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First-Year Required Courses | Second- and Third-Year Courses
Second-and Third-Year Seminars
Second- and Third-Year Courses
Upper-level courses are typically taught in a Socratic, lecture, or simulation
model format, while seminars tend to be more limited in enrollment and involve a
discussion format.
The faculty is continually developing new courses and seminars that do not
appear in the bulletin. Courses taught by visiting professors also do not
appear. The content and availability of courses and seminars are subject to
change without notice.
The faculty has approved suggested grouping and sequences of courses for
students interested in concentrating in certain areas of the law. Those
groupings are available from the Law School registrar.
Accounting for Lawyers
Double-entry bookkeeping; realization and recognition of income; matching of
costs and revenues; inventory and depreciation methods; formation of accounting
principles; basic accounting theory and major current problems, including hotly
debated issues of accounting principles. Designed to acquaint the student with
financial affairs and shortcomings of present financial statements.
(Law 6112; S-N only; 3 cr)
Administrative Law
Function of administrative agencies; legislative, judicial (including
constitutional), and executive controls of administrative agencies;
interrelations of legislative, judicial, executive, and administrative agencies
in development of public policy; internal decision-making processes of
administrative agencies. (Law 6606; 3 cr)
ADR Labor Arbitration and Employment Law
Law and practice of labor arbitration. Considers arbitrability, judicial review
of arbitration awards, arbitration procedure, substantive decision making in
arbitration, and the duty of fair representation. (Law 6239; 3 cr)
Advanced Contracts
Complex problems of contracts law typically not covered in the basic contracts
course, including precontractual liability, third party beneficiary, assignment
and delegation, and extended application of reliance concepts. (Law 6125; 3
cr)
Advanced Evidence
Hearsay, character evidence, purposes of evidence law. (Law 6115; 2 cr)
Advanced Torts
Study of injuries to relational interests, including defamation, privacy, misuse
of legal procedure, business torts, interference with family relations, wrongful
death actions. (Law 6230; prereq Torts; 3 cr)
Agricultural Law
Economic regulation of agriculture. Industrial organization and market structure
in agribusiness, public lands and water law, agricultural cooperatives, farm
labor, farm finance, crop insurance and disaster assistance, agricultural
biotechnology, food and drug law, price and income regulation and international
agricultural markets. (Law 5637; 3 cr)
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Alternative forms of dispute resolution. Validity of critiques of traditional
litigation and court-based responses to these problems.
(Law 6833; 2-3 cr)
American Indian Law
Legal relationships among American Indian tribes, the United States, and the
states. History of American Indian law; conflicting tribal, state, and federal
jurisdiction over persons and property on Indian lands; concepts of tribal
sovereignty and self-determination; and natural resources on Indian lands. (Law
6236; 3 cr)
American Legal History
Legal historical inquiry; competing historical perspectives on the meaning and
effect of law; law in colonial America; colonial witchcraft prosecutions; law
and the American Revolution; law, government, and commerce; women, family, and
the law; American Indians and American law; American law and slavery.
(Law 6228; 2 cr)
Antitrust I
Basic antitrust concepts under federal and state law: limitations on price and
output decisions, market power, monopolization and attempted mono-polization;
horizontal collaboration, vertical control of distributional systems; mergers.
(Law 6207; 3 cr)
Antitrust II
Various antitrust issues not covered in Antitrust I, including patent-antitrust
and related problems in technology licensing; state and municipal antitrust
exposure; relation between unfair competition and antitrust law; labor-antitrust
problems; Robinson-Patman Act; procedural problems such as antitrust injury and
standing; proof and computation of damages; defensive and offensive pass-on of
damages; and contribution. (Law 6210; 2 cr)
Bankruptcy
Administration of debtors' estates. Emphasis on liquidation under federal
Bankruptcy Code. Nonbankruptcy compositions, arrangements, assignments for
benefit of creditors, and nonliquidation proceedings under Chapters 11 and 13.
(Law 6107; 3 cr)
Business Associations/Corporations I
General law of multi-person unincorporated business organizations, principally
partnerships and limited partnerships. Procedures for forming such
organizations, rights and obligations of participants among themselves and with
respect to third persons. Corporate organization; distribution of powers among
corporate board of directors, its officers and stockholders; proxy system;
control devices in close corporation; fiduciary duties of directors, officers,
and controlling shareholders. (Law 6051; 4 cr)
Case Analysis
Improves ability to interpret cases and statutes through exercises that test
basic analytical skills in various legal fields. Because no substantive law is
taught, students are free to devote themselves exclusively to mastery of
analytical techniques that are valuable in myriad legal contexts.
(Law 6120; 2 cr)
Civil Liberties: Freedom of Speech
Students register in preformed "courts" of five people each to decide and issue
opinions in a series of free speech cases. Each case decided and each opinion
written will become precedent for that court to use in later cases. (Law 6240; 3
cr)
Civil Rights
Survey of principal federal statutes that provide remedies for unconstitutional
action under color of state law and that expand federal protections beyond those
provided in the Constitution against discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic
back-ground, and gender, in contexts other than employment. (Law 6621; 3 cr)
Civil Rights Moot Court
Intensive supervised experience in research, brief writing, and oral advocacy on
current controversial civil rights issues. Top students invited to participate
in the national Civil Rights Moot Court Competition. (Law 7095; 2 cr)
Commercial Paper
Commercial payment and credit devices, and applicable commercial and banking
practices. Articles 3 and 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code. (Law 6050; 3 cr)
Complex Litigation
Multiparty and multidistrict actions, class actions, intervention, and
consolidation. Emphasizes procedural aspects of multiparty cases. Advantages and
disadvantages of such litigation; its overall utility to claimants, courts, and
society. (Law 6217; 3 cr)
Conflicts
How courts decide what law to apply in cases with multistate aspects. Con-
ditions under which a judgment of one jurisdiction binds another. (Law 6202; 3
cr)
Constitutional Law II: The First Amendment
Analysis of first amendment issues, including freedom of speech, press, and
religion.
Copyright
Protection of intellectual property in the context of changing technology and
commercial practices under the Federal Copyright Act and international treaties.
Issues of protecting, transferring, and licensing literary, graphic,
audiovisual, and sound recordings, as well as computer software and
semiconductor chips. (Law 6613; 3 cr)
Corporations II
Corporate finance and reorganization. Methods of financing the corporate
enterprise, including various capital stock structures, bonds and deben-tures.
Payments to stockholders by way of dividends, redemption, or purchase of shares.
Corporate reorganizations, including mergers, sale of assets, and
recapitalization. (Law 6054; prereq Business Associations/Corporations I; 2
cr)
Creditors' Remedies/Secured Transactions
Attachment, garnishment execution, supplementary proceedings, creditors' bills,
judicial sales, fraudulent convey-ance, and exemptions. Legal problems of
personal property security in retail installment buying and in financing
commercial business. (Law 6109; 4 cr)
Criminal Justice System
Problems of law enforcement and criminal justice administration; recent
proposals to reform, regulate, or abolish police, prosecutorial, and judicial
discretion. (Law 6232; 3 cr)
Criminal Procedure
Procedural aspects of criminal trials. Emphasizes federal fourth, fifth, and
sixth amendment constitutional limitations on gathering and presenting evidence.
(Law 6218; 3 cr)
Employment Discrimination
Federal statutes and regulations prohibiting discrimination in employment, with
emphasis on Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Substantive provisions and
procedures relating to hiring practices, seniority rights, promo-tions,
affirmative action, and other personnel practices. Focus on race and gender
discrimination. (Law 6231; 3 cr)
Employment Law
Law of the workplace focusing on individual employee rights. Medical and drug
screening, occupational safety and health, workplace privacy, emerging
exceptions to the employ-ment at will doctrine. (Law 6632; 3 cr)
Environmental Law
Legal aspects of major environmental problems with emphasis on issues that
appear in various regulatory contexts, such as the degree to which environmental
quality should be protected; who should bear the cost of enhancing environmental
quality; allocation of responsibilities among courts, legislatures, and
administrative agencies; the role of citizens' groups; and environmental
litigation.
(Law 6215; 3 cr)
Environmental Law Moot Court
Introduces students to appellate advocacy by focusing on current topics in
environmental law. Intramural competition leads to selection of team to
represent the Law School in inter-collegiate environmental law moot court
competition. (Law 7083; 2 cr)
Estate Planning
Planning donative transfers of wealth to achieve dispositive objectives under
federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping taxes, as well as pertinent
provisions of federal income tax law. (Law 6151; prereq Taxation I, Trusts and
Estates; 3 cr)
Evidence
Study of relevance, admission and exclusion of evidence, direct and cross-
examination, judicial notice, hearsay, expert testimony, burdens of proof and
presumptions, privileged communications. (Law 6219; 4 cr)
Expository Writing
By repeated exercises, students learn to write clearly, concisely, and
forcefully, while avoiding several bad writing habits such as surplus words,
nominalizations, compound constructions, ambiguous sentences, passive voice, bad
punctuation, etc. (Law 6828; 2 cr)
Family Law
Law governing de jure and de facto families, including marriage, divorce, and
relations of family members to one another and to the state.
(Law 6604; 3 cr)
Federal Jurisdiction
Major problems involved in judicial functioning in a federal system. Obligations
of and interrelationships between state and federal courts. Limitations on
federal courts, including sovereign immunity, procedural barriers to Ñ1983
suits, abstention, habeas corpus, and Supreme Court review. (Law 6212; 3 cr)
Health Law
Organization of health care delivery in the United States; physician-patient
relationship; methods of quality control; response to harm and error, including
medical malpractice; health care access problems; approaches to cost control;
proposals for health care reform. (Law 6605; 3 cr)
Immigration Law
History of immigration to United States, federal authority to regulate
immigration, immigrant visas, non-immigrant visas, deportation, political
asylum, citizenship, rights of aliens in the United States, and ethical issues
for immigration lawyers. (Law 6872; 3 cr)
Independent Research
Preparation of a major paper on a difficult legal problem. (Law 6608; 2 cr)
Insurance
Basic issues of insurance the lawyer may encounter in advising clients on
personal planning, commercial transactions, and casualty losses. Nature of
insurance, marketing mechanisms, insurable interests, risk coverage, claims
process, no-fault insurance, and regulation of insurance institutions. (Law
6214; 2 cr)
Intellectual Property and Unfair Competition
Trademark, copyright, and related areas, examined partially from an antitrust
perspective. Emphasis on the Robinson-Patman Act. (Law 6603; 3 cr)
Intellectual Property Moot Court
Preparation of a motions brief, an appellate brief, and oral arguments on cases
involving patents, copyrights, or trademarks. Top students selected to represent
the University of Minnesota in the Giles Sutherland Rich Intellectual Property
Moot Court Competition. (Law 7088; 2 cr)
International Human Rights Law
Role of lawyers using procedures of the United Nations, Organization of American
States, State Department, Congress, U.S. Courts, and nongovernmental
organizations to address international human rights problems. Is there a law of
international human rights? How is that law made, changed, and invoked? (Law
6886; 3 cr)
International Law
Sources of international law, jurisdiction of nations and conflicts of
jurisdiction, treaties, sovereign immunity, Act of State Doctrine, human rights,
international economic relations, international organizations, and control of
use of force.
(Law 6602; 3 cr)
International Moot Court
International law and policies. Preparation of a brief in a moot case before the
International Court of Justice, substantial editing and rewriting, oral advocacy
training with coaches. Intramural oral argument competition leading to selection
of team to represent the University of Minnesota in the Jessup International Law
Moot Court Competition.
(Law 7068; 3 cr)
International Taxation
U.S. and foreign income tax aspects of Americans doing business abroad and of
foreigners doing business or investing in the United States. Transfer pricing,
treaty and comparative taxation issues.
(Law 6627; prereq Taxation I, II or consent of instructor; 3 cr)
International Trade Law
U.S. law and related international law relating to government controls on
foreign trade transactions. Tariffs, import and export restrictions, unfair
trade practices such as dumping and subsidies, state and local laws affecting
foreign trade, special assistance to developing countries. (Law 6619; 3 cr)
Interviewing, Counseling, and Negotiating
Simulated exercises in interviewing, counseling, and negotiating over a range of
civil and criminal cases.
(Law 6245; 2 cr)
Introduction to American Law
Introduction for foreign law students and lawyers to U.S. legal systems and
institutions. Required for LL.M. students and non-degree international students
(J.D. candidates may not enroll). Permission of the instructor required for
students not enrolled at the Law School. (Law 6020; 2 cr)
Introduction to Economic Analysis: Tax and Fiscal Policy
Tools of economic analysis as applied to tax and expenditure decisions of
government. Designed to increase student's level of economic literacy, apply
economic concepts to an expenditure issue and to current U.S. tax issues, and
develop opinions about choices the United States should make with respect to tax
and fiscal policy. (Law 6891; 3 cr)
Introduction to Employee Benefits
Introduction to the regulation of employee benefits, including portions of the
Internal Revenue Code and the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
(ERISA), pension and welfare benefits plans, fiduciary matters, and employee
benefits in litigation and transactions.
(Law 6244; 2 cr)
Judicial Externship
Students serve as part-time law clerks for state or federal court judges and
participate in periodic class meetings to discuss assigned readings on judicial
process. (Law 6057; 2-3 cr)
Jurisprudence
Problems of law and morality, the logic of legal analysis, punishment, social
justice, legal and moral responsibility, limitations on individual freedom.
(Law 6615; 3 cr)
Juvenile Justice
Legal, sociological, and philosophical bases of the principal agencies
responsible for the control of youthful deviance. Emphasis on the juvenile
courts' delinquency jurisdiction and the procedural and substantive limitations
on the courts' authority to dispose of juvenile offenders. (Law 6226; 3 cr)
Labor Arbitration
Law and practice of labor arbitration. Considers arbitrability, judicial review
of arbitration awards, arbitration procedure, substantive decision making in
arbitration, and the duty of fair representation. (Law 6204; 3 cr)
Labor Law
Federal laws regulating labor-management relations. Continuing need for
interpretation by the National Labor Relations Board and the federal courts.
Opportunity to study a specific administrative agency as it interprets and
applies statutory provisions. Union representation elections, collective
bargaining, and collective action.
(Law 6203; 3 cr)
Land Use Planning
Public control of land use and development and its constitutional limitations.
(Law 6201; 3 cr)
Law and Inequality Journal
By selection only. Credit given without grade for satisfactory participation.
(Law 7077; 3-6 cr)
Law, Medicine, and Bioethics
Genetic screening and engineering, medically assisted procreation and surrogate
motherhood, organ transplantation, the HIV and AIDS epidemic, termination of
life-sustaining treatment and care of the dying, definition of death. (Law 6829;
2 cr)
Law Review
By selection only. Credit given without grade for satisfactory participation.
(Law 6609; 3-6 cr)
Law and Violence Against Women
Effect of disabilities, class, gender, and sexual orientation on the law's
treatment of sexual violence. Focus on sexual harassment, pornography,
prostitution, rape, and battering.
(Law 6233; 3 cr)
Lawyering Process: Pretrial
Pretrial advocacy skills. Theoretical and practical exploration of topics
including interviewing, counseling, drafting, discovery, motion practice, and
negotiation. Each topic includes reading, discussion, and simulated exercises.
(Law 6116; 3 cr)
Maynard Pirsig Moot Court
Students prepare trial and appellate briefs and arguments in a moot court case
with tutorial instruction in legal analysis, legal writing, and oral argument,
culminating in an intramural moot court competition judged by prominent members
of the bench and bar. A team of students from this moot court is selected to
represent the University of Minnesota in the ABA Moot Court Competition. (Law
7055; required writing course for
2nd-yr law students except those in other moot court programs or on a journal; 2
cr)
Media Law
Mass communications law, including first amendment considerations, libel,
journalistic privilege, invasion of privacy, right to publicity, and regulation
of broadcasting. Overview of various legal issues and problems relating to
newspapers and other publications as well as radio and television, including
cable television. (Law 6221; 3 cr)
Mergers and Acquisitions and Other Advanced Corporate Tax Topics
Federal income tax aspects of corporate acquisitions and sales and purchases of
corporate assets and stock; selected income tax problems involving corporate
distributions, stock redemptions, liquidations, and net operating losses. (Law
6857; prereq Accounting for Lawyers or equiv, Taxation II; 2 cr)
Minnesota Journal of Global Trade
By selection only. Credit given without grade for satisfactory participation.
(Law 7641; 3-6 cr)
Modern Real Estate
Acquisition and development of real property. Listing agreements, purchase
agreements, conveyancing, real estate finance and security.
(Law 6213; 3 cr)
Mutual Funds and the Law
Federal regulation of mutual funds under Investment Company Act and Investment
Advisers Act. Passing attention to the organization of mutual funds under state
corporation or trust law. SEC rules and regulations, federal cases, and SEC "no-
action" letters. (Law 6244; 3 cr)
National Moot Court
Preparation and substantial editing of an appellate brief; oral advocacy
training with coaches. Intramural oral competition leading to selection of team
to represent the University of Minnesota in the National Moot Court competition
managed by the Bar of the City of New York. (Law 7066; 2 cr)
Partnership Taxation
Federal income taxation of partner-ships. Definition, formation, income and
capital interest of partners, allocation of deductions and losses, termination
of partnership interest, audit problems. (Law 6114; 3 cr)
Patent Law
Law of obtaining and enforcing U.S. patent rights. Law of ideas and trade secret
protection, claim drafting, patent prosecution, strategic issues. (Law 6224; 2
cr)
Pension Law
Qualified pension and profit-sharing plans: qualification, nondiscrimination,
limitations on contributions and benefits, and treatment of participants and
beneficiaries. Emphasis on federal income tax aspects of qualified plans. (Law
6244; prereq Taxation I; 2 cr)
Poverty Law I
Constitutional, federal, state, and municipal law as they affect low income
persons. History of anti-poverty programs, the constitutional requirements for
such programs, and problems in conducting legal research on poverty law
programs. Selected topics in welfare law and landlord-tenant law. (Law 6220; 3
cr)
Poverty Law II
Advanced topics in welfare law, landlord-tenant law, the rights of specific
populations, such as migrant workers and persons with disabilities, and other
areas of law as they affect low income persons, such as consumer, employment,
education, environmental, family, and juvenile law. (Law 6221; prereq Poverty
Law I; 3 cr)
Products Liability
The recent expansion of common law and statutory rights and remedies designed to
protect consumers from defective and dangerous products. (Law 6227; 2 cr)
Professional Responsibility
Lawyers' responsibilities to clients,
the profession, the administration of justice, and society; content and role of
formal standards and rules of professional ethics. (Law 6600; 2 cr; required
during 2nd or 3rd yr)
Public Sector Employment
Labor-management relations and individual employee rights in the government
workplace. Comparative analysis of labor relations under various state statutes,
and employment issues and the federal constitution. (Law 6209; prereq Labor Law
I; 3 cr)
Real Estate Planning
Planning of major real estate transactions including legal, financial, economic,
tax, and negotiation issues. Students are organized into firms that prepare a
memo on each problem. (Law 6222; prereq Taxation I, Modern Real Estate; 3 cr)
Regulated Industries
Law of public utilities and cognate schemes for economic regulation in the
United States. Emphasis on laws regulating entry, total firm revenue, and rate
structure. (Law 6634; 3 cr)
Religion
Advanced constitutional law course addressing the establishment and free
exercise provisions of the first amendment, related state constitutional
provisions, and federal and state statutory law concerning religious freedom.
(Law 6159; 3 cr)
Remedies
Damages, equity, and restitution. Private and public law remedies. Temporary and
permanent injunctions, equitable defenses, contempt, punitive damages. (Law
6200; 3 cr)
Sales
Law related to transactions in tangible personal property, primarily as codified
in Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Code methodology and problem
solving; formation, modification, perfor-mance, and breach of sales contracts;
and remedies for breach. (Law 6052; 2-3 cr)
Securities Regulation
Legal rules governing business activity in capital markets. Principal topics:
structure of capital markets; basic principles of financial economics; legal
definition of securities; rules governing public offerings of securities and
exemptions to those rules; liability under Securities Act of 1933; disclosure
obligations and liability under Securities Exchange Act of 1934; rules governing
shareholder voting; enforcement by SEC.
(Law 6211; 4 cr)
State and Local Government
Powers of and legal constraints on municipalities, counties, and school
districts. Relationships of such units to one another and to the state and
federal governments. Legal problems of such units, including tort liability,
public employment, public records, open hearings, borrowing and financial
limitations. Problems of multijurisdictional metropolitan areas. (Law 6208; 3
cr)
State and Local Tax
State and local taxes as opportunities for planning and counseling. Technical
and policy issues presented by various forms of taxation and finance used by
state and local governments. Sales tax, property tax, corporate income tax,
government indebtedness.
(Law 6113; 3 cr)
Taxation I
Federal taxation of individual and business income; gross income, exclusions,
deductions, basis, capital gains and losses, tax procedure, professional
responsibility; current issues of tax policy and public finance. (Law 6100; 3
cr)
Taxation II
Selected tax problems of shareholders and corporations arising under Subchapter
C of the Internal Revenue Code, including formation of the corporation,
distributions, redemptions, and liquidations. (Law 6101; prereq Taxation I,
Accounting for Lawyers [unless its equiv has been completed]; 2 cr)
Trademark Law
Trademark law and related unfair competition; trademark protection; acquisition
of trademark rights, including trademark availability determinations; trademark
registration process, including inter partes matters; trademark infringement;
remedies for infringement.
(Law 6836; 2 cr)
Trial Objections
Objections to testimony at trial. Students present objections to simulated
testimony and participate in exercises involving objecting to depositions,
examining a witness in an unobjectionable fashion, and arguing a motion in
limine. (Law 6638; prereq Evidence; 2 cr)
Trial Practice
Exercises in jury selection, introduction of evidence, expert testimony, direct
and cross examination and impeachment of witnesses, opening statements and
closing arguments. Culminates in full trial before a judge and jury.
(Law 6618; prereq Procedure, Evidence; 3 cr)
Wagner Labor Law Moot Court
Intensive instruction in brief writing and appellate advocacy in the context of
labor and employment law, leading to selection of students to participate in
national competition held annually in New York. (Law 7080; 2 cr)
Welfare Law
Welfare law from the perspective not of individual disputes but of legislative
and social policy, considering the nature and scope of existing state and
national social welfare programs relating to income maintenance (AFDC, social
security, general assistance, food stamps), housing and homelessness, medical
care for low-income citizens, among others, and the arguments for and against
major reforms recently implemented or under consideration. (Law 6220; 3 cr)
Wills and Trusts
Effect of property law on owners' power to choose who will succeed to their
property when they die. Wills, will sub-stitutes (including intestate
succession), rudiments of gift and estate taxation, future interests.
(Law 6153; 4 cr)
Worker Compensation/Social Security
Statutory law, case law, and policy issues of the worker compensation and social
security disability systems. (Law 6123; 2 cr)
Disclaimer: This is the official Law School Catalog
published on April 1, 1999, by the University of Minnesota. The information
in online catalogs and other University publications or announcements is
subject to change without notice. University offices can provide current
information about possible changes.
(c) 1999 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
Last modified on July 16, 1999
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