Course Descriptions

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

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.

Evidence (Synchronous Distance Education) (LWLP529)

Instructor(s): Kaitlyn McCarthy

4 credit(s), Letter Graded
Concentration(s): Civil Litigation (JD), Criminal Litigation (JD), Criminal Law (LLMUS), Criminal Law (LLMG), Criminal Law (MSLS)

The rules of evidence in judicial tribunals, focusing on the Federal Rules of Evidence and the California Evidence Code are addressed in this course. Also covered are issues relating to: (1) judicial control and administration - functions of judge and jury, judicial notice, burden of proof presumptions, problems of relevancy, circumstantial evidence, and unfair prejudice; and (2) witnesses - competency, privileges, principles of examination and cross-examination, impeachment and support, expert and lay opinion testimony. The hearsay rule and its exceptions, rules relating to writings, real and scientific evidence are also examined.

Note:

This is a synchronous distance education course for Summer 2025 session.  Classes will be taught via Zoom.

Housing Rights Clinic I & II (LWVL500)

Instructor(s): Staff

1-4 credit(s), H/P/L/F Graded
Requirement(s): Experiential
Concentration(s): Public Interest Law (JD)

The Housing Rights Clinic provides students with opportunities to represent clients facing housing instability, including homelessness, eviction, foreclosure, and threats to housing like uninhabitability and harassment.  Students will get hands-on experience interviewing clients, drafting pleadings, propounding and responding to discovery, motion practice, negotiation, and trial experience.  Students will also have the opportunity to conduct outreach and education and help tenants organize and pursue their housing rights.  The class will meet once a week as a group to learn about housing law and advocacy and to discuss case management and strategize on negotiation, litigation, and trial.  The class meets a second time each week during set office hours to receive one-on-one training from the professor and litigation team on their caseload. 

Students interested in working in the clinics for either academic credit or as a volunteer must first fill out and submit the USD Legal Clinics Application for Law Students . Clinic staff will review your application and confirm enrollment. 

Note:

Housing Rights Clinic II is LWVL528.

International Deals & Global Crises - Madrid (LWIC534)

Instructor(s): Frederick Heller

3 credit(s), Letter Graded
Concentration(s): International Law (JD), International Law (LLMUS), International Law (MSLS)

The High Stakes Game: Lawyering Cross-Border Deals in a Turbulent World.

 In today’s turbulent times, lawyers managing cross-border deals face unprecedented complexities. Cross-border deals always require mastering different legal systems, cultures and economies. Now those bedrocks of international practice are shifting more rapidly than ever before. This course teaches the fundamentals every cross-border lawyer needs to know: international M&A, joint ventures financing, getting money in and money out. It also discusses how to address deal-shaking events that demand innovative solutions, with no two alike. These events will be selected based on world developments at the time. They may include crises such as the Ukraine-Russia war, political reversals such as the election of Milei in Argentina and shifts in policy such as in relations between China and the U.S.