Inter-session Courses

Crime and Immigration

(1 credit hour)
The class will explore the immigration consequences of crime, including detention, deportation and permanent bars to reentry. Immigration laws have consistently imposed consequences for crimes committed by non-citizens, but dramatic changes in 1996 when Congress enacted the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) increased the extent and severity of sanctions for criminal behavior. Recently in Padilla v. Kentucky, 130 S.Ct. 1473 (2010), the Supreme Court ruled for the first time that a non-citizen defendant has a right under the Sixth Amendment to receive competent legal advice about the immigration consequences of his or her plea in a criminal case. The class will address and analyze sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act and provide students with tools for better understanding of the intersection between the areas of immigration and criminal law.

Drafting and Planning Wills

(1 credit hour)
This course will cover the planning and drafting of basic wills and trusts. The students will conduct mock client interviews, critique and revise existing wills and trusts, and draft original wills and trust documents. In addition, the course will cover client counseling, dealing with grief, family dispute resolution, and ethics in a probate practice. The students will use materials from a variety of sources, compiled by the Professor. The grade will be based on the assignments and exercises; there will not be a final exam. While the courses in Wills, Estates and Trusts are not required, they would be helpful for this course.

Deposition Skills

(1 credit hour)
This course will teach law students how to take and defend a deposition in a civil litigation case. Deposition Skills is an intensive and interactive skills course. Students will assume roles as plaintiff or defense counsel in a simulated case, either from the files of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, or a fact pattern from the Civil Justice Clinic. Both parties will prepare witnesses, prepare deposition outlines, and take and defend depositions (including information gathering, obtaining admissions, and using exhibits.) Two classes of 6 persons each will be talk simultaneously, with some concurrent sessions.

Direct and Cross Examination of an Expert Witness

(1 credit hour)
The course will focus on the skills and knowledge related to direct and cross examination of expert witnesses. The focus will be on actual student preparation, questioning and defense of expert witnesses at trial; however, students will be required to learn some substantive knowledge of the rules and cases regarding expert witnesses. The course will emphasize Federal law and a prior knowledge of Evidence and/or Trial Ad is helpful.

Incorporating a Business Corporation

(1 credit hour)
This course focuses on how to incorporate a business and the legal issues involved in counseling small businesses. At the end of the course, students should have the necessary knowledge to perform a complete incorporation for a business organization in Texas. Students will draft certificates of formation, bylaws, organizational minutes including meeting notices and property transfer documents, stock certificates including voting agreements and stock purchase agreements, applications for an Employer Identification Number from the IRS and for Subchapter S status, etc. The course requires completion of a drafting project within 28 days after the four days of class lecture. Pre-requisite: NONE. While Business Associations might be helpful, this skills course also serves as an introduction to Business Associations by providing tangible examples of concepts discussed in Business Associations.

Non Litigated Divorce with Children and Property

(1 credit hour)
This course is based on a single simulated case with the class divided into the two parties. The simulated case involves friendly parties with three children and substantial property. The students will identify the requirements of a petition based on the TxFC, TRCP, and TxPRC, and then draft the petition. Based on the facts of the simulations the students will then consider and create a written proposal for division of property, spousal support, child support, division of rights and duties of the parents, and visitation. When combined, the created proposals constitute the statutorily required parenting plan plus that part of a Decree that can and should be individually drafted. Additionally, the students will draft several short analytical narratives on the topics being considered. On the last class day each student will meet with their assigned opposing attorney to negotiate a final agreement, which they will then compare to a sample divorce decree.

Jury Selection in Criminal Cases

(1 credit hour)
This course will provide a basic knowledge of the procedure and law governing jury selection. Additionally, it provides practical tips for the topics covered and the most persuasive way in which to present them.

Practical Aspects of a Suite Affecting the Parent Child Relationship

(1 credit hour)
(SAPCR) This course will focus on a Suit Affecting the Parent Child Relationship. The students will engage in a number of exercises most of them requiring reading and analyzing sections of the family code, TRCP or section of the TxPRC, and usually drafting a portion of a document or writing a narrative; multiple fact patters will be used to illustrate the issues. Suits in family law (including divorce but especially SAPCRs) deviate from the rules governing other suits in many ways. This course will highlight and explore the areas of difference, it will refer to, but not cover, areas where family law follows other civil suits. Topics to be covered will include: standing, continuing and exclusive jurisdiction, venue and transfers, the petition, service (on alleged fathers) , temporary orders, dismissals and to some extent planning and evidence.

Practical Writing in the Legal World

(1 credit hour)
The class will be taught in an interactive fashion. Assignments will be made based on examples taken from actual practice. Students will work individually and in group format on the following types of writing: 1. A memo to the file documenting information obtained from the client; 2. A motion to the trial court with a brief memorandum of law in support thereof; 3. A letter to opposing counsel regarding acceptance of a settlement offer; 4. A limited briefing of an issue regarding trial error for an appellate court. Additionally, writing exercises will be performed in class to enhance students’ understanding of the rules of grammar. Purchase of a text will not be necessary, but I will utilize Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, as well as Bryan Garner’s The Winning Brief.

Trial Advocacy — Using Courtroom Technology

(1 credit hour)
This course is designed to familiarize students with emerging technology and how it can be used, and not used, in trial presentations. Students will learn how to use effectively equipment and software such as document cameras, DVD’s, VCR’s, digital cameras, “white boards”, PowerPoint, and trial presentation software. The course will also address the strategy and tactics of using, or not using, technology in the courtroom. The student’s grade will be based upon the student’s performance in using the technology while presenting portions of a case. (Enrollment is limited to 8 students)