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Students taking the accelerated JD program will need the following books for their summer courses.

Students in this course will explore the emerging field of renewable and alternative energy supplies. With an eye toward the impacts of climate change on both natural systems and the possible interference climate change may wreck on current energy production.  
THERE ARE NO REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS FOR THIS CLASS.

REQ7255/APPELLATE ADVOCACY Second-year students study a case pending before the United States Supreme Court, research selected issues, write an extensive appellate brief, and present oral arguments before a panel of judges. Classes focus on the appellate process, complex research and analysis, preparation of briefs, critical writing skills, and oral argument.

MELP Externships are designed to give students first-hand field experience in the environmental area. The best experiences integrate legal, scientific, policy, and ethical issues. Non-profit groups; international, federal, state and local government agencies; law firms, and consulting firms are among the many organizations from all over the world to sponsor MELP externships.

Climate Change Adaptation in Human Systems
Impacts of climate change on human systems - infrastructure, property, and possessions - poses both a challenge to law, and an illustration of how the law and legal institutions evolve in response to major social changes.

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.

Professor Stephanie J. Willbanks is an expert in federal transfer taxation, income taxation, probate, intestacy, wills and trusts. The courses she has taught at Vermont Law School include Business Taxation, Estate and Gift Taxation, Estate Planning, Estates, Income Taxation, Tax Policy, and Torts. She is the author of "Federal Taxation of Wealth Transfers: Cases and Problems" as well as "Federal Estate and Gift Taxation: Quick Review."

FAM7710/ESTATES. This course examines the statutory and judicial rules governing the gratuitous transfer of property. This includes transfers by gift, intestate succession, wills, trusts, and other non-probate mechanisms. Topics include the nature of inheritance; statutes of descent and distribution (intestacy); wills formalities (execution, revocation, mental capacity, and undue influence); interpretation of wills; the protection of the family (spousal elective share, omitted spouse rules, and omitted children rules); the creation of trusts; rights of trust beneficiaries and their creditors; charitable trusts; modification and termination of trusts; fiduciary duties; powers of appointment; and future interests. Class discussion focuses on problems designed to explore statutory and judicial rules, policy and theory, and practical implications.

Professor Young has taught at Cumberland School of Law since 1997. Previously, she taught at Emory University School of Law, served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, and was a clerk to Judge Thomas A. Clark of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She is coauthor of Federal Sentencing Law and Practice (West Publishing) and an expert on Federal Rules of Evidence, criminal procedure, and trial advocacy. Professor Young earned her BA degree from the University of Kentucky and her JD degree from the University of Michigan Law School. This course surveys the Federal Rules of Evidence. Among important topics considered are relevance, prejudice, competency, hearsay, opinion, impeachment, and privilege. The course utilizes problems for discussion rather than cases. Students will have problems to complete for each class and a workbook to help master that material.

This course provides an overview of the U.S. Farm Bill and other federal laws that impact growing policy, animal husbandry, and food production. Students will examine federal farm and agriculture law with specific emphasis on the Farm Bill and its myriad of agriculture, nutrition and environmental programs. This course will explore the ways in which the Farm Bill, the single largest funding source for everything from childhood nutrition to land trust acquisition.

Approved for Master’s credit only.

NO TEXTBOOKS

THERE ARE NO BOOKS REQUIRED FOR THIS COURSE

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, and the role of the Internet in legal research. Emphasis is placed on appropriate and effective research strategies and evaluation of sources, both print and electronic.

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.

This course reviews oil and gas regulation, both up and down stream, in the United States and around the world. With an eye toward the hot issue of the day – Fracking, the proposed natural gas pipeline through, Middle East oil reserves and trade, and so forth – this course gives students a clearer understanding of the legal regime that makes the oil and gas exploration, extraction, refining, distribution and sale markets work around the world. YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO PURCHASE ANY WRITTEN MATERIALS FOR THIS COURSE - THEY WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE COURSE SITE.

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.