This course delves into the legal foundations of corporate fraud investigations, focusing on practical approaches to defending companies and their officers/directors. The statutes covered tentatively include: securities fraud, mail/wire fraud, insider trading, money laundering, false statements, conspiracy, criminal forfeiture, and other potential criminal and regulatory violations.

This course is designed for students who may desire to pursue a career as a transactional or business attorney or who otherwise may want to gain a further understanding of the deal process. This course will (i) establish a universal, straight-forward process for analyzing any transaction or deal, (ii) provide easy to apply negotiation techniques to maximize a client’s rights while minimizing a client’s obligations in any transaction or deal, (iii) explore key transactional law concepts and contract provisions that often arise in business deals (e.g., indemnification, limitations on liability, etc.), and (iv) discuss common issues that are faced by transactional and business lawyers as they begin their legal careers. Each of these topics will be explored and examined through a series of interactive exercises and classroom discussions.  The course will cover a wide range of transactions and deals including mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financings, partnership and shareholder arrangements, venture capital investments, intellectual property licenses and joint ventures, real estate purchases and leases, employment and compensation packages, and other common commercial contracts and arrangements

This highly interactive and unique course will introduce students to the tools and techniques used by law firms and law departments in support of legal practice and business operations. Designed to prepare students for the new realities of practice in 2026 and beyond, including the quickly expanding use and impact of artificial intelligence (AI), the curriculum provides an overview of major categories of technology use and practice innovation—information that young lawyers can use to make an immediate impact in employment and career. Students will learn about new forms of legal business operation and the changing structure and expert makeup of legal teams. Knowledge gained can be used as a skill set differentiator when interviewing and entering legal practice. The course will be taught by working lawyers/consultants; each weekly session will include live technology demonstrations and guest appearances from preeminent law firm and law department lawyers, legal operations professionals and industry experts.

This course analyzes the basic considerations in contracting with the federal government, including the sovereign’s power to contract, the applicable statutes, regulations and executive orders. Material covers methods of procurement; types of contracts; sealed bidding or negotiation (competitive proposals); the problems of offer, acceptance and consideration; affirmative action programs such as minority business enterprises, women business enterprises, and disadvantaged business enterprises; as well as the authority of government agents to contract.  The materials also focus on the problems of contract performance, including changes; delays and suspensions of work; contract termination either for contractor default or for government convenience; and equitable adjustments and allowable costs. We will review case studies, negotiation exercises, and course readings throughout the semester. We will have guest lecturers who are either practicing attorneys, government lawyers, or government contractor executives.

The course will provide practical education on the law industry, including recent trends and challenges.  Designed to prepare students for the realities of the practice of law, it will address the economics of the law business, law firm fees and retention, work place management and organizational structures, ethical problems encountered in the legal work place, client service and development fundamentals, and how junior lawyers can be the most valuable to their law firms, corporate law departments, or agencies.  The course will utilize a text on law practice management, and additional case studies, court decisions, and materials culled or created by the professor.  

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: Grades will be based on a final exam, a team paper during the semester, and in-class participation and preparation.

This interactive course explores the legal issues that often arise when litigants are engaged in the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI). Using the framework of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), we will discuss the fundamentals of eDiscovery law, as well as the core technologies involved in the identification, preservation, collection, processing, review, and analysis of ESI, along with their limitations. Topics will include computer forensics, cross-border discovery, data privacy concerns, and other issues that impact the real-life practice of discovery. While exploring the business of eDiscovery and the industry’s key players, students will be exposed to a variety of career paths and roles across the EDRM. They will also gain hands-on experience using an industry-leading discovery software, Relativity. Guest speakers will provide additional perspectives to prepare students for a career in eDiscovery or any role where ESI technology and the law intersect.

Sequence and Prerequisites: None.

Evaluation:  Grades will be based on a final paper, as well as class participation and preparation (including at-home exercises).

This course builds on and reinforces the concepts and principles that students learned in their first-year contracts course. Using basic contracts from banking and corporate finance, the course (1) introduces students to the basics of corporate finance transactions and documentation and (2) emphasizes how contracts principles are applied in real-world financing transactions. Coursework will include preparing drafts of various financing documents, providing students with both drafting experience and in-depth instruction as to the background and purpose of each section of each document.  These real-world exercises will provide students with the opportunity better to understand many of the practical aspects of practicing law in the banking and corporate finance area as well as the legal principles underlying the documents governing financing transactions.

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: Small papers and a final project.

This course will explore large scale, multi-party litigation in its various forms including multi-district litigation and class actions. It will address the reasons for the explosion of multi-party litigation over the past 30 years and the advantages and disadvantages of consolidating dozens, hundreds or thousands of claims into a single proceeding.  We will pay significant attention to landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have materially altered the mass action and class action landscape and the reactions of lower counts to those rulings.  We will also consider recent and emerging areas of class action practice such as data breach and privacy litigation.