for STUDENTS
American Law courses at KU
I Introduction to U.S. Law
This course is to learn basic concepts and terms necessary for studying American law in the areas of Civil Procedure, Contracts, Torts and Constitutional Law. Students will read representative cases from each of the areas and discuss them through Socratic methods. Students will be tested the basic knowledge of American law by watching important American courtroom movies and answering questionnaires.
I American Constitutional Law
The objectives of this course are to learn U.S. constitutional law through precedents and thereby get exposure to famous cases cited in Korean constitutional law texts; to focus on issues specially relevant to the Korean society and thereby obtain a understanding of the social meaning of a constitution; and to identify key distinctions between American constitutional law and Korean constitutional law and thereby obtain a better understanding of Korean law, including possible constitutional amendments.
I American Contracts Law
This course identifies legal issues that arise from the contractual relationship, and shows how the American contract law deals with them. Specifically, it will cover such diverse subjects as formation, interpretation and implication, defenses or grounds for nonenforcement, breach and remedies, and third party's interests.
I American Antitrust Law
American antitrust laws strongly influence competition law enforcement in Korea and Korean competition law practitioners are expected to be familiar with them. This course aims to learn fundamentals of American antitrust laws by working on legal theories as well as implications of major cases.
I Legal English
This course is to achieve basic understandings of American Law. Students will first be familiar with basic legal vocabularies of American Law, and then analyse legal opinions of American corporate law landmark cases. Students will also train on case briefing and drafting legal memorandums.
I American Corporate Law
This course identifies legal issues that arise in relation to the corporate management, and shows how the law of corporations deals with them. It will cover such diverse subjects as corporate structure, duty of loyalty, insider trading, shareholder suits, and structural changes.
I Legal Research
The objectives of this course are to obtain knowledge of basic concepts and terms necessary for American law, training in reading of American cases, and familiarity with operation of stare decisis. Students can learn through lectures basic skills in Legal Research in English, basic concepts and terms necessary for studying American law in the areas of Civil Procedure, Contracts, Torts and Constitutional Law, and read representative cases from each of the areas and discuss them through Socratic methods.
I Drafting and Reviewing Contracts
This course is about drafting and reviewing contracts for legal practitioners. Students will learn general principles of American contracts, general structures of each type of international agreements (distributorship, agency, license, service, sale and purchase, loan, shareholder, subscription, non-disclosure agreements and LOI), and general provisions of contracts. Students will also learn negotiation points for the contracts.
I Moot Court and Legal Practice in English
This course aims to practice and apply what students had learned from ‘Legal Research in English’ and ‘Legal Writing in English’ classes to actual or hypothetical cases. Students will be able to participate in ongoing cases abroad and draft legal documents, and if possible, try oral arguments at courtrooms. If no actual ongoing cases are available, students will still proceed moot courts.
I U.S. Litigation and Trial Practice
The course is intended to provide students with an overview of civil litigation in United States federal courts. By the end of the course, students will become knowledgeable about the manner in which lawsuits in federal court are initiated, prepared, and presented at trial, as well as the common issues and disputes that arise during the life of a case. This course will also provide a broad introduction to the structure and organization of the federal and state judicial systems in the United States, with particular focus on civil litigation before federal courts.
Lecturers
Stephen Lee
(2018 Summer Class)
Professor of Law,
U.C. Irvine, School of Law
Thomas Joo
(2018 Summer Class)
Professor of Law,
U.C. Davis, School of Law
Rosa Kim
(2018 Summer Class)
Professor of Legal Writing,
Suffolk University Law School