LLM Contracts 2010 Fall Syllabus Schukoske 8-2-10

8/8/2019 LLM Contracts 2010 Fall Syllabus Schukoske 8-2-10

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Contracts Syllabus

Law 602Section 319GUniversity of Baltimore School of LawLL.M. in the Law of the United States

Fall 2010 Tuesdays, Thursdays 3:30 to 5:20 p.m.Classroom Business Center 001

Professor Jane SchukoskeB.A. (Boston), J.D. (Vanderbilt)LL.M. (Georgetown)

Contacts: Office LC202C Telephone 410 837-6761 Email [email protected]

Office Hours: Wednesdays 3:00 4:30 p.m. andby appointment

LAW Scholar: Mary Waugaman Email [email protected] 4:45 5:45 p.m. Room TBA

Course Materials

BRIAN A. BLUM & AMY C. BUSHAW, CONTRACTS. CASES, DISCUSSION AND PROBLEMS (2nd ed., New York: Aspen,2008).

This contract law course book helps students learn. Its approach is to set out a legal rule, explain the ruletextbook fashion, provide an example of a court applying the rule to a real-life case, and then poseproblems to the students so you can apply the rule to fact situations.

Course Web Page

There is a TWEN course web page for LL.M. Contracts. During orientation week, you should pick up yourWestLaw password and register for the course TWEN site on http://www.lawschool.westlaw.com. Checkthe TWEN course page weekly for updates on assignments. You may post observations, readings andquestions on the discussion forum.

Scope of the course

This course introduces the law of contracts of the legal system of the United States. Topics includecreation of contracts; capacity to contract; mutual assent; offer and acceptance; consideration;compliance with formality; novation; third party beneficiaries; mutual mistake; parol evidence; specificperformance; conditions; impossibility; frustration; assignment and discharge of contract obligations;contracts of agents; and the statute of frauds. In addition to common law principles, the course exploresselected sections of the Uniform Commercial Code and Restatement of Contracts.

Attendance, Preparation and Participation in Class

Regular and punctual attendance is expected. As the attendance policy in the LL.M. LOTUS Handbook2010-11 states, a student whose unexcused absences exceed five classes may be compelled to withdrawfrom the course. Students whose total number of absences exceeds five may be referred to theAssociate Dean for Student Affairs to make explanation and for appropriate action. Class participationforms a part of your grade.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Contracts LL.M. Syllabus Fall, 2010 -2- Prof. Schukoske

You should prepare well for all classes. I expect you to read the assigned materials carefully and makenotes for yourself about responses to the Problems within the assigned pages. Please also be sure toread statutory materials appropriate to the days class assignment.

Participation in class is a key feature of American education. The quality of class participation includes:how well a student prepared, how well he or she thinks about and discusses issues that arise in class,how clearly and succinctly he or she expresses ideas, how well he or she listens to and take into accountother students comments, and how actively and how well he or she voluntarily participates. Consistentlyactive class participation demonstrating you have read and thought about the issues raised in theassignment is expected.

Internet/Laptop Policy

Students may use laptops in the classroom for note taking and other class purposes as directed by theprofessor. Laptops may not be used in class for checking e-mail or other purposes not related to theclass.Grading

There are three components to your grade in this course:

(1) Participation in class, discussion forum and on written homework assignments (20%)(2) Grade on the mid-term examination (20%)(3) Grade on the four-hour in school, open book final examination (60%) scheduled on

Monday, December 13, 2010 from 1:00-5:00 p.m.

Reference Books, Commercial Outlines and Your Outlines

Students learn by actively thinking about, writing about and applying legal concepts rather than justreading about them. That is one reason why U.S. law schools have interactive classes ratherthan lectures. It is likewise a reason why you should not rely on reading commercial outlines,but should actively write your own. You can use the organization of the course book as thebasis for your own outline. You should refer to rules by section number from the Restatement

and from the UCC, rather than by case name. You should not memorize rules.

There are three high quality reference textbooks that have stood the test of time. In preparing for class, increating your outline and in studying for the final examination, you may wish to consult one ormore of these works:

BLUM, BRIAN A, CONTRACTS EXAMPLES & EXPLANATIONS 4th ed. (New York: Aspen, 2007).FARNSWORTH, E. ALLAN, CONTRACTS, 4th ed. (New York: Aspen, 2004).PERILLO, JOSEPH M., CALAMARIAND PERILLOON CONTRACTS, 6th ed. (St. Paul: West, 2009).

Because they are in competition one with another and with other works, new they cost less than does thecourse book. Moreover, you need not buy the latest edition; you can find relatively recent editions on thesecond hand market for as little as $10. You might check, among other sites: abebooks.com,

amazon.com and half.com.


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Contracts LL.M. Syllabus Fall, 2010 -3- Prof. Schukoske

Assignments: Prepare to discuss the topics, cases and all problems on the pages assigned below. Forall assignments, READ THE APPLICABLE UCC AND RESTATEMENT PROVISIONS!

Date Chap Pages Topics

8/24 1 1-33 Intro to Contracts; What Makes An Agreement into a Contract;Enforcement of Contracts: Intro to Remedies

8/26 2 35-57 Uniform Commercial Code8/31 4 81-84, Problem4.1 on 90-105

Offer

9/2 5 107-108, 112-124,127-129

Acceptance: Nature, Effective Date, Silence as Acceptance

9/7 5 129-130, 134-141,146-148

Acceptance: Termination of Power of Acceptance, Acceptanceby Performance

9/9 6 153-156, 165-168 Contract Formation: Standard Terms / Electronic Media9/14 6 179-186, Problem

6.3 on 194-198Contract Formation: Battle of the Forms

9/16 8 237-244 Statute of Frauds9/21 8 245-255, Problem

8.3 on 260-262Statute of Frauds (continued)

9/23 7 203, 208-222,229-230 Preliminary, Incomplete and Indefinite Agreements

9/28 9 263-270, 274-288 Consideration : Basics9/30 9 288-290, 297-309 Consideration : What Suffices10/5 9 309-320 Consideration: Mutuality and Its Limits10/7 10 321-325, 331-339 Promissory Estoppel

10/12 10 342-354, 359-361,Pr10.2 on 368-369

Promissory Estoppel (continued)

10/14 Midterm examination10/19 11 371-382 Options and Firm Offers10/21 12 383-391, 394-401 Unjust Enrichment10/26 13 403-410, Problem

13.1 on 426-429

Policing Contracts: Misrepresentation

10/28 13 432-440, 444-445,450-455

Policing Contracts: Duress and Contract Modification

11/2 13 461-469, 482-484 Policing Contracts: Unconscionability11/4 15 529-533, 539-544

556-558, 564-567Contract Interpretation and Construction

11/9 16 575-601,omit 16.2 Parol Evidence Rule11/11 17 611-619, 624-629,

644-646, 650-659Misunderstanding, Mistake, and Excuse

11/16 18 661-669, 671-675 Conditions and Promises11/18 19 701-704, 706-710,

716-729Breach and Repudiation

11/23 20 731-749, Problem

20.2 on 760

Remedies: Fundamentals

11/30 20 773-778, 782-786,794-795, 804-807

Limitations on Recovery Expectation Damages

Note: Chapters 3, 14 and 21 are not assigned due to time constraints.

LLM Contracts 2010 Fall Syllabus Schukoske 8-2-10

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