|
Oregon LL.M.
|
Course Descriptions Fall 2009 - 2010
| LL.M. SEMINAR
|
|
| LW 607 3 Credits
|
Professor John Bonine
Open only to students enrolled in LL.M. in Environmental Law. The LL.M. Seminar is an integrating experience for all LL.M. students, providing education on topics of current concern and introducing students to a variety of lawyers, officials, and natural environments in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.
|
| ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
|
|
| LAW 664 3 Credits
|
Professor John Bonine
Administrative Law is at the heart of making government accountable - whether one's client is an environmental group trying to block a destructive project or a major corporation. Good lawyers can use a creative mind to craft interpretations or solutions favorable to their clients. This course is not oriented toward passing a bar exam and does not try to teach "black letter law."
Judicial review: Scope of review, deference, Standing to obtain review, Exhaustion and other remedies.
Making the decision: Role and nature of administrative law judge, Bias, separation of functions, ex parte contracts
Making the rules: Public participation in rule making, National Environmental Policy Act
Access to information: Freedom of Information Act, Sunshine Laws.
Open-book Exam.
|
| ADVANCED PERSUASIVE LEGAL WRITING
|
|
| LW 607 2 Credits
|
Professor Judith Giers
New course in 2008: This course seeks to move the persuasive writing of LL.M. students to the highest level. Taught by an appellate lawyer and professor with 20 years of experience, the course will include weekly assignments, lectures and exercises, team review, a tightly-reasoned six-page paper, and review of the outline of a paper that each student is writing for one of his or her substantive courses.
|
| AMERICAN INDIAN POLICY
|
|
| LW 607 2 Credits
|
Professor Rennard Strickland
Explores policy theory and practice as it relates to contemporary Native American issues with focus on health, land, housing, education, economics, governance, and other areas. Students write a series of papers and make presentations that evaluate historic policy and propose new policy. Some group projects. |
| ANIMAL LAW
|
|
| LW 610 2 Credits
|
Professor Caroline Forrell
A combination of statutory and case law in which the legal, social, or biological nature of nonhuman animals is an important factor. It encompasses issues relating to companion and service animals, wildlife, and animals raised for food, research, and entertainment.
|
| CLIMATE LAW AND POLICY
|
|
| LW 607 2 Credits
|
Professor Jason Eisdorfer
Explores the law as it relates to climate change, along with policy measures that are being considered at the international, national, regional, state, and local levels. |
| COASTAL LAW
|
|
| LW 607 2 Credits
|
Professor Richard Hildreth
Federal and State judicial and legislative protection of public beach access rights; ownership and use of tide and submerged lands, including the public trust doctrine and the federal and state navigation servitudes; federal and state protection of wetlands; Federal Coastal Zone Management Act.
No Prerequisites
Exam - 2 hr. - Computer required
Essay exam is partial open book.
Enrollment: 40
|
| ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CLINIC
|
|
| LW 707 3 Credits
|
Professor Greg Costello
Students represent clients under the supervision of a practicing attorney in state and federal court and before administrative agencies.
Students are taught to handle clients directly, find and prepare expert witnesses, pursue discovery and Freedom of Information requests to obtain evidence, develop innovative legal theories with clinic attorneys, represent clients orally in administrative or court hearings when appropriate, submit motions to courts, and prepare winning (not merely adequate) legal briefs and memoranda. The clinic demands painstaking care in all written work, the development of self starting skills, and an ability to find the winning needle in the haystack of facts and law.
There is a limit of 10 students per semester, who are mostly J.D. students. All students must pay malpractice insurance. The insurance fee ranges from $10 30.
|
| ENVIRONMENTAL LAW EXTERNSHIP
|
|
| LW 704 3 Credits
|
Professors Adell Amos, Jennifer Gleason
(Students work in nonprofit environmental organizations for 3 credits.)
|
| EUROPEAN UNION LAW
|
|
| LW 607 3 Credits
|
Professor Ibrahim Gassama
Provides an introduction to the law and institutions of the European Union (EU) and acquaints students with the "constitution" of the EU, its policy objectives and member states.
|
| FEDERAL JURISDICTION & PROCEDURE
|
|
| LW 646 3 Credits
|
This course covers the scope of the federal judicial power, justiciability doctrines, the role of Article III courts, federal common law (including Erie), implied rights of action, appellate review, state sovereign immunity and some abstention doctrines. To the extent time permits, students will be given introductions to federal habeas corpus and remedies against the government.
Exam. Two hour open book.
|
| HAZARDOUS WASTE LAW
|
|
| LW 688 2 Credits
|
Professor Greg Costello
This course explores hazardous waste liability and regulation, a body of law that is moving to the forefront of environmental law as industries, governmental agencies, and citizen groups struggle with the problems of remedying contamination caused by past disposal practices and seek to prevent unsafe disposal in the future. This area of law is driven primarily by two federal statutes, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which governs hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal practices, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), which imposes a strict liability scheme for past and present contamination. In exploring RCRA's regulatory scheme, the course emphasizes the attorney's roles in compliance counseling, in environmental audits, and in negotiation between governmental agencies and regulated parties. The course also examines in dept CERCLA's strict liability scheme for releases of hazardous substances and focuses on the impact of CERCLA liability on real estate and business transactions. Complimentary federal laws and state schemes will also be explored to provide a complete overview of this area.
Administrative law and environmental law are highly recommended, but not required.
The grade will be based on a paper.
|
| HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENT
|
|
| LW 607 3 Credits
|
Professor Svitlana Kravchenko
Environmental rights are increasingly being recognized as a new category of human rights, as well as an application of existing rights. We will study their relationships through recent developments in international law and in national law in various countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. These evolving rights are both substantive and procedural. Students will examine international instruments, national constitutions, and legislation. We will also discuss novel international and national court cases interpreting and applying these rights.
Course materials include documents of the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights and the UN Environmental Program, scholarly articles and debates, and cases obtained through the network of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide and other sources. The text for the course is the recently published book, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT (Kravchenko and Bonine, Carolina Academic Press, 2008).
The course requires active participation, an original research paper, and an oral presentation of the results of research to the class.
|
|
INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
|
|
| LW 690 3 Credits
|
Professor Richard Hildreth
Investigates treaty and customary principles of international law regarding environmental protection. Covers problems of protecting the international environmental commons, transboundary pollution, and international interest in national environmental resources.
|
| INTERNATIONAL LAW
|
|
| LW 671 3 Credits
|
Professor McKinley
In the current era of rapid globalization, international and transnational issues increasingly arise in even the most "domestic" of legal practices. This survey course provides an introduction to international legal concepts, institutions, and problems. After beginning the semester with a conceptual and practical exploration of how international law compares to domestic law, we will discuss the primary categories of international law, key actors in the creation and enforcement of international law, international and transnational dispute resolution, state sovereignty and its limits, issues that transcend the boundaries of states, and situations in which dispute resolution fails and the use of force results. The course will be problem-oriented and interactive, with in-class exercises that put students in the role of international lawyers. Grades will be based on a final examination and class participation.
|
| LEGAL WRITING
|
|
| LW 607 1-3 Credits
|
Professor (to be arranged independently)
Research and writing supervised by a faculty member. Typically 2 credits, but never more than 3, are awarded for a writing project in one semester.
|
| NEGOTIATION
|
|
| LW 610 3 Credits
|
Professor Jamie Moffitt
Develops negotiation skills for crafting deals and resolving disputes. Examines analytic frameworks, interpersonal styles, strategic choices, and observation skills specific to negotiation. Includes simulated negotiations and writing assignments.
|
| NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
|
|
| LW 607 3 Credits
|
Professor Susan Gary
The course will cover both corporate governance issues and tax issues affecting nonprofit organizations. Topics include organization of nonprofits, state regulation, obtaining tax exempt status, restrictions on lobbying and political activity, private foundations, the tax on unrelated business income of tax exempt organizations, and charitable deduction rules.
Grading will be based on several writing and drafting assignments and a take-home exam.
|
| PUBLIC TRUST SEMINAR
|
|
| LW 607 2 Credits
|
Professor Mary Wood
This research seminar explores public trust law, an area of the law that arises from the common law and is widely thought to be the doctrinal foundation of our modern environmental and natural resources statutes. Public trust law is drawing widespread attention for its potential to allow judicial oversight of the legislative and executive branch's disposition of natural resources. The major strands of public trust law are evident in cases dealing with streambeds, water, and wildlife, but more recently the doctrine has expanded to other resources, including historic resources, wetlands, beachfronts, and forests. The genesis of the doctrine originates in Roman law, but the principles are also evident in native management in this country. The doctrine is manifest in the judicial systems of countries around the world. The unresolved questions of public trust law reach deep into constitutional theory, comparative international law, remedies, judicial function, property rights, takings law, and preemption.
|
| RENEWABLE ENERGY
|
|
| LW 607 2 Credits
|
Professor Karen Reed
The course will emphasize familiarity with the respective technologies of the renewable energy sources of wind, wave, solar, geo-thermal, and bio-fuel. These technologies also implicate the legal areas of corporate law, federal tax and, particularly for wind and solar power, real estate easement issues. The course will focus on these five renewable energy areas, with 2 or 3 classes in each area. This course will be taught by teleconference linking students in Eugene with students and professor in Portland. Prof. Reed is an experienced attorney in private practice, representing clients on matters involving wind, geothermal, biomass, tidal and ocean power, and other forms of renewable energy.
|
| WATER RESOURCES LAW
|
|
| LW 669 3 Credits
|
Professor Adell Amos
Riparian and appropriation water law systems, federal and state power over water resources, transfer of water rights, ground water management, public water rights, including the public trust doctrine, and environmental constraints on water use.
|
|
Contact LL.M.
LL.M. - Prof. Svitlana Kravchenko
LL.M. Director
School of Law
University of Oregon,
Eugene, Oregon 97403
USA
Tel: +1 541 346 0532
or
Debby Warren, LL.M. Exec. Assistant, +1 541 346 3835
Fax: +1 541 346 1564
Email LL.M.
|
