Upper-Level 19 - College of Law

648: Corporate Taxation

This course provides an in-depth study of the taxation of corporate transactions, including corporate formations, distributions, liquidations, sales of the corporate business and corporate reorganizations. Many students choose to take both Corporate Taxation and Partnership Taxation; however, if a student’s schedule will only provide for enrollment in one of these two courses, Corporate Taxation is recommended.

Sequence and Prerequisites: Income Taxation (Law 647) is a prerequisite.

Evaluation: Administered Final Examination.

649: Partnership Taxation

This course addresses federal income tax aspects of conducting business and investment activities through entities taxed as partnerships under Subchapter K of the Internal Revenue Code. It covers topics such as choice of entity; partnership formation; the transfer of assets to and from a partnership; the allocation of partnership tax attributes; the treatment of partnership liabilities; the restrictions on the deductibility of a partner’s share of partnership losses; partnership distributions; and the liquidation or sale of partnership interests.

Sequence and Prerequisites: Income Taxation (Law 647) is a prerequisite.

Evaluation: Final examination

684: Federal Courts

This course introduces the basic doctrines and concepts comprising the study of the American federal judicial system. Topics addressed include, but are not limited to: constitutional remedies, federal common law, the relationship between the federal and state courts, and invocation of federal judicial power. Additionally, this course will address several philosophical questions relating to the organization and function of the federal judiciary.

This course has three objectives: (1) familiarize students with the doctrines and concepts that govern the federal judicial system; (2) assist students in developing the ability to analyze those doctrines and concepts, and to persuasively apply them to varied factual situations, and; (3) deepen students’ understanding of the historical, philosophical, and practical considerations that underlie the federal judicial system.

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: Exam grade with potential adjustment based upon classroom participation.

615: Administrative Law

This course is an introduction to the law of the administrative state—to the statutory and judge-made rules governing what agencies do, the procedures they must follow, and how they can be held to account. Topics include mechanisms for control of agencies by the legislative and executive branches; the constitutional basis for, and limits on, governance by agencies; the availability and effects of judicial review over agency action; and the features of agency rulemaking and adjudication.

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: Papers/Project/Take Home Examination

792: Immigration Law

Immigration and nationality law is an introductory course that will provide a survey of immigration, citizenship, and visa law and procedures. Topics covered will include immigration and the Constitution, admissions categories (including non-immigrant and immigrant visa categories), family-based immigration, admissions procedures, removability and relief from removability, asylum and refugee law, naturalization and derivative citizenship, workplace enforcement of immigration laws, and relationships between criminal law and immigration law.

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: Final exam

792: State and Local Government

This interactive course explores the structure, powers, and functions of state and local governments, focusing on constitutional principles, legislative processes, public policy, and the relationship between federal, state, and local authorities. Students will engage in case studies, practical exercises, and open discussions to examine the roles of state and local officials, judicial review, and policymaking at the state and local levels.

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: This class will not have a traditional, in-class final exam.

792: The Constitutional Law of U.S. Foreign Affairs

The purpose of this seminar will be to analyze the constitutional framework surrounding the conduct of foreign relations by the United States government. One of the major themes of the course will be that the Executive Branch of the federal government must come to understand that the constitutionally mandated separation-of-powers system, together with its concomitant rule of law, must be accepted as an historical fact to be dealt with on its own terms, rather than subverted, ignored, or expressly violated. If the Executive Branch wishes to design and execute a coherent and consistent foreign policy, it must take into account and cooperate with the Congress, and to a lesser extent the Courts, in the formulation of American foreign policy. The much vaunted goal of developing a truly bipartisan approach to foreign affairs cannot be achieved unless and until the President is willing to recognize the facts that the Congress is an independent and co-equal branch of government as well as that the President is subject to the rule of law in the area of foreign policy as well as domestic affairs.

The course will focus upon specific problem areas within which these issues have already been historically addressed: the right to foreign travel; intelligence operations and secrecy; the war powers controversy and military operations abroad; treaties and other international agreements, particularly with respect to human rights and arms control; the relationship between the federal government and the states of the union in foreign affairs; citizenship, immigration, deportation, and exclusion; the rights of aliens; international criminal jurisdiction of U.S. courts and international terrorism; foreign sovereign immunity; the act of state doctrine; and the political question doctrine in the foreign affairs area.

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: Paper

664: Employment Discrimination

This course examines the federal laws pertaining to employment discrimination based upon race, color, religion, sex, national origin, alienage, age, and disability. The course focuses primarily on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991. There is some limited coverage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Equal Pay Act, and the affirmative action requirements imposed under Executive Order 11,246. Careful consideration is given to the burdens of proof applicable to employment discrimination suits based upon both individual claims of discriminatory treatment and class claims challenging personnel standards which have a disparate impact upon protected groups. The course also explores the bona fide occupational qualification defense, the validation rules applicable to employment requirements that have a disparate impact upon protected groups, and the bona fide seniority system exemption.

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: Administered final examination

660: Individual Employee Rights

This course investigates the legal rights and responsibilities of employees in the non-union workplace. The course will emphasize particularly the role of law in adjusting the balance of power between individual employees and employers. It will study the regulation of contract, tort, and statute of such areas as hiring, discharge, compensation, employee privacy and dignity and the like.

Sequence and Prerequisites: None

Evaluation: Administered final examination

696: Legal Problems–Law Journals

Preparation of articles and notes for publication in the University of Illinois Law Review; Elder Law Journal; Journal of Law, Technology and Policy; or Illinois Law Update section of the Illinois Bar Journal. May be repeated up to maximums set forth below.

Sequence and Prerequisites:

1. Law Review, Elder Law Journal, and the Journal of Law, Technology and Policy (“JLTP”)

Membership in the University of Illinois Law Review, Elder Law Journal, or JLTP is by invitation only, based on the results of the journal writing competition. Only 2L and 3L students are eligible for selection, and only students who have been selected for these journals may register for credit. Student members receive 1 hour of ungraded academic credit for each semester in which they successfully complete their membership requirements; members of the editorial board of each journal receive 2 hours of ungraded credit for the semesters in which they are editorial board members.

2. Illinois Law Update

This feature, which is written by students and published in the Illinois Bar Journal, summarizes and briefly analyzes major developments of interest to Illinois practitioners from the following five sources:

– The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals

– The Illinois Supreme Court

– The Illinois Appellate Courts

– The Illinois General Assembly

– Major Illinois State Administrative Agencies

In general, all 1L or 2L students who received a grade of A- or higher in Legal Writing and Analysis or Legal Research will be invited to apply for a staff position on ILU for the Fall semester following the successful completion of their first year. Final staff selections will be by the current ILU editorial board. Staff members receive one hour of academic credit each semester for their work on ILU. Editorial Board members receive two hours of credit for each semester of work. Therefore, a student may accumulate up to 6 hours of academic credit for work on ILU (two as a staff member, four as an editorial board member).

Work on the ILU does not count toward meeting the upper-level writing requirement.