Relevant bar examination topic.

Three semester hours credit.

A study of the basic principles of contract formation and enforceability, including offer and acceptance, mutual assent, consideration, promissory estoppel, and the statute of frauds. The course also considers invalidating causes, such as incapacity, misrepresentation and fraud, duress, mistake, unconscionability, and illegality, and provides an introduction to remedies for breach of contract. The common law of contracts and the relevant provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code, including warranties and their disclaimer, are considered.

Relevant bar examination topic.

Three semester hours credit.

Prerequisites: Contracts I.

A continuation of the study of contracts, including remedies for breach of contract, interpretation of contract language, the parol evidence rule, performance and breach of contract, express and constructive conditions, excuse and discharge, impracticability and frustration of purpose, third party beneficiary contracts, and assignment and delegation. The common law of contracts and the relevant provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code are considered.

Crossover bar examination topic.

Three semester hours credit. Normally offered three times each academic year.

This is an introductory course in the fundamentals of federal income taxation designed to prepare students, as lawyers, to recognize and appreciate the impact of income tax consequences on transactions and events they encounter in the general practice of law, including family law, dispute settlement, real estate, investments of various types and small business counseling. Areas of coverage include the definition and characterization of income, exclusions from income, deductions, and the determination of gain or loss from property transactions. With an emphasis placed on the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury regulations, students are introduced to essential legal skills of learning to read and understand the language of statutes and regulations as well as judicial interpretations and administrative pronouncements.

Two semester hours credit. Normally offered three times each academic year. Enrollment limited to 24 students.

This course provides students an opportunity to develop, practice drafting, comment on, and redline the substantive portions of an agreement. The primary goal of the class is to teach students how to translate the terms of a business deal into contract concepts, and draft the contract to close the transaction. Specifically, students will learn how and when to use the basic contract building blocks: covenants, conditions, representations, warranties, rights, discretionary authority, and declarations. The basic parts of a contract will be analyzed in detail and students will learn how to (1) avoid legalese, (2) obtain clarity through document formatting and sentence structure, (3) prevent ambiguity, (4) understand the appropriate use of vague terms, and (5) use various other drafting considerations. Learning how the transactional attorney adds value to the deal by helping the client attain the client’s business goals while avoiding unacceptable risks will be covered as well as several typical ethics issues that arise in transactional work.

Two semester hours credit. Normally offered twice each academic year. Enrollment limited to 24 students.

This course is designed to provide students with the skills necessary to: (1) identify issues that should be negotiated in complex business contracts; (2) draft several key provisions to be included in the final contract as negotiated; and (3) negotiate a “real” business contract. A variety of assignments help to assure each student completes a variety of tasks that need to be integrated based on an appropriate level of legal issue analysis resulting in an effective and usable work product. Skill development also includes an appreciation of business and legal risks that need to be dealt with when negotiating and drafting.

Three semester hours credit. Offered periodically.

A study of laws governing competition in business. The class will address monopolies and potentially anti-competitive mergers as well as price-fixing, boycotts, resale price maintenance agreements, predatory pricing, tying arrangements, and similarly suspect practices.

Two semester hours credit. Offered periodically.

Requirement: Students who have completed or would be concurrently enrolled in Copyright Law, Patent Law, or Trademarks & Unfair Competition may
enroll in this course only with prior approval from the professor.

This course presents an overview of the basic principles of intellectual property law and includes brief coverage of trade secret, trademark, patent, and copyright fundamentals. Some time will be devoted to possible justification for intellectual property generally as well as the differences that mark the various legal protections available for products of the mind. The course is intended primarily for those students who would not otherwise make the intensive study of intellectual property part of their academic or career plan.

Maximum of six semester hours credit.

Prerequisites: Successful completion of not less than 30 credit hours of required courses and a 2.8 grade point average.

A variety of international placement opportunities currently exist, and others are in development. Applications for these academic internships are available in the office of the Associate Dean of Clinical Studies.

Three or four semester hours credit.

Prerequisites: Successful completion of all courses required for graduation (with the exception of the substantial writing requirement) and not less than 45 credit hours and a 2.8 grade point average. Completion of or concurrent enrollment in Texas Pretrial Procedure is recommended.

Students arrange their own placements with local governmental agencies. Potential placements include the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the legal department of the City of South Texas College of Law, the Harris County Attorney’s Office, the EEOC, the IRS, the Office of Homeland Security, and many others. These placements provide access to the South Texas College of Law legal community and give law students the opportunity to expand their professional skills and identify challenging and fulfilling work possibilities.

Three semester hours credit. Offered periodically.

Prerequisites: Federal Income Taxation.

This course examines the U.S. taxation of foreign transactions and investments. Specifically, the course explores how the United States taxes foreign persons conducting business or investing in the U.S. (inbound transactions), and how it taxes U.S. persons conducting business or investing in foreign countries (outbound transactions). Topics covered include the source of income and deductions; the U.S. taxation of business and investment income of foreign persons; the U.S. foreign tax credit system; anti-deferral regimes such as the provisions that apply to controlled foreign corporations; and the effect of tax treaties into which the U.S. has entered.

Three semester hours credit. Normally offered once each academic year.

This course examines the laws, legal issues and principle contracts utilized in the international oil and gas industry in respect to the exploration for, production and marketing of oil and gas.  The class will survey: ownership of mineral rights internationally; the role of the National Oil Company and Government regulators; international legal due diligence; political and other risks associated with international investments; the forms and structure of host government agreements granting the right to explore and exploit oil and gas; the forms and structure of the principle contracts used in the international oil and gas industry, including Confidentiality Agreements, Study and Bid Agreements, Drilling Contracts, Service Agreements, Farmout Agreements, Joint Operating Agreements, Unitization Agreements and Oil and Gas Marketing Agreements; an examination of available industry model contract forms; sustainable development in oil and gas exploitation; environmental protection in international oil and gas exploration and exploitation; and extraterritorial reach of certain U.S. laws applicable to the international oil and gas industry, including anti-corruption laws, trade sanctions and export restrictions.  The focus of the course is to provide practical knowledge of international oil and gas legal issues in contracts by working with actual international oil and gas contract.

Two semester hours credit. Offered periodically.

This course provides a comprehensive survey of the various processes known as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). These include negotiation, mediation, evaluative processes such as neutral case evaluation and summary jury trials, and arbitration. The primary focus is the theory and law of ADR as the procedures relate to the court system and law practice, and, in particular, the lawyer’s role. Classwork also includes a number of simulations providing students opportunities to become familiar with the skills essential to competent practice in these procedures.

Two semester hours credit. Normally offered once each academic year.

This course concentrates on the law and procedure of arbitration. Issues include arbitrability, separability, arbitral jurisdiction, non-signatory arbitral jurisdiction, compelling arbitration, FAA preemption, drafting, and analysis of arbitration agreements. Additional considerations of court review, confirmation, and vacatur of arbitral awards are also addressed. Students will be introduced to arbitration advocacy, practice skills, and procedure. The course will also provide a survey of specialized arbitration topics, including commercial, international, labor, employment, securities, and consumer arbitrations.

Three semester hours credit. Offered periodically.

The course provides an introduction to the major aspects of international commercial arbitration and covers the following topics:  why arbitration is the most chosen form of dispute resolution in international commercial transactions; an introduction to institutional and ad hoc forms of international arbitration; the requirements for and the drafting of a valid arbitration agreement; the applicable laws and rules governing international arbitration; the roles played by courts in assisting international arbitration; the role of the arbitral panel; the arbitral process; the arbitration award and its enforcement; an introduction to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards and to the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration and the roles each plays in the arbitral system; and the specialized use of international arbitration (in international investment treaties).