This lesson explores the various ways that a federal court can acquire personal jurisdiction over defendants, both with and without the use of a state long-arm statute.
1L - First Year Lesson Topics
This lesson is about Rule 50 motions for judgment as a matter of law. The lesson is designed to walk you through the language and elements of the Rule.
This lesson is designed to introduce the novice to the essential concepts of the common law Rule Against Perpetuities. It is presumed the reader has a basic understanding of estates and future interests. This Lesson is designed, also, to help the student develop an analytical approach to solve problems arising under the rule.
Professors Brown and Grohman offer tips for mastering this complicated doctrine and explain the real-world reasons why students and attorneys need to understand the rule against perpetuities.
This lesson's overall plan is to introduce students to the basic principles involved with two common modifications to the common law Rule Against Perpetuities: Wait-and-See and Cy Pres. The exercise assumes the student is familiar with Possessory Estates, Future Interests, and the common law Rule Against Perpetuities; it is suggested students work through those exercises first.
This lesson is an introduction to the Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities. As such, it addresses the basic concepts a first year Property student is likely to encounter when analyzing this statute.
This lesson will introduce you to the quasi-legislative process known as rulemaking. It will familiarize you with the publication system and with the sources you will access to research regulations. The lesson includes several images of Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations pages, and links to regulatory information on the Government Publishing Office's homepage. The lesson is designed to augment a substantive Administrative Law Course or an Advanced Legal Research class.
This lesson was removed at the end of 2013. It is outdated but is currently being revised. CALI
This lesson is about satisfaction clauses. This is an area of special concern, as satisfaction clauses appear to make promises illusory.
This lesson assumes students are familiar with the requirement of consideration. This exercise covers one of the exceptions to this general rule. Historically, one situation where consideration was not required to create a binding contract was when the promise was made "under seal." The lesson explains the history of "the seal" and the seal's role in contract law today.
This lesson will teach students about practice centers, and describe their origins as print legal looseleaf services. Students will use a hypothetical to explore the Practice Centers available on Bloomberg Law BNA, and Thomson Reuters' RIA Checkpoint.
Final exams require recalling information from over 14 weeks of the semester. This lesson provides insight on how to remember the vast information from class to apply on final exams.
This is a lesson dealing with the basic justification defense of self-defense. Most of us would name self-defense as the primary justification defense; and, it is perhaps the most common or familiar of all defenses. Yet self-defense has roots in other defenses at early common law. Therefore, this lesson begins with a consideration of those roots. Moreover, there is considerable overlap between the various defenses, even when one agrees on classification. Thus, understanding the basics of self-defense is essential to understanding many or all of the justification defenses. The purpose of this lesson is to present very simply the elements of self-defense. Even a student who is just beginning the study of defenses should be comfortable working this lesson.
This lesson is designed to help you self-assess your semester performance. It is best suited for completion after you finish a full law school semester. It begins with a brief overview of self-regulated learning and metacognition. Then, the lesson provides a step-by-step process for assessing your law school semester.
The topic of this podcast is when silence itself can be acceptance of an offer. Acceptance is simply the name given to an offeree's action in making the offeror's promise enforceable. This podcast looks at the exceptional cases where notification of the intention to accept an offer is accomplished by silence.
This lesson examines the ethical issues associated with, and tools available for, researching parties, witnesses, and jurors on social media sites.
This exercise provides an overview of the sources of American substantive criminal law. Particular attention is paid to the Model Penal Code and the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
In the process of legal research, primary authority is the law in your jurisdiction, which comes directly from a legislative body, court, or administrative agency.
This lesson on South Carolina primary source materials covers the South Carolina Constitution; South Carolina state and local laws (Legislative); South Carolina administrative agency regulations and other executive materials (Executive); and, South Carolina appellate court rules and decisions (Judicial).
This lesson will describe and explain how to use South Carolina Secondary Sources. No prior experience is required to complete this lesson. You will learn the various types of secondary source available to you.
This lesson will familiarize you with primary and secondary sources available in South Dakota. It covers South Dakota primary law including the South Dakota Constitution, statutes, legislative history, municipal codes, administrative law, and court decisions. The secondary sources section of the lesson provides a general overview of secondary sources and how you can use them in your research as well as coverage of South Dakota specific secondary sources.
The principal remedies for breach of contract are specific performance and money damages. This lesson explores the circumstances in which a court is likely to award specific performance as a remedy. The lesson can be run either as an introduction to specific performance or as a review after you have completed your study.
A critical issue that arises in many administrative cases is the question of constitutional standing to litigate. At its most basic, standing is the requirement that a litigant must have a sufficient interest in the outcome of the litigation in order to be entitled to sue. This lesson provides an introduction to constitutional standing issues and provides the basis for more in depth review in subsequent lessons. The lesson is intended for students who have studied these issues in class and who wish to further refine their knowledge.
This lesson examines several status issues that arise in standing cases. In a prior lesson, we examined two contexts in which individuals might seek standing: taxpayer standing and citizen standing. In this lesson, we examine two other situations that may arise: the right of associations to sue on behalf of their members, and the rights of individuals to assert the interests of third parties. This lesson is intended for students who have studied these issues in class and who are seeking to further refine their knowledge and grasp of the area.
Article III of the United States Constitution requires a plaintiff to establish "standing" in order to sue in federal court. In addition to showing an injury-in-fact, plaintiff must also show "causation" and "redressability." In other words, plaintiff must show that defendant is the "cause" of the injury, and that the injury will be redressed by a favorable judicial decision.