The first term of this course aims to provide students with a contextual understanding of today's key global environmental issues and the possible legal solutions. The course begins by looking at international environmental law in its historical, geopolitical, and socio-economic context. It then examines the legal and institutional framework, sources of law, general principles and rules. After a broad survey of the field of international environmental law, the course will focus on some key areas which provide fertile ground for exploring the major innovations and controversies in international environmental governance, particularly the regulation of hazardous substances and climate change. The second term of the course aims to investigate the role of law and legal institutions in climate-change policy and implementation mechanisms. It begins with a general review of legal framework and rules set forth by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. Legal instruments for implementing and enforcing a carbon market with emission trading across international and domestic jurisdictions will be examined. Recent emergence of climate change liability claims and its impact on tort law principles and risk regulation will also be the focus of class discussion.

TAUGHT BY LIN AND YEH
(2 semester-hours of credit)

Introduction to American Law

The first term of this course will introduce students to some of the distinctive aspects of United States law and legal institutions. The U.S. legal profession will be examined, including legal education, admission to the Bar, and regulation of lawyers. Discussions will then focus on the U.S. judicial system and will include the differences between the federal and state court systems and the roles of judicial decisions and legislation as sources of law. The U.S. Constitution will be introduced through the discussion of several U.S. Supreme Court cases which address important issues being debated in the United States today. Class discussion will also focus on the adversary system and jury trials, including a discussion of the Rules of Civil Procedure and the Rules of Evidence. Students in the class will participate in a mock civil trial to close out the first term. Term two will change the focus of the course. American legal process and mores have been greatly influenced by the practice of law in private firms over the past century; as "multinational businesses," today's largest law firms, and the forces generated by their culture and structure, impact the practice of law both in the United States and abroad. Lawyers who possess an understanding of the business of legal practice will be better equipped to connect their daily practice to the strategic goals and directions of their organizations and to become more effective leaders in the future by recognizing the evolving nature of the legal profession. Students will be provided with an enhanced understanding of the business of legal practice in a competitive and increasingly global market through the review and analysis of literature, statutes and case studies, and will also include a basic financial analysis of the operations of law firms. Segments of the course will also simulate the client advisory process, allowing students to develop skills in the actual delivery of legal, client, and business advice. Whether students will ultimately work for or simply may on occasion work with multinational law firms, students will benefit by understanding the factors motivating the practice of law in this setting.

TAUGHT BY MCALLASTER AND ELVIN
(2 semester-hours of credit)

The Law of the Global Credit Crisis

The "sub-prime" crisis that began in the summer of 2007 has become the most serious threat to the global financial stability in the past fifty years. In the United States alone the list of casualties is a long one — Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Countrywide Financial, Indymac, Washington Mutual. Wachovia, and both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Globally, bank losses are estimated to amount to several trillion dollars; many governments have been forced to commit public funds to recapitalize their banking systems, taking large ownership stakes in leading international banks, including Citigroup in the United States and Royal Bank of Scotland in the United Kingdom; and a wide range of financial markets have been disrupted, restricting access to credit and causing a deep economic downturn throughout the developed world. The course seeks to answer the question of why a problem that began in a specific asset class — mortgage backed securities — could have had such a profound global impact. The first term will provide an introduction to the law relating to banking, bank regulation, loans, and securitizations (mortgages and synthetics.) The second term will then consider the policy issues raised by the global financial crisis. It will review the main contributory factors to the crisis, including macroeconomic imbalances, financial innovation, and corporate governance failures and regulatory failures. It will then consider the extent to which deficiencies in regulation contributed to the crisis, including shortcomings in the bank capital regulatory framework as well as the failure properly to regulate certain activities such as the Credit Default Swaps market. The crisis management response of the authorities will be reviewed and compared with those in previous banking crises, particularly the Asian financial crises a decade ago. The reasons why Asian financial systems have been comparatively unaffected by the crisis will be explored. Finally the course will examine the likely shape of new regulation in response to the crisis.

TAUGHT BY ITZIKOWITZ AND TAYLOR
(2 semester-hours of credit)

Media & Entertainment Law

The first term of this course will focus on media law, regulation, and policy in Asia with an emphasis on the impact for international media operating in the region. While media law and policy in Asia cover a broad spectrum of issues involving widely varying political, cultural, and legal contexts across dozens of countries, the first term will concentrate on the more significant developments at both the public level of media-government conflict and at the private level involving civil litigation. The developments to be studied will include those involving privacy, defamation, obscenity, censorship, internet regulation, access to information, and copyright. In addition to the overview, coursework will use case studies that further illustrate key trends in such jurisdictions as Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore, and Australia. The second term will offer both a continuation and a marked departure from the first term. The subject will be entertainment law, especially as practiced in the United States, which remains in some sense the entertainment capital of the world. Students will spend two days each on five of the principal industries: theater; motion pictures and television; the record industry; music publishing; and digital distribution (via the internet and other channels). Readings the first day will offer a summary overview of the industries, with an emphasis on the roles played by law-trained actors in developing, financing, producing, releasing and distributing typical entertainment vehicles; the course will then address selected legal issues of contemporary significance. Though the emphasis will be on American law and practice, there will be some comparative treatment of the subject matter, with particular concern for issues of interest to foreign nationals seeking a foothold in American settings.

TAUGHT BY WEISENHAUS AND LANGE
(2 semester-hours of credit)

Rights and Remedies in the Criminal Process: China & India

The first term of this course will examine the rights and remedies in the criminal process in China, including the constitutional framework, police powers, the role of public prosecution, trial, defense, and punishment. The second term of this course will examine challenges facing the Indian criminal justice system, focusing on the last two decades. The term will begin with a brief introduction to the Indian criminal justice system, followed by discussion on four major issues: (a) Systemic issues — police, prosecutors and witnesses. This segment of the course will examine legislative reform, whereby more powers are being sought and are being given to the weakest link in the system — the police, political influence on the criminal process and the reasons for ineffective prosecutions. This segment will also deal with the most serious challenge facing the Indian criminal justice system — witnesses of the prosecution "turning hostile" to their case. (b) Challenges posed by terrorism and organized crime, including the manner in which the legislature and the executive have sought to dilute rights in order to fight terrorism and organized crime. (c) Role of the victim in the criminal justice system and reforms in the criminal justice system which have sought to empower victims in various ways. (d) Issues in sentencing, including the death sentence, which is emerging as a major issue. This term will attempt to provide a bird's eye view of the state of the Indian criminal justice system and whether values sought to be upheld by the Constitution of India are being diluted because of new challenges facing a globalizing world.

TAUGHT BY FU AND SATISH
(2 semester-hours of credit)

Tax Policy in East Asia

This course will consist of two inter-related parts. The first term will examine and contrast the taxation systems of several jurisdictions, specifically, the United States, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Mainland China. It will consider the taxation implications of cross-border activities for major outbound and inbound investments involving residents of those jurisdictions. It will also focus on important concepts such as controlled foreign companies' legislation, foreign tax credit regimes, transfer pricing, and withholding taxes. The role, interpretation, use and abuse of double taxation agreements will also be examined. The second term will be more policy-oriented. It will examine and contrast the Japanese and U.S. approach to the basic rules of income tax and tax policy. Topics to be covered will include some of the following: introduction to individual and corporation income tax (focusing on Japan), constitutional status of income tax (especially U.S. and Japanese cases), and realization and recognition (including policy aspects). Corporate reorganizations (focusing on U.S., U.K., and Japan) and stock options (focusing on U.S. and Japan) will be discussed. The course will pay particular attention to both specific and general anti-avoidance regimes, including domestic legislation, focusing on the U.S., the U.K., and Japan, and tax treaty provision. The role of the courts and the taxation authorities, as well as ethical issues, will be considered.

TAUGHT BY HALKYARD AND WATANABE
(2 semester-hours of credit)