Law and Politics Seminar

Law W76 736S and Political Science L32 5361

Spring 2006

Lee Epstein
Andrew D. Martin
Nancy Staudt

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 at least one question in advance of 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 three 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.

  • Zeiler paper: January 23. Please bring two hard copies to class.

  • Helmke paper: February 6. Please bring two hard copies to class.

  • Friedman paper: February 20. Please bring two hard copies to class.

  • Giles/Walker paper: March 6. Please bring two hard copies to class.

  • Yoon paper: March 27. Please bring two hard copies to class.

  • Scherer paper: April 17. Please bring two hard copies to class.

Note: We will return one copy to you with a grade; we will give one copy to the visiting scholar.