Winter 2027 Class Schedule: Center for Legal Studies

Winter 2027 Class Schedule

To read course descriptions, click on the course titles below.
To look up class meeting days and times please go to CAESAR.
Note that courses are subject to change.

Course	Title	Instructor
LEGAL_ST 101-8	First-Year Writing Seminar: Evidence	Nicolette Bruner
LEGAL_ST 101-8 First-Year Writing Seminar: Evidence In both academic writing and the practice of law, evidence makes the argument. In turn, the standards by which evidence is assessed vary based on the type of claim being made and the venue. Sometimes, we must just show that our interpretation is more than likely true; when more is on the line, our evidence must be stronger, ready to overwhelm any reasonable doubt. Focusing on “reason,” in turn, reminds us that when we make an argument, what matters most is not how we feel or what we think should happen, but rather what conclusions logic can draw from the evidence at hand. This class uses evidentiary standards in American civil and criminal law to structure exercises in academic argumentation. Students will practice identifying strong evidence in context; moving from evidence to argument; crafting a robust thesis statement; deploying points in a logical order; and expressing themselves in Academic Standard English. No knowledge of U.S. law is required.
LEGAL_ST 206-0	Law and Society (also SOCIOL 206)	Jesse Yeh
LEGAL_ST 206-0 Law and Society (also SOCIOL 206) Law is everywhere. Law permits, prohibits, enables, legitimates,protects, and prosecutes. Law shapes our day-to-day lives incountless ways. This course examines the connections andrelationships of law and society using an interdisciplinary socialscience approach. As one of the founders of the Law and Societymovement observed, "law is too important to leave to lawyers."Accordingly, this course will borrow from several theoretical,disciplinary, and interdisciplinary perspectives (such as sociology,history, anthropology, political science, and critical studies) in order toexplore the sociology of law and law's role primarily in the Americancontext. The thematic topics to be discussed include law and socialcontrol; law's role in social change; and law's capacity to reach intocomplex social relations and intervene in existing normativeinstitutions and organizational structures.
LEGAL_ST 245-0	Undocumented Americans (also SOCIOL 245 and ASIAN_AM 203)	Jesse Yeh
LEGAL_ST 245-0 Undocumented Americans (also SOCIOL 245 and ASIAN_AM 203) How does legal status shape the lives of the 11 million Americans who are undocumented? This course develops the necessary historical context, as well as the conceptual tools to make sense of why people migrate, what shapes their incorporation, how does legal status intersect with other social differences, and how does legal status shape people’s experiences with key social institutions. This class focuses on developing your ability to work with social science data and historical sources, rather than regurgitating facts. The main components of the course are in-class participation and exercises and short papers.
LEGAL_ST 250-0	Japanese American "Internment" (also ASIAN_AM 250)	Shana Bernstein
LEGAL_ST 250-0 Japanese American "Internment" (also ASIAN_AM 250) Description coming soon.
LEGAL_ST 309-0	Political Theories of the Rule of Law (also POLI SCI 309)	Jacqueline Stevens
LEGAL_ST 309-0 Political Theories of the Rule of Law (also POLI SCI 309) Key documents and debates in the development of theories of law and jurisprudence. From Aeschylus to contemporary democratic and legal theories and major court cases on topics ranging from torture to Title IX.
LEGAL_ST 312-0	Surveillance, Policing and the Law	Abigail Barefoot
LEGAL_ST 312-0 Surveillance, Policing and the Law How are surveillance technologies shaping daily life and society, especially in terms of shaping what we think, see, and do? Building on the interdisciplinary field of surveillance studies, this course explores the intersection of policing, surveillance, and the law and raises questions about (in) security, civil liberties, control, and privacy. Topics will include The Patriot Act, biometrics, algorithm and predictive policing, and citizen surveillance. Students will also engage with the political, ethical, and methodological concerns that increased surveillance raises.
LEGAL_ST 333-0	Constitutional Law II (also POLI_SCI 333)	Joanna Grisinger
LEGAL_ST 333-0 Constitutional Law II (also POLI_SCI 333) This course investigates the civil rights and civil liberties protected by the Constitution and defined by the U.S. Supreme Court—including privacy, equality, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion. In doing so, we will examine what, exactly, the Constitution means, who gets to decide, and how.
LEGAL_ST 383-0	Gender, Sexuality and the Carceral State (also GNDR ST 351)	Abigail Barefoot
LEGAL_ST 383-0 Gender, Sexuality and the Carceral State (also GNDR ST 351) This course explores the rise of the carceral state in the United with particular attention to ethnographic, sociolegal, feminist, queer, and transgender theoretical approaches to the study of prisons. The course centers on girls, women, and LGBT people’s experiences with systems of punishment, surveillance, and control. In addition, students will learn how feminist and queer activists have responded to institutions of policing and mass incarceration; investigate how they have understood prison reform, prison abolition, and transformative justice; and consider the political, ethical, and methodological concerns that policing, and mass incarceration raise.
LEGAL_ST 394-LK	Human Rights & US Refugee Law	William Schiller
LEGAL_ST 394-LK Human Rights & US Refugee Law What happens when refugees and asylum seekers come to the United States? This course will introduce students to international human rights conditions as well as refugee and current asylum law mechanisms in the United States. Students will learn about the diverse work of refugee-related professionals, including individuals who perform documentation-gathering, advocate for legal and public policy, and provide health care for asylum-seekers in the United States. This course will allow students to meet directly with several professionals who are engaged in this critical work.
LEGAL_ST 398-2-20	Advanced Research Seminar II	Joanna Grisinger
LEGAL_ST 398-2-20 Advanced Research Seminar II Legal Studies 398 is a two-quarter sequence (398-1 and 398-2) required for all Legal Studies majors. This seminar will expose students to a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to law and legal institutions; over two quarters, students will develop their own research paper on a topic of interest. During winter quarter, students will complete their research projects and present their projects to the class. Students will meet to discuss shared readings, will workshop their paper drafts with one another, will prepare oral presentations based on their research, and will meet individually with the professor and with the Graduate Teaching Fellows.