Course Descriptions

LAW 7104 Legal Methods

7104. 1 hour. This course focuses on the skills fundamental to success in law school, including the process of identifying legal issues posed by a problem, identifying and articulating relevant rules of law applicable to a problem, applying rules of law to a problem, and reaching evaluative conclusions about the problem in light of the legal analysis. Prerequisite(s): Consent of department. Required.

LAW 7108 Advanced Legal Research

7108. 1 hour. The purpose of this course is to build upon the knowledge acquired in the first year Legal Writing and Research.  Students have the opportunity to gain greater depth in their working knowledge of legal research methods, keeping cost effectiveness at the forefront. The course will review primary and secondary sources and will explore, among other sources, subject-specific secondary sources, practice materials, legislative history, historical resources, and more administrative materials.  Students will be introduced in greater depth to alternative resources.  Upon completion of this course, students should be able to evaluate research options and make choices that best suit a particular legal research situation. Prerequisite(s): Contracts or Contracts II.

LAW 7110 Criminal Law Topics

7110. 1 hour. Course designed to provide advanced coverage by focusing on a narrow topic within a broader area. This course may be repeated if the covered topic has changed. Examples of topics that may be covered in this course include white collar crimes, juvenile law, and post-conviction litigation.

LAW 7115 Family Law Topics

7115. 1 hour. Course designed to provide advanced coverage by focusing on a narrow topic within a broader area. This course may be repeated if the covered topic has changed. Examples of topics that may be covered in this course include marital property, child support proceedings, and custody hearings.

LAW 7117 Legal Research II

7117. 1 hour. Focusing on bibliographic instruction and application of research skills. Students will learn the various legal resources available to them and will develop the skills necessary to find, evaluate, and use those sources to assist clients. Prerequisite(s): Consent of department.

LAW 7120 The Trial Process

7120. 1 hour. An introductory course that will examine the importance of jury trials to the development of law, the role of the attorney in the trial presentation, the role of a jury in a trial, and the stages of a trial.

LAW 7127 Law Practice Technology

7127. 1 hour. This course exposes students to the varied uses of computer technologies in the practice of law. Familiarizes students with various innovative software platforms that are being adopted in law practice to enhance access to justice, capture legal expertise, interface with clients, manage litigation and transactional processes, and increase the efficiency and quality of legal services.

LAW 7203 Civil Procedure II

7203. 2 hours. Continues study of the fundamental procedural doctrines and rules governing civil lawsuits, with an emphasis on the federal rules of civil procedure. Focuses on pleadings, motions, and processes relating to pre-trial, trial, post-trial, appeal, joinder of parties, and class actions. Prerequisite(s): Civil Procedure I. Required.

LAW 7208 Advanced Federal Criminal Procedure

7208. 2 hours. This course will explore the rules of federal criminal procedure along with key Supreme Court decisions addressing constitutional issues that a criminal defendant faces from being charged and facing bail determination to sentencing and post-convictions along with various issues in between for the criminal defendant.

Recommended: Federal Criminal Procedure.

LAW 7212 Immigration Law

7212. 2 hours. This course is designed to help students learn and understand general immigration law concepts.  Students will gain a foundational knowledge of immigration law and its application in the real world.  Prerequisite(s): Constitutional Law.

LAW 7214 Property II

7214. 2 hours. Part two of a two course sequence. Introduction to the fundamental principles and doctrines relating to the law of property, including defining rights in property, interests in real property and personal property, transfer of property interests, private and public limitations on the use of real property, and the landlord-tenant relationship. Prerequisite(s): Consent of department. Required.

LAW 7218 First Amendment

7218. 2 hours. This course surveys the law, principles, and policy underlying the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and religious liberty. Topics covered include content-based regulations of speech, commercial speech, government interference with the media and the press, freedom of association, the free exercise of religion, and the prohibition on laws respecting establishment of religion.

LAW 7220 Courtroom Advocacy Skills

7220. 2 hours. This is a performance course designed to introduce students to the skills used in courtroom presentations, focusing on the conduct of a jury trial.   Prerequisite(s): Completion or concurrent enrollment in The Trial Process.

LAW 7227 Health Care Law

7227. 2 hours. Health Care Law is a survey course that covers the laws and regulations relating to health care patients, professionals, and institutions, including those that govern the professional-patient relationship, the liability of health care professionals and institutions, life and death decision-making, public and private insurance, the structure of health care enterprises, and fraud, waste, and abuse. The course involves reading cases, statutes, and regulations, and is taught from a problem-based and practice-based perspective, so that students will have an opportunity in class to tackle health care law issues and hone legal skills such as problem solving and advising clients.

LAW 7284 Death Penalty Law

7284. 2 hours. This course will cover the basics of Death Penalty Law. The reading assignments will come from the required text. Students will be assigned to read some material that is not in the book.

LAW 7286 Conflicts of Law

7286. 2 hours. Conflicts of Law addresses issues that may arise when a dispute or transaction has connections with more than one state or country. This course covers traditional and modern approaches to choosing the applicable state law in a civil lawsuit, federal constitutional limits on such choices, choice of law in federal court proceedings, choice of law and forum selection clauses, recognition of judgments from other jurisdictions, and application of federal law in the international context. This course will include a research segment.

LAW 7301 Legal Writing I

7301. 3 hours. Focuses on understanding and practicing effective legal writing, through frequent writing exercises and for a range of audiences. Core goals include understanding and applying the following: sources and hierarchies of legal authority; reading and interpreting cases and statutes (also emphasized in other first-year courses); the process of legal analysis (also emphasized in other first-year courses); synthesizing rules from cases, statutes, or both; distinctive features of effective legal writing. Prerequisite(s): Consent of department. Required.

LAW 7303 Legal Writing II

7303. 3 hours. Building on Legal Writing I, continues to focus on understanding and practicing effective legal writing. As with the first semester, the course will include multiple writings, and also will include preparation of a brief in connection with a summary judgment motion. Prerequisite(s): Legal Writing I. Required.

LAW 7310 Criminal Law

7310. 3 hours. Study of the fundamental legal principles, doctrines, and processes relating to criminal law, including the state's authority to define crimes, standards for criminal liability, defenses, and processes for enforcement. Prerequisite(s): Consent of department. Required.

LAW 7313 Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

7313. 3 hours. PRACTICE FOUNDATION COURSE: Provides foundation for understanding and effectively engaging in essential lawyering skills of negotiation and conflict management, including principles and concepts relating to these essential skills, but emphasizing simulation and practice exercises. Both litigation and transactional contexts and scenarios will be included. Required.

LAW 7317 Professional Responsibility

7317. 3 hours. Survey of the ethics and law of lawyering, including the Model Rules of the American Bar Association and state regulation. Core goals include understanding and applying the following: how and why the profession is regulated; the duties of lawyers, including duty of competence, confidentiality, and loyalty; duties to court; ethical issues in applied settings such as corporate counsel; lawyer discipline. Emphasis will include topics relevant to the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. This course will include a research segment. Required.

LAW 7321 Business Associations

7321. 3 hours. Introduction to the law relating to business associations. Core goals include understanding and being able to apply the following principles and concepts: choice of business entity (partnership, corporation, limited liability partnership, and unincorporated entities); agency principles relating to persons involved in the entity and those with whom they or the entity relate; financing structure; fiduciary responsibilities; and responsibilities and liability principles relating to partners, directors, officers. This course will include a skills segment.  Prerequisite(s): Contracts or Contracts II. Required.

LAW 7323 Federal Criminal Procedure

7323. 3 hours. This course is designed to provide an overview of federal criminal procedure, focusing on the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution. Topics covered may include search and seizure, arrest, due process, and trial procedure.

LAW 7325 UBE Wills, Trusts and Estates

7325. 3 hours. includes selected provisions of the Uniform Probate Code, Uniform Trust Code and other statutes governing will and will substitutes, intestate succession, trusts and other donative transfers, as well as estate planning and the administration of decedents¿ estates.  The course is designed to provide students with a general foundation of laws, concepts, processes, and terminology relating to these topics as covered by the Uniform Bar Examination. This course will include a research segment.

LAW 7327 Employment Law: Employment Discrimination

7327. This course is designed to provide advanced study in the laws governing the employer-employee relationship and may discuss topics such as at-will employment, whistleblowing, labor unions, and discrimination.

LAW 7328 FEDERAL INCOME TAX

7328. 3 hours. The course is intended to provide an understanding of federal tax concepts, preparing students to do general tax planning and tax research. The course will use basic arithmetic, for which a calculator may be used, but will not require higher math skills.

LAW 7351 Legal Writing III: From Bar to Practice Readiness

7351. 3 hours. Students will research and write drafts of various writings using the methods taught to all students in Legal Writing I and II. The various writings will include emails to a fictitious partner in a firm regarding a client's inquiring into a lawsuit, a memorandum to the same partner regarding the predicted outcome of any such lawsuit, and a motion for summary judgment predicated on the same legal fact pattern. This course serves as a major writing requirement.

LAW 7353 Legal Writing III: Civil Motions

7353. 3 hours. This course will explore different types of motions used in a civil litigation practice, including their purpose and effectiveness. Materials will be provided, including other pleadings and materials such as discovery responses for use in preparing the motions that will be drafted. The course will discuss policies, consider ethical implications, and understand why different motions are used as different situations present themselves during the course of civil litigation. Additionally, this course serves as a major writing requirement. Specifically, students will be writing a motion to compel, a motion to transfer venue, and a response to a motion to dismiss pursuant to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 91a.  Instead of one large writing assignment, there will be three smaller writing assignments. Students will build on what was learned in first year legal writing with the goal of becoming outstanding legal writers through practice. This class will also have a research segment as students will conduct comprehensive legal research for the three motions.

LAW 7355 Legal Writing III: Discovery Drafting

7355. 3 hours. Students will study the rules governing civil discovery and draft discovery requests using the various written discovery mechanisms, such as requests for disclosure, requests for production, requests for admission, interrogatories, and subpoenas.  Students will also research and draft a longer written assignment related to a discovery dispute.  In addition to the core curriculum, students will study certain discrete discovery topics, such as discovery in criminal cases, discovery in arbitrations, e-discovery, and cross-border discovery issues.  This course serves as a major writing requirement.

LAW 7357 Legal Writing III: Teaching Fellows

7357. 3 hours. Based on their performance in Legal Writing I and II, students are invited to apply to this advanced writing course, which focuses on refining predictive and persuasive skills, as well as preparing students to serve as Teaching Fellows in the first-year legal writing program. Through a series of written and oral assignments and regular feedback, students not only elevate their own writing skills but also learn how to edit and offer feedback on the works of others. This course serves as a major writing requirement.

LAW 7386 Bar Exam Skills and Strategies I

7386. 3 hours. This course is designed to improve your readiness for the Uniform Bar Exam by focusing on skill development.  This course will focus on the skills necessary to perform well on all 3 components of the Uniform Bar Examination - Multistate Bar Examination, Multistate Essay Exam and the Multistate Performance Test.  Specifically, students will receive in-depth skill instruction on reading comprehension, issue identification, rule mastery, critical thinking, legal analysis and recognition of distractors.  Moreover, students will also gain a strong conceptual understanding and knowledge of highly tested doctrines and will be taught how to develop, use and apply a flexible but strong analytical framework to solve bar exam questions.

LAW 7388 Externship Seminar

7388. 3 hours. This seminar is a three credit course that is required for students in the first semester of an externship placement. The course will focus on optimizing the educational and instructional opportunities in a field placement. The seminar engages students in structured lessons focused on learning by doing, learning from supervision, skill development, ethical issues in practice, and other related topics. In order to take this course via distance, students must have reached 28 credit hours prior to enrolling in the course.

LAW 7407 Contracts

7407. 4 hours. Study of the fundamental legal principles and doctrines relating to contract law, including the formation of contracts, the enforceability of contracts, the interpretation of contracts, and remedies for breach of contract. Prerequisite(s): Consent of department.

LAW 7V12 International Law Topics

7v12. 1-2 hours. Provides additional study in international law.

LAW 7418 Evidence Practicum

7418. 4 hours. This course will present students with the opportunity to study the history and application of the Federal Rules of Evidence.  Students can expect to engage not only in traditional classroom interactions, but they will also be conducting short trials and arguing motions before a mock trial judge.  In addition, students will be expected to draft trial documents, such as motions and supporting memoranda.  The course will include a skills segment.

LAW 7V14 FIRST AMENDMENT

7V14. 2-3 hours. The 2-credit course focuses primarily on the speech clause, but also includes some coverage of the religion and other clauses of the first amendment. A 3-credit course would add depth and breadth of coverage, including more in-depth coverage of the religion clauses, some additional depth on speech concepts, and potential additional coverage of the press and assembly clauses of the first amendment.

LAW 7V17 ADVANCED TORTS

7V17. 2-3 hours. Coverage includes: Vicarious Liability; Professional Malpractice and Breach of Fiduciary Duty; Dignitary Torts (defamation, invasion of privacy, misuse of the legal process); Business Torts (fraudulent/negligent misrepresentation, deceptive/unfair practices, interference with contract); and an overview of Products Liability and how it is tested on the bar exam. The 2-credit offering will devote less coverage to professional malpractice and business torts that are not generally tested on the bar exam.

LAW 7V18 LAW REVIEW EXECUTIVE BOARD

7V18. 1-2 hours. This course is limited to the executive boards of Accessible Law and On the Cusp. Students will earn credit for their work on these journals in  leadership positions, which afford students the opportunity to develop management skills, to grow as a leader, and to improve research and writing abilities. The following positions are eligible for up to two credit hours:

Accessible Law Editorial Board:

(1) Chief Reporter; (2) Director of Acquisitions; and (3) Director of Technology.

On the Cusp Editorial Board:  

(1) Managing Editor; (2) Acquisitions Editor; and (3) Publications Editor.

Enrollment is limited to these students during their final academic year of law school only. Students must appropriately log 42.5 hours of work per credit hour dedicated to Law Review during the applicable semester. This is a credit/no-credit course.

LAW 7V19 CIVIL RIGHTS

7v19. 2-3 hours. This course is a survey course in Civil Rights Law that covers constitutional and statutory remedies for discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, language, sex, gender, and sexual orientation as well as for government violations of constitutional rights.

LAW 7V20 INSURANCE LAW

7v20. 2-3 hours. This course will cover the principles of insurance law, including issues specific to various types of insurance policies, and the overarching principles of defense, indemnity, recovery and government regulation.

LAW 7V98 Independent Study

7v98. 1-12 hours. Concentrated study under supervision of faculty member, on a topic representing advanced work that builds on existing coursework and that is not covered in another course. Enrollment is by approval only and will result in the development of a major paper.