Dispute Resolution

This course examines the practice and theory of negotiation as a process used to put deals together or to resolve disputes with an emphasis on doing so in a time of crisis. By participating in simulations and through exposure to course texts, students learn about competitive bargaining and collaborative problem solving and acquire insight into the strategic benefits of the two approaches. This course is designed to give students skills and confidence as negotiators, including an awareness of how negotiation is different during a financial or other crisis impacts negotiation styles.

This is the field placement component of a full term externship program and is paired with the Externship Lecture course. Total credits between Semester in Practice and Externship Lecture will total 13. The number of credit hours awarded to an individual student will determine the hours of work required at the field placement and meet or exceed the ABA standards. In accordance with ABA guidelines, students work at a placement under a supervising attorney. C-LAW 300.

In this clinic, which lasts for both semesters of the 3L year, students work in pairs and represent real clients in various appellate courts. The supervising attorney is their professor. In addition to representing clients, students learn about advocacy skills and various aspects of appellate practice, using reading materials, some lecture, and class discussions. They help other pairs through brainstorming and judging practice oral arguments. Students also visit the Supreme Court of the United States to attend oral arguments and meet with court personnel. Prerequisite: Appellate Advocacy

This experiential course is ideal for prospective law clerks or future litigators who wish to learn more about the perspective behind the bench. It explores the purpose and function of a law clerk, the nature and structure of the judiciary, how to apply for and obtain a clerkship, and most importantly, how to perform it well. Topics of discussion include judicial ethics, chambers confidentiality, docket management, courtroom decorum, professionalism, judicial drafting, and other issues that law clerks commonly encounter. Among other things, students draft an 11-day memo, bench memo, and judicial opinion. The course also includes Lunch & Learn events with federal judges, field trips to the U.S. Supreme Court, FBI, etc., and visits from guest speakers, including a prosecutor, in-house counsel, DOJ attorney, and partners at prominent law firms.

A clinical study of law from the viewpoint of the bench; offered only during the summer. The student works as a judicial extern for a state or federal judge. Students will observe trials, conferences, and hearings and research law and procedure under the judge's direction. A student must have completed their first year of law school in order to participate. Due to scheduling concerns, permission must be obtained from the professor before registering for this course.

This course explores the theory and practice of negotiation skills across multiple disciplines of legal practice. Through negotiation simulations, class readings, and lectures/discussions, it seeks to prepare students for one of the most vital components of being a practicing attorney -- the ability to properly represent your client's interests within the inevitable context of give-and-take that most areas of law involve.

The course provides students with an opportunity to build upon their placement experience with a litigation-focused curriculum. The course is complementary to other litigation-focused courses but is developed to meet or exceed ABA standards for experiential learning. C-LAW 602.

Law schools classically prepare attorneys to represent clients by teaching the law, theory, procedures, and, skills necessary to prepare for and try cases in court. This approach is based upon the underlying assumption that our legal system works best when disputes are determined by an impartial judge or jury after a zealous presentation of the facts and law by the attorneys for all parties. Instead, this mediation practice class is based upon the assumptions that: 1) most parties know what is in their own best interest; 2) if given the opportunity and tools, most litigants are able to solve their own problems and 3) litigants are generally more satisfied when they are involved in determining the outcome of their cases instead of the results being dictated to them by a judge or jury. The course will focus on mediation as a method of dispute resolution from the perspective of attorneys representing clients at mediation as well as from the perspective of mediators facilitating mediated settlement conferences. Students will participate in simulated mediation sessions. This course is 50% lecture and 50% practical skills. Local attorneys assist me by observing students in simulations, guiding and advising students' in-class work, and adding to students' practical knowledge from their own legal careers. This course follows the required curriculum of the 40-hour training that NC attorneys receive in partial satisfaction of the requirements to become North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission (NCDRC) Certified Mediators. The NCDRC has approved this course as commensurate to that which practicing attorneys receive. Passing students receive a certificate of completion which they may present to the NCDRC in their fifth year of law practice in satisfaction of Rule 8A of the Revised Rules for Superior Court Civil actions. Students who have taken Dispute Resolution in the past or who are enrolled in or who plan to take the Dispute Resolution course may not register for Mediation.

This course is currently available only in the summer. The director of the externship designates one or more cities in North and South Carolina, usually including Charlotte, NC, and offers the students externships in a designated practice area. The practice areas vary from summer to summer. Students meet weekly with the director to integrate and apply the doctrinal insights received elsewhere in the law school curriculum and in the subject matter of the field placements.