Spring 2009 Course Descriptions
Advanced Constitutional Law
This two-credit seminar is a survey of major theories of constitutional interpretation and judicial review. The readings consist primarily of excerpts from law review articles and other scholarly literature rather than cases. Grades are based on class participation and short papers reflecting on the readings. The seminar satisfies the perspectives requirement. Students who wish to write a research paper in connection with the seminar may request permission to enroll for an additional credit.
Anglo American Legal Heritage
Prof. Davies
This course will be a two hour seminar that will satisfy the Perspectives Requirement (but not the writing requirement).
This course will provide the students with the opportunity to read historical materials and commentaries that pertain to the emergence of the English legal system and the common law. The materials run from early English institutions and Magna Carta (1215) up to the English institutions and common law doctrines that shaped the early American understanding of law.
Students will be required to compile a journal of their assessments of the readings. Additionally, the class will be run as a seminar, and each student will be assigned to take the lead in presenting and discussing a reading assignment.
Business Torts
Over the past decade, there has been a significant evolution in the relationship among antitrust, business tort, and unfair competition law. The course will focus on the developments in business torts, and in particular, how the law should regulate, promote, or discourage competitive behavior in the marketplace. The course will survey the fields of unfair competition, commercial disparagement and defamation, interference torts, the torts of fraud and negligent misrepresentation, misappropriation of trade secrets, and state consumer fraud.
Children and the Law: Education Advocacy
This course will explore current issues in the law of education as it affects students in elementary and secondary schools, with a focus on strategies for representing parents and students in education cases. Topics will include among others: student freedom of expression, equal educational opportunity, educational adequacy and quality, the rights of students with disabilities, school suspension and expulsion, and others. The course will be aligned with the College of Law's Children's Advocacy Network-Lawyers Education Advocacy Resource Network (CAN-LEARN) Project.
Domestic Violence Clinic Independent Study
Professor Smith
A 3-hour Domestic Violence Clinic Independent Study will be offered to approximately four third year law students. Domestic Violence Clinic Independent Study students, working under the direct supervision of Donna Smith, will have the opportunity to represent domestic violence victims in Knox County Fourth Circuit Court litigating contested Orders of Protection. Court is held on Thursdays and students will be expected to be available for court either on Thursday mornings (8-12) or Thursday afternoons (1-4:30). Students will be responsible for adequately completing their clinic responsibilities which include but are not limited to attending court on Thursdays, attending team meetings, attending individual meetings with their clinic supervisor as needed, and keeping a weekly time sheet and journal regarding their clinic experiences and reflections. The time sheet and journal must be turned in to Professor Kennedy at the end of the semester no later than the last day scheduled for Spring 2006 final examinations.
Students who would like to be considered for the Domestic Violence Clinic Independent Study component of the course must submit a brief (1 typed page) statement to Professor Smith (DHSAttorney@comcast.net) no later than November 6, 2008 by 3:00 p.m. There is no set format for the Statement but here are some things that we will be looking for:
- Why you are interested in participating in the Domestic Violence Independent Study.
- Do you have an interest in practicing family law?
- Do you have any professional or volunteer experience working with domestic violence?
- Do you have any experience working in a clinic or legal practice?
- Do you have a record of independent academic, professional or volunteer work which establishes a record of being a “self-starter?”
- Any other relevant knowledge, skills, or experience that you could bring to the experience.
The proposal must also include your name and contact information, including your preferred e-mail address, and whether you will be available on Thursday mornings or afternoons.
937 Estate Planning Seminar
Prof. Goodwin
(2) After a brief consideration of the ethical conflicts that can occur in the estate planning process, the course focuses on drafting two legal documents commonly used in planning for estates of $10 million and under, the life insurance trust and the will (the latter employing the Federal Estate and Gift Tax Unified Credit and marital deduction). Class time will be spent on understanding the provisions of these instruments, including the possible interaction of certain clauses. Students are then required to assemble the articles and clauses studied in class into a finished work product and to draft letters to the client and fiduciaries explaining the legal documents. The course seeks to simulate the production of legal documents as is typically expected of a beginning lawyer in an established trusts and estates practice, with emphasis on a polished work product, including appropriate communications with clients. Limited enrollment.
Prerequisites: Gratuitous Transfers (935) and Wealth Transfer Taxation (973). Recommended: Fundamental Concepts of Income Taxation (818).
Federal Sentencing Law & Policy (3)
Prof. Coffin
Courses addressing substantive and procedural criminal law generally devote little attention to sentencing law and procedure. In the federal system, because approximately 96% of defendants proceed to sentencing on a plea of guilty, the familiar concepts of criminal law - the rules of evidence, the Fourth Amendment, and due process rights - do not play a dominant role in practice. Rather, federal criminal practice largely concerns a complex array of forces animated by the policy decisions of the United States Sentencing Commission and the arithmetic matrix of the Sentencing Guidelines, the case-based decisions of prosecutors, the Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury, congressional intent as manifest in the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, and the relationship between the authority and obligations of the sentencing judge and the courts of appeals.
This course will focus on the development of federal sentencing law as a unique alchemy of constitutional, legislative, and administrative forces. Its goal will be to challenge students to grasp the complexity of the practice, both as a matter of theory and application, and to imagine ways that the system might be different.
International Human Rights Law
Professor Blitt
The course examines the norms, institutions, and application of key international and regional human rights regimes. The substance and procedure of the United Nations human rights system (treaty and non- treaty-based mechanisms) and regional human rights systems, including the European, Inter-American, and African systems, will be explored in detail, as well as other treaties and mechanisms related to the development and protection of human rights. Specific topics to be explored include individual and group rights, political and economic/ cultural rights, as well as the interaction between human rights and trade, globalization, and the war on terror.
Prerequisite: Public International Law, or approval of the professor.
International Religious Freedom
Advanced Topics in International Law: The Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion or Belief
The course examines in detail the historical development of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief, as well as the various international, regional, and municipal regimes developed to protect the right and its implementation. The work of the UN’s Human Rights Committee (HRC) and the UN special rapporteur on religious freedom, as well as other key bodies will be considered in exploring a variety of topics, including the U.S. International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA), church-state frameworks, proselytism, missionary and humanitarian work, democracy promotion, and inter-religious dialogue.
Prerequisite: Public International law, or approval of the professor.
Judicial Externship Independent Study
Prof. White
The College of Law offers a judicial externship program most semesters. The goal of the program is to enhance traditional classroom learning by introducing students to the courtroom experience from the perspective of the state court judge. In addition to learning from court observations, the students will assist the judge in researching and drafting memoranda.
Students are selected to participate in the three-hour judicial externship, based upon a statement of interest and their qualifications. The students are assigned to work with the Criminal Courts and Chancery Courts1 in Knox County, Tennessee, and with the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Tennessee. In order to participate in the program, students should be either in the second semester of their second year or in their third year of law study. Only students who have taken or are enrolled in Criminal Procedure will be considered for the Criminal Court externships.
Students selected to participate in the externship program must:
- meet collectively with the supervising professor in a series of classes designed to prepare them for the duties of their externship;
- work either at the court or on work assigned by the judge for 10-12 hours per week;
- complete and submit to the supervising professor a weekly work log and a monthly journal entry detailing their work for the court and insights gained through the externship;
- meet individually with the supervising professor and the assigned judge(s) as required; and
- participate in an evaluation of the externship program at the end of the semester.
Student who satisfy all of the requirements of the judicial externship program will receive three hours of pass/fail credit. Those interested in participating in the judicial externship program must submit a current resume and a one-page Statement of Interest to the supervising professor by the established deadline. The Statement of Interest should be in this format.
Mediation Clinic
Prof. Jacobs
“To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.”—Winston Churchill
To: Students Interested in the Mediation Clinic
From: Professor Jacobs
I am very gratified by the student interest in the UT College of Law Mediation Clinic. Mediation is a sensitive and intelligent alternative dispute resolution process. As commentators have noted, a successful mediation has the potential to transform the lives of the participants and has a powerful influence upon the way that participants perceive our justice system.
The Mediation Clinic offers students the opportunity to acquire and enhance their skills as mediators in “live client” disputes. This can be an exceptional and rewarding experience, but it also entails enormous responsibility. Accordingly, I wanted briefly to alert students to the Clinic’s structure in order that each of you can make an informed decision as to whether you wish to participate.
The Clinic has two components: (1) a classroom component; and (2) an experiential component.
- The classroom component will require a significant time commitment at the beginning of the semester in order to prepare for the “live client” mediations, perhaps even Saturday sessions. There also will be a regular class throughout the semester that will involve reading assignments, traditional lectures, speakers, simulations, and discussion.
- The experiential component involves mandatory appearances in the Knox County General Sessions Court and scheduled appearances in other fora. The General Sessions Court docket requires that each student be available at the Court every week during the semester either on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday from 8:00 a.m. until at least 12:00 p.m. While I will make every effort to accommodate student preferences, we must ensure that each of these days is adequately staffed.
I realize that this is quite a time commitment for 3 hours. However, given UT College of Law’s desire to offer students a meaningful clinical experience, it is a commitment that students must make. At the risk of being redundant, the General Session Courts and other institutions have entrusted UT Law students with this public service and rely upon us to fulfill it professionally, responsibly and competently. These are not simulations; litigants will rely upon student expertise to guide them through the process and the system and to help them resolve their disputes. I urge you to carefully consider whether you are able or willing to make this time commitment. Due to the Clinic’s limited enrollment, attendance will be mandatory, and a student’s grade will be severely impacted by even one absence.
I want to conclude by thanking you again for your interest in the Mediation Clinic. I am very proud and excited to be a part of this program, and I look forward to working with those of you who enroll.
Prerequisites: You must have had ADR to take this course.
Ownership and Justice (2)
The course begins with an examination of the evolution of the concept of property in the law (property as the thing vs. the right to the thing). The course then moves to focus on a series of cases that (with accompanying philosophical materials and law review articles) permit an exploration of classical and contemporary justifications of the institution of private property. The course seeks to apprehend the necessary conditions of any regime of individual ownership as well as the margins of what can be considered property. There will two short essays on assigned topics during the term and a take-home exam consisting of a number of analytical problems to be addressed by drawing upon materials covered in the course. Suggested preparation: A background in philosophy, religious studies, political theory or other field in the liberal arts, while not a prerequisite, would be helpful.
Representing Enterprises
Each student will work on simulated business transactions and complete at least one major planning and drafting project related to each transaction. The transactions will vary from year to year and from section to section. The types of transactions on which projects may be based include the formation of a new business, the acquisition of an existing business, the development of a real estate project, various financing transactions, and corporate reorganization.
Prerequisites or Co-requisites:
- Fundamental Concepts of Income Taxation
- Business Associations
- Income Taxation of Business Organizations
- Commercial Law
- Land Finance Law
- Contract Drafting
Up to 2 of which may be taken concurrently with Representing Enterprises.
Smart Lawyers, Stupid Decisions
Prof. Schaefer
If you believe that only greedy, dishonest lawyers “get in trouble” (criminal charges, civil liability, disbarment, and more), this class will be enlightening and essential to your practice. We will study how and why seemingly smart lawyers make incredibly stupid decisions. We will read their stories in case law, pleadings, briefs, articles, and other documents. Students will: (1) analyze and discuss why the conduct created liability and other adverse consequences for the lawyer; (2) determine (to the extent possible from the record) what factors may have influenced the attorney’s behavior; and (3) begin assembling the tools that will help the student/future lawyer avoid such liability. Some topics will include: disputes between law partners, participation in client fraud, and violation of fiduciary duties owed to clients. We will discuss why behavior that seems unethical but not necessarily illegal (such as having sex with a client’s spouse) may actually lead to civil liability. We will also read and discuss articles that may help you make better decisions in your practice. These articles will include topics such as modern theories of “ethical” decision making for professionals and the psychology behind subordinate attorneys following legally questionable orders from supervising lawyers. In addition to short writing assignments throughout the semester, each student will complete a research paper concerning a dilemma facing the profession, answering how the law, the profession, and individual attorneys should resolve the issue.
This course satisfies the Expository Writing requirement.
Prerequisite: Legal Profession.
Space Law
Professor Reynolds
Surveys the international and domestic law of space activity, including the Outer Space Treaty, the Moon Treaty, property rights on the Moon and other celestial bodies, and federal law regulating private commercial launch activities, space tourism, private spy satellites, and more.
This is a seminar, graded based on class participation and an expository-quality paper. Numerous previous students have written papers that were published in law reviews; I provide advice to those interested in doing so.
Contact Information
The University of Tennessee College of Law
Student Affairs and
Records Office
Suite 166
1505 W. Cumberland Ave.
Knoxville, Tennessee
37996-1810
Phone: 865-974-6790
Fax: 865-974-1572
The Records Office