As we increase our emphasis on practical lawyering, the law school is offering two new courses that translate directly to practice, Franchising Law and Family Law Practicum. Franchising Law will prepare you to represent the large national franchisers and the hundreds of franchises in every community, everything from the McDonalds Corporation to the McDonalds on the corner, and even franchises in other countries around the world. In the Family Law Practicum, you will handle the actual work of a family law practice, developing the skills you will need in any area of practice.
Here are the course descriptions:
Family Law Practicum (Professor Schneider)
The Family Law Practicum teaches lawyering skills in the context of family law. The focus is on developing lawyering skills for practice including negotiating and drafting agreements, interviewing and counseling clients, interdisciplinary work with experts, financial investigation and analysis, law office management, drafting pleadings and memoranda, and mediating disputes. Course topics include high‐conflict custody cases, domestic violence, marital property characterization and evaluation, and prenuptial and separation agreements. The course grade is based on attorney work product papers including pleadings, filings, and memoranda.
The Practicum is likely to be of interest both to those interested in advancing training in family law as well as those interested in developing general lawyering skills. Its general law practice emphasis offers significant value in the employment market.
Prerequisite: Required completion of Family Law, Juvenile Law, Elder Law or Domestic Violence course.
Franchising Law (Professor Dub)
Franchising has been called “the most successful marketing concept ever” and probably generates more than One Trillion Dollars in annual sales in the US alone. This U.S.‐originated concept is now rapidly spreading throughout the rest of the world as well. Sales of franchises are subject to many state and federal restrictions, and the franchise relationship also gives rise to types of disputes rarely seen in other business structures. A growing number of attorneys and law firms focus on this area, and their clients who sell franchises frequently look to these attorneys when they seek to hire their own in‐house counsel. Despite the need for attorneys with franchise law training, very few law schools offer courses in this subject. This course is believed to be the first course of its type ever offered by a law school in Northeast Ohio, and perhaps anywhere in Ohio.
The course will be taught by Adjunct Professor Stanley M. Dub, who has practiced in a variety of in‐house and law firm settings for almost four decades, and is an acknowledged expert in Franchise Law.
Students will learn about the underlying regulatory framework of franchising, and will then be guided through the complex process by which a business owner can become authorized to sell franchises. Opportunities will be provided to read and criticize actual Franchise Agreement provisions, and to draft alternative provisions.
This course will also address common franchise‐related litigation scenarios.
This course will be graded through 2 – 3 written homework projects and a final exam.