Course Offerings

This course covers the law relating to formation of contracts, the Statute of Frauds, third-party beneficiary contracts, assignment of rights and delegation of duties and liability for breach of contract, including the law of conditions and discharge, and available remedies.

Bar Exam Fundamentals (previously known as Pre-Bar Fundamentals) is designed to re-introduce students to doctrinal subjects tested on the multi-state bar exam (MBE) prior to students commencing bar review. The course reviews key topics within selected MBE bar subjects, reviews multiple-choice test-taking strategies and skills, highlights approaches needed to answer bar essay questions, and provides students with opportunities to develop their multiple-choice and essay-writing skills in order to prepare effectively for the bar exam. This pre- bar review course is not subject to the upper level curve. Students are eligible to take this course in their last semester of law school.

This course provides a broad survey of the legal rules controlling the formation, financing, operation, governance and dissolution of business enterprises. It provides an overview to agency principles and the legal entities through which business activities are carried out, including partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations. The primary focus of the course is on the corporate form of doing business, with an emphasis on the roles of management and shareholders, fiduciary obligations, and the anti-fraud provisions governing securities trading.

This course examines practical aspects of civil litigation in California, including tactical considerations influencing an attorney’s decision to choose state or federal court. Students taking this course will no longer graduate with the unwarranted assumption that state civil procedure operates in lockstep with the model presented in their introductory Fed Civil Pro course. That is an especially precarious assumption.

CA Civil Pro’s doctrinal component is rooted in the casebook method. But students who prefer a rehash of their 1L experience should not take this skills version of CA Civil Pro. It is designed to prepare nascent lawyers for the practice of law, far more so than the federal civil procedure course. Students taking this course will glean additional practice perspectives regarding professionalism, oral advocacy, collaborative learning, and legal skills development.

This course introduces a number of basic skills that are essential to legal practice while providing students with a fundamental understanding of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Topics include subject matter and personal jurisdiction, venue, Forum Non Conveniens, the Erie Doctrine, pleadings, sanctions, joinder of claims and parties, class actions, discovery, motions to dismiss and summary judgment, motions for judgment as a matter of law and new trial motions, jury trials, appellate jurisdiction, and claim and issue preclusion.

Both state and federal civil procedure are tested on the California Bar Examination—given in the common law jurisdiction that varies the most from federal procedure. This course presents a number of fresh concepts, not covered in the federal course, that are unique to California practice. CA Civil Pro thus reinforces the perspective of the student who wants to review key FRCP basics, while entering practice with a vastly improved foundation—not only for learning critical practice concepts, but also for choosing knowledgeably between California’s state and federal courts. This class features a mini-review, every week, to promote student long-term memory. Students who prefer not to review until semester’s end should not take this course.

This course examines the scope of federal powers, the separation powers, the federal system, due process, equal protection, and the First Amendment.

This course examines the scope of federal powers, the separation powers, the federal system, due process, equal protection, and the First Amendment.

This course covers the basic substantive criminal law, discussion of concepts of mens rea, actus reus, causation, the inchoate offences and the Model Penal Code. The basic common law crimes and defenses comprise the majority of the course.

This course covers the procedural rules governing the investigation of crimes and the use of the Exclusionary Rule as an enforcement mechanism. It covers all aspects of the Fourth Amendment as well as the Fifth Amendment Self-Incrimination Clause and the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel

This course examines the law relating to relevance, special exclusionary rules, privileged communications, the hearsay rule and its exception, the opinion rules, authentication and the best evidence rule, impeachment and rehabilitation, presumptions, burdens of proof and character evidence

This course enables students to acquire the skills needed to succeed in law school. It focuses on material relevant to the student’s other course(s) offered during the same semester. The course will provide practice in case-briefing, multiple choice test-taking, essay writing using IRAC as the building block for legal analysis, and self-analysis. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

This course is designed to introduce practical lawyering skills such as identifying the legal rules that will affect a potential client, applying the rules to that client’s problem and communicating the results of the analysis.

This course builds upon the concepts taught in Legal Writing I. Students research and write trial court and appellate court briefs and participate in an appellate oral argument

This course focuses on the skills used to successfully answer MBE multiple choice questions and reviews relevant substantive law while providing an opportunity for students to practice reasoning and analysis. Students are eligible to take this course during the student’s next-to-last semester of law school.

This course examines relevant codes and cases in an attempt to better understand a lawyer’s ethical obligations and conflicts.

Covering a range of topics relating primarily to the acquisition, ownership, leasing, and sale of land, possessory, non-possessory, and future interests in land, and regulation through public and private means of land use.

Remedies builds on the substantive law that students learn in Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, and Torts. This course addresses the theory and practice of the law relating to the various forms of legal and equitable relief, including: various measures of damages for both tort and contract cases; specific forms of relief such as replevin, ejectment and specific performance; injunctive relief; and legal and equitable forms of restitutionary remedies.

This course examines civil liability independent of contract, including torts based on intentional conduct, strict liability, or negligence, and the available remedies for each type of tort.

This course examines the law of disposition of property through inter vivos and testamentary means: intestate succession; execution, alteration and revocation of wills; family protections and restrictions on testation; will substitutes; probate and will contests; creation, modification, and administration of various types of trusts and related trust issues.

Adjudicatory Criminal Procedure follows the adjudicative process for criminal prosecutions from charging to post-conviction review. It starts when the criminal case moves from the police station to the courthouse and covers the constitutional rules that govern a criminal prosecution as it proceeds through the courts.

Government agencies influence virtually every aspect of our social lives. Agencies regulate the food supply, workplace, environment, immigration, and money – to name only a few of the areas where agencies wield power. As regulators, federal agencies principally act in three ways – rulemaking, adjudication, and enforcement. In some courses (e.g. securities law, employment law, etc.) students study the regulations produced by a particular agency. In this course, however, students study the law that governs agencies – i.e. how agencies are constrained in their regulatory activities. The course will consider constitutional law (such as separation of powers and procedural due process) and federal statutory law (i.e. the Administrative Procedure Act). Since many of the cases deal with constitutional law issues, the material is often abstract, theoretical and challenging. Students who plan a career in government, with a public interest group or working in a highly regulated industry will likely benefit from taking a course in administrative law. Administrative law is a bar-tested subject in some states.

Topics covered in this course include: authority of arbitrators; the arbitration agreement’s effect on third parties; selection of the arbitrator and conduct of the proceedings; judicial review of arbitration awards; arbitrators’ remedies; the award and the courts; collateral estoppel, res judicata and waiver; mandatory arbitration; and a discussion of the kinds of arbitration, including labor, commercial, medical malpractice and others.

Until recently, artificial persons existed primarily in the realm of science fiction, but this may be changing.  Recent advances in artificial intelligence and other areas suggest that artificial persons may move into “real life” sooner than science fiction anticipated. If they do, this will raise pressing new issues in every area of the law, including criminal justice.  This course will explore some of those issues.

First, this course will consider when an artificial intelligence or other artificial person should count as a person for the purposes of the criminal law.  More specifically, at what point must the law protect an artificial person from crime the way it would protect a human from a crime?  At what point should the law hold artificial persons responsible for a crime the way it would hold a normal adult human responsible for a crime?  Second, this course will consider how the standard rules of criminal procedure — especially the rules governing police searches and seizures and interrogations — apply to artificial persons.  Finally, this course will explore some of the social and political dynamics likely to influence recognition of artificial persons in criminal justice.  History and social psychology teach that we may fear and resist recognizing artificial persons. How, if at all, should we prepare for and mitigate these problems?

The primary assessment in the course will be a ten-page paper.

This one-unit course will provide an opportunity to explore an important emerging technology, and to delve into the theory and policy of criminal justice.  It will also satisfy the one-unit fellow-course requirement for the Criminal Law Fellowship Program.

This course enables students to compare U.S. criminal procedures with those of several other legal traditions — Civil Law (French, German and Nordic), Common Law, Socialist, Islamic, and indigenous — from arrest through appeal, primarily by viewing, presenting, and discussing specially edited clips of U.S. and foreign films. Through comparative analysis, students gain a deeper understanding of U.S. criminal procedures. Students will also write a 10-page essay on a film of their choice. The assigned eBook (click here for trailer) provides condensed readings with links to illustrative film clips to choose from. The course provides an overview of U.S.

This course focuses on the legal issues arising from the creation, ownership, production, marketing, and distribution of literary, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, musical, digital, and related works. This will include examination of copyrightable subject matter, the idea/expression dichotomy, compilations and derivative works, duration and renewal, fair use and remedies. The course examines the current federal Copyright Act in depth and considers the impact of past laws, related state laws, and international copyright law.

This course introduces students to criminal Domestic Violence (DV). This includes a working knowledge of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), basic DV definitions, DV charges, understanding the complexity of working with DV victims, the Cycle of Violence, services available to DV victims, the path of a DV case through the criminal court system, as well as evidence used to prove a DV case. This course may satisfy the upper level writing requirement.

This course provides an introduction to employment discrimination law, one of the most important areas of legal regulation of the workplace. Course coverage includes consideration of discrimination based upon race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, and disability.  Statutes bearing upon these issues include: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Civil Rights Act of 1866; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; the Americans with Disabilities Act; and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Integral to the discussion of the rights and responsibilities under these statutes are the broader societal debates about how the workplace should be structured.  What behavior should constitute racial or sexual harassment? What sort of accommodations should employers be compelled to make for the disabled? These are some of the timely and important questions the course will address.

This course examines the law relating to the formation, regulation, and termination of family relationships. Topics covered include family privacy, marriage, alternative families, domestic violence, divorce, child custody and child support. In addition to examining theoretical and inter-disciplinary perspectives, this course will also focus on issues relating to the practice of family law by attorneys.

This course covers the procedures and best practices used when serving as an attorney in Federal Criminal practice. Participants will get hands-on practical experience, taking on their client prior to arraignment, through bail motions, to computation of offense level mathematics to sentencing, and culminates in a visit to a federal district court and student arguments for sentencing.

This course surveys the fundamentals of federal income taxation, including income, exclusions, deductions, basis, depreciation, and capital gains.

Surveys the most vital law and core concepts governing patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. It covers the basic scope of intellectual property rights and how those rights are obtained and enforced. Reading includes the most important cases in each field, with classwork focusing on the practical tasks most relevant to everyday practice.

This course is an introduction to the laws of international trade and finance. Students consider the problems of conducting business in the global community. The approach is primarily transactional and combines the legal theory and practice of doing international business. Topics include the formation of agreements required for the international trading of goods, such as the documentary sale, the letter of credit, the contract of sale and the consequences of wars and other frustrations of contract, the bill of lading and a sale without a letter of credit. Students will study the regulation of international business by import and export controls, tariffs, and non-tariff barriers, and customs classification and valuation. The transfer of technology by means of franchising and licensing agreements leads to a discussion of the pirating of intellectual property. Students will study the legal framework for establishing a foreign direct investment abroad or a joint venture. Other topics include the resolution of international disputes by trial or international arbitration, the role of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the WTO, TRIPS, NAFTA and the European Union in regulating international business. This course focuses on the cultural differences that influence the establishment of international business ventures.

This course covers the general process of international sports law – especially within the Olympic Movement – and provides a comparative perspective on sports law. Specific topics include the institutional framework; arbitration and litigation of disputes within and outside the sports arena, including consideration of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (via in-depth case studies of recent dispute resolution); the rights, duties and eligibility of athletes; problems of doping, violence, corruption, and commercialization; and the role of politics in international sports. Other topics include the human rights of athletes, the use of instant replay cameras and computers to resolve disputes during competition, corruption in the sports arena, the emerging lex sportiva derived from arbitral awards and ambush marketing.

This course presents a concise overview of legal methodology, the adversary system, the judicial system, and procedures of the American legal system as an introduction to the study of law in the United States by lawyers from other countries. It also covers fundamentals of the of case law study and the basics of legal research and writing. Introductory course of LLM Students.

This course is the general introduction to sports law. Topics of discussion range from fans and owners to players and agents. The course covers law in the areas of contract, constitutional, tort and criminal – all in the context of sports. In class discussions include representation of professional athletes, enforcement of sports contracts, league decision making, and sports broadcasting

This course is designed to pull back the curtain on the in-house intellectual property (IP) practice by examining how companies realize value from IP through effective strategy and operations. Students will be trained to utilize the Value Hierarchy described in the Edison in the Boardroom book as a framework to understand how different companies can operate at different levels of sophistication in IP strategy. By the final lecture, students will apply their newly acquired skills in a Case Study discussion where students role play as a new in-house IP counsel in a hypothetical bicycle seat company. This course will be conducted live using Zoom or similar video conference media. Grading is non-anonymous based on class participation (including the Case Study discussion) and on the Credit/No Credit scale.

This course examines legal issues in the world of professional sports, including contracts, collective bargaining, antitrust, and employment law. It will also examine the ramifications of decisions made by personnel working in the professional sports industry. Specific topics include coaches, agents and labor.

This course addresses sex offenses as they are defined and litigated under the California criminal code– including rape, lewd and lascivious acts, human trafficking, and stalking – as well as sex offender registration, sexual assault forensic examinations, and sexual assault victim rights and resources. This course will be an important supplement to your understanding of the substantive criminal law, and of the law regarding sexual violence and misconduct. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale. This course may be paired with a summer directed study to earn ULWC.

This course focuses on current trademark and unfair competition law from different view points: theory, case law, and litigation strategy.

This course examines legal protections intended to protect and incentivize whistleblowers to provide information and assist in the enforcement of laws prohibiting fraud and misfeasance in the public and private sectors. Historic whistleblower cases and developing case law will be examined, including those turned into Hollywood blockbusters such as Silkwood, All the President’s Men, Serpico, and Snowden. This course focuses on the substance of the law and the process of lawyering (client interviewing and counseling, drafting and negotiating). The course may include a role-playing exercise. Each student will write a short essay concerning a current policy issue or analyzing a whistleblower case. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Directed Study is a method by which Thomas Jefferson students may obtain credit toward their law degrees by performing legal research and writing in areas of their own choosing. Eligibility for Directed Study is limited to students who have earned at least 30 units and are in good academic standing. A student wishing to obtain credit for Directed Study must first procure the written agreement of a faculty member to supervise that student’s project during the school session in which such credits are to be earned. Adjunct faculty members may serve in this role only with the approval of the Associate Dean on a case by case basis. Before registering, the student, with the guidance of his/her intended faculty supervisor, shall select a topic for the student’s project, adopt a written plan for its completion, and determine the number of units of credit to be earned through the project. Students may not earn more than 3 Directed Study units per semester. For each Directed Study unit for which a student registers, the student shall perform a minimum of 50 hours of research and writing. A 10-15 page paper is usually required for each unit of Directed Study credit.

Government agencies influence virtually every aspect of our social lives. Agencies regulate the food supply, workplace, environment, immigration, and money – to name only a few of the areas where agencies wield power. As regulators, federal agencies principally act in three ways – rulemaking, adjudication, and enforcement. In some courses (e.g. securities law, employment law, etc.) students study the regulations produced by a particular agency. In this course, however, students study the law that governs agencies – i.e. how agencies are constrained in their regulatory activities. The course will consider constitutional law (such as separation of powers and procedural due process) and federal statutory law (i.e. the Administrative Procedure Act). Since many of the cases deal with constitutional law issues, the material is often abstract, theoretical and challenging. Students who plan a career in government, with a public interest group or working in a highly regulated industry will likely benefit from taking a course in administrative law. Administrative law is a bar-tested subject in some states.

The course focuses on Indian Nation sovereignty, Native American rights, and the historical and present-day relationships between the United States (federal, state, and local governments), American Indians, and Indian Nation (“tribal”) governments, including issues like tribal sovereign immunity; the scope of Congress’s power over tribes; criminal and civil  jurisdictional conflicts; Indian treaty rights; the Indian Child Welfare Act; hunting, fishing, land, and water rights; and Indian gaming and economic development.

The course applies concepts learned in the first-year Contracts course to real world situations that students are likely to encounter in a business law practice. Students will learn how to translate business concepts into language that is legally enforceable. The course studies how to draft preambles, recitals, covenants, conditions, representations and warranties, termination provisions and the other elements of most standard business contracts. Through a series of individual and team-based exercises, students will learn how drafting a provision can affect the business deal and allocate risk. To build skills, the course focuses on two types of contracts – asset purchase agreements and employment contracts. The drafting skills covered are applicable to nearly any type of agreement. Students will be given an opportunity to work in groups and research a particular type of agreement of their choosing.

This course introduces students to criminal Domestic Violence (DV). This includes a working knowledge of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), basic DV definitions, DV charges, understanding the complexity of working with DV victims, the Cycle of Violence, services available to DV victims, the path of a DV case through the criminal court system, as well as evidence used to prove a DV case. This course may satisfy the upper level writing requirement.

This course provides an introduction to employment discrimination law, one of the most important areas of legal regulation of the workplace. Course coverage includes consideration of discrimination based upon race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, and disability.  Statutes bearing upon these issues include: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Civil Rights Act of 1866; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; the Americans with Disabilities Act; and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Integral to the discussion of the rights and responsibilities under these statutes are the broader societal debates about how the workplace should be structured.  What behavior should constitute racial or sexual harassment? What sort of accommodations should employers be compelled to make for the disabled? These are some of the timely and important questions the course will address.

This course explores the fundamental and practical aspects of current U.S. immigration law, policy and procedures relating to visas, asylum, employment authorization, adjustment of status, naturalization, citizenship, detention and removal. This class may satisfy the upper level writing requirement.

Music Law provides a comprehensive overview of fundamental legal issues encountered in the entertainment industry through the lens of music-related case law and other materials. The course covers the basics of copyright law, name, image, and likeness law, trademark law, and legal issues arising from talent representation. The course also allows students the opportunity to review, discuss and analyze several significant contracts encountered by music attorneys, including recording, publishing, producer, and management agreements.

This course provides an overview of United States patent laws and the institutions responsible for their administration, interpretation and enforcement. Topics covered include the statutory requirements for obtaining a patent, the process of applying for a patent, the rules for interpreting patent claims, and the nature of patent infringement. Students will critically examine the United States patent system from a variety of perspectives, including historical, economic, linguistic, and comparative law.

This course provides a foundation for students interested in access to justice issues or public interest law more generally. The course helps students understand the socio-economic underpinnings of the population served and the resources available, as well as the governing substantive law. The course also explores the availability of legal services in the United States and the unmet legal needs of low-and-moderate income individuals. It examines the role of courts, legal services organizations, law schools, and the private bar in advancing free and affordable legal services. Students read about the structure of the legal profession, the current state of government funded legal services, the cost of legal service delivery, and the opportunities and challenges faced by the private bar. The also course surveys substantive areas of law including housing, employment, immigration and criminal. This course challenges students thinking on how legal services are provided and the gaps that attorneys can fill in providing these services, causing students to think creatively about alternate structures for meeting the needs of low-to-moderate income individuals.

This Course introduces students to legal scholarship. It is required for, and limited to, Law Review members who are researching or writing their law review note. Upper level writing credit is not awarded directly in this class. Instead, students work with an individual professor to supervise their law review note, earning ULWC as directed study.

This course examines the history of the institution of slavery in the United States, specifically as it relates to the United States Constitution of 1787. Topics include the international slave trade, “slave rebellions” and the Domestic Insurrections Clause, the Three-fifths Clause, the Fugitive Slave Clause, and the Northwest Ordinance. More generally, the course discusses the status of slavery as a legal institution in the United States at the time of the founding, as well as the impact on the Constitution of abolitionism as a social movement. Students may receive Upper-Level Writing Credit for this course.

Students compete against other schools in ADR competitions.

This course builds upon basic legal research skills with a focus on effective and efficient legal research strategies. In this practical, hands-on course, students will learn how to appropriately use both print and electronic information sources for Federal and California administrative, case and statutory law, court rules, legislative history, and secondary sources such as legal encyclopedias, treatises and form books. Cost efficient research and the integration of print and electronic resources are stressed throughout the course.

This course focuses on the lawyer’s role in litigation before trial in California civil court. Classes will focus on the Code of Civil Procedure applicable to pleading, discovery, case management conferences, discovery motions, summary judgment, with review of pretrial strategy and planning, including ADR and ethics. Classes will expose students to client interviewing, developing a theory of the case, developing a discovery plan, and preparation of the case for trial. The course also includes several writing assignments, including the complaint, discovery demands, settlement brief, and motion for summary judgment. The course is designed to prepare the student to take the case from the time a client walks in the door through the trial readiness conference.

This course is a skill-building practicum covering the issues of effective client interviewing and counseling. This class includes simulation exercises to enhance students’ abilities to interview and counsel clients.

The course applies concepts learned in the first-year Contracts course to real world situations that students are likely to encounter in a business law practice. Students will learn how to translate business concepts into language that is legally enforceable. The course studies how to draft preambles, recitals, covenants, conditions, representations and warranties, termination provisions and the other elements of most standard business contracts. Through a series of individual and team-based exercises, students will learn how drafting a provision can affect the business deal and allocate risk. To build skills, the course focuses on two types of contracts – asset purchase agreements and employment contracts. The drafting skills covered are applicable to nearly any type of agreement. Students will be given an opportunity to work in groups and research a particular type of agreement of their choosing.

A practical course designed to provide students with both the skills necessary to participate in the discovery process and a concrete understanding of various civil discovery methods.

This class provides an introduction to federal and state law protections for individual workers. This course surveys basic topics of the law of work, including common law and statutory regulation of employment termination, employee free speech and privacy, and wages and working conditions. The overarching theme in the course concerns how the law should mediate the conflict between employer and employee rights.

This course introduces students to client interviewing, fact investigations, counseling, and the development of their professional selves in a discussion-based format. The class is completely interactive, using simulations based on real-life cases to enhance a student’s understanding of working with clients. Students discuss issues related to their experiences at their placements. Students write journals based on their experiences.

This course builds on Externship I, expanding the discussion on professionalism. Students use critical thinking to solve real-life problems that clients experience. Students write journals to reflect on their experiences.

This course builds on Externship I, expanding the discussion on professionalism. Students use critical thinking to solve real-life problems that clients experience. Students write journals to reflect on their experiences.

This course provides students with an overview of family law practice and how family law cases proceed through mediation and litigation. There will be an overview of how the family code applies to parental relationships and marriages as well as what issues are most common when couples separate or divorce. The instructors will focus on the practical applications of family law, including managing client interviews at the beginning of a case, issue spotting, and the common steps of a divorce in litigation and mediation. In this interactive class, students practice interviewing clients, reviewing pleadings, discussing potential issues, and role play in a support hearing. Grading is non-anonymous based on class participation and on the Credit/No Credit scale. Students successfully completing this course will receive one unit toward the Professional Skills requirement.

A hands-on course designed to make ADR accessible and easy to remember. Students will practice and learn the art of advancing a case theory, conflict resolution strategies, communication skills, and cultural considerations in advocacy. Students will act in the role of mediator, arbitrator, and attorney in a practical application setting intended to create an exciting, memorable, real-life experience.

Students write a ten-page brief (two drafts) and argue both sides of the case as part of an intra-school moot court competition. Students are required to (1) watch a series of legal writing and oral argument lectures addressing all of the skills necessary to compete in the competition and (2) conduct two oral argument practice sessions with a mentor from the Moot Court Society. This course is graded on the Credit/No Credit scale. Eligible students could use this course to satisfy the upper level writing requirement.

This one-unit course is a component of the Criminal Law Fellowship Program, taught by the Coordinators of the Fellowship Program in conjunction with a team of experienced criminal law practitioners including judges, defense attorneys, and prosecutors. Working with a realistic mock case and case materials, students study several fundamental aspects of criminal trial practice, including client interviewing, fact investigation, jury selection, opening statement, direct examination, cross-examination, and closing argument. Participants observe demonstrations of important trial skills, practice these skills through role-playing exercises, and complete a substantial written exercise building on the material studied. Students successfully completing this course will receive one unit toward the Professional Skills requirement.

This course introduces the student to the practice of intellectual property law. It is highly recommended for all IP Fellows. Each class will introduce some basic substantive law that students will then use to complete a project. Projects will include trademark applications, copyright registrations, office actions, non-disclosure agreements, trade secret law, cease and desist letters, IP licenses, and valuing intellectual property.

Mediation is currently in great demand as an adjunct to the court system, as a mechanism for managing in-house corporate fissures, in labor-management discussions and in international disputes. Although usage varies dramatically depending on context, mediation at its essence is a process in which a neutral third party works to help the parties resolve a dispute. Students will learn the various stages of the process and practice the techniques used in each stage. Class are interactive with in-class mock mediations and communications exercises. Students also conduct a full day of in class mediations

This course enables students to discuss issues related to working in chambers. We discuss cases currently being considered and seminal decisions. Students discuss ethical issues facing judges and the inequities within the judicial system. Students write journals reflecting on the experiences.

Students compete against other schools in Moot Court competitions.

This course introduces the theory of negotiating a deal in a legal context and provides opportunities for students to develop the skills necessary to employ that theory and negotiate effectively on behalf of their clients.

Students represent clients seeking to register patents and trademarks with the United States Patent & Trademark Office under the supervision of a licensed attorney. Students proceed through the entire process from the initial client meeting to conducting a patent or trademark search, preparing the application, and responding to office actions. This seminar includes reading on substantive law and assignments that will be discussed in class along with the matters on which the students will work for the Patent & Trademark clinic clients.

Students who have taken the Patent & Trademark Clinic seminar may enroll in field work units requiring them to work at least 5 hours per week on case work for Patent & Trademark clinic clients. Students may earn one-to-three credits with one credit constituting 5 hours per week of work throughout the 14-week semester.

In this course, students will see and experience the process of litigating a personal injury case in California from client intake to trial. This course covers initial client interview, pre-litigation work up, drafting complaint and answer, all aspects of written discovery, taking and defending depositions, dealing with experts, pre-trial and trial motions. Students will learn by doing, including working with real-life pleadings and papers, interacting with attorneys in this community, and practicing skills in small groups and as a class. To build skills, students will draft discovery, pleadings, and briefs based on real-life fact patterns. Throughout this course, students will be asked to consistently consider what makes for a “good” personal injury attorney. This course applies whether you are counsel for the plaintiff or defendant. This course satisfies the Professional Skills graduation requirement.

This course will introduce students to the basics of owning a solo law practice, and being a business-focused associate in a small practice. Topics covered will include: deciding to go solo; the nuts and bolts of opening a law firm; developing a business plan; financial planning; selecting a practice area; generating cash flow; networking; marketing; client relations; billing and fees; budgets; trust accounting; collections; work-flow management; legal research solutions; creating a form bank/library; office protocols; strategic planning; hiring and firing; and life/work balance.

This course provides an in-depth look at the process of becoming a licensed sports agent throughout the top four (4) sport leagues of the United States (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL), as well as the negotiation skills and background knowledge necessary to succeed in aspects of recruiting, retaining clients, and negotiating deals both on and off the field. Students will review the union guidelines and histories of the top sports leagues to grasp an understanding of each respective league’s rules and regulations relating to free agency and the ‘Draft’. Students will also learn the difference between negotiating on-field/court contracts and marketing deals, which will lead them into the experiential component of the course, where students will have the opportunity to lead negotiations on a marketing deal for one of their clients on the final day of class.

The Non-profit + Small Business Clinic (NPSBC) provides legal assistance and representation to entrepreneurs, small businesses, and non-profits that do not have the means to hire an attorney to advise them. Students who participate in the NPSBC will have the opportunity to assist clients by forming their entities, drafting, negotiating and reviewing contracts, and helping clients through the regulatory process. Students will be guided during representation by a licensed California attorney, but students will have primary responsibility for their cases.

Enrollment in the seminar is at the discretion of the supervising attorney, after having reviewed application materials and interviewed the student.

Students enrolled in the seminar are required to participate in weekly class meetings that focus on the lawyering skills necessary to effectively represent clients. In addition to discussing client interviewing and counseling techniques, students will also focus on substantive areas of law that are relevant to students’ cases, including issues of professional responsibility

Students who have taken the Non-Profit + Small Business Clinic seminar may enroll in field work units requiring them to work at least 5 hours per week on case work for clinic clients. Students may earn one-to-three credits with one credit constituting 5 hours per week of work throughout the 14-week semester. Fieldwork is graded non-anonymously on the Credit/No Credit scale.

This course provides training in trial techniques through lecture and participation in practice sessions. Students participate in all phases of civil and criminal cases under the supervision of an experienced attorney.

Students compete against other schools in Mock Trial competitions.

This course trains students to represent clients from Veterans Village of San Diego under the supervision of a licensed attorney. Veterans Village provides housing, substance abuse and mental health counseling, and job training to struggling veterans. The actual composition of students’ caseloads will be determined by client need, however, case work is generally concentrated in the areas of family, consumer, and administrative law. This seminar will include reading on substantive law and assignments that will be discussed in class along with the matters on which the students will work for Veterans Village clients. Due to the nature of the course, grading for this course will be non-anonymous. Admission to the clinic is by application that should be submitted to the Clinic Administrator. Instructions are circulated in advance of each semester.

Students who have taken the Veterans Legal Assistance Clinic seminar may enroll in field work units requiring them to work at least 5 hours per week on case work for Veterans Village clients. Students may earn one-to-three credits with one credit constituting 5 hours per week of work throughout the 14-week semester.