List of Electives

Administrative Law
LAW 604 3 credits
Examines the legal structure of federal and state government agencies, how they may be structured under the Constitution, how they issue and enforce regulations, and how they make decisions.

Advanced Advocacy: Special Topics
Law 718 3 credits
This course will involve analysis and writing about complex legal problems and writing documents that would be submitted to a court or quasi-judicial decision-maker. The emphasis of the course and the types of assignments will vary depending on the professor who is teaching each semester. This course satisfies the 3rd semester Lawyering Process requirement. Prerequisites: Law 505 Lawyering Process I & Law 515 Lawyering Process II.

Advanced Intellectual Property Seminar
Law 733 2-3 credits
This course covers advanced topics in copyright, trademark and unfair competition law, trade secrets, and patent law. Exact topics will depend on students’ backgrounds and interests, as well as recent legal developments. Each student will write an individual research paper on a topic selected in consultation with the instructor. Prerequisite: Law 621 Intellectual Property I, or Law 629 Intellectual Property II.

Advanced Legal Analysis and Writing: Special Topics
Law 610 3 credits
This course involves analysis and writing about complex legal problems, interpretation of various authorities and use of various forms of legal reasoning, types of argument, and techniques for clean and effective writing. The emphasis of the course and the types of assignment will vary depending on the professor who is teaching each semester. This course satisfies the 3rd semester Lawyering Process requirement. Prerequisites: Law 505 Lawyering Process I & Law 515 Lawyering Process II.

Advanced Legal Research
LAW 729 2-3 credits
The goal of Advanced Legal Research is to expand the research skills that have been introduced in Lawyering Process I as well as introduce new topics. Practitioner-oriented materials and their use are a focus of the class. In addition, research in specific subject areas also are explored.

Alternative Dispute Resolution Survey
LAW 670 3 credits
Students engage in simulated situations involving various means of alternative dispute resolution in action, including simulated forms of mediation, arbitration, and various hybrids of ADR. Prerequisite: LAW 531 Civil Procedure/Alternative Dispute Resolution II.

American Legal History
LAW 602 3 credits
Examination of major issues in American legal history such as the role of lawyers in society, the role of law in developing the economy, and the development of American legal institutions.

Arbitration
LAW 717 3 credits
Examination of the history and use of arbitration as well as its current legal status. Focus will be on substantive legal doctrines of arbitration, particularly enforcement of arbitration agreements, and on arbitration procedure, particularly the manner in which arbitration may be conducted in various contexts.

Basic Bankruptcy
LAW 605 3 credits
This course will review the basic elements of business and consumer bankruptcy under federal bankruptcy statutes. Emphasis will be placed on problem solving and ethical issues.

Business Organizations
LAW 626 3-4 credits
This course covers the basic principles of law applicable to agency relationships, partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations. Business Organizations serves as the law school's introduction not only to business law but also to business generally, and some attention will be given to introducing basic business concepts and financial theory. In Business Organizations, students study the Restatement (Second) of Agency, the Restatement (Third) of Agency, the Uniform Partnership Act, the Revised Uniform Partnership Act, the Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act, Delaware General Corporate Law, and the Revised Model Business Corporations Act.

Commercial Law: Concepts in Secured Transactions and Payment Systems
LAW 668 4-5 credits
This course will give students a familiarity with, and the ability to manipulate, basic concepts in secured transactions (Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code) and certain aspects of payment systems (Article 3,4 and 5 of the Uniform Commercial Code).

Community Property
LAW 630 1-3 credits
This course examines the law dealing with the classification, management and distribution of marital property within the community property jurisdictions of the United States.

Conflict of Laws
LAW 635 3 credits
This course covers problems that arise when transactions, relationships or events involve more than one jurisdiction; it discusses matters of choice of law, jurisdiction, and recognition and enforcement of judgments in both interstate and international contexts. The course surveys the challenges that online activities present in conflict of laws and looks at conflicts in certain selected areas, such as intellectual property and class action litigation.

Congressional Externship
LAW 750 3-6 credits
Explores the legislative process by placing students in legislative offices in Washington, D.C.

Criminal Procedure - Adjudication
LAW 664 3 credits
Covers law and practices after a defendant is charged until final disposition. Includes prosecutorial discretion, bail, plea bargaining, right to counsel, grand jury, discovery, jury selection, speedy trial, self-incrimination, confrontation, prosecutorial misconduct, double jeopardy, adequacy of counsel and sentencing. Law 653, Criminal Procedure – Investigation (formerly Criminal Procedure I) is NOT a prerequisite for this course. The topics addressed in this course are tested on the bar exam. Constitutional Law II is a good pre- or co-requisite, but is neither required not necessary to benefit from this course. Law 653 Criminal Procedure – Investigations is NOT a prerequisite for this course.

Criminal Procedure - Investigation
LAW 653 3 credits
This course covers the laws regulating the daily interactions of law enforcement agents with the public, namely the laws of search and seizure, arrests, confessions and interrogation. This course will introduce the majority and minority rules on the laws regulating law enforcement practices in the United States and acquaint you with the procedural variety of this area of law. In addition, this course will discuss the major policies behind the law and encourage you to consider interactions among multiple institutions at the state and federal level. Finally, this course will touch on current issues of enormous importance to law enforcement, such as drugs, race, national security, and technology. This course will not cover the rights of persons charged with crimes in criminal trials. This course is NOT a prerequisite for Law 664 Criminal Procedure – Adjudication.

Cyberlaw
LAW 646 3 credits
Study of legal issues attending use of computers and electronic communications and commerce, including intellectual property concerns related to cyberspace and features such as websites, e-commerce, and communications. Law 629 Intellectual Property is strongly recommended before students take Cyberlaw.

Directed Readings
LAW 780 1 credit
Students earn credit for completing readings under the supervision and approval of a faculty member.

Directed Research
LAW 781 1-3 credits
Students research and write about a legal topic of their choice under the guidance and supervision of a faculty member who has approved their choice of topic. Students further their knowledge of the area, as well as their legal research and writing skills.

Disability Law
LAW 617 3 credits
This course examines the law of disability discrimination, focusing on the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and other federal and state statutes, case law, and regulations governing the civil rights of persons with disabilities with respect to education, employment, public accommodations, and housing.

Education Clinic
LAW 769 3 credits
Students will represent children and their adult educational decision makers in educational matters in administrative foray including informal and formal hearings within the Clark County and State of Nevada school systems and possibly in state and federal court. Students, teamed with professionals from other disciplines including education, social work and psychology, will also work on educational policy and advocacy.

Employment Discrimination Law
LAW 618 3 credits
This course examines the law of employment discrimination, focusing on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and other federal and state statutes, case law, and regulations protecting the civil rights of employees and job applicants.

Employment Law
LAW 619 3 credits
This course surveys the law of employment relations focusing on common law exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine through public policy, individual contracts, handbooks, and tort doctrine. The course examines just cause provisions of the Model Termination Act, analyzes common law and statutory protections afforded to employee speech and employee privacy, and examines federal wages and hours legislation.

Entertainment Law
LAW 641 3 credits
This course surveys a wide range of legal issues pertinent to live and recorded entertainment, including intellectual property rights, contract formation and breach, regulatory schemes, labor issues, and First Amendment considerations. Prerequisite: LAW 629 Intellectual Property II.

Environmental Quality Law
LAW 651 3 credits
This course provides an overview of the law and policy of environmental quality and pollution control. The course addresses the origins and development of modern statutory environmental law as it relates to the various media: air, water and soil.

Estate and Gift Tax
LAW 650 2-3 credits
This course examines the federal taxation regime applicable to gifts and inheritances.

Estate Planning
LAW 673 3 credits
This course will cover various estate planning strategies, including but not limited to, the estate planning process, wills and living trusts, gifting considerations, life insurance, limited partnerships and limited liability companies and charitable giving. Prerequisites: Law 632, Law 650 or permission of instructor.

Evidence
LAW 606 3 credits
This course focuses on the Federal Rules of Evidence and the issues that arise out of their use and provides an understanding of the rules including both their theoretical basis and how they function in the courtroom. This course addresses preparation and presentation of various kinds of evidence, including proof of writings, qualifications and examination of witnesses, privilege, opinion testimony, demonstrative, experimental, scientific evidence, determination of relevancy, and application of the hearsay rule.

Family Justice Clinic
LAW 770 - 6 credits
(Special application required)
Students enrolled in the Family Justice Clinic represent clients in family court cases including custody/visitation, adoption, guardianships, and other family matters. Cases may involve contested trials, negotiations, administrative advocacy, and work on cutting edge legal and policy issues. This clinic explores the role of families in society, the strengths and weaknesses of state intervention into families, and the meaning of access to justice for children and parents. Students participate in a twice-weekly seminar and are expected to devote an average of three hours per credit hour each week to clinic activity.

Family Law
LAW 607 3 credits
Basic family law course which covers the legal construction of the family, the relationship between the state and the family, marriage, divorce, custody, and adoption.

Federal Courts
LAW 634 3 credits
This course examines federal jurisdiction and the law of federal-state relations. Specific topics covered are the federal judicial powers, congressional allocation of jurisdiction, choice of law, district court jurisdiction, appellate review, civil judicial reform, 42 USC Section 1983, Implied Right of Action, 11th Amendment, and federal habeas corpus.

Federal Income Tax
LAW 603 3 credits
Overview of the code provisions governing the taxation of individual income and the basic concepts and legal doctrines which courts employ in implementing those provisions.

Gaming Law
LAW 622 3 credits
A study of the law relating to gaming activities with an emphasis on the laws, policies, and procedures that have developed through court decisions and the regulatory activities of administrative agencies.

Gaming Policy Law Seminar
LAW 725 1-3 credits
Students study gaming law policy and sophisticated legal issues surrounding gaming law and regulation, primarily through case studies. Focus is on legislation and administrative action as well as litigation. Prerequisite: LAW 622 Gaming Law.

Government & Public Interest Externship
LAW 773 1-12 credits
This program is designed to provide experiential learning opportunities in a variety of public law agencies including the offices of the U.S. Attorney, Special Public Defender, Clark County District Attorney, Federal Defender, Nevada Legal Services, Clark County Legal Services and Henderson City Attorney. Supervised fieldwork is coupled with a weekly seminar. Prerequisite: LAW 613 Professional Responsibility and prior or concurrent enrollment in LAW 606 Evidence for the U.S. Attorney and District Attorney externships.

Immigration Clinic
LAW 775 1-6 credits
Under direct supervision of the professor, students represent clients in judicial and administrative proceedings involving immigration and related and naturalization law, lawyering and professionalism. Students must be eligible to represent clients under the applicable student practice rules. Prerequisite: LAW 658 Immigration Law.

Immigration Law
LAW 658 3 credits
This course covers legal issues and policies pertaining to non-citizens of the United States, including the regulation of admission, exclusion, and deportation of immigrants seeking to enter the United States. The course will also examine the rights of non-citizens who are in U.S. territory in the areas of health, education, and labor. These topics will be covered from various perspectives, including constitutional law, international human rights, comparative law, ethics and morality, and history.

Insurance Law
LAW 608 3 credits
Overview of the theory and operation of insurance, including the marketing, underwriting, and claims processes. The major forms of insurance will be surveyed while the primary focus will be on issues of insurance policy construction and judicial resolution of recurring coverage issues.

Intellectual Property I
LAW 621 3 credits
This course explores federal and state laws pertaining to patents, trademarks, trade secrets, unfair competition, "cyber squatting," idea protection, and the right of publicity.

Intellectual Property II
LAW 629 3 credits
This course covers the fundamental principles and public policy questions of federal copyright law. This course is a prerequisite to LAW 641
Entertainment Law.

International Business Transactions
Law 672 3 credits
The course explores a wide range of legal problems involving international trade, licensing, and investment issues.

International Criminal Law
LAW 667 3 credits
This course covers the basics of public international law in the context of international criminal law including the nature of international crime, aspects of the international substantive system of laws, and specific offenses, as well as how this law is adjudicated and enforced. Specific offenses covered will include both international and transnational crimes as well as the procedural and adjudicative mechanisms established to deal with these offenses. Must have completed or be concurrently enrolled in LAW 616 Criminal Law.

International Human Rights Law
LAW 727 2-3 credits
This seminar studies the norms, procedures, and actors of international human rights, and emphasizes the role of the United States in international human rights and the significance of international human rights in U.S. domestic law.

International Public Law
LAW 652 3 credits
This course is designed to introduce students to the doctrines, institutions, and methodology of modern international law. The course examines the legal systems governing relations among states and their expansion to non-state actors. Students will also analyze the application on international law in domestic courts, international tribunals and organizations, and the doctrines of jurisdiction, immunities, and human rights.

Judicial Externship
LAW 751 3-6 credits
Explores the role of the judiciary in the legal system by means of in-class discussions and field placements in judicial chambers in federal and Nevada state courts.

Juvenile Justice Clinic
LAW 771 6 credits
Under direct supervision of the professor, students represent juveniles in juvenile court and district court proceedings involving charges of criminal conduct. To represent these clients, students must be licensed under Nevada's student practice rule for court appearances. The course will also have a classroom component.

Labor Law
LAW 640 3 credits
This course will explore the employer/employee/union relationship, its historical and economic developments, and its modern statutory framework.

Land Use Regulation
LAW 633 3 credits
The course focuses on public regulation of land use, including zoning, subdivision regulation, and regulation of urban growth. Coverage will include the planning process, constitutional limitations on land use controls, state and regional regulation, aesthetic regulation and discriminatory zoning, and private land use alternatives.

Law Journal
LAW 760 1-3 credits
Academic credit for successful completion of work by a member of the Nevada Law Journal.

Legal Drafting: Special Topics
Law 669 3 credits
Students will draft legal documents such as contracts, leases, will, by-laws, and employment agreements and learn the importance of determining the client's objectives, researching the relevant law, organizing the document effectively, and drafting with accuracy, clarity, brevity, and appropriate tone. The emphasis of the course and the types of assignments will vary depending on the professor who is teaching each semester. This course satisfies the 3rd semester Lawyering Process requirement. Prerequisites: Law 505 Lawyering Process I & Law 515 Lawyering Process II.

Legislation and Statutory Interpretation
LAW 643 3 credits
This course will explore some of the various procedural, constitutional, and jurisprudential issues raised by a study of the unique role that the state and federal legislatures play in our constitutional order.

Legislative Externship
LAW 752 1-12 credits
Explores the state legislative process by placing students in the Legislative Counsel Bureau in Carson City and Las Vegas. Students are assigned to work with the Legislative Counsel Bureau, the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, and interim committees. Prerequisite: Prior or concurrent enrollment in LAW 643 Legislation and Statutory Interpretation.

Mediation
LAW 715 3 credits
This course examines the theory, practice, and public policy of mediation. Focusing particularly on issues of relevance to attorneys representing clients in mediation, the course includes simulations.

Public Lands and Natural Resources Field Seminar
Law 776 2 credits (special permission required by instructor)
This advanced course will focus on the application of law and science to a variety of natural resource issues on public lands in our desert region. An essential aspect of the course will be a six-day field trip to the Kaibab Plateau, near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. On each of the five days during the trip, students visit areas on public land where significant legal issues have arisen concerning the management of natural resources, including old growth forests, rangelands, the Colorado River, and critical endangered species habitat. At each location, students discuss resource management and legal issues with federal/state land managers and, in some cases, representatives of the environmentalist community and resource industries.
In addition to the field component, BSL students will meet for three two-hour sessions in Las Vegas to discuss the reading materials for the trip, and students will be required to complete a substantial paper before the end of the summer term. Students should normally have taken either Public Land and Natural Resources Law, Water Law, or Environmental Law, but applications from other students will also be considered.

Negotiation
Law 719 3 credits
This course examines the theory, practice, and public policy of negotiation. Focusing particularly on issues of relevance to attorneys representing clients in negotiation, the course includes numerous simulations.

Perspectives on the Law
LAW 674 - 3 credits
This course explores American Legal history and the best thinking about the nature of law and how it functions.

Pretrial Litigation
LAW 627 3 credits
A hands-on experience of the pretrial litigation process in the federal court system. Students act as lawyers in a simulated civil case, interviewing and counseling clients, conducting legal research, drafting pleadings, and engaging in discovery practice, settlement negotiations, and pre-trial motion practice.

Privacy, Publicity & Defamation
LAW 732 3 credits
Discusses the four privacy torts, the right against defamation, and the right of publicity.

Products Liability
LAW 611 3 credits
This course analyzes the substantive law, underlying theory and policy, and practice of products liability-liability for injuries by defective consumer products.

Public Lands and Natural Resources Law
LAW 654 3 credits
This course provides an introduction to federal public lands and natural resources law. Focusing on the laws and legal systems that govern the classification and use of the federally-owned lands constituting a third of America and the vast majority of the West, the course examines the major resource areas, including: minerals, timber, range, wildlife, recreation, wilderness, and cultural resources. Importantly, the course explores the interplay between environmental, economic, cultural, social and political factors in managing our national parks, forest, and the public domain.

Real Estate Finance
LAW 614 3 credits
Mortgages, deeds of trust, installment land contracts, construction financing, mechanics' liens, effect of CERCLA on lenders, sale and leaseback financing, ground lease financing, shopping center leases, and condominiums.

Remedies
LAW 631 3 credits
This course will explore what lawyers and courts do to help someone who has been, or is about to be, wronged. The course will provide an in-depth look at the four major categories of remedies: damages, coercive remedies, declaratory relief, and restitution.

Sales and Leases
LAW 637 3 credits
This course examines the laws governing sales and leases of goods, including Articles 1, 2 and 2A of the Uniform Commercial Code, the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act.

Secured Transactions
LAW 615 3 credits
Covers Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code with respect to taking security interests in personal property. Emphasis on interplay with real property security and bankruptcy, problem solving, and ethical issues.

Society of Advocates
LAW 716 1-3 credits
Students participate in forensic competitions, such as moot court and trial practice, involving legal research and analysis and brief writing as well as oral arguments or other advanced lawyering tasks.

Special Topics in Law
LAW 790 2-4 credits
This course involves the study of a specialized topic in law that is not covered elsewhere in the law school curriculum. The particular topic will be announced during registration for the semester in which the course is offered. Topics that have been offered are: ADR in the Workplace, Advanced Bankruptcy Seminar, Advanced Corporate Problems , Advanced Issues in Employment Law, Advanced Legal Analysis & Writing, Advanced Strategies in Legal Argument: Briefs That Changed The World, Advanced Writers Group, Business Planning , Common Law as Peacekeeper , Contract Theory, Contract Theory and Policy, Corporate Governance, Criminal Appellate Clinic, Criminal Evidence, Criminal Tax Practice, Death Penalty Seminar, The Democratization of Credit, Dispute Design Systems, Dispute Resolution in Labor Law, Employment Discrimination Law - Dress and Appearance Regulation in the Casino Industry, Enron Seminar, Estate Law, Estate Planning, European Union Law, Evidence Practicum, Human Rights In a Global Economy, Innocence Clinic, International Commercial Arbitration, International Financial Crimes, Issues in Legal Education, Land Use and Economic Community Development , Legal Education and Assistance for Prisoners, Local Government, Masculinity and the Law Seminar, Media Law, Mediation Clinic, Narrative, Human Rights, and The Law, Nevada Civil Practice, Perspectives-Foundations of Law, Pre-Trial Advocacy in Criminal Cases, Religion and the Constitution, Religion Clauses, Resort Hotel Casino Law, The Criminalization of Immigration: A Service Learning Response, Trial Evidence, U.S. Federal Gaming Law, Violence Against Women, Worker Compensation, and Writing for Social Justice.

Taxation of Business Entities
LAW 649 3 credits
This course surveys federal income taxation of business entities and their owners, including corporations and partnerships. Prerequisite: LAW 603 Federal Income Tax.

Trial Advocacy
LAW 712 3 credits
Students design, execute, and practice the lawyering tasks specifically associated with actual courtroom trials, including opening statements, direct examination, cross-examination, evidentiary objections, and closing arguments. Students perform these tasks in the context of hypothetical cases. Prerequisite: Must have completed LAW 606 Evidence.

Water Law
LAW 620 3 credits
Acquisition and exercise of private rights in water, public rights and environmental protection, water distribution organizations, interstate water allocation, and federal-state relations in water resource management.

Wills, Trusts and Estates
LAW 632 3 credits
This course examines intestate succession, family protection, execution of wills, will contests, will substitutes, creation of trusts, modification and termination of trusts, and administration of estates and trusts.