Course Descriptions
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.
Fall 2011 Courses:
Legal Studies 376: Trial Advocacy
Ari Fisz, Attorney
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: Gimme Shelter: Public Housing in Chicago
Nicki Bazer, Attorney
Legal Studies 376: Legal History of the American Colonies & Constitution
Senior Continuing Lecturer Joanna Grisinger
We will explore, though primary sources and historical scholarship, questions that include: What can the laws and political institutions created by European colonists tell us about early America? To what extent was the American Revolution a lawyers’ revolution? How did colonial and revolutionary experiences influence the Americans who drafted and ratified the United States Constitution? Throughout the course, we will seek to understand the interdependent relationship of law and society and we will investigate how legal actors used law to define the meanings of liberty, equality, race, class, and gender. By the end of the course, students will be able to better understand and explain the legal, political, and social development of the American colonies and the origins of the United States Constitution, be able to critically analyze early American legal documents as historical sources, and (in class discussions and in essays) be able to construct oral and written arguments grounded in primary and secondary sources.
Legal Studies 376: Federal Indian Law
Visiting Professor John Low
American Indian legal history of the last 236 years includes an ongoing struggle by the Federal government to impose upon the Indigenous peoples of the United States a variety of non-Native ideologies and policies designed to separate the latter from their lands. In this course we will explore highlights of that history and the resistances to that imposition. Topics will include the articulations of the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the nature of Indian land ownership, first presented in 1823; the forced movement of Indians onto reservations and subsequent allotment of those lands; the impact of the Indian Reorganization Act (1934) on tribes and sovereignty over their remaining lands; treaties, land cessions, and the treaty rights movement that gathered momentum in the 1970’s and continues to this day; and passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978 and the (lack of) protection of sacred places for American Indians. As a special focus, we will spend one week examining the case of the Pokagon Potawatomi Indians, who in 1914 sued the City of Chicago and others for possession of the Chicago lakefront and took their claim to the United States Supreme Court. This course is open to motivated freshman.
Legal Studies 398-1 Advanced Research Seminar
Senior Lecturer Joanna Grisinger
Graduate Teaching Fellows: Stacey Lom and Steve Munch
In Legal Studies 398-1, students will examine academic articles on courts, lawyers, legislation, and regulation from a variety of disciplinary perspectives; students will also examine relevant primary sources that students may encounter in their research. Students will be trained to use the specialized resources of a law library and will receive a basic introduction to legal reasoning and analysis. By the end of the quarter, students will have a detailed research proposal and should have their thesis research well underway. During winter quarter, students will complete their research projects in close consultation with faculty and Graduate Teaching Fellows, and will present their projects to the class.
Upcoming Events
There are no upcoming events at this time.
Office Hours: Week of 5/7
Monday: 1:30pm-5:00pm
Tuesday: 1:30pm-5:00pm
Wednesday: 11:00am-1:15pm
Thursday: 10:00am-1:15pm
Office Hours: Week of 5/14
Monday: 1:30pm-5:00pm
Tuesday: 1:30pm-5:00pm
Wednesday: 11:00am-1:15pm
Thursday: 10:00am-1:15pm
Contact Information
Lauren Stuhldreher
Program Assistant
Laura Beth Nielsen
Program Director
Director of Undergraduate Studies
