The class meets twice a week: Wednesday we discuss a new technology, the following Monday we discuss legal issues it raises. Each student will be expected to suggest legal issues for at least two classes, emailing me descriptions by 10 P.M. Saturday. I will web the descriptions, if possible by midnight Saturday, so that the rest of the students will have a chance to think about them before class.The student who proposes an issue is expected to take an active part in discussing it and may, but is not required to, provide a summary of the discussion for the web site.

Each student is expected to do legal research for one technology in order to be able to answer questions about current law relevant to issues that that technology raises. I will suggest some relevant legal questions but the student doing the research may add more. Legal research from previous years is webbed; you should be adding to it. Two students who are doing research for the same week may agree on how to divide the topics. The legal research should reach me in the form of a summary of the relevant law--something on the order of three to ten pages per student--by Saturday so that I can web it for the rest of the class to look at before Monday's discussion. The students who have done the research may also be asked to answer legal questions during the discussion.

In addition, each student is expected to complete a substantial paper dealing with an issue, a group of related issues, or a technology we have not covered in class. Students may be given the option of having their paper webbed. Student grades will be based on that paper, issues submitted, legal research and contributions to in class discussion. Some of the better papers from the past have been webbed (with the permission of their authors).

Questions such as  "should technology X be banned entirely" are not relevant to this seminar; we are interested in thinking about how, if a technology comes into use, the law might deal with its implications. On the other hand, "is regulation of technology X constitutional" or "how might it be practical to regulate technology X" are appropriate questions.

In summary, each student's obligations are:

Suggest issues for two technologies

Do legal research for one technology

Write a paper

Participate in discussions of issues raised by the technologies