Please note, you MUST attend the first class (Wed Sept 14) if you wish to take the class — including if you are on the waitlist or if you are considering trying to add it. The first class is Wed Sept 14 at 5pm in Pound 204. The ILW will meet every Wed from 5 to 7 pm, Sept 14 to Dec 7, in Pound 204 except for the following dates: There is no class Wed Sept 28 — it will be held instead on Friday, September 30, 3 to 5pm. There is no class Wed Nov 9 — it will be held instead on Friday, November 11, 3 to 5pm.

Course Information and First Assignment for Contracts 7 – Professor Todd Rakoff – Fall 2011:  There will be one casebook and one source materials supplement for this course:  (1) Steven J. Burton, “Principles of Contract Law” – Third Edition (2006), and (2) Steven J. Burton & Melvin A. Eisenberg (eds.), “Contract Law: Selected Source Materials” – 2011 Edition.  (They are available at the Law School Coop.)  For our first meeting on Wednesday, August 31, please read pages 1-16 in the casebook and the provisions of the Restatement of Contracts (which can be found in the supplement) that are referred to in those pages.  I would appreciate your not bringing laptops (or comparable electronic devices) to class this semester.

The research Seminar on International Finance, co-taught by Professors Jackson and Scott, has limited openings for J.D. students. While students are free to write papers on topics of their own choosing, the Seminar will concentrate this year on international coordination of regulatory policy and the European debt crisis.  A number of prominent speakers will be guest lecturers, including Simon Gleeson, Partner, Clifford Chance, London, Mark Sobel, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Monetary and Financial Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Jürgen Stark, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank, Eddy Wymeersch, Chairman, European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) and Zhu Min, Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund.  The Seminar meets periodically over the course of the Fall and Spring semesters.  Many past papers have been published.  The Seminar is by permission only. To apply, send a statement of interest to  hscott at law.harvard.edu or  hjackson at law.harvard.edu.

The application for the 2011-2012 fall/winter course, Ideas for a Better Internet, taught by Jonathan Zittrain and Elizabeth Stark, is now live at https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGtVekdHTE9Nblljck5aQ2xEbUZRTWc6MQ (applications due July 31).
Please see below for more information:
—————–
IDEAS FOR A BETTER INTERNET
This joint Harvard/Stanford interdisciplinary seminar will continue a year-long arc of developing and building ideas for a better internet. During the fall, students will incorporate ideas identified by a public call for proposals from the previous spring, and work through the process of building out these ideas.  During the winter term students will finalize the projects that they have developed throughout the fall semester, engage in visits to companies and organizations, and prepare a working demo or proposal to be presented at a culminating event with leaders of Silicon Valley and beyond.  By the end of the course, students will have launched their solution-based projects to the world in conjunction with those proposing the ideas.

Students will be selected via an application process. The application form can be found here:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGtVekdHTE9Nblljck5aQ2xEbUZRTWc6MQ

Applications are due on July 31, 2011 with admission on a rolling basis.

For purposes of planning next year’s Workshop, Professor Rosenberg would like to get a preliminary sense of potential topics of interest among enrollees. Please email ( kpeterso at law.harvard.edu) by June 1, three topics which most interest you from the list provided in the course catalog (including national security/counter-terrorism which was inadvertently omitted from this listing) and if you have an unlisted, special interest for concentrated research, please include that one as well.

In the Ghana Project, students work in a team to promote the Right to Health in Ghana’s remote rural areas.  Students receive 3 academic and 2 clinical credits spread through the year.  Admission by permission: email application (1 page CV and 2 page statement of interest) to Ellen Keng (ekeng) and Professor White (lwhite) by APRIL 15.  Do NOT register for course during clinical registration period.  FALL AND SPRING MEETING TIMES (1 credit each semester) WILL BE DETERMINED BASED ON ADMITTED STUDENTS’ AVAILABILITY.  Email Professor White with questions.

There will be a mandatory meeting on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. in Austin North for all students who are registered in the Fall Trial Advocacy Workshop and the Fall/Winter ITA: Criminal Justice courses for the upcoming academic year. 

Any students interested in learning about these courses or possibly enrolling in the future are also welcome to attend. 

At the meeting, Professor Charles Ogletree will discuss what you need to do to be prepared for both TAW and ITA.  If you have questions, please contact Amy E. Soto of the Criminal Justice Institute at  asoto at law.harvard.edu or (617) 496-4915.

Date       Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Time     12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT
Where   Pound 332

Learn cost effective research strategies on Lexis and Westlaw to help you with your summer or post-grad job. Free taco bar lunch will be provided! Earn 800 Lexis Reward Points and 750 Westlaw Rewards Points for attending. Sign up in advance at the Harvard Legal Research Training Calendar.       http://supersaas.com/schedule/HLSL/Legal_Research_Training <http://supersaas.com/schedule/HLSL/Legal_Research_Training>

Date       Friday, April 01, 2011
Time    12:00 pm - 12:30 pm EDT
Where   Langdell computer lab, main floor of library

Learn how to use the new WestlawNext for research strategies, tools, and resources commonly used in the courts. Earn 750 points and an entry to win an iPod Touch! http://supersaas.com/schedule/HLSL/Legal_Research_Training <http://supersaas.com/schedule/HLSL/Legal_Research_Training>

Date       Friday, April 01, 2011
Time      12:30 pm – 1:00 pm EDT
Where   Langdell computer lab, main floor of library

Get ready for your summer or post-grad job by learning cost and time efficient research strategies on WestlawNext. Earn 750 points and an entry to win an iPod Touch! http://supersaas.com/schedule/HLSL/Legal_Research_Training <http://supersaas.com/schedule/HLSL/Legal_Research_Training>

In the GHANA PROJECT students work in a team to promote THE RIGHT TO HEALTH among Ghana’s most marginalized people.  Every year, the team works with Ghanaian partners in the impoverished Northern regions, using multiple lawyering skills in an on-going Right to Health campaign.  Students selected for the project will receive 3 academic and 2 clinical credits, spread through the year.

An INFORMATION SESSION wil be held TODAY — Wednesday, March 23 — from 12 – 1:30 in Griswold 550.  Interested students must apply for the project by April 15 by submitting a 2 page statement of interest and 1 page CV to PROFESSOR LUCIE WHITE through her assistant, Ellen Keng ( ekeng at law.harvard.edu).  Admitted students will be registered fro the course thereafter.  INTERESTED STUDENTS SHOULD NOT REGISTER FOR THE COURSE DURING THE UPCOMING CLINICAL REGISTRATION PERIOD.

There are still seats available in Visiting Professor Horst Eidenmueller’s European Company and Bankruptcy Law course. This course meets for 6 sessions beginning March 21, 2011 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM.

To add the course, email  Registrar at law.harvard.edu.
For a full course description: http://www.law.harvard.edu/academics/courses/2010-11/?id=8386

Meetings will take place on Mondays, Noon-1:30 pm

The first meeting on February 7. Location, Lewis 102.  Readings in Lewis 203. Light refreshments will be served. No enrollment required.

Harvard Course in Reading and Study Strategies

Cost: $150

Feb 7 – Mar 3 (4 wks),  M-W-Th-F,  4-5 p.m.
or
Feb 14 – Mar 4 (3 wks),  M-T-W-Th-F,  8-9 a.m.

Each year the Bureau of Study Counsel at Harvard University offers the Harvard Course in Reading and Study Strategies that is open to the wider public.  It is the longest continuously running, non-credit course at our university.  Taught since the 1940s with constant updating, the Reading Course is designed for people who are faced with the need to read more materials, more critically and who find themselves overwhelmed or disengaged.  It is based on the premise that our learning depends upon both what we read, as well as how critically we read.  This course helps students read strategically, selectively, and actively and is directed for those engaged in undergraduate and graduate studies.

Full details of the course can be accessed by going to the link: http://bsc.harvard.edu/rc.html.

Bureau of Study Counsel  617-495-2581  bsc.harvard.edu

An International Course on ‘Living Realities of Legal Pluralism’
4-7 September, 2011, Cape Town, South Africa

Overview

In September 2011 the International Commission on Legal Pluralism, in cooperation with the Centre for Legal and Applied Research (CLEAR), the Research Chair in Customary Law and the Chair for Comparative Law in Africa, University of Cape Town, South Africa, will organize a course in Cape Town, South Africa, about theories, knowledge and methodologies of legal pluralism. The purpose of the 3½-day course is to familiarize the participants with the current international debates and insights in socio-legal studies and legal pluralism and to offer them a comparative perspective that allows them to rethink their own research and practical work. At the centre of the discussion will be issues of rights protection, gender, natural resource management and land tenure, and dispute management, in the context of globalising economic, political and legal developments. These issues converge in the theme of living realities of legal pluralism.

Participation is limited to 25 persons, to allow for maximum discussion. A balanced participation is sought which includes a strong presence from South Africa, but also attracts scholars or practitioners from the region, other developing countries and a limited number from western countries. The participants are academics and/or practitioners, e.g. NGO activists or government officials, who deal with issues related to legal pluralism and social justice in their academic or practical work. During this intensive training the participants will be able to build a national and international network both with other participants and with the teaching staff. As in past courses (held amongst others in Wellington (New Zealand), Accra (Ghana), Williamsburg (USA), Moscow (Russia), Chiang Mai (Thailand), Fredericton (Canada), Jakarta (Indonesia) and Zurich (Switzerland)) the teaching team will consist of senior academics of various backgrounds drawn from the Commission of Legal Pluralism and of colleagues from the region, in this case from South Africa. The course is followed by the Commission’s biennial international conference. The conference covers the same topics and themes as the course. Students will be given the opportunity to present their work at the conference and directly engage with leading scholars and practitioners in their fields, allowing them to become part of a regional and international network.

Proposed topics for the course are:

1. Theoretical and methodological aspects of legal pluralism
This session provides an introduction to theoretical and methodological aspects of legal pluralism, one of the most interesting and controversial concepts in the anthropology and sociology of law and legal theory. The session will sensitize the
participants to the complexity of the coexistence of legal orders and the empirical and theoretical challenges it raises.

2. The living realities of legal pluralism in South Africa
Prominent South African researchers in the field of legal pluralism discuss the current realities of legal pluralism in South Africa, and the challenges this poses for lawmakers, judges, activists, and researchers.

3. Dispute management and social control
The session introduces the legal anthropology of disputing and social control in plural legal settings and draws attention to ongoing processes of disputing and social control in a global or transnational environment.

4. Natural resources management
In most countries, the access-rules to natural resources as well as the corresponding rights of disposal are subject of different normative sets, which might influence each other or which might stay in a permanent competition for social recognition and public legitimacy. This topic will include a mock stakeholder meeting

5. Legal empowerment, gender and human rights
In this session attention will be paid to legal empowerment, the gendered dimensions of law, its impact on women’s and men’s access to resources, including legal institutions, and the human rights aspects involved. It will be discussed how gender is socially and legally constructed and the consequences that this has for people’s access rights. This topic will include both an academic debate and a practitioners’ panel focusing on their experiences and possible practical solutions.

6. Field trip: (half-day)

Selection, Fee, and Funding

Prospective students should be either young scholars studying for a JD or PhD degree or having just finished one, or more senior scholars who are relatively new to the field of legal pluralism, or they should be practitioners whose work is directly related to topics discussed in the course. Students should be able to demonstrate an English language ability that allows them to read and actively discuss relevant academic literature. Students will be selected based on their motivation to join the course. Such selection will also be based on a balanced regional participation as outlined above.

The course fee is 200 USD. Other costs include accommodation, food and beverages, which will be arranged at prices as low as possible. The course organizers are currently working on securing some funding for the non-Western participants. It is hoped that in this way for certain students the costs can be covered by the organization. However as such funding is not yet certain and will not cover all students applicants are encouraged to also seek their own funding.

Application, Contact and More Information

Scholars and practitioners interested in and qualified to partake in this course are warmly welcomed to apply before March 10, 2011. The application should include a motivation letter, a resume, information about their level of English, and an estimation of their travel costs to Cape Town. Applications are to be sent to Janine Ubink:  j.ubink at law.leidenuniv.nl.

For more information on the Conference and on the Commission on Legal Pluralism and its past courses and conferences visit: http://www.commission-on-legal-pluralism…. Participants need to register separately for the conference as well as submit an abstract for a paper presentation, both at www.pluralismconference2011.co.za.

Socrates, Socratic Method, and Legal Analysis
Reading Group

Professor Brewer

The first meeting of this class is Thursday, January 27.  The subsequent meetings are scheduled for :

Thursday, February 10, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011 [no class: Spring Break]
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011

A first reading assignment (from R.E. Allen, Socrates and Legal Obligation) will be available on Friday afternoon, January 21, outside of the office of Ben Sears, Areeda Hall room 234.

Please consult the course web site for the first week’s reading assignments and some additional course information.