First Year First Day Assignments


	First Day Assignments Upper Class Students Fall, 2007 While Blackboard is the official posting site for class participants, some professor elect to also publish class information on the law school web site so those outside the class may view it.

Professor and Course	Assignments
Bennoune, Karima International Women's Rights Seminar	Week One - August 22 Introduction to Human Rights and the United Nations Welcome to this seminar on women’s international human rights. For our first meeting, please: Read: The United Nations and the Advancement of Women: 1945-1995, Overview at 5-67. Skim: Universal Declaration of Human Rights International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Dennis, Donna Business Associations	For our first class, please read pages 91-101 of the casebook we’ll be using this semester, Klein, Ramseyer, & Bainbridge, Business Associations (6th edition 2006). If you’d like to read ahead, the assignment for Class 2 will be pages 109-115, 132-135, 140-142, and 179-83 of the casebook. The assignment for Class 3 will be Justice Brandeis’ dissent in Liggett v. Lee, 288 U.S. 517, 541 (1932), and pages 288-293, 282-288, and 293-298 of the casebook. The syllabus for the rest of the semester will be available on the first day of class.
Latin, Howard Products Liability	This course will be using materials assembled by Professor Latin. These "handout materials" will be available for downloading from Professor Latin’s own web site at: www.ecovitality.org/prodliab/ This web site name is simply the root "eco" before the word "vitality." Professor Latin created this web site to support a number of conservation projects that were not able to attract enough funding. As a result, the web site is now mainly used to support his various courses. The assignment for the first class is to download a short file, named "excerpts," that contains partial introductions to two of Professor Latin’s recent articles–on product warnings and on SUV design characteristics. You will be reading more from these articles and others later in the semester. The excerpts file is available by visiting the web site URL above. The purpose of the "excerpts" file is to introduce some of the underlying political, behavioral, and ethical issues that are critically important and sharply debated in the Products Liability field. Should we attempt to maximize consumer safety or consumer autonomy and choice? Should an auto manufacturer, for example, be able to sell a paper machè vehicle for a low price as long as the dangers are clearly disclosed? Should we hold manufacturers liable for not making products as safe as reasonably possible although consumers may be in a better position to use those products in a safe manner? Consider what you know about the MacFat and MacCoffee cases, for example. Should consumers or manufacturers bear the losses from product risks that were unknown when the product was marketed? Examples include Vioxx and Phen-Fen, among many drugs and drug combinations. Should courts take the existence of product safety regulations and a variety of insurance practices into account in assigning (or not assigning) products liability?
Kim, Suzanne Family Law	First two class assignments: FIRST CLASS IS TUESDAY, AUG. 21, 2007 Read the following: MARRIAGE AND OTHER FAMILY FORMS -- WHAT IS A FAMILY? Introduction (Areen & Regan casebook 2-3, hereinafter “CB”) Non-marital relationships Baker v. State (CB 10-11) Braschi v. Stahl Assocs. Co. (CB 15-19) Hann v. Housing Authority of the City of Easton (BB) Matter of Mahoney v. Marrano (BB) Kanter, Commitment and Community: Communes and Utopias in Sociological Perspective Kephart, The Family, Society and the Individual (CB 38-47) Carl E. Schneider, The Channelling Function in Family Law, 20 HOFTSTRA L. REV. 495 (1991) (CB 47-56) Non-sexual relationships Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas Penobscot Area Housing Dev. Corp. v. City of Brewer Borough of Glassboro v. Vallorosi; Notes (CB 28-38) Moore v. City of East Cleveland (CB 1118-24) Kavanagh, Rewriting the Legal Family: Beyond Exclusivity to a Care-Based Standard (CB 3-10) Law Commission of Canada, Beyond Conjugality: Recognizing and Supporting Close Personal Adult Relationships (CB 19-28) Gross, Older Women Team Up to Face Future Together, NEW YORK TIMES (Feb. 27, 2004) (BB)
Kim, Suzanne Gender & the Law Seminar	First week assignment: FIRST CLASS IS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2007 Read Bartlett, Gender Law, 1 Duke J. Gender L. & Pol’y 1 (1994) (Blackboard, hereinafter “BB”). Read Chamallas, Introduction to Feminist Legal Theory 1-22 (2003) (BB). Read Introduction to Formal Equality and Historical Foundations for Women’s Claim to Formal Equality (CB 1-14) (“CB” refers to Bartlett & Rhode, Gender & Law: Theory Doctrine & Commentary, 4th Ed. (Aspen, 2006). Write and submit a 250- to 300-word response paper. After reflecting on the reading on Historical Foundations for Women’s Claim to Form Equality, discuss in particular the basic framework for the claim for women’s equal rights and the assumptions of gender difference and racial supremacy that are embedded within the historical materials. Discuss how the historical materials prefigure contemporary feminist debates, as discussed in the Bartlett article and in the Chamallas excerpt. Post response paper on Blackboard in the Response Paper Folder by 9 p.m. on Tuesday, August 28. Read classmates’ response papers.
Nussbaum, Bernard Civil Commercial Trials Seminar	For the 8/22 class, quickly peruse the following materials, posted on BlackBoard. civil minutes in Warner Bros. vs. Golden Channels excerpts from joint witness list in In Re Uzyel Irrevocable Trusts, pp. 2 - 4, 6 - 9, 14 - 15 familiarize yourself with my memorandum re: Griedy vs. Putupon, a hypothetical case; be assured that if you have not taken an Evidence course, you will be able to deal with the hypothetical.
Sclar, Diana Conflict of Laws	The casebook is Currie, Kay, Kramer, & Roosevelt, Conflict of Laws: Case-Comments-Questions (7th Edition). The syllabus and handout materials are posted on BlackBoard. For the first meeting, Wednesday, August 22, please read pages 2-17 of the casebook and be prepared to discuss ALABAMA GREAT SOUTHERN R.R. CO. V. CARROLL.
Spring, Gary Evidence	In Evidence Cases and Materials, Waltz & Park, 10th edition, Foundation Press, please read: 1st Class, pp. 1-28; 2nd Class, pp. 29-62