ADMIRALTY LAW ‒ CRN #23534
Professor Michael J. Frevola ‒ Spring 2020

First Assignment

CLASS #1, January 8

Chapter I
The Basics: Admiralty Jurisdiction, Conceptual Structure, and Practice, 3
A. Historical Background, 3
DeLovio v. Boit, 5
Notes, 7
In re Complaint of Branson Duck Vehicles, LLC (Order) (Supplied by Instructor)
The Thomas Jefferson, 8
Notes, 9
The Genesee Chief v. Fitzhugh, 10
Notes, 13
The Eagle, 13
Notes, 15
B. The "Navigable Waters "Issue, 15
LeBlanc v. Cleveland, 16
Notes, 19
C. The "Vessel" Issue, 20
Stewart v. Dutra Construction Co., 20
Notes, 24
Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, 25
Notes, 28
D. Admiralty Jurisdiction in Tort Cases, 30
Jerome B. Grubart, Inc. v. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., 30
Notes, 38

First class will be held on Tuesday, January 14, 2020.

Syllabus will be distributed at that time and is available on Lexis Classroom.

Before our first class, please do the following:

1. Register for the Course web site on Lexis Classroom. See instructions below.
2. Please make sure you can sign into Bloomberg Law, Lexis and Westlaw.  If you need help registering for any of these, go to the Library Reference desk or stop by my office – 102A in the Library.
3. Please bring your laptop to the first class.

Registering for Advanced Legal Research in Lexis Classroom

1. Log into Lexis.  Choose “Lexis Classroom” in the top menu and then choose “Add Course”.
   
   
   
2. Choose the “S” tab and then choose my name.  Once you do that, you will see the course below to enroll.
   

If you have any difficulties, please do not hesitate to ask.  You can email me at lawlas@hofstra.edu.

Bankruptcy Law 3794-A
Professor Scarcella – Spring 2020
Reading Assignment for Classes 1 and 2

Professor Scarcella’s contact information:
Email: louis_scarcella@nyeb.uscourts.gov
Telephone: 631-712-6278
Faculty Assistant: Ms. Jennifer Calautti – Office 223

Class time and location:
Tuesdays, 4:10 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Room 206

Course Materials

• Epstein, Markell, Nickles & Ponoroff, Bankruptcy: Dealing with Financial Failure for Individuals and Businesses (4th ed.) (West 2015)
• Bankruptcy Code, Rules and Official Forms, 2019 Law School Edition, Charles J. Tabb (West Academic)

Reading Assignments
Please read the Bankruptcy Code sections discussed in the reading materials and as set forth below in the reading assignments. The Bankruptcy Code sections are in Bankruptcy Code, Rules and Official Forms.

The reading assignments are intended as background for the concepts that we will be discussing in class. Please do not feel obligated to outline the cases in the textbook. For the most part, we will spend a lot of our class time doing what lawyers do--working through problems to see how various rules apply to realistic fact scenarios.  I strongly encourage you to spend some time working through the problems in advance. We will work through a number of these problems in class, although we will not have time to address every problem in the assigned reading.

Reading Assignment for Class 1 (January 14, 2020)

• Introduction to Bankruptcy
  • Pages 1-8 (up to Fraudulent Transfers; omit problems 1-1 and 1-2)
  • Pages 12-14 (omit problem 1-6)
  • Pages 18-30, 35-36, 87-89 (up to problem 4-1) 
  • Bankruptcy Code §§ 101(13), 109, 301, 302. 303
  • Official Form No. 1
• Basic Bankruptcy Concept:  Claims 
  • Official Form 6F
  • Pages 58-60, 131-34 (through problem 5-22); Bankruptcy Code §§ 101(5), 501, 502(a), 502(b)(1), (2), (6), 1111(a)
  • Pages 136-39 (omit problem 5-27); Bankruptcy Code
    §§ 507(a)(1), (2), (4), (5), 503(b)(1), (2), (9), 707(a)(3)
• Basic Bankruptcy Concept:  Secured Claims
  • Official Form 6D
  • Pages 73-78 (through problem 3-18); Bankruptcy Code § 506(a)(1), (2)
  • Class Discussion: Effect of bankruptcy on secured claims

Reading Assignment for Class 2 (January 21, 2020)

• Basic Bankruptcy Concept:  Secured Claims (continued)
• Basic Bankruptcy Concept:  Equality of Distribution
  • Pages 51-52
• Basic Bankruptcy Concept:  Property of the Estate
  • Official Forms 6A and 6B
  • Pages 52-57 (up to problem 3-12)
  • Bankruptcy Code §§ 541(a)(1), (3), (5), (6), 1115, 1306
• Basic Bankruptcy Concept:  Stay
  • Pages 107-110, 118-122 (up to problem 5-13) (omit problems 5-10, 5-11 and 5-12)
  • Bankruptcy Code §§ 362(a)(1)-(7), (b)(2), (c)(1), (2)
  • Serial bankruptcy filings – Bankruptcy Code §§ 362(c)(3), (c)(4)
  • Relief from the Stay Bankruptcy Code §§ 362(d)(1), (2)

The text used for the course will be The Elements of Contract Drafting: Fourth Edition, by George W. Kuney.  You may use earlier editions of this book if you can find them.

Reading for this session is Chapter 1. 

INITIAL ASSIGNMENTS FOR CONFLICT OF LAWS – SPRING 2020

Required Text:  Brilmayer, Goldsmith, O’Hara O’Connor, Conflict of Laws, Cases and Materials (7th edition)

Week 1

• Date: Thu. 1/9
• READING ASSIGNMENT: Chapter 1 – Conflict of Laws: An Overview

Week 2

• Date: 1/14 & 1/16
• READING ASSIGNMENT:
  • Chapter 5 – The Jurisdiction of Courts Over Persons and Property
  • Chapter 6 – Conflict of Laws in the Federal System
• PRIMARY STUDENTS: Bayas, Marlon; Bellini, Laura; Blaszczyk, Barbara; Bodo, Jarret; Bramwell, Cadine; and Chubinidzhe, Mariam

Week 3

• Date: 1/21 & 1/23
• READING ASSIGNMENT: Continue Chapter 6 – Conflict of Laws in the Federal System
• PRIMARY STUDENTS: Bayas, Marlon; Bellini, Laura; Blaszczyk, Barbara; Bodo, Jarret; Bramwell, Cadine; and Chubinidzhe, Mariam

First Course Assignment
CONSUMER TRANSACTIONS
Prof. Norman Silber
Spring 2020

Welcome to the class in Consumer Transactions

1. Please go to the Lexis Classroom blackboard site, course CRN2918-A, Nonprofit Corporations, located under Maurice A. Deane School of Law at the Lexis-Nexis course website (lawschool.lexis.com). This is very important-- mail a test message to yourself using the communications button to make sure you are enrolled. Configure your options to receive notifications and subscribe to posts.

2.  Read the course information posted on the site.

3. It is required that you purchase a copy of the text for the course, which is Pridgen, Sovern, and Peterson eds., CONSUMER LAW: CASES AND MATERIALS (5th ed., 2020), and, also the statutory supplement which accompanies it, SELECTED CONSUMER STATUTES.   You may find some used copies of the statute book at the bookstore or online and save money but be certain that you have the precisely correct edition of the main text. (The price of the Consumer Law book is higher than it should be considering the nature of the subject matter!)

4. The first reading is attached above as a .pdf file, because the textbook is being published this week.  This is Part A, “The Common Law Approach,” in Chapter 1, REGULATION OF VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE, pp. 15-54.   Joyce Cox, in room 216, will have hard copies of these pages available before the first class if you stop by her office.

5. Please be ready to volunteer answers to problem 1-1 in the readings if your last name ends in A-G; problem 1-2 if your last name ends in H-O and 1-3  if your last name ends in P-Z.

In coming weeks, I will assign you to a group so that you will know which problems you will be responsible for posting about throughout the semester.

If you are taking the class for writing credit, take a look at the material pertaining to it located on the "research paper information" page. 

I look forward to meeting with all of you and hope that you will find that consumer transactions law is an interesting and useful field of law.

Best wishes,
Professor Silber

Copyright
Professor Leon Friedman
Spring 2020

The case book for the course is Copyright: Cases and Materials, 9th edition, by Robert A. Gorman, Jane C. Ginsburg, and R. Anthony Reese with 2019 statutory supplement.

First Assignment

• Read pages 1-56.    Burrow-Giles v. Sarony (photograph case),
• Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing (circus poster) general outline of copyright law

First Assignment

Casebook pp. 38-63

Criminal Procedure II  First Assignment

Please feel free to email me at fred.klein@gmail.com with any questions or comments. I look forward to working with you.

Introduction - For the 1st class, please read the following:

1. The course syllabus.
2. The 6th Amendment: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense."
3. Introduction and The Decision to Charge
   Pages 10-16 (steps 5-18), 869-76 (< Josh Bowers), 880-81 (< Wright), 883-84 (victim’s role), 884-85 (think about hypos), 889 (note 3), 891-96 (Armstrong), 911 (note 5) – 915 (end note 6).

Criminal Procedure II Syllabus

Spring 2020 Semester
Thursday 10:10 AM- 12:00 PM
Room 242

Professor Fred Klein
Fred.Klein@gmail.com
Office in room 236 – office phone 516-463-7193

TEXT: Kamisar, Lafave, Israel, King, Kerr and Primus Advanced Criminal Procedure 15th edition (West Publishing 2019) (or Modern Criminal Procedure 15th edition, if you have it already)

OBJECTIVES:

This course will focus primarily on the constitutional and statutory issues that confront the criminal law practitioner from arrest and the decision to prosecute through the possible sentence. Specifically, possible topics we will cover include prosecutorial discretion, right to counsel, bail, grand jury, accusatory instruments, double jeopardy, joinder of charges and defendants, motions and hearings, discovery, timeliness, jurisdiction and venue, guilty pleas, trial issues  and sentencing. Although not a trial advocacy class, we will discuss trial issues. Criminal Procedure I is NOT a prerequisite to this course.

Courtroom criminal procedure is defined by some constitutional protections but more heavily deals with statutory requirements. Accordingly, we will be discussing overarching constitutional rules governing the prosecution and defense of a criminal case as well as specific laws controlling the various phases of criminal litigation. Our statutory focus will be on both New York State’s Criminal Procedure Law as well as the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure on selected issues.

The student will learn substantive and procedural law concerning the issues that arise during the prosecution and defense of a criminal case. Through briefing a court’s written opinion and discuss/debate in class the legal principles involved and their applicability to different facts, students will improve their legal analysis and reasoning and oral communication in the legal context. Finally, you will be exposed to the practical applications and problems that confront the criminal practitioner in the real world, learn entry level lawyering skills and how to exercise professional and ethical responsibilities.

TEXT:     

The assigned text will be Advanced Criminal Procedure, Kamisar, Lafave, Israel, King, Kerr and Primus, 15th edition (softcover), West Academic Publishing, which is the latest edition.

For those of you who have previously taken Criminal Procedure I with me and have the 15th edition of Modern Criminal Procedure by the same authors (hardcover), it will be perfectly acceptable to use it for this course.

METHODOLOGY

Reading assignments from the text will be given for discrete areas of the law. These will be supplemented by the assignment of statutory sections and individual cases (usually from New York) to be read on line or in the library. Please use the TWEN cite for this course to view assignments. The number of the assignment will loosely correspond to the class number. Students will be expected to brief the assigned material, orally discuss the cases in class (including the facts, issues and holding) and respond to and pose questions concerning the material.

The American Bar Association requires that you spend at least four hours per week, on average, outside of class studying for this 2-credit course. This is in addition to the two hours a week we spend in class. This is a good guide to determine if you are spending enough time preparing for class.

The Law School has adopted a “Credit Hour Policy.”  A “credit hour” is an amount of work that reasonably approximates not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction (calculated as 50 minutes of classroom time) and two hours (120 minutes) of out-of-class student work per week for 14 weeks  or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time.

REQUIREMENTS

1. Reading- All assignments in the text as well as outside cases/statutes are required to be read prior to class. You will be kept informed of specific reading assignments for upcoming classes. Reading cases/statutes is more demanding than reading narrative. This is because each sentence may be important. If you skim a case, you could miss the key sentence. You will be expected to know and discuss the facts, legal rules, application of the rules and policy arguments contained in each case. You should read concurrences and dissents equally because today’s minority could be tomorrow’s majority.
2. Attendance- The law school must certify to the Board of Law Examiners that a student was in “good and regular attendance.” You must attend 80% of all scheduled classes to sit for the final exam. Attendance will be taken at all classes by passing around a sign in sheet. It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that their name is signed by them. If you believe you must be absent from more than the permitted number of classes, you should contact the Office of Student Affairs as soon as possible. Accommodations may be made for students who must be absent for religious reasons and in cases of truly compelling hardship. Any request for an exception must be made to the Office of Student Affairs and must be accompanied by appropriate documentation. Lateness must be avoided at all costs. It is wasteful and distracting to those students who are punctual. I make every effort to start class precisely at 10:10 AM. Please plan accordingly and be in your seat ahead of time. All classes will be podcast!!

1. Participation- It is essential that you are prepared for class and participate in class discussions when called upon. Do not expect to sit in class and absorb information by listening and taking notes alone. Learning the law is not a spectator sport and involves more than memorizing rules. You need to be able to apply those rules to varying situations and to express yourself clearly and persuasively whether summing up to a jury, negotiating a business transaction or interviewing a client. When asked to discuss a case, do not read from the text or a commercial outline. You may use your own notes. Try to only discuss the pertinent facts, not every conceivable detail. Your preparedness and class participation will count toward your final grade.

There will be absolutely no cell phone conversations (phones to be placed on vibrate), text messaging, e-mailing or surfing the internet while class is in session.

There will be assigned seats and a seating chart so that I can learn your names and converse with you personally. The seats will be assigned based on where you sit for the first class. Therefore, if seat location is important to you, I urge you to attend the first class and be there early to get the location you feel most comfortable in.

THERE WILL BE NO USE OF LAPTOPS OR OTHER DIGITAL DEVICES IN CLASS. YOU WILL NEED TO TAKE NOTES IN CLASS BY HAND WRITING THEM. RECENT STUDIES HAVE FOUND THAT STUDENTS LEARN BETTER WHEN TAKING HAND WRITTEN NOTES AS OPPOSED TO TRYING TO TRANSCRIBE WHAT IS TAKING PLACE VIA KEYBOARD. ALSO, STUDENTS WHO MISUSE LAPTOPS ARE DISTRACTING AND ANNOYING TO OTHER STUDENTS. FINALLY, STUDENTS HAVE TOLD ME THAT THEY LISTEN BETTER AND PARTICIPATE MORE IF NOT WEDDED TO A LAPTOP.

PLEASE DO NOT WEAR A HAT IN CLASS. I TRY TO MAINTAIN A FORMAL PROFESSIONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT THAT IS CONDUCIVE TO A THOUGHTFUL AND SERIOUS LEGAL DISCUSSION.AND I FIND THAT HATS TEND TO DETRACT FROM THAT ATMOSPHERE. HOWEVER, IF YOU NEED TO WEAR A HAT FOR MEDICAL OR RELIGIOUS REASONS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AHEAD OF TIME. THERE IS NO OTHER DRESS CODE FOR THE COURSE.

EVALUATION 

There will be no written tests or papers assigned. Your grade will substantially depend on your performance on a closed book written examination given at the conclusion of the semester. This test will consist of multiple choice questions possibly together with narrative issue spotting and analysis essays. The test will be based on your readings as well as information discussed in class which may not overlap. You will be responsible for material in the assignments even if not discussed in class and material discussed in class even if not included in your reading assignments. Your score will be based upon your knowledge of the legal principles covered in the readings and discussed in class and your ability to apply those principles and express yourself in understandable written answers. Your demonstrated level of preparedness and the quality of your class participation will be factored into your final grade.

CONCLUSION

I can be reached after class, normally in my office (or other times by appointment) or by email. I will try to direct you to the correct answer without answering it for you. One of the skills attorneys must learn is how to answer questions themselves. I am eager to receive questions but answering them will be part of the learning process for you. Communication with me outside of the classroom (either during breaks, in my office or via email) is not counted for your grade so don’t worry about hurting yourself by asking. The only way you get hurt is by not asking and not learning.

It is important that you keep up with the reading assignments. There is too much material covered for you to catch up/cram later and you will better understand the material covered in class if you have already done the reading. If you have questions about the assigned material or issues discussed in class, please discuss it with me before we move onto something else which may build upon the previous material. Before discussing it with me, however, I urge you to try to obtain the answer for yourself. You can do this by re-reading the case, reading the entire case (rather than the edited version in the casebook), listening to the podcast of the class and consulting secondary material.

At this stage of the semester, you are undoubtedly eager to learn the material in this course and hopeful that the practice of law, no matter what field you choose, will be interesting and rewarding. If at the end of the semester you have the same enthusiasm and goals, and a solid foundation in courtroom criminal procedure, I will consider that a success. I look forward to learning with and from all of you.

Disability Law, Spring 2020
First Class Assignment:

• Register for my TWEN course page
• Excerpt (pp. 3-10) from Joseph P. Shapiro, No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement (Three Rivers Press, 1994) (Available on TWEN)
• Casebook, Chapter 1: pp. 1-6, 8-28

Text: Lemon, Domestic Violence Law (latest ed.)  Additional materials may be assigned throughout the course of the semester.

You will receive a copy of the syllabus for the semester in class.  Please read and be prepared to discuss chapters 1 and 2 in the Lemon text.

The First Three Weeks of Class

Material you will or have already received by email:

1. the syllabus
2. A PDF titled “25th Amendment Exercise”
3. A Word file titled “DNCS – classes 1 & 2”
4. Another Word file:  “DNCS – classes 3 & 4"

The Word files are for exercises that require you to rewrite badly drafted provisions.  See syllabus page 5. (If you have not received all the above by email, contact me at Richard.k.neumann@hofstra.edu.)

Textbooks:  See the syllabus, page 2.  Drafting Book Part 1 will be available in the copy room beginning on Friday, Jan. 3.

Amount of Reading During the Semester:  You’ll do more reading at the beginning to prepare you to draft  documents — and less reading later while you’re drafting.

Assignments

For Wednesday, January 8 —

• Read the syllabus.
• Read Chs. 1 & 2 (pp. 3–28)
• Read Ch. 3 (pp. 29–42) together with Appendices A & B (pp. 515–521)
  • Note: Appendices normally appear at the end of a book.  But because you’ll read Appendices A and B with Chapter 3, they are printed at the end of Drafting Book Part 1 rather than Part 2.  In Part 1, the page after p. 208 is p. 515.  The omitted pages are in Part 2.  Don’t worry about that.  (See the syllabus, page 2.)
• Read Ch. 5 (pp. 57–67)
• Do the U.S. Constitution Exercise — use the PDF with that title.
• Do Excs. 5-A and 5-B (pp. 67–70).  For Exc. 5-B, use the Word file titled “DNCS – classes 1 & 2”

For Monday, January 13 —

• Read Ch. 6 (pp. 71–79)
• Do Exc. 6-A (pp. 79–80) (but not the 2d item on p. 80) — use the Word file “DNCS – classes 1 & 2"
• Read Ch. 7 (pp. 81–100)
• Do Excs. 7-A, 7-B, 7-C, and 7-D (pp. 100–101) — use the Word file “DNCS – classes 1 & 2"

For Wednesday, January 15 —

• Read Ch. 8 (pp. 103–115)
• Do Exc. 8-A (p. 115) — use the Word file “DNCS – classes 3 & 4"

For Wednesday, January 22 —

• Read Ch. 9 (119–125)
• Do Excs. 9-A, 9-B, and 9-C (pp. 125–127) — use the Word file “DNCS – classes 3 & 4"

Employment Discrimination
SPRING 2020
Professor Charis Damiano

Required Course Materials:

The required text is Employment Discrimination, Procedure, Principles and Practice by Joseph Seiner (2nd Ed 2019). Published by Wolters Kluwer.

Administrative Details:
Class meetings: Mondays and Wednesdays: 8:40 -10.00am.
Email: Charis.J.Damiano@hofstra.edu
Office hours: By appointment
Assistant: Jennifer Calautti, Room 223
Course webpage: TWEN (please refer to TWEN for further details of the course)

First Assignment: The first class will be on Wednesday January 8 2020. Please read pages 1-12 and 79 to top of 87 before that class meeting.

Points for discussion:

1. What are the major statutes that form the backbone of employment discrimination laws in the US? What does “at will employment” mean?
2. What kind of constitutional anti-discrimination claims can federal workers bring?
3. Consider the difference between federal anti-discrimination laws and state anti-discrimination laws.
4. Read the interactive problem on page 79 and be prepared to discuss it in the context of the case of McDonnell Douglas Corp v. Green (1973) on page 81.
   1. What is the difference between direct and circumstantial evidence of discrimination?
   2. What are the prongs of the McDonnell Douglas prima facie test?

First Assignment for January 9, 6:10-8 p.m.

Introduction to the Course; Overview of Environmental Dispute Resolution

Reading Before First Class:

1. Text (Dispute Resolution: Beyond the Adversarial Model, Menkel-Meadow, Love, et al, 2nd ed.), pp. 13-17, 30-36, and 93-95
2. Go  to the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution website and read the “Basic Principles for Agency Engagement in Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution”. Then read the “FAQs about ECR”. How are ECR processes different from and/or similar to the range of ADR processes you read about in the text on pp. 30-36?

First Assignment
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW – 3812-A  (Spring 2020)
Professor Esterman

Our first class will be held on Wednesday, January 9. Please read pages 3-49 in Salzman & Thompson, Environmental Law and Policy, in preparation for the class. Please also look at the follow case: Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. Federal Power Commission

The course materials are:
Monroe H. Freedman & Abbe Smith, Understanding Lawyers’ Ethics, 5^th Edition

Posted links for:
ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct
ABA Criminal Justice Standards
Additional Readings

Here are the readings for our first class on the History and Overview of the Regulation of the Legal Profession

• ABA Model Rules of Professional Responsibility – Preface, Preamble and Scope
• ABA Criminal Justice Standards for the Defense Function – 4-1.1
• ABA Criminal Justice Standards for the Prosecution Function – 3-1.1
• Freedman and Smith, Preface, Foreward, and Chapter 1 pp. 1-43
• Alex Karakatsanis, Usual Cruelty, pp. 13-37 (posted)

The full syllabus will be posted. 

Spring 2020
Assignment for First Class (Wednesday, January 8, 2020)

For our first class, please register for the course on TWEN and review the syllabus.  Also, please prepare Problems 1-3, 1-6, 1-7, and 1-9 in Problems in Evidence and read the assigned text and rules at the end of each of the problems.  As stated in the syllabus, for this class, I will not call on students to argue these problems, but we will discuss them in class.

EVIDENCE
CRN 23509/LAW 4761-A
Spring 2020
Professor Matthew A. Shapiro

Assignment for Thursday, January 9, 2020

For our first class, please read the following (“CB” refers to the required casebook, George Fisher, Evidence (3d ed. 2013), while “FRE” refers to the Federal Rules of Evidence, which can be found in the optional supplement, George Fisher, Federal Rules of Evidence 2018-2019 Statutory and Case Supplement (2018), as well as in other sources):

• CB pp. 1-6
• FRE 606(b) (including Advisory Committee Notes)
• Tanner v. United States, CB pp. 8-16
• FRE 401 and 402 (including Advisory Committee Notes)
• CB pp. 22-25
• Prepare Problems 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3, CB pp. 25-27
• United States v. James, CB pp. 29-32
• Prepare Problems 1.4, 1.5, and 1.6, CB pp. 27-28, 34

Please note that I will “cold call” students off a randomly generated list every class, including the first class.

Please also note that I do not permit the use of laptops, smartphones, or other similar devices in class.

I will post a syllabus, with course policies and a list of assignments for the first half of the semester, on TWEN by Wednesday, January 8. You should register for this course’s TWEN page as soon as possible.

Text: Saferstein, Criminalistics (latest ed.) Additional materials will be assigned throughout the course of the semester.

I will be emailing you a series of cases on 2 January 2020.  Please be sure to check your email.  Please read those cases.  They will be a focus of our discussions for our first classes in Jnuary.  In addition, there will be an overview of the course and a lecture/discussion on forensic experts, their areas of expertise, and the role forensics play in both the prosecution and defense theories of a modern homicide case. All students will receive the case file in the simulation as well as a copy of the syllabus. The file will contain crime scene information, lists of evidence and witness statements.  Discussion of circumstantial evidence as set forth in assigned New York homicide cases. 

Review FRE 701 - 705; Chapters 2,3 Criminalistics text.

Expert Witness in Civil Cases
Spring 2020
Professor Eric M. Freedman

For assistance with administrative matters, please contact Joyce Amore Cox, ext. 36339, Joyce.A.Cox@hofstra.edu, who sits at the back of Room 216. 

1st Assignment

A.  Register for this class on TWEN.  This is where you will find the Syllabus.

B.  Download the Syllabus. 

C.  Read the entire Syllabus with care.

D.  Prepare the reading assignments for the first week of class as indicated in the Syllabus.

First Assignment
Family Law
Spring 2020
Professor Andrew Schepard

Welcome to Family Law for Sping 2020 .

Please register for the  Course TWEN site and download the full course syllabus.  

Note: our case book is ROBERT E. OLIPHANT & NANCY VER STEEGH, WORK OF THE FAMILY LAWYER (5th edition 2020) (hereinafter OV) The fifth edition is a new edition and has just been published. This is the first semester for which the fifth edition is available. All assignments are in the fifth edition. While there is great overlap between the previous edition and the fifth. I think you will get confused if you use a previous edition.

Here is the assignment for our first class

Date
Wednesday, January 8th

Topic
Course Overview;
Family Law: Past, Present and Future.

Assignment and Comments
OV 3-24
TWEN:

• Course Syllabus
• Brooke S.B. v. Elizabeth A. C.C., 28 N.Y.3d 1, 61 N.E.3d 628 (2016)
• Answer Opening Day Questions -bring answers to first class

I look forward to our semester together.

Professor Schepard

Law-2844-A (Spring 2020)
Family Law Policy Seminar
Professors Schepard and Stolzenberg

Wednesdays from 10:10 am – 12:00 pm
Koppelman 0038N

The goal of this seminar is to help develop an educational program for children of divorcing or separating parents, to be implemented in Nassau County. We will discuss this project further during our first class meeting on Wednesday, January 8.

In preparation for our first class meeting, please read the following, posted on TWEN:

• JoAnne Pedro-Carroll, The Promotion of Wellness in Children and Families: Challenges and Opportunities, Paper Presented at the Annual Conference of the American Psychological Association (Aug. 2001).  
• Rachel A. Haine et al., Changing the Legacy of Divorce: Evidence From Prevention Programs and Future Directions, 52 Fam. Rel. 397 (2003) (only the section titled “Developing a Public Health Strategy to Change the Legacy of Divorce,” pages 402-404).

Please also sign up for the course’s TWEN site, which we will use to circulate materials and to communicate with you.

The casebook for the course is Schwarz & Lathrope, Fundamentals of Corporate Taxation (Tenth Edition 2019).

In addition, we will be using Lathrope, Selected Federal Taxation Statutes. This should be the same statutory supplement that you used in Federal Income Taxation of Individuals.

For our first session (Wednesday, January 8, 2020), please read pages 3-12 in the casebook.

For our first session on Thursday, January 9, 2020, please:

1. Read Chapter 2, pages 7-8 (paras. 2.3.1 and 2.3.3 only) and pages 8-13.
2. Find and review Form 2848 and Instructions on the IRS website.  Bring a hard copy of Form 2848 to class.
3. Find and review NYS DTF POA-1 and Instructions on the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance website. Bring a hard copy of Form POA-1 to class.

First Assignment:

View “An Introduction to the Tax Court” video at USTAXCOURT.gov

• Class: 1
• Date: 1/14/2020
• Topic: Introduction to Federal Tax Controversies & IRS Rulemaking
• Assignment: Text*-Chapters 1&2**

* Lederman & Mazza, Tax Controversies: Practice & Procedure (4th ed. 2017).
** Please be familiar with the problems at the end of each chapter which will be incorporated into the class discussion.

Global Compliance in the Digital Age
Spring 2020
Professor Caffarone

First Day Assignment
Welcome to Global Compliance in the Digital Age! Our first class meets on Monday, January 13, from 10:10 – 12:00 in room 0014.  Prior to our class, please do the following:

• Register for this class on TWEN – please register with an email address that you check regularly as this is how I will communicate with the class.
• Purchase/rent Miller, The Law of Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance (3d edition 2020).
• Read Miller pages 1-8, 121-153; 683-688.

You will notice that I have posted “additional Enron materials” on TWEN.  You are not required to read these materials, but may find them interesting.  Also, please note that on Tuesday, January 14, from 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. I will be holding an optional class in which I will be showing the Enron documentary, “The Smartest Guys in the Room.”  You are not required to attend, but again, you may find the documentary interesting.

First Assignment

Wednesday January 8, 2020 – Cost, Quality, Access and Choice
Illness: Casebook pp. 1-9; 9-13 (incl. notes); 14-32 Incl. notes 1,2 and 4, excluding Problem
Katskee v. BC/BS of Nebraska

Assignment for First Class

Jan. 9

• History & Nature of Damrosch & Murphy, International Law: Cases and Materials (7th ed. 2019), pp. xix-xxx, 1-11, 16-20, 30-35, 39-50
• International Law (IL) (historical intro at  pp. xix-xxx recommended but not required)

HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
LAW & PSYCHIATRY SYLLABUS

Course: Law & Psychiatry - Spring 2020

Professors:
Carolyn Reinach Wolf, Esq.
cwolf@abramslaw.com
(516) 592-5857

Jamie A. Rosen, Esq.
jrosen@abramslaw.com
(516) 592-5857
                                               
Grading:
20% Attendance/Class Participation
35% Paper #1 – DUE March 5, 2020 (Topic Due: February 6, 2020) 
45% Paper #2 - DUE April 16, 2020 (Topic Due: March 26, 2020)

Paper topics should be emailed to cwolf@abramslaw.com by the deadlines referenced above.  We are available by appointment to discuss topics or exchange suggested topics or ideas.  Each paper should be 10 pages in length (double-spaced) plus endnotes. Do not use footnotes. All citations must be properly cited in accordance with Bluebook rules. Plagiarism will result in a failing grade for the paper.

Attendance: This is a two-credit class that meets one day a week on Thursdays. Attendance is mandatory. If you miss more than four hours of class this semester, your file will be forwarded to the Office of Student Affairs and this may result in either a lower grade or loss of credit, per the law school policy.  Accommodations may be made for students who must be absent for religious reasons, serious illness, and in cases of truly compelling hardship.

Readings: Students are expected to have read all assigned readings and be prepared for participation in class. The required readings for this class will primarily consist of cases, articles, and selected statutes. Cases and statutes can be downloaded from Westlaw or LexisNexis. Most articles can be found online. Other articles and handouts will be uploaded to TWEN. Please make sure that you have registered for the TWEN website for this course.

We look forward to a productive and informative semester.

LAW AND PSYCHIATRY
THURSDAYS 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
SPRING 2020
WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS

WEEK 1 — JANUARY 9, 2020

1. Introduction to Law and Psychiatry Course
   Suggested Reading:
   • John Leland, A Guide in the Darkness, NY Times, (Feb. 8, 2013)
   • Ken Schachter, Long Island Law Practices Embrace Specialization, (May 29, 2015)
2. Introduction to New York State Mental Hygiene Law
   • Mental Hygiene Law Article 9
   • Mental Hygiene Law: Legal Status – Inpatient Hospital Setting
     Required Reading:
   • NY Mental Hygiene Law, Article 9 - §§ 9.13, 9.27, 9.31, 9.33, 9.37, 9.39.
   • NAMI, Mental Health Conditions
3. Categories of Mental Health Professionals
   Required Reading:
   • NAMI, Types of Mental Health Professionals
4. Role of Counsel in Mental Hygiene Law Court Proceedings
   • In-house and Outside Counsel; Mental Hygiene Legal Service; Attorney General’s Office
     Required Reading:
     • NY Mental Hygiene Law § 47.01, 47.03.
     • MHLS Mission Statement, Appellate Division, 2nd Department (PDF)
5. Psychiatric Diagnoses, Dual Diagnosis, DSM-V
   Required Reading:
   • Excerpts from the DSM-V.
   • NAMI, Dual Diagnosis
   • American Psychiatric Association, What are Personality Disorders? (2018)

Our first class will be held on Wednesday, January 8th. The class syllabus for the course will be distributed at that time.

Please review the preface to 3rd Edition of Casebook (pages xvii-xxii) to get a sense of the organization and scope of the casebook, Leonard & Cain, Sexuality Law.

We will begin our first class with a discussion of sex-discrimination laws and whether they outlaw sexual orientation discrimination and gender identity discrimination. Please be prepared to discuss the cases below (R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda.) These two cases are not in the casebook, so you will need to access on Westlaw.

Equal Emp't Opportunity Comm'n v. R.G. &. G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc., 884 F.3d 560

Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc., 883 F.3d 100

Law of International Trade
Professor Ku
Spring 2020

The readings for this course will be based on the following text:

• Daniel C.K. Chow and Thomas J.Schoenbaum, International Trade Law: Problems, Cases, and Materials (2015). (“CB”) 

I may also supplement the readings with handouts from time to time.

For our first class meeting on Thursday, January 9, please fill out the information sheet at this link by Wednesday, January 8, 2020.
View the Google Form

Then, read the following and consider two questions: What are the arguments for or against freer trade? How do laws and legal institutions matter, if at all, in determining or shaping trade policy?

• The Law of International Trade:
  • Background - CB: 1-62;
  • Milton and Rose Friedman, The Case for Free Trade (Oct. 30, 1997)
  • Donald Trump’s Speech on Trade (June 28, 2016)
  • The Daily (podcast, please listen)  (October 18, 2017)
  • Senator Elizabeth Warren, “Trade – On Our Terms” (July 29, 2019)

First Assignment

Casebook pp. 18-49
ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1, 1.6

Required Books

• Gillers, Regulation of Lawyers, 11th ed., Wolters Kluwer (2018)
• Gillers and Simon, Regulation of Lawyers, Statutes and Standards
  • You may use the new edition or any edition from 2013 onward.

Jan 8
Introduction, Preface
Defining the Attorney Client Relationship
Gillers, 17-22 
Rules 1.1,1.6

Jan 13
Defining the Attorney Client Relationship (cont’d)
Gillers, pp. 22-32
Rule 1.6

Jan 15
Defining the Attorney Client Relationship –Entity Clients  
Gillers pp. 32-43
Rules 1.6, 1.13

NAVIGATING THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP THROUGH LITIGATION MILESTONES: INTERVIEWING, COUNSELING, AND SETTLEMENT

Professor Rita Sethi
Rita.A.Sethi@hofstra.edu
Fridays 9:10 – 12 PM
Room 227

Reading for January 10, 2020

Stephen Ellmann et al., Lawyers and Clients: Critical Issues in Interviewing and Counseling (2009), Chapter 8, “Talking to Clients About the Law.”

FIRST DAY ASSIGNMENT
MEDICARE AND MEDICAID LAW
PROFESSOR JOEL WEINTRAUB
FIRST CLASS: TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2020

Dear Students,

Please read and be prepared to discuss in class pages 479-489 of our required textbook:  HEALTH LAW CASES, MATERIALS, AND PROBLEMS, Abridged Eighth Edition, Furrow, Greaney, Johnson, Jost, and Schwartz, et. al. 2018, West Academic. ISBN: 978-1-68328-911-1.  

Especially this semester our course is very timely as Medicare and Medicaid have been altered by recent legislation and further changes are likely during the time this course will be in session.

Now or any time during this course please feel free to email me or call me at 516-241-0831 if you have any questions or concerns.

I am looking forward to meeting you.

Sincerely,

JW

To the incoming class of Mental Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System for Spring 2020:

I look forward to the spring semester. While I realize that the semester will not begin until January, I wanted to provide you with some information about the books we will be reading. There is no single "textbook" for our class. Our required books have been ordered through the bookstore.

Below is a list of the required books:

1. An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison (**Please read this book over the break before the beginning of the semester)
2. Crazy by Pete Earley

Recommended readings are:

1. No One Cares About Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America by Ron Powers
2. Insane Consequences by D.J. Jaffe
3. The Innocent Man by John Grisham
4. Attorney for the Damned by Denis Woychuk (no longer in print, but used copies are available at Amazon) ***be careful not to order the book of the same name about Clarence Darrow***
5. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

PLEASE READ An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison OVER THE BREAK BEFORE OUR CLASS BEGINS IN JANUARY!!

I will be posting the syllabus on the TWEN Board before the start of the semester. If you have any questions or concerns you can reach me at richard.i.horowitz@hofstra.edu. Best wishes for an enjoyable winter break.

Regards,
Richard Horowitz

NONPROFIT CORPORATIONS
FIRST CLASS ASSIGNMENT
SPRING 2020

Welcome to the class—

Please go to the Lexis Classroom blackboard site, course CRN2918-A, Nonprofit Corporations, located under Maurice A. Deane School of Law at the Lexis-Nexis course website (lawschool.lexis.com).

Enroll on the website. Test your enrollment by mailing yourself a message via the website's mail utility; adjust the notification settings as you like them, and then take a look at the outline of the online textbook (titled "Chap. 00"); and read the file titled "Chapters 1 and 2" for our first class.

Nongraded posting assignment: If your last name ends in the letters A-L please post a short (1 paragraph) answer to PRACTICE PROBLEM 1-1 to the website discussion board; if it ends in M-Z, post an answer to PRACTICE PROBLEM 2-1 to the CLASS DISCUSSION BOARD on the site.

The copy center is duplicating the textbook, which should be available around Monday. Joyce in room 216 will have a hard copy of the first assignment if you want to come by and pick it up.

I look forward to meeting you and hearing about your own experience with nonprofit organizations.

Best Wishes,
Professor Silber

First Assignment:

• Obtain a copy of the class handbook – New York Pre-Trial Practice Guide.   
• Read pages 1 – 12 .

SECURED TRANSACTIONS
Spring 2020 - Wednesday 8:10 - 10:00 am
Hofstra Law School • Kushner Hall 243
Adjunct Professor Marc L. Hamroff

Contact info:
Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP
400 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY  11530
Website: www.moritthock.com
mhamroff@moritthock.com
Tel:  (516) 873-2000
Fax:  (516) 873-2010

1. Coursebook:  Problems and Materials on Secured Transactions, 4th Ed. Rusch & Sepinuck (West Press)
2. Selected Commercial Statutes For Secured Transactions 2019
3. Agreement Binder (To be supplied at first class)

Syllabus as of January, 2020
Updates will be posted on the Website

Goal of the Problem-Solving Method

The course will address a wide variety of commercial transactions essential to a student contemplating a career in commercial law including creditors rights, bankruptcy, securities, commercial and real estate lending, finance and business litigation.  A primary focus of the course will be UCC Article 9 but will also include the interplay between Article 9 and the bankruptcy laws, other state and federal created liens (both statutory and judicial) and other types of financing structures.  The nature of these topics will expose students to real life commercial transactions including problem solving and strategy decision practitioners must make in litigating and structuring these business arrangements. 

This course is designed for you to learn a statutory scheme that regulates security interests in personal property (Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)).  The legal rules are not a mystery, they are printed right in the statute book.  The critical learning is to understand how the statutory provisions apply to particular factual scenarios, the alternative arguments that can be made about how they apply, and the consequences of the various arguments.  We do this through evaluation of the problems in the course book and related hypothetical scenarios that will be developed as a result of class discussion.

In addition, because the UCC is part of a comprehensive scheme of rules regarding particular transactions, it is important to understand how the provisions of the UCC work together.  In that respect, the course is a building block course.  What we learn each day will be relevant to what we learn in every other day. 

This problem-solving method replicates in significant part the work of practicing lawyers.  Lawyers are confronted with factual scenarios and must identify and investigate the legal rules relevant to those scenarios. Lawyers then consider how the relevant legal rules may be applied to that factual scenario.  In doing so, lawyers must be able to deal with a great deal of uncertainty and creativity, that is, a lawyer must have the ability to imagine new arguments regarding how to apply legal principles to typical scenarios and innovative applications of settled law to new types of scenarios.

The following requirements for class preparation and attendance are designed to help achieve the goals related to this style of learning.

Class Preparation

I expect students to be prepared for class.  Adequate preparation requires reading and analyzing all relevant statutory sections and comments as well as the material in the textbook.  We will focus on the problems during class discussion.   

To use the textbook most effectively: (i) read the textual material; (ii) read the cited statutory sections and the official comments, and (iii) analyze the problems.  You will find that as you analyze the problems, you will have to go back through the textual material, cases, statutes, and official comments repeatedly in order to identify the relevant issues and construct your analysis.

Final Examination

The final examination for this course will be given during the exam period at the end of the semester and will be open book.  You will be allowed to bring into the examination the casebook, the statute book, and your own notes/outlines.  You will be allowed to use the approved software for typing your examination answers if available at Hofstra.  Other than as allowed by the approved software for typing your examination answers, you will not be allowed access to any other electronic device.

Grading

Subject to rules imposed for blind grading and/or curves, the final examination will be worth 80% of the final grade for the course.  Class participation will be worth 20%. 

Assignments

The following is the tentative schedule of assignments for the class; page numbers refer to the textbook.  We may move faster or slower than these specific assignments.

Credit Hour Policy

“The Law School has adopted a “Credit Hour Policy.”  A “credit hour” is an amount of work that reasonably approximates not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction (calculated as 50 minutes of classroom time) and two hours (120 minutes) of out-of-class student work per week for fifteen weeks (including one week for final exams), or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time. These requirements apply equally to all courses taught in the Law School, including distance education courses.”

Read any referenced statutes and commentary from the Selected Commercial Statutes book as necessary to provide a thorough analysis of the assigned problems.

First Assignment

• Date: WED. 01/08
• Class No.: 1
• Topics/Issues: Overview:  (1) the context in which debtor-creditor relationships arise, (2) the difference between secured and unsecured creditors, (3) the reality that some creditors are not timely paid what they are owed, (4) the basic creditor collection remedy which is known as "execution" and the rights of "statutory liens", (5) the difficulties facing creditors when debtors do not voluntarily pay their debts, (6) fraudulent transfers, and (7) pre-judgment remedies.
• Required Reading Material Pages/ Problems: Pgs. 1-43;  Problem 1-3
• Statutes: NY Lien Law §§80, 151, 160, 180, 184; CPLR §§5201, 5202, 5203, Articles 62-65, 270 et. seq. and Bky Cod 548.

First Assignment

Subject matter jurisdiction of the New York State court system
Textbook : Chase and Barker pgs viii – x, 122-154; problem A; CPLR 325

Dear Students,

Welcome to The Policy and Business of Cryptocurrencies course for the Spring of 2020.

Our first class will be on Thursday, January 9, 2020 at 6:10 pm.

• Reading Assignment31 U.S.C.A. § 5103
• Claire Priest, Currency Policies and Legal Development in Colonial New England
• Robert Natelson, Paper Money and the Original Understanding of the Coinage Clause

I look forward to meeting all of you in class soon.

Regards,
Prof. Shipkevich

First Reading Assignment

Week of 1/6:

Hours 1 & 2 (No Administrative Class 1/6)

Hours 3 & 4

WEALTH TRANSFER UPON DEATH: THE FUNDAMENTALS

I. Introduction

1. Wescot t v. Robbins, 40 S.E.2d 461 (N.C. 1946).
   (You may download the case off of TWEN from the “Other Course Materials” link).
2. Dead Hand. Pgs. 1-15.
3. Economics of inheritance. Pgs. 16-28.
4. Transfer of Decedent’s Estate. Pgs. 40-51.