Summer 2013 Course Descriptions
This course covers the legal regime applicable to federal, state and local agency decision-making and the role of the courts in reviewing agency decisions through study of the federal and Hawai‘i Administrative Procedure Acts and the case law arising under them.
Faculty members or visiting scholars present selected topics focusing upon subject areas in their area of specialty or expertise.
Faculty members or visiting scholars present selected topics focusing upon subject areas in their area of specialty or expertise.
An examination of substantive rules and rationales of the criminal law. The course begins with a survey of criminal procedure from arrest through sentencing. Study of the criminal sentencing process raises important jurisprudential questions about the purposes and efficacy of criminal sanctions as a response to officially proscribed behavior. The heart of the criminal justice course is the study of general principles of American criminal law, including culpability criteria, the mental element in crimes, and definitional ingredients of crimes such as murder, rape, attempt, and conspiracy. The focus is on the Hawai‘i Penal Code, supplemented with comparative materials drawn from the common law and from the law of several Asian nations. Consistent with overall objectives of the first year of law study, the imparting and sharpening of general legal analytical skills is emphasized throughout the criminal justice course.
Students perform research and write papers on selected legal topics or problems under the direction of a faculty member.
The Externship Program offers significant academic benefits not otherwise available in the prescribed curriculum.
- Students are provided field experience by being “placed” in an outside supportive environment to learn the panoply of lawyering skills.
- Mentors create situations specifically designed to maximize new learning, to develop new skills and to encourage creativity.
- Students discover their own strengths and weaknesses through self-direction, as they apply skills and knowledge learned in the classroom, in semester-long peeks into the “real world.”
Credit/No Credit.
An examination of the evolving process of formulating rules to govern the transnational problems requiring global solutions. After looking at the United Nations and other international and regional organizations, students focus on: (a) the Law of the Sea negotiations, (b) the laws of war, (c) human rights, and (d) economic problems. Students examine both the substantive content of the current rules and the procedures by which they are being developed. Finally, the course examines the enforcement mechanisms and ways in which international law can be used in the courts of the United States.
A study of the lawyer’s legal obligations and professional responsibilities to clients, the profession and society under the rules of conduct and laws governing lawyers. Personal choices and the impact of those choices, along with the structure of the legal profession, also are explored.
Building upon the foundation established in Contracts I and II, this course provides an in-depth study of the law governing domestic sales of goods under Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code including: warranties; manner, time, and place of performance; buyers’ and sellers’ remedies for breach; and limitations on the freedom of contract. Pre: Secured Transactions (LAW 554)
Prerequisites/Recommended
All students are required to take a LAW 530 seminar for which they must write a substantial paper of publishable quality. This seminar is taken during the spring semester of a student’s second year. Seminar offerings will be announced early in the fall for the spring semester. Seminar placement is by lottery. Prior topics have included Torts, Environmental Law, Property, Jurisprudence, Antitrust, Intellectual Property, Legal History, Constitutional Law, Japanese Law, Native Hawaiian Rights and U.S. and Asian labor and employment.