations, guiding and advising students' in-class work, and adding to students' practical knowledge from their own legal careers. This course follows the required curriculum of the 40-hour training that NC attorneys receive in partial satisfaction of the requirements to become North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission (NCDRC) Certified Mediators. The NCDRC has approved this course as commensurate to that which practicing attorneys receive. Passing students receive a certificate of completion which they may present to the NCDRC in their fifth year of law practice in satisfaction of Rule 8A of the Revised Rules for Superior Court Civil actions. Students who have taken Dispute Resolution in the past or who are enrolled in or who plan to take the Dispute Resolution course may not register for Mediation.
This course will provide law students with the opportunity to learn the skills that are necessary to deploy technology solutions to benefit underserved clients. Students will study access to justice issues and be exposed to technology tools that lawyers are using to address access to justice problems. Students will learn how to build software applications (“apps”) for use by the law school’s clinics and organizations that offer legal aid.
This course will examine how the law affects women’s lives in a number of different contexts. The class will consider a number of different areas, including but not limited to employment, education, family responsibilities, violence against women, and other issues affecting women’s bodies, including pornography and prostitution. The class will also review a number of feminist legal theories and issues relating to the intersection of gender with race and class.
This course will examine the legal framework that governs international economic relations, including in particular international trade in goods. It will discuss the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and NAFTA, looking not only at how the international rules work but also at how they conflict with or complement efforts to protect other goals, such as protecting labor rights and the environment.
This seminar will examine and assess the legal regimes nations have developed to address international and global environmental problems, including climate change, ozone depletion, marine pollution, and the extinction of species.
The course will teach and compare French, American, and EU tort doctrine in a variety of areas such as (1) pure economic loss (both in negligence and intentional torts like fraud/intentional interference with contractual relations, etc.); (2) liability for traffic accidents, specifically autonomous vehicles; (3) product liability (including artificial intelligence); (4) liability for violations of privacy; (5) liability in tort between contracting parties (the borderline between tort and contract law); (6) damages/punitive damages; (7) governmental immunity; and (8) systemic topics such as contingency fees arrangements, the payment of legal fees, public advocacy, access to justice, and the various ethical and justice concerns that arise in each country’s approach. Learning objectives include not only helping students gain an understanding of tort doctrine in these jurisdictions but also developing the skills necessary to apply and critique the doctrine to the facts of new cases. Special attention will be brought to critiquing American tort law from a European perspective—what are we getting right/wrong? What societal goals are we sacrificing that Europeans have embraced? Vice versa? What are the relative merits of structural differences in access to justice, procedural requirements, jury v. bench trials, extensive judicial opinions, etc.? We will also explore ethical and character issues to which each system gives rise.
This course is currently available only in the summer. The director of the externship designates one or more cities in North and South Carolina, usually including Charlotte, NC, and offers the students externships in a designated practice area. The practice areas vary from summer to summer. Students meet weekly with the director to integrate and apply the doctrinal insights received elsewhere in the law school curriculum and in the subject matter of the field placements.
The Transactional Competition Board is a student-run organization that oversees transactional competitions and the preparation and publication of an annual Problem Book. Students selected by the Transactional Competition Board to prepare and edit the Problem Book receive one academic credit on certification of their work by a faculty member.
This course will provide an introduction to the field of domestic and international commercial arbitration, the latter of which has become the default means of settling international disputes. The course will also introduce the concept and general principles of investor-state arbitration. The purpose of this class is to encourage the development of critical thinking skills and responses to the existing practices and habits of actors involved in the practice of domestic and international commercial arbitration. The class will provide students with a structural understanding of how arbitration works and the practical skills necessary to participate in an arbitration practice. The course will also introduce emerging issues, themes, and controversies in the resolution of international disputes. Students can expect to review both domestic and foreign commentaries, statutes, international conventions, institutional rules, and case law on the subject.
This seminar provides an introduction to private investment funds, including an overview of the distinction between private and public funds, why investment managers choose to operate private funds, the common types of private funds, how these funds are typically structured, important private fund service provider relationships, initial regulatory matters, and ongoing regulatory matters. In doing so, we will emphasize practical skills utilized by attorneys in assisting private fund clients, such as drafting marketing materials and offering documents.
This skills course will focus on the use of North Carolina specific sources for research in simulated real-world scenarios. We will utilize print sources, commercial databases, and government websites to find answers to North Carolina queries in the most cost-effective and efficient ways possible.
The course will survey a range of American literature with a focus on works by African-American writers from ante-Bellum to the present. Students will juxtapose legal developments in the history of race relations in the U.S. from slavery, through the civil rights amendments to the Constitution, the black codes, Jim Crow, Harlem Renaissance, civil rights era, to the present. The course marries skills developed in law school with critical readings of literature and film to better understand the context of legal issues that might be encounter.
A skills-development course that focuses on improving your analytical skills to approach and perform well on bar exam questions. Additional emphasis will be on refining your memorization skills and learning how to self-assess your understanding of concepts. This course will include an intensive substantive review of selected legal material routinely tested on the bar exam in eight (8) subject areas. The course will use problems and exercises in a bar exam format to familiarize you with techniques for answering multiple choice (MBE) questions and writing essay questions.
LLM students must complete a two-hour writing requirement. The student may select either the thesis option or the seminar paper writing option. Restricted to LLM and SJD students.
The course provides an overview of various areas of American law, of the U.S. legal profession, and of the U.S. judicial process. The program is structured as a series of lectures and discussions by members of the law school faculty on the highlights of selected substantive areas in American Law.(Restricted to LLM students).
This course supplements the thesis or other academic writing requirement necessary to obtain the LLM Degree. The course reinforces graduate student production by refining discourse and promoting pragmatic (not just grammatical) competence in a scholarly context that includes conferences, academic presentations and critical research papers with a view toward publication at home and abroad. This course is required for students electing the thesis track and is optional for students pursuing the alternative writing requirement. (Restricted to LLM students).
LLM students who opt not to write a thesis must satisfactorily complete an upper-level seminar course that requires the research and the writing of a significant paper in conjunction with at least a two-hour course. This paper will be written under the supervision and grading of the professor teaching the course.
By participating in this seminar, you will be guided through the process of writing a scholarly article in the form of a thesis or seminar paper. Additionally, this course is designed to help you structure a reasonable research and writing schedule in order to complete a thoughtful and well-written paper within the specific time frame. Class meetings will consist of discussion, a series of brainstorming, research, writing, and editing exercises. This course is only available to LLM students who must complete a substantial writing requirement for graduation. Students are expected to work closely with their faculty advisor or seminar paper course instructor in conjunction with this course.
S.J.D. candidates must enroll in this course every semester, whether in residence or not. Under the supervision of their faculty dissertation advisor, S.J.D. candidates conduct independent research and writing relating to the candidate's S.J.D. dissertation. The S.J.D. candidate is required to complete a dissertation of publishable quality that constitutes an original and substantial scholarly contribution to the area of law in which it is written.
An overview of the United States legal system in the context of today’s workplace, including the judicial system, federal-state relationship, law-making processes, and the role of lawyers. Specific attention to real-world-centered examples, including writing and drafting assignments in various workplace settings to provide insight into the legal context of decision-making and risk management.
Introduction to federal, state, and local government systems that govern the relationship between the individual and the state. This class examines the constitutional structure of American government, the processes by which laws and regulations are made, the methods agencies use to enforce the law, and the role of the judicial system. Topics covered will include civil rights, criminal procedure, environmental law, zoning and land use regulation, health and safety regulation, health care regulation, and financial regulation.
Most non-criminal law concerns rights and duties between persons: the legal obligations of people to each other in carrying on their day-to-day personal and business lives. This everyday law is called private law and includes an ever-increasing, wide range of legal subtopics and specialties. Almost all of these private law subtopics, however, derive from and are variants of three, foundational, meta-legal areas of law: tort, contract, and property. This course introduces these three areas; explores their relationships in business and the economy; and considers how they enable free enterprise.
This course will familiarize you with the basics of business law and the vocabulary of business. Specifically, you will learn about the law applicable to (1) agency relationships; (2) for-profit business firms, (3) securities offerings and stock trading, (4) non-profit organizations; and (5) mixed-purpose social enterprises. Of necessity, we will sample topics in each area (such as the formation of business firms, liabilities and governance powers of firm participants, duties within the firm, financing the firm, insider trading liability, tax implications, and firm dissolution). On all of these topics, you will acquire greater “business literacy."
An introduction to the detection of wrongdoing in the workplace, with an emphasis on the following key methods: investigations, monitoring, and auditing. Coverage includes essential investigation components and pitfalls, as well as the seven basic tools of auditing and monitoring.
An analysis of the relevant laws that regulate the hiring, classification, evaluation, discipline, and discharge of employees. Also covers the law prohibiting workplace discrimination on any basis under state and federal statutes and regulations, including Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Equal Pay Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Students will also cover the EEOC administrative process.
An introduction to U.S. labor history and federal legislation, administrative decisions, and court rulings that shaped U.S. labor relations and collective bargaining in the private and public sectors. The course covers legal rights and obligations of employers, employees, and unions under the National Labor Relations Act, along with Union/Management relations topics including: collective bargaining, grievance administration and arbitration, and union organizing and representation. Also covered are recent shifts in legal precedent and emerging issues, and an overview of international labor relations issues, practices, and trends.
An introduction to the legal landscape governing the use of digital information and telecommunication technologies in patient care delivery. Coverage will include licensing and credentialing, technology, business models, contracts, and governance issues impacting the rapidly growing global digital health industry.
Integrate theory and practice to solve a real-life workplace issue, under the supervision of a faculty advisor.
In-depth coverage of ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements in two critical areas: 1) privacy and security of health care information under state and federal law, including HIPAA, HITECH Act, cybersecurity issues, and state breach notification laws; and 2) billing for health care services, including exposure under the federal False Claims Act and compliance audits under Medicare.
The changing landscape of how we pay for health care, consisting of Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, and health insurance reform. Analysis of the current fee-for-service system and its alternatives, as well as the policies behind these models.
A survey of leading topics where ethical issues are prominent in health care delivery, including the “right to die,” genetic therapies and research, organ transplantation, and advances in biotechnology.
The legal landscape governing employee pay and benefits, broadly defined, including insurance, retirement plans, educational resources, flexible spending accounts, wellness programs, and other perks. Students explore employee leave policies, health care reform, and executive compensation.
An exploration of the federal and state wage and hour laws that impact today's business operations, including laws impacting timekeeping, overtime, wages, and equal pay, and how laws around meal/rest breaks, leaves, and scheduling impact an employer's obligations to pay wages. Students analyze how failure to comply with these laws increase risks around litigation, agency charges, and internal compliance audits. Throughout, students consider how to address the day-to-day scenarios HR professionals face in the workplace.
An overview of cyber risks, along with the laws and regulations that apply to the rapidly changing threat landscape of cybersecurity. We will explore the impacts of data breaches, data privacy challenges, cyber-criminal motives, and common strategies used to combat cyber warfare. After studying the strategies and challenges of preserving the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive information such as personally identifiable information (PII), financial information, and protected health information (PHI), you will develop a cybersecurity risk mitigation strategy for your workplace or personal data.
An overview of risk-based compliance strategies, policies, and procedures relevant to domestic businesses operating outside of the United States. This course will cover economic sanctions, import issues and export controls, anti-bribery (under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)), foreign investment, and anti-boycott regulations, with a focus on addressing the necessary diligence required for international transactions. Coverage will include the relevant government agencies regulating international business transactions.
The dramatic changes in the legal profession since the 2008 market crash, from the increase in virtual law practice to the rise of DIY services to clients’ increasing demand for efficiencies, have led to a recognition that non-lawyers have an increasingly critical role in the delivery of legal services. While most regulatory bars are not yet sure exactly: (a) what this role should be; or (b) how, if at all, it should be regulated, that a change is coming is certain. This course explores the extent to which people with legal training, but no license to practice, can use the law, as a social and economic variable, to better manage risk without fear of prosecution or civil liability.
This course provides a deeper examination into the issues that arise when negotiating and interpreting contracts. We will cover the fundamentals of business contracts, with a practical lens, and examine how to draft them to avoid disputes. We will learn about the UCC and its role in contract enforcement, as well as warranties, defenses, remedies, third party interests, and choice of law decisions. Emphasis will include tools of negotiation that help ensure the intentions of the parties are upheld.
Considers the sustainability of the modern US corporation: can the corporation meet current social needs while enabling future generations to meet theirs? We begin by looking at the corporation's current and unsustainable design: its externalization of costs, its short-term focus, its groupthink decision-making, and its political personhood. We then consider recent (and remarkable) triple-bottom-line responses to this design: environmental stewardship (planet), voluntary CSR (people), and socially responsible investing (profits). We conclude by exploring some potential paradigm shifts: new social enterprise forms, new environmental/social reporting, and the corporation as a moral system.
Designed to provide a general understanding of health theory and policy. This includes exploration of economic and political philosophies, and their impact on health policy development, consideration of the impact of cost, access, and quality, policy-development theories, legislative processes, as well as frameworks for health policy analysis and advocacy.
Today's employees need to understand legal policy and how it impacts their constituents. This is particularly true in the state and federal response to COVID-19. This course will study the development and implementation of public policy with a focus on pandemic relief legislation.
This course will introduce students to a variety of sources commonly used in legal research (statutes, cases, administrative regulations, etc.). Students will learn how to perform efficient searches in a variety of free and subscription services available via the Wake Forest Law Library’s website. Topics that will be covered include: statutory research, both state and federal; federal and state case law; administrative codes and regulations, state and federal; municipal codes and ordinances; legislative history, primarily at the federal level; secondary sources.
This course provides a broad introduction to the regulation of financial institutions in the United States by addressing the history of the banking industry, the fundamental rationales for regulating banks, the restrictions imposed upon banks and other financial institutions, the causes and consequences of bank failures, and the rise of the shadow banking system.
This interdisciplinary course holistically explores the intersection of women, law, leadership, and character. First, it examines what character is, why it matters, and how it is taught. Next, it explores how leadership is defined, theories and strategies for effective leadership, and how leadership skills can be developed. Then the course moves into a basic exploration of anti-discrimination frameworks that aim to prohibit discrimination against and sexual harassment of women. It also explores unconscious sex bias, privilege, and sex stereotyping, which are concurrently both the cause and effect of discrimination against and sexual harassment of women.
A residential course is an intensive weekend in Winston Salem devoted to a specific legal issue that is applicable to all MSL tracks. Students will be required to be on campus from early Saturday through midday Sunday. Each specific residential class may require work before and after the weekend.