SELS Home Course Descriptions Home
(VLS)
What should I take?
Disclaimer:
this page is provided as a tool to help
you decide which courses might benefit your career goals. The SELS disclaims
all responsibility for any actions taken in reliance on this information. In
other words, use this page, but do your own investigation too. You have to take
full responsibility for your education.
You’re
locked in your first year; you have little choice. But your first year courses
are very important. Sports and entertainment law issues encompass civil
procedure, tort, contract, property, and yes, even criminal and constitutional
law. Good legal writing skills are essential regardless of your concentration,
so pay attention in those courses. You
will get to choose your Legal Writing II concentration; Professor Porto teaches
a Law and Amateur Sports section.
Following
is a list of courses that are offered here, relevant to sports and
entertainment law. Required courses are not listed. This list is by no means
exhaustive, and we encourage you to speak with your advisor and to fully
explore your options before deciding which courses to take.
You
might also consider the General Practice Program if
you’re looking for experiential learning. Law Review is always a good idea.
Accounting
and Business Fundamentals
The first part of the course is spent on three texts: Essentials of Accounting;
Keys to Reading an Annual Report; and Final Accounting: Ambition, Greed, and
the Fall of Arthur Anderson. The texts establish the fundamental concepts that
students use. Part of the course will be devoted to considering various aspects
of socially responsible investing and to research on specific entities chosen
by the students. Teams of students pick a company or non-profit organization,
research the financial structure and story, and present the research to the
class using PowerPoint. This provides students the opportunity to use theory to
understand and communicate accounting and business fundamentals using modern
technology.
Robert A. Foose
Administrative
Law
The study of implementation of legislative policy through administrative
agencies, including the role of administrative agencies in the governmental
process, rule making, adjudication, and judicial review of agency actions.
Jackie A. Gardina
Rebecca S. Purdom
Alternative
Dispute Resolution
This course presents the theory and practice of arbitration, negotiation,
mediation, and other processes placed under the umbrella of alternative dispute
resolution (ADR). This survey course focuses on the theory and practice of
dispute resolution as either an alternative or an addition to formal
litigation. Students will study the legal, sociological, and ethical issues in
dispute resolution and apply them in simulation exercises designed to explore
the three major types of alternative dispute resolution. Satisfies skills
requirement.
Joan Vogel
Copyright
Law
This course will explore the law relating to the protection and use of creative
works such as literary works, music, motion pictures, pictorial works,
sculpture, computer programs, and databases. The course will examine
copyright's historical and theoretical foundations, U.S. treaty obligations,
policies, and case law that shape the sometimes controversial landscape of 21st
century copyright law. Students will be encouraged to think critically about
the intersection of copyright and technology -- P2P services, YouTube, MySpace,
and Google -- and to consider the relevance of copyright in the Digital Age.
Jason Okai
Corporations
The course includes an introduction to basic accounting principles, the study
of agency law principles, and the law of partnerships and corporations. Topics
covered will include discussion of issues relating to the choice of business,
business formation, business management, financing, and dissolution. Many of
the topics covered in class will be discussed in the context of the recent
Enron/WorldCom scandals.
Geoffrey B. Shields
Linda O. Smiddy
Corporations
and Other Business Structures
This course provides an introduction to the basic legal principles that govern
a variety of business organizations, including partnerships and limited
liability companies. Topics covered will include the selection of a business
form, business formation, business management, and financing and dissolution.
Accounting and Business Fundamentals recommended.
Oliver R. Goodenough
Mark Latham
Employment
Discrimination Law
This course will examine federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination on
the basis of race, gender, age, disability and sexual orientation. In
particular, the course will examine in detail Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Rehabilitation Act, the
Americans with Disabilities Act, and state laws prohibiting discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation. Taught in alternate years.
Joan Vogel
Employment Law
This course will examine areas of federal and state labor law which regulate
the employment relationship and which provide minimum protection outside of
collective bargaining. Major topics considered include employment
discrimination, wrongful discharge, employee privacy, medical and drug
screening, employee welfare and retirement benefits (ERISA), and occupational
safety and health. Taught in alternate years.
Joan Vogel
Entertainment Law
This course will cover the legal and business issues faced by attorneys
practicing in the entertainment industry. The first half of the course will
focus on the body of laws that form the basis of entertainment properties,
including copyright, privacy and publicity, defamation, unfair competition, and
obscenity. The second half will cover the contractual, financial, and
structural considerations that arise in the normal course of the entertainment
business.
Oliver R. Goodenough
Estate and Gift Taxation
This course examines the fundamental principles of federal gift, estate and
generation skipping taxes, includes an introduction to basic estate planning
techniques. Prerequisites: Estates (may be taken concurrently). Income Taxation
helpful but not required.
Stephanie J. Willbanks
Estates
This course examines gratuitous transfers by trusts, wills, and interstate
succession; execution and revocation of wills; will substitutes; administration
of estates; family survivors' rights; the nature of trusts and fiduciary
relationships; powers of appointment; and future interests. Prerequisite:
Property.
Stephen Dycus
William H. Lyons Visiting Professor
Stephanie J. Willbanks
Federal Courts
This course is an extensive analysis of the sources of and limitations on the
federal judicial power. Particular emphasis is placed upon the relationship
between the state and federal judicial systems.
Gil Kujovich
Health Law
Are you curious about why 17 percent of the U.S. is uninsured, how Medicare is
privatizing prescription drug coverage, or what impacts recent medical
malpractice reforms are having on the estimated 98,000 deaths that occur each
year in U.S. hospitals? This course help you to be both a better consumer of
health care services and a more informed policymaker when acting on health care
issues by introducing you to the state and federal laws which regulate U.S.
health care delivery. By examining common law, state and federal statutes, and
interdisciplinary sources, this course delves into topics including public
health care programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and a variety of state initiatives
to improve access to health care services; the private health care finance and
insurance system, including the impact of managed care; liability of both
health care providers and institutions, and its relationship to quality
control; information privacy and physician-patient confidentiality; tax status
and non-profit law affecting health care organizations; and the international
context for the unique United States health care “system.”
Tracy L. Bach
Human
Nature and the Law Seminar
Legal systems are examples of human thought and behavior, and any external
study of law must be rooted in a model of what makes people work. This course
will take as its starting point the idea that humans are biological creatures,
and that human nature and its manifestation in the law can be profitably
approached from a biologically informed viewpoint. We will study the
fundamental strategic problems facing biological actors and the shape of proximate
solutions in the human brain. We will build on this foundation to examine
concepts of culture and other influences on social interaction which also shape
legal systems. Taught in alternate years. Satisfies perspective requirement.
Oliver R. Goodenough
Immigration Law
This course will provide a review and problem-based analysis of U.S.
immigration laws. We will examine the development of immigration law in the
United States and the constitutional principles and policy considerations
affecting immigration law at both the federal and state levels. We will cover
the primary employment and family based non-immigrant and immigrant categories;
citizenship issues; grounds for inadmissibility/deportability; detention;
employer sanctions; the process of removal; and grounds for relief. We will
likewise explore asylum and refugee law and the protections provided by the
Convention Against Torture. Taught in alternate years.
Arthur C. Edersheim
Income Taxation
An introduction to federal income taxation. Topics include the concept of
income, exclusions, deductions, and credits available to individual nonbusiness
taxpayers and business taxpayers; sales and other dispositions of property;
capital gains and losses.
David B. Firestone
William H. Lyons Visiting Professor
Independent Research
During the second and third years, a student
may undertake independent research projects in areas of law which the student
has a particular interest. Such projects require intensive research and the
completion of a major piece of legal writing. The experience includes close
work with a faculty sponsor who provides supervision in both the research and
writing stages.
Faculty
Intellectual Property
The course will cover the law of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade
secrets.
Frank V. Fontana
Walter Judge
Peter B. Kunin
Lawrence H. Meier
International Business Transactions
This course will examine the most common legal issues which are encountered
when engaging in international business transactions. Topics will include
international contract formation (including conflict of laws, importing,
exporting (including use of foreign agents and distributors), commercial terms,
documentary trade transactions, letters of credit, inbound and outbound foreign
investment, U.S. cumstoms law, business related immigration visas,
international commercial dispute resolution, international enforcement of
judgments, international protection of intellectual property rights,
U.S./Canada specific issues, border-related crimes and asset seizures,
international legal research, the provision of international legal services,
and more. The course will also explore the particular legal challenges of doing
business in non-market economies such as those of Eastern Europe and the former
Soviet Union. Taught in alternate years.
Mark D. Oettinger
International Law
This course serves as a basic introduction to public international law, or the
law of relations between states in the international arena. In the 20th and
21st centuries, states were joined in that arena by international organizations
(IGOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), whose gradually increasing
role will also be examined. The main forcus of the course, however, will be on
state actors.
The
course provides an overview of the international legal system, with particular
emphasis on how international law is made and enforced, whether by states or
states acting through international organizations of treaty bodies. It also
deals with the relationship between international law and domestic law,
primarily in the U.S. but also in other countries. Finally, as time permits,
the course will consider areas of substantive international law, including the
use of force, international human rights, and international environmental law.
Betsy Baker
International Regulation of Trade
This course provides students with an introduction to the rapidly developing
field of international trade regulation. Students will be introduced to the
basic institutional structures that have been created to regulate trade at the
international level and will be exposed to a range of typical legal problems
encountered in this field.
Peter R. Teachout
Internet Law
The Internet, a new and exciting medium for communication and commerce, is
technologically evolving with millions connected to the World Wide Web. The
rapid changes have challenged the existing legal framework and business models
for a variety of endeavors ranging from entertainment to journalism. A body of
domestic and international law has been developed. The course on Internet law
will examine the multi-disciplinary nature of the legal principles applicable
to this new frontier of human interaction. Topics covered include the Internet technology,
jurisdiction, domain names, intellectual property rights, commercial
transactions, constitutional rights, torts, consumer protection and ethical
considerations. The course will be taught from a perspective of trial practice
with student participation and advocacy of private and public sector litigants.
Kaveh S. Shahi
Internships - J.D.
Part-time externships allow students, under faculty supervision, to gain
practical experience in a variety of legal settings outside the classroom.
Meets skills requirement.
Jennifer B. Sargent
Interviewing, Counseling and Negotiation:
Communication and Conflict
This course aims to introduce students to the theories and strategies of three
essential skills at the core of the ethical, professional, and competent practice
of law: interviewing, counseling, and negotiation. This introduction, however,
will require students to journey on a less concrete path of self-exploration of
the characteristics that define their dynamics of interpersonal interactions,
their reaction to conflict, and their approach to decision-making. The course
is broken down into three interrelated components: conflict theory and
communication; lawyer-client communication; and communication and resolution.
Satisfies skills requirement.
Laurie C. Kadoch
Judicial Externship
This is an opportunity to obtain field based experience in a judge's chambers
for the entire semester as a judicial extern. This externship is divided into two
components: practicum and academic. All judicial externship students will
complete the Judicial Externship Academic Component, which shall concentrate on
judicial and legal ethics, but shall also provide instruction on judicial
philosophy and history, judicial decision-making and discretion, and judicial
opinion writing. Satisfies skills requirement.
Jennifer B. Sargent
Judicial Opinion Writing
This seminar explores the opinion-writing process from several theoretical and
practical perspectives. Class readings and discussions will encourage students
to critically examine models of case resolution articulated and applied by
prominent jurists and theorists in their opinions and extra-judicial writings.
Class assignments will encourage students to begin to develop their own case
resolution models by asking them to draft one or more opinions based on the
briefs and records in previously litigated federal cases. While designed
especially for students who will be working as judicial interns or law clerks,
the course is appropriate for any student interested in studying theories of
adjudication.
John M. Greabe
Legal Process
What are the requirements of a legal system that is "fair, just,
efficient, workable, and respectful of human dignity?" This course addresses
this large question in the context of a set of concrete problems covering three
basic areas of the law: private law making, judicial development of the common
law, and statutory interpretation. The student is exposed both to examples of
irresponsible decision-making and to models of excellence. Taught in alternate
years. Satisfies perspective requirement.
Peter R. Teachout
Legislation
This course will examine legislative law and the legislative process. The
course will consider the nature and history of legislative power, legislative
structure and procedure, legislative advocacy, drafting statutory law,
statutory construction, legislative history and legislative oversight. The course
will consider the role of legislative attorneys in the process and the
development of public policy through examination of a current public policy
issues.
William P. Russell
MedLaw: Medical Legal Issues and Our Changing
Concepts of Reproduction and the Family
Do the latest reports about possible cloning of human beings intrigue you? What
do lawyers need to know in order to determine what the law can and should do
about it? Is there a biological impetus that compels adoptees to search for
their birth parents? What does the law say about in vitro fertilization
procedure, egg harvesting, and sperm donation? What does it mean, medically and
legally, to be a surrogate mother? Who does and who should have access to these
new reproductive technologies? Taught in alternate years. Satisfies perspective
requirement.
Susan B. Apel
Judy E. Stern
Race and the Law Seminar
The purpose of the course is to introduce students to race as it relates to and
is reflected in the law. The focus will primarily be on the role and experience
of African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Latin-Americans, and Native-Americans in
American society, with attention to questions concerning critical race theory,
class, family, and feminism. The course will also examine the way law relates to
racial diversity in the United States. Satisfies perspective requirement.
Shirley A. Jefferson
Remedies
This course is a problem-based approach to the remedies available in typical
tort, contract, and real property problems. It examines the relationship between
the substantive rights infringed and the remedies available and provides a
practical perspective on the connection between lawyering skills such as
negotiation and remedies. Students will learn how to approach remedies issues
from a perspective which focuses on clients' fundamental interests and the
practical steps necessary to obtain appropriate remedies. It will cover
damages, restitution remedies, as well as injunctive relief. Taught in
alternate years.
Robert D. Rachlin Distinguished Lecturer in Law
Representing a Private Business: Formation,
Financing, Recruitment, Acquisitions and Divestitures, and Exit Strategies
If you elect to work for a law firm, you will be asked to help business people
organize companies, raise capital, and recruit employees. To prepare for these
assignments, you should understand transactional corporate law and acquisitions
and divestitures of businesses. This seminar will provide the skills necessary
to draft documents, negotiate business issues, and organize the legal affairs
for growing businesses.
Gerard Jones
Scientific Controversies
Many controversial and ongoing public policy
debates are deeply rooted in science. Prominent examples include global climate
chane, abortion, homosexuality, DNA forensics, evolution, and debates over the
cost and effectiveness of novel prescription drugs. Sometimes the underlying
science is sound, but it is seriously distorted when communicated to the
public. Other times litigation or polarized public debate can lead to seriously
biased scientific research being conducted in the first place, as has sometimes
happened with litigation-driven medical research. The course will look at
pharmaceutical company research on drug effectiveness to understand how
pharmaceutical manufacturers have biased their scientific research on drug
safety and effectiveness, and how this might be detected. Students will read
several scientific papers that contain biased results and talk more generally
about how one should critique a scientific paper. Satisfies perspective
requirement.
Craig M. Pease
Secured Transactions
This course is an examination of the structure of the law of security interests
in personal property from both practical and economic perspectives. It examines
the interests of all parties in secured transactions, particularly as a way of
financing business. The focus of the course is on statutory analysis and
problem-solving.
Matthew P. Harrington Visiting Professor
Semester in Practice
A full-time, individually tailored, external clinic appropriate for students
interested in self-directed learning under the direct supervision of
experienced lawyers who work with and within government (state, federal, and
local), NGOs, non-profit organizations, corporations, and law firms. The
Semester in Practice is divided into two components: the practicum and legal
profession class. Satisfies skills requirement.
Liz Ryan Cole
Sexual Orientation and the Law
A look at the way law and the legal systems affect the lives of lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgendered people. Subject areas include same-sex marriage,
the Boy Scouts, gays in the military, family law, criminal justice, employment
law, and civil rights. Satisfies perspective requirement.
Gregory Johnson
South
Royalton Legal Clinic
Students working under supervising attorneys represent real clients in civil
cases in state and federal courts in Vermont and before administrative agencies
in areas such as Social Security, welfare, and unemployment compensation;
domestic relations; domstic violence; bankruptcy; civil rights and civil
liberties; immigration; landlord-tenant relations; consumer protection;
juvenile law; and selected federally subsidized housing issues. Satisfies
skills requirement.
Alexander W. Banks
Arthur C. Edersheim
James C. May
Maryann Zavez
Trial Practice
This course covers the important aspects of a trial, including jury selection,
opening statements, direct and cross examination, exhibits, objections, expert
witnesses, and closing arguments. Each week students are assigned problems
which present specific advocacy issues and which require role playing and
examination of witnesses. The course culminates in a full simulated trial.
Prerequisite: Evidence (may not be taken concurrently). Satisfies skills
requirement.
Robert W. Gagnon
Kevin W. Griffin
Matthew I. Levine
Linda A. Purdy
U.S. Supreme Court: Politics and Process
Seminar
The focus of this course is on the court as a political-legal institution
through an examination of the selection process; the role of interest groups,
including the U.S. Solicitor General's Office, before the Supreme Court;
conflict between the justices and the other intra-court dynamics; the nature of
court decision-making; off-the-bench activities of the justices; craftsmanship
of the court; impact of court opinions; and the justices' decisions to leave
the court. Satisfies perspective requirement.
Howard Ball