Course Catalog

 

LAW 851A - Children and the Law

Students examine various areas of law that impact children most. Examples include juvenile court jurisdiction (child abuse and neglect, status offenses, and delinquency), family and custody matters, mental health, disabilities, and special education. The course is taught in a seminar style with emphasis on the practical and ethical considerations of representing children as clients.
Credit: 3 Units  

LAW 808A - Community Property

This course covers the law of California marital property. Topics include general principles of classifying marital property, management and control of community property, division of community property upon dissolution or death, and the property rights of putative or meretricious spouses. Prerequisites: Property I and II.
Credit: 2 Units   Offered: Summer 2009 , Fall 2009 , Spring 2010  

LAW 837E - Domestic Violence Seminar

This seminar studies the historical, cultural, and psychological aspects of domestic violence in addition to the civil and criminal changes in the law both nationally and internationally. Students are assigned a reader composed of relevant articles, cases, and legislation.
Credit: 2 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LAW 896A - Externship: Civil Field Placement

Students work in private or non-profit law offices, government agencies, or business legal departments as law clerks, working on civil litigation or engaging in transactional work. Students also attend seminar class meetings. Students may work in a wide variety of areas such as civil rights, corporate law, entertainment law, family law, intellectual property law, international law, and personal injury law. This course is graded on a Credit/No Credit basis. Application form and consent of instructor required.
Credit: 2 - 4 Units   Offered: Summer 2009 , Fall 2009 , Spring 2010  

LAW 837D - Externship: Family Law

This externship is designed to address a vastly underserved population: low income persons and families with urgent family law issues. Students will be placed with non-profit organizations, government agencies, and private attorneys specializing in Family Law, to handle all aspects of Family Law cases at all stages, from client interview to representation at court hearings, assisting in trials, and writing legal briefs. Eligible students may become certified to argue cases in court. Corequisites: Students should have taken either Community Property, Family Law, or Family Law Practice, or be taking one of these courses contemporaneously with this externship. This course is graded on a Credit/No Credit basis.
Credit: 2 - 4 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LAW 837A - Family Law

This analysis of public and private regulation of the formation, maintenance, and dissolution of the de facto and de jure family unit includes the respective custody, support, and property rights and obligations between mates and between parents and children. Prerequisite: Property I.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009 , Spring 2010  

LAW 837F - Family Law Practice

This course focuses on the skills necessary to carry on a basic family law practice in California. Students prepare and argue motions, learn trial skills, and practice using the most popular computer programs for setting child support according to the detailed provisions of the Family Code. Students also develop parenting and child visitation plans, calculate spousal support, and learn various methods of dividing community property. Priority is given to graduating students. Prerequisite: Family Law.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009  

LAW 885A - Gender and the Law

This course addresses a variety of gender-based private and public law controversies. Topics may include rape law reforms, reproductive rights, intersections between gender and race discrimination, the feminization of poverty, gender discrimination in athletics, and the rights of pregnant employees. Issues are addressed using a variety of practical and theoretical sources, including judicial opinions, feminist commentary, social science data, litigation documents, and literature.
Credit: 2 Units   Offered: Fall 2009  

LAW 870C - Mediation & Collaborative Lawyering

Students examine the non-adversarial processes of facilitative mediation and Collaborative Practice. The course focuses on: 1) the practical and ethical considerations that arise for attorneys who are not representing their clients, and 2) how attorneys efficiently conduct themselves as part of an interdisciplinary team working with mental health and financial professionals.
Credit: 2 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LAW 829A - Poverty Law

The primary objective of this course is to introduce students to the unique legal issues of the poor and how the legal system deals with access to justice and indigency. We will review historical and contemporary challenges facing public interest lawyers, legal problems and policy choices regarding poverty, and effective advocacy strategies. These themes will then be traced through three areas of substantive discussion: government benefit programs, housing law and homelessness, and family law. We will conclude the course with an examination of new trends in legal services.
Credit: 2 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LAW 885D - Sexual Orientation & the Law

This survey of the ways in which the law treats matters of sexual orientation emphasizes civil and constitutional law. The issues to be addressed include the right to privacy as applied to sexual orientation and conduct, issues of communication about controversies related to sexual orientation, definitions of discrimination in law applied to sexual orientation controversies, and decriminalization of lesbian/gay sexual activity. Prerequisites: Constitutional Law I and II or consent of the instructor.
Credit: 2 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LAW 807 - Wills and Trusts

A study of nontax estate planning devices, this course explores intestate succession; restrictions on the power to dispose of property; the execution and revocation of wills; and the nature, creation, modification, and termination of trusts. Future interests and perpetuities problems are also discussed. Prerequisites: Property I and II.
Credit: 4 Units   Offered: Summer 2009 , Fall 2009 , Spring 2010