Course Descriptions - (Courses L-Z)

Course Descriptions A-E
Course Descriptions F-J

( * required course ) 

Labor Law and Collective Bargaining
9200:650, three credits
Prerequisite: None. Employee rights pursuant to the National Labor Relations Act in union and non-union workplaces.  Act provides certain rights and protections for employees, including the right to form or join a union, bargain collectively with their employer, and engage in protected concerted activity. Also procedures and policies governing NLRB-conducted elections regarding union representation. Labor arbitration including the grievance-arbitration process. 

Land Use Planning
9200:652, three credits
Prerequisite: 615. Assumptions, doctrines and implications of planning law; zoning; legal and administrative problems involved in allocating and developing land located in metropolitan areas.

Law And Psychiatry
9200:634, two or three credits
Exploration of intersections between psychiatry and mental illness and legal rules and procedures.

Law Review Editorial Board
9200:658, two credits, credit/non-credit
Prerequisites: 656 and election to Law Review Editorial Board. Performance of significant and appropriate editorial duties. May not be repeated. Total credits obtainable for courses designated Law Review 656, 657 and 658 not to exceed four (4) credit hours. A student who takes 657 cannot take 658.

Law Review Senior Staff
9200:657, two credits, credit/non-credit
Prerequisite: 656. Critical review and evaluation of notes and comments prepared by Law Review Assistant Editors. May not be repeated. Total credits obtainable for courses designated Law Review 656, 657 and 658 not to exceed four (4) credit hours. A student who takes 657 cannot take 658.

Law Review Staff
9200:656, two credits
Prerequisite: Completion of first year and invitation predicated upon scholarship or demonstrated writing skills. Preparation of casenote; analysis and criticism of recent cases; citation checking and critical review ("spading") of casenotes or comments of others. May not be repeated. Total credits obtainable for courses designated Law Review 656, 657 and 658 not to exceed four (4) credit hours.

Legal Analysis, Research & Writing I, II *
9200:619, 620; five credits
Introduction to the basic skills in legal research, particularly case law, statutes, and secondary authority; development of skills in legal analysis and writing through expository writing (research memoranda) and persuasive writing and oral advocacy (motions and appellate briefing and argument).

Legal Drafting *
9200:688, one credit
Prerequisite: 619, 620. Refinement of skills in written legal analysis through performance of drafting assignments, including preparation of a written exposition on a proposed solution to a drafting problem. Required course for all students. This course is offered in different subject areas, such as Contract Drafting, Litigation Drafting, Legislative Drafting, and Opinion Drafting.

Legislative Process
9200:663, three credits
This course is a survey of all aspects of the legislative process, with an emphasis on structure and process rather than legislative drafting or statutory interpretation. Some of the topics covered are: descriptive and normative theories of legislation; electoral structures; gerrymandering; term limits; ballot access; campaign finance; lobbying; internal rules of legislatures; the federal budget process; direct democracy; and the due process of lawmaking. We also discuss a range of current events relevant to the legislative process. The course is highly participatory; course grade is based upon class participation and a 20-page paper. GWR is available.

Licensing Intellectual Property
9200:705, one - three credits
Methods of exploiting intellectual property by licensing others to use it; contractual necessities; right and obligations to protect ownership.

Local Government Law
9200:664, three credits
Prerequisite: None. Nature of municipal corporations (essentially local governments). Creation, annexation, and dissolution. Home rule. Police powers. Financing. Federal-state-local relationships. Staffing. Contractual and delictual liability.

Managing Intellectual Property
9200:720, one - three credits
Study of how best to manage a company's intellectual property portfolio.

Negotiation
9200:659, one - three credits
Prerequisite: 602. The lawyer's role as a negotiator in planning negotiations and determination of strategies to effect objects, weighing legal, economic, behavioristic, ethical and social factors that condition outcomes.

Patent Law & Policy
9200:701, three credits
A study of the law and process of patent protection and enforceability and the policies that underlie patent prosecution.

Patent Prosecution
9200:707, three credits
The process of researching, preparing and prosecuting valid and enforceable applications to obtain US patents.

Probate Practice
9200:693, two credits
Prerequisites: 685, 686. Intestate and testamentary administration, including the probating of a will, presentment of claims, the inventory, settlement and distribution and will contests. The Ohio Probate Code will be the model.

Professional Responsibility *
9200:612, three credits
Prerequisite: None. Legal profession as an institution. Responsibilities of lawyers. Duties and privileges. Professional qualifications.

Property I, II *
9200:614, 615, five credits
Introductory study of the law of personal and real property, including the means by which title may be obtained estates in land, concurrent ownership, the deed, the mortgage, the land contract,  Statute of Frauds, recording, covenants of title, adverse possession, landlord-tenant relationship, legislation restricting land use, easements, licenses, private restrictions.

Qualified Pension and Profit Sharing Plans
9200:680, three credits
Recommended: 640. Nature, purpose and operation of pension and profit sharing plans.

Real Estate Law
9200:677, three credits
Prerequisite: None. An introduction to the basic issues related to real estate development law. The course adopts a skills-based approach that allows students to experience the intellectually stimulating process of conceptualizing, drafting, negotiating, revising, and finalizing real estate transactional documents.An in-depth study of the legal regimes affecting real estate transactions.

Remedies
9200:668, three credits
Prerequisite: None. Equitable relief, injunctions, temporary restraining orders, declaratory judgment, compensatory damages, punitive damages, unjust enrichment and restitution, attorneys fees, and remedial defenses; capstone course that integrates private and public civil law including tort, contract, property, constitutional rights, and economic harms.

School Law
9200:653, one - three credits
Prerequisite: None. School governance; allowable discipline; constitutional constraints on restricting freedom of expression and on privacy intrusions; tort liability for injuries on school property.

Secured Transactions
9200:629, three credits
Prerequisite: None. The Law of Secured Transactions under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Includes an examination of the impact of the federal bankruptcy law and the Federal Tax Lien Act on Article 9 security interests.

Securities Regulation
9200:671, three credits
Prerequisite: 633. Examines the various federal securities laws enacted to facilitate the efficient functioning of capital markets in order to spur economic growth, protect investors, and prevent financial crises. Covers the original securities laws of the 1930s through the more recent Sarbanes-Oxley, Dodd-Frank, and Jobs Acts.

Seminar: Education Law
9200:632, three credits
Study of how the law and the public education systems interact.

Seminar: Feminist and Race Theory
9200:654, three credits
Prerequisite: None. Exploration of contemporary feminist legal theory and critical race theory. The common theme in all of the readings is: "What is equality and inequality?" Students will explore what equality might mean, how it can be achieved, why the county has failed to achieve it so far, why inequality exists, how it impacts people and what legal and anon-legal solutions it might involve.

Seminar: First Amendment Law
9200:644, three credits
Prerequisite: None. An in-depth examination of selected issues concerning the speech, press and religion clauses of the First Amendment.

Seminar: Non-profit Tax Entities
9200:645, three credits
Prerequisite: None. The study of the special taxation issues confronting non-profit organizations.

Seminar: Business Planning
9200:672, three credits
Prerequisite: 633 or permission of instructor. Advanced course using the problem approach in planning business transactions in light of applicable corporate, tax and securities law considerations.

Seminar: Criminal Process
9200:670, three credits
Prerequisite: 622. Intensive study of the criminal process including the decision to prosecute, grand jury, preliminary hearing, joinder and severance, discovery, plea bargaining, jury trials and double jeopardy.

Seminar: International Trade: GATT, WTO & Regional Integration
9200:676, three credits
Prerequisite: None. Course covering U.S. and international (WTO) regulation of international trade. Specific topics include domestic and international policies and norms regarding imports and exports, anti-dumping, countervailing duties against foreign subsidies, unfair trade competition, import relief and retaliation. Parts of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and of European Union (EU) law are covered as examples of regional economic integration.

Seminar: Jurisprudence
9200:678, three credits
Prerequisite: None. Examination and evaluation of principal theories of legal philosophy. Theories are frequently considered in connection with concrete problems and are evaluated in light of various goal values.

Seminar: Pretrial Advocacy
9200:628, three credits
Prerequisite: 602. A practical course designed to simulate all of the necessary steps leading to civil trial, beginning with the client interview, continuing with informal and formal discovery, and concluding with a final pretrial statement and motion for summary judgment.   The course is highly participatory; the course grade is based upon class participation and a series of written projects, including compilation of a case file.

Seminar: Product Liability
9200:683, three credits
Prerequisite: 617. Liability for defective products and developing legal theories and remedies. Examination of government regulation of dangerous and defective products.

Seminar: Selected Legal Problems
9200:684, one - three credits
May be repeated. Analysis of special or current legal problems offering opportunities for legal research, effective integration and relevant nonlegal materials, and expository legal writing. Courses have included: Law and Psychiatry, Education Law, Mediation Skills, Disability Discrimination, Advanced Torts, and others.

Seminar: Workers' Compensation
9200:660, one - three credits
Prerequisite: None. Jurisdictional and procedural issues; scope of employer liability; defenses; specific remedies.

Special Problems in Estate Planning
9200:675, three credits
Prerequisites: 641 and 686, or permission of instructor. Relevant tax and nontax problems in planning of estates and examination of dispositive devices in accomplishing the objectives of estate planning.

Sports Law
9200: 681, three credits
Prerequisite: None. The law affecting sports and players, including contract and liability issues, as well as administrative aspects.

Substantial Skills *
9200:667, one to three credits
Prerequisite: None. May be repeated. Skills-centered courses that involve faculty assessment and grading based upon skills performances, offering students the opportunity to satisfy the skills requirement.

Taxation of Intellectual Property
9200:721,two - three credits
Study of the taxation relating to intellectual property.

Torts I, II *
9200:616, 617, five credits
Survey of basic tort law and its function; allocating cost of unintentionally caused harm by negligence or strict liability; intentional wrongs; dignitary wrongs.

Trade Secrets
9200:704, two or three credits
This course surveys the field of trade secrets. It explores the underlying policies, requirements for legal protection, variations in law for different types of secrets, the effects of government contracts, remedies, and protective orders in litigation. It examines relationships between employers and employees and the enforceability of covenants to protect secrets and covenants not to compete. It also covers the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, which sanctions industrial espionage by both private parties and foreign governments.

Trademark Law
9200:702, three credits
A study of the law and process of protecting trademarks and trade dress, and the policies underlying the system. This course covers such issues as how to obtain trademark rights, the federal registration process, loss of rights, the elements necessary to establish trademark and trade dress infringement and defenses to such claims, counterfeiting, internet domain names, and the conflict between trademark law and the First Amendment.

Trademark Prosecution
9200:708, two or three credits
Study of law and procedures relative to obtaining and maintaining federal trademark registrations. This course provides students with the skills necessary to prepare, file, and prosecution applications for federal registration of marks, including studying the various statutory grounds of refusal, responding to refusals to register, and the drafting of clearance opinion letters.

Trial Advocacy I
9200:690 three credits
Prerequisite: 608. Fundamental techniques of trial preparation, direct examination, cross examination, introduction of exhibits, objections, opening statements and closing arguments.

Trial Advocacy II
9200: 692, three credits
Prerequisite: 690. Preparation and actual trial of two civil cases and two criminal cases; jury selection; ethical and political considerations of trial advocacy.

Wills, Trusts, and Estates I
9200:685 three credits 
Prerequisite: None. The law of wills: capacity and contests; execution formalities; revocation; and interpretation and construction. Intestate succession. Nonprobate transfers, including revocable trusts, life insurance, and retirement interests. Protection of surviving spouse and children. An introduction to estate planning.

Wills, Trusts, and Estates II 9200:686, three credits

Prerequisite: 685. The law of trusts: creation; beneficiaries’ rights to distributions; rights of creditors of the settlor and beneficiaries; modification and termination; fiduciary administration; charitable trusts; future interests and construction issues. Powers of appointment. The Rule Against Perpetuities. Wealth transfer tax.

( * required course )