Law School to Offer 11 New Courses in Spring 2012 Semester
Columbia Law School will offer 11 new courses during the Spring 2012 semester, in addition to the comprehensive existing robust and rigorous curriculum of foundational courses and electives. Topics to be covered in the new offerings include financial regulation, transnational litigation, and experimentalism in global governance.
The faculty receives proposals for new courses every semester and chooses those that are academically interesting and not a repetition of an existing course.
Courses are listed below in alphabetical order, with links to the official course description and the instructors' web profiles:
Taught by Tseliso Thipanyane, Lecturer-in-Law.
Deals with the role and impact of African human rights systems in the promotion and protection of human rights in the African continent. It will analyze and critique the workings of various African human rights mechanisms such as national human rights institutions, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the African Court on Human and Peoples and their relationship with the international human rights system.
Thipanyane is the former CEO of the South African Human Rights Commission and currently an independent consultant on human rights, democracy, and good governance.
Taught by Robert E. Gerber, Lecturer-in-Law, and Arthur S. Kaufman, Lecturer-in-Law.
Explores the federal bankruptcy process in a business context as a way of dealing with insolvent entities and doing deals. Planning, consensus building, and certain types of transactions will be examined, as well as key bankruptcy concepts and procedures. The aim is to develop students’ understanding of the Bankruptcy Code and the use of bankruptcy as a business matter, and to address problems that occur in bankruptcies.
Gerber has served as a U.S. bankruptcy judge for the Southern District of New York since September 2000. Kaufman, currently of counsel at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, was head of the firm’s financing practice until he retired as a partner in 2010.
Taught by Lawrence A. Collins (Lord Collins of Mapebury), Samuel Rubin Visiting Professor of Law.
Addresses such topics as the distinction between public and private law claims; enforcement of foreign tax laws; consideration of jurisdiction and minimum contacts in international cases; principles of jurisdiction in Europe; forum non conveniens in the United States and Europe; the role of comity in international litigation; and anti-suit injunctions. Each student will also choose a topic not yet addressed and present it for class discussion. The course will run from Feb. 13 to April 2.
Lord Collins was a justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2009 to 2011, and continues to serve as an acting judge of the court. He was previously a partner with the London firm of solicitors Herbert Smith.
Taught by Maura Grossman, Lecturer-in-Law.
Covers what lawyers need to know in order to represent clients in an increasingly digital world and will address some of the broader challenges posed by electronic information. Topics to be covered include preservation and spoliation issues; the rising costs of electronic discovery; questions of privilege waiver, privacy, and evidentiary admissibility; and the current state of federal, state, and local rules governing electronic discovery.
Grossman is counsel in the litigation department at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where her practice focuses on advising lawyers and clients on electronic discovery and information management.
Taught by Georges Ugeux, Lecturer-in-Law.
Considers the challenges and achievements of European financial regulation as it has responded to the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, and reflect on the future of banking and finance in Europe. Each session will focus on a specific case study through which to understand the evolution of the European regulatory landscape, and include assigned readings. The class will feature visits from experts in the field.
Ugeux is the founder of Galileo Global Advisors LLC, which offers CEOs, boards of directors, and governments independent advice on international business development, mergers and acquisitions, and capital raising. Prior to starting Galileo, Ugeux was the head of the International Group of the New York Stock Exchange for 7 years. He has also held executive positions at Kidder, Peabody Europe; Societe Generale de Banque (now BNP Paribas Fortis); Morgan Stanley; and Société Générale de Belgique, a Belgian conglomerate.
Taught by Jeffrey N. Gordon, Richard Paul Richman Professor of Law, and Margaret Tahyar ’87.
A core goal of financial regulatory reform, both in the U.S. and internationally, is to prevent the recurrence of financial crisis, or at least to reduce the risk. This seminar will focus on key areas where regulators have made concrete progress in proposing or implementing regulations designed to lower systemic risk in the financial system. Topics will include enhanced oversight of systemically important financial institutions, among others.
Gordon teaches and writes extensively on corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, and comparative corporate governance. He served in the general counsel’s office of the U.S. Treasury from 1979 to 1981. Tahyar, a partner at Davis, Polk & Wardwell, LLP, provides regulatory, legislative reform, and financial crisis advice to U.S. and foreign financial institutions.
Taught by Patricia A. Rohan, Lecturer-in-Law.
Examines immigration law and the circumstances under which a non-citizen becomes subject to removal. It will focus on the conduct of a removal case in Immigration Court, from the pleading stage through administrative appeal, with particular focus on issues of due process. Students will master the basics of current immigration law, survey the Immigration Court Practice Manual, and attend a hearing in Immigration Court.
Rohan has served as an immigration judge at the New York Immigration Court since 1982.
Taught by Anne E. Cohen, Lecturer-in-Law.
Internal investigations involve significant fact-intensive work, leading to complicated logistical issues and calling on both “hard” and “soft” skills. Using reports of recent investigations across a range of industries and agencies, this seminar will look at legal and logistical issues arising in this important practice. The class features guest speakers. Grading will be based on a combination of papers and class participation, including brief oral presentations.
Cohen is a senior litigation partner at Debevoise & Plimpton whose practice focuses on complex tort litigation, internal investigations, and general commercial litigation.
Taught by Celia Goldwag Barenholtz, Lecturer-in-Law, and Marion Bachrach.
Focuses on the strategic role ethical issues play in complex litigation, at a time when more and more cases are being resolved as a result of ethical issues. Students will examine ethical issues faced by litigators in civil and criminal cases and will follow litigation from investigation through trial. Assigned reading will include the Rules of Professional Responsibility, recent case law, opinions by bar associations, and primary source materials.
Barenholtz is a litigation partner at Cooley LLP, where she handles complex commercial and intellectual property litigations and arbitrations. Bachrach, a founding partner at DePetris & Bachrach, LLP, litigates white-collar criminal matters and complex civil suits.
Taught by Timothy Wu, Professor of Law, and Jonathan Knee, Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School.
This seminar, which is being co-offered with the Business School, is designed to introduce law and business students to the unusual regulatory and business conditions and challenges in the media industries. A variety of topics will be covered, including intellectual property, the history and structure of the media industries, communications regulation, strategies of integration and consolidation, and patterns of innovation in the media industry.
Wu recently returned to the Law School after a leave during which he served as senior advisor to the Federal Trade Commission. He is the author of The Master Switch (2010) and Who Controls the Internet? (2006). Knee is a senior managing director at Evercore Partners. He previously worked in executive positions at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
Taught by Christopher R. Yukins, Professor of Government Contracts Law and a co-director of the Government Procurement Law Program at the George Washington University Law School.
Explores the basic elements of procurement law, surveying federal procurement law, U.S. state law, and international model laws for comparative purposes. The class will review each stage of public contracting, from planning through bidding and performance, and will discuss issues of corruption and compliance. Senior policymakers from Washington, D.C., will be invited to speak to the class.
Yukins served for several years as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, where he handled trials and appeals involving bid protests and contract claims against the U.S. government.
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