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Advanced Contracts: Sales and Leases

Advanced Contracts: Sales and Leases - Professor Janet Steverson

Course Number: LAW-106
Course Type: Foundational
Credits: 3
Enrollment Limit: Determined by the Registrar
Description: This course provides an accessible yet rigorous introduction to essential commercial concepts and to the art of statutory interpretation. This course can serve as a good bar preparation course given that the Bar Exam currently tests on Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code under the heading of Contracts. In addition, any student who hopes to practice business law should consider taking this course. Further, this course will provide an excellent foundation for the Secured Transactions course. Students who do not plan to practice business law are likely to find the content of this course to be relevant and useful as well because it gives practical guidance for consumers of goods.

This course teaches the material using a problem method approach. In addition, we focus a lot of time on learning how to create an analytical framework from statutory text and case law. We also apply that framework to several mini-exams and/or a bench memo during the semester, along with a non-comprehensive final exam at the end of the semester. Accordingly, students interested in all areas of law will acquire valuable analytical skills.

The specific content of the course is an in-depth study of the sale and leasing of goods, with goods being items that (with some exceptions) are movable. The broad themes of this course may be familiar from the first-year Contracts course, however the method and specific content of this course are quite different. Article 2 and Article 2A of the Uniform Commercial Code serve as the principal subjects of study, but students also study the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. Through class discussion and class writing projects, students gain extensive training in reading, interpreting and applying statutory provisions. The transactions studied in this course are the stuff of everyday life, yet they present many subtle and complex legal issues. Advanced topics, addressed lightly if at all in first-year Contracts, are explored in their full glory here.

Prerequisite: Contracts
Evaluation Method: Final exam, three mini-exams, midterm exam, performance as class expert
Capstone: no
WIE: no

The American Bar Association accreditation standards require students to regularly attend the courses in which they are registered. Lewis & Clark expects students to attend classes regularly and to prepare for classes conscientiously. Specific attendance requirements may vary from course to course. Any attendance guidelines for a given class must be provided to students in a syllabus or other written document at the start of the semester. Sanctions (e.g., required withdrawal from the course, grade adjustment, and/or a failing grade) will be imposed for poor attendance.