The array of elective courses varies from year to year.

Advanced Mediation

Designed for students interested in incorporating mediation into their practices, this course operates on three tracks. In the classroom, students move beyond the basics to the intricacies of mediation law, procedures, and ethical rules across the many contexts in which mediators are used. Focus on mediation theory allows students to approach their work from a critical perspective. Simultaneously, students continue their Clinic work (under supervision) as mediators. Finally, students are teaching assistants for the Mediation Lawyering Seminar, helping to design simulations and provide feedback to novice mediators.

Advanced Torts: The Law of Medical Malpractice

Addressing the full range of the law of medical malpractice, this course describes the process from jurisdiction to judgment and covers physician liability, informed consent, causation and vicarious liability of hospitals, medical groups, and HMOs. In addition to examining substantive legal issues, students develop a "road map" for prosecuting or defending a medical malpractice case, from drafting complaints and answers to discovery, motion practice, and trial

Business Associations

Corporations, both large and small, are the major structures through which business is carried out in the United States today. The influence of business corporations on politics, the environment, and the health of communities is immeasurable. This course is designed to give students a basic understanding of the structure, and rights and responsibilities of the American corporation. While focusing on small business, attention is also paid to large corporations, and to charitable, religious, and other uses of the corporate form. Students learn about shareholder rights and duties, the duties and responsibilities of corporate directors and officers, the capital structures of corporations, and are introduced to sole proprietorships, partnerships, and other non-corporate forms of doing business.

Constitution And Foreign Affairs

A research and discussion seminar examining constitutional issues of the foreign relations of the United States. Topics include the powers of the President and Congress, separation of powers, war powers, covert action, treaties, executive agreements, participation in international organizations, the courts and justiciability of foreign affairs controversies, state and local government actions affecting federal conduct of foreign relations, and individual rights (including freedom of expression, right to travel, rights of foreign nationals, extraterritorial constitutional issues). The period since the attack on the World Trade Center has seen rapid legal developments in the balance between national security and civil liberties. Emerging issues will be examined, including indefinite detention, torture, military tribunals, extraordinary rendition, detention of immigrants, use of closed proceedings and secret evidence.

Criminal Procedure

What are the various investigatory techniques utilized by law enforcement agencies in the accumulation of evidence? How do we assess their effectiveness and propriety in a democratic society? Students engage with these questions through study, analysis, and critique of the major Supreme Court cases applying the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments. They learn constraints on police investigation and the admissibility of evidence through comprehensive coverage of the exclusionary rule (with its extension limiting the use of "the fruit of the poisonous tree," as well as the ways it has been limited through use of the concepts of standing, collateral use, and harmless error); the rules surrounding the use (or lack of use) of search warrants; the doctrine permitting (and limiting) the use of wiretaps, undercover investigation and informants; the development of the doctrine of entrapment; and the rules constraining police interrogation and identification procedures. Particular attention is paid to the application of these constitutional doctrines in New York.

Environmental Law

An exploration of the roots of environmental values and an examination of alternative views on how the law can address environmental degradation and its impact on human health, the course studies major federal environmental statutes as well as the role of state and local government in environmental protection.

Federal Courts

The course examines both the historical and current role of the federal judicial system - and the Supreme Court, in particular - in resolving political, social, and economic conflicts. Issues scrutinized include the original and appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the control that Congress exercises over the lower federal courts through the creation of Article I "legislative courts" and jurisdiction-stripping legislation, and conflicts between state and federal courts as manifested by civil rights removal, federal injunctions against state court proceedings, and federal habeas corpus. Federal suits against governmental abuses of rights and the restraints imposed upon the litigants in such suits by the Constitution, by legislation and by self-imposed judicial doctrine, are also examined.

Federal Income Tax

The U.S. Federal Income Tax system is examined from the basics (including, for instance, the definition of "income," the opportunities and limits of various deductions, and the timing of events for tax purposes) to an introduction of and implications of various taxing programs (income, sales, property, etc.).

First Amendment

This course considers the historical, theoretical, doctrinal, and practical contours of the First Amendment's free speech clause, free association clause, free press clause, and religion clauses. A directed writing opportunity is available to students taking the course.

Independent Study

Students are offered the opportunity to work one-on-one with a faculty mentor doing directed research and writing. This course enables students to gain insight and understanding into specialty topics not covered in depth in other courses, to pursue projects connecting their undergraduate academic experience or work experience to their developing legal understanding, or to produce writing connected to their anticipated areas of practice. Examples of the final projects from some recent independent study projects that demonstrate the potential of this flexible, individualized offering include: the production of a manual designed for (and distributed to) the homeless advising them of their rights and educating them about how to gain access to shelter, food and benefits programs; a paper (subsequently published in a law review), as the result of a cross-disciplinary curriculum designed to facilitate understanding among the various law enforcement, legal, medical, and mental health professionals dealing with child abuse and neglect cases. With a topic or project in mind, a student identifies a professor with expertise or interest in the area, and the two work together to determine the appropriate credit allocation and to develop the contours of the topic, a research plan, the shape of the final project, and a production plan and timetable. Student and professor meet several times over the course of a semester to review progress and to discuss and define issues. Research and writing comprise the core of this course, with at least 10 pages of polished, professional writing - the result of several drafts and faculty feedback - required for each credit allocated.

Intellectual Property

An overview of patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and other intellectual property, this course investigates the effect of intellectual property law on investors, artists, writers, small businesses, and Fortune 500 companies. Special attention is given to the use of intellectual property law to protect individual inventions and other creative works. Other topics include: new developments in the law to meet the impact of emerging technologies and the Internet; high-profile intellectual property battles; the growing importance of intellectual property in the future of the United States; the interplay between U.S. IP law and the law of other countries; and the role attorneys play in securing and guaranteeing intellectual property rights.

International Law

The policies and practices of international law are squarely situated in the context of the evolving international relations that have shaped, and continue to shape, it. The course weaves in and out of legal text and political context, analyzing such areas as origins and sources of international law, subjects of international law, inter-state relations, international organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), dispute settlement, social and economic rights, human rights, economic/environmental rights, the relationship between local and international law, and women’s rights.

Labor Law

Students receive a basic introduction to the National Labor Relations Act, which regulates the right of employees to organize a union, as well as collective bargaining between unions and employers in the private sector. Specific topics of the course include learning how unions achieve representational status, what employee conduct is protected by law and the range of employer responses to an organizing drive, the economic weapons available to both management and labor, collective bargaining, and recent National Labor Relations Board and Supreme Court decisions.

Law Review

This course provides structured assistance to students in producing a 40-page publishable law review note or comment. While students meet regularly as a group and individually with the instructor, each student is expected to work independently toward his/her note or comment. Offering students an opportunity to pursue topics of their own choosing, this course fosters the development of legal writing and research skills on a sophisticated and professional level.

Legislation and Legislative Process

Examining the legislature as a legal institution, the course explores its law-making function as both complementary to and independent of the courts and the executive branch. While focusing on the role of the public interest lawyer, students investigate the legislative process, including technical requirements for researching, drafting, and submitting bills. The course text, which follows the enactment, amendment and judicial interpretation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, provides a rich opportunity for understanding the dynamics of legislative drafting, politics, policy, social context, and the implementation of law.

Moot Court

Students enhance their advocacy skills through participation in a moot court competition. Presented with a lower court decision in an area of unsettled law, students do legal research on complex issues, write an appellate brief, and advocate in an oral argument against students from other law schools before a panel of judges. Judges score the quality of the appellate briefs, the use of citations to legal authority, and the oral argument skills of the participants. The course requires the completion of a brief and oral argument of professional quality prepared for an external competition or the equivalent thereof with students gaining experience in oral argument through critiques and feedback from several practice rounds. For information about the Moot Court Board (student organization), click here.

New York Domestic Relations Law

Students investigate the full range of issues affecting the family, focusing on the New York law of marriage, divorce, custody, abuse and neglect, and family offense proceedings. Examining core doctrinal concepts encountered by practitioners representing clients with family law problems, the class includes the study of how these issues are framed and resolved in the context of the New York State court system and the social and political context in which these laws operate. Students test and deepen their understanding through drafting petitions and other court papers. The focus on emerging doctrine and issues, as well as lawyering skills and ethical considerations, helps prepare students for practice in this challenging area.

New York Practice

Using the first-year federal Civil Procedure course as a foundation, this course is a comprehensive study of the New York State Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR). The course sequence follows the approximate path of a typical civil case and examines decisions that must be made: which court to sue in (venue and jurisdictional issues); how to draft and file complaints and answers; when, whether, and what motions to make; when and how to use pre-trial discovery devices; and special proceedings. While learning the details of the intricate rules of timing and form, students focus on the common application of those rules, as well as the pitfalls and opportunities inherent in them. Learning the letter of the law, as well as the policy, practical implications, and ethical considerations inherent in its use, prepares students to litigate in New York State courts, while simultaneously enhancing their ability to utilize analytical and reasoning skills in litigation.

Public Interest/Public Service Practice

Designed to accompany a student's internship in public interest practice settings or judicial clerkships, the course covers research, writing, professional responsibility, and other lawyering issues. The student may work in a not-for-profit organization, in the court system, or with a private lawyer on pro bono cases (which must be approved by the professor), and is expected to work a minimum of 20 hours per week for 2 credits and 30 hours per week for 3 credits. No payment can be received for work attributed to the course.

Race and Law: Critical Inquiry into Racial Justice

Employing tools of critical inquiry, the idea and practice of racial justice are studied through U.S. cases, legal history, and legal theory. Part One examines the legal dimensions of slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, colonialism and indigenous peoples, immigration and citizenship, language rights, and anti-discrimination law. Part Two considers and critiques group justice grievances and potential methods of healing racial wounds, including reparations and ways to foster productive racial interactions.

Real Estate Transactions

In this basic course in conveyancing and transactional analysis of interests in real estate, topics include real estate brokers and the sales transaction; defects in title; options, contracts, and deeds; mortgages and other liens on real estate; mortgage default and foreclosure; the operation of the recording system, including title assurance and title insurance; warranties involved in the land sale transaction; and real estate settlement procedures. Students build on concepts introduced in basic property and civil procedure courses and develop a specialized knowledge of real estate remedies. Working with statutes, cases, and model documents, students enhance their understanding of the law, sharpen their lawyering skills, and are introduced to the special ethical considerations in this area by participating in a simulated real estate closing.

Rights of Low Wage Workers

Today's U.S. workforce is comprised of ever-expanding numbers of workers in low-wage jobs, often non-unionized, and lacking the most basic protections and benefits. Employers rely increasingly on contingent, immigrant, and workfare workers, but attempt to circumvent laws on wages and hours, anti-discrimination, unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, and the right to organize. The course examines the laws governing employment relationships and details the legal obstacles that can exclude such workers from many protections, even when they are covered by employment and labor laws but are victims of weak enforcement. Students investigate litigation strategies and legislative proposals for extending and expanding employment protections to this group, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Act, Title VII, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Family Medical Leave Act, and selected unemployment insurance and workers' compensation statutes.

Sexuality and the Law

Exploring the legal issues surrounding expressions of human sexuality, students discuss cross-cultural theoretical perspectives - including feminism and postmodernism and the history of sexuality among diverse Americans - and consider concepts such as consent, privacy, power, and normalcy in the context of specific topics such as rape, reproduction, pornography, prostitution, lesbianism, male homosexuality, miscegenation, AIDS, and children. A paper of at least 20 pages on an approved topic is required.

Small Firm Practice

This course identifies issues that are involved in small firm practice, particularly legal, business, ethical, and professional considerations, such as starting a practice, building a client base, identifying subject matter for the practice, law practice management, malpractice insurance, and billing and collecting, among others.

UCC: Survey

This course covers the commercial sale of goods (including sales with negotiable instruments and sales under letters of credit), and the law of commercial paper, secured debt, and banking. Designed as a survey, it provides familiarity with the structure, policy, and approach of the Uniform Commercial Code to these areas of the law.

Wills and Trusts

Grounded in the New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law, this course covers the law regulating property inheritance, including testamentary succession, will substitutes and intestacy, and trusts, property, and basic tax law issues relating to inter-generational transfers. Examples and problems challenge students to use the statute to develop problem-solving skills, while introducing them to the special ethical issues involved in this area of practice.