Juris Doctor (JD) Course Descriptions
Course Description
The class focuses on case analysis, case synthesis, statutory construction, research techniques, legal correspondence, and citation form. Students will engage in objective analysis and analyze several fact situations and prepare intra-office memos and correspond with "clients."
JD 102 Contracts 4 units
Course Description
Basic course for the study of the law of contracts, offer and acceptance, consideration, parties to the contract, joint and several contracts, conditional and third party contracts, illegality, discharge, Statute of Frauds and Parole Evidence Rule as they affect contractual obligations.
JD 103 Remedies 4 units
Course Description
Legal and equitable remedies, including damages, injunctive and declaratory relief, specific performance, rescission, and restitution. Considerations in choosing a remedy. Alternate remedies.
JD 104 Torts 4 units
Course Description
Intentional torts and defenses, negligence, vicarious liability, and strict liability, including products liability. Interference with contract, privacy, defamation, and other relational torts.
JD 105 Legal Research, Writing & Analysis II 2 units
Course Description
Legal Research, Writing & Analysis II focuses on persuasive writing. Students analyze an extensive fact situation and prepare an argumentative memorandum and an appellate brief. In addition, students give oral arguments on campus and engage in settlement negotiations concerning their case. The course culminates with an oral appellate argument, based on the appellate brief, before a three judge moot court panel at the downtown courthouse.
JD 106 Criminal Law 4 units
Course Description
Fundamentals of the substantive law of crimes, punishable acts and omissions, requisite intent, legal defenses, liability for conspiracy and attempt, lesser included offenses, enforcement of the law and introduction to criminal procedure.
JD 107 Civil Procedure I 4 units
Course Description
This course examines constitutional constraints on government investigation of crime. Topics include search and seizure, interrogations and confessions and eyewitness identification. While the focus is on the United States Constitution (4th, 5th, and 6th amendments and due process), some attention will be paid to state constitutional issues. Some coverage will also be given to the role of victims at this stage of the procedure.
JD 108 Evidence 4 units
Course Description
Inquiry into relationship of pleadings and proof at trial, techniques of proof, judicial notice, rules relating to witnesses, documents and demonstrative evidence; discovery procedures and application of rules of evidence at trial; hearsay and its exceptions.
JD 109 Civil Procedure II 4 units
Course Description
Civil Procedure II focuses on the procedural rules governing the adjudication of criminal cases, with emphasis on fundamental constitutional doctrines. Topics include charging decisions and prosecutorial discretion, discovery, pre-trial motions, plea negotiations, the rights of the defendant at trial, jury selection, the role of the jury, sentencing, appeal and post-conviction relief.
JD 110 Criminal Procedure 4 units
Course Description
Procedures from arrest through appellate proceedings, bail, and release on own recognizance, arraignments, motions, discovery and trial procedures; search and seizure and other constitutional guaranties as interpreted by recent Supreme Court decisions.
JD 111 Constitutional Law I 4 units
Course Description
This introductory course focuses on the issues raised by the structural parts of the United States Constitution. Consideration will be given to judicial processes in constitutional cases; judicial review; and the federal courts functioning in the constitutional system. Attention will then be given to the relationships of the three federal branches of government, with emphasis on some of the powers and limitations of the executive, legislative and judicial bodies that arise from principles of separation of powers and national checks and balances. The course will also consider federalism and the respective roles of the national and state governments in some detail. Both general principles and their specific application to sources of federal and states powers and their limitations will be discussed, with particular emphasis on examples under the commerce clause.
JD 112 Constitutional Law II 4 units
Course Description
This course is a continuation of Constitutional Law I. There, the focus was on the structural constitution-federalism, the separation of powers, and the role of the courts. In Constitutional Law II, the focus is on individual rights and their protection under the Constitution. We study primarily the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments for substantive due process and equal protection and the First Amendment for the freedoms of speech and religion.
JD 113 Wills & Trusts 4 units
Course Description
The substantive law of trusts; express and implied trusts; formation of testamentary and inter vivo trusts; rights and duties of grantor, trustee and beneficiary; administration of the trust. The law of wills in California and its origin, including non-probate changes in ownership at death, interstate succession, the statute of wills, validity and interpretation of wills.
JD 114 Property I 4 units
Course Description
An introductory investigation of Anglo-American rules governing acquisition, transfer, and use of real and personal property. Acquisition of property is studied through the law of finders, the rule of capture, and the doctrine of adverse possession. Transfer of property is evaluated through the concept of estates in land and future interests, including marital interests.
JD 115 Taxation 4 units
Course Description
An introductory course which includes theory and problems of individual income taxation, State and Federal; basic corporate taxation; taxing procedures, categories of taxable events, capital investments, gains, depreciation, estate and gift taxes.
JD 116 Property II 4 units
Course Description
Property II focuses on the historical development of land law, common law estates and conveyances. statute of uses, indicia of ownership, modem conveyance, landlord and tenant issues, deeds, recording acts, covenants, easements, equitable servitudes, adverse possession, rights and duties incident to the ownership of land, future interests. Emphasis is given to the tension between public needs and private desires in the allocation, transfer, and development of property rights.
JD 117 Community Property 4 units
Course Description
History and development of community property and quasi-community property law, interests of spouses in the community, agreements, separate vs. community property, future interests in community property, rights on dissolution of community and methods of division, and legal implications.
JD 118 Business Associations/Corporations 4 units
Course Description
Nature, formation and liabilities of partnerships and other unincorporated associations; nature and character of stock; closely-held and non-profit corporation organizations; relation of corporations to the state; de jure and de facto corporations; obligations and rights of shareholders, directors, and creditors; merger and termination of corporations.
JD 119 Agency and Partnership 4 units
Course Description
An introduction to the law of agency, its uses and limitations. Methods of creation, and termination. The powers and authority of agents, both formal and ostensible. Ratification of the acts of an agent. When notice of a principal and agent relationship is necessary. The reciprocal rights and duties of principal and agent in fiduciary relationships. Master and servant and the doctrine of respondent superior, including tort and criminal liabilities. The common law origins of agency and how employers liability, workers' compensation, and motor vehicle statutes affect master and servant relationships.
JD 120 Professional Responsibility 4 units
Course Description
A study of the legal profession and of many of the ethical decision-making problems the American lawyer is likely to encounter in all phases of practice. The American Bar Association's Code of Professional Responsibility and the California Rules of Professional Conduct are considered. The problems in building a law practice, the different roles of the lawyer as counselor, negotiator, judge, and teacher. Relations with clients. Public service. Maintaining the integrity of the legal profession.
*Electives:
JD 121 Conflict of Law 4 units
Course Description
This course analyzes cases and materials from several common-law countries. Students will discover that there are very few firm answers in Conflicts, but a lot of fascinating issues. Students learn theoretical issues that have very practical ramifications in interstate and international jurisprudence.
JD 122 Immigration Law 4 units
Course Description
This course explores the legal, historical, and policy perspectives that shape U.S. law governing immigration and citizenship. Students will examine the constitutional bases for regulating immigration, the history of immigration law in the U.S., the source and scope of congressional and executive branch power in the realm of immigration, and the role of the judiciary in interpreting immigration law. The course will address citizenship and naturalization, the admission and removal of immigrants and non-immigrants, refugee and asylum law, and the issue of undocumented immigration. In addition, students will analyze the impact of immigration in other areas, including employment, criminal law, family unification, discrimination, and national security.
JD 123 Legal Practice Clinic 4 units
Course Description
Hands-on experience in the supervised practice of criminal and civil law.
JD 124 California Secured Transactions 4 units
Course Description
A comprehensive survey of real property security transactions and the rights and related rights, duties, and remedies, with particular emphasis on California law regarding deeds of trust, mortgages, foreclosure, and other security devices.
JD 125 Commercial Transactions 4 units
Course Description
Sales of personal property with emphasis on the Uniform Sales Act and Uniform Commercial Code. Conditional sales contracts, other sales agreements, risk of loss, statutes of frauds, express and implied warranties, and contractual and jurisdictional problems.
JD 126 Insurance Law 4 units
Course Description
This course gives students a detailed account of insurance law and regulation in the U.S. with particular stress and rights and redress for policy-holders. By the end of the course, students will be able to explain in depth the nature of U.S. insurance law and practice and advise parties to an insurance contract on their respective rights and obligations in a given factual situation.
JD 127 California Civil Procedure 4 units
Course Description
This course is designed for attorneys, law students and paralegals who are interested in an overview of the basic steps in California civil procedure: from start to finish It addresses actual practice issues such as client intake, case strategies, choice of forum, filing the complaint, challenges to the complaint, joinder of parties and cross complaints, discovery, summary judgment, pre-trial motions, use of form pleadings, trial process, legal research and more. The course utilizes and discusses the California Civil Code, California Rules of Court, local rules, California Judicial Council forms, form jury instructions, research and online resources and other essential materials. This is part two of an eight-part course on Civil Procedure. The course covers sources of procedural law, the three-track litigation system, and how to choose a jurisdiction.
JD 128 Debtor & Creditor Law 4 units
Course Description
Study of basic legal principles governing rights and duties of debtors and creditors. Introduction to Law of Bankruptcy, specifically Chapters 7, 11, and 13 of the United States Bankruptcy Code and applicable California law. Preparation of bankruptcy petitions, related schedules and documents needed for initial filing of petitions. Debt counseling protection, compromise and collection techniques including garnishment, foreclosure and attachment of personal property explored.