California Western School of Law: Courses Available to Exchange Students from USD
Spring 2012
| Course # | Course Type | Course Title | Instructor | Units | Times | Days | Room | Exam |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 331 | SW/OP | Assisted Reproduction & the Law | Arshagouni | 3 | 4:05 PM - 6:45 PM | W | MMR | No Exam |
| 613 | SEM | Bioethics Seminar | Vaughan | 3 | 5:30 PM - 8:10 PM | T | 2G | No Exam |
| 616 | SEM | Domestic Violence | Strack | 3 | 8:00 AM - 10:40 AM | F | MMR | No Exam |
| 673 | SW/EO | Public Health Law Seminar | Channick | 3 | 4:05 PM - 5:20 PM | T/Th | MMR | TBA |
| 586 | SW/EO | Sexual Orientation & the Law | Waldman | 3 | 1:15 PM - 2:30 PM | M/W | 2C | TBA |
Important Dates
- Classes begin Monday, January 2, 2012
- Enrollment for exchange students ends Friday, January 6, 2012
- Holidays (no classes): Monday, January 16, 2012; Monday & Tuesday, February 20 & 21, 2012
- Legislated Day: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - follow Monday class schedule.
Prior to the Start of Class
- Students must come to the Office of Law School Registrar to submit your approved application form and have your photo ID taken. (Please contact Nancy Graham on the mezzanine level of the 350 building for a picture ID).
- Click here for parking information.
- For computer access and login information, click here to email student computer lab and network technitian Daniel Starnes.
- For any additional information, visit the California Western School of Law website or click here to email the California Western registrar's office.
Course Descriptions
ASSISTED REPRODUCTION (SW/OP, 2 units)
Visiting Professor Arshagouni
Likely Frequency of Offering: Once
Content: This course will examine the legal, medical, and ethical world of assisted reproductive technologies. We will discuss concepts of personhood, human reproduction, and governmental intervention in reproductive decision making. We will specifically explore the developments of technologies such as in vitro fertilization, postmortem reproduction, surrogacy, and human cloning. These technologies raise a variety of issues, including selective reduction of multiple pregnancy, pre implantation genetic diagnosis, cryo preservation of human eggs and embryos, embryonic stem cell research, and the sale human gametes. Students will research and write a paper of about 25 pages (including end/footnotes), which they will present to the class at the end of the term. There will not be an exam.
BIOETHICS SEMINAR (SEM, 3 units)
Adjunct Professor Vaughan
Likely Frequency of Offering: Once per year
Content: This course provides the opportunity to analyze from a legal and an ethical perspective, many current issues in the field of bioethics. Medical literature and case law will be used to examine selected topics including the following: the principles and theories of bioethics, truth telling, confidentiality, informed consent, research on animals and humans, technology and reproduction, surrogacy, abortion and fetal rights, stem-cell research, organ donation, maternal/fetal conflict, the right to die, physician assisted suicide and euthanasia, medical futility, medical decision making for incompetent adult patients and minors, the internet and the changing nature of the doctor-patient relationship.
In addition, students will participate in group exercises using actual case material to simulate the decision-making process of ethics committees. They will also be encouraged to compare the ethical code of the medical profession with that of the legal profession.
Relationship to Law Practice: This course uses medical, legal and ethical literature to examine current bioethical issues, including questions of life and death, reproduction, confidentiality and research. It does not focus on health delivery issues (regulation or reimbursement) and should be attractive to students who want to focus only on bioethical questions.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SEMINAR (SEM, 3 units)
Adjunct Professor Strack
Likely Frequency of Offering: Once per year
Content: This course provides an in-depth study of domestic violence. It begins with an historical overview of violence in marital relationships and takes a close look at the psychological and political aspects of intimate violence. Law enforcement issues are addressed, including restraining orders, police response, prosecutorial and judicial response, and battered women as defendants. Other approaches to dealing with domestic violence are also explored, such as tort remedies and alternative dispute resolution. The course deals with other criminal and family law issues such as the Violence Against Women Act, interstate custody and child snatching, custody issues, marital rape, the interface of domestic violence with child abuse, the medical response, domestic violence at the workplace and welfare issues. Does not fulfill the scholarly writing requirement.
PUBLIC HEALTH LAW (SW/EO, 3 units)
Professor Channick
Likely Frequency of Offering: Once per year
Content: Ensuring the health and well-being of citizens is among the fundamental goals of American government. While state and local governments have broad powers to provide for the public’s health, government action to protect health and well-being may conflict with the constitutionally protected rights of individuals. Thus, the question that lawyers, legislators, judges, and public health authorities must consider when contemplating government action is the extent to which the state may restrain citizens for the promotion of health, safety, and morals. This course will explore the legal foundations of the American public health system and the resulting struggle between individual liberties and the government’s interest in providing for its citizen’s collective health and well-being. We will cover such topics as the foundations of public health law, the relationship between public health and the Constitution, the various methods of legal and economic reasoning in public health, public health theory and practice, and finally, the future of public health to such modern concerns as emerging infectious diseases, bio-terrorism, and public health genetics.
Sequence and Prerequisites: No prerequisites. Legal Scholarship Training Seminar is a co requisite for students who want Scholarly Writing credit.
Relationship to Law Practice: This course will be useful to individuals interested in working in the area of health law or bioethics.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND THE LAW (SW/OP, 3 units)
Teaching Fellow Waldman
Content: The basic goal of this course is to examine and understand how issues of sexuality arise in various legal contexts: the regulation of sexual conduct, the regulation of domestic relations, child rearing, sexual orientation and gender discrimination, and freedom of speech and expression. We will touch upon all of the major controversies including: marriage, adoption, military policy, treatment of school children, and the commercialization of sexuality. The more ambitious goal is to critically analyze how courts have handled issues of sexuality and to produce our own theories and solutions to current and future cases. Because the field is relatively new, more rigorous theorizing is necessary than in the usual doctrinal law course. Thus we begin with several jurisprudential theories robust enough to call upon throughout the entire term. The course then proceeds thematically, asking at each stage how the legal treatment of sexuality at issue fairs under theoretical analysis. By the end of the term, students should have a solid overview of “sexuality and the law” as an emerging field and be prepared to intelligently confront new issues as they arise in the policymaking and practice realms.
