Current Curricular Offerings (by subject area)
Clinics and Experiential
This course is a limited extension of a clinical experience at the Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic based on factors such as the nature of litigation engaged in by the student in the prior semester.
Pre-requisites: General Practice Clinic-LAW 663, and permission from the instructor.
Offered: Every Year
Pre-requisites: All placements require the successful completion of all first-year courses, as well as good academic standing. Some placements also require eligibility for certification as a student attorney or specific coursework.
Only students who have been selected for an externship may register for this course and students may only drop with approval from the Externship Program Director.
Offered: Every Year
The purpose of this course is to provide students with a comprehensive overview of the strategies and practical skills necessary to advocate effectively for public policy reform. Students will learn to think beyond litigation and other traditional legal strategies to solve problems and meet societal goals. Students will be required to identify and define a problem that speaks to a pressing systemic racial, economic, or social injustice in the community, which could be addressed through a change in law, regulation, ordinance, or other public policy.
Working individually and in small groups, students will learn and practice key skills to advocate for a policy solution. Students will gain an understanding of the varied strategies involved in developing and advancing a public policy reform as well as the particular skills and tactics required to engage in those strategies. Students will learn how to employ equity-based criteria for policy development, conduct a landscape analysis of decision-makers and influencers, determine a strategy for change, and implement the tactics necessary to carry out that strategy. Specific skills covered include “power mapping”; drafting legislative and/or regulatory proposals, policy papers and reports; locating, evaluating, and using social science research and data; lobbying elected officials; preparing and delivering written and oral testimony; working in coalitions; and developing an external communications plan and targeted messaging. Students will also explore how coalition building, grassroots organizing, and public policy advocacy are used to enhance more traditional legal strategies.
In addition to learning the strategies and skills to advance a policy change, students will gain an understanding of the broader context for influencing law and public policy and the possible roles lawyers can play in change efforts. The goal of the course is to help students become effective advocates and allies for social change as well as good lawyers.
Offered: Occasionally
- professional relationships and communication
- developing a meaningful and effective attorney-client relationship
- developing and cultivating a cultural humility framework to explore and learn from the perspectives of clients, peers, and instructors in the Clinic
- developing key professional and leadership skills for an attorney, including time management, receiving and giving feedback, and deep listening
- using narrative theory for persuasion
- client interviewing
- case theory
- fact investigation
- negotiation
- client counseling
- trauma-informed lawyering
- trial advocacy
- reflection and developing a professional identity
- identifying and managing ethical issues
Student must be enrolled for the first time in a Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic class, (General Practice Clinic, Juvenile Justice Clinic, Prisoner Assistance Clinic, or Refugee and Human Rights Clinic) each of which has enrollment caps.
Offered: Every Year
Enrollment is limited to 6 students, selected by lottery.
Offered: Every Other Year
Students must have completed at least three semesters of law school to enroll.
Pre-Requisites: Evidence (LAW 644), Trial Practice (LAW 650) [or Trial Advocacy and Evidence (Law 755)], and Professional Responsibility (LAW 632).
Co-Requisite: Lawyering Skills for Clinical Practice (Law 667) is a co-requisite for all students enrolling in a clinical course for the first time. Students must have completed at least three semesters of law school to enroll.
Enrollment is by lottery.
Offered: Every Year
Business, Commercial, Tax
This collaborative course, developed and presented jointly by Professors Harkins and Kaufman, will give law students and graduate business students working together hands-on experience in how transactional lawyers and business professionals approach, analyze, identify and resolve issues arising in a pending business transaction — in this case, a business acquisition financed with both debt and equity components. During the course, students will examine not only substantive legal and business issues presented by the transaction, but also process. Not just the “why” of the transaction, but the “how.”
Topics will include transactional risk assessment and management, transaction structure, valuation fundamentals, and key steps in the transacting process.
Cannabis Law & Policy covers a spectrum of legal considerations that affect cannabis businesses and the policy driving the legal status of cannabis. It includes the policy reasons behind federal illegality and states’ growing acceptance of cannabis; constitutional considerations around federal law and state laws; the federal, state, and local legal issues that cannabis businesses must consider; and the lawyer’s ethical considerations in assisting cannabis businesses.
Topics of study include an overview of corporate and organizational governance (definition, history, rationale and importance, board/management duties and functions, law and regulation, conflicts and tensions); identifying rights and responsibilities of stakeholders and key shareholder issues (shareholder activism, impact investing, conflicts of authority with boards and managers); legal and market forces driving organizations toward greater professed social responsibility and sustainability imperatives; ethics in businesses and other organizations; governance and ethics lessons from the great recession; and gatekeepers, including lawyer as business conscience. Students will have the opportunity to interact with CEOs and other executives, board members, general counsel, and nonprofit government leaders who will participate in class discussions from time to time.
The course will provide an introduction to accounting concepts and financial reporting fundamentals. Topics will include generally accepted accounting principles and the basics of financial statements (the balance sheet, the income statement, and the statement of cash flows). Students will be taught how to critically analyze financial data and make important observations about accountants’ reports, financial statements, and financial statement footnote disclosures. Students will also develop skills in applying financial language in drafting agreements and in properly examining an expert witness on damages and other matters.
This course is designed to cover the “how” of being a privacy lawyer, including the ethics challenges confronted by in-house privacy counsel serving roles like Chief Privacy Officer and Data Protection Officer. Students will develop practical skills using real world problems in the information privacy and cybersecurity areas. Pragmatic guidance will be provided from experienced in-house and outside privacy counsel. Students will assume the roles of lawyers to perform tasks in hypothetical situations. The goal is to give students the chance to integrate legal theory, practical skills and ethics while engaging in a number of professional skills in a classroom setting.
Case studies will be drawn from various real world examples such as: Cambridge Analytica/Facebook, Equifax data breach and compliance with GDPR to form the basis for a number of different exercises. The exercises will focus on key areas of privacy and cybersecurity legal practice. By way of example, such exercises might focus on the following topics:
Privacy impact assessments – providing advice with respect to when and how to use them, how to go about completing them, tools available for completing assessments and how to utilize the results of the assessment, including action steps to take based on the assessment.
Commercial transactions between parties involving the transfer and handling of personal information – drafting and negotiating contract provisions (from the perspective of both parties) that address privacy and data security concerns (e.g. Data processing agreements) and the related regulatory and other risks associated with handling personal information.
Data breach notification – providing end to end advice to a business that is the victim of a data breach, beginning with the initial notification of the security incident, working with the IT and forensics teams to figure out what happened and how to contain the incident, determining whether there are any breach notification obligations, crafting the breach notification letter, responding to regulatory inquiries and enforcement actions, crafting notice of claim to insurance carriers of third party providers that may be at fault, pursuing insurance claims, defending and bringing litigations, and negotiating resolution of such claims and disputes.
Business start-ups and entrepreneurial ventures present a unique set of legal and business problems and challenges both to the principals undertaking them and to their lawyers and other advisors. The success of these ventures relies heavily on building a world-class team around the founders where the totality of those working to move the startup forward have a common language and goals. Building these ventures requires not only substantive expertise, but also emotional intelligence, an understanding of the risks, goals and personalities involved, and capacity for counseling and guiding the parties on an often wildly unpredictable journey. This course, taught collaboratively by Professors Harkins and Kaufman and including both law and MBA students, will examine these issues through these various lenses.
Topics will include case and client management, business plans, basic financial literacy, entity selection, capital formation (including the unique types, sources and roles of start-up and entrepreneurial financing), operational challenges, intellectual property identification and protection, and the roles of lawyers and other advisors in representing start-ups and entrepreneurs.
Constitutional Law and Civil Rights
In addition to participating and leading class discussion, students will be required to write 2 papers: (1) a short paper analyzing one of the Court’s decisions from the 2013-2014 terms, and (2) either a brief for a case which has been appealed to the Supreme Court or a hypothetical Supreme Court opinion for a case in which briefs have been filed or in which the Court has denied the petition for certiorari.
Transforming federal constitutional rights from paper to reality is no easy task. Constitutional rights do not enforce themselves; there is a complex enforcement system of federal courts and state courts. How this federal system of courts functions and why it functions in these ways is at the core of the course. Understanding this system is a prerequisite to operating within it to conduct constitutional litigation.
A number of thorny questions are addressed. Must the constitutional issue initially be raised in state court or may it be raised initially in federal court? If the former, when may the state court judgment be reviewed directly by the Supreme Court or by a lower federal court on habeas corpus? If the latter, what is the basis of federal court jurisdiction? Does the federal plaintiff sue the state by name or a state officer? What remedies may be granted? Closely associated with these enforcement questions is the question of whether a federal constitutional right should be recognized at all or the matter should be left to state law.
The course approached these questions historically. As constitutional rights have changed over time, so too have their enforcement system. Thus it aids understanding to adopt a historical perspective.
Criminal Law
Students will ghost write at least two appellate pleadings in pending cases, litigated contemporaneously with the course offering in state and/or federal court. The course also will simulate client management skills and students will have the opportunity to practice oral arguments. In the process, students will learn a variety of fungible skills, e.g. how to evaluate strategic litigation choices and how to communicate those choices to the client; how to work with “good” and “bad” facts; how to best frame the legal questions presented by the case; and how to appropriately confront the ethical issues that routinely confront courtroom lawyers.
At the conclusion of the course, students should feel comfortable independently prosecuting a direct appeal in state or federal court. Students should also pass any question about the Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure on the Maine Bar Exam.
Environmental, Energy, Land Use, and Oceans
This course examines the social and environmental obligations, if any, imposed on corporations beyond pure profit maximization. Milton Friedman famously wrote that “the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits,” and, indeed, a course in the law of business associations likely reinforces the commitment to profit-maximization as a legal obligation as well. However, as evidenced by the development of new corporate forms (such as the “benefit corporation”) and the policies of Fortune 500 companies, the recent trend has been towards a recognition a broader corporate purpose in law and practice.
This course will examine corporate social responsibility, with a particular focus on sustainability and the environment. The course begins with the question of whether such a responsibility exists, drawing on potential legal, ethical, and societal sources. We will then turn to how corporations can meet their environmental obligations, or fail to, under existing law. Looking at what has already been done by some of the “best” actors, we will ultimately aim to determine the proper role for corporate governance in the pursuit of a healthier climate system and planet as a whole.
Land is an increasingly scarce and valuable resource; Land Use Law increasingly touches upon many substantive practice areas and course topics across the law school curriculum. This is a professional skills and confidence building course dealing with issues that almost every attorney likely will confront sometime, in Maine or elsewhere. As a “practicum,” students will develop necessary practical lawyering skills by engaging in a number of advocacy exercises and in a number of different roles – such as for a development, against it, or deciding whether or approve or reject it. Students will work with specific project facts, and will address federal, Maine and local land use issues as well as professional ethics issues. There will be no mid-term or final examination.
Family Law, Trusts & Estates, and Elder Law
The course will provide an introduction to accounting concepts and financial reporting fundamentals. Topics will include generally accepted accounting principles and the basics of financial statements (the balance sheet, the income statement, and the statement of cash flows). Students will be taught how to critically analyze financial data and make important observations about accountants’ reports, financial statements, and financial statement footnote disclosures. Students will also develop skills in applying financial language in drafting agreements and in properly examining an expert witness on damages and other matters.
Government and Regulation
Recently, there has been an explosion of legal battles involving efforts to undo old regulations and laws, as well as over how statutes and regulations should be interpreted. Moreover, today the vast majority of attorneys who litigate are doing so not before judges or juries, but before regulatory bodies or non-judicial officers without the Rules of Evidence or Civil Procedure, and that have special standards for issues like standing and finality. The American Bar Association estimates that 65 to 70 percent of the practice of adjudication actually occurs in an administrative setting, rather than a courtroom.
This course will first review the fundamental principles of and tools for interpretation of statutes and regulations. We then examine work that federal and state agencies do, the procedures they utilize, and the ways in which the political judicial branches seek to control administrative actions. Students will undertake practical exercises on relevant issues throughout the semester to best develop their oral and written advocacy skills, and to better learn and remember the legislative and regulatory doctrines. Maine Law alums who practice in a variety of regulated areas of law will share their insights with students. The goal is to better enable students to address issues in their other courses, as well as in any jobs they pursue.
Cannabis Law & Policy covers a spectrum of legal considerations that affect cannabis businesses and the policy driving the legal status of cannabis. It includes the policy reasons behind federal illegality and states’ growing acceptance of cannabis; constitutional considerations around federal law and state laws; the federal, state, and local legal issues that cannabis businesses must consider; and the lawyer’s ethical considerations in assisting cannabis businesses.
Land is an increasingly scarce and valuable resource; Land Use Law increasingly touches upon many substantive practice areas and course topics across the law school curriculum. This is a professional skills and confidence building course dealing with issues that almost every attorney likely will confront sometime, in Maine or elsewhere. As a “practicum,” students will develop necessary practical lawyering skills by engaging in a number of advocacy exercises and in a number of different roles – such as for a development, against it, or deciding whether or approve or reject it. Students will work with specific project facts, and will address federal, Maine and local land use issues as well as professional ethics issues. There will be no mid-term or final examination.
The American military is widely regarded as the most impressive in the world. It performs missions that have worldwide implications both in times of peace and in times of war. The United States Constitution contains 18 provisions specifically centered on the armed forces. They provide the basis for the wide number of domestic missions of the armed forces.
Military Law will examine the overall governance structure of the military and the roles of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches in that governance. Among the topics are entry into the military by commissioning, enlistment, or conscription and departure from the military by retirement, involuntary termination, end of service agreement. A considerable portion of the course will examine the distinctive military criminal justice system (the court-martial process). In addition to its specific application to the military, study of the court-martial system provides an excellent comparative basis for studying American criminal justice systems.
This class will introduce students to the government procurement process, specifically at the state and local level. Students will utilize an online, lecture focused structure to learn the basics of procurement law. Throughout the course, students will see examples of solicitations from the state of Maine and localities within Maine. Each class will have a reading assignment and a lecture or panel discussion on the week’s topic. The class will utilize an online-based classroom. There will also be an interactive online live conference where issues from the week’s topic will be discussed and questions resolved. The course will be primarily web-based; on occasion, the professor will be at the Law School to lecture for tape to be used in future iterations of the course.
Health and Bioethics
International, Human Rights, and Comparative Law
As its name would suggest, comparative law is not so much the study of any particular body of law as it is a study of what role the law plays in different cultures and societies and how culture, history, and economics in turn shape the law. This course will therefore take a detailed look at law as it is practiced in Europe, Asia, South America, the Middle East, and elsewhere, with an emphasis on comparing and contrasting the civil-law and common-law traditions. Topics will include differences in legal education, the role of the legal profession, the judicial system, and societal attitudes toward these institutions. The course will also take a look at globalization and efforts at harmonization, as well movements toward “counter-harmonization” and areas of law that resist harmonization. The course will be graded primarily on class participation and a final written paper of law review length.
The Seminar culminates in a trip to France where students will visit French legal institutions and meet with legal and other governmental officials in Paris. Students will be required write a research paper and present their work at the Seminar during the visit to France.
IP and Information Privacy
Litigation and Judiciary
This course will focus on issues that frequently emerge in complex civil litigation, with a focus on class actions. Building on the foundations students have attained in their first-year civil procedure classes, the first portion of the course will cover the theories underlying class actions, the applicable rules and statutes, and the practical aspects of litigating a class action, including identifying a class and properly drafting a complaint, litigating certification, and managing class settlement. There will be an emphasis on recent developments in class action jurisprudence, an area which is constantly evolving in federal courts. The second portion of the course will examine the rise of arbitration agreements as a mechanism utilized by the defense bar to combat class actions, as well as the techniques advanced by the plaintiff’s bar to contest such agreements. Student evaluation will be based on written assignments; there will be no final examination.
Students will ghost write at least two appellate pleadings in pending cases, litigated contemporaneously with the course offering in state and/or federal court. The course also will simulate client management skills and students will have the opportunity to practice oral arguments. In the process, students will learn a variety of fungible skills, e.g. how to evaluate strategic litigation choices and how to communicate those choices to the client; how to work with “good” and “bad” facts; how to best frame the legal questions presented by the case; and how to appropriately confront the ethical issues that routinely confront courtroom lawyers.
At the conclusion of the course, students should feel comfortable independently prosecuting a direct appeal in state or federal court. Students should also pass any question about the Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure on the Maine Bar Exam.
Transforming federal constitutional rights from paper to reality is no easy task. Constitutional rights do not enforce themselves; there is a complex enforcement system of federal courts and state courts. How this federal system of courts functions and why it functions in these ways is at the core of the course. Understanding this system is a prerequisite to operating within it to conduct constitutional litigation.
A number of thorny questions are addressed. Must the constitutional issue initially be raised in state court or may it be raised initially in federal court? If the former, when may the state court judgment be reviewed directly by the Supreme Court or by a lower federal court on habeas corpus? If the latter, what is the basis of federal court jurisdiction? Does the federal plaintiff sue the state by name or a state officer? What remedies may be granted? Closely associated with these enforcement questions is the question of whether a federal constitutional right should be recognized at all or the matter should be left to state law.
The course approached these questions historically. As constitutional rights have changed over time, so too have their enforcement system. Thus it aids understanding to adopt a historical perspective.
Successful completion of Professional Responsibility is required for graduation.
Students will learn how to develop both a “theme” and “theory” for their client, and learn to how to make proper opening and closing statements, conduct direct and cross-examinations of witnesses, and how to properly present and object to evidence, including expert testimony. Faculty will utilize simulations, role-playing, demonstrations, and individual evaluation and feedback. At the end of the semester, students will try both a Bench Trial and a Jury Trial, which serve to bring together all the elements of a trial in simulated settings.
This class is designed to help you develop (1) a working knowledge of the FRE and MRE; (2) an ability to quickly and accurately solve evidentiary problems; (3) knowledge and understanding of key cases that discuss and analyze the FRE; (4) an understanding of the theory, purpose, goals, and implications of the FRE and MRE; and (5) the ability to both prepare and present persuasive, focused and compelling oral and written communication of your issues, regardless of whether you are representing the moving party or defendant, and regardless of whether your audience is a trial judge, jury, administrative law judge, or other tribunal.
Research, Writing, and Legal Practice
Prerequisites: All placements require the successful completion of all first-year courses as well as good academic standing. Some placements also require eligibility for certification as a student attorney or specific coursework.
The Upper Level Writing course is a one-credit course that allows students to satisfy the Upper Level Writing requirement. Students must register for this in connection with a designated course or seminar. After enrolling in the course or seminar and Upper Level Writing, students will write a major research paper in conjunction with the course or seminar and in consultation with a faculty advisor. Successful completion of the designated course or seminar and one-credit Upper Level Writing satisfies the Upper Level Writing requirement, which is a requirement for graduation.