Law (LAW)
LAW 1100: Cases and Controversies in American Law
Discover the American legal system through the case method used at law schools across the United States. Students will learn legal principles and will then apply their knowledge to new sets of facts, practicing the skills lawyers use when serving clients. Topics include constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, property, and torts. Course is taught by law faculty for undergraduates. Graded on A-F basis only.
Credit Hours: 3
LAW 1100H: Cases and Controversies in American Law - Honors
Discover the American legal system through the case method used at law schools across the United States. Students will learn legal principles and will then apply their knowledge to new sets of facts, practicing the skills lawyers use when serving clients. Topics include constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, property, and torts. Course is taught by law faculty for undergraduates. Graded on A-F basis only.
Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required
LAW 2001: Topics in Law - General
Organized study of selected topics in law. Subjects and earnable credit may vary from semester to semester. May be repeated for credit with departmental consent. Graded on A-F basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 2010: Law of the Internet
Society has moved online - so have our legal disputes. Most of us have tapped "I agree" without reading the fine print; streamed copyrighted works without paying a license fee; and creeped someone via google and social media. Most of us have also been digitally hacked, phished, and spied upon; our personal data has been collected by private and governmental entities; and we have repeatedly heard these buzzwords of network neutrality and bitcoin. This is a survey course in the law of the internet -- civics of the internet. We cover regulation of the internet and big media companies such as Facebook and Google; privacy law from various angles; liability for various nefarious activities (including actions taken by AI rather than humans); and yes, what happens when you click "I agree." Although we discuss computer technology, this is not a high-tech class. You will not need any technical expertise beyond knowing about email, the world wide web, and texting.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 2010H: Law of the Internet - Honors
Society has moved online - so have our legal disputes. Most of us have tapped "I agree" without reading the fine print; streamed copyrighted works without paying a license fee; and creeped someone via google and social media. Most of us have also been digitally hacked, phished, and spied upon; our personal data has been collected by private and governmental entities; and we have repeatedly heard these buzzwords of network neutrality and bitcoin. This is a survey course in the law of the internet -- civics of the internet. We cover regulation of the internet and big media companies such as Facebook and Google; privacy law from various angles; liability for various nefarious activities (including actions taken by AI rather than humans); and yes, what happens when you click "I agree." Although we discuss computer technology, this is not a high-tech class. You will not need any technical expertise beyond knowing about email, the world wide web, and texting.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required
LAW 3800: Logical Reasoning and Legal Analysis
This course provides students with the basic concepts and skills necessary to navigate the law school admissions process, including coverage of the Reading Comprehension, Logical Reasoning, and Analytical Reasoning sections of the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), personal statements, diversity statements, and addenda. The course will consist of (1) readings and lectures by the Instructor or other legal professionals; (2) completion of multiple full LSAT tests and analysis of practice test results, (3) completion of multiple LSAT section tests and analysis of test results, (4) quizzes or exams, (5) completion and analysis of personal statements, and/or (6) other diagnostic and reflective activities as appropriate. Graded on A-F basis only.
Credit Hours: 3
LAW 4001: Topics in Law - General
Organized study of selected topics in law. Subjects and earnable credit may vary from semester to semester. May be repeated for credit with departmental consent. Graded on A-F basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 4940: Internships in Law
This course is designed to help students learn how the law affects working environments of all kinds, from businesses to government agencies to non-profit organizations. Students will arrange an internship with an organization of their choice and will obtain work experience in a professional setting. Students will then complete assignments related to how various sources of law (such as state and federal statutes, state and federal regulations, and state and federal court opinions) affect that organization. Graded on S/U basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-6
Prerequisites: Students must have completed at least 55 credit hours before taking this course. Students must have an overall GPA of at least 2.00
LAW 5010: Civil Procedure I
Fundamental and recurrent problems in civil actions in federal and state courts; remedies; pleading; discovery; trials; jurisdiction; appeals; joinder; and preclusion.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5020: Contracts I
Contract formation, insufficient and defective agreement, bases of promissory liability (including consideration and promissory estoppel), restitution, and abuse of bargaining process, Statutes of Frauds, parol evidence rule and principles of interpretation, contract performance and risk allocation, remedies for breach.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5035: Criminal Law
The purposes of criminal law; nature of criminal responsibility; and characteristics of particular crimes
Credit Hour: 1-4
LAW 5040: Property I
Classification of property; personal property; possession, bailment, lien, gift, bona fide purchase; land conveyancing at common law under statute of uses; freehold estate in land; concurrent estate in land; and introduction to future interests.
Credit Hours: 3
LAW 5045: Property II
Landlord and tenant; easements, profits, and licenses; support; introduction to water rights, nuisance, covenants running with the land, equitable servitudes, zoning, and modern conveyances.
Credit Hours: 3
LAW 5050: Property
Classification of real and personal property; rights to found goods; bailments; possession and adverse possession; estates in land and future interests; concurrent ownership; Landlord and tenant; easements, profits and licenses; convenants running with land and equitable servitudes; contracts for the sale of land; conveyancing.
Credit Hour: 1-5
LAW 5070: Torts
Principles and practices governing recovery of damages for injuries to person or property. Topics typically covered are intentional torts, negligence, strict liability, products liability, immunities and a survey of various "no fault" proposals.
Credit Hour: 1-5
LAW 5080: Legal Research and Writing
An introduction to the basics of legal research, legal citation and legal writing. Each student writes two objective office memoranda, and a client letter.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5085: Advocacy and Research
An introduction to Computer Assisted Legal Research, written advocacy, oral advocacy, and the Missouri rules of appellate procedure. Each student writes a trial court motion and brief and then argues that motion. Each student also writes an appellate brief and presents an oral argument in the First Year Moot Court Competition directed by the Board of Advocates (BOA).
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5090: Foundations of Legal Studies II
A limited enrollment course designed to assist first-year students to better understand the legal system, prepare for examinations and improve their legal analysis and reasoning skills. Graded on S/U basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-2
LAW 5095: Lawyering: Problem Solving and Dispute Resolution
The course is designed to provide students an introduction to critical lawyering skills; to give students an overview of the alternative processes that a lawyer can employ to resolve a client's problem; and to offer students an understanding of the lawyer's role as a problem solver. It includes an introduction to Interviewing, Counseling, Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration, mixed dispute resolution processes and ways to choose or build dispute resolution processes.
Credit Hour: 1-2
LAW 5220: Constitutional Law
Study of theories of judicial review and justiciability; sources of federal legislative power, commerce, taxing, spending, treaty, presidential, military powers; power of states to regulate and tax interstate commerce; preemption; state actions doctrine; due process, equal protection, and First Amendment rights.
Credit Hour: 1-4
LAW 5240: Criminal Procedure
Constitutional and other limitations placed upon law enforcement officers and prosecutors.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5260: Evidence
The basic law of evidence; use in trials, relevancy, circumstantial proof and real proof; use of witnesses; methods of examination; presumptions and burden of proof; and, functions of judge and jury.
Credit Hour: 1-4
LAW 5280: Professional Responsibility
Responsibilities of lawyer to client, courts and the public. Topics include: organization of the legal profession, fees, conflicts of interest, the confidential relationship, advertising and solicitation, unauthorized practice and courtroom behavior.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5310: Administrative Law
Administrative Law is concerned with the process government agencies use to make decisions. As such it develops the requirements for establishing rules and policies. It also covers the means by which agencies enforce regulations and statutory provisions, and the means for securing judicial review of rules and enforcement actions.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5320: Advanced Legal Research
Skills training in advanced research techniques and resources used in law practice. Designed to help students become critical legal information consumers with an emphasis on developing effective, cost-efficient research strategies. Topics include advanced litigation research, legislative and regulatory history, audience research, research in transactional practice areas, and research in other practice areas including legal ethics, public interest law, and international law. In-depth practice with Lexis, Westlaw and free Internet sources, including appropriate and effective use of social networking tools to extend research is also taught.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5321: Advanced Legal Writing
This course is designed to help students think purposefully about the process of writing and to practice writing and editing in a disciplined way. Students will do exercises involving: rhetorical techniques; grammar; punctuation; and, word usage. Students also will either rewrite or critique portions of appellate briefs or judicial opinions to emphasize a particular technique.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5323: Advanced Torts: Dignitary and Economic Torts
The course will examine dignitary and economic torts covering but not limited to such topics as: defamation, invasion of privacy, tortious interference, misrepresentation and injurious falsehood. Unlike tortious conduct that results in an individual suffering physical harm or contact, the claims that arise from these torts represent one of two kinds of non-physical injury - independent dignitary harms that are similar to or include emotional harms or independent economic or commercial harms. The purpose of the course is to provide students with an opportunity to explore tortious conduct and remedies available that are omitted typically from the First Year Torts course.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5325: Advanced Trial Practice
This course will expand student knowledge of opening statements, direct/cross examination of witnesses, jury instructions, and closing arguments. The course also will focus significantly on the examination/cross examination of expert witnesses. Grading is based on student participation in the examination of witnesses and a semester-ending written trial brief. NOTE: Intersession Trial Practice will not satisfy the prerequisite.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: LAW 5260 Evidence and LAW 5925 Trial Practice
LAW 5330: Advocacy, Family Violence and Public Policy
Interdisciplinary presentations examine both the state of family violence in America and the cross disciplinary issues in effective intervention, including legal procedures. The seminar is open to 2nd or 3rd year law students and other professional graduate students with permission of the faculty.
Credit Hour: 1-2
LAW 5336: AI, Data Analytics and the Law
The course will consider background and substance with respect to current uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data analytics in the law, including deep questions regarding legitimacy, utility and justice around reliance on AI and data analytics. The course will also include multidisciplinary learning around "hot topics" evolving with respect to AI, such as cybersecurity and "bot" resolutions. Notably, this course is also unique in that it provides various assessments, such as reflections, presentations, and project-based learning in order to foster critical analysis of policy and practice with respect to use and reliance on data analytics and AI in the law, which is very relevant for the "real world" and understanding "law in action." This course will also discuss AI and big data analytics beyond what students would consider in the current survey course on Innovation and Technology which is not a prerequisite.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5337: American Legal History to 1876
This is a review of Legal History. The course covers such topics as the impact of the English common law heritage; the development of law in the American colonies; and, slavery, race and gender in 19th century America. The course ends with the conclusion of the Civil War. The course will explore the effects of historical events on the development of law, but the course does not presume prior study of American history.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5338: American Legal History from 1876
Historical study of the development of American law since the Civil War. The course will cover such topics as the Civil War amendments to the Constitution; Reconstruction and its aftermath; legal change during the rise of industrialism; race and gender in late 19th century and 20th century America; law in the Progressive Era; the growth of civil liberties and civil rights in the Supreme Court; the law during war and the Depression; jurisprudential trends; and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The course will explore the effects of historical events on the development of law, but the course does not presume prior study of American history.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5340: Antitrust Law
Introduces antitrust and economic analysis and the role of competition, with an emphasis on price fixing, horizontal and vertical restraints of trade, monopoly, and merger problems.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5350: Arbitration
Law, policy and practices relating to the arbitration process as it is utilized in commercial and international sectors. Topics include modern arbitration statutes (e.g., the Federal Arbitration Act), enforceability of agreements to arbitrate, public policy defenses against enforcement of arbitration agreements, arbitrators and administering institutions, components of the arbitral process, arbitral remedies and awards, and the arbitration award in the courts.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5365: Bankruptcy
The course focuses on the rights of both secured and unsecured creditors under state and federal law. State law covers collective actions and individual actions such as execution, attachment, garnishment, and the law of fraudulent conveyances. Federal law concentrates on liquidation proceedings under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code and reorganizations for wage earners under Chapter 13 of the Code. The course will include, as time permits, an introduction to the business reorganization provisions of Chapter 11.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5370: Basic Business Principles for Lawyers
This course is designed for students who want to understand the language and practices of business regardless of whether they contemplate being a business lawyer or not. All lawyers, regardless of their specialty, regularly encounter the language and concepts of business. The purpose of the class is to provide law students with little or no business knowledge or background with the information they need to practice law effectively in a business environment. This class is intended to educate students to be comfortable with business concepts regardless of their prior background. So liberal arts undergraduates should feel comfortable taking this class.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5375: Basic Federal Income Taxation
The course is designed to introduce students to the income tax considerations that arise in a variety of legal contexts and is also beneficial for students not planning to pursue a career in tax. Topics covered are federal income tax problems of individual taxpayers; nature of income; when and to whom income is taxable; exclusion from tax base; deduction; tax effects of exchange or other disposition of capital assets.
Credit Hour: 1-4
LAW 5392: Business, Entrepreneurship, and Tax Law Review
The Business, Entrepreneurship, and Tax Law Review (BETR) is affiliated with the Center for Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship (CIPE). The BET Review journal will give students an opportunity to hone their legal research and writing skills, as well as their leadership skills as editors of the journal, on contemporary issues in growing areas of legal practice. It will also provide an outlet for the publication of articles stemming from symposia and a colloquium series that will be held on topics in the fields of intellectual property, entrepreneurship, and tax. Graded on S/U basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-2
LAW 5395: Business Organizations
The course is the law school's foundation course in business law. Topics covered include the study of agency, partnership, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations. It is recommended for students in all areas of interest. The course is a prerequisite for several advanced electives in business law.
Credit Hour: 1-4
LAW 5410: Children and the Law
The course covers the status, rights and obligations of children in contemporary American law; civil proceedings and criminal prosecutions alleging child abuse or neglect; foster care; termination of parental rights; juvenile protective legislation; and delinquency. Emphasis is placed on juvenile justice doctrine, policy and practice issues and the historical and contemporary operation of juvenile and family courts.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5415: Constitutional and Civil Rights Litigation
The course provides advanced analysis of the protection of civil liberties that derive from the United States Constitution and federal statutes. The statutes which will be covered most extensively include the Reconstruction Era laws now codified at 42 U.S.C. Sections 1981, 1983 and 1985; the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; Title IX of the Educational Amends. of 1972; and, Titles II and VI of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5416: Technological Change and the Law
This course will examine the legal and policy issues related to the most significant trends of the coming decades-primarily the mega-trends of the rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence and the global transition to clean energy, as well as other developing legal frontiers related to self-driving automobiles, drones, and cybersecurity. The course will also have an in-house practicum component and focus on how to adapt your legal practice to these trends and leverage cutting-edge technologies.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5420: Client Interviewing and Counseling
The course covers the nature and conduct of the counseling process including basic interviewing techniques, psychological factors affecting the interview process, facilitating and structuring the interview, clarification of statements and ascertaining legal issues, and dealing with client resistance and hostility. Sections may be offered as S/U or Law grading basis.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5425: Clinical Skills
The course provides the skills training for students enrolled in the Criminal Clinic. Lectures and simulations are designed to facilitate student skills in case preparation and presentation and client representation. The course provides students with experience in addressing ethical concerns, conducting fact investigation, client interviewing and counseling, drafting legal documents, direct and cross examination, and, making and responding to objections. (Not available to students on probation).
Credit Hour: 1-4
Prerequisites: LAW 5260 Evidence and LAW 5280 Professional Responsibility
Corequisites: LAW 5470 Criminal Clinic and LAW 5475 Criminal Clinic Writing Project
LAW 5430: Commercial Real Estate Leasing
The course is a seminar focusing on the study of selected topics involved in the negotiation, drafting, and interpretation of commercial real estate leases. Topics will include but are not limited to: rental provisions, defining the premises, use of the premises, condition of the premises, assignments and subleases, maintenance and repairs, casualty insurance, default/remedies, and collateral lease documentation. The course looks at the various parties involved in the process of commercial real estate leasing, their respective interests, and the dynamics of the negotiation and drafting process in which these parties memorialize their respective interests in the lease document. There is a heavy focus upon the careful reading, review, negotiation and revision of the lease document. Grading is based upon a series of exercises involving document review, negotiation, and drafting, and includes both individual and group work.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: LAW 5856 Real Estate Finance, or LAW 5858 Real Estate Transactions, or LAW 5697 Landlord/Tenant Law and Practice
LAW 5435: Comparative Law
The course examines the differences and similarities between the major legal systems of the world, focusing on distant areas of substantive and procedural law to demonstrate diverse methods of addressing similar legal issues. The course includes a discussion of the historical distinctions between the common and civil law traditions but also moves the analysis forward to address more recent legal innovations and the recognition of new groupings of legal systems. Students will leave the class with a solid understanding of (1) how U.S. legal principles compare to approaches used elsewhere and (2) the uses and benefits of the comparative approach. Principles taught in this course will be equally applicable to those who anticipate practicing domestic U.S. law as well as those who expect to develop an international practice. No foreign language skills are necessary for this course.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5440: Complex Litigation
The course will examine principles and practical techniques relevant to complex civil cases. Building on civil procedure, the course will focus on litigation involving multiple parties and/or multiple jurisdictions. Each student will be required to complete several drafting assignments.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5450: Conflict and Conflict Management
The course is designed to give lawyers a better understanding of the meaning and dynamics of conflict, so that they may better understand their client's situations, as well as the mechanisms that may be most appropriate to the resolution of any particular dispute. The course draws its theoretical teachings from a variety of disciplines beyond law: psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5454: Contract Drafting
The course teaches students the principles of drafting commercial agreements. Although the course will be of particular interest to students pursuing a corporate or commercial law career, the concepts are applicable to any transactional practice. Students will learn how transactional lawyers translate business deals into contract provisions, as well as techniques for minimizing ambiguity and drafting with clarity. Through a combination of lecture, hands-on drafting exercises and extensive homework assignments, students will learn about different types of contracts, other documents used in commercial transactions, and the drafting problems that contracts and other documents present. Course will also focus on how a drafter can add value to a deal by finding, analyzing and resolving business issues. Grades will be based on the graded assignments, good faith completion of the ungraded assignments, and class participation.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5455: Copyright Law
The course examines the nature of copyright law; common law misappropriation; scope of common law copyrights; the Copyright Revision Act of 1976 as amended; formalities of registration (fixation, copyright notice); copyrightable subject matter; originality; exclusive rights of copyright owner; scope of copyright protection; substantial similarity and infringement; fair use; joint and composite works; duration, renewal, termination, transfer; remedies; artists moral rights; federal preemption; international protection; copyrightability of computer software; and, copyright issues on the internet.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5465: Corporate Taxation
The course provides an in-depth study of the federal income taxation of corporations and their shareholders, including the tax aspects of forming and capitalizing a corporation, corporate distributions, redemptions, and taxable and tax-free corporate liquidations. This course will be taught using the problem method of instruction.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites or Corequisites: Must have taken or be currently enrolled in LAW 5375 Basic Federal Income Taxation
Prerequisites: LAW 5375 Basic Federal Income Taxation
LAW 5470: Criminal Clinic
The Criminal Clinic is available during both the Fall and Winter semesters. It can only be taken once. Enrollment is limited to 8 students per semester. Students must also enroll in Clinical Skills and Criminal Clinic Writing Project and have completed, or be enrolled in, LAW 5280 Professional Responsibility and LAW 5260 Evidence. (Not available to students on probation).
Credit Hour: 1-5
Prerequisites: LAW 5280 Professional Responsibility, LAW 5260 Evidence. Students must have prior permission of professor
LAW 5475: Criminal Clinic Writing Project
This is the Writing Section accompanying course LAW 5470.
Credit Hour: 1-2
LAW 5477: Criminal Justice Administration
The course examines the justice system's processing of formal criminal cases from the point at which a defendant is formally charged and going forward. The course reviews the processing and adjudication of criminal cases. Topics include the defendant's rights under the Sixth Amendment (e.g. jury trial, speedy trial, confrontation clause, and compulsory process rights); Eighth Amendment issues (e.g. bail and cruel and unusual punishment); criminal discovery (e.g. the prosecutor's Brady obligation to provide exculpatory evidence to defendants); expert witnesses; pretrial and trial publicity; plea bargaining; sentencing (e.g. use of discretionary guidelines and minimum mandatory systems); and appeals. This will be both an advanced criminal procedure course (similar to "bail to jail" courses at other law schools) and an advanced criminal law course.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Recommended: successful completion both LAW 5035 Criminal Law and LAW 5240 Criminal Procedure before taking this course
LAW 5485: Cross-Cultural Dispute Resolution
The course will focus on the impact culture can have on the private ordering of disputes. Culture affects communication, perceptions regarding conflict and methods for resolution. As the world becomes more interrelated and Missouri and the U.S. more diverse, lawyers need to be prepared to resolve problems across cultural lines. 20-25% of the grade will come from timely attendance and class participation.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5496: Deal Skills Class
The course introduces students to business and legal issues common to commercial transactions. Class will emphasize the thought process involved in, and required by, the practice of transactional law, skills such as interviewing, counseling and communicating with your client, understanding business issues and drafting contract provisions to reflect those issues, negotiation deals and managing a transaction closing. Simulation exercise, in-class role-play and lectures, out-of-class due diligence, negotiation and other exercises.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: Either LAW 5395 - Business Organization or LAW 5454 - Contracting Drafting. Students cannot enroll concurrently in Corporate Finance and Deal Skills. Students who have completed Deal Skills are precluded from enrolling in Corporate Finance. However, students are allowed to enroll in Deal Skills even if they have already taken Corporate Finance
LAW 5497: Death Penalty Law
The course will focus primarily on the U.S. Supreme Court's capital punishment jurisprudence over the past 35 years or more, with particular attention to how it has shaped state statutory schemes and legal argumentation in capital sentencing trials.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5516: Dispute Resolution in the Digital Age
The course will explore the need for expanded and equalized access to remedies in consumer cases, and how the internet opens doors to online dispute resolution ("ODR") systems that utilize cost-effective negotiation, mediation, and arbitration processes for resolving complaints. ODR has its drawbacks, but it can be especially effective and satisfying for low dollar claims such as those in most consumer contexts because of its efficiencies. ODR also has potential to ease power imbalances that have hindered market regulation. Accordingly, this course will look at the various systems currently used by major companies such as eBay, as well as the rules and treaty developments in global markets. We also will do ODR simulation exercises, led by Colin Rule, who has been a leader in creating ODR systems. The class also will include deep consideration of both the potential and drawbacks of ODR systems. All ODR processes are not beneficial, and thus we will also discuss development of best practices and question policy directions.
Credit Hour: 1-4
LAW 5525: Education Law
This course examines the application of discrete doctrines from criminal law, constitutional law, juvenile law, employment law, and disability law to the legal problems facing American schools. Students will explore the ways in which the objectives of these discrete legal doctrines either promote or interfere with our educational policies. Substantive areas of concentration include state regulation of education; freedom of speech, association and religion; equal educational opportunity; employment of teachers; and discipline of students.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5530: Elder Law
This course address legal issues impacting older individuals, including discussion of government benefits (Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, Supplemental Security Income), long-term care (types, contract issues, civil rights, and financial planning), guardianship and conservatorship, planning for incapacity, and health care decisions at the end of life. The course emphasizes planning techniques for the average client. Grade will be based on a short paper and take-home exam. The course may be taken for writing credit.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5532: Election Law
Election Law has become more important in recent years. This course will introduce students to the many theoretical and practical constitutional, statutory, common law, and policy issues that accompany the franchise, including: legislative districting, voting rights, campaign finance, political parties, interest groups, direct democracy, and alternative democratic structures. The course will emphasize federal law, but will also address Missouri state law as appropriate.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5534: Electronic Discovery
This course provides an in-depth treatment of the legal, technical, and cost management issues involving electronically stored information ("ESI") in civil litigation. Covers the 2006 FRCP ESI amendments (Rules 26 meet and confer, 34, production, and 37 sanctions), FRE 502 (privilege review and production), state e-discovery rules, the rapidly developing ESI case law, and emerging best practices from the Sedona Conference Cooperation Proclamation, the Electronic Discovery Reference Model, and other E-discovery authorities. Practice drafting litigation holds, preservation orders, and related e-discovery documents regularly used in civil litigation. Grading is based on student projects and a final examination.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5537: Emotional Intelligence in Law
Success in law requires more than substantive legal knowledge. It also requires self-awareness, or "emotional intelligence," by the lawyer in order to be able to operate effectively in a complex and nuanced legal environment. This course is designed to help students develop their emotional intelligence by cultivating such personal and social competencies as personal and social awareness, understanding of motivation, empathy and social skills.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5540: Employment Discrimination
This course examines the laws which prohibit discriminatory practices in employment. Title VII is the primary focus, but coverage is also given to the Equal Pay Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Additionally, the course addresses the administrative process available for dealing with employment discrimination complaints, the prima facie case requirement and burden shifting analysis used in civil rights cases, and affirmative action requirements.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5543: Employment Law
Employment Law focuses on the legal relationship between employers and employees in the non-unionized workplace. The course will survey a variety of issues regarding the establishment, maintenance and termination of the employment relationship. For example, the course will cover the common law aspects of that relationship, particularly contracts and torts. It will examine statutory modifications of the common law in areas such as wage and hours, pensions, whistle-blower protection, unemployment insurance, workers compensation, and health and safety.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5544: Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic
The Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic (the "ELC") combines business law issues, intellectual property, and transactional experiential learning. The ELC explores the lawyer's role as counsel to entrepreneurs engaged in early-stage ventures. Students will survey the legal and business issues encountered by entrepreneurs and develop the practical skills necessary to effectively represent them, including client interviewing and counseling, entity formation and planning, governance issues, employee issues, intellectual property analysis (except patents [presently]), and contract drafting. Students will work on actual client matters approved by the ELC's Supervising Attorney. Students must have the Supervising Attorney's permission to enroll, and they must satisfy the Requisites listed below. The Clinic is graded and enrollment is limited.
Credit Hour: 1-4
Corequisites: LAW 5280 - Professional Responsibility
Recommended: LAW 5395 -Business Organizations
LAW 5555: Estate Planning
Applies substantive law learned in Estates and Trusts and Basic Income Tax to the drafting of estate planning documents and related documents typical of those used in law practice. Grade based entirely on student projects.
Credit Hour: 1-4
Prerequisites: LAW 5560 and LAW 5375
LAW 5560: Estates and Trusts
Wills: probate process and will contests, intestate succession; restrictions on testation; execution, revival of wills; integration, incorporation by reference, events of independent significance; will substitutes; will construction; family protection.. Trusts: elements and creations; modification and termination; beneficial interests; charitable trusts; trust construction; powers of appointment; trust administration and fiduciary duties.
Credit Hour: 1-4
LAW 5570: Externship
The Externship offers students an opportunity to develop the skills necessary to bridge the gap between law school and law practice. Through the Externship, students prepare for "effective and responsible participation in the legal profession" (ABA Std. 301) by applying the core concepts learned in law school courses to the challenges presented in the actual, in-office practice of law. Details concerning the requirements and structure of the course are available at the Externship webpage. Students cannot take more than 6 hours of Externship credits, except in the Semester-in-Practice program and subjected to the additional limitations of that program. Credits earned in the Attorney General's Office Practicum and Landlord/Tenant Practicum count toward that 6-hour Externship limit. Graded on S/U basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-9
LAW 5575: Family Law
After surveying the variety of family arrangements in contemporary America and central issues concerning the practice of domestic relations law, this course covers marriage; dissolution; distribution of martial property; alimony; child custody' visitation and support; post-dissolution disputes over custody and child-rearing; non-marital families and non-marital children; private agreements in family law; and alternative dispute resolution in collaboration with other professions in client representations, and ethical and policy issues.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5579: FDA Law and Policy
The Food and Drug Administration regulates roughly one quarter of the consumer economy in the United States. This course will introduce students to the basic principles of federal food and drug law, examining how significant doctrines of other bodies of law (such as constitutional law, administrative law, criminal law, tort law, antitrust law, and intellectual property law) have been elaborated and applied in this highly regulated setting. We will focus largely on medical products (pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and medical devices) and nutritional supplements (a kind of "food") but from year to year there may also be units considering regulation of conventional food, cosmetics, tobacco products, and other categories of product regulated by FDA. We will explore the complex intersection of legal, ethical, policy, scientific, and political considerations that underlie FDA's regulatory authority, its policymaking, and its enforcement activity. Students will be assessed on the basis of class participation (which will weigh heavily) and a substantial writing project that involves research on a food and drug issue selected by the student (and approved by the professor). The course will be helpful preparation for students on a variety of career paths whose work may at some point involve clients, or opposing parties, regulated by FDA.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Recommended: (LAW 5220) Constitutional Law, (LAW 5310) Administrative Law, and (LAW 5640) Intellectual Property would be helpful
LAW 5580: Child and Family Justice Clinic
Students in the Child and Family Justice Clinic (the "CFJC") will work under the supervision of the Clinic Director, with Rule 13 certification. Students will participate in both simulated and real court cases. The CFJC provides family advocacy to Missouri residents in many legal areas, including assisting with orders of protections in adult abuse cases and protective custody matters. Students will draft legal documents, interview clients, attend court, and research legal matters.
Credit Hour: 1-4
Prerequisites: LAW 5280 Professional Responsibility
Recommended: LAW 5260 Evidence and LAW 5420 Client Interviewing & Counseling
LAW 5585: Federal Courts
This course considers the structure and powers of the federal courts and their relationship to the political branches and to state courts. Topics covered may include justiciability, congressional authority to define and limit federal court jurisdiction, federal common law and implied rights of action, the application of state law in federal court, abstention, civil rights actions and immunities of state officials and governments, and habeas corpus. The course focuses on structural constitutional considerations relating to separation of powers among the three branches of the federal government as well as the federalism relationship between the federal government and state governments.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites or Corequisites: LAW 5220 Constitutional Law
LAW 5590: Freedom of Speech and Association
A study of the rights of speech and association under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Major Supreme Court decisions regarding freedom of speech, including content-based and content-neutral restrictions of speech, regulation of commercial speech, regulation of obscenity and pornography, regulation of speech in public and private fora, libel and privacy law, forced association with persons or ideas, and subsidization of speech.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5591: Food Law and Policy
This course examines the laws that govern food safety and food labeling, and considers how well this network works to protect American consumers. It also considers current issues affecting the global food system. Representative topics include recent food safety problems such as tainted meat and salmonella contamination of eggs; food labeling issues such as the use of the term "grass fed" in meat labeling and the use of GMO seed; organic standards; government efforts to address the obesity problem; urban food deserts; animal welfare concerns; the regulation of pet food, and the like. Specific topics addressed each semester will depend on current events and recent legal developments. Students will be graded on the basis of research paper and class participation. The course will often include a writing section designed to meet the upper-level writing requirement. The course may be offered from time to time as a paper-only course, designed to meet the upper-level writing requirement.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5592: Firearms Law
This class will examine the historical development and modern context of the regulation of firearms. Although emphasizing domestic law, some international and comparative perspectives will be examined. The class may be taken for writing credit.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: LAW 5220 Constitutional Law
LAW 5595: Gender, Race, Sexuality and the Law
A study of the treatment of gender by the legal system. Topics will include a survey of writings by influential feminist legal scholars, historians and social scientists; a comparison of different theoretical frameworks; and an overview of substantive law and the latest legal developments involving gender. The primary aim of the course is to study various feminist theories to discern how gender is viewed by today's lawmakers and courts.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5614: Health Law
The Health Law course provides an introduction to a range of fundamental legal issues involved with the delivery of health care in the United States. Broadly speaking these issues fall in three categories: the provision of health care, the financing of health care, and the availability of health care. The course will usually cover at least the physician-patient relationship, the regulation and liability of health care providers and institutions, and basics of healthcare financing. In any particular year it might also consider other topics such as public health law (relating to measures intended to improve the health of the population as a whole); fraud and abuse; quality, access, and choice, including issues of equity and discrimination; reproductive rights; health information privacy; bioethical issues (such as assisted dying and treatment of those without decision-making capacity); and regulation of research involving human subjects. Health law occurs at the intersection of public policy (including public health policy) and the deeply personal, and it raises fundamental issues about the role of government and the rights of the individual, which themselves intertwine with social, economic, cultural, and ethical forces in this country. Students in the course will grapple with these issues as they work through the material.
Credit Hour: 1-4
Recommended: LAW 5310 Administrative Law may be helpful
LAW 5615: Health Law: The Regulation of Providers
An examination of the law governing the interactions between patients and their health care providers. The course will focus on rules governing the duty to treat, confidentiality, informed consent, medical malpractice liability, institutional vicarious liability, managed care liability, conditions of participation in federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid, fraud and abuse, and ERISA preemption. The course will cover antitrust and self-policing aspects of professional associations. The class also covers selected elements of public health law.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5618: Hiring and Firing Presidents: The Electoral College, Impeachment and the 25th Amendment
The course examines the constitutional procedure for selecting the President of the United States, as well as the two constitutional modes of removing a president before the expiration of his or her term. Thus, it will consider the creation and evolution of the "Electoral College" and the role of Congress in presidential selection; the history and application of the impeachment provisions of the Constitution; and the genesis, terms, and utility of the 25th Amendment allowing removal for presidential incapacity.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5620: Immigration Law
A study of the development of U.S. immigration and refugee law and policy, with emphasis on current immigration problems and issues. Recent changes in the immigration laws, and future trends in dealing with increasing immigrant pressure.
Credit Hour: 2-3
LAW 5632: Innocence Clinic
This is a joint clinic among the MU and UMKC law schools, and The Midwest Innocence Project, a non-profit organization. Law students will work under the supervision of the Clinic Director, a practicing lawyer, on cases of possible actual innocence from six states.
Credit Hour: 1-4
Prerequisites: LAW 5946 Wrongful Convictions
LAW 5634: Innovation and Technology in the Practice of Law
As in other industries, the legal profession is undergoing substantial disruption. Pressure to reduce client costs in the private sector and longstanding access to justice constraints in the public sector have fueled innovation through technology and redesign of traditional legal service models. The course surveys topics at the intersection of law and technology such as artificial intelligence, Blockchain, cybersecurity, data privacy, electronic discovery, social media, and smart contracts; established law practice tech applications including practice management software and document automation; and evolving machine learning and data analytics tools to future proof law. Innovations in the delivery of public sector legal services are considered. Throughout the course, students will experience and evaluate practice tools that are essential for a lawyer's technology competency.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5640: Intellectual Property
This course is an introduction to the four broad areas of intellectual property. Students will learn about intellectual property, contract, and tort knowledge gained from the first year curriculum. The course will cover trademarks, trade secrets, patent law, and copyright law. Thus, the course will cover how one obtains the special property rights called the copyright, patent, trademark contract. Further, the course will cover how these intellectual property rights are protected from the tortious act of infringement, as well as any defense to infringement it is important to note that this introductory class cannot be used to satisfy any of the requirements for the Intellectual Property certificate; nor is this introductory course substitute for the more in-depth coverage offered by Patent Law and Policy, Copyright Law or Trademark Law. Rather, it is designed to allow students to explore basic intellectual property issues and to meet any prerequisites for Cyberspace Law, Software Law and International Intellectual Property. Students may find that taking this introductory course complements the rest of the intellectual property curriculum. Class participation and preparations is required, as is class attendance. An exam and several small written projects will be required.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5652: International Commercial Arbitration
This course offers a study of arbitration as a dispute resolution process for international trade and business disputes. The course reviews ad hoc and institutional arbitration, the authority of arbitral panels, enforcement of agreement to arbitrate, challenging arbitrators, procedure and choice of law in arbitral proceedings, the enforcement of international arbitral awards. Special attention will be given to the international convention on the recognition and enforcement of international arbitral agreements and awards (New York Convention) and the UNCITRAL (U.N. Commission of International Trade Law) arbitral rules and model law. The course focuses on commercial arbitration as an international practice and not on arbitration under any particular national system. Students will participate in a hypothetical arbitration matter, beginning from the development of the claim to preliminary proceedings, the arbitration hearing, and ending with the arbitrators' award.
Credit Hour: 2-3
LAW 5660: International Human Rights
The purpose of this course is to enable students to develop a basic understanding of the concept of international human rights law and the role played by international and regional organizations, states and private actors in defining and enforcing human rights. Beginning with the historical origins of human rights, the course will examine the international regional human rights instruments and institutions that form the sources of human rights law (the UN system, including the Charter and treaties, European, African and Inter-American human rights regimes). It will also examine the role of non-governmental organization, the International Criminal Court and International humanitarian law (the law of war), and the interaction between US civil rights law and International human rights. Throughout the course, students will be introduced to important critical themes of human rights, including: the distinctions between public and private acts, evolving theories of statehood, sovereignty immunity, cultural relativism, and the western tradition of individual rights, and the relationship between rights and duties. Issues examined will include: political participation and democratization, religious freedom, the use of torture, corporate liability, woman's rights, the right and status of refugees, genocide and war crimes.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5665: International Law
Introduction to the international legal system, with emphasis on relations between nation-states or international entities. Topics include statehood and recognition, legislative and judicial jurisdiction, human rights and the status of the individual, treaties and international organizations.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5675: International Taxation
This course examines the federal income tax treatment of international transactions. It will focus on the principles and policies underlying the United States tax system as it relates to income earned by U.S. citizens and residents doing business and investing outside the country, as well as income derived from foreign persons doing business and investing in the United States. Topics include jurisdiction issues, source of income rules, effectively connected income, FDAP income, the foreign tax credit, the role of tax treaties in international tax, and an introduction to subpart F and other anti-deferral mechanisms.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Recommended: LAW 5375 Basic Federal Income Taxation
LAW 5677: Internet Law and Practice
This course will focus on preparing to advise business clients dealing with electronic commerce and internet law issues. There is no technological background requirement or prerequisite to take the class. We will explore a variety of themes including the control over the internet by both government and private actors; how online activities differ from their off-line counterparts; and how the laws should react to new forms of interaction and social structures found online. Specific doctrinal topics include problems of digital authorship and publication including rights of anonymity, copyrights, trademarks, defamation and other torts; sales and licensing of products; marketing, advertising and data-mining, including privacy issues; jurisdiction over online actors; and cyber-squatting. Grades will be based on the final exam and an optional short paper.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5680: Journal of Dispute Resolution
Credit for work as prescribed by the faculty for members of the Journal of Dispute Resolution. Graded on S/U basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5690: Jurisprudence
The major part of the course will cover classic jurisprudential questions about the nature of law - what law is-and related questions regarding judicial decision-making: Under what conditions is a rule a law within a legal system? Are there moral principles that are part of the law even though a legislature has not enacted them? How do judges actually interpret statutes and constitutional clauses? How should they interpret them and are there definitive right answers to disputes about what the law is? Is it possible to refrain from "legislating from the bench" or does judicial decision-making necessarily involve making new law based on moral and political judgments? In the second part of the course, we will begin thinking about the proper function or aim of some core areas of substantive law. For example, questions might include: Does the criminal law aim to exact retributive justice, to achieve deterrence, or both? Is it legitimate for the legislature to use law to enforce morality of the community's moral belief? Does tort law aim to achieve corrective justice? Does corrective justice require reparations to groups for long past injuries? Reading will include Hart, Fuller, Dworkin, Raz, Ely, Holmes, Scalia, Feinberg, and others.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5691: Jury Instructions
Theoretical and practical aspects of jury instructions (including general and special verdicts) at trial are presented from the perspectives of the judge, counsel, the jury, and the court of appeals. The course will involve the students in researching and drafting instructions, using pattern instructions, observing or participating in a simulated jury instruction conference, and writing an appellate court opinion that describes what the student has learned during the course.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5695: Labor Law
The regulation of relations between employers and labor unions at common law and under federal and state legislation; primary emphasis on the National Labor Relations Act, as amended.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5697: Landlord Tenant Law and Practice
This course focuses primarily on litigation under the Missouri Landlord Tenant statute and under federal administrative regulations governing public entities which provide housing and housing subsidies to low-income people including the processes for litigating against such entities. The course will address proper pleading, relevant evidentiary issues, and requisite settlement skills/strategies. This course is available to all 2L's and 3L's and requires Rule 13 certification. The course is required for all students enrolled in the Landlord/Tenant Practicum.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5698: Landlord/Tenant Practicum
The Landlord-Tenant Practicum serves indigent individuals in Mid-Missouri. A Mid-Missouri Legal Services Corporation staff attorney supervises Rule 13 certified law students representing tenants including but not limited to those who are being evicted and/or who wish to sue their landlords for habitability or security deposit non-return. Students may also represent tenants who reside in public or subsidized housing in administrative actions brought by or against a Housing Authority. The practicum is graded and enrollment is limited. Credits earned in the Landlord/Tenant Practicum count toward the 6-hour Externship limit.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites or Corequisites: LAW 5697 Landlord/Tenant Law and Practice
Corequisites: LAW 5280 Professional Responsibility
LAW 5700: Land Use Controls
This course focuses on laws governing the use and development of land. The course examines legal rules and policy considerations related to zoning, subdivision controls, building codes, historic preservation, aesthetic regulation, growth management, eminent domain, nuisance law, regional land use conflicts, development exactions, and environmental land use restrictions.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5715: Law and Economics
Study of the use of microeconomic analysis and methods in influencing the law. Topics: economic analysis of tort, contract and property law, the use and misuse of economics in the common law judging tradition, limitations on the use of economic analysis in law and links between economic analysis and constitutional law/public choice theory.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5717: The Law of Habeas Corpus and Post-Conviction Relief
Course will cover principles and practices of post-conviction remedies available to collaterally attack a criminal conviction in state and federal courts. Students will prepare post-conviction motions and petitions for a writ of habeas corpus under state and federal rules.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5721: Law Practice Management and Technology
Managing a successful law practice requires time and project management skills, as well as knowledge about the business of practicing law. This course explores the practical and ethical challenges that confront the solo or small firm lawyer. Students will be introduced to a range of resources for the solo and small firm lawyer, and gain practical experience in preparing a business plan, client welcome package, and policies and procedure manual. Material presented is relevant to both the litigation and the transactional lawyer.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: LAW 5280 Professional Responsibility
LAW 5723: The Law and Practice of Criminal Sentencing
This simulation-based course examines the substantive law and practical operation of state and federal criminal sentencing systems and seeks to provide students with entry-level competence as advocates in the sentencing phase of criminal cases. Students will participate in a series of simulated sentencing proceedings in state and federal court, acting as counsel for the government or the defendant, or as the sentencing judge. Criminal Procedure and Criminal Justice Administration are recommended, but not required.
Credit Hour: 1-4
LAW 5727: The Law of Tax Exempt Organizations
This course will briefly address theories and rationales for exempt organizations and examine in some depth the Internal Revenue Service's tests for tax-exemption and the major types of 501(c)(3) organizations and related contribution deductions, as well as a collection of other 501(c) associations. Attention will be paid to state law regarding the formation and operation of Missouri Nonprofit corporations and the IRS application process for recognition of tax-exemption in addition to nonprofit corporate governance matters. Focus will be on Internal Revenue Code provisions, Treasury Regulations, IRS interpretive rulings and case law.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Recommended: LAW 5395 Business Organizations
LAW 5728: The Law of War
According to Colonel Wang Ziangsui of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, developing countries should recognize that "the first rule of unrestricted warfare is that there are no rules, with nothing forbidden." Is this true, or can there be Jus in Bello (Justice in War)? In the first phase of this course, we will examine the philosophy of regulating the law of war, the history of attempts to regulate warfare, and the United States' current posture on the law of war. In the second phase, we will examine laws governing the use of force during conflict (military necessity, proportionality, unnecessary suffering, and the targeting of civilians). We will conclude with a study of the laws governing post-submission opponents( the Geneva Conventions) and issues such as detention, lawful ruses, and unlawful perfidy.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5730: Law Review
Credit for work as prescribed by the faculty for members of the Missouri Law Review. Graded on S/U basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5732: Legal Landscape of Student-Athlete Name, Image, and Likeness
This course will survey the landscape of intersecting governance measures that has led to the current state of name, image, and likeness (NIL) for college student-athletes. Focusing primarily on state laws that address NIL, the course will also teach students how antitrust restrictions, immigration law, Title IX, and intellectual property concerns interact with NCAA, conference, and institutional policies to affect student-athletes' behavior and opportunities. Graded on S/U basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-2
LAW 5745: Legislation
Study of how statutes are drafted, adopted, and interpreted. The principal focus of the course is on the interpretation of statutes by courts.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5748: Life Skills for Lawyers
Readings and discussions will focus on how members of the class want to live their lives as a lawyer. Students will be asked to examine their law school experience and visualize their place in the legal profession. Various problems faced by lawyers (e.g. the pressure to produce billable hours and dealing with clients) will be discussed. Some of the positive aspects of being a lawyer will be identified. The emphasis will be on what the problems and opportunities mean to you personally and the importance of taking responsibility for your own personal and professional life. (not available to students on probation, except for students classified as 3L students).
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5750: Local Government Law
Structure and powers of local government units; state-local relations, including "home rule"; local government finance, including taxation and indebtedness; incorporation and annexation; eminent domain; tort liability; land use controls; labor relations.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5765: Mediation
A study of the process in which a neutral third party assists others in resolving a dispute or planning a transaction. The course addresses the mediation movement as regards public policy, politics, professional responsibility, malpractice, and negotiation. Students develop mediation and negotiation skills through readings, demonstrations, experimental exercises, and preparation of a case study.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5770: Mediation Clinic
(same as LAW 6970). Students develop and refine mediation skills by observing and participating in simulated and real mediation cases. Graded on S/U basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-2
Prerequisites: LAW 5765 Mediation (or concurrent enrollment), or completion of an approved training. Limited to J.D. or LL.M. students in designated semesters
LAW 5789: Military Law
This course will explore the development of military law and its character today. Topics will include courts-martial; military criminal law; trial and appellate practice and procedure; constitutional rights of military personnel; protections afforded crime victims; the roles of commanders, Congress, the Supreme Court, and the President; unlawful command influence; and administrative proceedings. Current issues such as recent changes to the military justice system; treatment of sexual offenses; Guantanamo military commissions; and judicial independence will be addressed.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5800: Moot Court I
Available only for those students participating in the New York City Bar National Moot Court, the National Black Law Student Association Moot Court Competitions, or another moot court competition deemed by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to be of similar rigor. Graded on S/U basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5805: Moot Court II
Available only for those students participating in the New York City Bar National Moot Court, the National Black Law Student Association Moot Court Competitions, or another moot court competition deemed by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to be of similar rigor. Graded on S/U basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-2
LAW 5808: Natural Resources Law
This course is a foundational survey course in the law and policy related to management of natural resources. Resources covered may include public lands, waters, submerged lands and wetlands, forests, minerals and energy, wildlife and biodiversity and ecosystems. Topics also may include organic statutes establishing certain resource management standards and procedures, generally applicable statutes governing agency behavior, judicial review of agency decisions, integrated management of multiple resources, the use of ecosystem management and conservation methods, and takings.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5810: Negotiation
Negotiation is an essential skill for most lawyers, regardless of practice area. Lawyers must negotiate with their counterparts, clients, partners, staff, courts, and many others in the course of representing a client. This course provides an in-depth understanding of the different models of negotiation, and practical skill development for meeting the many challenges that negotiation presents.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5815: Partnership Taxation
This course will study the federal income tax treatment of partnerships and other entities treated as partnerships, including limited liability companies. The course will examine partnership formations, contributions to and distributions from partnerships, partnership operations, including special allocations of income and losses among partners, transfers of partnership interests, and partnership dissolution. This course will be taught using the problem method of instruction.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: LAW 5375 Basic Federal Income Taxation
LAW 5820: Patent Law and Policy
This course will provide comprehensive coverage of the U.S. Patent Laws for those interested in obtaining general information about patents, as well as for those interested in practicing before the Patent and Trademark Office. The course will trace an invention through the application, examination, reconsideration, re-examination and litigation processes. If time permits, there may also be coverage of international treaties that affect U.S. Patent Laws as well as some comparison of U.S. Patent Laws and the Patent Laws of select countries. There are no course prerequisites and a technical background is not required because the course primarily focuses on the Patent Act, its requirements and its jurisprudence. Thus, students need only be familiar with applying statutes and cases to a fact pattern. In lieu of an examination or a paper, up to six written projects, between 3-10 pages each (approx. 40 pages overall), will be due at the end of the semester, giving students an intensive writing experience. The professor will review drafts of some of these projects during the semester and all of the projects will be discussed in class. These projects will allow students to help solve a clients hypothetical patent problem as we work through the Patent Act and its jurisprudence. Students may also have the opportunity to engage in client interviewing and counseling in order to complete the projects. There are no prerequisites and a technical background is not required.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5830: Pretrial Litigation
Focus on the study of the legal principles, techniques, strategies and skills which pertain to civil pretrial practice, including: Professional and Ethical Considerations, Case Selection Case Investigation, Development of a case theory, Pleading, Discovery, Pretrial Conference, Motion Practice, Settlement Processes and Alternative Dispute Resolution.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5835: Products Liability
A study of civil liability for personal injury, property damage, and economic loss caused by defective products. The study includes actions for negligence, strict liability, misrepresentation and the effect of state and federal legislation on those actions.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5845: Publicly Held Corporation
This course focuses on legal issues most relevant to large public corporations. Recommended for students interested in pursuing a career in corporate law or for students desiring study in corporate law beyond the Business Organizations course.
Credit Hours: 3
LAW 5856: Real Estate Finance
This course examines legal and transactional issues relating to the financing of real estate. The course covers mortgage documentation; the use of mortgagee prior to foreclosure; transfers of mortgaged property; transfers of mortgages and securitization; payment and discharge of mortgages; default and impact of bankruptcy on real estate transactions. The grade will be based upon a final examination.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: LAW 5045 - Property II or LAW 5885 - Secured Transactions
LAW 5858: Real Estate Transactions
This course examines issues relating to the transfer of real estate and the practice of transactional real estate law. The course covers conveyance documentation, the recording system, title and survey review, title insurance, purchase and sale transactions, basis entity structure and tax considerations, environmental review, commercial leasing, valuation of real estate, and project cash flow. The grade will be based on a final examination.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5859: Real Estate Transaction Skills Project
Students will participate in a weekly seminar class focused on contract drafting, negotiation, due diligence, and client management in the context of a transactional real estate law practice. The grade for the course will be based upon student performance on drafting and practice skills assignments. Projects may include the negotiation and drafting of a purchase contract; the negotiation and modification of a commitment for title insurance; survey review; review and evaluation of lease; and, lease drafting and negotiation. Student projects will include both individual and group work.
Credit Hour: 1
Corequisites: Concurrent registration in LAW 5858 Real Estate Transaction is required
LAW 5861: Regulation of Medical Products
This course examines the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) interpretation and implementation of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) and the Public Health Service Act (PHSA). FDA regulates food, drugs, animal drugs and feed, cosmetics, medical devices, tobacco products, and biological products (broadly speaking "food and drugs"). The course considers not only the substantive regulations and policies applicable to food and drugs, but also issues of administrative law (agency practice and procedure, as well as judicial review), enforcement authority (powers and priorities), the agency's place within our federal system, and the place of food and drug law in the larger legal environment. The scope of the class will vary from semester to semester, usually covering at least drugs and devices.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5862: The Regulation of Medical Marijuana Businesses
More than half of the states now authorize designated businesses to produce and sell marijuana commercially. However, these businesses remain subject to extensive state regulation. In 2018, Missouri adopted a constitutional amendment, Art. XIV, § 1, with a purpose to authorize medical marijuana. State regulations raise a host of legal questions: How do states award commercial licenses to grow and sell marijuana? Are any state licensing regulations preempted by federal law? Do state advertising restrictions violate the First Amendment? How are marijuana licensees disciplined for regulatory violations? Marijuana businesses also face numerous regulatory hurdles erected by the federal government, adding to the questions surrounding the marijuana industry: Do marijuana businesses have any viable legal defense against federal criminal prosecution? Can marijuana businesses register their trademarks? Can they deduct their expenses when they pay their federal taxes? Will courts enforce contracts with the marijuana industry? Can the industry obtain banking or legal services? The resolution of these issues is in a state of flux throughout the nation and, in particular, in Missouri, in light of Missouri's 2018 constitutional amendment. This class will address these and related questions surrounding the nascent marijuana industry.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5870: Remedies
Survey of damages, history of equity; coverage of various equitable remedies and their adequacy, practicability, defenses, procedural problems, enforcement of decrees, merger of law and equity, contempt.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5875: Research in Law
Independent Research with a faculty member is available during the Summer, Fall and Spring Semesters. Any student enrolling for Research credit must designate at the time of enrollment the professor who will supervise the research project. Credit is earned at the rate of 20 pages per credit hour. No more than three hours of Research may be taken or counted toward the law degree. Enrollment in LAW 5875 may, but need not, be structured so as to satisfy the upper-level writing requirement. Enrollment in LAW 5875 Research satisfies the Law School's writing requirement only if the project culminates in an individually authored paper of at least 20 pages, based on independent research, through a process that involves an initial draft, critique by the supervising faculty members, and rewrite.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5885: Secured Transactions
The course focuses on the rights of secured creditors and debtors under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, and includes coverage of creditors with special rights (such as taxing authorities and artisans), documentary exchanges under Article 7, and bulk sales under Article 6.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5890: Securities Regulation
Financing of business through the sale of securities. Emphasis on federal securities acts, with some consideration of state statutes. Consideration of the registration process; exemptions from registration; the special antifraud rules; liabilities and criminal penalties; reporting; insider trading; and, proxy solicitation problems.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: LAW 5395 Business Organizations
LAW 5897: Sex, Reproduction and the Law
This course surveys the legal and social history of state and federal regulation of sexual and reproductive behavior. It will explore constitutional rights vis a vis a number of specific legal and social issues including the demographics of conception, parenting, and domestic violence; forced sterilization; access to contraception and abortion; adoption; assisted reproductive technologies; left over pre-implantation frozen embryos; gestational surrogacy; rape; same sex marriage and family building; and stem cell research.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5905: Sports Law
Substantive areas of concentration include sports litigation, labor law, NCAA regulations, legal relationships in professional sports, anti-trust aspects of sports activities, and collective bargaining.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5910: State Constitutional Law
Since the departure of Chief Justice Warren, the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts have taken a less expansive view of the rights granted by the U.S. Constitution. Congress has also taken steps to turn over both funds and authority to states. Both developments have increased the importance of state constitutional law. The course would be taught in three parts: (1) History of state constitutions; their relationship to the U.S. Constitution and the major differences among them; (2) Individual rights; instances in which state constitutional provisions that are facially similar or identical to the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution, have been interpreted by state courts to extend beyond the federal rights, and instances where state constitutions guarantee individual rights that are different from or in addition to those in the U.S. Constitution; and (3) Governmental obligations and authority; Constitutional provisions allocating governmental authority, such as limitations on legislative authority, the authority of the people to act through referendum or initiative and the relative authority of independent constitutional and officers.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5914: Tax Planning
This course introduces students to transactional tax planning. Although the course will be of particular interest to students pursuing a tax law career, the concepts are applicable to any corporate or transactional practice. The class will emphasize transactional tax skills including tax research and analysis, contract drafting, and negotiation. Students will learn tax planning strategies including choice of legal entity and structuring merger and acquisition transactions. The grade in this course will be based on graded assignments, good faith completion of the ungraded assignments, class participation, and a final project. There will be no final exam.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: LAW 5375 Basic Federal Income Taxation and either LAW 5815 Partnership Taxation or LAW 5465 Corporate Taxation
Recommended: LAW 5916 Taxation of Property Transactions
LAW 5915: Tax Research
This course provides students with an in-depth exploration of methods and sources for researching tax issues. The course provides students an opportunity to gain experience in using tax research tools. While primarily applicable to tax research, the knowledge gained by students will be helpful in future practice, regardless of practice area. Grades will be based on written assignments to be completed throughout the semester and one final project.
Credit Hour: 1-2
LAW 5916: Taxation of Property Transactions
This course will examine tax laws and policies fundamental to property transactions, including real estate investment and mergers and acquisitions. Topics include depreciation and recapture, cash and accrual methods of accounting, installment sales, non-recognition transactions, including like-kind exchanges and involuntary conversions, and discharge of indebtedness issues arising out of real estate transactions. This course is designed to provide a detailed analysis of complex tax provisions necessary for advanced transactional tax planning and will be taught using the problem method of instruction.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: LAW 5375 Basic Federal Income Taxation
LAW 5917: Topics in Law
Various topics in law are explored in depth. Topics change each semester. Some sections may be graded on Law grading basis or S/U grading basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-5
LAW 5918: Tax Policy
This seminar style course will cover assorted topics relating to the law, theory, and policy of taxation and public finance - potentially both in the United States and internationally and at both the federal and the state and local levels. There is no perquisite for this course, although students may find it helpful to have previously taken or to be concurrently enrolled in the Basic Federal Income Taxation course.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5920: Trademark Law
Nature of trademark law; common law and statutory trademarks and trade-names; Lanham Act of 1946; distinctiveness; types of marks; qualification of marks for registration (use in commerce, intent-to-use certification, secondary meaning, abandonment); registration procedures; exclusive rights of trademark owner; scope of protection; concurrent use; infringement (including "gray market" use); international protection; remedies; state trademark acts; related common law doctrines; trademark usage on the Internet; and, domain name issues.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 5925: Trial Practice
Skills based course that focuses on the techniques of pleading, discovery, jury selection, opening statements, direct/cross examination of witnesses, preparing jury instructions, and closing arguments. Each student participates in classroom problems selected from various phases of litigation, and in one complete trial. Some sections of this course may be offered as a graded section or graded on S/U basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-4
Prerequisites: LAW 5260 Evidence
LAW 5926: Veterans Law
Our nation's veterans are entitled to receive benefits as a result of their military service. The administrative processes and governing law relating to these benefits are complex. This course offers the opportunity to learn and apply administrative law in a discrete practice area. Students will learn how VA disability claims and appeals are handled, at various adjudicatory levels. Students will also learn about the discharge upgrade processes within the Department of Defense. This doctrinal course will provide a good foundation for those who wish to earn experiential credit in the Veterans Clinic during law school.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Recommended: LAW 5927 Veterans Clinic
LAW 5927: Veterans Clinic
In this clinical program, students will help veterans in need and/or their dependents secure disability related benefits after an initial denial from the Regional VA office. This work will be done at the Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA) level or before the Court of Appeals for Veterans' Claims (CAVC), both located in Washington D.C. The BVA and CAVC are federal tribunals, specially created to handle veterans' claims. Students will have the opportunity to work with the client, in a law firm type atmosphere, and prepare and argue appeals relating to the denial of benefits.
Credit Hour: 1-4
Prerequisites or Corequisites: LAW 5280 Professional Responsibility
LAW 5928: Advanced Veterans Clinic
Many students enjoy their work in the Veterans Clinic and find it difficult to leave clients and projects at the end of the semester. This course allows students to continue to work in the Clinic for credit, between 1 to 4 credit hours if approved by the Director. Students must be invited to register for this course by the Director. Graded on S/U basis only,
Credit Hour: 1-4
Prerequisites: LAW 5280 - Professional Responsibility, LAW 5927 - Veterans Clinic
LAW 5940: White Collar Crime
Study of what are generally considered to be business or organizational crimes. General topics to be explored may include: mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, securities fraud, tax fraud, government contracting fraud (with particular emphasis on the False Claims Act), the Hobbs Act and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Acts.
Credit Hour: 1-4
LAW 5946: Wrongful Convictions
This course offers students an insider's look into the operation of the criminal justice system. It should be of particular interest to any student interested in working in a prosecutor's office, public defender's office or for a firm doing defense work. It is a prerequisite for any student wishing to enroll in the Innocence Clinic. The course is designed to help students gain insight into features of the criminal justice system that have a tendency to produce wrongful convictions. In addition to examining the causes of wrongful convictions, the course will consider systemic reforms that might minimize convicting the innocent. We will also work with the Midwest Innocence Project on cases of possible actual innocence. Finally, the class will also focus on recurring ethical issues that confront prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers.
Credit Hour: 1-4
LAW 5947: Workers' Compensation Law and Practice
This course will cover the law and practice of Workers' Compensation Law both in general and in Missouri. About two-thirds of the class time will be spent studying and discussing the doctrinal basis of workers' compensation. In the balance of the time students will work on a simulation in which they will have the opportunity to work through different steps of a workers' compensation claim.
Credit Hour: 1-3
LAW 6500: London Program
Students enrolled in classes in London. Credit will count toward graduation requirements. Zero billing hours.
Credit Hour: 1-16
LAW 6710: Comparative Dispute Resolution
South Africa Program
Credit Hour: 1-2
LAW 6720: Comparative Constitutional Law
South Africa Program
Credit Hour: 1-2
LAW 6730: Comparative Criminal Justice
South Africa Program
Credit Hour: 1-2
LAW 6835: Dispute System Design
(same as LAW 6935). Analysis of system design principles and the management of multi-party complex disputes. Course will include overview of statutes, regulations, court rules and general policy considerations for the development of systematic approaches to the resolution of disputes as well as the consultation process inherent in system design work. An underlying theme for this course will be issues of program quality. Students will review scholarly work evaluating the ADR field and study basic research/evaluation methodologies.
Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: instructor's consent
LAW 6905: LL.M. Arbitration Seminar
(same as LAW 6805). This course covers law, policy, and practices relating to the arbitration in the U.S. under modern arbitration statutes as well as arbitration of international commercial disputes under international conventions and arbitral rules.
Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: instructor's consent
LAW 6920: LL.M. Externship
Student will be placed (or secure placement) with attorney, professional mediator or arbitrator, or dispute resolution agency (government-based or private) for an externship ranging from three to nine weeks. Students will observe and, to the extent possible, participate in dispute resolution activities of mentor. Journal entries form basis for credit. Externship placements will be local, national or international. Graded on a S/U basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-99
Prerequisites: LL.M. students only
LAW 6925: LL.M. Independent Study
Substantial research project on selected topic of choice.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: LL.M. students only
LAW 6930: LL.M. Major Research Project
(same as LAW 6830). Development and presentation of substantial research paper on current topic in dispute resolution. Supervision of this work by appropriate faculty will be determined according to the topic selected.
Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: instructor's consent
LAW 6932: Conflict and Conflict Management
This course explores the nature and sources of conflict, the conditions under which conflict may escalate or de-escalate, models for understanding conflict, and strategies and techniques attorneys may use to effectively manage conflict. The course addresses both theory and skills. Graded on A-F basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-4
LAW 6933: Cross Cultural Dispute Resolution
The course will focus on the impact culture can have on the private ordering of disputes. Culture affects communication, perceptions regarding conflict and methods for resolution. As the world becomes more interrelated and Missouri and the U.S. more diverse, lawyers need to be prepared to resolve problems across cultural lines. Graded on A-F basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-4
LAW 6934: Dispute Resolution in the Digital Age
This course will explore Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) systems. We will look at the various systems currently used by major companies such as eBay, as well as the rules and treaty developments in global markets. We also will do ODR simulation exercises. The class also will include deep consideration of both the potential and drawbacks of ODR systems. Therefore, we also will discuss development of best practices and question policy directions. Graded on A-F basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-4
LAW 6935: Dispute System Design
(same as LAW 6835). Analysis of system design principles and the management of multi-party complex disputes. Course will include overview of statutes, regulations, court rules and general policy considerations for the development of systematic approaches to the resolution of disputes as well as the consultation process inherent in system design work. An underlying theme for this course will be issues of program quality. Students will review scholarly work evaluating the ADR field and study basic research/evaluation methodologies.
Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: instructor's consent
LAW 6937: Dialogue for Dispute Resolution
Dialogue is an important process for bringing people together to discover what matters most, to think together toward the future, and to surface hidden assumptions that may be driving existing practices or behaviors. The course will demonstrate how to use dialogue as a means for surfacing deeply held beliefs, connecting diverse perspectives, and moving groups toward the future. It will focus on how to structure dialogue, the role of the dialogue facilitator, when dialogue may be useful, how dialogue can be integrated with other conflict resolution processes such as litigation, and examples of how dialogue has been used to address barriers to collaboration in organizations, groups, and communities. Graded on A-F basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: Graduate Standing
Recommended: Non-Binding Methods of Dispute Resolution (LAW 6945), Dispute System Design (LAW 6935), or comparable practice experience in dispute resolution, group dynamics, or policy development
LAW 6945: Non-Binding Methods of Dispute Resolution
(same as LAW 6845). Negotiation and mediation of disputes, focusing on the theory, strategy, and skills, and public policy issues involved in using non-binding methods of dispute resolution. The course addresses the role of attorneys in unassisted and mediated negotiation as well as the role of mediators. The course considers the professional responsibility of advocates negotiating for clients and of mediators.
Credit Hour: 3-4
Prerequisites: instructor's consent
LAW 6950: Practicum on Dispute Resolution Training and Education
Structured training experience through participation in the first-year curriculum project; service as judges in J.D. student competitions, such as negotiation and client counseling; and assignments to appropriate upper division courses to assist with development of dispute resolution modules. Credit is earned for work over the entire academic year. Graded on a S/U basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-2
Prerequisites: LL.M. students only
LAW 6953: Public Policy Dispute Resolution
Public policy disputes, such as those that occur in the energy, environmental, education, and health industries, are complex and challenging to manage. This course will explore the intersections of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of both state and federal government and legal strategies for shaping public policy, whether through litigation, legislation, regulation, alternative dispute resolution or a combination of processes. We will look at two case studies and at least one current issue. Graded on A-F basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-4
LAW 6955: Topics
Special and emerging topics in dispute resolution. Subject, content and credit varies, depending on available faculty and student interest.
Credit Hour: 1-99
Prerequisites: instructor's consent
LAW 6970: Mediation Clinic
(same as LAW 5770). Students develop and refine mediation skills by observing and participating in simulated and real mediation cases. Limited to J.D. or LL.M. students in designated semesters. Graded on S/U basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-2
Prerequisites or Corequisites: LAW 5765 (or concurrent enrollment), or completion of an approved training
LAW 6980: Overview of the US Legal System
This course will introduce fundamentals of the U.S. legal system. Topics include the basic structure and function of U.S. legal institutions, the adversarial system and judicial process, the interaction of state and federal law in the American system of federalism, sources of law including statutory, common and administrative law, selected topics in constitutional law and civil and criminal procedure, and brief overviews in selected areas of substantive law such as contracts, property, family, tax, or torts. Graded on A-F basis only.
Credit Hour: 1-4