In the spring semester of your first-year, you will have an opportunity to take one elective from among several elective offerings. All electives are three credits. There are many different valid opinions on how to select your elective. Some suggest that it is best to choose a course that will fulfill a graduation requirement or a Diploma Privilege requirement. Others believe that selecting a course taught by a professor you enjoyed first-semester is a good method. Similarly, choosing a course based on the subject matter has some supporters. Finally, some opine that the subject matter of certain courses is more helpful if taken earlier in one's career. Below is a description of some of the considerations for some of the elective courses.
Civil Procedure II
This course satisfies the "Jurisdiction of Courts" requirement of the Mandatory Subject Matter Areas for the Wisconsin Diploma Privilege and goes towards the 60-credit rule (See Section 4.6 of READ THIS FIRST). Civil Procedure II is sometimes listed as a prerequisite for courses and clinics and can be helpful in summer clerkships. Some students find it useful to take Civil Procedure I and Civil Procedure II one right after the other. Others believe that it is helpful to take it in their third year, closer to the bar exam and graduation.
Contracts
II
This course is an advanced contracts course, which is a continuation of the
first semester Contracts I course. This course does not fulfill a requirement
for graduation or the Diploma Privilege but does count towards the 60-credit
rule (See Section 4.6 of READ THIS FIRST).
It is a useful course for those who are likely to do transactional work in their
careers. Some students find it useful to take Contracts I and Contracts II sequentially.
This is particularly true for students who enjoyed the first semester and had
success in the course.
Legal
Process
This course, which looks at the legal system as a whole, satisfies the "Legal Process" graduation requirement and also counts toward the 60-credit-rule (section 4.6 of READ THIS FIRST). Many courses throughout the curriculum satisfy the legal process requirement, and some argue that students will enjoy a legal process course more later in their careers when they can choose among many courses. Others believe that having a view of the whole system is helpful and that taking a course of this kind is a nice break from more substantive law offerings.
Public International Law
This course also satisfies the "Legal Process" graduation requirement and counts toward the 60-credit rule for the Wisconsin Diploma Privilege. Public International Law is a recent addition to the first-year elective choices. It is a basic course designed to introduce students to international legal issues, foreign legal concepts, and problems that lawyers are likely to face regardless of where they practice. It also provides a good foundation for those interested in the transnational and international law courses offered in the second and third years. The course covers public international law, international economic law, human rights and humanitarian law as well as exposure to conflicts of law, comparative law and the use of foreign international law in the domestic courts of the United States.
Torts II
Torts II will cover economic and business torts (such as breach of
fiduciary duty, attorney malfeasance, misrepresentation, and
interference with contract), insurance-related tort issues (such as the
duty to defend and the duty to settle), and dignitary torts (such as
defamation and privacy). In contrast to Torts I, which focuses on
torts that result in personal injury or property damage, Torts II
focuses on economic loss and harm to dignity or reputation.
