First-Day Assignments


Overview

Find first-day assignments for the current semester on the accordion menu below.

Fall 2024

For Thursday, August 29th, please read pages 205-210 in Civil Procedure 

by Yeazell & Schwartz (11th ed.)

Read and prepare to discuss pages 1-8 in the Burton & Drahozal casebook. In addition, find, read, and have with you in class a contract of your choice.

Read pages 1-9 of the casebook – David G. Epstein, Bruce A. Markell & Lawrence Ponoroff, Cases and Materials on Contracts: Making and Doing Deals (6th ed.)

Law 963 Energy Law & Policy – Fall 2024

First Day Assignment 

(1)    Choose a news article related to the energy sector, dated any time in August 2024 - read it and prepare to share (1) how it relates to energy and (2) at least two things that interest you about the article. Please bring a hard copy to class. Sources for articles may include national, state, or local newspapers or the following specialized news sources:

Utility Dive
Energy News Network (collating news by region)
EnergyWire (access through Wheat Law Library; enter KU credentials for access off campus)

(2)    In Davies et al, Energy Law and Policy (3d ed.) (2022):  

Preface, iii-iv; Introduction (pp. 1-14)

Purchase from the bookstore the following required materials:

    Burke & Friel, Taxation of Individual Income (13th ed. 2023)

    CCH, Federal Income Tax Code and Regulations -- Selected Sections (2024-25)
  
 
Before the first class, access the Syllabus and Course Materials on Canvas.  Read the Syllabus carefully and be prepared to ask any questions you might have about it.  

During the first class, we will discuss some administrative matters relating to the course and complete Unit 1 (relating to the sources of U.S. tax law) and start on Unit 2 (relating to tax policy).  Read the materials associated with Unit 2 and be prepared to discuss the concepts of horizontal and vertical equity.  What do these concepts mean?  How might we determine whether a tax provision is or is not horizontally equitable?  In what primary way goes the Internal Revenue Code promote the concept of vertical equity?

Because you may not use your laptop during class, you’ll need to print out the materials in advance.

Casebook pages: 6-8, 1067-73, 1023-28, 1055- 66, 1145-52, 78-81

Please read the Canvas course document titled Writing assignment evaluation criteria and writing advice.  

Review Syllabus, AND

EITHER

International Trade Law: A Comprehensive E-Textbook (6th edition, 2025), Volume One:

Front Material

(including Preface and Introduction),

Chapters 1-17

(skim Chapters 7-8, 16-17)

OR

International Trade Law: A Comprehensive Textbook (5th edition, 2019), Volume 1:

Preface,

Introduction,

and

Chapters 1-12

 

Please Note the E-Textbook is freely available via Open Access on KU ScholarWorks.

*Please pick up a hard copy of the syllabus. Copies are available on the tables in the lobby near the student hanging files.

Review Syllabus, AND

 

(1)       1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Articles 31-32 (4 pages)

 

(2)       Clark, Katharine & Matthew Connolly, A Guide to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying Statutes, The Writing Center, Georgetown University Law Center (April 2006-March 2018) (13-21 pages)

 

(3)       GATT Article XX(a) (1 page)

 

(4)   GATT Article VI and Interpretative Note, Ad Article VI (2 pages)

 

(3)       Article 2 of the January 1995 World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Antidumping (1 page)

 

(5)       U.S. Antidumping Law, 19 U.S.C. Section 1673 (1 page)

 

(6)       Ryan, Chapter 1 (Formalism), pages 1-18; Chapter 2 (Structuralism), pages 19-31; and Chapter 3 (Historical Criticism), pages 32-42

 

(7)       Ryan, Chapter 8 (Ethnic, Post-Colonial, and Transnational Criticism), pages 109-123

 

(8)       Abbott-Snidal article on Hard and Soft Law in International Governance, pages 421-456

 

(9)       GATT Articles XXXVI, XXXVII, and XXXVIII (6 pages)

 

Please Note the links to these free materials are provided in the syllabus.

*Please pick up a hard copy of the syllabus. Copies are available on the tables in the lobby near the student hanging files.

Tuesday, September 3, 2024 and Monday, September 9, 2024

 

Please read the following in preparation for our first two days of class:  September 3rd and September 9th.

They are available on SSRN or HeinOnline.

 

Anita Allen's An Ethical Duty To Protect One's Own Privacy Alabama Law Review (Law Review Article)

 

Daniel Solove's "Understanding Privacy" pgs. 1-8 (Intro to Solove's book, Understanding Privacy). 

 

Julie Cohen's What Privacy Is For? 

 

For Thursday, August 29th, please read pages 1-15 in the Modern American Remedies 

by Laycock and Hasen (Concise 5th edition)

Preparation for Classes One  

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

 

Prosser et al Torts Cases and Materials 14th 

 

Read pgs. 1-27 

Prepare to discuss the following notes:

#5 on page 20, 

#2 on page  23-24, 

#3. A-D page 24

#1 and 2 pages 26-27

Read Chapter One of Textbook.