Environmental Law and Policy (LAW 290)
This introductory course focuses on the variety of legal mechanisms that regulate the environment, including common law doctrines such as nuisance as well as major U.S. federal statutes such as NEPA, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. We study statutes in some detail but also as examples of different regulatory approaches favoring different strategies and different values choices. We study some cutting-edge issues in environmental law such as the law and science of climate change, with a focus on domestic efforts to reduce carbon emissions using existing laws. We will also think strategically, from both the industry and environmentalist perspective, about how law may be an instrument of social change. We will explore the field from a number of perspectives - as a site of intense group conflict, as an example of how regulation can both fail and succeed to achieve its goals, as an opportunity for public-private cooperation in governance, and as an example of a technical and scientifically driven area of law. While the course is a survey and will include important topics from several major federal statutes, it is not necessarily comprehensive in its examination of federal environmental law, but will study certain representative topics in detail. The law school’s course on administrative law will be helpful for students who have taken it, but it is not a prerequisite.
China & the International Legal Order (LAW 468)
Forty years ago, China was one of the most isolated countries in the world. Today, it is a major player in international affairs, the leading exporter in a globalized trade regime, and an increasingly influential voice in regional security matters. At the same time, China retains a deeply ambivalent attitude towards many key aspects of international law and the architecture of global order.
The course will explore the ways in which China is adapting to or shaping the rules of international order. Topics covered will include: China’s historical engagement with international law and politics, the China-Taiwan-US triangle, Hong Kong sovereignty, China and the WTO, Chinese investment in the U.S. and other countries, the South China Sea, China’s role in international anticorruption efforts, Chinese relations with North Korea and Syria, international environmental law, and human rights law. Once a taker of global norms, China is increasingly a maker of norms more suited to its economic and political interests.
Chinese Law & Legal Institutions (LAW 636)
Over the last 35 years, China has embarked on an unprecedented effort to build a legal system and a cadre of lawyers, judges, and law professors essentially from scratch. The progress of that effort to build a “socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics” is of tremendous significance not only to China’s 1.4 billion citizens, but also to the rest of the world as China continues its rapid economic and social integration into the international community.
Students will increasingly come into contact with issues related to China during the course of their careers, whether they are engaged in business, regulation, policymaking, or advocacy. This course is intended to expose students to central themes in the study of Chinese law, and help students to understand the key differences between the US and Chinese legal regimes.
Comparative Environmental Law (LAW 443)
In coming decades, nearly all of the growth in global pollution emissions is expected to come from developing countries. For example, more than 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions between 2012 and 2040 are projected to originate in non-OECD (developing) countries. Other types of environmental risks – from deforestation, mining, trade in endangered species, and resource exhaustion to name a few – are expected to be particularly acute in the developing world as well.
This course will examine problems of environmental regulation in the developing world by focusing on perspectives that usually receive limited attention in the law school environmental curriculum. These include examination of regulatory instrument choice, the role of different institutional actors, research findings on compliance and enforcement, and the impact of different political values on regulation. To understand these issues, we will look at a broad range of materials, including social sciences literature, legal documents and policies, white papers, and media reports.
Torts (LAW 140)
This course focuses on personal injury law, as it has developed within the Anglo-American legal tradition. In particular, the concept of negligence and the refinements of negligence law will be extensively considered. Contemporary rules and strict liability will be carefully studied, because of both their intrinsic importance and their theoretical implications. Treating the need for victim compensation as a societal problem, the course will deal with alternatives to the tort system such as no-fault. Throughout the course, there will be an effort to identify the basic purposes which our tort system achieves, or should achieve.
China & the Environment (LAW 165)
China faces extraordinary environmental challenges. This course will offer students an introduction to the causes and possible solutions to these challenges with a particular focus on air pollution and climate change. We will examine how law, politics, institutional dynamics and other factors have contributed to China’s environmental crisis. The course will draw on scholarly literature, primary sources, news articles, and my own experience as an environmental advocate in China.
This is a 1L-only elective short course, graded on a pass/fail basis.