Courses

This seminar will teach the most useful research strategies and resources for researching international, comparative and foreign law competently.  It will address relevant methods and sources, both print and electronic, to prepare students to research all types of international legal materials that they will use during their student years as well as in practice. Final grades will be based on a research project as well as class participation. The research project will be a research guide on an international, foreign, or comparative law topic.

This is an advanced international human rights law course in which students engage in research on cutting-edge issues in human rights law and policy for non-governmental organizations and inter-governmental organizations under the supervision of the professor.  The course will build on the students' substantive knowledge of international human rights law, expose students to issues that arise in human rights practice; develop skills in strategic decision-making, problem-solving, research, and effective writing; and provide experience in the interplay of theory and practice in this field of law. Research may include fact-gathering from contacts within the organizations and from the organizations' contacts in the country or countries in question.  The course has two components: a classroom component of two hours per week, and regular meetings with each individual student.  Class sessions will address issues that arise in human rights advocacy, including strategic decision-making; standard-setting; interpretation and application of law; choice of remedies; ethical issues in human rights lawyering; and aspects of human rights law practice on behalf of governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations. The regular meetings with individual students provide guidance on questions of law, strategy, research and writing as they arise.
 
*Evaluation: Students are graded on the basis of the research and writing done for the organization whose project they have undertaken, and on their participation in classroom discussions.
 
Enrollment in the course is through application, and the forms are available from the Special Assistant to International and Comparative Law Programs in Waterman Hall.

Prerequisite:  International Human Rights (with minimum grade of B).

This seminar is a research and writing seminar that will provide a framework and faculty supervision support for students to engage in comparative environmental law research. While the seminar is designed primarily to support VLS students participating in the US-China joint student research projects and will focus generally on China, the seminar is sufficiently broad to accommodate students interested in researching the environmental law systems of other countries.
Most of the course will focus on helping students design/refine their research project proposals and critiquing their research and draft papers.  However, the seminar will also provide some basic introduction and background on comparative law and methodology, a brief introduction to Chinese law (and possibly other foreign law, depending on student enrollment), and research methods and resources.  Students will learn basic comparative law methodology and research skills related to navigating a foreign legal system and generate a publishable paper at the end of the course.  This course is a two-semester sequence (fall 2-credits, spring 1-credit), though the fall semester may be taken independently.
 
Registration requires approval by the instructors.
There are no pre-requisites for this course. Chinese language proficiency is useful, but not required.
Students selected to participate in the US-China joint research projects for the academic year 2010-2011 are required to take this seminar.

Satisfies perspective requirement.

Germany's constitutional court is a model for post-dictatorial states in the New Europe.  The legacy of France's Code Civil continues to evolve in dozens of countries worldwide. Canada is breaking new ground with bi-jural legal education.   While practicing lawyers still talk about perceived differences between the Common Law and Civil Law,  legal theorists debate whether the distinction was ever valid.    We look at both approaches to understand what these different legal traditions and diverse national legal systems have to teach each other, and what a U.S. lawyer can learn for his or her practice, whether stateside or abroad.

We begin by examining comparative law's purposes and methods.  Then we devote several weeks to exploring how different countries within our own Western Legal Tradition understand sources of law, the relationship between codes and cases, and constitutional design, including questions of federalism, judicial review and balance of powers.  We also look at civil and criminal procedure, legal education and the role of various legal actors.  We study selected aspects of legal systems, focusing on France and Germany, with some discussion of "mixed" common/civil law jurisdictions (e.g. Louisiana, South Africa). We also study aspects of the European Union and, time permitting, an emerging legal system chosen to complement student paper topics and to contrast to the Western tradition. 

Method of Evaluation:  1) Class participation, 2) a short, preliminary paper using the comparative method, and 3) a longer paper comparing how two different legal systems address the same legal question. This course is particularly recommended for students participating in any of the Vermont Law School study abroad programs.

Satisfies perspectives requirement and a distributional course requirement for the Certificate Program in International and Comparative Law, and may be used to satisfy the Advanced Writing  Requirement.

This course provides an overview of the tremendous environmental challenges for China's 1.3 billion people and the efforts to address them through law and regulation. After an introduction to the political and legal system and cultural background of the world's soon-to-be largest greenhouse gas emitter, we will survey the basic regulatory schemes managing air quality, water resources and quality, natural resources, environmental impact assessments, and pending legislation concerning waste management and energy conservation. Among the key issues covered are the challenges of large hydropower projects like the Three Gorges Dam, high visibility pollution incidents like the Songhua river spill, China's burgeoning electronic waste recycling industry, public participation and democratic governance as it impacts environmental protection in a socialist state, environmental enforcement, and the country's approach to global climate change. If there is sufficient interest, we may offer an additional, optional, one-credit session in China immediately following the class, to let students experience firsthand the environmental conditions and lectures and meetings with leading Chinese environmental scholars and activists.

Ethics/Philosophy
Perspective

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This course considers the principles used to resolve legal problems when the conflicting laws of two or more jurisdictions might reasonably be applied. The course initially focuses upon the different rules and methodologies used to determine the appropriate choice of law. Constitutional limits on the use of such rules and methodologies are explored in some detail.

This seminar will provide a vehicle for exploring "hot topics" in international law. Though the specific focus may shift from year to year, this Spring Semester we will examine economic and social rights in international law through the lens of post-Katrina advocacy; challenges to the prohibition of torture in a post-9/11 world; developments in international human rights norms on sexual orientation and gender identity; recent UN Security Council responses to threats to peace and security; and the extra-territorial application of treaties (e.g. to Guantanamo, Kosovo, Iraq), among other topics. The course will include several short international law research exercises and a final project involving review and assessment of one or more of the syllabus topics.

This course explores the intersection of energy and development with special attention to the implications of climate change. The professors bring a perspective gained from multilateral environmental finance and development work to these issues. Course topics and readings are based on recent developments and include case studies of the environmental implications of energy growth for development in China and other large developing countries, the opportunities and challenges to renewable energy and other technological solutions, and the potential contribution of carbon trading. The past and potential future role of the World Bank and other development institutions is also addressed, and the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol provide background context.
Policy, Resource Management and Planning

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This course focuses on two interrelated but distinct concepts: environmental justice and sustainable development. With respect to environmental justice, the course examines the issue not only from an environmental law perspective but also from a civil rights law perspective. It explores how environmental justice issues are framed, addressed, and resolved through litigation and mediation in the U.S. With respect to sustainable development, the course examines how environmental law is an essential tool for a national government to achieve sustainable development. Environmental law provides the foundation for governmental policies and actions for the preservation and protection of the environment and human health, and for ensuring that the use of natural resources is both equitable and sustainable. The course examines how developing countries and countries with economies in transition face numerous challenges in their efforts to achieve sustainable development. The course involves discussion of environmental law, history, political science, policy studies, litigation vs. alternative dispute resolution, and urban planning and zoning, as well as reports by the UN and other international bodies. Detailed case studies will be used.
Ethics/Philosophy
Perspective

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This course examines the principles of European environmental law and techniques for environmental management with particular emphasis on substantive aspects of EU environmental law, including EU nature conservation law, environmental impact assessment, integrated pollution control, waste management, climate change, and the enforcement of environmental law at EU and Member State levels. Issues relating to problems of the judicial process and access to environmental information and environmental justice will be discussed. Students are expected to participate actively in class and may be invited to prepare short presentations. Students will gain a thorough knowledge of the underlying philosophies and requirements of EU environmental law and how it applies in practice throughout the Union.
Perspective

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This seminar offers students an opportunity to study the developments that have contributed to the dynamic growth of the European Union over the past half-century.  The course is taught in two components.  The first component, taught by an Italian law professor at VLS during January or February, is intended to provide the student with a basic background in European Union law (history, evolving institutional structure, key decisions, etc.).  Classes are scheduled during free periods, in the evenings, and/or on weekends to avoid conflicts with regularly scheduled classes.  The second component, offered during Spring Break at the law school in Trento, Italy, consists of a series of lectures by Italian law professors in English on selected topics of European Union law (private law, criminal law, environmental law, etc.)
 
Satisfies perspective requirement.
 
MELP only students need permission to take the course as an elective.

 
Satisfies perspective requirement.
 
MELP only students need permission to take the course as an elective.
 
Minimum enrollment of 12 students required.

Taught by a French law professor (in English), this course address the substantive law and underlying policies of the law of French business corporations and the ways in which the law differs from U.S. corporate law.  This course is required for students in the dual degree program with the University of Cergy-Pontoise.

Satisfies perspective requirement.

Taught by a French law professor (in English), this course provides an introduction the French law and legal system, and French legal methodology.  This course is required for students in the dual degree program with the University of Cergy-Pontoise.
  
Language of instruction - English

*Classes will be scheduled so that they do not conflict with classes scheduled during the usual academic course schedule, and classes may be scheduled during some evening and weekend time.

Students in the MELP and LLM programs may need permission to take this course as an elective.

Satisfies perspective requirement.

This course considers genocide from an interdisciplinary perspective, addressing legal, cultural, political, economic, and moral issues surrounding this phenomenon. These issues will be dealt with in the context of broader international human rights concepts. Students will focus on two questions: Why does genocide happen, and what can international law do to prevent it from happening or stop it once it has begun?

Not offered in 2009-10.

This course will examine the links in theory and in law between the enjoyment of internationally recognized human rights and protection of the environment. It will assess the value and limits of procedural rights of access to information, public participation, and remedies in environmental law, as well as the case law of human rights bodies finding environmental degradation to constitute a breach of various human rights such as life, health, home life, and privacy. It considers the value and implications of formulating a "right to a safe and healthy environment" and reviews the current status of this right in national and international law.
Perspective

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This course will provide a review and problem-based analysis of U.S. immigration laws.  We will examine the development of immigration law in the United States and the constitutional principles and policy considerations affecting immigration law at both the federal and state levels.  We will cover the primary employment and family based non-immigrant and immigrant categories; citizenship issues; grounds for inadmissibility/deportability; detention; employer sanctions; the process of removal; and grounds for relief.  We will likewise explore asylum and refugee law and the protections provided by the Convention Against Torture.  Finally, we will cover issues related to battered immigrants under the Violence Against Women Act" as the final sentence of the course description.

Students in this seminar will research and write about the doctrines, principles, and rules of law designed ensure or facilitate the rights of present and future generations to protection from harms resulting or likely to result from global warming and the duty of current-day actors to protect present and future generations against such harms.

In the international arena, students study treaties that may provide remedies for harm caused to humans and to natural resources by activities such as transporting oil in tankers, burning fossil fuels, and exporting hazardous substances. They also study many efforts to prevent harm rather than to remedy it.  Comparative law issues range from how similar, environmentally based disputes between private parties might be resolved in a wide variety of legal and social systems, to a detailed comparison of environmental legislation in two federal systems and their member states-the U.S. and the European Community.
Perspective

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This course is a practical introduction to private cross-border transactions. It will proceed step-by-step through the three basic types of international transactions: purchase/sale of goods; licensing of intellectual properties; and investment of capital in foreign countries in a service business.

The course will rely heavily on problems as the basis for learning. The problems will lead us through the practical, as well as philosophical, problems of private international transactions.  

The course will use some widely used conventions such as the CISG, as well as law from various countries around the world to solve problems arising in each transaction.  By considering law in different countries, we can learn to appreciate the importance of culture in molding law. As an example, we will consider the significance of culture in interviewing and negotiation. At the end of the course, you should have an understanding of the most typical transactions in international trade, a sense of the approaches used around the world to solve issues arising under them, and the importance of understanding both the law and culture involved in the transactions.

Grades will be based on class participation in the problem-solving process and several written problem solutions based on a new country's law (combination of basic international law research and written analysis) throughout the semester.

This course will explore International Criminal Law, broadly defined to include criminal issues that arise in the international setting and international issues that arise in the context of national criminal law.  This broad definition will encompass not only consideration of the prosecution of crimes (war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes against peace) in international tribunals, both ad hoc and the permanent International Criminal Court, but also transnational crimes such as terrorism, organized crime, trafficking in drugs and persons, and cybercrimes, which will be prosecuted in domestic/national courts.