Cardozo School of Law New Course Descriptions Fall 2021

Energy Law (offered as Special Topics for Fall 2021) TBD Parties and Privileges in Corporate Litigation (offered as Special Topics for Fall 2021)

This course seeks to give junior lawyers an overview of the key players in the corporate litigation landscape with an eye to how attorney-client privilege may attach as to each. One of the first tasks a junior litigator is asked to tackle is to determine whether a document or communication should be withheld under a claim of privilege. When the client is a corporation, this analysis can be especially complex. To which communications does the privilege attach? Is advice business or legal advice? Is the privilege waived when the document is shared with third parties?

An examination through the lens of privilege will also help junior lawyers to explore the role of each of these parties. Whose interests are they serving? Do those interests align with or diverge from that of the corporate client? Does protecting this party’s communications serve the purpose of the attorney client privilege?

Finally, this course addresses the mechanics of how privilege questions and other discovery disputes are resolved through both review of relevant case law and an examination of the documents used to wage a discovery battle.

State Criminal Prosecution Field Clinic and Seminar – County District Attorney Fall only The Queens District Attorney State Prosecution Field Clinic introduces students to state prosecution practice through an immersive experience that, under a Student Practice Order from the Appellate Division, Second Department, allows 2L and 3L law students to act as Student Assistant District Attorneys. Students will have the opportunity to participate in investigations, case preparation, witness interviews, and written and oral advocacy both inside and outside the courtroom. Field work and a weekly seminar will be conducted at the District Attorney’s Office in Kew Gardens, Queens. As a participant in this clinic students will interact with numerous stakeholders in the City criminal justice system including the defense bar, the judiciary, and our law enforcement partners in the Police Department. Students will work with experienced prosecutors to pursue the just resolution of cases from intake through sentencing. You will also learn how to pursue the District Attorney’s innovative, problem solving approach to case resolution, including diversion from traditional prosecution and treatment based alternatives to incarceration. Critical thinking and ethical decision making will be required as student prosecutors interview police officers, witnesses and survivors, comply with discovery and disclosure obligations, and prepare for and assist in conducting hearings and trials. You will experience the prosecutor’s unique role as advocate and impartial public servant at the invitation of Hon. Melinda Katz, the Queens County District Attorney. Through weekly seminars we will study some of the substantive and procedural rules that control New York criminal practice. We will examine the parameters of ethical criminal practice and learn about the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Later in the semester, student prosecutors will be asked to master discreet subjects and present on them. Mock advocacy exercises will also be included in the curriculum.

Criminal procedure and evidence course work is helpful, but not required.