This course will satisfy one of the required six experiential course credits needed for graduation.     

   This course will satisfy two of the required six experiential course creidts needed for graduation.  Last course meeting date will be March 6, 2020 with a paper due by March 20, 2020.

This course will satisfy two of the required six experiential course credits needed for graduation.

ATTENDANCE IN THIS COURSE IS MANDATORY. Students chosen from the lottery will not be allowed to drop the course after December 1.  Students attempting to drop the course after December 1, or failing to show up on the first day of the class, will receive one credit hour of a “1.5” for course. This course will satisfy one of the required six experiential course credits needed for graduation.

For Spring 2020:  Maximum enrollment is capped at 30 due to space limitations in room 125.  However, a waitlist will open and if more than 30 students wish to enroll, the course will be moved to Levitt Auditorium.

Students who have completed Copyright Law, Patent Law, or Trademarks and Unfair Competition may not subsequently enroll in Introduction to Intellectual Property for academic credit.  The instructor will permit these students to audit those portions of the course that they have not already studied in depth.  Students who wish to audit on this basis should contact the College of Law Registrar. Law and non-law graduate students will be graded separately.

In lieu of an exam you must write a 10-page double-spaced paper on a National Labor Relations Act-related topic, which you must submit for my approval. It is a requirement that all students registered for the course regularly attend class, prepare thoroughly for class, and  participate in class discussion, which is an indispensable intellectual component of our collective and highly interactive learning process.  The first day of class (January 21) is not only NOT organizational, it is substantive and, in important respects, the most important class of the semester.  Consequently, ATTENDANCE ON JANUARY 21 IS MANDATORY: IF YOU FAIL TO ATTEND THAT DAY, YOU WILL BE DEREGISTERED, AND IF YOU KNOW AHEAD OF TIME THAT YOU WILL NOT ATTEND, PLEASE DROP THE CLASS.   If you miss more than one class, you must provide a compelling (primarily health-related) reason. The grades of those students whose frequent discussion contributions display a high degree of insight will be adjusted accordingly.  If you know that you will not be participating in class discussion, you will be doing yourself and the whole class a disservice by registering for this Labor Law course.   NOTE WELL! Unfortunately, some students conclude from the absence of an exam that there is no need to read the assigned readings or prepare for or attend class.  Such a conclusion perversely turns on its head the pedagogic purpose of the examlessness, which is to enable students to read and think without the extraneous pressure of an exam.  In order to encourage you not to draw such a false conclusion, the following procedure will apply:  IF, WHEN CALLED ON, YOU EITHER STATE THAT YOU HAVE NOT READ THE ASSIGNED READINGS OR RESPOND IN SUCH A WAY AS TO LEAVE ME WITH THE CLEAR IMPRESSION THAT YOU HAVE NOT READ THE ASSIGNED READINGS, YOU WILL BE REWARDED WITH A CHALLENGING WRITTEN INTELLECTUAL ASSIGNMENT DUE THE NEXT DAY AND WITH BEING CALLED ON IN THE NEXT CLASS TO DISCUSS THE ASSIGNED READINGS.  IF YOU EITHER FAIL TO SUBMIT THAT ASSIGNMENT OR ARE NOT PREPARED THAT NEXT CLASS, YOUR GRADE FOR THE COURSE WILL BE REDUCED BY 2 WHOLE POINTS (I.E., E.G., FROM 4.0 TO 2.0).  IF YOU GO THROUGH THIS SCENARIO A SECOND TIME, YOU WILL BE DROPPED FROM THE COURSE.  

This course has the following three components: (1) The first component is the legislative process. The goal for this component is to enable you to identify and understand the process by which legislation is enacted into law, the actors that influence the legislative process and how they influence the process and the implications of the legislative process for statutory interpretation and legislative drafting. Both the federal legislative process and state legislative processes will be addressed. (2) The second component is statutory drafting. This will be the major focus of the course. The goal for this component is to identify key sources, theories, and doctrines with respect to statutory interpretation, evaluate critically these sources, theories, and doctrines and to interpret statutes in light of these sources, theories and doctrines. (3) The third component is legislative drafting. This component is directed at your acquisition and enhancement of legislative drafting skills. The skills involved are applicable not only to legislative drafting but also drafting in other contexts.

Students please note the course meets on Mondays in room 235 and on Wednesdays in room 225.

The required final trials have not been scheduled yet but will likely be sometime within the first two weeks of the regular Spring semester. ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY.  This course will satisfy two of the required six experiential course creidts needed for graduation.

This course will count toward the required six experiential course creidts needed for graduation.

General placements. This course will count toward the required six experiential course credits needed for graduation.