GOVERNMENT

PENN LAW FACULTY

TOLL PUBLIC INTEREST CENTER PARTNERS AT PENN

PRO BONO PLACEMENTS

Bucks County District Attorney
Campaign for Working Families – VITA Program
City of Philadelphia Law Department
Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office – Victim Services Division
Department of Health and Human Services
Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Export-Import Bank of the U.S.
Federal Transit Administration – Region 3
General Counsel of the School District of Philadelphia
Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office
Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office
National Labor Relations Board
National Programming for the National Constitution Center
Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office
Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development
Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations
Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office
Philadelphia Police Advisory Commission
Social Security Administration
State Senator Vince Fumo
U.S. Attorney’s Office
U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
United States Marine Corps

Penn Law Courses

We live in an administrative state, populated by thousands of governmental bodies that collectively exercise pervasive authority over the entire economy and the lives of every American. Unlike courts, which enjoy explicit constitutional independence, administrative agencies constitute a constitutionally ambiguous "fourth branch of government." Also unlike courts, most agencies have authority to wield a wide variety of regulatory powers other than adjudication, including rulemaking, licensing, advice-giving, and prosecution. "Administrative law" is the body of constitutional, statutory, Executive, and "common law" principles that constrain and thereby seek to legitimate the exercise of these powers. This course will be a critical examination of these principles. Topics include: the place of agencies in our tripartite structure of government, the choice between rulemaking and adjudication as devices for making policy, procedural requirements for the exercise of various administrative powers, and judicial review of administrative decisions.

The course considers the basic principles of Antitrust law. It will examine the laws of monopolization; merger regulation; collaboration among competitors, such as price fixing and market allocation. It will also touch on issues of product distribution such as resale price maintenance and territorial and customer restrictions placed on dealers and the laws of price discrimination. The antitrust laws have been characterized as the Magna Charta of our economic liberty. They now reflect somewhat less lofty rules of general fairness in the marketplace. Although a background in economics may be useful, no previous knowledge of economics is assumed. Some students have been disappointed in the past by the lack of attention to economics and public policy considerations in the course. Our mutual discussions of cases together is an important part of the course.

This course is designed to examine a range of legal institutions from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective. It is not a traditional course in comparative law, in that it focuses not so much on particular rules of substantive law but on the structure of different legal systems and the consequences of those structural differences for law and society. Readings will be drawn from legal and social science literature, including works from anthropology, economics, political science and sociology. The course will explicitly cover non-Western legal traditions to an extent not found in conventional comparative law courses. Furthermore, American institutions are explicitly included in the comparison: this is not simply a course in foreign law. The course will conclude with reflections on what a comparative perspective tells us about American legal institutions.

This seminar will examine the nature of law, constitutions, and constitutional interpretation in a philosophically rigorous way. We will begin by reading Hart's and Dworkin's classic work in "analytical jurisprudence," concerning the nature of law; discuss some contemporary scholarship in analytical jurisprudence; and then turn to foundational issues in U.S. constitutionalism, specifically the methods for constitutional interpretation and the allocation of interpretative authority across institutions. An attempt will be made, throughout, to link analytical jurisprudence and constitutional theory. My hope is that, by understanding what makes law different from other normative orders (for example, morality), we will gain a better understanding of how our Constitution works.

A study of basic issues of federal constitutional law. Major topics will be: the role of courts in the interpretation of enforcement of the U.S. Constitution; the scope of federal legislative powers under the Constitution; federalism limitations placed on the powers of state and local governments; individual civil, political, and human rights under the U.S. Constitution, with the primary emphasis on the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The United States Constitution purports to restrain the actions of state and federal governments. When these restraints are transgressed, the injured parties and their representatives look to the federal courts for remedies. This course considers the legal doctrines that shape the courts' readiness to provide those remedies and the ways in which doctrines are likely to manifest themselves in the course of litigation.

This seminar will cover current issues in the law of elections and politics. Topics to be discussed will include current campaign finance reform efforts, the 2000 census and redistricting process, the fallout and election reform efforts in the wake of Bush v. Gore, and other issues that may arise during the term.

Federal Courts
This course examines the functions, powers and responsibilities of the federal courts, and considers their relationships with state governments and with the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. Topics covered will include justiciability; congressional authority over, and statutory and judge-made limits on, federal jurisdiction; Supreme Court review of state court judgments; federal common law; advanced topics in federal question jurisdiction; suits challenging state and federal government action, and immunities asserted in such suits; and federal habeas corpus.

This seminar will explore a variety of topics related to the federal Food and Drug Administration and its oversight of therapeutic products in the United States. The primary focus will be on the FDA’s regulation of drugs and medical devices. We will discuss the history and basic approval authority of the FDA, along with specific focus on a number of emerging developments, as well as the complementary (or conflicting) role that tort litigation plays in promoting drug and device safety. I intend the course to be interactive and discussion-based, and expect all students in the course to take an active role in our critique and analysis of various FDA policies and issues throughout the semester. This will apply both to the first half of the semester, when I will lead a discussion each week of a different set of FDA-related issues, and to the second half of the course, when individual students will present their work in progress followed by a responsive discussion. Grading will be based primarily on a research project on a topic of your choosing. This paper may satisfy the third-year writing requirement. Each student will circulate a working draft, and make an oral presentation of his or her presentation, during the last six weeks of the semester. A smaller fraction of the grade will be based on class participation throughout the semester.

This course is intended to give law students a basic understanding of the themes in the legal regulation of elections and politics. In addition to investigating the 2000 election controversy, we will cover all the major Supreme Court cases on topics of voting rights, reapportionment/redistricting, ballot access, regulation of political parties, and campaign finance. We will pay particular attention to competing political philosophies and empirical assumptions that underlie the Court's reasoning while still focusing on the cases as litigation tools to be used to serve political ends.

The Legislative Clinic offers students an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the role of lawyers in the legislative process and in the formation of public policy. The seminar is a live client course that combines legislative placements with a classroom seminar component. After consultation to consider student interests and preferences, students will be assigned to legislative placements in the offices of members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly or the U.S. Congress, or at public interest organizations advocating for legislative change under the supervision of experienced legislative advocates. In the seminar portion of the course, students will examine basic lawyering competencies required for successful legislative lawyering and will discuss issues of public policy, legislative strategy and professional responsibility that arise in their fieldwork. Seminar topics will include an examination of the role of the legislative lawyer; a comparison of lawyering skills needed to succeed in legislative and judicial forums; strategic legislative planning; statutory drafting; legislative research; and principles of legislative advocacy.

Over ninety percent of Americans live in urban areas. This course will examine many of the issues facing urban America through an analysis of the function of local governments in the American legal and political system. We will consider federal, state and local statutes and case law that shape government institutions. Specific topics include: the formation of local and sublocal governments; the scope of local autonomy with respect to zoning and the provision of public services; federal-local, state-local, and inter-local relations; the relationship between cities and suburbs; and the impact of race on the structure of metropolitan governance. We will be employing legal doctrine as well as political and social theory in exploring these issues. Because local governments operate in a variety of jurisdictions (and because local government law intersects numerous areas of substantive law) this course will not primarily emphasize legal doctrine or the mastery of specific legal rules. Instead, the course is intended to familiarize you with those general concepts from which to draw more specific legal and political conclusions. This course will be followed in the spring by the Seminar in Urban Policy, which will provide an opportunity for students to conduct research in areas of urban policy. Students in Local Government Law will receive priority in registering for the seminar.

Privacy law is an emerging legal specialty with old, established roots in common law and the constitution. This course examines some of the cases, constitutional provisions, and state and federal statutes that together comprise the privacy law of the United States. The fundamental concern of the course will be the concept of privacy in its diverse -- and sometimes controversial -- uses by legislatures, courts, and the right-claiming public. The course will consider the actual and ideal role of law in protecting commonly ascribed rights of privacy and private choice. The course will cover privacy in relation to journalism, the internet, finance, government surveillance, health care, families, and sexuality.

An investigation of the development and current understanding of the doctrine of substantive due process, i.e., the principle that the Due Process Clauses of the 5th and 14th Amendments place substantive limits on governmental action. Topics will include the pre-14th Amendment understanding of Due Process, Lochner-era economic substantive due process, modern individual liberty-oriented substantive due process, and the intended relevance of the privileges and Immunities Clause.

This seminar will examine a select group of Supreme Court cases dating back to the 1790s and coming up to the Court’s current term. Each member of the seminar will select a justice, or a member of the Supreme Court bar of some significance, past or present, and will (a) report orally in class, and (b) write a concise essay, about the justice or lawyer.

This seminar will examine a select group of Supreme Court cases dating back to the 1790s and coming up to the Court’s current term. Each member of the seminar will select a justice, or a member of the Supreme Court bar of some significance, past or present, and will (a) report orally in class, and (b) write a concise essay, about the justice or lawyer.

This course will examine federal, state and local policies towards urban areas (broadly defined) with a focus on their impact in Pennsylvania. Among the topics we will examine are: the role of government in shaping housing development in cities and suburban areas, the application of zoning and other land use controls to urban areas, the impact of urban renewal and economic development policies on American cities, and the changing relationships between cities and suburbs. This course will operate as a seminar, and students will be encouraged to conduct research in a specific aspect of urban policy. This course will involve collaboration with members of the Pennsylvania state government, in particular the Pennsylvania State Planning Board. Under the supervision of the professor, students in the course will participate in researching and drafting proposed changes to state law regarding land use and economic development.