To: All 2L and 3L JD students and all LLM students
Re: Mini-seminar series, Fall 2008
Once again, we will be offering mini-seminars both this fall and winter. As detailed below, they will meet with different frequencies and focus on different areas of substantive interest. Some of them will meet exclusively in the fall, some exclusively in the winter, and some will straddle both the fall and winter terms. There will be refreshments provided at all mini-seminars. All of the mini-seminars listed below will count for one academic credit and will be graded on a mandatory pass/fail basis. For mini-seminars which meet at professors’ homes, addresses will be provided to students admitted to the mini-seminars. The mini-seminar offerings that will meet in the fall or will start in the fall and continue into the winter are as follows:
#400M1 Howard Bromberg, “Shakespeare ” – For one credit, for up to 10 students – Wednesday evenings, 6:30-8:30 p.m. on October 1, October 29, November 19, January 28, February 11, and March 11 at various local restaurants and Professor Bromberg’s home.
Description: In this mini-seminar we will be reading some of the great masterpieces of the English language and world drama. William Shakespeare has much to say about justice, mercy, prejudice, punishment, order, and human dignity. As a master commentator on human society, Shakespeare addresses a surprising amount of detailed legal material. In the six plays selected for this course (Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, Richard II, The Tempest, Hamlet, and King Lear), we will read about courts, wills and trusts, equity, civil procedure, capital punishment, inheritance, legal fees, real estate law, honest lawyers, corrupt lawyers, powerful judges, and the like. In addition to our broad-ranging discussion, each student will be asked over the course of the year to recite and comment on a short passage of his or her choosing from one of the six plays.
#400M2 Steve Croley, “Perceptions of Lawyers and Litigation” – For one credit, for up to 12 students – Thursday evenings, 8:00-10:00 p.m., on roughly the third Thursday of the month, from October through April, excluding December, to wit: October 23, November 20, January 22, February 19, March 19, and April 16. All meetings will be at Professor Croley’s home over dessert and coffee.
Description: This mini seminar is a book club. Its theme is lawyers and the legal system, especially civil litigation. Each meeting, we will discuss one book. Chosen books will shed light on how lawyers are viewed–by lay people, non-lawyer elites, and by lawyers themselves. Books we will read include Krier, The Case Against Lawyers, Kronman, The Lost Lawyer, Walter Olson, The Rule of Lawyers, Zitrin & Langford, The Moral Compass of the American Lawyer.
#400M3 Becky Eisenberg, “Science Sagas” – For one credit, for up to 10 students – Thursday evenings, 7:00-9:00 p.m., on the following dates: September 25; October 23; November 20; January 22; February 19; April 2. The meetings will take place at Professor Eisenberg’s home.
Description: At each meeting discussion will focus on a book that recounts an episode of scientific discovery that has raised vexing legal or policy questions. Students may receive one unit of pass-fail credit for reading all of the books and participating in all of the discussions. No written work is required. At the first meeting we will discuss James D. Watson, The Double Helix (1968) (143 pp.). Books for the remaining sessions will be selected according to student interest and may include titles from the following list:
Steven Johnson, The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World (Penguin 2006) (256 pp.); Dava Sobel, Longitude: The Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific of His Time (Walker 1995); Lily Kay, The Molecular Vision of Life: Caltech, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the Rise of the New Biology (Oxford 1993) (282 pp.); Barry Werth, The Billion-Dollar Molecule: One Company’s Quest for the Perfect Drug (Simon & Schuster 1994) (429 pp.); Daniel J. Kevles, The Baltimore Case: A Trial of Politics, Science, and Character (Norton 1998) (388 pp.); David M. Oshinsky, Polio: An American Story (Oxford 2005) (288 pp.); Nick Taylor, Laser: The Inventor, The Nobel Laureate, and the Thirty-Year Patent War (Simon & Schuster 2000) (287 pp.); Paul Rabinow, Making PCR: A Story of Biotechnology (University of Chicago Press 1996) (169 pp.); Steven Epstein, Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge (University of California 1996) (353 pp.); Kevin Davies, Cracking the Genome: Inside the Race to Unlock Human DNA (Free Press 2001) (251 pp.); James Shreve, The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World (Ballantine 2005) (376 pp.); Rick Murdock & David Fisher, Patient Number One: A True Story of How One CEO Took on Cancer and Big Business in the Fight of His Life (Crown 2000) (295 pp.); Daniel Vasella with Robert Slater, Magic Cancer Bullet: How a Tiny Orange Pill is Rewriting Medical History (HarperBusiness 2003) (232 pp.); Fran Hawthorne, The Merck Druggernaut: The Inside Story of a Pharmaceutical Giant (Wiley 2003) (275 pp.); Kevin Davies & Michael White, Breakthrough: The Race to Find the Breast Cancer Gene (Wiley 1995) (275 pp.); Anne Sayre, Rosalind Franklin & DNA (1975) (200 pp.)
#400M4 Jill Horwitz, “The Dead Hand” – – For one credit, for up to 12 students – Wednesday evenings, 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. on October 8, October 29 in the fall and, tentatively, the following dates in the winter: January 21, February 4, February 18, and March 11. Some sessions might run beyond 10:00 p.m. All sessions will be at Professor Horwitz’s home.
Description: Last year billionaire Leona Helmsley the self-proclaimed Queen of Mean -- died of congestive heart failure. Many people thought that her death would mark the end of her, but it seems that she may have the last laugh from her grave. She left more than $4 billion to her charitable trust, all of it to be used to benefit dogs. One dog made out particularly well; Helmsley left $12 million to her Maltese, Trouble. Some grandchildren received a substantial inheritance (although less than that of her dog) on the condition that they visit their fathers grave annually. Other grandchildren received nothing.
In a judgment that shocked the nonprofit world, a Manhattan Surrogate Judge reduced Troubles fund from $12 million to $2 million and directed the rest to the charitable trust. Later, after declaring that Helmsley had been mentally unfit when she executed her will, the judge directed several million to the disinherited grandchildren.
What happens when people make mischief from beyond the grave? In literature, true princesses live in poverty, lovers are kept apart, and lives are spent in miserable adherence to the terms of a manipulative will. On the other (dead) hand, maybe previous generations have some wisdom that we don’t. Could Leona Helmsley be on to something that will only be revealed once her trust is used as she intended? Maybe Helmsley's grandchildren should visit their father's grave? Maybe your mother knows that the guy you have your eye on is a scoundrel and only after your inheritance?
In this seminar we will consider these issues through looking at some famous, contemporary charities cases (e.g. the Robinson case involving potential misuse of $800 million of Princeton’s restricted endowment, the Barnes Foundation, and even Helmsley’s will). We will also look at fictional accounts of how the law allows the dead hand to strangle -- or help, depending on your perspective -- the living. Reading/Viewing may include: The Warden (Anthony Trollope), Middlemarch (George Eliot), Bleak House (Dickens), Quincunx (Charles Polliser), and Hamlet.
#400M5 Doug Kahn and J.J. Prescott, "Theater and the Moral Foundations of the Law" – For one credit, for up to 10 students – Tuesday evenings, 7:00-9:00 p.m. on the following dates: September 30, October 14, October 28, November 11, January 20, and February 10. All meetings will be at Professor Kahn’s home.
Description: In the course of six two-hour meetings, we will discuss six different plays that deal explicitly with the law (five of the six plays involve trials) and raise moral dilemmas and questions that are directly relevant to legal practice. The mini-seminar will work just like a book club. Students will read the play for a given meeting in advance. The group will then meet for approximately two hours (on particular Tuesday evenings, from 7 to 9pm) for unstructured discussion of the work, its characters, its author, its context, its implications, etc. Dinner or heavy appetizers will be provided. The plays we will discuss are: Witness for the Prosecution (Christie), Inherit the Wind (Lawrence and Lee), Counsellor at Law (Rice), Merchant of Venice (the Bard), The Winslow Boy (Rattigan), and The Lady Is Not For Burning (Fry). This mini-seminar requires no particular background in theater -- it's perfect for the law student who is an expert in theater (like Prof. Kahn), for the law student who is a complete novice (like Prof. Prescott), or for the student who is somewhere in between, but just wants to read and think about something other than casebooks, statutes, and regulations once in a while.
#400M6 Vic Khanna, “Corporate Crime & Wrongdoing” – For one credit, for up to 11 students – In the fall, this class will meet on Tuesday, October 7 and Tuesday, November 11 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at locations to be announced. The four winter meeting dates will be determined by Professor Khanna in consultation with the class.
Description: This mini-seminar will examine both foundational as well as current topics in Corporate Crime & Wrongdoing. We will begin by examining the foundations for the liability of corporations and executives for wrongdoing and how they have grown into the modern structure of Corporate Crime and Regulation. We will explore, briefly, which kinds of liability rules may help reduce wrongdoing at tolerable costs and what kinds of policy initiatives may be most useful. We will then examine recent instances of corporate wrongdoing to learn more about how these occur and what can be done to address them. We will focus on Enron and Sarbanes Oxley as well as the recent Mortgage meltdown as examples of fraud in the financial markets. However, in later sessions we will explore other kinds of corporate wrongdoing including for example government contractor fraud and environmental wrongdoing. The sessions will be discussion oriented and centered on the selected readings for each session.
#400M7 Joan Larsen, “John Adams” – For one credit, for up to 10 students. The mini-seminar will meet at Professor Larsen’s house from 7:00-9:00 pm on the following Wednesdays: Sept. 24th, October 1st, October 15th, October 22nd, November 5th, and November 12th.
Description: This mini-seminar will explore the life and work of our nations first Vice-President and second President, John Adams. Among other topics, we will explore Adams early career as a lawyer (e.g., his successful, but politically-costly, defense of British soldiers accused of murder during the Boston Massacre); his service as a delegate of Massachusetts to the First and Second Continental Congresses; his central role in persuading Congress to declare American independence; his critical diplomatic missions to France and the Netherlands; his ideas on constitutionalism and the ideal form of government; his service as Vice President to George Washington and as President of the United States; the election of 1800 (which set the stage for Marbury v. Madison); his signing of and support for the Alien and Sedition Acts; his views on slavery (unlike many of the Founders, he never owned a slave); and, of course, his relationship with his wife, Abigail, who was every bit his intellectual equal. The springboard for our discussion will be the widely-acclaimed HBO mini-series, John Adams, which we will watch together (typically, one-episode per meeting), and some primary source materials (e.g., copies of Adams correspondence on relevant topics; his thoughts on government; his drafts of the Massachusetts Constitution).
#400M8 Bridget McCormack, “Women In Prison” – For one credit, for up to 12 students. Wednesday evenings, 8:00-10:00 p.m., on the following dates: October 1 and 15, November 5 and 19, and December 3. These evening sessions will all be at Professor McCormack’s house. Also, there will be a trip to a women’s prison on one Friday on a date TBA.
Description: In this seminar we will explore the legal, political and social issues surrounding women in prison. Questions about the demographics of the population, the ways in which women end up in prison, the relationship domestic violence plays in prisoners’ lives, legal representation for women charged with and convicted of crimes and the unique issues facing women prisoners once they are sentenced, including sexual assault and parental rights issues will be explored. Two women recently released from the Scott Correctional Facility by way of executive commutation will join the seminar for two meetings. We will tour the Scott Correctional Facility, Michigan’s primary prison for women on a Friday to be scheduled.
#400M9 Mark Osbeck, “Great Legal Writers & Great Legal Writing – What's So Great About Them?” – For one credit, for up to 10 students – Thursday evenings from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on the following dates: September 25, October 9, October 16, October 30, November 6, and November 13. The meetings will be held at Dominick's.
Description: Legal employers frequently point to writing ability as the principal skill they look for when they hire new lawyers. Yet they also report that it is difficult to find law students who are excellent writers. So what does it take to be an excellent legal writer? This seminar will try to answer that question by enabling a discussion on the qualities that distinguish great writing from ordinary writing. As a springboard, we will examine selected judicial opinions from some of America's leading judges, focusing primarily on their stylistic and rhetorical techniques, rather than their substantive content. The goal is to try to figure out what it is that makes these legal writers stand out, and to apply what we learn to our own writing.
#400M10 John Pottow, “The Greatest Legal Movies” – For one credit, for up to 10 students – Friday afternoons, approximately 4:00-7:00 p.m. In the fall, the seminar will meet on October 3 (about 90 minutes only for this first meeting), October 10, November 21, and December 5. Two winter meeting dates and the location of the mini-seminar are TBA.
Description: The ABA recently conducted a large survey and determined, in its view, the 25 greatest legal movies. We will decide on which five of these we shall watch (we may even go off-list) and analyze.
#400M11 Gil Seinfeld, “Law and Pop. Lit.” – For one credit, for up to 10 students – six meetings, all at my house, all from 8:00-10:00 p.m. on the following dates: Thursday, September 25, Tuesday, October 7, Thursday, October 23, Thursday, November 6, Thursday, November 20 and Thursday, December 4.
Description: In this seminar, we will read six works of popular fiction and non-fiction that provide rich accounts of various settings that either already are, or will soon become, deeply familiar to the students enrolled (law school itself, the jury room, the large corporate law firm). Titles will include Scott Turow's One-L, and A Trial by Jury by Professor Graham Burnett. During our meetings, we will discuss the books, whether and in what ways we think they accurately reflect the realities of the relevant legal settings, and how students feel about the prospect of finding themselves in these settings either during or upon finishing law school.
REGISTRATION INFORMATION:
1. Students may request a spot in any or all mini-seminars. However, we ask that you please limit your requests only to those mini-seminars in which you are truly interested and which you are actually available to attend. Regular attendance is required.
2. Students are limited to ONE mini-seminar assignment per academic year (so if you get into a mini-seminar this fall, you are not eligible to enroll for a mini-seminar in the winter term).
3. There are almost always fewer seats in mini-seminars than there are students who seek to fill them. Therefore, if you are enrolled in a mini-seminar, you are expected to attend each session. Please do not sign up if you cannot make this commitment. Thank you.
4. No prof picks (please do not contact the professor about getting in).
Registration Process:
Interested students must send an e-mail message to Amy Bishop (albishop@umich.edu) with “Mini-seminar” typed in the Subject line. The message must include the following information:
- Full name (no nicknames, please)
- Uniqname
- Emplid number (listed on your U of M ID card)
- Mini-Seminar number (400M1, 400M2, etc.)
- Mini-Seminar title
- Professor’s (or professors’) full name(s)
- Order your requests 1 thru up to 11 (1 being your first choice, 2 being your second choice, etc.). Seats in mini-seminars will be allocated randomly, taking your preferences into account.
Deadline for signing up:
The submission deadline is Tuesday, September 16 at 5:00 PM.
Notification of assignments:
Assignment notification will be e-mailed by the afternoon of Friday, September 19.
Coming attractions – In the winter term, the following professors will be offering mini-seminars. Registration for these mini-seminars will not take place until January. If the professors have given us any scheduling information, it appears in parentheses after the title of the mini-seminar:
Professors Hakimi and Reimann: “Terrorism Detainees in U.S. Court” (8:00 to 10:00 p.m. on consecutive Tuesdays from March 3 to April 7)
Professor Hershovitz: “Baseball and the Law”
Professor Krier: "The Evolution of the Common Law”
Professor MacKinnon: “Sexual Abuse in Literature and Law” (3:40 to 6:40 onconsecutive Wednesdays from March 18 to April 22