William P. Alford
Fall 2024 – Spring 2025; Fall 2023 – Spring 2024; Fall 2022 – Spring 2023
1 credit
Students interested in this writing group are encouraged to inform Professor Alford of their interest at their earliest convenience (ideally, in advance of the October deadline) so as to facilitate planning. …
Mark Wu
Fall 2023
4 credits
This course examines the laws underlying U.S. policymaking for trade. It explores the different means through which the U.S. has attempted to use trade agreements as well as unilateral measures to advance its economic and geostrategic interests. How is policy crafted among the different agencies and branches within the U.S. government? How have digital technology, offshoring, the rise of China, and the impasse in multilateral negotiations impacted U.S. interests and strategy? Among the topics to be explored are: delegation of powers; national security reviews; preference programs for developing countries; recent free trade agreements (TPP and USMCA); export controls; and adjustment assistance for workers displaced by trade. Particular emphasis will be placed on comparing the Trump Administration’s policies with those of its recent predecessors. …
J. Mark Ramseyer
Winter 2025; Fall 2023; Fall 2022; Fall 2021
3 credits
This course is designed to introduce the non-specialist law student to major features of the Japanese legal system. The course attempts to integrate the structures, processes, and personnel of the Japanese legal system with other features of Japanese society and history. Topics covered include (but are not limited to): Litigation and extra-judicial settlement, the legal services industry, economic regulation, criminal procedure, and constitutional litigation. …
William P. Alford
Fall 2023; Fall 2022; Fall 2021
1 credit
This one unit course will examine the role that China has been playing in a world order in flux. We will consider, inter alia, China’s engagement of existing global norms, ways in which China may (or may not) now or in the foreseeable future be shaping such norms, and their impact on China. In the course of so doing, we will also address the manner of US engagement with such norms. …
Vicki C. Jackson
Fall 2023; Fall 2021
4 credits
The course will cover a series of topics arising in the comparative study of constitutional systems. Concentrating on constitutional structure and law in the United States and in such other countries as Australia, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Israel, Japan, Sri Lanka and South Africa, it will examine selected problems of both constitutional design and constitutional adjudication. We will, for example, take up the varying foundations and structures of judicial review of the constitutionality of laws (e.g., how are courts that engage in constitutional review structured, how are their judges appointed, what is the source of their authority to engage in constitutional review), in light of recent controversies (including those involving the environment). …
William P. Alford, Idriss Fofana
Past Instructors: William P. Alford, Intisar Rabb, Idriss Fofana (Fall 2023)
Fall 2024; Fall 2023
2 Credits
This workshop will engage key questions in comparative law, using as focal points the study of African and Chinese and other Asian legal systems (including Islamic law), and legal history. Students will read examples of influential scholarship in each field both for their importance and as a vehicle for thinking about methodological issues in comparative work in general. Students will also have the opportunity to engage several leading scholars in each field, as well as scholars earlier in their career, who will present works-in-progress. Students considering taking the Workshop should attend the first class even if not formally enrolled. …
Lobsang Sangay
Spring 2025; Fall 2023; Fall 2022
1 credit
This Reading Group will focus on the question of and solutions for Tibet. It will look at the historical status of Tibet and the current situation of the Tibetan people. The class will examine the guarantees and practices of national minority rights under the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China in light of international human rights standards. Do China’s guarantees respecting national minority rights meet international standards regarding the right to self-determination or the protection of minorities. Might reference to the rights of indigenous people be helpful? The approach of the seminar will be to interrogate the best ways to address these issues and find solutions. We will look at the evolution and major changes in the stand of the Dalai Lama from seeking independence, to what he has described as a zone of peace for …
J. Mark Ramseyer
Fall 2023; Fall 2022
2 credits
In this reading group, students will read a wide variety of law-related materials in the original Japanese language. Class discussion will cover both any language questions that arise, and the substance of the material discussed. …
