Upper Class Courses
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Accounting for Lawyers. (Law 629/G)An introduction to basic accounting principles and the interaction of law and accounting. The goal is not to make students accountants, but to help them understand the accounting statements and terminology they are likely to encounter in legal practice. (Those who had accounting as undergraduates may enter only with the permission of the instructor.)
Administrative Law. (Law 633/G) A survey of the legal problems of governance by administrative agencies, the constitutional limits on agencies' powers and judicial review of their actions. The course includes an examination of the origin and growth of the administrative process, the development of administrative law and its impact upon traditional legal institutions, analysis of the types of federal and state administrative tribunals, their powers and functions, problems of administrative procedure and judicial and other controls upon the administrative process.
Advanced Legal Research. (Law 733/G) Advanced Legal Research is an upper division elective law course. The purpose of the course is to give students deeper, more intimate exposure to the material of legal research. While the emphasis will be on practical skills, the course also endeavors to teach students the nature and philosophies of the organization and production of the materials themselves. After the course, a student should be able to analyze any research problem in terms of the types of materials that may be of use in answering the question.
Advanced Torts. (Law 643/G) An advanced class in tort law, considering the general legal theory of tort, as well as specific topics not studied in detail during the required first year torts class. This may include tort claims other than the intentional torts, negligence and products liability - for example, defamation, nuisance, privacy, abuse of legal process, interference with advantageous relationships, tort claims implied from statutes, the prima facie tort and others. This may also include a number of topics relating to the functioning of tort law in social context - for example, the efficiency with which tort litigation accomplishes its apparent purposes, alternative legal mechanisms to reduce risk or promote safety, alternative systems of compensating for harms, legislative tort reform initiatives and others.
Advanced Trial Advocacy. (Law 782/G) Students will perform simulation exercises concerning advanced trial advocacy topics including, among others, jury selection, expert witnesses, problem witnesses, development of a trial theme and multi-party litigation. Students will perform simulated bench and jury trials and will represent clients in mock cases selected to provide the students with a courtroom experience. Enrollment limited to 12 students per semester. Prerequisite: Trial Advocacy.
Agricultural Law. (Law 704/G) Legal problems and issues of unique importance to lawyers serving the agricultural sector. Representative topics include economic and environmental regulation of agriculture; organizing the farm business; financing agricultural production; marketing agricultural products; and managing agricultural risk.
Alternative Dispute Resolution. (Law 708/G) This course covers the theoretical, practical, ethical and legal issues confronted by mediators, arbitrators, neutral evaluators, and other dispute resolution specialists and the parties they serve. The course considers the legal context within which alternative forms of dispute resolution take place. Among the procedures examined are: litigation, negotiations, mediations, arbitrations, summary jury trials, mini-trials, private judges, neutral third-party evaluations, and negotiated rulemaking. The status of these procedures is examined in light of existing case and statutory law and from a public policy point of view. These procedures are also examined from a scientific/evaluative perspective: how effective are they and what are their limitations?
Among the issues covered in the course are: confidentiality and privilege, conflicts of interest, finality/enforceability of resolutions, liability and ethical standards applicable to third party dispute settlement experts, the extent of judicial review of decisions, arbitrability of disputes, and the implications of international law, and public interest concerns. Disputes in a variety of settings are considered: family, employment, medical, commercial, criminal, and international.
American Foreign Affairs Law & Policy Seminar. (Law 750/G) This seminar will explore structural/organizational issues (e.g., separation of powers, federalism) related to U.S. foreign policymaking as well as U.S. foreign policy in a number of substantive areas, such as the war on terror, non-proliferation, trade, foreign aid, global warming, relations with the European Union, relations with Latin America, etc. Previous enrollment in an international law course, although not required, will be useful background for students in the seminar.
American Legal History. (Law 619/G) This course will study the history of the American Legal Profession. It will focus on how the historical context influenced the profession and vice-versa. It will also examine certain intraprofessional issues, such as the debate over codification, ethics codes and legal education. Biographies will be used to explore these problems.
Antitrust & Trade Regulation. (Law 628/G) The control of business activities through the antitrust laws. Areas of primary emphasis include monopolies, conspiracies in restraint of trade, boycotts, resale price maintenance, exclusive dealing and tying arrangements, territorial restrictions and mergers.
Appellate Advocacy. (Law 610/G) Appellate Practice & Procedure. This course explores federal and Nebraska appellate practice, including the mechanics and timing of appeals, with an emphasis on written and oral advocacy. Students will draft appellate briefs, prepare other appeal-related documents and participate in an oral argument.
Arbitration. (Law 709/G) A study of arbitration law, process and skills; federal and state laws; commercial, labor, employment, securities, construction, international and court-annexed arbitration; and other topics related to arbitration.
Banking Law. (Law 656/G) This course examines the law of commercial banking. Topics include the history and structure of the American banking system; the chartering of a new bank; geographic limits on national books; the regulation of traditional banking activities, including lending activities, deposit-taking activities, securities and insurance activities, the regulation of the banking holding company, the regulation of failed banks; and other recent developments in the regulation of banks.
Bankruptcy. (Law 736/G) After surveying the rights of creditors and debtors under state law, this course will consider the impact of bankruptcy upon secured and unsecured creditors and upon stockholders. The bankruptcy trustee's avoiding powers will be studied. Chapters 7, 11 and 13 liquidations and reorganizations will be surveyed with selected topics considered in depth.
Bioethics & Law. (Law 684/G) Some medical advances are troubling - they divide us deeply, and raise vexing moral questions. Bioethics is the study of these moral questions, questions that follow progress in medicine and the life sciences, questions that are vital to scientist and to nonscientist alike. Often these questions are brought before courts and legislatures, where they become legally controversial, too. This course particularly concerns the role of law and legal institutions in controlling, shaping and answering these hard questions. The topical coverage of the course emphasizes issues in scientific research, especially research on human subjects, since research lies behind most scientific and medical advances; it also emphasizes issues in death and dying (the right to refuse life-sustaining treatment, and euthanasia) and issues in human reproduction (contraception, abortion, artificial conception and genetic engineering). It has sometimes also covered the treatment of medically compromised newborns and organ transplantation. Students in Bioethics may also enroll in Style & Composition in Legal Writing for an additional hour of Law College credit.
Business Planning. (Law 648/G) A series of separate, rather detailed planning problems. Each problem calls for the selection and planning of a transaction to meet the needs of the parties involved, in light of applicable corporate, partnership, tax and securities considerations. Students are organized in "firms" and each firm prepares one or two problems. Prerequisite: Corporations and Taxation-Corporate.
Capital Punishment. (Law 685/G) This course examines legal doctrine and policy regarding capital punishment in the United States. It draws heavily, but not exclusively, on decisions by the United States Supreme Court. Topics addressed include: various Constitutional challenges and limitations according to Supreme Court decisions; aggravating and mitigating circumstances; jury selection and qualification; discriminatory application; the use of clinical testimony; and the role of counsel. This course differs significantly from the Jurisprudence course that addresses capital punishment. That Jurisprudence course directs primary attention to jurisprudential arguments regarding the justification of capital punishment in principle and in practice, with only secondary attention to a few of the central court cases. This course directs primary attention to the court cases and legal doctrine and policy issues arising out of those court cases. Thus, the two courses are complimentary with relatively little overlap, and neither presupposes the other. Those who wish to enroll in both courses are free to do so.
Civil Rights Litigation. (Law 729/G) An examination of the major substantive and procedural issues in litigation to protect civil rights. We will consider established theories of liability and defenses, possible new developments in legal doctrine and pending statutory changes.
Client Interviewing & Counseling. (Law 696/G) An introduction to the basics of legal interviewing (lawyer interaction with a client for the purpose of identifying the client's problem and gathering information on which the solution to that problem can be based) and counseling (a process in which lawyers help clients reach decisions). Course work includes class discussion of reading materials and videotaped demonstrations and role play exercises and interviews.
Clinical Practice-Civil. (Law 798/G) Students, under close faculty supervision, advise and represent clients in a variety of civil cases, including landlord-tenant, consumer, collections, bankruptcy, immigration, tax and domestic violence cases. Open only to students with senior standing. Students may register for either 4 or 6 credit hours. Prerequisite: Pretrial Litigation.
Clinical Practice-Criminal. (Law 799/G) Students prosecute a variety of misdemeanor offenses under the close supervision of a member of the faculty. The cases are prosecuted through the Lancaster County Attorney's Office and the practice component of the course is conducted out of that office. Participation in a seminar concentrating on the development of skills necessary to the prosecution of criminal cases is required. Open only to students with senior standing. Prerequisite: Trial Advocacy.
Commercial Law: Sales. (Law 655/G) A study of the law governing the sale and lease of goods with primary emphasis on Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Among the topics included are: contract formation and modifications; acceptance and rejection of goods; warranties; risk of loss; and remedies for breach of contract, including breach of warranty remedies and non-UCC remedies in consumer transactions.
Commercial Law Seminar. (Law 749/G) Commercial law has changed substantially in recent years as business practices account for technological changes and the globalization of commerce. Over the past ten years, revisions to the Uniform Commercial Code, attempting to reflect these changing practices, have been adopted by state legislatures. This seminar will explore a number of current issues in commercial law, including electronic commerce, the intersection between the UCC and bankruptcy law, the UCC and intellectual property, international secured transactions, the new certificate of title law and the UCC and a variety of issues related to Revised Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 4A, 5, 7 and 9. Students will be expected to write and prepare a paper addressing an area of interest in commercial law.
Comparative Law. (Law 654/G) This course is designed to provide a general understanding of the major foreign legal systems and their impact on U.S. law, lawyers and clients. It compares the Anglo-American common law system with the civil law systems of continental Europe; surveys other major foreign legal systems (e.g. Muslim, Hindu, Japanese, Chinese, African and Socialist legal systems); and addresses proof and pleading problems that arise when foreign law is at issue in U.S. courts.
Conflict of Laws. (Law 642/G) The legal and constitutional concepts involved in choosing the applicable law when the essential facts of a case are not confined to one state or national sovereignty.
Constitutional Law I. (Law 609/G) Provides a general overview of the structure of the federal government, including the history and judicial interpretation of the Constitution, the limited jurisdiction of the federal courts and the impact that has on the cases that they hear, federalism concerns, interstate commerce, due process, equal protection and separation of powers. A major issue sought to be resolved is whether there is a principled answer to what questions should be decided at the federal rather than state level and what questions should be decided by the judiciary rather than the politically responsive branches. Other major issues concern the substantive meaning of equality under the law, reproductive autonomy, the right to life, the right to marry and sexual autonomy.
Constitutional Law II. (Law 732/G) This course emphasizes protected individual civil liberties created by the First Amendment. These are freedom of speech, association and press (and first amendment privacy concerns) as well as the constitutional principles underlying the first amendment's command that the "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The course also includes analysis of the origin and modern applicability of the state action concept in constitutional litigation.
Constitutional Problems Seminar. (Law 781/G) An examination of selected constitutional issues.
Construction Law. (Law 667/G) This course deals with the legal principles which have developed in the construction area. It includes the study of legal and equitable issues which result from the construction relationship and disputes relating to that relationship.
Construction Practice. (Law 617/G) An in-depth study of the major facets of the construction process. Topics covered include: the project concept stage, the terms and provisions of the construction contract, the contract execution stage, the performance stage, disputes and relationships among the contracting parties, architect-engineer, construction manager, subcontractors and suppliers.
Copyright Law. (Law 711/G) A course on the protection of literary, artistic, musical and audio-visual works under the laws of copyright and unfair competition. The course examines rights in characters, computer programs, nonfiction works, titles and useful articles, in addition to more traditional subject matter such as art, literature and music; issues of infringement, including home recording, photocopying, computer transmission and public performance; procedural aspects of the 1976 Copyright Act, including notice, registration, transfer and duration.
Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions. (Law 636/G) A study of corporate mergers and acquisitions, including tender offers. The course will examine the history of corporate acquisitions, their rationales, the legal duties of the officers and directors involved, different ways to structure a corporate acquisition, issues in negotiation and contracting, and securities law issues. Prerequisite: Corporations.
Corporations. (Law 632/G) The course will examine the interrelationship between various business organization constituents, as well as the general theory and law governing these relationships. The course will focus on both small and large corporations, as well as other forms of business organizations, such as agency and partnership. The course will provide a basic survey of business organization law, especially corporate organizations.
Criminal Law II. (Law 739/G) This course is designed both for students who have specific interests in the criminal law and for those who do not have such specific interests but who want to become familiar with the types of potential criminal liability of particular concern to business and corporate clients. Lawyers in civil practice with corporate, commercial or business clients should be able to anticipate and prevent client conduct that would expose the client to criminal liability or increase the degree of liability to which clients have already exposed themselves. The course addresses corporate and white collar crime including issues such as individual, corporate and conspiracy liability in the organizational context, bribery of public officials, mail or securities fraud, tax crimes, environmental crimes, RICO and criminal liability for death or injury in the workplace.
Criminal Procedure. (Law 631/G) Survey of the basic problems of criminal procedure with particular emphasis on the fourth, fifth and sixth amendments to the United States Constitution and their impact on the criminal justice system.
Criminal Sanction Seminar. (Law 773/G) An examination of the criminal sanction with attention to conceptual and justificatory problems. The seminar considers issues relating to the just administration of punishment, including the death penalty, as well as legal doctrines and defenses negating or mitigating criminal responsibility. The sentencing process will also be considered and attention paid to the legal rights of offenders from conviction to final release.
Deregulation Seminar. ( Law 779) A review of the policy arguments for and against government regulation, and their application to particular regulatory provisions. Each student will be required to write a paper examining a Nebraska regulatory provision and considering whether that particular regulation should be eliminated or modified.
Education Law. (Law 717/G) A study of the role that law plays in education in the United States. Topics include the rights of students and teachers, special education and disability, school finance, school searches, student discipline, privacy of records, liability of school officials and discrimination based on gender and race. Special emphasis on the emerging case law on state constitutional claims of education equity and adequacy.
Education Law Seminar. (Law 621/G) An in-depth study of selected current national and state legal issues pertaining to education.
Electronic Commerce. (Law 613) This course will study a variety of issues arising in electronic commerce. The issues in the course fall within three broad areas, including: (1) setting up a business in cyberspace (2) the privacy issues associated with online data collection; and (3) the laws governing the sale of goods, licensing, secured transactions and payments in an electronic environment. A variety of state, federal and international legislation and directives will be considered including: the Communications Decency Act, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the USA Patriot Act of 2001, the financial privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, digital signature statutes and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Although students who have taken a UCC course will find that the information is helpful to an understanding of some of these issues, there are no prerequisites for the course. Participation on UNL's Blackboard will be required.
Employee Benefits Law. (Law 751/G) An introduction to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the federal law governing employee benefit plans sponsored by private employers. An applied problem method of instruction with emphasis on questions, issues, and problems involving employee benefit plans likely to arise in a general litigation or business transaction practice. Course coverage also includes selected provisions of Chapter 400 of the Internal Revenue Code governing qualified retirement plans.
Employment Law. (Law 647/G) An analysis of the employment relationship as it has developed outside of the collective bargaining context. The course will cover the history and current status of the employment relationship, including topics such as discharge-at-will, occupational safety and health, minimum wage/maximum hour legislation, unemployment compensation and non-competition agreements.
Environmental Law. (Law 641/G) The legal problems arising from environmental degradation. Consideration is given to the control of pollution in the air, water and land, and the roles played by private actions and regulatory actions in protecting public and private interests.
Environmental Law and Water Resource Management Seminar. (Law 774/G) An interdisciplinary seminar with the Department of Civil Engineering. Emphasis usually is placed on contemporary environmental issues and water resource management.
Estate Planning. (Law 767/G) Federal estate and gift taxation, related income tax rules, estate planning concepts and state inheritance taxation. Prerequisite: Taxation-Individual Income Tax. Pre- or Co-requisite: Wills & Trusts.
Estate Planning Problems. (Law 768/G) Problems of planning and implementing estate plans for clients of substantial wealth with special emphasis upon skills of drafting the various legal instruments usually required for comprehensive estate planning. Prerequisite: Estate Planning.
Evidence. (Law 646/G) The concepts of relevancy and admission of evidence will be studied, including hearsay, opinions, privileges, other exclusionary rules, examination of witnesses, judicial notice and physical evidence.
Family Law. (Law 630/G) The family examined as a socio-legal entity with respect to its creation, dissolution and the problems incident to its continuation. The law of marriage and divorce is emphasized.
Family Law Practice. (Law 635/G) A limited enrollment class that emphasizes family law practice skills such as ethics, interviewing, counseling, negotiations, mediation, drafting, discovery, evaluating property, tax problems, and working with other professionals. Students will work on a simulated upper middle class divorce case that culminates in negotiating a property settlement agreement and parenting plan, and working in teams of two, will also process one real low income non-contested divorce.
Federal Jurisdiction. (Law 754/G) This course is an advanced study of constitutional law in the litigational context and is focused on the power, history and development of the federal judicial system and the distribution of power between the federal and state systems. The course also reviews some of the subject areas of civil procedure (Erie; removal; pendant jurisdiction; claim and issue preclusion; etc.) in the context of the power and limitations of the Article III federal courts. A general theme is to provide a guide to forum choice between state and federal courts.
Gender Issues in the Law. (Law 686/G) Critical review of the role of gender in shaping socio-legal relationships and policies. The course will examine selected procedural and substantive areas of the law that affect and are affected by gender. Topics include, but are not limited to, employment, property, torts, constitutional law and contractual relationships. A special emphasis will be given to the consideration of the complex relationship between gender, race and class.
Gender, Race and Class Issues in the Law. (Law 664/G) Critical review of the role of gender, race and class in shaping socio-legal relationships and policies. The class will examine selected procedural and substantive areas of the law that affect and are affected by gender, race and class. Topics include, but are not limited to, employment, property, torts, constitutional law and contractual relationships. A special emphasis will be given to the consideration of the complex relationships between gender, race and class. Students who have taken Gender Issues in the Law may not take this course.
Health Care Finance Seminar. (Law 701/G) This seminar considers selected specific issues in the design and control of market and government mechanisms for the diversification of risk. Although specific topics may vary with current developments, in recent years the seminar has emphasized health insurance and health care financing.
Immigration Law. (Law 624/G) History of immigration to the 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.
Insurance Law. (Law 783/G) The law of the insurance contract. The course will focus on the features of common insurance contracts, legislative and administrative restrictions on insurance contracts and judicial techniques for interpreting, construing and regulating insurance contracts.
International Business Transactions. (Law 673/G) This course primarily covers the private contractual aspects of international trade. Some public (government regulation) aspects are also addressed. Specific topics covered include the role of counsel in international business, international sales contracts and the Convention on the International Sale of Goods, use of distributors and agents, investing overseas, private international dispute resolution, choice of forum and choice of law clauses, international commercial arbitration, enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, extraterritorial legislation, responses to fairly and unfairly traded imports and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
International Human Rights Law Seminar. (Law 707/G) In this seminar we will examine the historical, political and philosophical roots of international human rights law, its development over the course of the last century and its contemporary role in international affairs. Specific topics that we may discuss include current attempts to strengthen U.N. fact-finding and implementation mechanisms; the relationship between U.N. peacekeeping and peacemaking, on the one hand, and international humanitarian law, on the other; the activities of regional human rights systems; the effect of the United States' recent signature and ratification of U.N. human rights conventions and the role of such conventions, and international human rights law generally, in U.S. courts; and contemporary efforts to enforce international human rights law through the criminal process. Students will be required to write a substantial research paper on a topic of their choice. Interested students will have the opportunity to research subjects of relevance to the work of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda.
International Law. (Law 640/G) This course explores issues of public and private law with an emphasis on public international law. Specific topics covered include the nature and sources of international law, rules related to making and interpreting treaties, the relationship of international law to U.S. domestic law, how international law enters the U.S. courts, limits on a nation's ability to legislate and enforce laws outside its territory, immunity of foreign states and their enterprises from jurisdiction of U.S. courts, methods of international dispute settlement (from the World Court to private commercial arbitration), rules relating to the treatment of another nation's citizens (e.g. protection of investments from expropriation) and rules applicable to non-state actors such as multinational corporations. A visitor from the Washington, D.C. trade policy community may be invited to speak. Prior years' speakers include: U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, Governor Ben Nelson, Congressional Representative Doug Bereuter and the Honorable Abner Mikva.
International Litigation & Arbitration. (Law 611/G) The globalization of the world's economy increasingly gives rise to disputes that cross national borders and affect a variety of national courts and international tribunals. The objective of this course is to familiarize students with the special substantive and procedural issues that arise in international disputes. This course will provide an overview of issues that U.S. courts face when international disputes arise, including core issues related to jurisdiction, international service, international evidence gathering, extraterritorial application of U.S. domestic law, the act of state doctrine, foreign sovereign immunity and enforcement of international judgments. This course will also consider issues related to resolving conflicts through arbitration and offer comparative perspectives about the most effective methods of resolving international commercial disputes.
International Trade Law. (Law 671/G) This course explores government regulation of international trade and the interaction between national and international rules governing trade. Specific topics covered include U.S. constitutional issues regarding the regulation of trade by the U.S. federal and state governments, regulations regarding the importation of goods into the United States (e.g. classifying, valuing and determining the origin of imported goods), barriers to U.S. exports, rules of the GATT and NAFTA that seek to eliminate or limit such barriers, U.S. unfair trade laws (i.e. laws designed to protect U.S. businesses from imports that have an "unfair" advantage) and the institutional and dispute settlement rules of the newly created World Trade Organization (WTO). A visitor from the Washington, D.C., trade policy community may be invited to speak. Past speakers include: U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, Governor Ben Nelson, Congressional Representative Doug Bereuter and the Honorable Abner Mikva.
International Trade Law & Policy Seminar. (Law 665/G) An in-depth look at selected issues of international trade law and policy. The seminar will examine several prominent issues of international trade law and policy, including trade in agricultural goods, new issues facing the international trading system and other topics selected by students for research papers. Visiting scholars or government officials or faculty from other departments at the university may also make presentations to the seminar. Prerequisites: International Trade Law (Law 671/G - preferred) or International Law (Law 640/G).
Investment Companies & Investment Advisers. (Law 687/G) A survey of the regulation of mutual funds and investment advisers under the federal Investment Company and Investment Advisers Acts. Pre- or Co-requisite: Corporations or permission of the instructor.
Investment Treaty Arbitration Seminar. In the last five years, investment treaty arbitration has been used by international investors to recover millions of dollars from sovereign states, create substantial bargaining leverage in renegotiating contracts and affect governmental capacity to regulate. Investment treaties provide various rights to investors from one country who invest in another country including national treatment, most-favored-nation treatment and protection against expropriation amongst others. Investment treaties also allow investors to bring claims for breaches of the treaty directly against Sovereigns and have those claims heard by a panel of arbitrators chosen by the parties.
Because claims under investment treaties have only been brought in the last few years, many of the procedural and substantive issues are novel. This seminar will consider these novel issues, the application of international law and the objectives underlying investment treaty arbitration. It will analyze the role of bilateral and multilateral investment treaties, including the North American Free Trade Agreement. It will consider the role of institutions such as the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a part of the World Bank Group, and national courts. At the end of this seminar, students should understand what an investment treaty is, who and what can benefit from such treaties, what rights investment treaties provide, the procedures for obtaining such rights and how to challenge awards.
Jurisprudence. (Law 672/G) The course will examine two controversial areas of law in order to attempt to understand the relationships between legal obligation and justification on one hand and moral obligation and justification on the other. The first area addresses the justification of capital punishment, and particularly the relationships between the justification for executing a particular individual and the justification for maintaining a legal institution of capital punishment. Do some perpetrators deserve to die for their crimes, and if so, is this enough to justify the state in maintaining an institution of capital punishment? The second area includes civil disobedience, the necessity defense and jury nullification. Are there good reasons why we ought to accept a moral obligation to obey the law? Under what conditions might we have a moral obligation to disobey the law? If some citizens violate law as a matter of conscience, as an exercise of civil disobedience for example, how should other citizens respond to their roles as jurors?
Juvenile Law. (Law 674/G) An investigation of the relationship between children, the family and the state. Topics include both public and private law considerations with primary emphasis on the juvenile justice system and general considerations of children's constitutional rights.
Labor and Employment Law: Theory and Practice. (Law 752/G) This course is designed as a modest bridge between classroom instruction in labor and employment law and real world practice in the area. Local practitioners will collaborate with the faculty member to formulate problems for the class and will participate in several class sessions. Students will engage in intensive analysis of issues arising out of the problems; they may be asked to prepare and discuss work products that fall anywhere on a continuum between the scholarly (such as law review-type analyses of complex issues) and the intensely practical (such as drafting interrogatories). The class has a limited enrollment. Preference will be given to students who have earned at least six credits from the following courses: Civil Rights Litigation, Civil Rights Litigation Seminar, Employment Law, Employment Law Seminar, Labor Law, Labor Law Seminar, Legal Control of Discrimination, Legal Control of Discrimination Seminar, Pension and Employee Benefit Law, Public Employment Law.
Labor Law. (Law 753/G) Legislative and judicial patterns of the modern labor movement; the objectives of labor combinations; the forms of pressure employed for their realization and prevention; strikes, boycotts, picketing and lockouts; the legal devices utilized in carving out the permissible bounds of damage suits involving labor activity; the labor injunction; the National Labor Relations Board; the nature of collective bargaining agreements; and extralegal procedure for settling labor disputes-the techniques of mediation, conciliation and arbitration.
Land Use Planning. (Law 699/G) Analysis of the legal and administrative aspects of the regulation of land use and development, the problems and techniques of urban planning at the various levels of government and the relationship of private owners and builders to the government policies involved in shaping the physical environment.
Law & Behavioral Science. (Law 762/G) This course examines actual and potential uses of social scientific research findings and theories in the law. The course examines methods for evaluating the quality and application of social scientific evidence. The uses of social scientific evidence to determine facts, to make law, to provide contextual background for legal decisions, to plan litigation and to assess the functioning of the legal system are examined in a variety of substantive areas. Topical coverage includes: establishing community standards in obscenity cases, the death penalty, research ethics, explaining and predicting behavior, jury decisionmaking, eyewitness reliability and pretrial publicity.
Law & Literature. (Law 712/G) An interdisciplinary study of the relations between law and literature, exploring the law in literature and the law as literature. The law in literature: Novelists, poets and playwrights have seen the human interest in the law and in legal events; the law and lawyers have therefore been central to some major works of literature. We will examine some of the ways the law and lawyers have appeared in literature and attempt to draw some lessons from them. The law as literature: Primary and secondary writing in the law employs most of the literary devices found in the imaginative literatures, and the tools of literary interpretation and analysis can therefore be brought to bear on legal texts. We will do so, exploring the literary aspects of the law, and deriving practical and theoretical insights from this exploration.
Law & Medicine. (Law 703/G) A survey of the major topics at the intersection of law and medicine in America today. Most of these topics will relate to the legal implications of health care quality and cost, to the legal implications of access to health care or to issues in the area of bioethics. In particular, the class will devote time to rights of access to health care; to the financing of health; to the legal implications of the quality of health care; to the laws relating to medical personnel and institutions; to the individual rights of patients; and to the medicolegal issues surrounding morally controversial developments in medicine and the life sciences, such as organ transplantation, the new reproductive technologies, the right to die and active euthanasia. (Students interested in issues of health insurance and health care financing should also consider taking Insurance Law (Law 783/G), which includes these issues in its coverage of insurance law.)
The Law of Provider & Patient. (Law 737; 2 cr) This course covers a limited but central topic in the larger field of health-care law - the law bearing on the relationship between a health-care provider and a patient. We will therefore survey the legal rights and obligations of patients and their health care providers, individual and institutional. As part of our survey, we will cover qualification as a health care provider (institutional and individual licensure); the legal doctrines relating to the formation of provider-patient relationship; the locus of decisional authority in the relationship; the provider's fiduciary duties to the patient (to deliver care of professionally acceptable quality [including traditional malpractice law], to avoid conflicts of interest, to respect the patient's privacy and to protect the confidentiality of medical information about the patient); the reciprocal obligation of the patient to take reasonable steps to assure payment and to comply with medical directives; and the legal doctrines relating to the termination of provider-patient relationships. As an important contrast to the law and ethics or therapeutic relationships, we will also explore the way provider-patient obligations are affected when the patient also becomes the subject of medical or scientific research. Students in The Law of Provider & Patient may also enroll in Style and Composition in Legal Writing for an additional hour of Law College credit.
Legal Control of Discrimination. (Law 680/G) The inequalities in American society which arise from employment discrimination against minorities and other under-represented groups, how these inequalities are reinforced and at times created by laws and how law can be used to remedy many of these inequalities.
Legal Profession. (Law 790/G) A systematic study of the principles of professional responsibility governing the practice of law in the United States. This course meets the faculty's requirement for a course in professional responsibility.
Legislation Seminar. (Law 777/G) Development of further skills in drafting and interpreting statutes, understanding the legislative processes and decision making and evaluating the role of legislation in governmental regulation. The seminar provides an opportunity for in-depth study of subjects pertaining to or involving legislation, centering on subjects considered by the Nebraska Legislature and the Nebraska legislative process.
Mass Communication Law. (Law 649/G) In-depth focus on the first amendment. Selected topics include the legal distinctions between the print and broadcast media, free press and fair trial, defamation, privacy, state secrets, pornography, commercial speech and access to the media.
Mediation. (Law 710/G) A study of the process in which a trained neutral third party assists others in resolving a dispute or planning a transaction. Students will be trained in basic mediation skills through readings, demonstrations, simulations and the keeping of a mediation notebook. Topics covered include the nature of mediation and its relationship to other forms of dispute resolution, the nature of conflict, model and styles of mediation, negotiation theory, communication skills, the interest-based mediation process, the representation of clients in mediation, special issues relating to attorney mediators and mediators standards and ethics.
Mental Health Law. (Law 763/G) The course is taught concurrently with Mental Health Law Seminar (Law 772/G). It addresses the major areas of law in which people with psychological disorder are treated differently than people who do not suffer such impairment. The law treats disordered people differently, for example, in the areas of: civil commitment; civil competence for a variety of purposes, including health care and property; competence to stand trial; and the insanity defense. This course covers both civil and criminal issues, with the primary emphasis devoted to civil concerns, especially those most likely to arise for attorneys who pursue independent or small firm practice. These include civil competence, guardianship and conservatorship, civil commitment, confidentiality and privilege and health care provider liability, especially as it applies to mental health care. The course does not presuppose or require any prior training in psychology. Each student chooses whether to take an exam or write a paper. Students who have previously taken, or are currently enrolled in, Mental Health Law Seminar (Law 772/G) may not enroll in this course.
Mental Health Law Seminar. (Law 772/G) The course is taught concurrently with Mental Health Law (763). It addresses the major areas of law in which people with psychological disorder are treated differently than people who do not suffer such impairment. The law treats disordered people differently, for example, in the areas of: civil commitment; civil competence for a variety of purposes, including health care and property; competence to stand trial; and the insanity defense. This course covers both civil and criminal issues, with somewhat more time devoted to civil concerns, especially those most likely to arise for attorneys who pursue independent or small firm practice. These include civil competence, guardianship and conservatorship, civil commitment, confidentiality and privilege and health care provider liability, especially as it applies to mental health care. The course does not presuppose or require any prior training in psychology. Each student chooses whether to take an exam or write a paper. Students who have previously taken, or are currently enrolled in, Mental Health Law (763) may not enroll in this course.
Native American Law. (Law 796/G) Legal concepts historically used to fit Native American nations into the legal structure of the United States are examined. The legal power or jurisdiction of the federal government, the states and the tribes is explored in cases, legislation and practice. Students who have previously taken Native American Law Seminar (Law 797) may not enroll in this course.
Native American Law Seminar. (Law 797/G) Legal concepts historically used to fit Native American nations into the legal structure of the United States are examined. The legal power or jurisdiction of the federal government, the states and the tribes is explored in cases, legislation and practice. Students who have previously taken Native American Law (Law 796) may not enroll in this course.
Negotiations. (Law 740/G) This class will examine a variety of negotiation styles and give students an opportunity to apply these styles in a series of increasingly complex negotiation problems. Students will be expected to complete a journal which relates class discussions, lectures, readings and personal experiences into a guide book for future negotiation practice. Negotiation problems will include plea bargains, personal injury cases, commercial negotiations and labor management disputes. Strategic and psychological factors present in negotiation styles will be examined. The purpose of the class is to improve negotiation performance and broaden the repertoire of strategic and stylistic choices available to the student negotiator.
Payment Systems. (Law 627/G) Negotiable instruments, bank collections, negotiable documents, electronic fund transfers and credit cards.
Pretrial Litigation. (Law 741/G) Concentrates on the application of procedural rules to the bringing and defending of civil law suits and on considering the tactical and strategic aspects of litigation. Students will perform weekly exercises on pleading, motion practice and discovery.
Products Liability. (Law 755/G) An in-depth study of the common law and statutory systems regulating liability for product-caused injuries. Private causes of action are the focus of the class, but they may also be contrasted with administrative regulations which govern the sale and distribution of products.
Psycholegal Research. (Law 757/G-758/G) A substantial research and writing project on a psycholegal topic. The research is supervised and approved by a faculty member in the Law/Psychology program. Absent the prior approval of the Dean, only those students enrolled in the Law/Psychology Joint Degree Program may register for this course. Absent the prior approval of the Dean, no student may take more than six hours of Research in a Selected Field and/or Psycholegal Research.
Public Lands & Natural Resources Law. (Law 698/G) Law affecting the use, management and environmental protection of the public lands and public natural resources of the United States. Specific topics include the acquisition and disposition of the public domain; federal reserved water rights; hard rock mining and mineral leasing; grazing; national forests and national parks; preservation of national wilderness areas; wildlife conservation and species protection, including the Endangered Species Act; and recreational use of the federal public lands.
Real Estate Transactions. (Law 690/G) (3 credit hours) An introduction to the laws governing the transfer of real estate and the financing of real estate transactions with an emphasis on transactional practice, client problem solving, and document negotiation and drafting. Course coverage includes: listing agreements and sales contracts; marketable title and methods of title assurance; real estate financing mechanisms (primarily installment contracts, mortgages, and deeds of trust); and real estate foreclosure procedures.
Refugee and Asylum Law and Practice. (Law 653/G) This course will introduce students to U.S. refugee and asylum law. Students will examine refugee issues in the context of domestic and international political environments. Topics for examination will include asylum reform, gender-based persecution, persecution of lesbians and gays, deficiencies in international and domestic refugee law and firm resettlement of displaced persons. With an interdisciplinary focus, students will study the interplay among political, social, economic, cultural and psychological phenomena as refugees, governments of host countries and international and nongovernmental organizations interact in the context of ongoing crises around the world. Contrasting viewpoints on the topics will be discussed. Along with the study of relevant substantive law and procedure, students will participate in simulations designed to teach practical skills necessary to an asylum and refugee law practice, including working with translators, interviewing and case advocacy. Asylum cases will serve as the foundation for role play exercises. Each student will be required to write a paper for the course.
Remedies & Damages. (Law 743/G) An examination of the basic remedies available to redress legal wrongs: injunctions, damages and restitution. Among the topics covered are permanent injunctions (including specific performance), provisional injunctions, contempt, contract damages, tort damages (primarily personal injury and property damages), proof requirements, present value adjustments, legal restitution, equitable restitution, equitable defenses, election of remedies and declaratory relief.
Research in a Selected Field. (Law 669/G-670/G) Individual study under the supervision of a faculty member. Before registering for this course, a student must (1) obtain the approval of the faculty member involved and (2) submit the Research in a Selected Field form to the Law College Registrar. Absent the prior approval of the Dean, no student may take more than six hours of Research in a Selected Field and/or Psycholegal Research.
Securities Regulation. (Law 789/G) A comprehensive but intensive survey of the statutes and regulations governing the distribution and trading of securities. Primary focus is on the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, with limited attention to state "blue sky" securities legislation. Prerequisite: Corporations or permission of instructor.
Secured Transactions. (Law 644/G) After an overview of the rights and obligations of an unsecured creditor under state law, this course focuses on the rights and obligations of a secured creditor under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Initially, the relationship between the debtor and the secured creditor is considered by examining the requirements of the taking of a security interest in personal property and the rights of the secured creditor upon default by the debtor. Thereafter, an examination of the relationship between the secured creditor and other creditors of the debtor requires a study of the filing system for perfection of a security interest and the priority rules for resolving conflicts between the secured creditor and a variety of other creditors, including the bankruptcy trustee.
Space Law. (Law 748/G) This course will address both military (such as intelligence gathering and weaponization) and commercial dimensions (including telecommunications, satellite launch, space tourism and remote sensing) of space law and policy. Course coverage will include the five major international treaties dealing directly with space (the Outer Space Treaty, Liability Convention, Registration Convention, Rescue and Return Agreement and Moon Treaty) and the application of these cold-War era treaties to modern space activities, arms control agreements implicating space, “soft law” instruments attempting to regulate space, U.S. national legislation addressing space issues, private and governmental contracts relating to space activities, as well as the mechanisms for the creation and negotiation of international space law, including the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, to address new or growing problems such as orbital debris, protection of in-space assets, and terrorism. This course will include guest lecturers from the military and private sector.
Sports Law. (Law 694/G) Selected legal issues affecting amateur and professional sports. Among others, likely topics to be covered will include the applicability of antitrust, communications, contract, labor, employment, trademark and tax laws to amateur and professional sports; the Division I NCAA governance structure; the relationship between the NCAA and international competition conducted under the auspices of the USOC and national sports governing boards; the ethical and professional aspects of player representation; the extra-governmental regulation of amateur athletics; and negotiations for media sports coverage. On occasion, there will be guest lecturers.
Style and Composition in Legal Writing. (Law 713/G) This is a skills course; its aim is to require as much practical writing as reading and study. We will discuss the various causes of poor legal writing-legal writing that is unnecessarily difficult to read-and will attempt to understand what constitutes good legal writing, and what makes it work. Our primary focus will be on developing clarity, coherence and concision in legal writing. Through this class, students should develop a better understanding of the linguistic causes of good and bad legal writing, and a set of concrete writing tools for the improvement of their own writing.
Tax Policy Seminar. (Law 769/G) A study of the policies of federal income taxation with emphasis on current legislative proposals and alternatives.
Taxation-Corporate. (Law 638/G) Advanced federal income tax focusing on income taxation of corporations and shareholders. Prerequisite: Taxation-Individual Income Tax.
Taxation-Farm & Ranch. (Law 618/G) A selection of substantial income tax and other tax-related problems and issues affecting farmers and ranchers. Prerequisite: Taxation-Individual Income Tax.
Taxation-Individual Income Tax. (Law 637/G) Introduction to the structure and content of the federal income tax system, focusing primarily on taxation of individuals. Material covered includes the concept of income, deductions, income splitting, capital gains and tax accounting. The course will attempt to give the student some technical proficiency in solving tax problems as well as an understanding of the tax policy decisions implicit in the technical rules.
Taxation-Partnership. (Law 745/G) An introduction to the fundamental federal income tax rules for general and limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships and limited liability companies. Some advanced topics will also be covered. The professor may also choose to include some materials on the substantive (state) law of general and limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships and limited liability companies. Prerequisite: Taxation-Individual Income Tax.
Topics in Law & Psychology. (Law 764/G-765/G) In-depth analysis of specific psycholegal topics. Previous course titles have included Privacy, Mental Health Policy, Legal Decision Making, Institutional Reform and Deinstitutionalization, Legal Policy and Child Development, Domestic Violence, Psychological Testimony in Criminal Cases: Battered Women's Cases, Expert Evidence and Children and the Law. May be repeated once.
Trial Advocacy. (Law 761/G) The fundamentals of trial practice. The emphasis is on questioning witnesses, selecting and addressing the jury and admitting items into evidence. Students will perform weekly exercises which are videotaped and critiqued and will also try a case to a jury. Prerequisite: Evidence.
Unfair Competition. (Law 645/G) A study of the federal and state statutes and common law doctrines restricting unfair methods of competition in business. Topics include false advertising, trademark law, misappropriation, trade secret law and the right of publicity.
Water Law Planning & Policy. (Law 776/G) Judicial, legislative and administrative problems in water resource development, allocation and control. Representative topics include: the acquisition, maintenance and transfer of private rights to use surface water and groundwater; public rights and environmental protection; interstate allocation; and federal rights and powers.
Wills & Trusts. (Law 639/G) Intestate succession and related matters, execution of wills, revocation of wills, problems created by the time gap in wills, limitations on the power to devise, construction of wills (mistake and ambiguity), "living wills", durable powers of attorney, health care directives, the elements of trust, formalities in the creation of a trust, the interest of the beneficiary, charitable trusts and problems of trust administration.
These courses have been approved by the faculty of the College of Law. Not all courses are offered each year, semester or summer session. Every attempt is made to publish course offerings as far in advance as possible to permit students to plan their curriculum.
