International and Comparative Law

Work alongside start-up business entrepreneurs located in the United States and England as they introduce an environmentally-friendly “eco-stove” that is great for camping and has sparked interest as an exciting tool to revolutionize development in third world countries. Advise the entrepreneurs on business, legal, and cross-cultural issues as they launch their business and explore global opportunities to supply the eco-stove in diverse regions of the world. In this simulation course, you will counsel, problem solve and negotiate on behalf of the start-up business entrepreneurs and address key issues including: Analyzing global business strategies Comparing opportunities and risks presented by the legal systems of the US and England Structuring business transactions Negotiating hot button provisions Drafting selected cross-border agreements Understanding cross-cultural elements of doing business deals Resolving legal, business and ethical issues

Grading: Letter-graded
Credits: 3
Offered: Summer

Subject Areas: International and Comparative Law

A limited number of students enrolled in Comparative Law: Lawyers-Opponents of Democracy? (3500) may enroll in this course. Students will be placed with organizations working on democracy-related projects, which could include democracy oversight and reform work, democracy-related legal research or legal work that relates to democracy-building skills (such as negotiation or community organizing). The instructor will assign students to placements after individual consultation with the students, but students are welcome to propose ideas for field placements. Students will write papers that may, but need not, qualify as papers meeting the advanced research and writing requirement. This paper may be a research or policy piece written as part of the student's placement work or, if none is required, may be written as an add-on to the placement work. In either case, the paper must tackle a real-world problem in maintaining and promoting democracy in a particular setting, and the paper will be reviewed and graded by the instructor working in consultation with the field supervisor. Students will also be required to use journaling to engage in critical reflection on whether and how their fieldwork actually promotes democracy and whether, in so doing, it promotes justice in some way. Students who successfully complete this course and related seminar course will receive a Keystone designation on their transcripts.

Grading: Letter graded.
Credits: variable
Offered: Irregularly

Categories: Experiential

Subject Areas: International and Comparative Law

As a religiously, politically, and culturally diverse society, the people of Israel are searching for both traditional and new methods for resolving disputes that arise among individuals and communities. This course will explore traditional dispute resolution methods such as the Beth Din, Christian and Muslim courts, and Palestinian silha; the ways in which the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious traditions have shaped dispute resolution values; some of the major conflicts which face Israeli society today and the ways in which modern dispute resolution methods have been adapted to the cultures within Israel to resolve these conflicts.

Grading: Letter graded
Credits: Variable
Offered: J-Term

Subject Areas: International and Comparative Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution

Surveys the legal aspects of international business transactions, including international sales contracts, international letters of credit, arbitration, regulation of international trade, restrictions on foreign investment, U.S. laws relating to international business regulations, customs and import tax considerations, protection of foreign investments, and related matters.

Grading: Letter graded
Credits: 3
Offered: Irregularly

Subject Areas: International and Comparative Law, Business and Commercial

An introduction to the basic elements of public international law, including the status of public international law as law, sources of international law, the law of treaties, customary international law, the role and status of international law in the United States, the roles of states, international organizations and non-governmental organizations, recognition of states and governments, state succession, and the use of armed force among states.

Grading: Paper or Exam, depending on class size.
Credits: 2
Offered: Fall

Subject Areas: International and Comparative Law

This course is designed to meet two goals: ( a ) provide an intensive overview of the structure of the basic sources and principles of Public International Law, and ( b ) provide a broad introduction to the research methods and tools used in Public International Law. Students complete weekly exercises designed to facilitate the attainment of both goals. This course is a prerequisite for, and precursor to, "Public International Law Research Workshop II", offered in the Fall semester.

Grading: Regular written work.
Credits: 1
Offered: Spring

Subject Areas: International and Comparative Law

This course is designed to fulfill two objectives: (a) provide thorough preparation and appropriate experience for participation in the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, and (b) provide an opportunity for students to do detailed research, prepare an extensive brief, and practice oral-argument skills, in the area of Public International Law. Students spend most of the semester preparing a memorial regarding the Jessup Moot Court problem for that year, and then toward the end of the semester they practice oral argumentation based on their memorials. The official law school team for the following year's Jessup Competition will be chosen from among the students in this workshop at the end of the semester.

Grading: Letter-graded.
Credits: 1
Offered: Fall

Subject Areas: International and Comparative Law

The primary focus of the course will be on international and comparative patent law, but the course will also address some facets of international trademark and copyright law. The course will present a comparative study of certain features of foreign patent laws. It will also overview the major multilateral treaties that govern the transnational assertion of patent protection of United States laws that are specifically directed to the protection of U.S. patent rights against foreign activities

Grading: Letter graded
Credits: 3
Offered: Irregularly

Categories: Long Paper

Subject Areas: Intellectual Property, International and Comparative Law

Transitional justice – the emergence of a new justice-focused legal order following conflicts and massive underlying changes in political, social, and economic structures – could hardly be more timely or more important. Throughout the world, societies struggle to acknowledge historical truths, make just reparations and, through processes of reconciliation, find a way forward. This course will take our students into the heart of one such society, using Kosovo as a case study, and will examine and explore in depth the role of law in attempting to build a just society following the transition from Communism and the emergence of Kosovo as an independent republic following the Serbian-Kosovar wars of the previous decades. As a point of comparison, it will examine similar processes in the post-communist Czech Republic, post-apartheid South Africa and post-fascist Chile. It will also examine the same issues in post-Soviet Ukraine and discuss the prospects for the use of law as a means of reconciliation following the current war. We hope to use this course as a template for future courses focusing on transitional justice in other societies that have recently emerged from a conflict or period of repression of human rights. This course will have four main components: • The Theory of Transitional Justice • The Practice of Transitional Justice in Kosovo • Comparative Transitional Justice • The Prospects for Transitional Justice in Ukraine

Grading: Letter
Credits: 2
Offered:

Subject Areas: International and Comparative Law, Public Interest Law