Course Descriptions, Capital Punishment Seminar - Cross Examination Techniques
LW822 — Capital Punishment Seminar — 2 Hours
This seminar will focus on the intricate Eighth Amendment jurisprudence that has developed since the United States Supreme Court's decision in Furman v.Georgia. Some of the main themes will include; recent history of the death penalty and its "constitutionalization; role of aggravating and mitigating evidence in guiding the sentencer's discretion; application to juveniles and mentally retarded; political and social influences and debate; mechanics of trial and appeal; scope of appellate review, right to counsel and habeas corpus controversy; insanity, methods of excecution and the role of clemency; and constitutional challenges to arbitrary imposition of the death penalty including race-based claims.
LW913 — Child Advocacy Training — 1-2 Hours
Lawyers who represent children in any type of custody proceeding, child in need of care, divorce, paternity or adoption, face special challenges. The course will include: interviewing children; understanding capacity issues; the roles and ethical obligations of the child's attorney, best interests attorney and other representatives for the child in litigation; the roles of other professionals - mental health professionals, custody evaluators; role of the child's lawyer in alternative dispute resolution; and cultural sensitivity. There will also be an advocacy component. Prerequisites: Professional Responsibility. Credit/No Credit.
LW885 — Children in the Law — 2 Hours
The course includes a detailed look at the current system for the child in need of care and look at balancing the interests of parents, child and state. The topics will cover foster care; the Adoption and Safe Families Act; working with children in the legal system; defining abuse and neglect; reintegration of families; guardianship; access to medical treatment and mental health care; disability issues, access to special and regular education services; balancing the interests of children and their parents; the role of the guardian ad litem.
LW863 — Civil Procedure I — 3 Hours
An examination of some of the rules and principles that dictate the process by which civil disputes are resolved by courts. The objective is to give the beginning student an understanding of the judicial process and of the relationship between procedural and substantive law. The focus will be on an overview of the litigation process, a thorough examination of jurisdiction principles that help determine which courts have power to resolve a legal dispute, and an introduction to some of the joinder rules and res judicata principles that help dictate the size and scope of litigation of a particular dispute.
LW868 — Civil Procedure II — 3 Hours
An in-depth analysis of the pre-trial litigation process, including pleadings, motion practice, discovery, and pre-trial adjudication as well as issues concerning the right to jury trial. Recommended prior or concurrent enrollment: Evidence.
LW825 — Client Counseling — 1-2 Hours
Open to the final four students in the annual intramural client counseling competition who advance to the regional competition. Students interview mock clients, prepare with faculty for competition with other law schools, and write a memorandum on a legal issue raised in the competition. Emphasizes effective communication and counseling in the first interview with a client. Students may earn 1 hour per regional competition, not to exceed 2 hours. Credit, no-credit.
LW756 — Clinic Internship/Litigation — 4-5 Hours
The Law Clinic Internship is open to law students who qualify under Kansas Supreme Court Rule 719. Depending on student interest, the Law Clinic offers experiential learning in five primary areas of practice: Family Law, Juvenile Law, Criminal Law, Civil Law and Native American Representation. In the Family Law Practice Concentration, students represent clients in matters such as divorce, custody, paternity and adoption cases. In the Juvenile Law Practice concentration, Clinic interns serve primarily as guardians ad litem for children who have come under the jurisdiction of the court through the Child in Need of Care Code. In the Criminal Law Practice Concentration, students handle a wide variety of criminal matters, providing legal representation for indigent defendants charged with misdemeanor and low-level felony offenses. Occasionally, appeals and habeas corpus matters are taken. In the Civil Law Practice Concentration, Clinic interns represent clients in a variety of civil matters including consumer complaints, landlord/tenant issues, contract issues and tort defense. The Native American Practice Concentration allows interns to represent a specific client group in a wide variety of legal issues.
Under faculty supervision, interns engage in the practice of law, interview and advise clients, and negotiate and litigate cases. Interns meet three times a week for a one-hour class which is team taught by the Clinic faculty using simulation, discussion, and lecture techniques. Topics include client interviewing, negotiation, counseling, drafting, case planning, lawyer's ethics and values and lawyer role development. Prerequisites: 60 hours completed, minimum 2.0 GPA, certification as a Legal Intern and successful completion of Evidence and Professional Responsibility. Completion of the following are recommended: Pretrial Advocacy, Trial Advocacy and Civil Procedure II. Students are encouraged to talk to Clinic faculty about how their course choices may impact their clinical experience. Because of potential conflicts of interests, students who are working for the Topeka City Attorney or the Shawnee County District Attorney may not concurrently enroll in Law Clinic. Interns must pay a $50.00 fee to the Clerk of the Supreme Court for their student practice certification. Enrollment in Clinic may be limited as in any other course. Credit, no-credit.
LW911 — Clinic Internship/Transactional — 4-5 Hours
Students who enroll in this course will be subject to requirements and resterictions that aply to Clinic Internship. Their representation will focus on working with clients on transactional activities. Prerequisites: 60 hours completed, minimum 2.0 GPA, certification as a Legal Intern, and successful completion of Business Associations and Professional Responsibility. Recommended: Commercial Drafting, Law and Accounting, Law and Finance, Taxation of Corporations & Shareholders, Taxation of Gratuitous Transfers, Taxation of Individual Income, Taxation of Partnerships and Partners, Taxation of Property Transactions.
LW931 — Collaborative Law — 1-2 Hours
Collaborative law offers lawyers and clients a new form of alternative dispute resolution. The parties and their respective lawyers agree to negotiate and resolve the issues without resorting to litigation. The lawyers' role is to help the parties settle. The tools used for adversarial litigation are replaced with disclosure requirements. This course will train lawyers in collaborative dispute resolution. Prerequisite: Family Law. Completion recommended: Mediation and Negotiation.
LW938 — Commercial Real Estate Transactions — 3 Hours
This course covers the legal, economic, financial, and tax aspects of commercial real estate transactions. The course will cover topics such as sources of real estate finance, choice of legal entity for holding real estate, real estate development, leasing arrangements, and methods for minimizing taxation on the disposition of real estate. The course will also examine documents typically used in commercial real estate transactions. Recommended: Prior or concurrent enrollment in Business Associations.
LW916 — Comparative Constitutional Law — 2-3 Hours
This course allows students to explore prominent constitutional themes such as structuralism, federalism, separation of powers, individual liberties, judicial enforcement of constitutional principles, constitutional values, constitutional change, and legitimacy by comparing major constitutional systems including those of the United States, the European Union, Canada, India, South Africa, and Germany. After a broad initial survey of some of the principal constitutional systems, the class will move on to comparative consideration of various fundamental issues such as freedom of expression, equality, minority and indigenous group rights, and localism versus nationalism as they present themselves in specific constitutional contexts. Prerequisites: Constitutional Law I & II (concurrent enrollment in Constitutional Law II permissible).
LW929 — Comparative Law: Understanding Method and Theory — 2 Hours
This course will provide an introduction to current theory and methodology of comparative law. The course will explore the origins and development of comparative law in the United States, Europe, and other regions of the world. Focus will be on the importance of theory and methodology when engaging in comparative legal analysis. Students will apply learned methodology and theory to issues including religion, human rights, the environment, and customary law. Debates on issues such as universalism and cultural relativity will also be explored.
LW784 — Comparative Mass Media Law Seminar — 2 Hours
A comparative review of freedom of expression theory and freedom of the press, civil liability for harms caused by media, legal aspects of the news gathering process and regulation of broadcast journalism. Specific areas include prior restraint, obscenity, commercial speech, copyright (as it pertains to fair use and cable signal carriage rules), defamation, right of privacy, reporter?s privilege, shield statutes, access to government records, and access to judicial proceedings.
LW755 — Conflict of Laws — 3 Hours
A study of the problems presented because of differences in the laws of the several states and jurisdictions. Particular attention is given to acquisition of judicial power over litigants; the methods for choosing the applicable law when a transaction or occurrence has a relationship with two or more jurisdictions, each having different laws; and evolution and policies of conflicts theory, with emphasis on current developments and problems peculiar to a federal nation, including constitutional limitations on the power of a state to apply its law to transactions or occurrences that touch other states.
LW861 — Constitutional Law I — 3 Hours
This course examines the role of the Supreme Court in the interpretation and enforcement of the Constitution. It also examines the powers of Congress and the Executive Branch, separation of powers, and federalism principles, including the powers of the federal government in relation to the states and federal limits on state power.
LW862 — Constitutional Law II — 3 Hours
A study of the constitutional provisions guaranteeing individual rights, including the rights of freedom of expression found in the First Amendment and due process and equal protection principles found in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.
LW748 — Constitutional Litigation — 3 Hours
An examination of various aspects of constitutional litigation, beginning with the statutory parameters of such actions and including the process of appellate review and Supreme Court decision-making. Students select current topics, decide which topics merit review, and then decide how to resolve the constitutional issues involved. Prerequisite: Constitutional Law II.
LW700 — Contracts I — 3 Hours
Begins with the history and development of the common law of contracts and continues through recent legislative initiatives in the form of the Uniform Commercial Code. The first course in contracts concentrates on principles of contract formation with an introduction to contractual remedies.
LW701 — Contracts II — 3 Hours
The second course in contracts continues with the history and development of the common law as well as with the Uniform Commercial Code. The course concentrates on Article II of the Uniform Commercial Code stressing statutory structure and transactional analysis. Analysis of common law development in other areas continues.
LW903 — Criminal Appeal Advocacy — 3 Hours
In this course students write and file two appellate briefs on behalf of Kansas Appellate Defender Office clients, under the supervision of a KADO attorney. Students who qualify as legal interns under Kansas Supreme Court Rule 709 may sign the briefs, although such certification is not a prerequisite for the course. The course includes a seminar consisting of lectures and exercises dealing with a variety of aspects of criminal appellate defense. Prerequisites: Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure I, Evidence, Professional Responsibility.
LW903D — Criminal Appeal Advocacy: Advanced Topics — 1-2 Hours
Once students have successfully completed Criminal Appeal Advocacy, they may participate in a directed internship of one-to-two hours depending on faculty availability and approval. Topics may include briefs, oral argument, or other assignments involving criminal appellate advocacy.
LW729 — Criminal Law — 3 Hours
An introduction to substantive principles of criminal law. The course examines the elements of crimes at common law and under modern statutes, together with the history and development of the criminal law, including the various theories of criminal responsibility.
LW750 — Criminal Procedure — 3 Hours
An examination of the role of law and the Constitution in police investigation covering in depth most of the important Fourth and Fifth Amendment limitations on police investigative practices. Case analysis combined with the problem analysis method encourages students to examine important legal issues from various perspectives and viewpoints and recreates the lawyer’s experience in analyzing, distinguishing and reconciling legal authorities in the process of advising clients and preparing for litigation in criminal cases.
LW839 — Criminal Procedure II — 3 Hours
A second course in criminal procedure law covering criminal process after arrest. Coverage spans the pre-trial, trial, and post-trial process, including prosecutorial discretion to charge, pretrial discovery, plea negotiation, grand jury and preliminary hearing screening, jury selection, double jeopardy, severance and joinder of trials, sentencing, and appeal. Prerequisites: Criminal Procedure I.
LW906 — Cross Examination Techniques — 1 Hour
Students will acquire advanced cross examination skills through short lectures, readings, use of audio-visual materials, self-reflective study, and skills practice in small group workshops. The course will focus on making the case to the fact finder through the witness on cross, techniques for controlling the adverse or hostile witness, mastery of impeachment techniques, and integrating the examination effectively into the case theory. Topics will include: use of courtroom technology in cross examination, use of deposition and reports to impeach, get help, and discredit, confronting the difficult witness, law enforcement witnesses, and other kinds of witnesses. The course will be graded. Prerequisites: Evidence, and Trial Advocacy or ITAP.
