Courses

Courses

Note: Course descriptions are subject to change as individual professors develop their plans for each course.

Deposition Practice
Teachers: Marilyn Forbes (Womble Carlyle, Raleigh), Sandra Johnson (Johnson & Johnson, PA, Raleigh), Dan Katz (Williams & Connolly, Washington DC), Paul Sun (Ellis & Winters)
Students will learn the basic nuts and bolts of taking and defending depositions: how to prepare for a deposition, how to formulate effective questions, what objections to raise and when, how to handle difficult witnesses, etc.  Students will have the opportunity to participate in interactive deposition exercises focused on question technique, strategy, and content.
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Drafting Discovery Requests and Motions
Teacher:  Rebecca Rich (Duke University School of Law)
Students will learn to plan and draft interrogatories, requests for documents, and requests for admission, as well as typical discovery motions to quash involving privilege, work product, undue expense, etc. Discussion will also cover general discovery strategy and retrieving information from outside the legal system. Students will write and turn in draft motions and requests and receive feedback from the professor and peers.
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In-House Investigations
Teacher: Peter Romatowski (Jones Day, Washington DC)
Students will study the range of legal and practical issues in the conduct of in-house investigations of potential illegality by corporate employees and officers.  Students will participate in simulated exercises involving interviews of a CEO or a company employee in the course of a hypothetical investigation.
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Introduction to the Bankruptcy System
Teacher: Judge A. Thomas Small (retired 4th Circuit Bankruptcy Judge)
Students will learn the basic framework of the commercial bankruptcy system from one of the pre-eminent bankruptcy judges in the country.  Students will have the opportunity to practice certain formalities of commercial bankruptcy, including planning and filing for corporate bankruptcy.
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Capital Markets Financing and Advanced Business Strategy
Teacher: Rhett Brandon (Simpson Thacher, New York)
Students will work through a complex business transaction focused on commercial financing.  Students will use a simulated transaction and will engage in the various practical issues presented during the course of the transaction.
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Doing Business in China
Teachers: Merrick Bernstein (Lenovo, Raleigh), XiaomingLi  (White & Case, Beijing)
Students will engage the many legal issues, particularly regulatory and intellectual property-based, presented by business opportunities in China.  Cultural differences, business formalities, conflicting laws, and enforcement issues will all be addressed.
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Basics of Accounting
Teacher: Jim Cox (Duke University School of Law)
Students will learn the basic skills involved in commercial accounting: how to read a balance sheet, how to classify debts and assets, etc.  The course will include budgeting and accounting exercises designed to simulate real business scenarios.
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Contract Drafting
Teacher: Kip Johnson (Womble Carlyle, Raleigh)
Students will learn the basics of framing and drafting various types of contracts. The class will examine strategic decisions in contracting, informational needs in designing a contract, and boilerplate and custom language for contracts. They will draft several contracts in simulated deals and receiving feedback from the professors and their peers.
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Corporate Counsel 101
Teacher: Pam Bernard (General Counsel, Duke University), Susanne Haas (General Counsel, Honeywell International, Inc.)
Students will look at several salient issues that confront in-house counsel. Who is the client?  How does one assess risks?  How to work with outside counsel? What is the role of Board of Directors? Students will also engage with the key components of Sarbanes Oxley.
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Creating an Entity
Teacher: Walter Rogers (Smith Anderson, Raleigh)
Students will learn to prepare organizational documents for business corporations and limited liability companies.  Discussion will cover the variety of legal entities available for business and philanthropic purposes, the several legal disciplines (e.g., corporation law, tax law, securities law, and commercial law) involved in the formation of an entity, and related choice of entity considerations.  Students will prepare articles, bylaws, subscription agreements, and related minutes and correspondence for the organization of a business corporation.  Students will review, in detail, the organizational documents of a limited liability company.
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Government Contract Litigation
Teacher: Judge Mary Ellen Williams (U.S. Court of Federal Claims)
Students will learn about government contract law with a focus on litigating bid protests, i.e., challenges to the awards of government contracts, as well as disputes arising under ongoing contracts. In the first class, after a lecture on the formation of government contracts, students will engage in mock arguments on a motion and preliminary injunction. In the second class, after a lecture on performance issues arising under government contracts, students will participate in a mock mini trial involving a performance dispute. Students should gain an understanding of the process for litigating bid protests and disputes as well as a basic familiarity with issues in government contract law.
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Human Rights Case Study: National Security Biometric Dataveillance Policy
Teacher: Margaret Hu (Duke University School of Law)
Students will examine the proliferation of biometric security dataveillance technology and its implications for human and civil rights. The course will consider what types of policy prescriptions should be in place to ensure minimum technological and electronic privacy standards; testing and evaluation protocols that  may be needed to assess the efficacy and legality new technologies; whether an international convention or treaty is needed on biometric collection during military occupation; and how biometric security dataveillance used by the military abroad can ultimately impact the utilization of such technology domestically in both criminal and civil law contexts.
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Drafting Civil Motions and Oppositions
Teacher:  Candace Carroll (Sullivan Hill Lewin Rez & Engle)
This course will teach students the basics of motions practice. It will be made up partly of lecture, but mostly of in-class review and editing of students’ draft motions (displayed anonymously). Students will be asked to draft a short motion (with limited authorities, which will be supplied) before the first class, and, between the two class sessions, both to draft a second motion or an opposition, and to revise their first motion with the benefit of class suggestions.
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The Real World of Civil Litigation: A View from the Plaintiff’s and the Defendant’s Side
Teachers: Len Simon (Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd) and Bo Phillips (ReedSmith)
Students will examine the handling of litigation, including complex cases, from the plaintiffs' side, where Len usually sits, and the defense side, which is Bo's territory. The course will focus on pretrial issues, rather than trials, and will cover some but not all of the following: (a) complaints and motions to dismiss; (b) class certification motions and defenses; (c) obtaining and avoiding summary judgment; (d) development of a case strategy; and (e) development of a discovery plan.
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The Practice and Strategic Development of International Transactions
Teachers: Stuart Berkson (DLA Piper), Jose Meirelles (at Pinheiro Netto Advogados)
This course explores the fundamental issues, strategic considerations, and principles inherent in transnational business transactions and the role of the international attorney in structuring and implementing such transactions. Class time is devoted to a case study of a merger and acquisition transaction involving the purchase of a Brazilian entity by a US multinational corporation. The process of constructing an “international deal” is analyzed step by step, exploring all phases of the venture. Focus is given to recognizing and anticipating potential areas of conflict and evaluating the appropriate and legally viable measures available to address these issues.
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Neuroscience, Juries and Decision-Making
Teachers: Donald Beskind (Duke University School of Law), Pate Skene (Duke University School of Medicine), Scott Huettel  (Duke University), Michael Platt (Duke University School of Medicine), David Ball (Miller, Malekpour & Ball), Artemis Malekpour (Miller, Malekpour & Ball)
This course will provide insights into the mind of the American jury. Some class time will be spent introducing the role of juries in determining liability and damages before moving on to decisional theory and its relation to the American jury. Using current models of jury decision processes, combined with cutting edge neuroscience and evolutionary biology, students will examine how and why juries reach their decisions. Three professors of Neurobiology and a leading jury consultant will join the course instructors in decoding the American Jury.
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Litigation Strategy in the Corporate Context
Teachers: Meredith Turner (Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz), Ryan McLeod (Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz)
This course will explore the intersection of counseling and litigation, focusing on the litigator's role in broader corporate strategy and the ways in which businesses, funds, and other entities use litigation both offensively and defensively to achieve goals beyond what is set forth in the pleadings.  Using recent examples from the field of mergers and acquisitions, we will identify and critique prevalent procedural devices, methods, and arguments with an eye towards understanding how clients rely on litigators for more than drafting briefs and reviewing documents. Completion of a business associations course is recommended.
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International Arbitration
Teachers: Colm McInerney (Skaaden Arps, New York), Jennifer Cabrera Cammarota (Dan Tan, New York)
Students will gain a practical understanding of the process of international commercial arbitration and enforcement. After an overview of the arbitral process, instructors will lead students in simulation exercises involving witness preparation and cross-examination. The second class will cover arbitral awards and their enforcement.
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Lunchtime Programming

Oral Presentation Skills Workshop
Teacher: Rima Idzelis
This two-day LL.M. workshop is a learn-by-doing workshop that teaches students how to improve communication skills when providing a presentation to colleagues or clients and when speaking in class.  The workshop will teach students the foundational aspects of public speaking in the U.S. and will cover cross-cultural differences in public speaking expectations. This workshop is currently full. To be added to the waitlist, please contact Rima Idzelis at idzelis@law.duke.edu.

Golf for Professional Success
Teacher: Ed Ibarguen (PGA)
Please join Ed Ibarguen, PGA Master Professional and Top 100 Teacher in America for the kick-off of our 2nd annual "Chris and Valerie Mason Golf for Professional Success Initiative." Mr. Ibarguen will share the basics of the game and how golf can become a highly significant business tool for lawyers. Interested students will have an opportunity to enter a drawing to be one of ten students to win a series of six lessons with Ed during the months of February and March. Qualifying students will have very little golf experience/or will be raw beginners and they must commit to attending all of the lesson classes held in the program. Upon completion of the series, students will have the understanding required to utilize golf as an interesting addition to their law school resumes along with the ability to pursue the game as an effective business tool.