Law-Making Seminar - Baylis

Important: The location of this class has changed to 3430 Posvar Hall. This is so that we can use the videoconferencing equipment in that classroom to bring in speakers from Washington. Posvar is the building next door to the law school, and you can take the 2nd floor walkway between the buildings.

The room change will be worth it, because we have an incredible group of speakers who have agreed to speak to you, including one of the lawyers who argued the health care case in the Supreme Court, the State Department lawyer who negotiates climate change treaties on behalf of the U.S., the NRDC’s lead climate change lawyer, and a former Senate staffer who was one of the key drafters of the health care bill, among many others.

For the first day of class, please give some thought to the following questions and arrive prepared to discuss them:

(a)   What are your area(s) of specialization and reasons for taking the class, e.g., are you particularly interested in one of the laws or policies being covered by the class or in the process of law-making generally?

(b)   What are your present conceptions of law-making processes?  Do you have any personal experience with legislative, policy-making, or regulatory activities, and if so, how have those experiences contributed to your ideas?

(c)   Spend a few minutes on-line reading a couple of political news articles and/or blogs analyzing some ongoing legislative, policy-making or regulatory activity.  Be prepared to raise and discuss in class at least one of those articles or blog posts.  In particular, do the articles you read incorporate any ideas about what influences law-making activities or how the dynamics of the law-making process work?  (For example, there have been a number of articles lately about the Congressional fiscal cliff negotiations that have focused on the significance of partisanship in that process.)