This course examines in detail the requisite elements of a valid contract, while analyzing the effects of contracts on third parties and the impact of outside forces on contracting parties.

Professor David Firestone is an expert in environmental law, contracts, and international and comparative environmental law.

This course focuses on the foundation of our system of substantive criminal law, with emphasis upon mental state, responsibility, justification and excuse, inchoate crimes, and liability for the conduct of another.

Robert L. Sand is the elected State’s Attorney for Windsor County, Vermont, and an adjunct professor of criminal law at Vermont Law School. He is a 1980 graduate of Hamilton College and a 1987 graduate of the Vermont Law School, magna cum laude, where he served as the managing editor of the Vermont Law Review. He is a past member of the Vermont Law School Board of Trustees.

Introduction to legal research tools and strategies relevant for law school as well as legal practice. Topics include legal authority, the use of primary and secondary sources, effective use of LexisNexis, Westlaw, and other electronic databases, the role of the Internet in legal research, and a brief introduction to environmental and international legal research. Emphasis is placed on appropriate and effective research strategies and evaluation of sources, both print and electronic.

Cynthia Lewis, Lawyer Librarian and Adjunct Professor, has over twenty years experience working in law libraries and teaching legal research. Every fall, Cynthia teaches multiple sections of Introduction to Legal Research for first-year students. In the spring, she offers Advanced Skills for Practice, a course designed to prepare students for conducting research beyond law school.

THERE ARE NO REQUIRED TEXTS FOR THIS COURSE BEYOND THE BLUE BOOK (required for Legal Writing I).

An introduction to the three fundamental skills needed for the pursuit of a legal career: research, reasoning, and writing. The early emphasis is on basic writing skills to eliminate language problems and to begin to develop clear, fluid writing. Students also learn rudimentary legal writing skills, including citing, identifying legally significant facts, formulating issues, and reasoning by analogy.

Before joining Vermont Law School, Professor Beth McCormack practiced in the litigation section of the Boston law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, P.C. She has extensive experience in commercial litigation with a focus in construction law. Her practice included all aspects of state and federal litigation as well as alternative dispute resolution. She is also experienced in arbitration practice and procedure and has represented clients before arbitration panels and in pre- and post-arbitration proceedings. She was a member of the firm's hiring committee and served as a mentor to new associates. In addition, she was an instructor at Boston University School of Law, where she taught Legal Research and Writing to first-year law students.

This course presents the study of the legal protection afforded against interference by others with the security of one's person, property, or intangible interests.

Professor Joan Vogel specializes in employment law, anthropology of law, consumer law, medical malpractice, and tort reform. The courses she has taught at Vermont Law School include Commercial Law, Employment Discrimination Law, Employment Law, Law and Anthropology, and Torts.

Professor Mark Latham, who joined the Vermont Law School faculty in 2005, graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law in 1989. He was appointed as deputy vice dean for Academic Affairs in 2011 and became vice dean for Academic Affairs in 2012.