LEST 210
                                        THE LAW AND YOU
                                               SPRING 2006

Joan DelFattore                                                      Class hours:  F 12:20-1:10

062 Memorial Hall 104 Gore Hall Hall

Office hours:  MTF 10:00-11:30
831-2987 (office)                                                    E-mail:  jdel@udel.edu
737-7124 (home)                                                    Homepage:  www.english.udel.edu/jdel

DESCRIPTION
“The Law and You” is a one-credit, P/F course offered by the Legal Studies program as an enrichment opportunity for LEST minors and other students interested in legal issues and/or careers.  Students will hear distinguished Delaware lawyers talk about a variety of legal careers and about law-related issues of public concern.  The lectures are open to the university community, and students in the class are welcome to bring guests. 

ATTENDANCE
Unless the instructor approves an excused absence in advance, students must attend every class except in cases of serious illness or family emergencies.  Car trouble, arguments with significant others, hangovers, social events, ennui, the need to catch up on work or sleep, appearances on the Jerry Springer Show, or abduction by creatures from another planet are not excused absences.  (Students may argue that the last two are redundant.)  

EXPECTATIONS
Students should be on time for every class and remain until the end.  Please do not talk, read, do text messaging, check phone messages, or engage in other activities that would suggest disrespect for the speakers. Please turn all cellphones off. Laptops may be used if they are silent.

GRADING
In order to pass the course, students must meet the attendance requirement, complete the class work described below, and pass a take-home final examination.  Your final examination grade (P/F) and your course grade (P/F) will be available to you on WebCT three business days after the due date for the take-home final examinations (see Final Examinations, below). Click on the My Grades icon to see your grades. Students who fail the final examination will receive an e-mail from the instructor explaining why the grade is F.

CLASS WORK
At the end of each class, each student should hand in a sheet of paper containing at least two possible examination questions based on that day’s lecture.  The questions should reflect the major themes of the presentation, not nitpicky details.  These sheets will be used to record attendance, and the questions will be adapted into the final take-home examination.  Please use full 8 ½ x 11 sheets of paper, not fragments or small sheets. Students should also take reasonably clear notes about the main points of each speaker’s talk for use on the take-home final examination.

HONORS CREDIT
Students taking the course for Honors credit will answer an additional examination question, attend one of the Supplemental Legal Studies Events described below, and write a report on it.  Students who have insurmountable scheduling problems that would make it impossible to attend either event should see the instructor about substituting another law-related program. Instructions for the reports will be distributed to Honors students at the first class meeting.

TECHNOLOGY
Students must have an active UD e-mail account and check it regularly for course announcements. The online class list automatically sends messages to the UD accounts of all students in the class, so that’s the account you’ll have to use for this course.

Students are also expected to be able to get into WebCT, where the syllabus and speaker list are posted (also see the Final Examination section, below.) Questions about activating e-mail accounts or accessing WebCT should be addressed to the computer hotline at 302-831-6000. You may also find the information you need at www.udel.edu/help.

FINAL EXAMINATION

The take-home final examination will be posted on WebCT shortly after the final lecture on May 12, and an e-mail announcement will be sent to the class list to let you know that it is there. The examination will be due four business days after it is distributed. It will consist of three essay questions; students taking the course for regular credit must answer one of them, and students taking the class for Honors credit must answer two. The examination will be based on the student-generated questions handed in at the end of each class. Presentations that focus on similar topics – for instance, criminal trials or financial issues – will be grouped into essay questions asking you to write about how each of the presentations addressed a certain topic. As an example, if the speakers who addressed financial issues all mentioned ethics in some form, you might be asked to explain how each of these speakers treated the topic of ethics. There will be no nit-picking questions about such things as where the speaker went to law school. If you take reasonably comprehensive notes about the main points of each speaker’s talk, you should have no problem with the final examination.

You should send your final examination to the instructor either through regular e-mail (jdel@udel.edu) or through WebCT e-mail, which is more secure. Click on the Course Mail icon on the WebCT page to use this option. Your examination grade (P/F) and your final grade (P/F) will be available to you on WebCT three business days after the due date for the final examinations. Click on the My Grades icon to see your grades. Students who fail the final examination will receive an e-mail from the instructor explaining why the grade is F.

COURSE EVALUATIONS

This course will use online course evaluation forms. Approximately one week before the end of classes, you will receive an e-mail giving you the url for accessing the evaluation form. The instructor will see only a list of the students who have filled out the forms, not the forms themselves, until after your grades have been handed in.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
The university’s academic honesty policy, which appears at http://www.udel.edu/stuguide/04-05/code.html#honesty, will be enforced in this course.  If any student plagiarizes all or part of the final examination from another student’s work, it will be reported to the Office of Judicial Affairs; see http://www.udel.edu/judicialaffairs/ for the procedure.  

ADA STATEMENT

Students with disabilities should contact the University of Delaware’s Office of the ADA for information regarding possible accommodations. See the ADA Policy at http://www.udel.edu/ADA/Stu/stu.html for more information. It is the student’s responsibility to contact the ADA office to receive support.

SUPPLEMENTAL LEGAL STUDIES EVENTS

All LEST210 students are strongly encouraged to attend the Legal Studies Program’s two major spring events. The first is the Annual Koford Lecture on April 6; see the Legal Studies website at http://www.udel.edu/Legal.Studies/ for more information. This year’s speaker is Professor Eric Posner of the University of Chicago Law School, who will speak on "Emergencies and Democratic Failure." The second is the 2006 Student Conference on Legal Studies from 1:30-4:00 on Friday, April 21, in Room 303 Gore Hall. Students who have written or are writing law-related papers should consider submitting them for possible inclusion in the conference. Papers are due in Room 219 McDowell Hall by March 24. See the Legal Studies website for further information.

The Law and You

The Law and You is offered by the Legal Studies Program as a one-credit, pass/fail course.  The lectures are open to the university community:  12:20-1:10, 104 Gore Hall.  
February 17:  Speaker:  Ferris Wharton, Assistant U.S. Attorney for Delaware
Topic:  The trial of Thomas Capano for capital murder

February 24:  Speaker:  Steven Amick, Delaware State Senator  
                    Topic:  The lawyer as legislator

March 3:  Speaker:  James Boudreau, Littler Mendelson, P.C.; also UD employment

attorney
                   Topic:  Employment law

March 10: To be announced 

March 17:   Judge Peggy Ableman, Delaware Superior Court

Topic: The role of the trial court

March 24:  Speaker:  Sheldon Pollack, UD Professor of Business Law and Director of

the Legal Studies Program
Topic:  Tax law

March 31: Spring Break

April 7: To be announced

April 14:  No class – Good Friday

April 21:  Speaker:  Claire DeMatteis, lobbyist, Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP;
                  former Senior Counsel to U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Ranking Democrat

on  the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

April 28: Speaker:  Lawrence Hamermesh, Widener University School of Law
Topic:  Scandals in corporate governance and stock trading

May 5:   Speaker:  Edmund Hillis, Assistant Public Defender
               Topic:  The defense perspective on Delaware criminal justice

May 12:  To be announced