The course will consider the principles of law and rules governing the admissibility of testimonial and documentary proof in civil and criminal trials, including the concept of relevancy, the use of demonstrative evidence, direct and cross-examination of witnesses, impeachment of credibility, expert testimony, and hearsay.

This training seminar provides people with the opportunity to learn how to negotiate effectively and understand the theory and practice of mediation as a method of alternative dispute resolution. We will use simulations, small group exercises, and concept presentations based on realistic problems to provide an intensive, practice-oriented experience. Offered on a CR/NC basis only.

A course exploring a topic not covered by the standard curriculum but of interest to faculty and students in a particular semester.

A student and full-time law school faculty member may agree to an individual research project for one, two, or three hours of credit. It is anticipated that the student will meet with the faculty member regularly during the completion of the project to review the work being done. A written product normally is expected, but its length and content shall be determined by the supervising faculty member. Offered on a CR/NC basis only.

Topics course for occasional offerings available both to law and graduate (regular and non-matriculated) students, mostly in summer institutes.

Law Office Externs are law students who are placed under the supervision of a practicing lawyer to obtain knowledge and experience in the practice of law. While working with their supervising attorney, students have the opportunity to gain valuable practical skills in a real-world setting.  Prerequisite: Completion of first year curriculum. Offered on a CR/NC basis only.

The Community Lawyering Clinic provides outreach legal services in partnership with local community service providers, including non-legal disciplines. MLAC law students represent children, caregivers, and families to address non-biological factors affecting children’s health. Students represent clients in Family Court, Children’s Court (juvenile delinquency), and other venues as necessary.

The Southwest Indian Law Clinic (SILC) provides high quality legal representation and clinical practice experience in Indian Country. SILC students may represent individual clients and/or tribal groups or Indian communities. 

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The Judicial Extern Program provides law students with a candid first hand experience in the judicial decision-making process. This is accomplished by placing students in a judge or justice's office for a specified number of hours each week to work directly with the judge in daily decision-making tasks. Prerequisite: Completion of first year curriculum.

This course studies the rules governing the professional conduct of lawyers and explores the values of the legal system which justify and explain those rules. Specific subject matter includes: the duties of competence, confidentiality, and loyalty; acquisition and retention of clients; and problems concerning the manner of representation. 

In an industrial society characterized by a "free" enterprise system and notions of individual freedom, "contract" is one of the primary means by which private individuals order their affairs. The contracts course inquires into why promises are enforced as contracts, which promises are enforced, and how they are enforced. The course places emphasis on close and critical analyses of court decisions.

This course considers the general principles of substantive criminal law and evaluates them in terms of the various purposes that justify a system of criminal punishment. It will include an analysis of the doctrines of mens rea attempt, complicity, and conspiracy as well as certain crimes such as homicide and certain defenses such as self-defense.

This course will introduce students to sources of international law, states, international organizations and non-governmental organizations, international dispute settlement, jurisdiction, human rights, international humanitarian law, and the use of force. This is a three-credit course that is open to first year as well as second and third year law students.

ELA I is the foundational legal analysis and communication course. In the context of a problem solving approach to legal writing students learn how to do the information gathering, pre-thinking and argument development that are essential to good legal communication.

Torts is an introduction to the system governing civil liability for wrongs. Course coverage focuses on the tort of negligence. As time permits, other torts are analyzed.

Students in this course will study the law governing the attributes of corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies, and how these business associations are organized, operated, merged, dissolved, and acquired. As part of this course, students will be faced with problems involving claims against and the defense of business associations and their agents, and tasked with drafting incorporation documents based on factual situations.

This course introduces students to all aspects of security interests in personal property collateral, including creation, perfection, priorities (between competing security interests and between security interests and other property interest), and enforcement of security interests (including repossession/sale of collateral and distribution of sale proceeds). 

The course examines the property rights of married couples, focusing nespecially on New Mexico community property law, with a comparison to the marital property law of other states. It covers community property ownership and management rights during marriage, at death, and at divorce, and an examination of choice of law issues. 

This course involves an in-depth inquiry into the building blocks of civil rights law; freedom of expression (speech and press), equal protection, due process, and religious freedom. There will be discussion of litigation strategy and the decision-making processes of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The goals of the course are for the student to acquire: (1) a broad perspective as to the application and impact of the federal income tax in a variety of transactions; (2) practice in using the legal materials of taxation, especially the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury Regulations; and (3) an understanding of the policies underlying various IRC provisions, i.e., how the tax system is used to influence behavior and thus promote various social and economic policies.

This course examines the legal rules governing the allocation, use, and management of water resources. The focus is primarily on the western U.S. The course also briefly addresses the law of interstate waters; water rights for federal and tribal lands in the West; water supply institutions, including New Mexico's acequias; and the application of the Endangered Species Act to water resources.

This training seminar provides people with the opportunity to learn how to negotiate effectively and understand the theory and practice of mediation as a method of alternative dispute resolution. We will use simulations, small group exercises, and concept presentations based on realistic problems to provide an intensive, practice-oriented experience. Offered on a CR/NC basis only.

Wills and Trusts explores the ways by which an individual’s property passes at death; how individuals may affect that passage by creating a will or will substitute like a trust during lifetime; what the law requires for a will or will substitute to be enforceable; the extent to which the law may limit the disinheritance of a surviving spouse or child; and how fiduciaries administer estates and trusts.

This course introduces students to the U.S. legal system and study of law. Topics: the legal method, the common law system, judicial case and statutory analyses, the legal profession, and core areas of the law. Restriction: permission of instructor.

This course is designed to give students an introductory working knowledge of the major federal environmental laws addressing toxic substances, waste management, air pollution, water pollution, environmental impact assessment, and biodiversity. Some of these laws are implemented by state regulatory agencies (e.g., the New Mexico Environment Department) and have state law counterparts. Fundamentally, environmental regulation reflects a delicate balance among conflicting ecological, social justice and economic values. Active citizen involvement presents challenges to technology-oriented regulatory agencies. Scientific uncertainty and the global scale of climate disruption also present special complications. This course will examine these and other contemporary issues in environmental regulation.

This course includes a general look at the exciting world of insurance law. Contrary to popular belief--it really is an exciting world and is the often silent driver of much of the litigation and transaction world. Learn how to read those long, fine print policies and love it!!

A course exploring a topic not covered by the standard curriculum but of interest to faculty and students in a particular semester.

A student and full-time law school faculty member may agree to an individual research project for one, two, or three hours of credit. It is anticipated that the student will meet with the faculty member regularly during the completion of the project to review the work being done. A written product normally is expected, but its length and content shall be determined by the supervising faculty member. Offered on a CR/NC basis only.

Students enrolled in the Law of Indigenous Peoples class will be invited to join the Tribal Law Journal staff for the fall and spring semesters of their second and third years. Students will meet throughout the year to learn Bluebook citations, how to cite sources of traditional law, editing and source checking scholarly papers.

The editor(s) of the Tribal Law Journal will work with the Editor-in-Chief in soliciting and selecting for publication articles submitted to the journal on internal indigenous law. Student editors will work collaboratively with authors to create a final product that reflects the mission of the journal, and at the same time, maintains the integrity of the authors’ work.

This course continues the analysis (begun in Civil Procedure I) of the procedural stages of a simple lawsuit, considers special problems raised by complex litigation, and explores alternatives to traditional litigation as a means of resolving disputes.

This course explores private real property land-use arrangements, including problems arising under land sale contracts, deed formalities and construction, the recording system, and non-possessory interests in land such as easements, real covenants, and equitable servitudes. The course also covers other topics related to interests in real property and the use of real property, including landlord/tenant law and nuisance. The focus of the course is on general theory and practice, with side-glances at New Mexico law for illustrative purposes.

his basic three hour course in Administrative Law studies the legal functioning of government agencies. Agency actions resemble actions of legislatures and courts, prosecutors and advocates.

This course will focus on the aspects of criminal procedure that are not covered in Criminal Procedure I. Using a problem-oriented approach, this class will cover topics such as: charging decisions, bail, preliminary hearings, grand jury proceedings, discovery, Brady issues, double jeopardy, joinder and severance, speedy trial, plea bargaining, effective assistance of counsel, sentencing, and habeas corpus. This class will also be open to first year students.

This course will focus on trial procedure, evidence, and trial skills utilizing lectures and class discussions on the principles of evidence and trial skills, demonstrations of trial skills, practice sessions in which each student performs various exercises to learn trial skill, individual review with me of videotapes of the trial practice performances, and mock jury trial. Each student is also required to complete a trial notebook that is used during the mock trial.

Land Use Law provides the law student with the background principles of land use law and acquaints the law student with federal, state and local statutes, ordinances and regulations which regulate land use. Students learn the appropriate legal source material for land use law. They are required to submit a written project which utilizes their course knowledge and research skills in the context of a local land use problem.

This 3 credit hours course examines the multitude of issues involving the immigrants and the law. Starting with the historical origins of the United States immigration law, the course will focus on family and employer sponsored immigration, asylum, naturalization, exclusion, and deportation regulations. The impact of the US Patriot Act will also be explored.

This course surveys the components of Intellectual Property Law, including the Law of Ideas, Copyrights, the Right of Publicity, Trademark Law, Unfair Competition Law, Trade Secrets, Patent Law. The marketing of Intellectual Property related goods represents one of the most dynamic sectors of the U.S. and world economy. U.S. exports of all intellectual property products are second only to those of aircraft.

Pretrial Practice follows the management of a civil lawsuit from establishing an attorney-client relationship through a settlement conference. The emphasis is on the strategies and tactics of litigation and solving real-world pretrial problems. Students will be assigned to represent either a plaintiff or a defendant in a simulated case. It is helpful to have taken civil procedure and evidence before enrolling in this course.

Law Office Externs are law students who are placed under the supervision of a practicing lawyer to obtain knowledge and experience in the practice of law. While working with their supervising attorney, students have the opportunity to gain valuable practical skills in a real-world setting.  Prerequisite: Completion of first year curriculum. Offered on a CR/NC basis only.

The Community Lawyering Clinic provides outreach legal services in partnership with local community service providers, including non-legal disciplines. MLAC law students represent children, caregivers, and families to address non-biological factors affecting children’s health. Students represent clients in Family Court, Children’s Court (juvenile delinquency), and other venues as necessary.

The Southwest Indian Law Clinic (SILC) provides high quality legal representation and clinical practice experience in Indian Country. SILC students may represent individual clients and/or tribal groups or Indian communities. 

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This course will be led by Professor Leo Romero or Professor Joshua Kastenberg. The professor will be assisted by four adjuncts--two adjuncts assigned to the course by the Bernalillo County Public Defender’s Office and by two assigned by the 13th Judicial District Attorney's Office. Pre-req.: Evidence, co-req.: Ethics Highly Recommended: Criminal Procedure I, Criminal Procedure II, Trial Practice, Evidence & Trial Practice

The Judicial Extern Program provides law students with a candid first hand experience in the judicial decision-making process. This is accomplished by placing students in a judge or justice's office for a specified number of hours each week to work directly with the judge in daily decision-making tasks. Prerequisite: Completion of first year curriculum.

This course studies the rules governing the professional conduct of lawyers and explores the values of the legal system which justify and explain those rules. Specific subject matter includes: the duties of competence, confidentiality, and loyalty; acquisition and retention of clients; and problems concerning the manner of representation.