Course Catalog

 

LAW 811 - Administrative Law

This course surveys the organization, authority, and procedures of administrative agencies in relation to rulemaking, adjudication, and judicial review of administrative rulings and decisions. The course examines both federal and state agencies.
Credit: 3 Units  

LAW 885E - Advanced Seminar in Labor/Employment Law

This seminar explores a variety of cutting edge issues in the labor and employment law field, and gives students an opportunity to explore in depth policy issues affecting the workplace. The course explores both the union and non-union sectors, public and private sectors, building trades, health care issues, and other current topics.
Credit: 2 Units  

LAW 815 - Alternative Dispute Resolution

The purpose of this course is to help students learn approaches to negotiation and conflict resolution, and to understand various dispute resolution processes, principally mediation and arbitration. Students will be exposed to simulated negotiations and mediations and will be expected to participate in exercises and to act as advocates and/or mediators. Guest lecturers may include a hostage negotiator, an aikido master, a retired superior court judge now serving as a JAMS mediator, and prominent mediators and arbitrators. Prerequisites: Civil Procedure I and II.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009  

LAW 822B - Animal & Wildlife Law

This course begins with a discussion of the ethical bases for legal protection of individual animals and wildlife populations, focusing on where different ethical premises create conflicts over animal protection. The course then reviews several wildlife protection laws, including the Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and California's Fully Protected Species Statutes. Finally, the course reviews the legal protections available to individual animals, from their status of property to standing for animals to their ethical treatment in domestic, agricultural, and laboratory settings. Several of San Francisco's unique statutes protecting animals will be reviewed, as well as recent bills proposed in Sacramento pertaining to animal and wildlife law.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009  

LAW 782 - Art and the Law

This course focuses on legal issues related to visual arts and explores the artist's rights in their work of art, specifically matters relating to property rights, including copyright, moral rights and resale rights, while examining issues relating to license agreements with third parties. Corequisite: Intellectual Property Law Survey
Credit: 2 Units  

LAW 844B - Asian Americians & the Law

This course will examine the evolution of laws related to immigration and citizenship, racial exclusion and internment, and race consciousness and civil rights through the lens of Asian America. The course will set a contextual framework for discussion of contemporary civil rights and social justice issues.
Credit: 2 Units  

LAW 864B - Birmingham Civil Rights Cases Seminar

This course centers on a series of cases heard in the 1950's and 1960's in Birmingham, Alabama, through which plaintiffs attempted to desegregate the University of Alabama, Central Georgia Railway, Birmingham Public Housing, Birmingham City Library, Democratic Party, Birmingham School System, County Personnel Board, Birmingham City Hall, and other segregated institutions. Students will be asked to analyze the procedural devices used by both sides, the decision of the United States District Court Judge and how developments in the cases might have been influenced by other cases being heard and decided, as well as by the social events going on in the streets, political developments, and the reports in the media at the time. Each student will develop a scholarly paper on a significant legal aspect of one or more cases.
Credit: 2 Units  

LAW 842B - Business Immigration Law

This course is an in-depth review of the law, policies, and procedures regulating the entry into the United States of foreigners for business, employment, and investment purposes. Students examine the various strategies available to U.S. employers and to foreign individuals under existing law. Students further familiarize themselves with the federal agencies that regulate the dispensation of temporary and permanent immigration benefits in business, employment, and investment contexts, and develop insights into counseling and procedures for obtaining those benefits. The course also addresses related issues, such as employer compliance with federal employment eligibility verification requirements, and, to a lesser extent, export control issues, the impact of mergers and acquisitions, the intersection of immigration and employment law, and tax aspects of immigration.
Credit: 2 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LAW 834H - California Environmental and Natural Resources Law

California boasts some of the nation's most spectacular environmental resources and some of its worst environmental problems. It also frequently sets national trends with its cutting-edge environmental and natural resource protection laws. This seminar examines some of the state's unique environmental problems and regulatory approaches. Topics covered include: the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); the California Coastal Act and the California Coastal Commission; the California Forest Practices Act; the public trust doctrine; California Wild & Scenic Rivers protection; Stream Alteration Agreements; dams and fisheries passage under the California Fish & Game Code; the California Endangered Species Act, and farmland preservation pursuant to Williamson Act contracts and conservation easements.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009  

LAW 896J - Capital Post Conviction Defense Clinic

Capital Post Conviction Defense Clinic introduces students to the representation of indigent defendants challenging their convictions and death sentences on direct appeal and through habeas corpus proceedings in the California Supreme Court. In addition to discussing legal and topical issues concerning death penalty representation at the weekly seminar sessions, students will work under the supervision of experienced capital defense attorneys to represent indigent defendants in their research and drafting of pleadings, the investigation of claims, and the collection and preservation of evidence. GGU law students in the past have drafted appellate arguments and habeas corpus claims, reviewed capital trial testimony, witness statements, and police reports, evaluated crime scene evidence, researched and drafted office memoranda and resource materials on various topics, collected defendant life history documents, and prepared litigation outlines and chronologies. In addition, CAP student externs are encouraged to attend oral arguments, to participate in litigation meetings, and to visit a client on death row. Please contact CAP Deputy Director Patricia Kern, <b>PKern@capsf.org</b>, if you have questions about this clinic. CAP is located at 101 Second Street, Suite 600. This course is graded on a Credit/No Credit basis.
Credit: 3 - 4 Units   Offered: Fall 2009  

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 801G - Comparative Constitutional Design

This seminar invites students to explore the issues behind writing a constitution. What motivates a nation to select among different options for judicial and executive power or to enforce certain rights rather than others (e.g., dignity, property rights and social welfare rights) and who should decide the content of a constitution? Readings will include historical examples of constitutional drafting from a variety of countries, popular and academic opinion about how to write (or amend) a constitution, and other writings to allow the students to formulate their own opinion of best practices for constitution drafting. Classes will be discussion-based and interactive. The course will culminate in a research paper in lieu of a final exam. Co-requisite: Constitutional Law I
Credit: 2 Units  

LAW 803D - Comparative Criminal Procedure

This seminar compares the Anglo-American adversarial model of criminal procedure with the continental European inquisitorial system. In particular, students look at how these different systems deal with issues of pretrial detention, right to counsel, judges versus juries, confessions and trial testimony, prosecutors and plea bargaining, and search and seizure. Prerequisites: Criminal Procedure I, Evidence.
Credit: 3 Units  

LAW 899I - Competition: Environmental Law Moot Court

Students participate in the annual National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition in New York City at Pace University School of Law. Students who participate in the mandatory qualifying round in the fall (in which the students who represent the law school are selected) receive 1 unit of credit; students chosen for the actual competition receive 2 units. Prerequisites: Appellate Advocacy and one introductory environmental law course; or permission of the instructor.
Credit: 1 - 2 Units   Offered: Fall 2009 , Spring 2010  

LAW 801A - Constitutional Law I

Constitutional Law I examines the American constitutional system with an emphasis on judicial review, the powers and responsibilities of the three branches of the federal government, the distribution of power between federal and state governments, and substantive due process. Enrollment during the spring term is limited to students in the Honors Lawyering Program (HLP).
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009 , Spring 2010  

LAW 801B - Constitutional Law II

Constitutional Law II deals with individual rights, specifically equal protection of the law, freedom of speech, and religious freedom. Prerequisite: Constitutional Law I.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Summer 2009 , Spring 2010  

LAW 898A - Criminal Litigation

This course affords students the opportunity to apply the skills learned in Trial Advocacy in the context of a criminal case. The class is divided into two-person teams. Each team is assigned either the role of prosecution or defense counsel. The class usually begins with the staging of a mock crime. The crime is reported, a suspect is arrested, charges are filed, and the prosecution commences. The class proceeds, week by week, through major phases of a criminal case. The course concludes with the trial of the case, which is conducted in a local courthouse. Prerequisites: Evidence, Trial Advocacy.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LAW 825A - Criminal Procedure II

Topics include bail and other forms of pretrial release, prosecutorial discretion, the preliminary hearing, grand jury, joinder and severance, speedy trial, discovery, guilty pleas and plea bargaining, double jeopardy, pretrial publicity, change of venue, sentencing, appellate review and harmless error, and habeas corpus. Prerequisite: Criminal Procedure I.
Credit: 3 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 830 - Education Law Seminar

This 2-unit seminar will focus on judicial decisions, statutory law, and administrative regulations affecting public education in this country. Topics will include the history and philosophy of mandatory schooling, desegregation, equal opportunity, safe schools, freedom of expression for students and teachers, religious accommodation, bilingual education, searches in the school setting, employment rights, the No Child Left Behind Act, and the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). The course will culminate in a mock expulsion hearing, with all students participating. Each student will submit an original paper in order to receive credit for the course. Completion of Constitutional Law I is recommended.
Credit: 2 Units  

LAW 867C - Election Law

This course is intended to introduce students to basic currents and themes in federal, state, and local election law. The course will provide an overview of relevant Supreme Court cases on such topics as voting rights, reapportionment/redistricting, ballot access, regulation of political parties, campaign finance, and the 2000 presidential election. Equal attention will be given to state and local regulation of campaigns and elections.
Credit: 2 Units  

LAW 832A - Employment Discrimination

This course examines the major federal statutes prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, disability, citizenship status, national origin, and age. California law regulating employment is also briefly examined. In addition to covering the substantive law, the course critically examines the law's assumptions about the nature of the employment relationship, the definition of discrimination, and the role of the government in regulating employment.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LAW 831 - Employment Law

This course examines the relationship between employers and individual employees. Topics include hiring, wrongful termination, employees' duty of loyalty, restrictions on post-employment competition, workplace privacy and defamation, and protection against harassment and other abusive conduct in the workplace. The course covers substantive law and examines prevailing assumptions about the employment relationship. While the course covers some discrimination issues, it does not offer in-depth coverage of that area of law.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009  

LAW 857A - Energy & Environmental Law

This course surveys the law and regulation of energy production, distribution, and use, with an emphasis on the legal and policy issues at the intersection of energy and environmental law. These issues are examined in the context of the electricity and natural gas industries, giving particular attention to the statutory and administrative framework governing public utilities and the wholesale and retail energy markets. The class provides an introduction to state and national energy policy, and compares local, regional, and global impacts of fossil-based and renewable energy sources on climate change and the natural environment. Students interested in environmental law, natural resources law, water law, administrative law, and international law should consider this course.
Credit: 3 Units  

LAW 834C - Environmental Law and Justice Clinic

The Environmental Law & Justice Clinic (ELJC) is an in-house clinic, which provides students with intensive training and hands-on lawyering experience. Under close faculty supervision, students provide legal representation on matters addressing environmental justice issues, including the disproportionate environmental hazards faced by low-income communities and people of color. Clinic students are certified under State Bar of California rules to perform many of the tasks of an attorney: they interview clients, develop legal strategies, draft legal documents, and counsel clients. They may also appear at hearings and negotiate with opposing parties, depending on the Clinic's caseload. Co-requisite: Evidence. Students also must have completed an environmental law course or have the instructors' waiver of this requirement. Special scheduling arrangements can be made on a case-by-case basis for night students. This course is graded on a Credit/No Credit basis.
Credit: 1 - 3 Units   Offered: Summer 2009 , Fall 2009 , Spring 2010  

LAW 834G - Environmental Law and Justice Seminar

The ENVIRONMENTAL LAW & JUSTICE SEMINAR is a required companion course to the Environmental Law & Justice Clinic, but it may also be taken by JD or LLM students who are not enrolling in the Clinic. The Seminar explores law and policy issues central to the environmental justice movement, focusing on matters that recur in the Clinic's representation of clients who are disproportionately impacted by pollution; explores the role of lawyers and their ethical responsibility in representing clients from communities overburdened by pollution; and provides skills training that students must master to become effective lawyers, focusing on skills that are necessary for the Clinic's caseload. Students enrolled in the Seminar by itself, without the Clinic component, will be required to fulfill a significant writing requirement.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009 , Spring 2010  

LAW 834F - Environmental Law and Policy

This course focuses on the federal Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Students explore federal regulatory strategies, including technology-based requirements, environmental assessment, and enforcement methods, as well as alternatives to traditional regulation such as market-based incentives and information disclosure laws. Students also learn tools of statutory interpretation.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009  

LAW 834D - Environmental Law Practice Seminar

This course is designed to teach students the skills of environmental practice and advocacy, including the preparation of enforcement actions and defenses, environmental compliance, discovery, and environmental ethics. The emphasis is on hands-on practice exercises, such as drafting complaints, conducting discovery, and participating in environmental negotiations and mediation.
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 896F - Externship: Criminal Litigation

Students intern with prosecuting attorneys or public defenders on criminal cases in trial or appellate courts in the state or federal system. Students also attend a concurrent seminar covering relevant criminal justice issues. This course is graded on a Credit/No Credit basis. Prerequisites: Criminal Law, Evidence. Recommended: Criminal Procedure, Trial Advocacy, and Criminal Litigation. Consent of instructor required.
Credit: 2 - 4 Units   Offered: Summer 2009 , Fall 2009 , Spring 2010  

LAW 834I - Externship: Environmental Law

Students work as externs with governmental agencies, environmental organizations, public interest groups, or private attorneys active in the field of environmental law. Students also participate in a weekly seminar designed to provide them with practical skills and enable them to reflect on their cases and work experiences. This course is graded on a Credit/No Credit basis.
Credit: 2 - 4 Units   Offered: 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 896C - Externship: Judicial

In this field placement program, students work in selected courts under the supervision of a judge. Students must complete 45 hours of work for each unit. A full-time externship can require up to 13 units; most students take 3 to 5 units at a time. Arrangements are made on an individual basis with the externship director. In addition to working at the court placement, students must attend a mandatory seminar, the first day of which is just before the start of the term. Students who enroll in this course in a summer session are limited to 8 units of credit. Prerequisite: Students must have completed 40 units and have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 for state trial court and 2.75 for appellate and federal court externships. Corequisite: Evidence, or consent of instructor. This course is graded on a Credit/No Credit basis.
Credit: 2 - 13 Units   Offered: Summer 2009 , Fall 2009 , Spring 2010  

LAW 896Y - Externship: Youth Law

Students work in non-profit law offices, government agencies or private offices as law externs, engaged in litigation, administrative hearings, ADR (alternative dispute resolution) or other advocacy on behalf of children or youth. Students also attend seminar class meetings, with an emphasis on reflective lawyering, professional responsibility, skills and practice issues. Students may work in a wide variety of substantive law areas such as juvenile justice, dependency, education, disability, mental health and/or civil rights. This course is graded on a Credit/No Credit basis.
Credit: 2 - 4 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LAW 824D - Extership: Homeless Advocacy

Students learn counseling, interviewing, and negotiating skills in class simulations, then work with real clients through the Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP), which is sponsored by the Bar Association of San Francisco Volunteer Legal Services Program. Training is provided in both lawyering skills and substantive law. Under the professor's supervision, students act as advocates for HAP clients in a variety of settings. Students in the Honors Lawyering Program (HLP) may not enroll in this course.
Credit: 3 - 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 838C - Federal Courts

Students examine issues involved in federal court litigation, including habeas corpus, three-judge courts, suits brought by and against the federal government, governmental immunity, procedural barriers to obtaining federal court jurisdiction, and proposals for change in the jurisdiction of the U.S. Supreme Court. Prerequisites: Civil Procedure I and II, Constitutional Law I and II.
Credit: 3 Units  

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 871G - Global Warming & the Courts

Can--and should--the U.S. legal system deal with global warming? This course explores the ability of the courts to address a new and global environmental threat, and the relationship of litigation to the environmental movement and the political branches more broadly. We will consider the use of existing environmental statutes and the common law in addressing global warming in current litigation, the challenges faced by litigants in these cases, and how courts have responded. Class requirements include readings, class participation, and a final paper.
Credit: 2 Units   Offered: Summer 2009  

LAW 842D - Immigration and Refugee Policy Seminar

This course will focus on U.S. and national asylum law and procedure, international refugee protection law and procedure, and significant debates regarding these topics. Students will become familiar with the process involving USCIS, US ICE, Immigration Courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the federal courts of review.
Credit: 2 Units   Offered: Fall 2009  

LAW 842A - Immigration Law

This introduction to immigration and naturalization law and procedure examines major immigration policies and covers immigration and naturalization statutes, regulations, major administrative and court decisions, and constitutional rights as affected by alienage.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009  

LAW 845 - Insurance Law

This course studies the interpretation and enforcement of liability, property, and life insurance policies, including the liability of insurers for bad faith. Emphasis is on the function of insurance in civil litigation and on public policy, including recent changes in California insurance laws. Prerequisite: Contracts I and II.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LAW 847C - International Environmental Law Seminar

Students examine the law and institutions relevant to managing transboundary, regional, and global environmental problems.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009  

LLM 364 - International Human Rights Seminar

This course begins with a brief historical introduction to the concept of international human rights and their antecedents. Selected international human rights instruments, including U.N. documents, regional instruments, U.S. reservations, U.S. legislation, and war crimes documents, are then examined in detail with appropriate classifications of human rights in accordance with their contents or substance and the chronological and generational stages of their development.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LLM 366 - International Law

This basic course introduces the progressive development of international law, which primarily regulates the relations between states but also governs the rights and obligations of subjects other than states, namely, international organizations and individuals. Sources of international law are examined. Substantive topics for study include jurisdiction, territories and responsibility of states, the law of treaties, and international liability of states for injurious consequences of acts not prohibited by international law.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009  

LLM 378A - International Organizations

This survey of international organizations includes the United Nations and its specialized agencies, as well as institutions for dispute resolution.
Credit: 2 Units  

LLM 378 - International Organizations

This survey of international organizations includes the United Nations and its specialized agencies, as well as institutions for dispute resolution.
Credit: 3 Units  

LLM 381 - International Trade & Environmental Protection

This course examines the legal relationship between international trade rules and policies to protect the natural environment. The course content is related to material covered in courses on international trade regulation and international environmental law. Prerequisite: International Law or one introductory environmental law course recommended but not required.
Credit: 3 Units  

LAW 788A - Katrina & Disaster Law Seminar

This dynamic and timely course explores a myriad of legal issues arising out of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent breach of the levees. After studying some of the history of the Gulf Coast and the background leading up to Hurricane Katrina, each student will select a topic to research in depth. During the semester students will present reports to the class on the progress of their research and submit written work that will culminate in a paper of publishable quality. The research topics will focus on legal issues that are of practical use to lawyers and agencies engaged in helping those people who lost family members, homes, jobs, schools, pets, and neighborhoods in the wake of Katrina, and those who are engaged in the clean up and rebuilding efforts. Thus, the course will involve intersections of a number of areas of law, including contracts, insurance, property, race and poverty, employment, immigration, environmental and criminal justice. Students, with the assistance of the professor, will assemble their writings and submit them for publication and will present the results of their research at a symposium for the Golden Gate community.
Credit: 2 Units   Offered: Fall 2009  

LAW 854A - Labor Law

This course will provide an overview of union and management relations under the National Labor Relations Act, focusing on employees' right to organize, union representation, collective bargaining, right to fair representation, employer and union economic weapons, and recent proposed legislative changes. Students will learn how the political, economic, and social environment have shaped the law of labor relations and gain an appreciation for competing visions of how the 64-year-old Act applies, or may need to be changed, to deal with many issues in the contemporary workplace.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LAW 856A - Land Use Regulation

This review of the devices available to a community for regulating the development of land includes zoning, subdivision regulation, historic preservation, growth management, open space, and urban renewal. Also considered are the rights of owners, neighbors, environmentalists, and reformers to resist regulation on grounds such as just compensation, free speech, and housing welfare interests. Prerequisites: Property I and II.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LLM 383 - Law of International Armed Conflicts

Students explore the body of law governing the actions of nations and individuals during a state of armed conflict. Topics include the use of force between states, rules of international armed conflict, war crimes and war crimes tribunals (including applications to ongoing conflicts), international humanitarian law, the Geneva Convention, arms control and disarmament, weapons of mass destruction, collective security, the United Nations and U.N. peacekeeping efforts, and the applicability of the laws to national and international terrorism.
Credit: 3 Units  

LAW 860 - Law of the Sea Seminar

This course examines the legal rights and obligations of nation-states regarding uses of the world's oceans. Coverage includes, but is not limited to, coastal state control over territorial waters and strategic straits; establishment of offshore exclusive economic zones and fisheries; activities on the high seas including efforts to control marine pollution, interdiction of drug and human smuggling, and terrorism and piracy; protection of underwater cultural heritage; resolution of international sea boundary disputes; and exploitation of the mineral resources of the international seabed. The course will view these matters through the structure and scope of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and other relevant international agreements, as well as applicable domestic legislation and regulatory mechanisms. (Note: In the event of insufficient enrollment for this class as a seminar, interested students may apply to the instructor to pursue it as an Independent Study project.)
Credit: 2 Units  

LAW 859A - Literature and the Law

Students read literature about the law including nonfiction and fictional accounts of major cases, trials, and legal movements; biographies of leading jurists and lawyers; and seminal articles in various areas of legal criticism. The class also examines legal writing as literature, considering the rhetorical style, theme, and content of selected opinions and writings of judges and legal scholars. The course is presented in seminar and discussion format, with one presentation or paper required.
Credit: 2 Units  

LLM 376B - Pacific Settlement of Disputes Between States

This course examines various methods available in the resolution of conflicts between States. The course examines the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea at Hamburg, the International Criminal Tribunal at The Hague for former Yugoslavia, and the International Criminal Tribunal at Arusha for Rwanda, as well as the interplay of other methods of dispute settlement between States, such as the DSB and its Appellate Body under the WTO in Geneva, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, and United Nations-sponsored conciliation, mediation, enquiry, good offices, and negotiations.
Credit: 3 Units  

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 720G - Privacy, Defamation, and Other Relational Torts

This course is an intensive examination of relational torts, including privacy, defamation, interference with economic relationships, interference with family relationships, and abuse of the litigation process. Prerequisite: Torts I and Torts II.
Credit: 3 Units  

LAW 872 - Public Natural Resources and Land Law

This course examines the laws governing natural resources on the one-third of the United States that comprises our public lands including forests, minerals, ranges, wildlife, recreation parks, and wilderness. Students also explore laws protecting federal wildlife and endangered species.
Credit: 3 Units  

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 886 - Street Law

Each student teaches a 12-week course in basic housing law, family law, consumer law, constitutional law, and criminal law and procedure to local high school students. Students prepare in teacher-training sessions held prior to the teaching assignments and follow up with weekly seminars in substantive areas of the law. Prerequisite: completion of first-year courses. This course is counted against clinical units. Street Law is taught by the University of San Francisco School of Law, with classes meeting at their campus. This course is graded on a Credit/No Credit basis. Students must have approval from the associate dean for student services to enroll in this course.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009 , Spring 2010  

LLM 331 - Tax Exempt Organizations

This course provides an overview of the laws governing tax-exempt organizations, focusing on federal tax laws affecting charitable and educational organizations. Topics covered include charitable planning, charity formation and application for exemption, operational requirements, executive compensation, private foundation excise taxes and prohibitions, unrelated business income, and other interesting tax issues. The course will also include discussion of relevant state law formation and governance issues as well as charitable trust restrictions, using California as a model. Prerequisite: Characterization of Income & Expenditures or Federal Income Taxation. (Offered through the LLM in Taxation Program. JD students seeking to enroll must obtain the approval of the program director.)
Credit: 2 Units   Offered: Summer 2009  

LAW 894A - Toxics Law and Policy

How to regulate the thousands of toxic substances used in commerce today is a central focus of environmental law. This course first examines how effective common law actions are in dealing with exposures to toxic substances, then studies the range of regulatory responses dealing with toxic substances and hazardous waste, such as the federal hazardous waste management law (RCRA), the federal Superfund statute that deals with clean up of abandoned waste sites, and other federal statutes controlling toxics in various other settings, including drinking water (the SDWA Act) and pesticides (FIFRA). The course also covers risk assessment and risk management issues and information-based alternatives to traditional regulation, including California's Proposition 65.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LAW 871W - Water Law

This class provides an overview of the legal framework and principles governing the ownership, use, and distribution of water. It covers topics that are national in scope, but it also emphasizes laws and issues unique to California. The class covers: surface water and ground water rights, riparian and appropriative water rights, California and federal water agencies, the federal Central Valley Project (CVP) and the California's State Water Project; interstate water compacts and international water allocation treaties, Native American water rights, instream flow requirements, the public trust doctrine, and California's water supply-land use legislation (SB 221 and SB 610).
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Spring 2010  

LAW 885S - Women's Employment Rights Seminar

The Women's Employment Rights Seminar is a required companion course for students enrolled in the Women's Employment Rights Clinic (LAW-885B) and is also open to a maximum of 15 students who are not enrolled in the Clinic. The course addresses employment law issues affecting low wage workers, focusing on both California and federal law. Substantive law areas include: overview of employment discrimination law, workplace harassment, wage and hour law, pregnancy discrimination, Family and Medical Leave Act, unemployment insurance benefits, disability discrimination, ethical issues in employment law, and wrongful termination. The seminar may also include skills training components on client interviewing and counseling, case theory development, and administrative filing and hearing practice. The seminar is open to second and third-year students.
Credit: 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009 , Spring 2010  

LAW 885B - Womens Employment Rights Clinic

Students represent low-income clients with employment-related problems in areas including unpaid wages, discrimination and harassment, pregnancy disability, family and medical leave, and unemployment benefits. The clinic operates as a law office, with students practicing under direct faculty supervision. Clinic students must simultaneously enroll in the Women's Employment Rights Seminar (LAW-885S). Prerequisites: All first-year courses. Corequisite:Evidence. Consent of the instructor is required for Clinic enrollment.
Credit: 1 - 3 Units   Offered: Fall 2009 , Spring 2010  

LAW 892 - Workers Compensation

This course surveys the compensation system for handling claims of workers injured in the course of their employment.
Credit: 2 Units  

LAW 876A - Wrongful Convictions: Causes & Remedies

Since 1989, more than 200 wrongfully convicted people have been exonerated by DNA testing. (One of that number, Peter J. Rose, exonerated in 2004-2005, was represented by Professors and students from GGU.) This 2-unit seminar course gives students the opportunity to do law reform work. Students investigate the factors that contribute to wrongful convictions by studying flaws in our criminal justice system and, working in conjunction with the national Innocence Project, propose remedies.
Credit: 2 Units   Offered: Fall 2009