Curriculum Planning
Plan Your Course of Study
The College of Law’s Curriculum Planning Guide assists students in planning their elective course of study after the first year. Students will find the upper level curriculum offers a broad variety of elective courses and the opportunity for study in a wide range of practice areas. Students may plan their study with a practice area in mind or choose a broader more diverse focus.
This planning guide identifies core electives that serve as gateways for advanced study, and suggests pathways for different areas of the law. In addition to consulting this planning guide, we encourage students to discuss their course selection options with their assigned faculty advisor and with the faculty members listed in their respective course areas.
Finally, whatever area or areas of law may interest you, it is important that you also maintain some balance in your course selection, a balance between public and private law, and the specialized and the general.
Note: This Planner should be used in conjunction with the College of Law Bulletin in planning your courses. The Bulletin remains the official word on curriculum requirements, course prerequisites and rules. If conflicting information is posted below, the Bulletin's commentary takes precedence.
Table of Contents
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Core Electives: Recommended Foundation Courses
The faculty strongly encourage enrollment in the core electives listed below. These courses provide foundations for other advanced electives and are considered part of the core of a well-rounded legal education. Students should enroll in some of these courses in their second year of full-time law study (or third year of part-time study). They will allow you to lay a foundation for more advanced courses in the third year, and also will help you around the scheduling conflicts that will arise if you defer all of these courses to your final year.
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Public Law Courses
Scope:
Together, the public law courses comprise the substantive, procedural and doctrinal elements of federalism. Collectively, these courses cover all basic aspects of jurisdiction in state and federal court systems including removal from one court system to another, judicial review, choice of law, and remedies peculiar to federal courts. This information is basic to civil and criminal practice in the American federal system.
Courses in this area:
When Should These Courses Be Taken?
Constitutional Law II is an important foundational course that all students should take after completion of Constitutional Law I. Administrative Law is a critical foundation for students who are interested in regulatory law fields, such as environmental law, zoning, health law and telecommunications. Legislation is also an important course for students with these interests or for students who are interested in the legislative process generally. Georgia Practice and Procedure, Federal Courts, and Conflict of Laws can be taken in the second year of study but are particularly good final year courses.
Which Professors Teach in this Area?
Civil Procedure is taught by Professors Curcio, Lanier, Kinkopf and Sobelson, and Washington. Constitutional Law is taught by Professors Hogue, Kinkopf, Segall, and Wiseman. The First Amendment courses are taught by Professors Hogue and Wiseman. Legislation is taught by Professors Kinkopf and Wiseman, and Administrative Law is taught by Professors Marvin, and Edmundson. Federal Courts is taught by Professor Segall. Professor Saito teaches Immigration Law. Professors Hogue and Knowles teach Conflict of Laws. Professor Lanier teaches Georgia Practice and Procedure.
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The Business Track
Falling within one common area are courses dealing with corporate law, commercial law, and taxation. Students who anticipate being involved with business transactions in their practice may want to concentrate their electives in this area. Following are overviews of the College of Law's commercial, corporate, and tax law courses. Also set forth are suggested course sequences prepared by professors teaching in those areas.
Commercial Law Courses
Scope:
Commercial law is the law of business and commercial transactions. Beyond the first-year course in Contracts, there are three core commercial courses: Sales, Security Interests and Liens, and Commercial Paper and Payment Systems. Sales concentrates on Article 2 of the UCC, to which you were introduced in Contracts. Security Interests and Liens covers Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (governing the creation and enforcement of security interests in personal property) and collection procedures when the debtor-creditor relationship deteriorates. Commercial Paper and Payment Systems examines Articles 3 and 4 of the UCC (governing checks, promissory notes, and negotiable instruments in general).
These three core UCC courses introduce students to concepts that every lawyer who hopes to work in the business or commercial field must know. Much of commercial litigation involves legal questions arising out of these course areas, so these courses should prove useful to the future litigator. Business and corporate attorneys generally use the knowledge gained through these courses in structuring business transactions and drafting contracts.
Courses in this area:
When Should These Courses Be Taken?
Take the core courses (Sales, Security Interests and Liens, and Commercial Paper and Payment Systems) as soon as you can. It is quite possible to take only one or two of these courses without the others. They all deal with relatively discrete subject matters.
If you are interested in the Bankruptcy courses, note that Security Interests and Liens must be taken prior to or simultaneously with Basic Bankruptcy. Basic Bankruptcy examines practices and procedures under the federal Bankruptcy Code. Basic Bankruptcy is a prerequisite for the advanced courses of Bankruptcy Reorganization (which studies bankruptcies under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code) and Bankruptcy and Tax (a seminar that explores the interaction between federal bankruptcy law and federal tax law). Basic Federal Taxation is also a prerequisite for the Bankruptcy and Tax seminar.
Other Commercial Law courses which students may want to consider include Consumer Protection, Sports Law, and the banking law courses. Consumer Protection explores federal and state laws and regulations designed to protect the consumer in modern commercial transactions. Sports Law examines the concerns faced by sports as a commercial industry.
The International Commercial Arbitration Seminar discusses alternatives to national court systems in resolving international commercial disputes. Students will be familiarized with the modern system of international commercial arbitration.
Which Professors Teach in this Area?
For information concerning the core UCC courses, see Professors Budnitz, Girth, or Stephens. For bankruptcy courses, see Professors Girth or Williams. For Sports Law, see Professor Williams. For International Commercial Arbitration see Professor Lanier.
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Corporate Law Courses
Scope:
Corporate law focuses on the organization, control, and operation of corporations and partnerships and on fundamental doctrines of agency law. Corporate law courses are essential to the student who plans a specialty in corporate practice. This area of law is also important to the future general practitioner, for corporate and agency problems frequently arise in a general practice.
Courses in this area:
When Should These Courses Be Taken?
The core courses are Agency & Partnership and Corporations. Either of these courses may be taken without the other, although it is recommended that the future corporate practitioner take both.
The advanced courses in this area are Advanced Corporate Law, Corporate Finance, Business Planning, Mergers and Acquisitions, Securities Regulation, and the Seminar on Corporate Governance. Corporations is a prerequisite for the advanced courses. Related courses which should be considered by the students who plan to specialize in corporate law include Antitrust, Administrative Law, Basic Bankruptcy and the various tax courses. Other related courses include White Collar Crime, Copyrights, Trademarks, Labor Law, Health Law: Liability, Health Law Regulation, and Environmental Law.
Which Professors Teach in this Area?
Professors Gregory, Knowles, and Taylor teach Corporations as well as the advanced corporate law courses. Professor Williams also teaches in this area. Professor Landau teaches Copyrights, and Trademarks. Professor Marvin teaches Antitrust Law.
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Tax Law Courses
Scope:
Taxation is a dynamic area of the law and a major field of specialization. Students who have a notion that they may pursue a career in tax law should obtain maximum formal course instruction in tax while at the College of Law. Further, taxation is an area of law that affects nearly every transaction for which non-tax attorneys provide advice to their clients. Individuals are affected by federal and state tax laws in their personal and business capacities, and corporations and other business entities must be made aware of the tax implications of their dealings. Thus, even those lawyers not intending to specialize in tax law should be aware of the possible tax issues that relate to advice they give concerning domestic relations, acquisitions and disposition of property, investment planning, estate planning, etc.
Courses in this area:
Courses That Have No Tax Prerequisite:
Advanced Taxation Courses:
Planning Courses:
These courses not only have taxation prerequisites but also prerequisites from other areas.
Tax Externship and Clinic
In What Order Should I Take Courses?
Basic Federal Taxation I serves as the prerequisite for the advanced taxation courses and covers material that may be encountered on a bar examination. Additionally, Estate & Gift Taxation and Accounting for Lawyers may be taken without the prerequisite of Basic Federal Taxation or Business Taxation I. Basic Federal Taxation I is a prerequisite for the Tax Law Externship, the live client Tax Clinic, Basic Federal Taxation II, Business Taxation, Employee Benefits, Advanced Income Tax, and the Bankruptcy and Tax Seminar. Basic Federal Taxation I and Business Taxation are prerequisites for the courses U.S. Taxation of International Transactions and Business Taxation II. Estate & Gift Taxation is a prerequisite for Estate Planning.
Which Professors Teach in this Area?
Professors Blasi and Williams teach many of the tax law courses, and they are available for conferences with students who want more information about the tax law area. Professor Radford teaches Estate Planning and Employee Benefits. For information about the Tax Law Externship, contact Professors Blasi, Curcio or Hensel. For information about the live client Tax Clinic, contact Professor Blasi.
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Labor and Employment Law
Scope:
Courses in Labor and Employment Law are designed to expose students to the range of legal issues that can arise in the workplace setting. These courses are not just for the aspiring labor lawyer, touching as they do on several broader areas of the law, e.g., contracts (the "at will" nature of the employment relationship); constitutional law (the right to picket and strike, privacy and medical screening, the State as employer under the 14th Amendment); and legislation (most employment regulation is established by federal legislation rather than the common law). Employment law courses also provide a useful vehicle for exploring very timely, controversial issues often at the forefront of national debate, e.g., affirmative action, sexual and racial harassment, the decline in unionization, and the erosion of employment at will.
Courses in this area:
Related courses:
Main Courses in the Labor and Employment Field
There are several main courses: Labor Law, Employment Discrimination Law, and General Employment Law. Labor Law examines the law as it regulates collective bargaining, work stoppages, and the rights of the employers and employees to select or reject unionization. Employment Discrimination Law examines the major federal laws barring discrimination on grounds of race, sex, religion, national origin, age, or disability. General Employment Law examines the expanding body of general state and federal law (i.e., law other than that regulating collective bargaining or prohibiting employment discrimination) as it affects the modern employment relationship and the recognition of employee rights. Each of the three courses is distinct, and one may be taken without the others.
Related Courses
The law school offers several other courses which are outside the above sequence but which nevertheless involve workplace issues: Employee Benefits, Sports Law, Workers' Compensation, and Disability Law. Employee Benefits examines the federal regulation of pensions and other employee benefit programs, concentrating primarily on the tax rather than the labor aspects of these arrangements. Sports Law examines selected legal problems of athletes, teams, leagues and associations, including issues concerning employment and collective bargaining. Workers' Compensation examines the insurance system for compensating employees for job-related injuries and disease. Disability Law examines the rights of the disabled in education, housing, and employment, and issues regarding institutionalization and access to health care.
Which Professors Teach in this Area?
Dean Kaminshine teaches Labor Law. Professor Timmons and teaches General Employment Law. Dean Kaminshine and Professor Radford teach Employment Discrimination. Professor Hensel teaches Disability Law, and Professor Killingsworth teaches Workers' Compensation.
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International Law
Scope:
Atlanta has, over the course of the last fifteen years, developed extraordinary opportunities for attorneys interested in the practice of law in the fields of international business transaction, immigration, and taxation. In response to this development in the local and state bar, the College of Law has initiated a rich curriculum of courses designed to address this need and to prepare its students for practice in these areas.
Courses in this area:
Related Courses:
A student interested in the international practice should seriously consider the following courses as the minimal preparation for entry into this aspect of the practice of law. Public International Law is a survey of the basic principles of the law of nations, while Comparative Law is a survey of principal legal systems outside of the Anglo-American legal orbit and stressing comparative methodology as a means of legal analysis. International Business Transactions is a survey of primary practice considerations in the representation of foreign clients in the United States and, conversely, the representation of domestic clients in business transactions spanning national boundaries.
A student with an interest in international practice should take these courses at the earliest opportunity after the completion of the first year required curriculum in the College of Law.
Related Courses In The International Field
In addition to the core courses indicated above, the related courses developed by the College are more specialized elective courses and seminars touching upon various areas of the international practice.
Which Professors Teach in this Area?
Professors Lanier, Marvin, Saito, and Todres are available to discuss these courses with interested students.
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Criminal Law Courses
Scope:
There are two core criminal law courses. Criminal Law is a required course taken by all students in the Spring semester of their first year. Criminal Procedure I is an elective but an essential course for anyone considering a criminal law or civil rights practice.
Criminal Law will introduce the basic themes and concepts of substantive criminal law, focusing on the types of conduct regulated by criminal laws and theories of punishment. Criminal Procedure I will study the content and scope of individual rights under the Constitution and the constitutional dimensions of the investigatory phase of the criminal justice process. Persons interested in law enforcement, in prosecution of criminal cases, or in defense of criminal prosecutions will find these courses particularly useful as building blocks to understanding this area of practice.
Courses in this area:
Related courses:
Practical Experience electives:
When Should These Courses Be Taken?
After completing the core courses, it is well to add to this foundation by taking relevant elective courses available in the curriculum. There are other core courses of the required curriculum which are also of benefit, including Evidence and Litigation, and these may be required prerequisites for the elective courses listed above. Advanced electives, such as Criminal Procedure II, will require more introductory electives as prerequisites. In addition, several of the externship courses (listed above) afford practical experience with different phases of the criminal law process. For further information about externship courses, see the entry in this Planner under "Lawyer Skills Courses."
Which Professors Teach In These Areas?
Professors Emanuel, Edmundson and Covey teach Criminal Law, and Professors Emanuel, Covey teach Criminal Procedure. Professor Hartfield teaches Juvenile Law. Professor Hogue teaches National Security Law. Professor Milich teaches Advanced Evidence, and Professors Segall and Curcio have the responsibility for supervising the externship programs.
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Family Law Courses
Scope:
Regardless of the type of practice you hope to have as a lawyer, you will encounter legal problems that relate to the family law area. Even lawyers in highly specialized areas of the law, like copyright or patent law, have a need to know how marital property laws, for example, may affect their client's interests. Thus, from a practical standpoint, it is a desirable course to include in your law school program. Moreover, it is a dynamic area of law in which new issues arise continually and in which "old" issues are raised anew for reexamination in light of social change.
Courses in this area:
Related courses:
Family Law is the "core" course and is the first course most students take in this area. It is a survey course designed to introduce students to the varied body of law governing family relationships. The course includes issues relating to the formation of the family by marriage, procreation, and adoption; the governance of ongoing family relationships; the disruption of family relationships through separation and divorce; and the continued interaction among family members after divorce. Because Family Law borrows heavily from other substantive areas, it is recommended for students who have completed their first-year curriculum, and constitutional law.
Family Law Seminar is an advanced course, which considers selected issues in depth. The topic of the seminar changes frequently and is usually announced in the preceding semester. Past topics included Equitable Division of Property, Georgia Divorce Practice, and The Family and the Constitution. Each student undertakes a research project culminating in a class presentation and an analytical research paper. Family law is a prerequisite for Family Law Seminar.
Juvenile Law, which is subtitled "Child, Family and State," has as its recurring theme the allocation of decision-making authority among the child, parent, and state. The effects of minority status on contract, tort and property law and the emancipation of minors are considered. Areas of emphasis include the constitutional rights of minors, state intervention to ensure adequate parenting, and decision making in the area of medical care for minors. As with Family Law, it is recommended that students complete the first-year curriculum and constitutional law before enrolling in Juvenile Law. Family Law is not a prerequisite for Juvenile Law. They are entirely separate courses; students may choose to take either or both.
Juvenile Justice focuses on delinquency and status offenses. Although the course emphasizes juvenile court proceedings, issues related to juveniles in the adult criminal justice system are explored. It is recommended that students complete the first-year curriculum before enrolling Juvenile Justice.
Law and the Elderly is a course that considers some of the legal problems that are frequently encountered by elderly clients. The course has focused on issues relating to discrimination, income maintenance, housing, health care and personal autonomy. The interrelationship between this course and courses in the family law area can be seen in regard to intergenerational conflicts, financial responsibility, and the allocation of decision making authority.
In addition, several of the externship courses (listed above) afford practical experience that is relevant to family law. For further information about externship courses, see the entry in this Planner under "Lawyer Skills Courses."
Which Professors Teach In The Family Law Area?
Professors Hartfield and Washington teach in the Family Law area and Professor Radford teaches Law and the Elderly.
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Wills, Trusts and Estates
Scope:
Virtually every lawyer will be called upon to practice in the area of Wills, Trusts & Estates at some point in his or her career. Additionally, this area is repeatedly tested on the Georgia Bar Examination.
Some lawyers' only association with this area of the law will be the drafting of an occasional will for clients, friends, or family members. Other lawyers will spend a high percentage of their time drafting wills and trust agreements but will be dealing with estates which require little or not tax planning. The specialist in estate planning will engage not only in will drafting but will also counsel clients as to the tax ramifications of certain choices in planning both lifetime transfers and transfers at death.
There are basically three approaches which a student may take to study in the area of wills, trusts and estates. These approaches mirror the three types of law practice outlined above. Some students may wish only to have a basic introduction to this area of the law. Other students may wish to pursue this area at an intermediate level, in more depth, but without an emphasis on the tax aspects of estate planning. Finally, those students who plan to specialize in the area of estate planning will want to take the entire advanced level course of study offered in this area.
Courses in this area:
Introductory Course - Students who want merely an introduction to the principles of law in this area should take Wills, Trusts & Estates I. This course is a 3-hour, one-semester course designed to cover the basic issues relating to wills and trusts law and an overview of the basic tax aspects of estate planning.
Intermediate Level - Students who wish to pursue this area in more depth should plan to take Wills, Fiduciary Administration. This course includes an advanced study of probate and trust administration, and of powers of appointment, and a very basic overview of the tax aspects of estate planning. These students should also consider Drafting of Will & Trusts. This course is designed to focus on the drafting of those instruments which will be used by a general practitioner who engages in wills and trusts work but who does not plan to serve as a tax advisor. The prerequisite for both of these courses is Wills, Trusts & Estates.
Advanced Level - Students who plan to devote themselves primarily to an estate planning practice should take Estate & Gift Taxation and the Estate Planning Seminar. There are no prerequisites for Estate & Gift Taxation. The prerequisites for the Estate Planning Seminar are Wills, Trusts & Estates and the Estate & Gift Taxation course. The Estate & Gift Taxation course focuses on the details of transfer taxation. The Estate Planning Seminar is designed to introduce students to the more sophisticated methods of planning for clients on both a tax and non-tax basis. The paper assigned in this course will satisfy the writing requirement. This course will include a drafting element, but, unlike Drafting of Will & Trusts, the drafting in the Estate Planning Seminar will focus on the more complex clauses and instruments used in tax planning.
Which Professors Teach In The Wills and Estates Area?
Professors Emanuel and Radford teach the classes in this area and are available to discuss the course content with students.
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Property, Land Resource Allocation and Environmental Law
Scope:
The required Property course functions as the gateway to a number of different fields of specialization and sub specialization. Among the paths leading from that introductory gateway are Wills, Trusts & Estates, Land Development Law, and Environmental Law. The sequence of courses on Estate Planning is described in the "Wills, Trusts & Estates" section in this Planner; this summary will focus on the overlapping possibilities related to land as a developable and protectable resource.
The College of Law faculty members who teach in the environmental and land resource allocation area are members of the College’s Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth, directed by Professors Colin Crawford and Julian Juergensmeyer. The Center helps to develop and oversee the college’s program in these areas and promote research and interdisciplinary collaboration through a variety of initiatives, including a study abroad program offered in the summer term in Rio de Javier, Brazil.
Courses in this area:
Related courses:
Land Development: The obvious second level course for those interested in land development law is Real Estate Transactions. This basic course covers the elements of a simple transfer of a small real estate parcel from listing with a real estate broker through closing and recording of title. Most students will find this course's treatment of one of the "bread-and-butter" areas of a general practice a sufficient coverage of the subject. Further study is available in Advanced Real Estate Transactions and Commercial Leasing Seminar.
Land Use: The College has a relatively rich curriculum in public land regulation. Land Use Law deals with the planning and implementation of public goals for use of land. Growth Management Law focuses on key planning and legal techniques for managing the growth of urban areas. Both these courses can be helpfully supplemented by the Local Government Law course which treats the structure of the local entities managing the planning process. A second-level drafting seminar focusing exclusively on Land Use Law is also listed in the curriculum and will be offered whenever sufficient student interest justifies its scheduling.
Environmental Law: Courses offered in the Environmental Law area can be viewed as supplementary to the public land regulation focus as well as important in their own right. For example, the Water Rights Seminar deals with a resource whose scarcity can be an overweening constraint on the land development business; state and federal pollution regulations studied in Environmental Law or Natural Resources Law can be forces to halt development completely when inadequate sewage disposal systems or regional air pollution produce moratoria. The environmental lawyer should be well versed in both local and federal law.
The federal aspect of an environmental lawyer's expertise focuses on the regulation of pollution and toxic substances. The environmental law course surveys all of the major federal legislation regulating air, water, hazardous waste, endangered species, and the environmental impact of agency decisions, as well as introducing similar concepts at the state and local level. Natural Resources Law covers the laws of allocation, use, conservation, and government regulation of natural resources, including energy resources. Hazardous Waste presents a more in-depth coverage of regulations governing hazardous waste, both federal and state.
Several other elective courses can provide a student with some of the background necessary for a practice in environmental law. Environmental law is also closely related with land use and development issues, and the student may want to take these related courses as well. The course in Administrative Law should be considered essential. Other procedural elective courses that could benefit the aspiring environmental lawyer include Legislation, Federal Courts, and Conflict of Laws. Substantive courses that could complement one's background in environmental law include Regulated Industries, Comparative Law, and the Seminar in Law, Science and Technology.
In addition to the general course(s) in Environmental, Natural Resources Law, and urban Environmental Law, the College offers a specialized seminar on Water Rights. The Water Rights Seminar provides an introduction to the law of water in the United States and permits students to present research on specialized topics of interest.
Joint Degree program in Law and Urban Planning: The College of Law offers, in collaboration with the Department of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology, a joint degree program in law and urban planning. The program allows students to jointly pursue a law degree and a masters in city and regional planning. Interested students should contact Professor Juergensmeyer.
Which Professors Teach in this Area?
Professors Bross, Crawford, Juergensmeyer, Mattingly, and Wiseman teach courses in this area.
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Torts and Related Elective Courses
Scope:
Tort Law is the foundation for numerous specialized legal fields. Many of the basic concepts which were developed in the first-year Torts course are explored in depth in elective courses. Such courses examine a wide variety of legal injuries to personal, property, and commercial interests.
Courses in this area:
Torts and Regulatory Control
Constitutional Law: Torts and The Constitution
Other Related Courses
Which Professors Teach In The Torts Area?
Professors Hogue and Segall teach Constitutional Law II and First Amendment. Professor Scott teaches Health Law. Professor Landau teaches Copyrights, Trademarks and Intellectual Property. Professor Marvin teaches Mass Communications Law, Regulated Industries, and Antitrust. Professor Budnitz teaches Consumer Protection Law. Professor Crawford teaches courses in Environmental Law.
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Intellectual Property, Media and Technology Courses
Scope:
As interest in intellectual property, media, and technology has grown, so, too, have the course offerings at the College of Law. The College of Law currently offers a wide range of courses for both technically trained students and students with arts and/or humanities backgrounds. The issues dealt with are quite broad, and range from protection and licensing of rights related to the visual and performing arts to protection and utilization of the newest technologies. Utilization of the Internet as a legal resource is also investigated in depth.
Courses in this area:
Intellectual Property
MEDIA
Regulated Industries deals with a variety of industries, but frequently deals specifically with the administration and regulation of the telecommunications industry. A complementary course is Mass Communications Law, which explores the law of newsgathering and defamation as they relate to the news media.
TECHNOLOGY
Related Courses:
Since media and technology issues frequently involve regulation by governmental agencies, Administrative Law, with its introduction into the processes and functions of federal administrative agencies, is useful to students interested in this area.
Which Professors Teach in this Area?
Professor Landau teaches the courses in Intellectual Property. Professor Marvin teaches the courses in Regulated Industries and Administrative Law. Professor Williams teaches Law, Science and Technology and Sports Law. Professor Wiseman teaches the Law and the Internet course.
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Health Law Courses
Scope:
The health law curriculum offers an opportunity to study the health-care industry from a variety of legal perspectives. Health law is predominately an interdisciplinary field and encompasses many other legal specialties, including administrative law, agency law, antitrust law, corporate law, constitutional law, discrimination law, employment law, tax law, tort law and white collar criminal law. The primary function of the health law curriculum is to introduce students to some of our society's leading controversies affecting the delivery of health care, as well as to expose them to the way in which the legal system attempts to grapple with a rapidly changing set of social problems involving the health-care professions.
The College of Law faculty members who teach in the health law area are members of the college’s Center for Law, Health & Society, which is directed by Professor Charity Scott. The Center helps to develop and oversee the college’s health law program as well as promote research and community outreach through a variety of health law related initiatives.
Courses in this area:
Health Law Related Practice:
- Health Law Partnership (HeLP) Legal Services Clinic
- Externship at Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Externship at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Externship at the Georgia Department of Community Health
- Externship at the Georgia Hospital Association
Health Law: Liability, Health Law: Regulation, and Bioethics and the Law are foundational courses in the health law area, but they are not prerequisites for most of the other health law electives, such as Public Health Law, Law and Psychiatry, and Biotechnology Law and Ethics. An advanced Seminar in Health Law is offered in collaboration with Emory Medical School and allows law students and medical students jointly to examine a range of health law and medical ethics issues.
The HeLP Legal Services Clinic offers students a live client experience in representing the legal needs of low income children who are obtaining health care services through children’s hospitals. Students interested in enrolling in the clinic might also be interested in taking the course in Public Interest and Social Welfare Law.
Related Courses
Students with an interest in health law issues should also consider any of the following courses: Disability Law, Workers' Compensation, Urban Environmental Law, Law and the Elderly, and Public Interest and Social Welfare Law. In addition, students seeking to specialize in health law should consider foundational courses in Administrative law, Antitrust law, Corporate and Tax Law, and Employment Discrimination.
Which Professors Teach in this Area?
Faculty who teach in the health law area include Professors Scott, Lombardo, Wolf, and Todres, Dr. Roberta Berry from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Randy Hughes who is a well known practitioner in the area of Health Law Regulation and a Faculty Fellow at the law school’s Center for Law Health & Society.
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Perspective Courses
Most of the courses in a law curriculum cover the application of current American law in specific subject areas. These courses are necessary to train you to practice law. But it is also useful to step back from the statutes and specific doctrine to look at the larger picture. The following "perspective courses" are designed to help do that. For more information on these electives, see Professors Edmundson, Hogue, Marvin, Milich, Saito, Washington, or Wiseman.
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Lawyer Skills Courses/Litigation/Civil Practice
Scope:
In addition to offering courses in discrete substantive subject areas, such as contracts and torts, the College of Law offers courses designed to provide students with instruction in the skills which a lawyer needs to competently practice law. These skills include legal and factual analysis, research, writing, interviewing, counseling, negotiation, legal drafting, factual analysis, and trial advocacy. This basic instruction may be supplemented by elective courses in the skills area. Students may wish to take a variety of skills courses or specialize in particular areas, such as trial advocacy, appellate advocacy, or research and writing. Professor Kadish is the Director of the Lawyer Skills Development Programs and teaches in the Litigation program.
Which Courses Are Simulation Courses Or Provide Instruction In Areas Closely Related To Lawyer Skills?
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Externship Program
The College of Law offers over 30 different externship programs that place students in a wide variety of "real world" settings. Each externship is designed and supervised to maximize the student's learning experience. Professors Curcio, Hensel and Segall are Co-Directors of the Externship Program. View Externship information »
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The Tax Clinic
The live client Tax Clinic provides professional skills training to law students and legal representation to low income persons during the post-audit stage of their disputes with the Internal Revenue Service. Although it focuses on tax disputes, the Tax Clinic is designed to provide students with general experience in a law firm environment. Professor Blasi is the Director of the Tax Clinic. View Tax Clinic information »
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The HeLP Legal Services Clinic
The HeLP Legal Services Clinic offers students a live client experience in representing the legal needs of low income children who are obtaining health care services through children’s hospitals. Students interested in enrolling in the clinic might also be interested in taking the course in Public Interest and Social Welfare Law. Visit HeLP Legal Services Clinic »
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Bar Exam Subjects
The Bar Exam in Georgia consists of three parts: the Multi-State Bar Exam (MBE), which is the same in all states, a state portion that tests on selected Georgia law subjects, and the Multistate Performance Test. While you should not feel compelled to enroll in every law course tested on the bar exam, you should not leave too many core subjects to a bar review course. A solid and balanced foundation during law school goes a long way to helping you pass the bar.
The Multistate Exam consists of 200 multiple choice questions and covers Contracts, Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Evidence Torts and Real Property.
The Georgia law portion consists of four essay questions drawn from the following list of subjects: Contracts, Torts, Property, Constitutional Law, Evidence, Business Organizations (which includes Agency & Partnership and Corporations), Uniform Commercial Code Articles 2, 3 and 9, Criminal Law and Procedure, Federal Practice and Procedure, Georgia Practice and Procedure, Non-Monetary Remedies (Equitable Remedies), Family Law, Wills, Trusts and Estates, and Professional Ethics.
While Georgia no longer lists Damages as a separate subject for testing, Damages can be tested in conjunction with a question about another subject such as Torts or Contracts. Information about the subjects tested by other states is available at http://www.barbri.com.
The Multistate Performance Test (MPT) consists of two ninety minute questions designed to test an applicant's ability to perform a fundamental lawyering skill in a realistic situation.
