Academics (Overview)

Thomas Jefferson offers a varied business curriculum taught by faculty with experience in business, accounting, banking, taxation and related areas that enable them to bring their real world expertise into the classroom.

Few law schools can match the scope and caliber of opportunities at Thomas Jefferson for a student to pursue an interest in international commercial law. Indeed, the school's location in a bustling port city just miles from the U.S. - Mexico border makes San Diego an especially fitting place to gain exposure to the legal aspects of international business. However, students at Thomas Jefferson benefit from much more than just a great location.

The heart of the school's strength in international business is its faculty. Nearly every full-time faculty member who teaches a course in international or comparative commercial law has actually worked in the field, either in a governmental agency or in the private sector representing and advising clients. Some of them are even considered the leading experts in their fields, with books and other scholarly writings to their credit. That kind of experience and reputation permits them to provide an authoritative, real world perspective in their courses, making the classroom experience something more than just abstract theory.

An even richer learning experience is available at the law school's two summer programs, where a student can study abroad. The program in Nice, France, is a joint undertaking with the University of Nice School of Law, situated in the heart of the French Riviera. The program in Hangzhou, China, is co-sponsored by the Guangzhou College of Law at Zhejiang University, one of the most prestigious universities in China. Each program permits a student to study international business in the same classroom with law students from the home country, allowing the student to exchange ideas and forge relationships with individuals who will soon practice law in one of America's two most important trading partners.

Students who want to gain a better understanding of the commercial law that is practiced in the civil law countries of Continental Europe and Quebec, Canada have yet two other options. First, they can spend a semester in Ontario, Canada studying at the Queen's Faculty of Law, one of Canada's finest law schools. A student who is sufficiently fluent in French also has the option to spend a semester at the University of Burgundy School of Law in Dijon, France. In either case, the student will return to Thomas Jefferson with new perspectives on the world and a greater sensitivity to cultural differences, permitting them to better represent clients doing business with foreign parties.

Courses

Business Associations

Business Planning

Corporate Taxation

Federal Income Tax

Globalization and the Workplace

International Labor and Employment Law

International Business Transactions

International Investment & Arbitration

International Taxation

International Trade and Developing Countries

Securities Law

World Trade Organization

World Trade Organization Law and China

TJSL offers an LLM International Tax & Finance Services; courses in the program are open to JD Candidates – click here for more information.

IP Issues are now critical in many business areas.  TJSL’s expansive IP curriculum can be found here.  

Professor Susan Bisom-Rapp (Globalization and the Workplace, International Labor and Employment Law) is a widely cited expert on employment discrimination and international and comparative workplace law. Her scholarship, examining the effects on civil rights enforcement of employers' compliance efforts and attorneys' litigation strategies, has for more than a decade been influential not only in the legal academy but also in the disciplines of sociology and psychology. Her co-authored casebook, The Global Workplace (Cambridge University Press, 2007), is the first law school text on international and comparative employment law. Professor Bisom-Rapp is a member of the teaching faculty of the Doctoral Research School in Labour and Industrial Relations at the Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. Professor Bisom-Rapp was elected to membership in the American Law Institute in 2007. Following law school, she practiced labor and employment law at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in New York City.

Distinguished Professor Richard Scott (European Union Law, International Economic Law, International Law, World Trade Organization Law) has had an illustrious career as an international lawyer, including service as Deputy General Counsel to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and for many years as the founding General Counsel to the International Energy Agency in Paris. He also served as Professor of International Law and Trustee of the American University of Paris where he is now emeritus. Professor Scott is co-author of The International Legal System, one of the most respected and widely used casebooks in the world, now in its sixth edition. He is also the acclaimed author of the three volume History of the International Energy Agency, and co-author of two European Union law casebooks: European Union Law - A New Constitutional Order and European Union Economic Law and Common Policies.

Professor William Slomanson (International Law) is editor of the American Society of International Law's section on the United Nations Decade of International Law, a position he has held since 1992. From 1995 to 2006, he served as chair of the section. In 1993, he lectured on the teaching of international law to the United Nations Sixth Committee (legal) at the U.N. in New York. In 2002, he began teaching in Kosovo each summer, where he is now a Visiting Professor at the Pristina University. In 2006-2007, he lectured in Moscow, Budapest and Istanbul. In fall 2007, he was appointed to serve as a Corresponding Editor for the American Society of International Law's International Legal Materials. Professor Slomanson is listed in the Directory of American Scholars, Who's Who in American Law and Who's Who in American Education. He has published extensively in the field international law, having written several books.

Professor Susan Tiefenbrun (European Union Law, International Business Transactions, International Intellectual Property Law) has worked in an international law firm in Paris and in the New York office of Coudert Brothers, where she handled international commercial transactions. She participated in the opening of one of the first American law offices in Moscow and is a specialist in eastern European joint venture laws, as well as the laws of the European Union, China and the former Soviet Union. She speaks ten foreign languages and is able to speak, read, write and understand Mandarin Chinese. She has written a book length study of Chinese, Russian and Eastern European joint venture laws, and numerous articles on international intellectual property, especially in China, the World Court, international human rights laws and child soldiers. She is the author of the 2010 book Decoding International Law: Semiotics and the Humanities, among many others. She is past President of the Law and Humanities Institute and is currently the Vice President of its West coast branch. In 2003, Professor Tiefenbrun was awarded the French Legion of Honor by President Jacques Chirac for fostering French-American cooperation and cultural exchanges.

Professor Kenneth J. Vandevelde (International Investment and Arbitration, International Law) is one of the nation's leading authorities on U.S. international investment law. From 1982 until 1988, he practiced international law with the State Department Legal Adviser's Office. In 1992, he published his book, United States Investment Treaties: Policy and Practice, and since that time has served as a consultant on international law to Japan, Lithuania, Slovakia, the Republic of Georgia, the United Nations and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has lectured on the subject of international investment law in some 16 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, South America and the Caribbean. He been recognized as one of San Diego's Top Attorneys in Academics, most recently in 2011. Oxford University Press published his third book, U.S. International Investment Agreements, in 2008 and his fourth book, Bilateral Investment Treaties: History, Policy and Interpretation, in 2009.

Associate Professor Ilene Durst (Immigration Law, Refugee & Asylum Law) joined the faculty in 1994, after extensive litigation and immigration law experience with law firms and public service organizations in New York. She now teaches a course on immigration law and has authored articles that apply language and narrative theory to immigration law.

Associate Professor Richard Winchester (International Taxation) anchors the tax program at Thomas Jefferson. Before entering law teaching, he practiced at major law firms and tax boutiques in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., developing an expertise in international tax and the taxation of financial institutions. He spent his final years in practice as an international tax attorney in the national tax office of PricewaterhouseCoopers, advising both U.S. firms investing abroad and foreign companies investing in the U.S. In 2012, Professor Winchester began a Fulbright Scholarship in Tunisia, teaching Financing International Trade at the University of Carthage.

Associate Professor Claire Wright (International Trade and Developing Countries, World Trade Organization Law, World Trade Organization Law and China) is a former partner at the international law firm of Baker & McKenzie, where she practiced international trade law. She also was a partner at the international consulting firm of Ernst & Young LLP, where she directed the firm's World Trade Organization (WTO) Center. In that capacity, she advised governments and businesses on WTO issues. Professor Wright has special expertise in matters involving Mexico and China. She has also taught WTO law at both Stanford Law School and the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego. She is a member of a committee of the American Law Institute, which publishes a review of the cases decided each year by the WTO. She has spoken and published widely on issues involving international trade, the WTO, U.S.-China relations, U.S. - Mexico relations, international trade in cultural products and media services, urban policies and human rights.

Associate Professor Kaimipono David Wenger (Business Associations) a graduate of Columbia Law School and an active blogger on the popular law site Concurring Opinions clerked for Judge Jack B. Weinstein of the Eastern District of New York.  Before coming to TJSL to teach business associations, practiced corporate securities law with Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP, in New York City.

View the Preparing for a Career in Intellectual Property Brochure

Professor Ben Templin (International Intellectual Property) is a renowned expert in contract law and law school pedagogy. Prior to going to law school, Professor Templin had a 15-year career in magazine publishing, working primarily as an editor for print and electronic media for computer magazines.

The Thomas Jefferson School of Law faculty has a long track record of working to safeguard and advance the cause of human rights both domestically and throughout the world. These efforts are coordinated through the Centers for Law and Social Justice and Global Legal Studies and range from the grass roots Veterans Legal Assistance Clinic, through which students and faculty help safeguard the legal rights of local veterans, to international issues ranging from Guantánamo Bay to Kosovo to China.

The two centers for academic excellence, directed by Professors Alex Kreit and Susan Tiefenbrun, respectively, engage in extensive programming that focuses on domestic and international human rights, including major international conferences on genocide, human trafficking, and violations of children's rights throughout the world. A recent program focused on Sierra Leone and other regions of the world where child soldiers are trafficked and men, women, and children are enslaved, indoctrinated, and dehumanized.

Like all TJSL faculty, our professors teach and write in areas that engage human rights issues, have open door policies and encourage students to work directly with them on papers as well as research and advocacy projects. Through our Veterans Legal Affairs Clinic and externship program, TJSL students also can earn law school credit working to advance human rights in their neighborhood and throughout the world. For example, students have worked with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Freetown, Sierra Leone. A team of students also compete annually in the Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competition, which consists of teams throughout Latin American and the United States.

Courses

Civil Justice Seminar

Employment Discrimination

Globalization & the Workplace

Immigration Law

International Criminal Law

International Human Rights

International Labor & Employment Law

International Law

Refugee & Asylum Law

Sexuality Gender & the Law

Women & International Human Rights Law

Women & the Law

Veterans Legal Assistance Clinic

Professor Susan Bisom-Rapp (Employment Discrimination, Globalization & the Workplace, International Labor & Employment Law) is a leading international expert on the rights of workers. She is co-author of the leading casebook, The Global Workplace: International And Comparative Employment Law - Cases And Materials (Cambridge University Press, 2007), and a member of the teaching faculty of the Doctoral Research School in Labour and Industrial Relations at the Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Professor Marjorie Cohn (International Human Rights) is the immediate past-president of the National Lawyers Guild. She lectures throughout the world on international human rights and U.S. foreign policy. She serves as a news consultant for CBS News, and provides commentary on human rights and other issues for the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, NPR, Air America and Pacifica Radio. For many years, she has supervised a team of students competing in the Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competition in Washington, D.C. In 2008, she testified about government torture policy before the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Professor Julie Greenberg (Sexuality, Gender & the Law, Women & the Law, Comparative Family Law) is an internationally recognized expert on the legal issues relating to gender, sex, sexual identity and sexual orientation. Her path-breaking work on gender identity has been cited by a number of state and federal courts, as well as courts in other countries. Her most recent work, Intersexuality & the Law: Why Sex Matters, was  published in 2011 by the New York University Press.

Professor William Slomanson (International Law) has served since 1992 as editor of the American Society of International Law's section on the United Nations Decade of International Law, and has lectured on teaching of international law to the United Nations Sixth Committee (legal) at the U.N. in New York. Since 2002, he has regularly taught in Kosovo during the summer, and he is now a Visiting Professor at the Pristina University. In Fall 2007, he became a Corresponding Editor for the American Society of International Law's International Legal Materials. His works include Fundamental Perspectives on International Law, which is currently in its fifth edition.

Professor Susan Tiefenbrun (Women & International Human Rights Law) has written extensively on human trafficking as a form of contemporary slavery. In 2003, she was awarded the French Legion of Honor by President Jacques Chirac. She publishes extensively on human rights issues, particularly as the effect woman and children, and her new book, Women & Human Rights Law, was published by the University of North Carolina Academic Press in 2011.

Professor Steven Berenson (Veterans' Legal Assistance Clinic) founded and now supervises TJSL's Veterans Legal Assistance Clinic, which provides a range of legal services to veterans living in San Diego communities. Following graduation from law school (where he served as Trial Operations Director of the Harvard Defenders), Professor Berenson clerked for Justice Edith W. Fine of the Massachusetts Appeals Court. He then spent more than five years as an Assistant Massachusetts Attorney General, where he focused on civil litigation in the areas of administrative, constitutional and consumer protection law. During that time, Professor Berenson also served as a Supreme Court Fellow with the National Association of Attorneys General. He regularly publishes work dealing with the role of lawyers in protecting individuals civil and constitutional rights.

Associate Professor Ilene Durst (Immigration Law, Refugee and Asylum Law) focuses her scholarship on language and narrative theory, with particular application to appellate advocacy, immigration law and the literary representation of the legal culture. Before joining TJSL she clerked for the Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Department and had extensive litigation and immigration law experience with law firms and public service organizations in New York. Here publications include "Lost in Translation: Why Due Process Demands Deference to the Refugee's Narrative" in the Rutgers Law Review.

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Linda Keller (International Criminal Law, International Issues in U.S. Death Penalty Law) is a leading expert on international human rights, including torture and the death penalty. She previously served as Fellow for the Center for Human Rights at the University of Miami School of Law. Her recent work has focused on victims rights and other issues related to the International Criminal Court, and includes "Achieving Peace with Justice: The International Criminal Court and Ugandan Alternative Justice Mechanisms," in the Connecticut Journal of International Law, and "The False Dichotomy of Peace versus Justice and the International Criminal Court" in The Hague Justice Journal.

Associate Professor Luz Herrera (Civil Justice Seminar) has worked at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on empowerment zones and at the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office. Before coming to Thomas Jefferson, she opened her own practice serving the under-privileged community in Compton, California. She now supervises TJSL’s transactional clinic, which provides legal services to underprivileged communities in San Diego County.

Many Thomas Jefferson graduates have gone on to careers in the entertainment and sports industries in positions ranging from managing intellectual property in advertising portfolios to representing professional athletes to serving as the general manager of a major league baseball team. 

Students interested in a career in amateur or professional sports should consider participating in Thomas Jefferson Sports Law Center which provides special programming and opportunities to network with lawyers practicing in a variety of sports-law related areas.

Preparing yourself for a career in these competitive fields requires a firm grounding in contracts as well as copyright, trademark, and privacy law. Thomas Jefferson prides itself in providing these foundational courses regularly so that students can take them early in their law school careers and then move on to more advanced entertainment and sports electives. Thomas Jefferson's Sports Law Society is one of the most active student groups on campus. It has presented numerous, highly successful conferences providing invaluable networking opportunities with lawyers working in both professional and college sports. Like all Thomas Jefferson faculty, the professors who teach foundational and advanced courses in the entertainment and sports areas have open door policies and encourage students to work directly with them on papers as well as research and advocacy projects. Through our cutting edge externship program, Thomas Jefferson students also regularly earn law school credit working in entertainment-and sports-related fields.

Also, visit The Center for Sports Law & Policy.

Adjunct Professor Randy Grossman '94 (Introduction to Sports Law and Professional Sports Law) a graduate of Thomas Jefferson School of Law he has represented numerous major league baseball players. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law and member of the Board of Trustees at Thomas Jefferson and teaches both Professional Sports Law and Trial Practice. Professor Grossman is certified as a player agent by the Major League Baseball Player’s Association and represents former players as well, such as Hall of Famer Dave Winfield and 7-time All-Star Tim Raines. During the course of his career, he has worked with players ranging from Hank Aaron to Willie Mays. Professor Grossman began as a sportscaster for an NBC television affiliate on the nightly news. From there, he went to work for former L.A. Dodger and San Diego Padre Steve Garvey, who had a sports marketing company, where Professor Grossman was exposed to the world of corporate marketing and endorsements for professional athletes. During this period, he worked with clients such as Magic Johnson, Tony Gwynn and Robin Ventura, pairing them with companies such as Canon, Xerox and Rawlings. Professor Grossman now advises the Sports Law Society and helps organize the National Sports Law Negotiation Competition, PAD Mock Trial Competitions held in Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. and the National Baseball Arbitration Competition held at Tulane University Law School. Professor Grossman has traveled to Africa and China on Major League Baseball goodwill tours. He has attended Major League Baseball games at 29 of the 30 current stadiums.

Adjunct Professor Jack A. Green (Amateur Sports Law and International Sports Law) Jack A. Green has served as Professor of Management at Wentworth Institute of Technology since his retirement from Converse Inc. From 2002-2007 he was also Department Head for the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Management. From 1972-2002 he was employed by Converse, the global athletic footwear and apparel company as its Senior Vice President Administration, General Counsel and Secretary. Mr. Green was responsible for Converse’s legal, intellectual property, real estate, human resources, investor relations, apparel, information technology, licensing and facilities management functions. Additionally, he served as Corporate Secretary, Chairman of the Pension and Benefits Committee and Vice President, General Counsel and Director of all worldwide subsidiaries. Mr. Green has served as a Director and Chairman of the Board of Arrow Mutual Liability Insurance Company from 1997 to the present. From 2000 to 2012 he was Adjunct Professor of Business Law at Tufts University. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Commissioners of the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education. Mr. Green also serves as General Counsel and/or Business Consultant for numerous companies including, Ma-Shan Iron & Steel Company, Converse Mexico, Converse Argentina, Seligence LLC, Freedom Innovations, Inc. and Patriot Benefits LLC. He holds Bachelor of Business Administration and Juris Doctor Degrees from the University of Michigan. He has guest lectured widely, including at Harvard Business and Law Schools, the University of Notre Dame Law School and Princeton University. He currently teaches International Sports Law at Thomas Jefferson Law School in San Diego, CA and Business Law at Miracosta College in Oceanside, CA.

Adjunct Professor of Law James R. McCurdy (Professional Sports Law and Professional Sports Law & the Use of Corporate Analytics) James R. McCurdy is an Adjunct Professor of Law in the Center for Sports Law & Policy at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, teaching Professional Sports Law among other courses. He is also Professor Emeritus at Gonzaga University School of Law. He is co-author of an innovative casebook, Sports Law: Cases & Materials (5th ed. 2003). He has served as president of the Pioneer Baseball League, and been a member of the Council of League Presidents for minor league baseball.

Thomas Jefferson School of Law offers a well-rounded criminal practice specialty that focuses on history and theory as well as the nuts and bolts of practice. Students interested in becoming prosecutors or criminal defense attorneys should check out TJSL’s Criminal Law Fellowship Program, which provides special programming and externship opportunities geared to the future criminal law practitioner.

Our criminal law faculty members do not just teach the law, they live it. TJSL professors are former and current prosecutors and defense attorneys who are at the forefront of the development of criminal law in the academy, the media, and the courts. Like all TJSL faculty, our criminal law professors have open door policies and encourage students to work directly with them on papers as well as research and advocacy projects. Through our cutting edge externship program, TJSL students also regularly earn law school credit working in public defenders' and district attorneys' offices as well as clerking for judges with substantial criminal dockets.

Courses

Criminal Law

Criminal Procedure

California Criminal Procedure

Corporate & White Collar Crime

Evidence

Federal Criminal Law

Antitrust

Immigration Law

International Criminal Law

Trial Practice & Advanced Trial Practice

Professor Marjorie Cohn (Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence),a criminal defense attorney at the trial and appellate levels for many years, is co-author of Cameras in the Courtroom: Television and the Pursuit of Justice. She is the immediate past-president of the National Lawyers Guild and serves as a frequent commentator on criminal law issues in the national and international media, including BBC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and NPR.

Professor David Steinberg (Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure), a former co-chair of the Associate of American Law Schools section on Civil Rights, is a leading expert on the constitutional history of the Fourth Amendment, having published recent articles in the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law and the William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal. He regularly provides analysis on criminal and constitutional law issues for The San Diego Union-Tribune, the Los Angeles Daily Journal and several regional television and radio news programs.

Professor Steven Semeraro (Criminal Law, Antitrust), a former trial counsel at the United States Department of Justice and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting criminal cases in the Eastern District of Virginia, has written extensively on the death penalty and habeas corpus, including a piece in the prestigious Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology. Professor Steve Semeraro is ranked as one of the top 15 antitrust professors as measured by downloads on the SSRN (Social Science Research Network).

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Linda Keller (Criminal Law, International Criminal Law, International Issues in U.S. Death Penalty Law), a former specialist in criminal law and criminal jury instructions in the Connecticut Judicial Department, specializes in the intersection of domestic and international criminal law, including capital punishment law. Her most recent articles, published in the Connecticut Journal of International Law and the Hague Justice Journal, explore the tension between International Criminal Court prosecution and domestic nonprosecutorial alternatives. Her current research continues exploring the meaning of "justice" through a comparative lens, using New York criminal law to inform interpretation of international criminal law.

Associate Professor Anders Kaye (Criminal Law, Federal Criminal Law, Evidence) began his career in the Criminal Appeals Bureau of The Legal Aid Society of New York and is now a leading criminal law theorist exploring the way the law constructs the "criminal," and the ways that this construct serves oppressive trends in American government and culture. His most recent article is available in the Alabama Law Review.

Associate Professor Alex Kreit (Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure) is the author of the amicus curiae brief of Students for Sensible Drug Policy in the U.S. Supreme Court case Morse v. Frederick (better known as the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" student free speech case). His current scholarship focuses on the scope of criminal conspiracy law and can be found in the American University Law Review.

Assistant Professor Christopher Guzelian (Criminal Law) has worked as a deputy district attorney and as a U.S. Bankruptcy Court law clerk in Colorado and as a civilian employee of the Department of Defense. He also has prior experience teaching at Northwestern University Law School in Chicago.

Adjunct Professor Michael Begovich (Trial Practice, Advanced Trial Practice) is a Deputy Public Defender for the County of San Diego.

Adjunct Professor Samuel Bettwy (Immigration Law) is an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of California.

Adjunct Professor Steven T. Carver (California Criminal Procedure) is a Deputy District Attorney in San Diego.

Adjunct Professor Richard Muir (Criminal Procedure) is a senior member of the criminal defense bar in San Diego.

The struggle for civil rights may have begun many decades ago, but it is far from complete. Thomas Jefferson School of Law offers a variety of courses focusing on exploring and protecting the civil rights and civil liberties of minority groups and of society in general. Many Thomas Jefferson law professors write in areas of civil rights, and have broad experience advocating for civil rights in court and before legislatures. Our professors have written and lectured on subjects such as educational equality, recompense for slavery, and combating employment discrimination, and many others, and participate in conversations on the cutting edge of the fight against racism, sexism, homophobia, and other biases and prejudices.

Students at Thomas Jefferson have the opportunity to take a variety of courses focusing on civil rights issues relating to race, gender, and other categories, as well as intersectionalities in language minority rights, disability, HIV/AIDs status, class, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, national origin / alienage. We also offer courses and internships that will give students experience in the real world of litigating civil rights and civil liberties. Our Center for Law and Social Justice coordinates a variety of events every year, and offers many chances for student participation. Recent conferences, programs and courses have allowed students to explore a variety of issues including voting rights and re-districting cases, hate crimes, government surveillance and the PATRIOT ACT, merit and assessment systems, and more. In addition, through our Veterans Legal Assistance Clinic and Externship Program, TJSL students can work with clients who may face a variety of difficulties. Finally, a variety of student organizations allow additional opportunities for civil rights dialog and advocacy, including the Black Law Students Association, La Raza, OutLaw, Women's Law Association, Asian Pacific Law Students Association, Middle Eastern Law Students Association, and National Lawyers Guild.

Courses

American Indian Law

Civil Justice Seminar

Civil Rights

Critical Race Studies

Employment Discrimination

Gender Equality

Health Care Liability

Immigration Law

Law, Equality & Educational Institutions

Law & Religion

Race & the Law

Refugee & Asylum Law

Medicine & Bioethics

Natural Resources Law

Sexuality Gender & the Law

Civil Rights & Liberties are also addressed in courses relating to International Human Rights

Professor Susan Bisom-Rapp Professor Susan Bisom-Rapp (Employment Discrimination, Globalization & the Workplace) is a leading international expert on the rights of workers. She is co-author of the leading casebook, The Global Workplace: International And Comparative Employment Law - Cases And Materials (Cambridge University Press, 2007), and a member of the teaching faculty of the Doctoral Research School in Labour and Industrial Relations at the Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Professor Marjorie Cohn (Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence),a criminal defense attorney at the trial and appellate levels for many years, is co-author of Cameras in the Courtroom: Television and the Pursuit of Justice. She is the immediate past-president of the National Lawyers Guild and serves as a frequent commentator on criminal law issues in the national and international media, including BBC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and NPR.

Professor Julie Greenberg (Sexuality, Gender & the Law, Women & the Law, Comparative Family Law) is an internationally recognized expert on the legal issues relating to gender, sex, sexual identity and sexual orientation. Her path-breaking work on gender identity has been cited by a number of state and federal courts, as well as courts in other countries. Her most recent work, Intersexuality & the Law: Why Sex Matters, was published in 2011 by the New York University Press.

Professor David Steinberg (Law and Religion) served as a co-chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Civil Rights, and has served on the Executive Committee of the Association’s Section on Law and Religion. Professor Steinberg has published numerous articles exploring law and religion and regularly provides analysis on criminal and constitutional law issues for The San Diego Union-Tribune, the Los Angeles Daily Journal and several regional television and radio news programs.

Professor William Slomanson (International Law) has served since 1992 as editor of the American Society of International Law's section on the United Nations Decade of International Law, and has lectured on teaching of international law to the United Nations Sixth Committee (legal) at the U.N. in New York. Since 2002, he has regularly taught in Kosovo during the summer, and he is now a Visiting Professor at the Pristina University. In Fall 2007, he became a Corresponding Editor for the American Society of International Law's International Legal Materials. His works include Fundamental Perspectives on International Law, which is currently in its fifth edition.

Professor Bryan Wildenthal (American Indian Law, Federal Courts and Jurisdiction) was an editor of the Stanford Law Review and clerked for Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, and Chief Justice Michael F. Cavanagh of the Michigan Supreme Court. He practiced at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale) in Washington, D.C., and taught at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, before joining TJSL in 1996. He has published frequently in leading law reviews, including those at Stanford, Ohio State, Arizona, Illinois, Oregon, Tulsa, Washington & Lee, Georgia State, and Michigan State. His first book appeared in 2003. He is now at work on a series of articles that will eventually form his second book, offering a sweeping reinterpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment and its application of the Bill of Rights to the states. His scholarly interests generally focus on constitutional law and history, American Indian law, and sexual identity law.

Professor Steven Berenson (Veterans Legal Assistance Clinic) founded and now supervises TJSL's Veterans Legal Assistance Clinic, which provides a range of legal services to veterans living in San Diego communities. Following graduation from law school (where he served as Trial Operations Director of the Harvard Defenders), Professor Berenson clerked for Justice Edith W. Fine of the Massachusetts Appeals Court. He then spent more than five years as an Assistant Massachusetts Attorney General, where he focused on civil litigation in the areas of administrative, constitutional and consumer protection law. During that time, Professor Berenson also served as a Supreme Court Fellow with the National Association of Attorneys General. He regularly publishes work dealing with the role of lawyers in protecting individuals civil and constitutional rights.

Associate Professor Ilene Durst (Immigration Law, Refugee and Asylum Law) focuses her scholarship on language and narrative theory, with particular application to appellate advocacy, immigration law and the literary representation of the legal culture. Before joining TJSL she clerked for the Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Department and had extensive litigation and immigration law experience with law firms and public service organizations in New York. Here publications include "Lost in Translation: Why Due Process Demands Deference to the Refugee's Narrative" in the Rutgers Law Review.

Associate Professor Maurice R. Dyson (Law, Equality & Educational Institutions; Civil Rights; Critical Race Studies) was a Special Projects team attorney for the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and has also served as the national chairperson of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Education Law. Among his recent scholarship, he has written the first ever education law-critical race theory reader entitled Our Promise: Achieving Educational Equity for America's Children, Carolina Academic Press (Maurice R. Dyson, Daniel B. Weddle, eds.).

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Linda Keller (Criminal Law, International Criminal Law, International Issues in U.S. Death Penalty Law), a former specialist in criminal law and criminal jury instructions in the Connecticut Judicial Department, specializes in the intersection of domestic and international criminal law, including capital punishment law. Her most recent articles, published in the Connecticut Journal of International Law and the Hague Justice Journal, explore the tension between International Criminal Court prosecution and domestic nonprosecutorial alternatives. Her current research continues exploring the meaning of "justice" through a comparative lens, using New York criminal law to inform interpretation of international criminal law.

Associate Professor Kaimipono David Wenger (Critical Race Theory) has written several articles including "Nullificatory Juries" (with David A. Hoffman) in the Wisconsin Law Review and "Slavery as a Takings Clause Violation" in the American University Law Review, and "Causation and Attenuation in the Slavery Reparations Debate" in the University of San Francisco Law Review.

Associate Professor Meera Deo (Law and Society; Race and the Law) served as an intervening defendant and member of the legal team supporting affirmative action in Grutter v. Bollinger. Her civil rights law practice includes a position as William J. Brennan Fellow at the ACLU National Legal Department in New York City and Staff Attorney for Women's Health at the California Women's Law Center in Los Angeles. Professor Deo later earned a Ph.D. in Sociology, with a focus on race and higher education.

Associate Professor Luz Herrera (Civil Justice Seminar) has worked at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on empowerment zones and at the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office. Before coming to Thomas Jefferson, she opened her own practice serving the under-privileged community in Compton, California. She is the director of TJSL's clinic that provides legal services to underprivileged communities in San Diego County, The Small Business Law Center.

Associate Professor Rebecca Lee (Employment Law & Discrimination; Gender Equality) writes in the areas of employment discrimination and workplace policy, with a focus on issues of gender equality, how gender and race differences shape institutional norms, the role of leadership within organizations as well as the relationship between conceptions of equality and diversity. Her scholarship includes The "Organization as a Gendered Entity: A Response to Professor Schultz's The Sanitized Workplace" in the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law.

Our world is changing rapidly.

And our world-class faculty at Thomas Jefferson School of Law stays ahead of the curve in the areas of law relating to technological change, globalization and the transformation of our social order.

The academic specialties we offer at TJSL are among our greatest strengths.  They include Intellectual Property, International Law, Sports Law, Legal Practice, Mediation, and Criminal Law.

Our faculty is comprised of amazingly productive scholars who bring years of valuable professional experience to the classroom and to these academic specialties. They regularly supervise directed study projects in these specialty areas in which students pursue their own ideas and interests. The faculty often involve students in their own scholarly research projects.

Complemented by our Centers for Academic Excellence and an abundance of speaker programming, Thomas Jefferson School of Law’s academic specialties offer stimulating and comprehensive training for new attorneys who want to practice in these cutting edge areas.

Thomas Jefferson School of Law’s extensive array of electives allows students to design a course of legal studies tailored to their own interests.  Below, you will see a list of electives recently offered, or scheduled for this academic year, at the Law School. Please note that not all elective courses are offered every year. 

CALS 122

Immigration and Crimes

This course explores the intersection between criminal and immigration law through a hands-on approach to real-world problems. Students learn a practical three-step process for evaluating the immigration consequences of criminal convictions, including various types of immigration statuses and an area of law known as the "categorical approach." The class also examines the increased use of federal criminal courts to prosecute noncitizens through such programs as "Operation Streamline" and "zero tolerance," as well as current cases addressing preemption and state attempts to enforce immigration law. This class may satisfy the upper level writing requirement.

Credits: 2.00

CALS 123

Intro to LGBTQ Rights in CA

This course surveys the historical development and current status of LGBTQ rights under California law. It tracks the law from the criminalization of LGBTQ individuals to the protections that we see today in areas such as employment and marriage. The course also addresses the cultural status of LGBTQ individuals in the legal profession. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 124

Freedom of Information Act Litigation

This course surveys the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), including FOIA requests and responses, search declarations and the Vaughn Index, and in-depth considerations of selected exemptions and exclusions focusing on Glomar, trade secret, privacy, and law enforcement issues. This course also examines particular litigation considerations and attorney’s fees issues in FOIA cases. Students will read and become familiar with The United States Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 125

Space Law: Law on the New Frontier

This course introduces the law governing the exploration, militarization, and commercialization of outer space. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 126

Sex Crimes and Human Trafficking

This course addresses sex offenses as they are defined and litigated under the California criminal code– including rape, lewd and lascivious acts, human trafficking, and stalking – as well as sex offender registration, sexual assault forensic examinations, and sexual assault victim rights and resources. This course will be an important supplement to your understanding of the substantive criminal law, and of the law regarding sexual violence and misconduct. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 134

Appellate Advocacy

This course advances students' skills in appellate brief writing, oral advocacy, and appellate practice and procedure. Students will structure, research, and write an appellant's opening brief based on a hypothetical case. Students will then argue the case (in the roles of both appellant's counsel and respondent's counsel) at a mock hearing, demonstrating the ability to make the best arguments on both sides of every issue argued. Lectures, one-on-one writing conferences, and a tour of the local District Court of Appeal (at which students will hear live oral arguments) are included.

CALS 144

Slavery's Imprint on the Constitution

This course examines the history of the institution of slavery in the United States, specifically as it relates to the United States Constitution of 1787. Topics include the international slave trade, “slave rebellions” and the Domestic Insurrections Clause, the Three-fifths Clause, the Fugitive Slave Clause, and the Northwest Ordinance. More generally, the course discusses the status of slavery as a legal institution in the United States at the time of the founding, as well as the impact on the Constitution of abolitionism as a social movement. Students may receive Upper-Level Writing Credit for this course.

Prereq: CALS 199 Lecture Min Credits: 3.00 Credits: 2.00

CALS 170

Trial Practice

This course provides training in trial techniques through lecture and participation in practice sessions. Students participate in all phases of civil and criminal cases under the supervision of an experienced attorney.

This course has a mandatory week 1 attendance requirement and is graded non-anonymously on the Credit/No Credit scale. Honors designation will convert to a 4.0.

Credits: 3.00

CALS 172

Advanced Contracts - UCC Art. 2 Sales

The course surveys law of sales (UCC Article 2) relating to contract performance and breach when parties transact in goods. The course covers buyers and sellers' remedies, the law of warranties, and the legal principles embodied in Article 9 governing secured transactions.

Credits: 3.00

CALS 204

Federal Income Taxation

This course surveys the fundamentals of federal income taxation, including income, exclusions, deductions, basis, depreciation, and capital gains.

Prereq: CALS 101 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 And CALS 111 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 3.00

CALS 213

Client Interview'g & Counseling

This course is a skill-building practicum covering the issues of effective client interviewing and counseling. This class includes simulation exercises to enhance students' abilities to interview and counsel clients. This course is graded non-anonymously on the Credit/No Credit scale.

Credits: 2.00

CALS 229

Civil Motion Practice

This course builds on the skills learned in Legal Writing II and Civil Procedure. Students refine advanced persuasive legal writing skills and learn advanced oral advocacy techniques in the context of civil motion practice before both federal and California courts. Classroom instruction will encompass motion theory and principles, evaluation of California and federal procedures, rules, court calendaring, ethical obligations, persuasive oral advocacy, and efficiency in client case management. Students gain practical experience by conducting client and issue-specific research and legal analysis, drafting motion briefs in support of a client position, and arguing motions in a simulated courtroom environment.

Prereq: CALS 199 Lecture Min Credits: 3.00

CALS 237

Entertainment Law and Practice

Entertainment Law and Practice surveys the common legal issues arising in the fields of music, film, tv, and other facets of the entertainment industries from both litigation and transactional perspectives. The course also provides students with a general understanding of the structure of the entertainment industries, including the role of record labels, music publishers, film and television studios, production companies, artist managers, and talent agents. This course may satisfy the upper-level writing requirement.

Credits: 2.00

CALS 238

Int'l Law

This course introduces the law among nations. First, it examines the principal actors in the international legal system, the processes by which international law is created, interpreted, adjudicated and enforced and the relationship between international law and domestic law. Next, it surveys a range of substantive international legal rules, including the law on the use of force, laws regulating state jurisdiction over land, sea and air, international economic law, international human rights law, and international environmental law. Finally, it considers selected aspects of U.S. law that affect U.S. participation in the international legal system. The course is designed for the student who is seeking a basic understanding of international law as part of a balanced and comprehensive legal education and for the student who is seeking a solid foundation for a more intensive study of international law.

Prereq: CALS 101 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 And CALS 111 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 3.00

CALS 241

Immigration Law

This course explores the fundamental and practical aspects of current U.S. immigration law, policy and procedures relating to visas, asylum, employment authorization, adjustment of status, naturalization, citizenship, detention and removal. This class may satisfy the upper level writing requirement.

Credits: 2.00

CALS 245

Family Law

This course examines the law relating to the formation, regulation, and termination of family relationships. Topics covered include family privacy, marriage, alternative families, domestic violence, divorce, child custody and child support. In addition to examining theoretical and

inter-disciplinary perspectives, this course will also focus on issues relating to the practice of family law by attorneys.

Prereq: CALS 101 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 And CALS 111 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 3.00

CALS 246

Introduction to Sports Law

This course provides a general introduction to sports law. Topics of discussion range from fans and owners to players and agents. The course covers law in the areas of contract, constitutional, tort and criminal - all in the context of sports. In class discussions include representation of professional athletes, enforcement of sports contracts, league decision making, and sports broadcasting.

Prereq: CALS 101 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 And CALS 111 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 2.00

CALS 250

Administrative Law

Government agencies influence virtually every aspect of our social lives. Agencies regulate the food supply, workplace, environment, immigration, and money - to name only a few of the areas where agencies wield power. As regulators, federal agencies principally act in three ways - rulemaking, adjudication, and enforcement. In some courses (e.g. securities law, employment law, etc.) students study the regulations produced by a particular agency. In this course, however, students study the law that governs agencies - i.e. how agencies are constrained in their regulatory activities. The course will consider constitutional law (such as separation of powers and procedural due process) and federal statutory law (i.e. the Administrative Procedure Act). Since many of the cases deal with constitutional law issues, the material is often abstract, theoretical and challenging. Students who plan a career in government, with a public interest group or working in a highly regulated industry will likely benefit from taking a course in administrative law. Administrative law is a bar-tested subject in some states.

Prereq: CALS 103 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 3.00

CALS 261

Adjudicatory Criminal Procedure

Adjudicatory Criminal Procedure follows the adjudicative process for criminal prosecutions from charging to post-conviction review. It starts when the criminal case moves from the police station to the courthouse and covers the constitutional rules that govern a criminal prosecution as it proceeds through the courts. Topics include the prosecutor's power to file charges, bail, preliminary hearings, grand juries, speedy trial, discovery, plea bargaining, guilty pleas, jury trials (from jury composition to closing argument), sentencing, and post-conviction review. The course is essential to preparation for criminal practice and covers material tested on the California Bar examination.

Credits: 2.00

CALS 275

Environmental Law

This course surveys federal environmental laws and regulations. It addresses not only the core elements of statutes like the Clean Air Act or Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, but also explores the associated legislative, regulatory, and administrative aspects of environmental practice. The course also examines the local regulatory decision-making process with an emphasis on environmental land use controls and permitting.

Credits: 2.00

CALS 292

NegotiationsTheory & Skills

This course introduces the theory of negotiating a deal in a legal context and provides opportunities for students to develop the skills necessary to employ that theory and negotiate effectively on behalf of their clients.

Credits: 3.00

CALS 297

Advanced Legal Research

This course builds upon basic legal research skills with a focus on effective and efficient legal research strategies. In this practical, hands-on course, students will learn how to appropriately use both print and electronic information sources for Federal and California administrative, case and statutory law, court rules, legislative history, and secondary sources such as legal encyclopedias, treatises and form books. Cost efficient research and the integration of print and electronic resources are stressed throughout the course.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 313

Copyright Law

This course focuses on the legal issues arising from the creation, ownership, production, marketing, and distribution of literary, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, musical, digital, and related works. This will include examination of copyrightable subject matter, the idea/expression dichotomy, compilations and derivative works, duration and renewal, fair use and remedies. The course examines the current federal Copyright Act in depth and considers the impact of past laws, related state laws, and international copyright law.

Prereq: CALS 101 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 And CALS 111 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 3.00

CALS 329

Trademark & Unfair Compt Law

This course focuses on current trademark and unfair competition law from different view points: theory, case law, and litigation strategy.

Credits: 2.00

CALS 354

Law Review

Students requesting a Law Review unit, please email Registrar, Carrie Kazyaka at ckazyaka@tjsl.edu. Upon approval, students will be enrolled in one unit of Law Review by the Registrar's Office. This is graded Honors, Credit, Low Pass, No Credit.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 355

Moot Court

Students requesting Moot Court units, please email Registrar, Carrie Kazyaka at ckayzaka@tjsl.edu and state the number of units you are requesting. Upon approval, students will be enrolled in Moot Court units by the Registrar's Office. This is graded Honors, Credit, Low Pass, No Credit.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 356

Directed Study

Directed Study is a method by which Thomas Jefferson students may obtain credit toward their law degrees by performing legal research and writing in areas of their own choosing. Eligibility for Directed Study is limited to students who have earned at least 30 units and are in good academic standing. A student wishing to obtain credit for Directed Study must first procure the written agreement of a faculty member to supervise that student's project during the school session in which such credits are to be earned. Adjunct faculty members may serve in this role only with the approval of the Associate Dean on a case by case basis. Before registering, the student, with the guidance of his/her intended faculty supervisor, shall select a topic for the student's project, adopt a written plan for its completion, and determine the number of units of credit to be earned through the project. Students may not earn more than 3 Directed Study units per semester. For each Directed Study unit for which a student registers, the student shall perform a minimum of 50 hours of research and writing. A 10-15 page paper is usually required for each unit of Directed Study credit. Honors/Credit/Low Pass/No Credit is the only grading option available. Students requesting enrollment in Directed Study units must submit the Professor signed approved petition to the Registrar's Office. Upon approval, the Registrar's Office will enroll the student in the Directed Study units.

Prereq: CALS 199 Lecture Min Credits: 3.00 Credits: 1.00

CALS 363

Mock Trial

Students requesting Mock Trial units, please email the Registrar, at registrar@tjsl.edu and state the number of units you are requesting. Upon approval, students will be enrolled in Mock Trial units by the Registrar's Office. This is graded Honors, Credit, Low Pass, No Credit.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 383

Public Interest Lawyering

This course provides a foundation for students interested in access to justice issues or public interest law more generally. The course helps students understand the socio-economic underpinnings of the population served and the resources available, as well as the governing substantive law. The course also explores the availability of legal services in the United States and the unmet legal needs of low-and-moderate income individuals. It examines the role of courts, legal services organizations, law schools, and the private bar in advancing free and affordable legal services. Students read about the structure of the legal profession, the current state of government funded legal services, the cost of legal service delivery, and the opportunities and challenges faced by the private bar. The also course surveys substantive areas of law including housing, employment, immigration and criminal. This course challenges students thinking on how legal services are provided and the gaps that attorneys can fill in providing these services, causing students to think creatively about alternate structures for meeting the needs of low-to-moderate income individuals.

Prereq: CALS 199 Lecture Min Credits: 3.00 Credits: 2.00

CALS 418

Scholarly Legal Writing

This Course introduces students to legal scholarship. It is required for, and limited to, Law Review members who are researching or writing their law review note.

This course is graded non-anonymously on the Credit/No Credit scale Credits: 1.00

CALS 423

Introduction to Mediation

Mediation is currently in great demand as an adjunct to the court system, as a mechanism for managing in-house corporate fissures, in labor-management discussions and in international disputes. Although usage varies dramatically depending on context, mediation at its essence is a process in which a neutral third party works to help the parties resolve a dispute. Students will learn the various stages of the process and practice the techniques used in each stage. Class are interactive with in-class mock mediations and communications exercises. Students also conduct a full day of in class mediations. Students will be assessed on in-class participation, as well as a

pre-course written assignment and other assignments announced in class. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 425 ADR

This course surveys various dispute resolution techniques, including negotiation, arbitration and mediation.

Students requesting ADR units, please email Registrar, Carrie Kazyaka at ckazyaka@tjsl.edu and state the number of units you are requesting. Upon approval, students will be enrolled in ADR units by the Registrar's Office.

This course is graded non-anonymously Honors, Credit, Low Pass or No Credit. Credits: 1.00

CALS 429

Veteran's Legal Assistance Clinic

This course trains students to represent clients from Veterans Village of San Diego under the supervision of a licensed attorney. Veterans Village provides housing, substance abuse and mental health counseling, and job training to struggling veterans. The actual composition of students' caseloads will be determined by client need, however, case work is generally concentrated in the areas of family, consumer, and administrative law. This seminar will include reading on substantive law and assignments that will be discussed in class along with the matters on which the students will work for Veterans Village clients. Due to the nature of the course, grading for this course will be non-anonymous. Admission to the clinic is by application that should be submitted to the Clinic Administrator. Instructions are circulated in advance of each semester.

Credits: 2.00

CALS 451

Lawyering Skills

This course instructs and guides students in how to read and think in ways necessary for success in law school, on the bar exam, and in practice. During weekly class meetings, students learn about and practice strategies and approaches for reading and writing for law school and preparing for law school exams. Through structured practice with case briefing, rule deconstruction, rule extraction and rule synthesis, outlining, inferential reasoning, and essay organization, students learn how to study and learn the law. Students build their academic and study skills using subject matter materials connected to at least one doctrinal course in which students are concurrently enrolled.

This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale. Credits: 1.00

CALS 465

Contract Drafting

The course applies concepts learned in the first-year Contracts course to real world situations that students are likely to encounter in a business law practice. Students will learn how to translate business concepts into language that is legally enforceable. The course studies how to draft preambles, recitals, covenants, conditions, representations and warranties, termination provisions and the other elements of most standard business contracts. Through a series of individual and team-based exercises, students will learn how drafting a provision can affect the business deal and allocate risk. To build skills, the course focuses on two types of contracts - asset purchase agreements and employment contracts. The drafting skills covered are applicable to nearly any type of agreement. Students will be given an opportunity to work in groups and research a particular type of agreement of their choosing.

Prereq: CALS 101 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 2.00

CALS 503

Intro to IP & Sports Law

This course provides second-semester students with an introduction to intellectual property law and its intersection with different relevant areas, issues relevant to both the IP and Sports Law Fellows. Break-out sessions are included to cover non-IP issues relevant to the sports industry, such as marketing, regulation, and management. The course is taught by various faculty members and will include guest lecturers. Students may have reading assignments, and a 10-page paper is required to receive credit. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 506

California Pre-Trial Preparation

This course focuses on the lawyer's role in litigation before trial in California civil court. Classes will focus on the Code of Civil Procedure applicable to pleading, discovery, case management conferences, discovery motions, summary judgment, with review of pretrial strategy and planning, including ADR and ethics. Classes will expose students to client interviewing, developing a theory of the case, developing a discovery plan, and preparation of the case for trial. The course also includes several writing assignments, including the complaint, discovery demands, settlement brief, and motion for summary judgment. The course is designed to prepare the student to take the case from the time a client walks in the door through the trial readiness conference. This course is invaluable for those planning to practice in the California courts. It can satisfy the upper-level writing credit requirement.

Credits: 3.00

CALS 517

Introduction to IP Practice

This course introduces the student to the practice of intellectual property law. It is highly recommended for all IP Fellows. Each class will introduce some basic substantive law that students will then use to complete a project. Projects will include trademark applications, copyright registrations, office actions, non-disclosure agreements, trade secret law, cease and desist letters, IP licenses, and valuing intellectual property.

Prereq: CALS 111 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 And CALS 101 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 3.00

CALS 523

Non-profit + Small Business Clinic

The Non-profit + Small Business Clinic (NPSBC) provides legal assistance and representation to entrepreneurs, small businesses, and non-profits that do not have the means to hire an attorney to advise them. Students who participate in the NPSBC will have the opportunity to assist clients by forming their entities, drafting, negotiating and reviewing contracts, and helping clients through the regulatory process. Students will be guided during representation by a licensed California attorney, but students will have primary responsibility for their cases.

Enrollment in the seminar is at the discretion of the supervising attorney, after having reviewed application materials and interviewed the student.

Students enrolled in the seminar are required to participate in weekly class meetings that focus on the lawyering skills necessary to effectively represent clients. In addition to discussing client interviewing and counseling techniques, students will also focus on substantive areas of law that are relevant to students' cases, including issues of professional responsibility

Credits: 3.00

CALS 525

Solo Practice: Building a Practice

This course will introduce students to the basics of owning a solo law practice, and being a business-focused associate in a small practice. Topics covered will include: deciding to go solo; the nuts and bolts of opening a law firm; developing a business plan; financial planning; selecting a practice area; generating cash flow; networking; marketing; client relations; billing and fees; budgets; trust accounting; collections; work-flow management; legal research solutions; creating a form bank/library; office protocols; strategic planning; hiring and firing; and life/work balance.

Credits: 2.00

CALS 526

Non-Profit & Business Clinic Fieldwork

Students who have taken the Non-Profit + Small Business Clinic seminar may enroll in field work units requiring them to work at least 5 hours per week on case work for clinic clients. Students may earn one-to-three credits with one credit constituting 5 hours per week of work throughout the

14-week semester. Fieldwork is graded non-anonymously on the Credit/No Credit scale.

CALS 529

Veteran's Legal Assist. Clinic Fieldwork

Students who have taken the Veterans Legal Assistance Clinic seminar may enroll in field work units requiring them to work at least 5 hours per week on case work for Veterans Village clients. Students may earn one-to-three credits with one credit constituting 5 hours per week of work throughout the 14-week semester. Fieldwork is graded non-anonymously on the Credit/No Credit scale.

Credits: 2.00

CALS 530

Professional Sports Law

This course examines legal issues in the world of professional sports, including contracts, collective bargaining, antitrust, and employment law. It will also examine the ramifications of decisions made by personnel working in the professional sports industry. Specific topics include coaches, agents and labor.

Credits: 2.00

CALS 543

ADR in the Criminal Context

This course reviews selected topics in ADR in the criminal context. It will largely concern three specific topics: 1) Traditional Retributive versus Alternative (Restorative) responses to gross human rights abuses committed by insurgents or rogue states; 2) victim-offender mediation as an alternative response to "ordinary" crime; and 3) the growth and development of problem-solving courts. As students move through each of these areas, they explore how these alternative approaches to criminal behavior differ philosophically from classic retributive strategies. Students will assess the opportunities and challenges presented by these alternative approaches and work to determine the conditions in which they are most likely to prove successful. Students will be evaluated by in-class performance and a short writing assignment that explores retributive versus restorative strategies using the videos and course readings. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Prereq: CALS 099 Lecture Min Credits: 3.00 Credits: 1.00

CALS 548

Intra School Moot Ct Competition

Students write a ten-page brief (two drafts) and argue both sides of the case as part of an

intra-school moot court competition. Students are required to (1) watch a series of legal writing and oral argument lectures addressing all of the skills necessary to compete in the competition and (2) conduct two oral argument practice sessions with a mentor from the Moot Court Society. This course is graded on the Credit/No Credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 571

Intro to Criminal Trial Practice

This course is a component of the Criminal Law Fellowship Program. Working with a realistic mock case and case materials, students study several fundamental aspects of criminal trial practice, including client interviewing, fact investigation, jury selection, opening statement, direct examination, cross-examination, and closing argument. Participants observe demonstrations of important trial skills, practice these skills through role-playing exercises, and complete a substantial written exercise building on the material studied. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 585

Domestic Violence Seminar

This course introduces students to criminal Domestic Violence (DV). This includes a working knowledge of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), basic DV definitions, DV charges, understanding the complexity of working with DV victims, the Cycle of Violence, services available to DV victims, the path of a DV case through the criminal court system, as well as evidence used to prove a DV case. This course may satisfy the upper level writing requirement.

Credits: 2.00

CALS 596

Patent & Trademark Clinic

Students represent clients seeking to register patents and trademarks with the United States Patent & Trademark Office under the supervision of a licensed attorney. Students proceed through the entire process from the initial client meeting to conducting a patent or trademark search, preparing the application, and responding to office actions. This seminar includes reading on substantive law and assignments that will be discussed in class along with the matters on which the students will work for the Patent & Trademark clinic clients. Due to the nature of the course, grading for this course will be non-anonymous. Admission to the clinic is by application that should be submitted to the Clinic Administrator. Instructions are circulated in advance of each semester.

Credits: 3.00

CALS 597

Patent & Trademark Fieldwork

Students who have taken the Patent & Trademark Clinic seminar may enroll in field work units requiring them to work at least 5 hours per week on case work for Patent & Trademark clinic clients. Students may earn one-to-three credits with one credit constituting 5 hours per week of work throughout the 14-week semester. Fieldwork is graded non-anonymously on the Credit/No Credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 598

Family Law Workshop

This course provides students with an overview of family law practice and how family law cases proceed through mediation and litigation. There will be an overview of how the family code applies to parental relationships and marriages as well as what issues are most common when couples separate or divorce. The instructors will focus on the practical applications of family law, including managing client interviews at the beginning of a case, issue spotting, and the common steps of a divorce in litigation and mediation. In this interactive class, students practice interviewing clients, reviewing pleadings, discussing potential issues, and role play in a support hearing. Grading is non-anonymous based on class participation and on the Credit/No Credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 616

Sports Agent Registration and Practice

This course provides an in-depth look at the process of becoming a licensed sports agent throughout the top four (4) sport leagues of the United States (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL), as well as the negotiation skills and background knowledge necessary to succeed in aspects of recruiting, retaining clients, and negotiating deals both on and off the field. Students will review the union guidelines and histories of the top sports leagues to grasp an understanding of each respective league’s rules and regulations relating to free agency and the ‘Draft’. Students will also learn the difference between negotiating on-field/court contracts and marketing deals, which will lead them into the experiential component of the course, where students will have the opportunity to lead negotiations on a marketing deal for one of their clients on the final day of class.

Students will be evaluated non-anonymously on the Credit/No Credit scale based off of their group participation on Saturday’s experiential learning day. To pass the course, students must attend the Saturday event. Full participation in all activities will garner a student a passing grade. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.The group who ultimately wins, will receive a grade of honors.

CALS 617

Student Athlete Publicity Rights

This course provides a look at the development of new relaxed regulatory authority over college athletes' commercial use of their names, images, and likenesses (NIL). In doing so, students will review the history of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), their regulatory authority over college sports, the state legislation that forced NCAA action on NIL, and the Supreme Court decision in the antitrust litigation NCAA v. Alston. Finally, students will discuss future issues in NIL regulation, including questions about how current NIL regulation affects athlete individual rights and addresses concerns over gender equity in college sports. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 618

Personal Injury Litigation in California

In this course, students will see and experience the process of litigating a personal injury case in California from client intake to trial. This course covers initial client interview, pre-litigation work up, drafting complaint and answer, all aspects of written discovery, taking and defending depositions, dealing with experts, pre-trial and trial motions. Students will learn by doing, including working with real-life pleadings and papers, interacting with attorneys in this community, and practicing skills in small groups and as a class.  To build skills, students will draft discovery, pleadings, and briefs based on real-life fact patterns. Throughout this course, students will be asked to consistently consider what makes for a “good” personal injury attorney.  This course applies whether you are counsel for the plaintiff or defendant.  This course satifies the Professional Skills graduation requirement.

CALS 644

Mastering the Performance Test

This course enhances students' critical thinking and writing skills. Students analyze case and library files just like those used on the California Bar Exam's performance tests. Although the legal topics will not be the focus of the course, students will encounter issues not usually covered in law school, but often encountered on the bar exam and in law practice. In addition, students learn about the various kinds of documents they will be expected to write for the performance test and in law practice as well.

Class sessions will focus on techniques for efficiently reading and analyzing case and library files, organizing file material, and drafting documents for a specific audience. Students will be introduced to various audiences including the supervisor; the court; opposing counsel; the client; and other audiences such as boards, committees, juries, etc. Students should expect to practice these techniques in class and under time pressure. The course will be especially helpful for students who have not had an opportunity to clerk or to participate in an externship while in law school.

Prereq: CALS 199 Lecture Min Credits: 3.00 Credits: 2.00

CALS 647

Comparative Criminal Procedure - Film

This course enables students to compare U.S. criminal procedures with those of several other legal traditions -- Civil Law (French, German and Nordic), Common Law, Socialist, Islamic, and indigenous -- from arrest through appeal, primarily by viewing, presenting, and discussing specially edited clips of U.S. and foreign films. Through comparative analysis, students gain a deeper understanding of U.S. criminal procedures. Students will also write a 10-page

essay on a film of their choice. The assigned eBook (click here for trailer) provides condensed readings with links to illustrative film clips to choose from. The course provides an overview of U.S. criminal procedure, so it can be taken either before or after the core courses in U.S. criminal procedure. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 682

Whistle Blower Law

This course examines legal protections intended to protect and incentivize whistleblowers to provide information and assist in the enforcement of laws prohibiting fraud and misfeasance in the public and private sectors. Historic whistleblower cases and developing case law will be examined, including those turned into Hollywood blockbusters such as Silkwood, All the President’s Men, Serpico, and Snowden. This course focuses on the substance of the law and the process of lawyering (client interviewing and counseling, drafting and negotiating). The course may include a role-playing exercise. Each student will write a short essay concerning a current policy issue or analyzing a whistleblower case. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 697

Externship I

This course introduces students to client interviewing, fact investigations, counseling, and the development of their professional selves in a discussion-based format. The class is completely interactive, using simulations based on real-life cases to enhance a student's understanding of working with clients. Students discuss issues related to their experiences at their placements. Students write journals based on their experiences. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 698

Externship II

This course builds on Externship I, expanding the discussion on professionalism. Students use critical thinking to solve real-life problems that clients experience. Students write journals to reflect on their experiences. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 699

Externship III

This course builds on Externship I, expanding the discussion on professionalism. Students use critical thinking to solve real-life problems that clients experience. Students write journals to reflect on their experiences. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

CALS 702

Judical Seminar

This course enables students to discuss issues related to working in chambers. We discuss cases currently being considered and seminal decisions. Students discuss ethical issues facing judges and the inequities within the judicial system. Students write journals reflecting on the experiences. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale.

Credits: 1.00

Students must complete sixty-seven units of required courses in order to satisfy the Law School's graduation requirements.  For information regarding the sequencing of classes, please see the Student Handbook, XII. Appendix A, “Program of Study,” here: https://www.tjsl.edu/student-life

CALS 101

Contracts

This course covers the law relating to formation of contracts, the Statute of Frauds, third-party beneficiary contracts, assignment of rights and delegation of duties and liability for breach of contract, including the law of conditions and discharge, and available remedies.

Credits: 5.00

CALS 103

Civil Procedure

This course introduces a number of basic skills that are essential to legal practice while providing students with a fundamental understanding of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Topics include subject matter and personal jurisdiction, venue, Forum Non Conveniens, the Erie Doctrine, pleadings, sanctions, joinder of claims and parties, class actions, discovery, motions to dismiss and summary judgment, motions for judgment as a matter of law and new trial motions, jury trials, appellate jurisdiction, and claim and issue preclusion.

Credits: 5.00

CALS 105

Criminal Law

This course covers the basic substantive criminal law, discussion of concepts of mens rea, actus reus, causation, the inchoate offences and the Model Penal Code. The basic common law crimes and defenses comprise the majority of the course.

Credits: 3.00

CALS 106

Criminal Procedure

This course covers the procedural rules governing the investigation of crimes and the use of the Exclusionary Rule as an enforcement mechanism. It covers all aspects of the Fourth Amendment as well as the Fifth Amendment Self-Incrimination Clause and the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel Clause as they apply to the investigative phase of a criminal prosecution

Prereq: CALS 101 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 And CALS 111 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 3.00

CALS 111

Torts

This course examines civil liability independent of contract, including torts based on intentional conduct, strict liability, or negligence, and the available remedies for each type of tort.

Credits: 5.00

CALS 115

Business Associations

This course provides a broad survey of the legal rules controlling the formation, financing, operation, governance and dissolution of business enterprises. It provides an overview to agency principles and the legal entities through which business activities are carried out, including partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations. The primary focus of the course is on the corporate form of doing business, with an emphasis on the roles of management and shareholders, fiduciary obligations, and the anti-fraud provisions governing securities trading.

Prereq: CALS 101 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 And CALS 111 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 3.00

CALS 119

Learning Skills

This course enables students to acquire the skills needed to succeed in law school. It focuses on material relevant to the student’s other course(s) offered during the same semester. The course will provide practice in case-briefing, multiple choice test-taking, essay writing using IRAC as the building block for legal analysis, and self-analysis. This class is graded on the credit/no credit scale. Credits: 1.00

CALS 135

Constitutional Law I

This course examines the scope of federal powers, the separation powers, the federal system, due process, equal protection, and the First Amendment.

Prereq: CALS 101 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 And CALS 111 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 3.00

CALS 136

Constitutional Law II

This course examines the scope of federal powers, the separation powers, the federal system, due process, equal protection, and the First Amendment.

Credits: 3.00

CALS 138

Evidence

This course examines the law relating to relevance, special exclusionary rules, privileged communications, the hearsay rule and its exception, the opinion rules, authentication and the best evidence rule, impeachment and rehabilitation, presumptions, burdens of proof and character evidence.

Credits: 4.00

CALS 140

Professional Responsibility

This course examines relevant codes and cases in an attempt to better understand a lawyer's ethical obligations and conflicts.

Credits: 3.00

CALS 145

Property Law

Covering a range of topics relating primarily to the acquisition, ownership, leasing, and sale of land, possessory, non-possessory, and future interests in land, and regulation through public and private means of land use.

Credits: 5.00

CALS 166

Remedies

This course addresses the theory and practice of the law relating to the various forms of legal and equitable relief, including: various measures of damages for both tort and contract cases; specific forms of relief such as replevin, ejectment and specific performance; injunctive relief; and legal and equitable forms of restitutionary remedies.

Prereq: CALS 101 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 And CALS 103 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 And CALS 111 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00

Credits: 3.00

CALS 167

Community Property

This course explores the classification of separate and community property, management and control of the community, liability for debts and problems arising from the dissolution of the community or death of a spouse.

Prereq: CALS 145 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 2.00

CALS 171

Wills & Trusts

This course examines the law of disposition of property through inter vivos and testamentary means: intestate succession; execution, alteration and revocation of wills; family protections and restrictions on testation; will substitutes; probate and will contests; creation, modification, and administration of various types of trusts and related trust issues.

Prereq: CALS 145 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 3.00

CALS 199

Legal Writing II

This course builds upon the concepts taught in Legal Writing I. Students research and write trial court and appellate court briefs and participate in an appellate oral argument.

Credits: 3.00

CALS 202

California Civil Procedure

This course examines practical aspects of civil litigation in California, highlighting differences between the California Rules of Civil Procedure and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Prereq: CALS 103 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 2.00

CALS 225

California Evidence

This course surveys California evidence rules with particular emphasis on the important differences between the state’s rules and the Federal Rules of Evidence. The materials will focus on all aspects of evidence, reviewing of important evidentiary principles learned in the federal Evidence course.

Prereq: CALS 138 Lecture Min Credits: 4.00 Credits: 2.00

CALS 533

MBE Mastery

This course focuses on the skills used to successfully answer MBE multiple choice questions and reviews relevant substantive law while providing an opportunity for students to practice reasoning and analysis. Students are eligible to take this course during the student’s next-to-last semester of law school.

Prereq: CALS 135 Lecture Min Credits: 3.00 And CALS 145 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 3.00

CALS 646

Bar Exam Fundamentals

This course re-introduces students to doctrinal subjects tested on the multi-state bar exam (MBE) prior to students commencing bar review. The course reviews key topics within selected MBE bar subjects, reviews multiple-choice test-taking strategies and skills, highlights approaches needed to answer bar essay questions, and provides students with opportunities to develop their

multiple-choice and essay-writing skills in order to prepare effectively for the bar exam. Students are eligible to take this course in their last semester of law school.

Prereq: CALS 101 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 And CALS 111 Lecture Min Credits: 5.00 Credits: 3.00