Summer 2026 Class Descriptions: Electives
Contract Drafting (Synchronous Distance Education) (LWGC563)
Instructor(s): Monica Sullivan
2 credit(s), Letter Graded
Requirement(s): Experiential OR Writing
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS)
Transactional drafting is crucial to the legal profession. It refers to the process of creating documents to formalize agreements between parties. This course trains students to be able to use the process comfortably. You will learn to structure agreements, and express them in clear and concise language that will benefit clients and maximize the likelihood of favorable interpretation. The course emphasizes both cooperative and individual drafting work. Each week in class, you will focus on selected components of the drafting process, and prepare a document or exercise requiring you to practice what you learn. You will receive immediate feedback on that days drafting activity, and written comments on individual weekly homework assignments. Visits by attorneys who draft contracts in their practice will provide a view of how the legal profession depends on this skill. This class will use various types of contracts that touch on various areas of substantive law: contracts for the sale of goods, business or property (contract law, commercial transactions); residential and commercial leases (landlord-tenant and real estate law); settlement agreements (torts); employment, non-disclosure and non-compete agreements (employment law); retainer agreements (legal ethics); intellectual property rights (intellectual property); corporate acquisitions (corporations, securities law); entertainment contracts (entertainment law); vendor contracts (sports law). Grades are based on the scores on individual weekly assignments.
Note:
This is a synchronous distance education course for Summer 2025 session. Classes will be taught via Zoom.
This course may fulfill either the Experiential OR Upper Division Writing requirement. Students will be asked in class at the beginning of the semester to elect which requirement they would like this course to fulfill. The stude
Courts, AI, Speech, and International Internet - Madrid (LWIC550)
Instructor(s): M. Margaret McKeown
3 credit(s), Letter Graded
Requirement(s): Experiential
Concentration(s): Intellectual Property (JD), International Law (JD), Intellectual Property (LLMUS), International Law (LLMUS), Intellectual Property Law (LLMG), LLM in International Law (LLMI), Intellectual Property Law (MSLS), International Law (MSLS), Criminal Law (LLMUS), Criminal Law (MSLS)
The Courts Tackle the Digital Age Domestically and Internationally: From the Internet to AI, Social Media, Free Speech, and Copyright
For more than a century, court decisions have lagged advances in technology. The advent of the Internet and developments in artificial intelligence, particularly generative artificial intelligence, have accelerated this gap. This course explores how courts and countries are tackling disruptive technologies and digital challenges, especially the contrast between the United States and Europe. The focus will be on a few select areas, including artificial intelligence, speech, including hate speech, social media, and copyright, with an introduction to trademark developments, though the lines are often blurred among these topics. We will look at statutes, rules, and cases that serve as the analytical foundation for these issues and consider contemporary efforts to address the shifting legal and digital landscape in an ambiguous environment. We will also consider the intersection of law and policy. Students will have an opportunity to engage in in-class presentations, debates, and exercises to highlight conflicting approaches in this arena. One highlight of the class will be the Madrid Scavenger Hunt. Students will be divided in groups and then dispatched to track down various examples related to course content.