Resolving environmental disputes is notoriously difficult. These conflicts involve multiple parties, complicated factual matters and typically resist simple solutions. In this course, students will explore these characteristics, investigate the full range of processes available to manage environmental disputes and assesses relevant policy and practical considerations of process selection. Over the course of the semester, we will compare the use of adversarial and collaborative processes in environmental disputes and explore the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches.

THIS IS AN INTENSIVE COURSE TO BE OFFERED OVER THE COURSE OF 4 DAYS.  The designated days are: February 2, February 3, February 16 and February 17

Examines areas of federal and state labor law which regulate the employment relationship and which provide minimum protection outside of collective bargaining. Major topics considered include wrongful discharge, post-employment liability, employee privacy, genetic and drug testing, employment discrimination, and wage and hour law. Method of evaluation: Final exam

This course examines wide range of legal structures that social and environmental enterprises currently use to accomplish their missions—nonprofit organizations, traditional for-profits, L3Cs, benefit corporations, cooperatives and other business forms that place missions such as "Planet" and "People" ahead of or on an equal footing with "Profit." The course contemplates the advantages and disadvantages of using these forms to accomplish these missions, how they should be adopted or modified, and whether society should devise other structures to further these missions.

This course covers primarily Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Article 2 governs sales of goods. Coverage includes formation and modification of contracts for sale, Article 2's statute of frauds, warranties, and risk allocations when goods are stored or transported, breach, remedies for sellers and buyers, and contractual limitations on remedies. The course will include references to consumer rights as well as comparisons between the common law of contract and the Code's rules and concepts. Method of evaluation: Final exam

This introductory course focuses on how new technologies affect the practice of law. Topics are segmented in to three discrete areas of study: Virtual Law Practice; Document Assembly and Expert Systems; and eDiscovery and Big Data. The virtual law practice section offers students a brief glimpse of the promise of virtual practice as well as the practical details and ethical considerations of setting up such a practice.

Organizations and individuals face a multitude of complex threats to confidentiality, availability and integrity of their data and other information in today’s cyber environment. These threats, as well as regulatory requirements, customer privacy concerns, organizational objectives and culture, are key considerations for the development of sound cybersecurity law. eLawyering: Cybersecurity provides in-depth examination of the law dealing with the security of information and data and its corresponding technology.

The Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic functions as a public interest environmental law firm with a collegial atmosphere that encourages interaction and feedback among students and Clinic faculty. Under the supervision of experienced environmental attorneys, student clinicians represent community groups and conservation organizations in real-world cases and projects.

Students work on a variety of civil cases, representing persons unable to afford private counsel. Cases are in such areas as Social Security; income maintenance; unemployment compensation; domestic relations; bankruptcy; landlord-tenant relations; consumer protection; juvenile law; representation of children; immigration; and assistance to prisoners. Student practice rules in state/federal courts allow students to file pleadings, conduct discovery, and make court appearances with the consent of the court and under attorney sponsorship.

Classroom component: Fall 2017-- two sections, students must attend one of the following daily for the first 3 weeks: 8:30 -- 9:45 AM or 2:10 -- 3:25 PM. NOTE: For both Fall sections, classes are held as scheduled Monday – Friday for the first 5 weeks. There are 5 consecutive class days to start; after that 11 (eleven) class days are spread throughout the following 4 weeks. Registration: You must apply to enroll in SRLC through the VLS Clinical Communication application system.

Students will further develop their understanding of law, broad philosophical, economic and scientific underpinnings of their work, and lawyering skills introduced in their initial SRLC experience. Students will be expected to take greater responsibility for cases and to mentor novice clinicians.

Enrollment is by permission of the clinic director.

Credits awarded are appropriate for the number of clinic hours worked.

Students will further develop their understanding of law, broad philosophical, economic and scientific underpinnings of their work, and lawyering skills introduced in their initial SRLC experience. Students will be expected to take greater responsibility for cases and to mentor novice clinicians.

Enrollment is by permission of the clinic director.

Credits awarded are appropriate for the number of clinic hours worked

This clinical offering trains students to mediate. While training, students observe and will later conduct mediations in various Vermont and New Hampshire courts. The course begins with an intensive skills session in the form of a day-long training session scheduled for Saturday, January 6th before the start of spring classes. Attendance at this session is MANDATORY. Students interested in taking the course MUST attend the Saturday session. No exceptions can be made. There will also be one Saturday training session, presently scheduled for February 3rd.

The Semester in Practice (SiP) Program is a field-based externship in which students apprentice (without pay) with lawyers in all areas of practice. The SiP is appropriate for students interested in self-directed learning under the supervision of an experienced legal professional who are experienced lawyers or professionals with a JD (where appropriate) who work with and within: government (state, federal and local), NGO's, non-profit organizations, corporations and law firms.

The Semester in Practice (SiP) Program is a field-based externship in which students apprentice (without pay) with lawyers in all areas of practice. The SiP is appropriate for students interested in self-directed learning under the supervision of an experienced legal professional who are experienced lawyers or professionals with a JD (where appropriate) who work with and within: government (state, federal and local), NGO's, non-profit organizations, corporations and law firms.

The Part-Time JD Externship Program is a field-based externship in which student’s apprentice (without pay) with lawyers in all areas of practice. The part-time externship program is appropriate for students interested in self-directed learning under the supervision of an experienced legal professional working with and within: government (state, federal and local), NGO's, non-profit organizations, corporations and law firms.

Through this course students will be introduced to the practical aspects of real world energy projects. Students will become involved in some aspect of the development or evaluation of real life energy projects (e.g. solar PV, energy efficiency, electric vehicle infrastructure) and may have the opportunity to support the legal and policy requirements of a particular project or through the development of model legal documents to facilitate future projects.

Clinic: In the Food and Agriculture Clinic, students collaborate with local, regional, national and international partner organizations to develop and publicly disseminate law, policy and market tools that provide guidance to food system constituencies, including farmers, food entrepreneurs, consumers, legislators, and advocates, on how to advance law, policy and market initiatives that directly or indirectly promote (1) environmentally and economically sustainable agriculture, (2) public health, (3) food access and food security, (4) local and regional agriculture economies and (5) animal

The Judicial Externship Program is a field-based externship in which students apprentice (without pay) in judicial chambers. The Judicial Externship is appropriate for students interested in self-directed learning under the supervision of an experienced judge and judicial law clerk. The Judicial Externship will provide students the opportunity to learn about the process of judicial decision making by observing the function of a particular court while thinking about the management and administration of the court system.

The Advanced Energy Clinic explores at an advanced level, the practical aspects of real world energy projects from the stage of conceptualization, development, contracting, financing, regulatory approval and construction. Students will be further exposed to the state and federal statutes, rules, tax codes, and ordinances that apply to the development of energy projects particularly those that promote sustainability at the community level. Students will also review and/or develop purchased power and other commercial agreements governing these projects.

Spring 2018 Topic: Police Use of Force This seminar undertakes an intensive and comprehensive examination of the constitutional, legal, procedural, and public policy issues surrounding a topic in criminal law. The specific topic varies from semester to semester and is detailed in the class description below. For spring 2018 the seminar will focus on Police Use of Force, to include a review of recent high-profile cases.

This course gives students the opportunity to experience criminal practice in either prosecution or defense settings under the close supervision of our distinguished practitioner-faculty members. Students will be placed in the prosecution, defense or appellate defense practice settings, and will receive classroom instruction once per week for two hours covering foundational aspects of Vermont criminal.

This course examines the unique body of law governing “Indian country,” the geographic areas recognized by the federal government as the homelands of sovereign American Indian tribes, and tribal environmental authority over those areas. Major topics include the history of federal-tribal relations, tribal property and land rights, tribal court systems, and the balance of governmental power between tribes, states, and the federal government.

Administrative law is the law relating to administrative agencies, which almost every practicing lawyer or policy advocate encounters at one or more points in her career.  This class focuses on federal agencies - what they are (executive or independent), what they do (adjudicate, regulate, or investigate), and what constrains their authority (the Constitution, Congress, and the judiciary).  Lawyers and policy advisors who work for agencies, regulated industries, and public interest groups should understand these basic principles of administrative law in order to work as effective advocates.

This is a survey course that will introduce students to the basic concepts of U.S. environmental law. Students will trace the development of this complex and diverse body of law from its common law origins through the development of modern statutory and regulatory programs.

The focus of this course is the Clean Air Act, which has been the primary tool employed to regulate climate change at the federal level. This course will cover the major regulatory approaches embodied in the Clean Air Act, including health-based ambient standards, technology-based standards, joint state-federal implementation under the principle of "cooperative federalism," direct EPA regulation using industry-by-industry approaches, pollution trading programs, permitting, and enforcement.

The course introduces students to the discipline of environmental economics and exposes them to debates over the use of market-based instruments in environmental, energy, and climate policy. It introduces students to basic economics and finance concepts, examines key principles about market behavior and efficiency, and applies these basic elements and concepts to common environmental problems. Economic concepts are applied to environmental and natural resource policy areas including water resources, energy, food and agriculture, land use, forests, as well as, air and water pollution.

This course builds on the fall course Energy Law and Policy in a Carbon-Constrained World. The course exposes students to the legal, economic, and environmental policy issues involved in both energy regulation and competitive energy markets, focusing on electricity. The course examines the evolution, theory and techniques of rate of return regulation and explains how utilities are regulated, including alternative regulatory models.

Lawyers and land use professionals, whether representing landowners, developers, regulators, development opponents, or land conservation organizations, need to understand the same basics of land use transactions, development and finance. This land use course, a companion to Land Use Regulation, addresses the private side of land use: how land is surveyed and divided, how its title recorded and insured, how its conveyance is contracted for and executed, and how land is developed.

This seminar examines the values and ethical assumptions in problem solving about the environment, enabling students to perfect their reasoning about environmental law and policy. It introduces various ethical approaches to resolving environmental problems, including: intrinsic value, biocentrism, utilitarianism, eco-feminism, deep ecology, social ecology, eco-centric, and religious/spiritual.

This seminar is a research and writing seminar that will provide a framework and faculty supervision for students to engage in comparative environmental law research. The seminar will provide opportunities for students to work on U.S.-China environmental law research projects that will provide technical assistance to partners who engage in environmental advocacy and environmental law reform in China.

Adaptation is a necessary and unavoidable complement to mitigation measures required to address the challenge of climate change. Legal Adaptation to Climate Change addresses how rising sea levels, higher temperatures, changes in precipitation and other physical consequences of climate change will put pressure on established laws and legal institutions that were developed based on the assumption of a stable climate. The course will also explore potential new legal and policy tools for maintaining economic, social, political and environmental security in dramatically changing circumstances.

This is a capstone course for the water curriculum. It will involve a weekly class seminar and two day-long field trips, a major paper, and a presentation. We have managed to create a dizzying patchwork of water management laws that span local, state and federal jurisdictions. We manage ground and surface water, point and non-point source pollution differently. We have a TMDL process that in many key respects remains unenforceable in court.

Learn about risk assessment by living it. In this class, the instructor and students will work together to write a comment letter, petition, white paper and/or FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request.

This course revolves around a central questions: how can justice theory help people make meaningful decisions about the production, the delivery, the use and the effects of energy?

This course is one of the foundational courses of the agriculture and food law and policy curriculum. Land used for agricultural purposes accounts for nearly 52% of the total land area of the United States--the largest category of land use by far. Given the shear mass of lands devoted to agriculture, any serious attempt to address environmental problems must include resource management on agricultural lands. However, the story of law’s treatment of agriculture from an environmental perspective is complex and, at times, one of omission.

This class focuses on the philosophy, history, legal governance and management controversies surrounding our 191 million acres of National Forests. We’ll cover diverse topics ranging from the philosophy of Wilderness management to logging, over-use by recreationists and the ever-present management challenges posed by climate change.

This course examines the statutory and judicial rules governing the gratuitous transfer of property. This includes transfers by gift, intestate succession, wills, trusts, and other non-probate mechanisms.

Advice to clients respecting commercial transactions, that is, as to binding agreements between parties of all sorts involving the transfer of goods and services, lies at the core of the private practice of law. This course is an introduction to the negotiation, drafting, performance and enforcement of such agreements in a "real world" context, with a particular emphasis on the interpretation and understanding of Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, with at least a nod to U.C.C. Articles 9 (secured transactions) and 3 (negotiable instruments) as they impact on these transactions.

Representing a client at the municipal level is a challenge like no other in the law. A good attorney must be prepared for everything in forums that occasionally rely more on group sentiment and politics than procedure and rigor. Yet, municipal work is often the most rewarding as the work here as immediate and profound impacts on the community. This course is an introduction to the various issues faced by lawyers representing local government entities. Students will become familiar with the procedures for challenging or defending actions taken by municipalities.

This course is an introduction to consumer bankruptcy, Vermont foreclosure practice and collection. The students learn the basic differences between the chapters of the bankruptcy code, and the impact a bankruptcy may have on the circumstances facing prospective clients. The students also gain some insight as to how a bankruptcy filing or foreclosure might impact other matters such as domestic relations, estates, collections and other civil litigation.

This course examines the principles and practices of legal activism and lawyering for social change. Combining theoretical and practical approaches, the course uses historical and contemporary examples of political lawyering to expose students to a wide variety of mechanisms for effective advocacy including impact litigation, legislative advocacy, community organizing, fund-raising and financing, education, media-strategies, civil disobedience and engagement.

The classic distinction between Common Law and Civil Law has grown less significant in the 21st century as national legal systems influence each other across borders and globally. Both traditions have given rise to many national legal systems around the world, each of which has evolved into a unique blend of legislation, codification, constitutional and judicially influenced law. The legacy of France's Code Civil continues to evolve in dozens of countries worldwide, including many in South America.

Lawyers and land use professionals, whether representing landowners, developers, regulators, development opponents, or land conservation organizations, need to understand the same basics of land use transactions, development and finance. This land use course, a companion to Land Use Regulation, addresses the private side of land use: how land is surveyed and divided, how its title recorded and insured, how its conveyance is contracted for and executed, and how land is developed.

This unique one-credit hour course offers students an opportunity to study European Union law at the University of Trento Law School in northern Italy during the week of Spring Break. The course consists of a series of seminars, taught by Italian law professors who are recognized experts in EU law, on specialized aspects of European Law. Topics vary from year to year but normally cover matters of contemporary importance such as immigration policy, terrorism, the rise of populist nationalist groups, and Brexit and its fall-out.

Covers the basics of immigration law; family and employment-based immigration categories; citizenship issues, grounds of inadmissibility/deportability; detention; removal and relief from removal. Special emphasis is placed on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions and humanitarian relief under asylum law and under the Violence Against Women Act.

This one-credit field study of a week at the United Nations in Geneva enables students to observe first-hand the work of the U.N. Human Rights Council, and to meet in person with U.N. Special Rapporteurs, NGO advocates, staff attorneys in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, state delegations to the U.N. and, if one or more U.N. human rights treaty bodies are in session at that time, members of those treaty bodies. Through first-hand observation and direct interaction, students deepen their understanding of the U.N.

To understand global environmental problems, environmental professionals and lawyers must study how different cultures and societies conceptualize and manage the environment. This interdisciplinary seminar will combine the study of cultural ecology, the cross-cultural study of the interaction of humans and the environment with legal anthropology, and the cross-cultural study of conflict. The first part of the course will examine the archaeological roots of the modern ecological degradation in the development of agriculture, urbanization and industrialization.

This course covers the important aspects of a trial, including jury selection, opening statements, direct and cross examination, exhibits, objections, expert witnesses, and closing arguments. Each week students are assigned problems which present specific advocacy issues and which require role playing and examination of witnesses. The course culminates in a full, simulated trial. This is a “learn by doing” course and requires active class participation. Prerequisite: Evidence; may NOT be taken concurrently.

Bar Exam Skills & Tactics (“BEST”) is a three-credit course designed to provide students with the analytical, test-taking, writing, and study skills that are critical to students' success on the bar exam. This is done through an intensive substantive and analytical review of subjects covered on the multistate bar exam, multistate essay exam, and multistate performance test. BEST is an interactive course in which students are expected to study independently, complete essay and multiple choice assignments, and create study tools to be used during bar study.