GOVERNMENT

PENN LAW FACULTY

TOLL PUBLIC INTEREST CENTER PARTNERS AT PENN

POSSIBLE PRO BONO PLACEMENTS FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN GOVERNMENT INCLUDE:

City of Philadelphia Law Department
Department of Health and Human Services
Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Federal Transit Administration – Region 3
General Counsel of the School District of Philadelphia
National Labor Relations Board
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
U.S. Attorney’s Office
U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

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.

3 sem. hrs.
Housing crises, bank failures, health care reform - understanding any of these dramatic events requires a basic understanding of analytical methods. Even in less tumultuous times, a familiarity with quantitative reasoning and statistics is an increasingly important part of a lawyer's job. This course will prepare students to use quantitative tools from statistics, finance, and economics to problems of legal importance. The course is introductory and is especially aimed at students with little background in economics and statistics. Topics covered include decision analysis, hypothesis testing, linear regression, game theory, microeconomics, and finance. Legal applications include litigation, negotiation, environmental law, corporate law, criminal law, employment law, antitrust, and intellectual property. In addition to a main textbook, sources for course material are drawn from legal cases, scientific studies, and journal and newspaper articles. The goal of the course is for students to develop their quantitative intuition through practical application, including the use of computer tools such as Excel. No specific mathematics background is required, and students with little or no quantitative coursework are especially encouraged to take the course. Students with more extensive math or economics backgrounds should consult with the professor to determine whether the course is appropriate.

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 explores strategic, business and legal decision making in a fluid real world corporate context. Classes will cover a series of timely financial and legal subjects as well as case studies that deal with topical problems in corporate governance, investment strategy, executive compensation and potential corporate and criminal behavior. Press, public market reaction and governmental/political considerations will be integrated into the discussion. All students will be required to participate in one major team project. An equal number of graduate law and business students will participate. The instructor, a 24 year veteran and partner at a major private equity firm, is also an attorney and CPA. No pre-requisites.

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.

3 sem. hrs.
In February 2009, Stephen Reinhardt became the first federal judge to rule that section 7 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), 1 U.S.C. § 7 (2009), violates the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause. Section 7 defines marriage for purposes of interpreting federal laws, regulations, rules, or agency interpretations to include only heterosexual unions. Remarkably, Judge Reinhardt made this ruling not on behalf of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, but as the chairman of the Ninth Circuit's Standing Committee on Federal Public Defenders. In other words, Reinhardt was acting as an administrator, not as a judge. On what, if any, basis can an administrator like Reinhardt legitimately interpret the Constitution differently than the courts? In recent years, legal scholars have shown a vigorous interest in the constitutional interpretations of non-court actors. One branch of this scholarship examines "popular constitutionalism": how non-court actors, including social movements, Congress, and the President affect judicial doctrine. For many scholars such influence is desirable because it enhances the democratic legitimacy of courts' constitutional holdings. Another branch of this scholarship analyzes "departmentalism": the authority of non-court actors, most prominently Congress and the President, to interpret the Constitution differently than the Supreme Court. This course will survey the legal historical and theoretical work on extra-court constitutionalism. Central questions the course will address include: On what bases can government officials-members of Congress, administrators like Reinhardt, and the President-legitimately interpret the Constitution in ways that differ from the courts? If none, how should these officials approach the often gaping interpretive spaces they find between courts' decisions and the practical applications these officials face? How should courts consider the interpretations of noncourt actors when fashioning constitutional law?

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.

The Federal Government plays an increasingly significant role in the prosecution of crime in the United States, particularly in the corporate and white collar context. This course will focus on the application of the developing federal criminal law to organizations and individuals and consider the trends of federalization and criminalization while analyzing the most widely used federal criminal statutes. Topics will include the prosecution of white collar crime such as financial fraud and embezzlement, securities offenses, obstruction of justice, money laundering, and the mail and wire fraud statutes as well as RICO, conspiracy, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The course will also explore the increasing use of deferred and non-prosecution agreements, internal investigations, and the law of corporate and entity liability. The grade component will be 75-80% paper and 20-25% class participation. 1st year criminal law or permission of the instructor is required.

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 seminar will focus on the financial sector’s recent collapse, its precipitating conditions, and the federal government’s responsive actions. The topics covered will include precedent financial crises here and abroad and patterns of governmental response; the systemic risk and moral hazard problems; the subprime loan, asset-backed securities, and credit default swap markets; Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and AIG; the TARP, the TALF, and the bankruptcy alternative; and the economics of government ownership and resulting corporate governance problems, including regulation of executive pay. Students will be required to prepare short weekly papers responding to the week's reading. Class attendance will be mandatory.

3 sem. hrs.
This seminar will provide students with an opportunity to learn about cutting-edge research in law and economics through presentations by some of the leading scholars in the field. In preparation for the outside speaker sessions, students write short (two to three page) critiques of the author's paper. Final grades will be based on the critiques and seminar participation, including a group presentation. Some background in economics or law and economics is very helpful; however, knowledge of technical economics is unnecessary.

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.

Effective negotiation is at the root of most successful professional and personal encounters today. Whether representing an individual client or putting together a billion dollar deal, there are measurable differences in results between those who negotiate well and those who do not. The same is true whether buying a car or having a discussion with a family member. This course provides law students with the practical tools to become better negotiators. Students will learn how to systematically prepare for negotiations, deal effectively with hard bargainers and power imbalances, find hidden agendas, use standards more effectively, build coalitions, find creative options to overcome impasses, win over opponents and generally gain better results from the myriad encounters of life. This includes negotiating with peers, superiors and subordinates, in two-party and multiparty situations, with those who are similar as well as those who are very different. The course will include work on the special challenges of attorneys, including agency and ethics issues, use of negotiation in a litigation environment, and the problems and opportunities of multi-cultural and international representations. Also to be addressed will be issues of personal style, negotiating in highly emotional situations and dealing with a wide variety of parties, from passive to belligerent, corporate to government, family to fiduciary. A theoretical foundation will be presented. But the emphasis in each case will be on practical, operational tools. The course will be participatory. Students will negotiate cases from the start and will also be encouraged to bring their own thorny negotiation problems to class, to be analyzed and solved. This includes issues that students may already have or contemplate from their law firm jobs. There will be opportunities outside of class for one-on-one meetings with the professor on individual negotiation issues. Please note: All students are required to attend the first class of the semester. If you do not show up to the first class, you will be dropped from the course and your seat will be given to someone on the waiting list. Professor Diamond highly encourages #’s 1-10 on the waitlist to attend the first class. NOTE: Publisher for text books is not available as a choice. For Bargaining for Advantage, publisher is Penguin. For Influence, publisher is Quill.

3 sem. hrs.
Lawyers play a key role in making public policy, whether in legislative, executive, or judicial settings. This course will focus on the skills lawyers need when serving as policy analysts or decision makers, as well as when serving clients who must interact with policymakers. The course will examine core methods and skills of research, analysis, and exposition suitable for effective policy counseling and decision making. Specific analytic concepts and tools, such as benefit-cost analysis, will be addressed, but overall emphasis will be placed on a general framework for analyzing any kind of social or economic problem and assessing different types of alternative legal solutions. Working either individually or in teams (at their choosing), students will prepare and present their own original policy analysis of an important problem they select, geared in a format to inform an actual decision maker. There will be no final exam. Grades will be based primarily on the final policy analysis, but class participation, short reaction papers written during the term, and an in-class presentation will be factored as well. The senior writing requirement may be satisfied with permission.

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.

3 sem. hrs.
This seminar will examine the regulation of the health insurance market in light of the recently enacted federal health reform legislation. Weekly topics may vary depending on student interest, but will likely include the economics of risk classification and adverse selection, the underpinnings of the actuarial value requirements in the new legislation, legal and policy limits on administrative discretion in the specification of benefit design requirements, the creation and structure of health exchanges, the Massachusetts experience, insurance market rules, health care choice compacts and national rules, and the interplay between wellness incentives and insurance rating rules. Requirements include active participation in two group-based analyses and presentations of a current topic (with powerpoint and handouts); regular attendence; and completion of an individual research and policy analysis project culminating in a 15 page paper.

3 sem. hrs.
Society faces a range of risks, from both natural sources and economic activities. A core challenge for society's major institutions - governments, businesses, non-profits - is to understand these risks and learn to manage them effectively and efficiently. This seminar will focus on how society deals with risks, ranging from, on the one end of the spectrum, voluntary action by business to, on the other end, strict rules imposed by government on the private sector - with many variants in between. These risk management responses also include the design of institutions to identify, monitor, and provide information about risks. Understanding what makes for effective institutional responses to risk is especially challenging, for it calls for not just an understanding of institutions themselves -- e.g., law and business -- but also an understanding of how these institutions interact with and affect the risks they are supposed to reduce or mitigate. This seminar will meet on alternating Tuesday afternoons throughout the entire 2010-2011 academic year. One seminar meeting each month will feature a guest speaker presenting new scholarship or policy analysis related to risk regulation. The other sessions will provide general background on risk regulation, further consideration of the specific topics covered by the guest speakers, and discussion of research papers seminar participants will be expected to complete by the end of the spring term.

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.

Supreme Court Clinic Professor S. Bibas and Lecturers S. Kinnaird and N. Bregstein Gordon Yearlong: Fall 2010 and Spring 2011, 4 credits per semester, MW 1:30-3:00 p.m. Pre- or co-requisite: Supreme Court Practice and Process seminar, LAW 947-001, 3 credits, Fall 2010 Tue. 4:30-6:30 p.m. Clinic enrollment limited to twelve students This year-long clinic will give students intensive, hands-on experience litigating cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. It is distinct from the pre- or co-requisite seminar, Supreme Court Practice and Process, LAW 947-001, which introduces students to the law, politics, and lawyering of the Supreme Court as an institution through a wide array of cases, briefs, and visiting speakers. The clinic, in contrast, will focus on the practical side of identifying and litigating real pending cases. In conjunction with the instructors and Supreme Court lawyers at a major Washington law firm, students will research and identify promising cases for Supreme Court review and take part in strategy sessions and conference calls, learning first-hand the tactical considerations that shape litigating positions and stances. They will then research and write first drafts of certiorari petitions, sections of merits briefs for the parties, and briefs amicus curiae at the certiorari and merits stages. Through intensive research, writing, editing, and rewriting, students will hone their legal-writing skills. Unfortunately, students cannot argue these cases or sign briefs. Students will travel to Washington D.C. several times each semester to meet with experienced litigators and watch moot courts and oral arguments in the cases on which they have worked. Students may take the seminar without taking the clinic, but if they wish to enroll in the clinic they must previously have taken or apply to take the seminar at the same time. They must be prepared to commit an average of at least ten hours per week to the clinic throughout the entire academic year, though the load will probably be lighter right around the final examinations period

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.