Access to Justice Seminar
LEX 8002 Cr. 3
This seminar will examine history, policies, practices and laws that demonstrate how our legal system addresses access to justice for people with economic needs or other restrictions that prevent them from using the system effectively. The seminar will examine issues in both the criminal and civil areas. Students will gain useful knowledge about how lawyers are uniquely suited to improve access to justice. They will consider career options in access to justice. These include following a public interest career, performing pro bono legal service for the poor and exercising leadership in government and elsewhere to bring changes that enhance access to justice for all. Students will learn through lectures, readings, research, site visits and by hearing from expert guest speakers.
Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first-come basis.

Notes for Winter 2025: Limited to 14 students

Advanced Issues in Bankruptcy
LEX 8005 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7051 Bankruptcy
This seminar focuses on more specialized areas of the Bankruptcy Code than those covered in any depth in the basic bankruptcy course. Among those topics that may be covered are the means testing provisions, sovereign immunity, Chapter 9 on municipality bankruptcy, Chapter 12 on bankruptcies for family farmers or fishermen, Chapter 15 on cross-border proceedings, provisions dealing with stockbrokers, provisions dealing with labor agreements, mass tort claims, environmental claims, aircraft bankruptcies, partnership bankruptcies and bankruptcy tax provisions. Students will be expected to write a substantial research paper.

Advanced Topics in Criminal Law & Procedure
LEX 8044 Cr. 3
This seminar considers topics relating to substantive criminal law and criminal procedure. The specific focus will vary according to the semester and instructor. Previous iterations of the seminar have focused on (i) plea bargaining, and (ii) offenses/defenses beyond those covered in first-year Criminal Law. Some versions of this seminar can be used to complete the upper-level writing requirement.

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first come basis.

Advanced Topics in Work Law
LEX 8241 Cr. 3
This seminar will examine current and developing issues in labor and employment law.
Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first come basis.

Ancient Greek and Roman Law
LEX 8010 Cr. 3
This seminar is an introduction to the legal systems of ancient Greece and Rome. For Greece, the focus is on the law of Athens during its classical period in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. For Rome, we will look at the law as it developed over the centuries during the Republican period and the Empire, as transmitted through the compilations of Justinian in the sixth century C.E. Students will be required to write a paper on a subject relating to the course material. Completion of the paper will satisfy the law school writing requirement.

Antitrust and Trade Regulation: Current Issues
LEX 8001 Cr. 3
Prereqs: LEX 7026 Antitrust or LEX 7128 Consumer Law or consent of instructor
Current antitrust and trade regulation issues, such as distribution, exemptions, horizontal restraints, legislative reform, merger policy, pricing and transnational enforcement. Coverage of the Clayton, Sherman and Federal Trade Commission Acts, and possibly state and foreign statutes and procedures.

Notes: Meets the Experiential Learning Requirement as a simulation course. Students who elect this seminar to fulfill the Upperclass Writing Requirement may not use it to fulfill the Experiential Learning Requirement. Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first-come basis.

Asian Pacific Americans in the Civil Rights Movement 
LEX 8015 Cr. 3
This course was previously known as Asian Pacific American History and the Law: Perspectives on APA Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs. 
This course is an overview of how federal and state laws have affected the Asian Pacific American (APA) experience and presence in the United States, covering a variety of civil rights cases and civil wrongs against APAs. The course features lectures, movies, and guest lecturers from the movement. The course will cover the APA historical timeline, exclusion laws, alien land laws, the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans, affirmative action as it applies to APAs, civil rights and racial hate crime violence, racial profiling in the workplace, post-9/11 issues, immigration law reform, sex-selection ban laws targeting APAs, APA voting trends and impact, the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, and the effort to change birthright citizenship, among other topics.

Citizenship Seminar
LEX 8029 Cr. 3
This seminar discusses the legal understanding of citizenship. How has the concept of citizenship evolved over time? How do we (or should we) decide who is and is not a citizen, in the U.S. and in other nations? What does it mean to be a citizen? If you are a citizen, what rights flow from that status? Completion of this seminar satisfies the law school writing requirement.

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first-come basis.

Commercial Law Seminar
LEX 8031 Cr. 3
Prereq. or Coreq.: LEX7756 Secured Transactions
Advanced study of an area of commercial law; assigned readings. Final grade based on paper and seminar discussion leadership, on topic selected by student from instructor's list.

Consumerism and Democracy
LEX 8037 Cr. 3
Role of consumerism in democratic self-governance, both pre-Amer­ican Revolution and today. Two short and one long research-based papers required.

Contract Drafting Seminar
LEX 8039 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 6200 Contracts A, LEX 6202 Contracts B and permission of instructor required prior to registering
This seminar will explore and develop the knowledge and skills which are necessary for sound drafting of agreements. Each seminar meeting will mix substantive issues of Contract Law with a discussion of important drafting issues that can arise. Students will draft several contracts, increasing in complexity over the term, and their drafts will be critiques and reviewed both by faculty and other students, The final grade will be determined by both the student's performance on the drafting and editing tasks and also the student's participation during the seminar meetings. Meets the professional skills requirement.

Notes: Meets the Experiential Learning Requirement as a simulation course. Enrollment is limited. Consent of the instructor is required.

Notes for Winter 2025: Instructor consent is NOT required for the Winter 2025 term, however, priority is given to students graduating in May 2025 or August 2025. Limited to 10 students.

Current Problems in International Law
LEX 8048 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7408 International Law or permission of the instructor
This seminar provides an intensive focus on new and controversial issues of international law. The focus will change with each course offering in order to reflect recent developments. The readings, class discussion and paper requirement will provide an opportunity to understand how international institutions function, the justification for the norms they seek to enforce and the coherence of those norms with theories of international society.

Notes: Class requirements include an in-class midterm examination, a take-home final examination and a high level of in-class participation.

Detroit Equity Action Lab: A Collaborative Study of Structural Racism Seminar
LEX 8051 Cr. 3
This seminar introduces students to notions of structural racism as it impacts the city of Detroit. Students will work collaboratively with members of the Detroit Equity Action Lab (DEAL) addressing racial equity in a wide range of sectors, such as civil rights, transportation, community development, health, education and housing. Students will develop awareness of the role and limits of law in addressing structural racism. In addition to examining the work of individual organizations, students will consider broader issues impacting racial equity and will explore interventions that might change public policy and public awareness as it relates to structural racism.

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first-come basis.

Energy Law: Current Topics
LEX8068 Cr. 3
This seminar will provide an in-depth exploration of a particular topic regarding the regulation of energy production or consumption. Topics will vary over time, but may include the regulation of fuel sources and emissions in the U.S. transportation sector, the role of incentives and regulations in financing clean energy investments, and the impact of regulation on adoption of electric vehicles. Students will be responsible for a research paper and presentation to the class.

Environmental Law: Advanced Topics Seminar
LEX 8071 Cr. 3
This seminar considers current and advanced topics relating to environmental law. The specific focus will vary according to the semester and instructor. Some versions of this seminar may be used to complete the upper-level writing requirement.

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first come basis.

Ethics of the Lawyering Experience
LEX 8075 Cr. 3
This seminar will explore the psychological and ethical dimensions of law and legal practice by engaging principally with works of fiction and selected legal scholarship. Students will write weekly reaction papers. The seminar does not satisfy the upperclass writing requirement.

Notes: This course does not fulfill the Upper Level Writing Requirement. Students may make arrangements with the instructor to do a final paper to fulfill the requirement. Space is limited and enrollment will be on a first come basis.

Evidence Law: Advanced Topics
LEX 8081 Cr. 3
Prereq: LEX7266 Evidence or Consent of the Instructor
This seminar will require students to write papers and give presentations on current topics of evidence law.

Family Violence
LEX 8101 Cr. 3
Analysis of the utilization of the legal system to address issues of abuse within the family. Topics include: the response of the criminal justice system to various forms of family violence, such as marital rape, spouse abuse and child abuse; use of tort and injunctive remedies; examination of new and proposed legislation.

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first come basis.

Fair Housing Seminar
LEX 8091 Cr. 3
Pre-req.: LEX 6500 Property
This seminar explores issues related to fair housing law in the United States. The course is discussion-based, with students expected to take an active participatory role in each class session. The following topics are among those we will discuss: housing discrimination and the federal Fair Housing Act; state and local fair housing issues, including the racialized history of housing development in Detroit; the intersection between fair housing and the emergence of the sharing economy (Airbnb, etc.); constitutional housing issues, including the criminalization of homelessness; and various relevant aspects of landlord-tenant law. Fair housing issues will be examined from a variety of perspectives, including those of tenants, landlords, government regulators, and neighborhood/homeowner associations.

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first come basis.

Health Law: Advanced Topics
LEX 8171
This seminar will examine the current legal issues related to health. Topics will vary over time. Samples of topics include recent applications of the law to impact health within and outside of the health care system; contemporary debates on the role of government and the private sector in health; innovative proposals to use law, ethics, and policy to improve health; and the role of law during public health emergencies. The readings for the seminar will be drawn from a variety of disciplines including law, ethics, medicine, and other sciences. A substantial research paper and a significant in-class presentation are required.

Notes for Fall 2024: Enrollment limited to 16 students.
Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first come basis.

Legal Issues in U.S.-China Economic Relations (previously called International and Comparative Business Law: Doing Business in China Seminar)
LEX 8161 Cr. 3
This seminar explores contemporary legal issues in U.S.-China economic relations. It introduces China law and policy in their historical, political and economic contexts, and examines how the Chinese and US systems interact in impacting American businesses and consumers. Specific topics include trade, investment, finance, technology, human rights, national security and dispute settlement. 

Notes: Limit 12 students.

International Environmental Law Seminar
LEX 8141 Cr. 3
This seminar will provide a sophisticated and in-depth examination of international environmental law. Students will explore the use of treaties and other international mechanisms for dealing with international environmental problems. Students will be expected to do individual research and make oral presentations to the class, along with keeping abreast of reading and participating in class discussions. The seminar may include additional student projects, including negotiation or drafting exercises.

International Trade
LEX 8185 Cr. 3
This seminar studies the jurisprudence of the World Trade Organization and discusses current legal and policy issues of international trade.

International Women's Human Rights Seminar
LEX 8195 Cr. 3
An in-depth study of the evolution of women's rights as human rights examined in the context of legal instruments such as the UN Convention to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and other international treaties, and in the jurisprudence of women's human rights in international tribunals. This course will also explore the role of global and regional human rights organizations in securing women's legal rights, as well as domestic implementation of emerging norms in women's human rights. Finally students will analyze the current legal discourse on women's human rights and explore key issues in the light of specific world regions, cultures and religious traditions.

Islamophobia and the Law 
LEX 8197 Cr. 3
Prereqs: LEX 6700 Constitutional Law and LEX 6300 Criminal Law  
This seminar will closely examine the law's role in endorsing and advancing Islamophobia the rising form of animus broadly understood as hate or fear of Islam.  This seminar will examine a range of doctrinal and policy issues tied to the broader phenomenon of Islamophobia, on a domestic, global, and comparative level. Completion of this seminar satisfies the law school writing requirement. 

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first-come basis. 

Justice and the Law 
LEX 8264 Cr. 3 
Prereqs: LEX 6700 Constitutional Law and LEX 6300 Criminal Law  
This seminar studies the question, "What is legal justice?" from recent influential traditions in American legal thought.  We will begin with foundational materials regarding classical legal thought, legal formalism, legal realism, legal process theory, and legal liberalism.  The course will also amplify marginalized voices, with an examination of critical legal studies, critical race theory, feminist legal theories, and LGBTQ+ legal theories.  

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first-come basis. 

Law and Literature Seminar
LEX 8248 Cr. 3
This seminar will examine the connections between law and literature, with a focus on stories of adoption. Topics will include: the role of narrative in legal arguments and in legal decision making; the role of narrative and law, respectively, in constructing identity and literary criticisms of the law and of the legal profession. By examining these topics through the lens of stories of adoption, we will also consider several questions specific to the theme of adoption, such as: shifting definitions of parenthood; the debate over nature vs. nurture; and the ways in which stories of adoptions also raise issues of class, race, gender and national identity. We will address these questions by analyzing novels, short stories, films, memoirs and legal cases from both the 19th century and the modern day. Authors will include Charles Dickens, George Eliot, P.D. James and Louise Erdrich. In addition to in-class presentations, students will be required to write a paper on a topic related to the subject matter of the course.

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first come basis. 

Law in Cyberspace
LEX 8256 Cr. 3
Topics may include online speech (including regulation of harmful and sexually explicit speech); filtering and intermediary liability; virtual property; online contracts; trademarks and domain names; copyright; the problems that flow from asserting national laws in a medium with no national borders.

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first-come basis.

Law of the City: Detroit
LEX 8260 Cr. 3
This seminar explores legal, economic, and policy issues regarding the contemporary American city, using Detroit as the case study. Themes covered will include race, class, positive rights, community organization and identity, economics, public education, environmental justice, and legal pluralism. Toward this end, students will read a mix of constitutional and statutory provisions, caselaw, administrative determinations, academic writing and current popular media. By discussing a different aspect of urban law each week, the seminar will provide students with an opportunity to explore a broad array of legal issues and opportunities in the urban environment around them. The seminar will explore both current law and potential policy reforms. Students will be responsible for a research paper and presentation on a mutually agreed-upon topic.

Legal Change
LEX 8263 Cr. 3
What is the relationship between law and social change? How effective are changes in legal doctrine in changing social practices? Under what conditions, can we effectively use the law to promote social change? This course investigates these questions by studying the relationships among social movements, courts, legislatures, and other international and domestic institutions. Students will examine materials from actual legal reform movements, including equality in education and women's rights, and evaluate strategies for legal reform and their impact on statutory and decisional law as well as social practices.

Notes: Enrollment limited to 20.

Legal History Seminar
LEX 8386 Cr. 3
Legal history embodies two major disciplines (law and history) and a number of secondary disciplines (e.g., other sub-fields in history; anthropology, literary criticism; political science; economics; and so on). We will spend considerable time talking about the problems associated with these uneasy marriages, particularly the law-history union, and about the historians' migration in recent decades from traditional forms of analysis toward various "new" varieties of history, many of them implicating the study of legal culture in its many aspects. Because "new" need not be "best" or even "better," we also will ask whether, and to what extent, older approaches still seem useful, necessary, or in some cases superior to recent suggestions and innovations. The seminar has three main objectives. We'll work, first, to gain a sense of the questions and problems that have engaged legal and constitutional historians, past and present. We'll also create an environment that will support significant primary research and writing. We'll together provide an advanced introduction to the field for non-history graduate and professional students; and, for students aiming to specialize in these fields, including JD/MA students, we'll lay foundations for thesis preparation or field exams. By term's end, you will have drafted scholarly essays, situated them as time allows in relevant historical literatures, and run them through one complete revision in response to criticism.

Notes: Space is limited. Cross-listed as HIS 8050

National Labor Relations Act: Current Problems
LEX 8271 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 7501 Labor Law
The seminar will focus on legal issues pending before the Board and in the courts. The students will stand in the place of the National Labor Relations Board and render opinions on critical labor law issues. Students will read the actual briefs in pending cases, discuss the cases, vote on disposition and draft majority and dissenting opinions. Each student will be expected to write one majority and one concurring or dissenting opinion. Class discussions will concentrate on the NLRB's decision making process and judicial review of Board decisions. After the Wayne State University Law School Board panels have rendered their opinions, class discussion will focus on the draft opinions. The grade for the course will depend on class participation as well as written work. Students may elect to write papers based on the legal issues discussed by the class.

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first-come basis.

National Security Law Seminar
LEX 8280 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 6700 Constitutional Law I Rec: LEX 7126 Con Law II , LEX 7408 International Law or permission of instructor
Limitations: Students who have taken LEX 7888 U.S. Foreign Relations Law may enroll only with prior permission of instructor.
National security law has emerged as a distinct area of specialization within government law practice, private law practice, and academia. The field draws upon aspects of international law, constitutional law, criminal law, administrative law, and other fields as they are brought to bear on a particular set of issues: who formulates and implements the national security policies of the United States? When do the nation's security interests trump competing values (civil liberties, transparency, fulfillment of the nation's international legal obligations)? In what respects is America's approach to these issues similar to or different from that of other countries? Readings include statutes, treaties, regulations, case law, and extensive secondary literature, all of which serve as a basis for a substantial research paper or law journal note.

Notes: Limit 16 students. Course requirements include both a midterm examination and a paper.

Race and the Law: Advanced Topics
LEX 8300 Cr. 3
This seminar will examine the role of the law in creating as well as maintaining race, racial hierarchies, and racial inequality. Contrary to the traditional view of racial subordination as solely a deviation from the liberal legal ideal, this course recasts the role of law as historically central to and complicit in upholding racial hierarchy as well as other hierarchies of gender, class and sexual orientation. The course will investigate these issues over the span of centuries, from the founding of the Americas to the present day. This course will explore oft-discussed issues at the intersection of race and law such as slavery, colonization, immigration, citizenship, nation building, national security, and affirmative action as well as less examined issues, such as sexual exploitation and unarmed police shootings.

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first-come basis.

Regulation of Vice
LEX 8335 Cr. 3
Regulation of Vice (seminar) explores legal, economic, and policy issues regarding federal, state, and local regulation of vice (including alcohol, nicotine, drugs, gambling, and commercial sex). The current legal landscape will be studied, along with potential policy reforms. Students will be responsible for a research paper and presentation on a mutually agreed upon topic, which may include a specific regulation or vice law, proposed policy reform, comparative analysis from another jurisdiction, and state/local issues.

Reimagining Development in Detroit: Institutions, Law & Society
LEX 8003 Cr. 3
Prereq.: LEX 6500 Property
This seminar examines contemporary problems of community development from a perspective of institutional economics. Students will be introduced to the tools and theories of institutional economics and how these principles are increasingly applied to problems relevant to the City of Detroit. Students will write research papers applying these tools to issues such as race and regionalism, the role of faith-based organizations in community development, abandoned land and community gardens, the structure of local governance, charter schools and the fate of the public schools, opportunity based housing and the state of health care safety net providers.

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first come basis.

Sex, Sexuality and the Law in Contemporary U.S.A. 
LEX 8345 Cr. 3
This seminar is a broad based survey of the ways in which the law constructs people as sexual beings and regulates that being and her/his sexuality. The seminar has four main objectives: 1) to deepen student's understanding of contemporary U.S. laws that address sex and sexuality, 2) to come to understand some of the ways in which individuals and groups are impacted by those laws, 3) to learn and apply aspects of critical legal theories in legal analysis and 4) to strengthen written and oral legal analysis and communication. The seminar will be in a workshop format with class contribution making up a significant portion of the grade.

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first come basis.

Sexual Violence and the Law Seminar

LEX 8342 Cr. 3

This seminar introduces students to a range of legal areas in which sexual violence victims need legal assistance, with an emphasis on the civil legal issues that experiencing sexual violence creates for victims in areas like education, employment, family, housing, and immigration. The course is discussion-based, with students expected to take an active participatory role in each class session. The following topics are among those we will discuss: intersectionality and sexual violence; criminal rape law and its inadequacies; the Violence Against Women Act; civil protection orders; how to use privacy laws, tort laws, civil rights laws (Titles VII and IX, the Fair Housing Act, etc.) to address sexual violence victims’ needs; legal remedies for specific populations of victims (immigration, military, prisons); cyber-harassment; and demand-side sex work/trafficking criminalization. The course provides a general grounding in the legal areas touched by experiencing sexual violence and can be used as a foundation for more advanced and specialized law studies in sexual violence as well as other forms of gender-based violence.

Notes:  This course does not fulfill the Upper-Level Writing Requirement.  Space is limited and enrollment will be on a first come basis.  

Sports and Inequality Seminar
LEX 8351 Cr. 3
This seminar will examine the legal and social implications of various forms of discrimination in both the professional and amateur sports contexts. Coverage will include a discussion of legal efforts to address discrimination in sports based on race, gender, disability, and sexual orientation. Topics include racial inequalities on the playing fields and in the front offices of amateur and professional sports; the impact of NCAA eligibility criteria; the effects and future of Title IX; gender segregation and exclusion in professional sports and sexual violence; sexual orientation discrimination in sports; and sports opportunities for people with disabilities. The final paper for this class may be used to satisfy the upper-level writing requirement.

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first come basis.

Tax Policy Seminar: Role and Impact of Congressional Oversight on Abusive Tax Strategies
LEX 8363 Cr. 3
Prereq: Taxation (LEX 7816)
This seminar will examine the international tax rules, the abusive strategies, and the responses by Congress and foreign governments. We will use excerpts from Congressional hearings to explore the role of Congressional oversight in identifying the noncompliance with existing laws, the role of foreign governments in facilitating abuses and illegal behavior, and the need for legislative or administrative action to address some of the abuses. We will consider policy options to reduce the incentives for businesses to pursue these strategies. We will examine professional ethics and the role of lawyers and other professionals in structuring these abusive transactions. 

Urban Housing and Community Development
LEX 8401 Cr. 3
Legal, social and economic aspects of urban housing and community development, including local, state and national programs and policies.

Notes: Space is limited, and enrollment will be on a first come basis.