M.S.L. Courses
Master of Studies in Law students have the opportunity to take a wide range of course at the law school.
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Course Description
This course examines the legal problems involved in insurance against physical loss or damage to maritime property (hull), against maritime liabilities (protection and indemnity), and for damage to goods (cargo).
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawFaculty Associated
Robert E. FalveyMarine Affairs Institute
Course Description
This seminar will cover the major United States laws imposing liability for pollution of inland and coastal waters and the high seas, including CERCLA, the Clean Water Act, and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Special attention will be given to the relation between these laws and the general maritime law of the United States; problems of federalism and uniformity; comparison of the United States law with international conventions; and administrative decision making. Some prior knowledge of United States admiralty practice and administrative law would be helpful.
Course Type
SeminarCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawFaculty Associated
Jonathan M. GutoffMarine Affairs Institute
Course Description
Marine salvage is the law of rewarding parties for rescuing goods and preventing damage in cases of marine peril. The concept is unique to maritime law and involves both a different calculation than the Common-Law concept of quantum meruit and give rise to a maritime lien, an ownership interest, in the property subject to salvage. We'll consider the elements of a salvage claim, and the distinction between salvage and other maritime claims, calculation of the salvage award, salvage for prevention of environmental damage, and problem involved in the recovery of sunken treasure including the relation of salvage to the law of finds and abandonment and issues involved in dealing with the United States and foreign sovereigns. In addition procedural issues of arbitration and forum selection will be considered. No prior knowledge of maritime law will be assumed.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawThis course meets for 6 weeks
Course Description
We’ll look at the statutory and common-law basis for the imposition and removal of maritime liens; the foreclosure of liens pursuant to Supplemental Rule C especially the priority of liens; venue, choice of forum (including arbitration), and choice of law.
No prior knowledge of maritime law is required.
Course Type
SeminarCourse Credits
1.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawFaculty Associated
Jonathan M. GutoffMarine Affairs Institute
Course Description
We will examine the maritime lien in US law and its enforcement through the in rem action at admiralty. Among the topics we will discuss are the judicial development of the maritime lien, the Maritime Lien Act and the Ship Mortgage Act; the difference between arrest and attachment; the personification of the vessel; the priority of liens; the relationship of the maritime lien to other security interests in a vessel; the maritime lien in bankruptcy proceeding; and the maritime lien in transnational maritime litigation including choice of law and claim and issue preclusion. Student will research a topic, present the results of their research, and produce a substantial paper that will fulfill the Law School writing requirement. Some prior knowledge of admiralty procedure and/or substantive law would be helpful but is not required.
Course Type
SeminarCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawFaculty Associated
Jonathan M. GutoffMarine Affairs Institute
Course Description
This course is designed to explore various maritime topics typically encountered by an associate in a maritime law firm. Each class will dissect one or more discrete topics related to the resolution of disputes arising in the context of personal injury and cargo damage (including conducting a shipboard investigation), port entry and clearance (including vessel detention issues), limitation of liability claims (including shipyard fires), the International Maritime Organization's Conventions (including Safety of Life At Sea), and various maritime safety issues arising out of offshore wind farms (including examination of domestic and foreign legal frameworks). This course will rely heavily on class participation, will encourage discussion as to how to identify and respond to legal issues and will include mock deposition, drafting and interview exercises. This class should be of interest to the would-be admiralty attorney, or to anyone seeking to further his or her understanding of how to identify, analyze and treat a case from when it first comes in the lawyer’s door.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawMarine Affairs Institute
Course Description
This course examines the procedural aspects of maritime practice. It focuses on the jurisdictional and legal basis of actions in rem, quasi in rem, and in personam. Special emphasis is on the Supplemental Rules for Certain Admiralty and Maritime Claims.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawFaculty Associated
Jonathan M. GutoffMarine Affairs Institute
Course Description
The course addresses the law of maritime security in the United States in the context of the post-September 11 global economy. Recent, essential measures such as the International Ship & Port Security Code and the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 will be covered in addition to traditional statutory and regulatory schemes such as port state control and the Safety of Life at Sea Convention. An underlying premise of the course is the relationship between environmental considerations and maritime security risk management in the practical implementation of legal principles. Students will learn principles of U.S. and international maritime security law in a context of transactional practice, including simulated client counseling and formulation of transaction documents such as legal opinions. Prior maritime and/or environmental law courses will be helpful, but are not a prerequisite.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawCourse Description
This course will cover Massachusetts civil procedure from the commencement of a lawsuit through final adjudication. Topics will likely include the discovery process, the trial process, alternative dispute resolution, equitable remedies, and recent developments in Massachusetts law.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawCourse Description
When parties are unable to resolve their dispute through discussion or negotiation, a logical next step is to seek the assistance of a third party mediator to facilitate communication and the search for a solution. This workshop course is intended to familiarize students with the norms of the mediation process and to develop the lawyering skills that will enable student to either serve as mediators or to better represent clients in this increasingly important form of ADR. Attention is given to both facilitative and evaluative styles of mediation. Significant emphasis is placed on role playing exercises and on the legal consequences of the mediation process.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
3.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawCourse Description
This course is designed to create a cross disciplinary environment where students can explore some of the critical issues that cross the boundaries between law and behavioral health. It will focus on selected topics, exploring each of them from a medical as well as legal perspective. The course will begin with an overview of the mental health system and its history, as well as an outline of the specialized legal environment in which it works. There will then be a series of focus sessions that zoom in on specific issues. There will be three skills workshops providing practical application of the material to common types of psychiatric hearings: civil certification; dangerousness; and competency/diversion. Brown University graduate students in psychiatry and psychology will be registered students in this course.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawFaculty Associated
The Honorable Stephen EricksonCourse Description
The course will explore corporate acquisitions, including mergers and consolidations, in the form of asset sale, stock sale, or statutory merger. The consequences of these transactions will be discussed, including, potentially, successor liability, securities regulations, antitrust, tax, accounting, environmental, intellectual property, ERISA, and other legal issues. Due diligence review, negotiation, and documentation will also be discussed. Business Organizations is a prerequisite.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
3.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawPrerequisite
LAW.635 – Business OrganizationsFaculty Associated
Andrew SpaconeCourse Description
This course will explore legal issues peculiar to the military service as well as issues of importance to the government of the services. The course will examine the military justice system as well as the problems facing the civilian practitioner dealing with the military services and their personnel. Topics will include the military justice system, including the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Military Rules of Evidence, veterans reemployment rights, obtaining child support, and litigating divorce or custody disputes when servicemen are involved. Other discussions will focus on policies such as the use of the death penalty, the role of women in the military, drug testing, and first amendment rights.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawN
Course Description
This course is a survey of the major legal components of national security, including counter-terrorism; the Law of Armed Conflict; war powers issues; emergency powers of government and their relationship to civil liberties; counter-intelligence, surveillance, intelligence gathering and other covert operations; the role of international and war crimes tribunals; and analysis; and issues pertaining to access to and release of national security information. Particular emphasis will be placed on legal issues relevant to the events of September 11, 2001 and their aftermath, including recent counter-terrorism legislation and the war in the Middle East.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
3.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawFaculty Associated
Peter S. MarguliesCourse Description
Over 90% of civil and criminal cases never get before a jury. They are resolved by other means, often by a negotiated settlement. Business transactions, for their part, are most often created through negotiation. As law schools place more emphasis on the skills required to be an effective lawyer, this Negotiation course is a hands-on exploration of preventing or solving conflict or variances in agreement whether the discordancy is a transaction or litigation. We will discuss theory only as it relates to a fuller understanding of the practical aspects of techniques, strategies and tactics as well as the ethical restraints and responsibilities of the lawyer. Students will negotiate weekly with a wide variety of fact patterns followed by a review and critical analysis of what was done and what might have been done more effectively.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
3.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawCourse Description
This course will cover New York civil procedure from the commencement of a lawsuit through final adjudication. Topics will likely include the discovery process, the trial process, alternative dispute resolution, equitable remedies, and recent developments in New York law.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawO
Marine Affairs Institute
Course Description
The areas in which oceans and their branches and land masses meet are the source of many relationships largely peculiar to those areas. Sea level rise, global warming and effects on our oceans, coastal resilience and retreat options from mega storms like Sandy and Katrina, wetlands protection, environment and ecological issues, the position of the area in terms of industry and commerce including such international rules as those governing fisheries, whaling and other trapping and hunting, are a part of the special problems facing this zone and the areas of water and land nearby. The course examines the various legal regimes with a consideration of policy issues that are involved in the complex relationships generated in these areas.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
3.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawFaculty Associated
Julia WymanP
Course Description
Creativity and productive ideas have proven essential to economic progress. The federal government has developed an elaborate set of laws and regulations to protect these ideas from appropriation by others. This body of law, and elements of the practice under it, will be covered in detail. The patent law seminar includes elements of US and foreign patentability standards, perfection of patent rights, enforcement (litigation and ADR, border controls), relation to other bodies of law and practice such as antitrust, employment, corporate finance, licensing and joint ventures, federal civil procedure and evidence, international law, legal ethics, trademark, copyright, trade secret and Constitutional law. A background of science or technology education or experience can be helpful but is not required. Practical exercises in analyzing inventions and patents are given during the semester. The seminar grade is based primarily on a term paper due at the beginning of the exam period with some adjustment for class participation.
Course Type
SeminarCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawFaculty Associated
Jerry CohenCourse Description
This course covers Articles 3 and 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code. It surveys the legal concept of money, negotiability, usury laws, commercial paper and bank credit as a money substitute, doctrines of holder in due course, liability and discharge and paper/electronic transfers. Consideration is given also to letters of credit and documents of title.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawFaculty Associated
John ChungCourse Description
The goal of this course is to enable the student to develop certain skills and additional substantive knowledge required in the practice of Elder Law. Driven by the changing circumstances and needs of the student’s hypothetical first clients, students will learn to effectively plan for and to represent the elderly client at different phases in the aging process. Elder Law is a prerequisite.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawPrerequisite
LAW.715 – Elder LawFaculty Associated
Mark B. HeffnerCourse Description
This course will provide a broad introduction to the theory and practice of poverty law. The course will be divided into four parts: (1) an overview of poverty and theories about poverty in the United States; (2) poverty and constitutional doctrine (due process, equal protection and fundamental rights) (3) federal and state government safety net programs (4) and the role of lawyers and the civil justice system in poverty law and policy. Substantive topics will include demographics of poverty in the United States, policy arguments about the causes of poverty, access to justice, welfare reform, food and income programs, health care access, low-wage work, housing, education and child protection.
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
3.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawThis course will meet for six weeks.
Course Description
This course taught by Adjunct Professor Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler investigates how social, cultural, economic, and legal factors contribute to racial and socioeconomic health disparities in the U.S. and the role of interprofessional team-based approaches in addressing unmet legal needs as part of health care. The course will include students from the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Rhode Island College Schools of Social Work and Nursing, and Roger Williams Law School. Students will participate in interdisciplinary case studies and problem-solving exercises. Among the topics explored will be: health care system responses to the social determinants of health; poverty, health and the safety net; the role of housing in health; interdisciplinary approaches to family violence; and ethical issues in interprofessional practice.
Course Type
SeminarCourse Credits
1.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawCourse Description
This course introduces students to the various frameworks of law governing the collection, use, access and disclosure of private sector data. Students will learn the Fair Information Practice Principles and the laws and regulations administering these principles by area of sensitive data: identity, medical, financial, education, and sales and marketing. Other topics include state privacy laws and legal limitations on government and court access to private-sector information. This course will also cover information tested for certification as a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP).
Course Type
ElectiveCourse Credits
3.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawCourse Description
This course explores tortuous injuries engendered by products, a predominant basis of modern tort litigation. Students will discuss the nature of product defect- manufacturing, design and marketing imperfections–and the various theories of liability–risk/utility and consumer expectation models. Finally, this course will examine contemporary products liability issues including the nature of products and their associated services, as well as the predicted return to a fault-based system of liability.
Course Type
SeminarCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawFaculty Associated
Carl T. BogusCourse Description
This course analyzes the responsibility of lawyers and judges from the perspectives of the rules and case law, the profession and the client/consumer. Topics include the historical, political, and sociological bases of legal ethics; conflicts of interests; attorney-client privilege; admission to the bar; disciplinary matters and procedures; unauthorized practice of law; attitudes toward bench and bar; professional liability; and canons of ethics and codes of professional responsibility.
Course Type
Core CourseCourse Credits
2.0Course Degree
Juris DoctorMaster of Studies in LawCourse Types
We have classified RWU Law classes under the following headers. One of the following course types will be attached to each course which will allow students to narrow down their search while looking for classes.
Core Course
Students in the first and second year are required to take classes covering the following aspects of the law—contracts, torts, property, criminal law, civil procedure, and constitutional law, evidence, and professional responsibility. Along with these aspects, the core curriculum will develop legal reasoning skills.
Elective
After finishing the core curriculum the remaining coursework toward the degree is completed through upper level elective courses. Students can choose courses that peak their interests or courses that go along with the track they are following.
Seminar
Seminars are classes where teachers and small groups of students focus on a specific topic and the students complete a substantial research paper.
Clinics/Externships
Inhouse Clinics and Clinical Externships legal education is law school training in which students participate in client representation under the supervision of a practicing attorney or law professor. RWU Law's Clinical Programs offer unique and effective learning opportunities and the opportunity for practical experience while still in law school.