As Penn Carey Law students start thinking about enrollment for the Spring semester, we highlight some courses for those who have an interest in international and/or comparative law.
Art and Cultural Heritage Law, LAW 913001
R, 6:40 – 8:40 PM (Childers)
This course will focus on issues related to art and cultural heritage law. We will examine aspects of copyright law, property law, tax law, international law, and issues of public policy, each as they relate to the creation, classification, movement, display, ownership, reception, and management of art and cultural heritage. This course will touch on topics and issues as far-ranging as the art and cultural heritage at the center of the field’s most foundational debates and controversies—from the Parthenon marbles (or the Elgin marbles, depending on whom you ask) to NFTs.
Blockchain and the Law, LAW 608001
T/R, 3:00 – 4:20 PM (Tosato)
Ledgers have played a cardinal role in the evolution of civilization. These instruments have been integral to the flourishing of international commerce, the development of banking, and the advent of capitalism. In the 21st century, the meteoric rise of distributed ledger technology (DLT) systems and blockchain has sparked enormous interest regarding the new functions that ledgers might assume in the future. The class will explore the key technological elements of these distributed computer systems, including blockchain data structures, consensus protocols, cryptographic identification systems, digital tokens, cryptocurrencies, stable-coins, smart contracts, and distributed applications. The class will also consider current and prospective use cases and analyze the private, public, and administrative law issues that they engender.
Bok Course: Antitrust and Fairness, LAW 547001
January 9 – February 1 - MWF, 1:30 – 2:50 PM (Lim)
Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of international and comparative law, both substantively and procedurally; perform legal analysis in the context of international and comparative law; communicate effectively on topics related to international and comparative law; demonstrate an understanding of the role of international and comparative law, and their interconnection with domestic law.
Climate Change and the Energy Evolution
T, 9:00 – 11:00 AM (Peloso and Sahely)
In order to address the climate crisis, the global energy system is being and must be rapidly reshaped over the coming decades. Much of the energy evolution will be driven by decisions made by the private sector and the institutions that provide them capital. The aim of this course is to (a) explore the relationship between international agreements on climate change, national and local government actions, and the emergence of private governance as factors driving the energy evolution, and (b) provide an overview of the critical themes, players, structures, and issues in renewable energy deal-making. Students in this course will work firsthand with climate and renewable energy practitioners to learn how to evaluate the key factors driving decision-making in energy investment today and understand the basics of how the renewable and clean energy business works.
Comparative Empirical Law, LAW 549001
March 27 – April 12, 2023; MTW, 9:00 – 10:20 AM (Givati)
Over the last two decades, lawyers and scholars from other fields have begun to use quantitative empirical techniques to address questions in comparative law. Using new data on the laws of different countries, these studies attempt to understand why different countries have different laws, and explain the effect of different laws across countries. This course will explore this literature, noting its major contributions, but also highlighting its methodological limitations. Prior knowledge of empirical methods is not required, as the course will focus on developing a basic and intuitive understating of empirical studies, which is useful to any practicing lawyer. Topics covered will include property, constitutional law, criminal law and procedure, financial regulation, labor law, and judicial behavior.
Comparative Health Law Systems, LAW 904001
R, 4:30 – 6:30 PM (Corbett)
The escalating cost of health care and the limited coverage provided by the health system represent challenges to systems of law, regulation, and governance in the U.S. This course uses comparative analysis to ask new and different questions about the dynamics of the U.S. health system by developing an understanding of the dynamics of other health systems. The goal of comparative analysis is not to advocate for the adoption of Universal Health Coverage; rather, it is to map out some of the pathways for health care reform and the role of legal institutions in framing and instigating health care reform in the United States.
Crimmigation, LAW 906001
T, 4:30 – 6:30 PM (Rodriguez)
This seminar explores the intersection of criminal and immigration law and its impact on noncitizens. Topics include the immigration consequences of criminal convictions, the treatment of noncitizens in criminal courts, and the role of race and racism in criminal and immigration enforcement. Through an active, engaged approach, students gain a deeper understanding of the application of federal immigration law to crimes as well as constitutional protections for noncitizens targeted by the criminal justice system. Policy discussions include the evolution of criminal justice as a form of migration control, the implications of heightened cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, and the impact of the crimmigration system on communities of color. Law and policy considerations, while central to the course, are complemented by interdisciplinary perspectives, including those of social scientists.
European Union Law, LAW 938001
R, 4:30 – 6:30 PM (Kelemen)
This course will introduce the law and institutions of the European Union (EU). The EU is an unprecedented experiment in economic and political integration, and EU law has played a central role in the development of the EU. The course will provide students with an understanding of the structure and operation of the EU and its legal system and will introduce them to several salient legal and policy issues facing the EU today. We will begin by examining EU institutions, both their development over the past six decades and their current structures. Next, we will explore fundamental principles of EU law, including direct effect, supremacy, and fundamental rights. Third, we will review economic law concerning the EU’s single market and some of the social regulations linked to the construction of that market. Finally, we will examine the legal and policy issues surrounding four intersecting crises that have confronted the EU in recent years: Brexit, the rule of law & autocracy crisis in new member states, the Eurozone crisis, and the refugee crisis.
Intellectual Property and National Economic Value Creation, LAW 966001
M, 4:30 – 6:30 PM (Imasogie)
This course will explore the legal structure of intellectual property laws in the United States and select foreign countries and the effect of these laws on the countries’ national economic development. In this process, the class will explore the nature of the correlation between different types of intellectual property laws and national economic development. The class will also discuss the quantification of the economic value of different types of intellectual property laws. Lastly, the class will engage in a discussion as to whether intellectual property laws can be effective tools for social engineering and the moral and societal impact/ramification of intellectual property laws.
International Arbitration, LAW 928001
M, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM (Salas and Yeum)
The seminar is intended to introduce students to both the theoretical questions surrounding international arbitration and the hands-on issues of the practice of international arbitration. Both instructors are practitioners who will draw on their U.S. and international experience. The seminar begins with an introduction to the field of international commercial arbitration, including the treaties and national laws that form the legal framework of arbitration under national and international law. The course then examines the content, interpretation, and enforcement of arbitration agreements. The course will then focus on various aspects of, and controversies regarding, international commercial arbitration, including arbitral institutions, the selection and challenge of arbitrators, class actions, interim measures, procedure, evidence, awards, and the enforcement and annulment of awards. The course will also include a segment on investment treaty arbitration.
International Bankruptcy, LAW 678001
T, 6:40 – 8:30 PM (Lapowsky)
Each spring semester, the American College of Bankruptcy offers a live internet-based course in international insolvency law. The College is an honorary association of bankruptcy and insolvency professionals committed to public service. This innovative course is shared by law schools across the United States and in foreign countries through live interactive video over the internet. Experts from around the globe are brought in by the College as guest lecturers for each class session. Robert Lapowsky, a College Fellow and the course professor at Penn, serves as Course Leader in charge of scheduling the speakers and coordinating the lectures. In addition, each site has a professor present to amplify and explain points made by the lecturers and to cover additional materials as desired.
International Business Negotiations, LAW 678001
W, 4:30 – 6:30 PM (Finkelstein and Jacobs)
This course is structured around a simulated negotiation exercise that will cover the entire semester in which the students in this class will represent a U.S. pharmaceutical company (KJH Pharmaceutical Corporation) and the students in a similar class at UVA Law School will represent an African agricultural production company (Malundian Cassava Corporation). The purpose of the course is to provide students with an opportunity (i) to gain an introduction to transactional law and experience the sequential development of a business transaction over an extended negotiation, (ii) to study the business and legal issues and strategies that impact the negotiation, (iii) to gain insight into the dynamics of negotiating and structuring international business transactions, (iv) to learn about the role that lawyers and law play in these negotiations, (v) to give students experience in drafting communications, and (vi) to provide negotiating experience in a context that replicates actual legal practice with an unfamiliar opposing party (here, the students at UVA).
International Human Rights: Current Topics, LAW 989001
T, 4:30 – 6:30 PM (al Hussein and Burke-White)
The international human rights landscape is changing quickly around the world today. The rise of populism and nationalism in many corners of the world threatens to roll back human rights advances of the past sixty years. Democratic governance is under threat with the rise of dictatorial and strong-man regimes in many countries. New technologies are creating new challenges for the rights of both freedom of expression and assembly. Refugee flows and the perception of those flows are taxing the international human rights system. And the global human rights system itself is being undermined by national governments unwilling to provide critical support and implementation. Can the international human rights system survive this moment? Are the legal and institutional architectures of human rights adequate? How can the dignity and rights of the human person be protected in the current global landscape? This course introduces students to the international human rights system and provides a detailed focus on current challenges in international human rights. The course will draw on the expertise of former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein to offer both a theoretical and a practical introduction to international human rights.
International Law, LAW 660001
TR, 3:00 – 4:20 PM (deLisle)
This course provides an overview of the principal doctrines, institutions, and practices of international law. It begins with a brief survey of some of the broad questions that frame the field of international law and its relationships to international politics (which are examined partly from perspectives drawn from international relations theory). We will examine how international law is created, how it operates, and what effects it has on wide-ranging and contentious issues in the world today. The course begins with an introduction to the nature and structure of the international legal system. Topics in the first part of the course include fundamental, structural, and procedural issues such as: sources of international law, the roles of states and other actors in the international legal system, the international legal accountability of states and non-state actors, the authority of states to make and enforce law beyond their borders and against non-citizens, and the interactions between domestic and international law. The second part of the course turns to substantive legal issues. Topics include most or all of the following: the use of force and intervention, protection of human rights, law of the sea, territorial disputes and their resolution, international economic relations, and environmental protection.
International Strategic Crisis Negotiation Experience, LAW 565001
FS, 8:00 AM – 6:30 PM (Knoll)
The exercise is designed to engage and educate participants in the process of crisis negotiation at the highest strategic level. The participants are divided into teams, with each team representing a different nation. The nations, which are engaged in a complex international legal, policy, and economic problem, with broad international implications, must negotiate with their counterparts at a U.N.-mandated peace conference. The exercise is intended to introduce students to the challenges of negotiating with adversarial nations with diverse and seemingly irreconcilable positions, the complexities that come from working with partners that often have their own ulterior motives and objections, and the diplomatic, informational, military, legal, and economic factors that influence strategic international negotiations. Guest lecturers for this experience include Paul McKenney, Daniel Shields, and Aaron McKenney.
International Tax, LAW 767001
MW, 3:00 – 4:20 PM (Sanchirico)
International taxation plays an increasingly central role in the modern global economy. It is among the most salient policy issues of the day, and one of the chief points of contention between the U.S. and its trading partners. Moreover, it is a primary determinant of the business structures of the most prominent companies in the world, including major U.S. multinationals like Apple, Alphabet, and Cisco. This basic course on international taxation will focus on both the U.S. taxation of U.S. persons engaged in international activities (outbound taxation) and the U.S. taxation of foreign persons engaged in U.S. activities (inbound taxation). The three goals of the class are to provide an overview of relevant law with an emphasis on logical structure and fundamental connections, to help students develop their statute/regulation reading comprehension skills, and to identify and wrestle with current salient international tax policy issues.
International Women’s Human Rights, LAW 900001
T, 12:20 – 2:50 PM (de Silva de Alwis)
The seminar will critically analyze the theoretical debates about securing the human rights of women, with a focus on critical new developments and law reforms in times of a pandemic and movements to combat violence against women. The seminar will include debates about discrimination, equality, the public-private divide, cultural practices/cultural relativism, and a new generation of legal reform in violence against women. The readings will critically comment on the international law-based approaches to securing the rights of women; and the analysis of domestic application and implementation of international norms and the mechanisms for enforcing the human rights of women, including gaps in treaty body reporting, strengths and weaknesses in lawmaking, and challenges in women’s rights litigation.
Internet Law, LAW 577001
TR, 3:00 – 4:20 PM (Yoo)
This course will explore the various legal regimes that apply to the Internet through the lens of the underlying technological concepts and economics. The course will begin by providing an overview of the technology comprising the Internet and by examining the economic rationales underlying the theories used to justify regulating the Internet. The course will then examine a series of advanced topics, including network neutrality, the application of legacy regimes to the Internet, the First Amendment, universal service, spectrum policy and wireless regulation, Internet governance, and emerging approaches to regulating big tech. The course will apply advanced technical and economic concepts. Students do not need a prior academic background in these fields but should have a strong interest in technology and a willingness to learn. The approach combining technology and economics provides a distinctive interdisciplinary educational experience past students have called “unique.”
Law and Society in Japan, LAW 712001
M, 3:00 – 5:40 PM (Feldman)
Through an examination of law and legal institutions in a non-Western setting, this course emphasizes the complex relationship between law, culture, politics, and economics in advanced industrialized democracies. We will look broadly at debates involving dispute resolution, legal education, policing and criminal law, workplace discrimination, and constitutional amendment, as well as specific legal conflicts involving women’s rights, religious freedom, the March 11, 2011 earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown, and a variety of other issues. The course reader consists of articles by legal academics, anthropologists, political scientists, sociologists, and other scholars; translated cases and legal documents; historical materials; and several films that offer a valuable perspective on Japanese law and society. In addition, a number of distinguished guests will speak to the class, including a Penn Carey Law Bok Visiting International Professor from Waseda University (Tokyo).
Transnational Legal Clinic, LAW 655001
MW, 1:30 – 2:50 PM (Paoletti and Bradley)
Gain lawyering experience under close faculty supervision and mentorship while you provide direct representation to individuals from around the world in immigration court and before USCIS in their applications for asylum, and other humanitarian forms of relief, as well as possible federal court litigation and administrative advocacy seeking enforcement of rights in and release from detention. You will also have the opportunity to partner with and represent national, international, and grassroots organizations, as well as individuals, in litigation and policy advocacy before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations, and foreign and U.S. governmental agencies. All students gain training and experience in transferable skills of lawyering across cultures, languages, and legal systems. Seminar time will be dedicated to developing course lawyering competencies through lectures, simulations, in-class exercises, videos, and readings. All students will have weekly meetings with their faculty supervisor to provide mentoring, guidance, and constructive feedback.