Related Courses

• Administrative Law (100-S1)

  Funk - Fall/Day
  Powers - Spring/Eve
  3 hours
  
  Required for Animal Law Certificate

  Administrative law is the law relating to administrative agencies. It includes constitutional law (especially separation of powers and procedural due process), Federal statutory law (especially the Administrative Procedure Act), and state statutory law (for example, Oregon’s Administrative Procedure Act). Study of administrative law focuses on the activities of government agencies–from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Social Security Administration, from the Federal Trade Commission to the National Labor Relations Board. The validity of their actions depends on compliance with administrative law. Thus, lawyers for agencies, regulated industries, and public interest groups are vitally concerned with administrative law. Much of their practice both as litigants and advisors involves administrative law. Fourteen states, including Oregon, test Administrative Law on their bar exams.

  For Funk:

  This course uses a problem orientation to stress practical application of administrative law. There is a final exam with short objective questions and a longer problem question. If there is a large class, students may opt to take a multiple choice exam instead.

  For Powers:

  This course explores: sources and limits of agency authority; procedures agencies must use in investigation, rulemaking, and adjudication; and availability and scope of judicial review of agency actions. The course uses a problem orientation to stress practicial application of administrative law. Course evaluation is primarily by a final exam, but also includes 2-3 short research projects during the semester.

• Advanced Trial Lawyers Seminar (484)

  Paulson, Coletti
  2 hours
  Spring/Day
  * Limit: 16 students

  A trial practice workshop with a compendium of lectures, demonstations and discussions on learning how trial lawyers actually prepare and present civil jury trials. Principles and techniques for all phases of civil trial practice will be analyzed. In addition, a number of guest panelists including trial lawyers, judges and expert witnesses will be called upon to comment and answer questions. Students will have an opportunity to study opening and closing statements and participate in focus groups in Judge Jones’ federal courtroom in downtown Portland. Required weekly reading assignment in “Successful Trial Techniques of Expert Practitioners” - a $100.00 textbook.

  This class is offered for credit/no credit only.

  Note: Attendance is mandatory. Anyone missing the first class will be dropped from the class. This includes anyone on the class waitlist.

• Advanced Writing Seminar: Interpretation & Application Of Statutes (398)

  Villella
  3 hours
  Fall/Day
  *Limit: 16 students
  
  Meet B Writing Requirement

  Statutes and administrative rules touch almost every aspect of the practice of law. Accordingly, lawyers need to develop the skills necessary to advise clients and advocate on their behalf regarding their rights and obligations under complex statutory and regulatory schemes. The seminar will help students develop skills that lawyers use regularly, including developing strategies for assessing statutory and regulatory schemes, refining research skills, using interpretive tools, and developing methods for writing sound legal analysis. Using case files, students will research and analyze statutory and regulatory provisions and will draft both objective and persuasive documents analyzing the law on behalf of a client. Students will gain experience analyzing the role of text, legislative history, precedent, and extrinsic sources in statutory and regulatory interpretation. Other topic areas may include judicial interpretation of laws enacted through initiative and referendum and the interplay between constitutions, statutes, regulations, and common law.

  Students will write three assignments, receive written feedback on each assignment, and have the opportunity to conference individually with the professor. The focus of the course is statutory law; however, the goal is to provide students with an opportunity to refine their critical thinking and research skills, and their ability to write clear and precise legal analysis. This course satisfies the “B” writing requirement.

• Agricultural Law (492)

  TBD
  3 hours
  Spring/Eve
  *Typically offered every other year

  This course is a survey of the law applicable to agricultural businesses. Emphasis is placed upon those provisions of commercial, property, regulatory and tort law uniquely relating to agriculture. Students will also be introduced to business and taxation issues facing the modern farming and ranching enterprise, as well as Chapter 12 bankruptcy proceedings. Students will be evaluated by means of a final exam.

• Agriculture Environmental Law Seminar (493)

  2 hours
  *Not offered 2008-09
  
  Meets A or B Writing Requirement

  This seminar examines the impact of environmental law on agriculture, including the effect of the Clean Water Act on wetlands, point source and non-point source pollution, the effect of Federal Farm Bill provisions regarding land and water conservation, and the regulation of pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Special problems arising from confined animal feeding operations and the effect of the Endandangered Species Act on farming and ranching, particularly with regard to grazing on public lands, will also be addressed. Students will be evaluated by class participation and a paper satisfying the “A” of “B” writing requirement for graduation.

• Appellate Advocacy (517)

  Zusman
  2 hours
  Spring/Eve
  *Limit: 14 students
  
  Meets the B Writing Requirement

  Students learn and practice the fundamentals of written and oral appellate advocacy. The first several weeks emphasize practical brief-writing skills. Students learn - through writing/editing exercises and individualized feedback on brief drafts - to write concisely and persuasively, and to edit their own work effectively. Students also learn to apply preservation-of-error rules, standards of review, the harmless-error doctrine, and other essential appellate principles. Students ultimately write 2 briefs to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals - one criminal and one civil. The first brief assignment includes independent legal research; the second brief assignment is more circumscribed and does not involve legal research. The first brief satisfies the “B” writing requirement.

  The middle of the course emphasizes oral argument skills. Students will argue before a simulated Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel, and will receive detailed critiques. Students who distinguish themselves in brief-writing and oral argument may be invited to join the school’s regional appellate advocacy team the following fall.

  This is a graded course and grades are premised upon the following factors: first brief (30%), oral argument (20%), second brief (30%), and class attendance and participation (20%).

  Prerequisite: Legal Writing

• Legislative & Political Process Seminar (396)

  Chiamov
  2 hours
  Spring/Day
  Meets B Writing Requirement

  This seminar will explore the legislative and other legal issues related to the political system. The seminar will forcus on the Oregon Legislature, but will compare and contrast the structural, procedural and political characteristics of other institutions, including the U.S. Congress. The course will include statutory drafting. Other topics that may be considered include: local forms of government, the initiative and referendum process, campaign finance reform, and government ethics. Materials for the course will include a text as well as primary sources. Grades will be based on two short writing assignments, class participation, and a longer paper that can qualify for the B-paper writing requirement.