Law and Political Economy Colloquium

Law 686

Spring 2011

Lee Epstein
Shelley Murphey
Nancy Staudt
Emerson Tiller

Course Information

1. Class Attendance and Participation (25 percent)

We expect you to attend all class sessions and participate in the discussions. On "discussion days," we will talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the paper, along with its contribution to socio-legal scholarship. If there are theories or methods that you don't understand, that's OK; we will discuss these as well. On "presentation days," the visiting scholar will make a 15-20 minute presentation of her/his work and then take questions from the group. We expect you to prepare in advance and ask at least one question in class.

2. Essays (each worth 15 percent; we'll count only the five best essays)

You will write six short essays---one for each presented paper. We expect you to point out both its strengths and weaknesses, along with the contributions you think it makes to our understanding of law and politics.

The essays should be no more than two pages in length (including any reference material you may want to incorporate), double spaced with 1-inch margins, using Times New Roman font.

The deadlines are as follows.

• O'Connell paper: January 24

• McGuire paper: January 31

• Niblett paper: February 14

• Alt paper: Februaruy 28

• Wahlbeck paper: March 28

• Martinek paper: April 11

Note: Please bring two hard copies of your essay to class. We will return one copy to you with a grade; we will give the other to the visiting scholar.