Penn State Dickinson Law Seminars (LWSEM)

This research seminar introduces students to Intersectionality as both a theoretical and practical way to address social problems related to inequities around race, gender, poverty, disability, and more. Topics will include child welfare, disability law, public health, housing, environmental/food justice, poverty, intimate partner violence, religion, and restorative justice. As explained by the founding legal theorist, Prof. Kimberle' Crenshaw, "emerging as a theory to articulate the multiple axis of discrimination encountered by women of color in employment, the family, and elsewhere, Intersectionality has found broader application in efforts to move beyond single-issue and identity-based approaches to societal marginalization." This class situates Intersectionality as a tool to address, and redress, human rights, in both theory and practice. Students will learn the role of Intersectionality in the human impacts of social problems, and how to leverage that understanding to advance social justice. The class will include guest lecturers, mostly women of color, from various legal specialties and law-related disciplines. Students will also have skill-building opportunities with feedback on oral presentations, and developing legal strategies. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

This seminar examined the unique aspects of federal and state regulatory and legislative practice. The course will focus on those areas of federal and state legal practice in which criminal and administrative law, regulatory regimes, (including lobbying regulations, ethics-in-government rules and criminal code provisions restricting gifts to officials), litigation and exercise of governmental powers and the public relations and media aspects of these areas intersect to create special problems and challenges for attorneys in the government and private sectors. The context in which these cases are managed will also involve an examination of the principles of governmental separation of powers set out in the federal and state Constitutions, how they work in practice and the role they play in developing legal strategies for representing clients before the government. Some of the "case studies" presented during the course will involve actual cases from federal and state practice and will be used to explicate the above principles. This course satisfies the upper-leveling writing seminar requirement.

This course is designed to give students an accessible and foundational understanding of the legal and policy issues associated with cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is the protection of electronic data and systems from attack, loss or other compromise. Electronic data and systems include governmental records, and investor and private firm information, and the hardware and software systems used to generate and maintain that data. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Education in the United States is increasingly a regulated industry. Understanding the system by which we educate the nation's children requires understanding a significant and complex hierarchy of laws and policy at the federal, state, and local level. This course will examine the interplay of law with fundamental areas of education policy and practice, including the basic premises of compulsory education; issues concerning exclusions of students; school control of student behavior and curriculum; teacher employment problems; and issues of funding, minority rights, disabilities, gender equity and access, and free expression. While the course will primarily focus on kindergarten to 12th grade education, some laws applicable to higher education will be explored. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

The objectives of this course include an examination of the interface between law and the arts with an eye to both theoretical and practical implications and a striving to identify creative and serviceable solutions to the problems that have frustrated the growth and harvest of the creative effort. The investigation will be directed toward subject areas that reflect functional divisions within the arts; i.e., the visual arts, dance, music, the literary arts, and areas such as television and film. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

This seminar will be based on Professor Thompson's 2019 book entitled Business Taxation Deskbook published by the Practising Law Institute. Students will develop a basic understanding of business tax principles generally. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

The inexorable paces of globalization and interdependence have made the need f for international cooperation more acute. The role of the United Nations in these processes has become both more relevant and controversial. Notwithstanding the critical vocies that have questioned the relevance or usefulness of the world body from certain national perspectives and points of view, the United Nations, through its activities and programmes, continues to have a considerable impact on countries and societies around the world, in such areas as conflict prevention and resolution, control of population displacements, humanitarian action, and social and economic development. These considerations, among others, make a study of the United Nations and International law more important today than it has ever been. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

This seminar is designed to improve students' understanding of the theoretical and policy justifications underlying the prosecution of white collar crime. Students will examine current issues in the debate over corporate criminal liability, prosecutorial discretion, the use of plea agreements to achieve structural reform of corporations, and the federalization of crime. In addition, the class will examine white collar crime in particular industries such as health care and securities regulation. Students will examine these issues both theoretically and practically by reviewing law review articles, Department of Justice policies, pleadings, and case studies on some of the most notorious white collar crime cases in recent years. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

This seminar is broken into the following three parts: Part I, Introduction and in-Depth Analysis of the Minority-White Gap in Business Ownership, Part II, The Lawyer's Essential Tools in Representing a Minority-Owned Small Business, Part III, The Big Ideas for Addressing the Minority-White Gap in Business Ownership. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

This course is intended to give students a practical knowledge base they can apply in their future law practice, whether principally in workers' compensation practice, or in many other practice settings where knowledge of workers' compensation law may prove useful, e.g., personal injury, disability, or employment law, as in-house counsel or in human resources management. Grades will be based on participation and a final paper on a workers' compensation topic of the students' interest and choice. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

This seminar will provide an introduction to the unique aspects of federal criminal law, including jurisdiction, enforcement policy, case selection, and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. It will also cover offenses not typically included in white collar crime courses, including those relating to narcotics trafficking, firearm regulation, child pornography, and anti-terrorism efforts. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.

Special Topic Seminars. This course satisfies the upper-level writing seminar requirement.