Professional Skills/Lawyering Skills/Simulation

This course provides an in-depth examination of the law of intellectual property licensing. Licensing is one of the most prevalent types of contracts in the entertainment, media and technology industries today. This course will focus on the importance of licensing to these industries and will look at the similarities, as well as the differences, in licensing practices within and between these industries. The course will also look at licensing law and practice in the European Union.

This course explores the relationships and interests of the parties to various contracts in the music industry. Contracts to be covered include those governing recording artists, record producers, and personal managers. The course will feature actual contracts, guest speakers, and other sources of information that provide a real-world picture of the U.S. music industry. By the end of the course, students can expect to learn the following: 1. Students will learn how real world factors such as leverage and relationships impact the negotiation and completion of various agreements in the U.S.

This course examines the various devices and procedures that have been developing for the resolution of legal disputes beyond and apart from the traditional judicial process. Basic topics include the methods of negotiation, mediation, arbitration, plea bargaining and pre-trial settlement, as well as legal doctrines concerning the status and interplay of those methods with the traditional adjudicative devices. The students' development of performance and negotiation skills will be guided by simulations involving ADR processes.

This practical skills course teaches the principles of contemporary commercial contract drafting and introduces the student to selected documents used in common business transactions. Examples of such transactions include, but are not limited to, the following: asset purchase, escrow, and web site development. Among the topics to be covered are the business purposes of selected contract doctrines; translating business ideas into contract concepts; drafting the parts of a contract; drafting with clarity and without ambiguity; adding value to the deal; and review and comment on the contract.

This course is designed to help soon-to-be solo practitioners and attorneys in smaller firms bridge the gap between studying law and practicing law. The class is designed to cultivate proficiency in two practical areas of attorney development, which are typically learned over time rather than formally taught: (A) how to actually practice law, and (B) how to build and manage a law practice.

Participation in the Trial Advocacy Honors Program (TAHP) is by invitation only. Students who have been selected to participate in TAHP must register for the program via Student Action Report (SAR) in the Registration Office (W102). For more information, please visit the TAHP web page at https://www.swlaw.edu/trial-advocacy-honors-progra m

Trial Advocacy introduces the fundamental trial techniques employed in the preparation of witnesses, jury selection, direct examination, cross-examination, expert witnesses, introduction of exhibits, use of demonstrative aids, and delivery of opening statements and closing arguments. Simulations are utilized throughout the course.Prerequisite: Evidence (140 or 140B).

Criminal Litigation in Practice will cover virtually all of the stages of a criminal case - from the probable cause hearing through the sentencing hearing. The focus of this course will be on state practice. Each class will include a brief lecture about the relevant substantive law applicable to the particular stage at issue. The following class will be oral advocacy exercises involving factual hypotheticals implicating the relevant substantive law principles. The exercises will require each student to play the role of either defense counsel or prosecutor.

The BEMLI Externship enables select students to return to an entertainment firm or company for a repeat externship or a second entertainment practicum, upon approval of the Director of the Biederman Institute. The course requirements are identical to any other externship or practicum, including, among other requirements, submitting periodic guided reflections, attending a group meeting with the faculty advisor, and in some cases submitting a paper at the conclusion of the externship.

This spring semester course is designed to help students develop lawyering skills that students will need in their legal careers. The course continues to refine students' skills in the legal research, analysis and writing style techniques introduced in the fall semester LAWS I course. In addition, it adds instruction on persuasive legal writing. The course also includes assignments and lessons on professionalism, oral advocacy and client counseling. The Trial Practice track of LAWS II is tailored to the work of a trial attorney.