This page contains the course descriptions for current Legal Studies courses and classes that have been offered in the past. For all other courses, such as electives drawn from other departments, please refer to those departments' web pages.

Legal Studies 398-1,2: Advanced Research Seminar I and II

Offered each year. For Legal Studies majors only

Syllabi:

398-1

398-2

Legal Studies 376: Communication and Trial Advocacy

Attorney Ari Fisz

Fall 2008

The purpose of this course is to provide practical training in the field of trial advocacy. The students will learn how to conduct a trial from opening statement to closing argument. Theories of persuasion, argumentation, and public speaking will be covered and applied in the courtroom setting. By the end of this course, students will have gained some valuable knowledge about the trial process, including what it takes for a trial lawyer to prepare a case and bring it to trial.

Legal Studies 394: Professional Linkage Seminar,
International Human Rights

William Schiller (Attorney, Davidson & Schiller)

Winter 2008

In recent years, international human rights law has expanded in unprecedented ways as legal practitioners strategize new approaches for addressing human rights violations. United States refugee law, the only law in the United States to embrace international human rights principles, has mirrored and resisted these progressive changes. In this course, students will be briefly introduced to fundamental tenets of international human rights law, and will focus for the remainder of the course on its domestic counterpart in U.S. asylum law.