Legal Studies

The course explores corporate power and how it influences law-making and law- enforcement. Students study the key drivers of corporate crime/harm, along with their social impacts. Students also examine the basis of corporations’ structural and agency power, and corporate influence on the production and dissemination of science. The examination of the causes of corporate crime/harm will focus on organizational and structural factors, while investigation of the social impacts of corporate crime/harm focuses on the negative effects on human health, wellbeing, and the environment. Finally, students examine the social responses to corporate harm, including public shaming and corporate sentencing.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course is also taught under the title 'International Law and Sustainability'

The course addresses the following topics:

• The “what”, “who” and “where” of contemporary international environmental law:
  • What does international environmental law deal with?
  • Who makes international environmental law?
  • Where is international environmental law made and where is it applied?
• The origins and evolution of international environmental law;
• The sources of international environmental law;
• The institutional contexts (MEAs);
• Accountability, liability, responsibility and dispute settlement;
• Interactions with other bodies of international law, with special regard to international human rights law, international economic law and the laws of warfare.

Throughout the course, the law governing the utilization of transboundary water resources is given special attention in order to show the practical functioning of international environmental law. Other specific substantive areas of international environmental law will be illustrated, with special regard to the marine environment, biodiversity and the fight against climate change. At the end of the course, students will have acquired: The international origin and basis of rules and principles of domestic environmental law; The content of rules and principles on the international protection of the environment; The sources of international environmental law; The interactions between international environmental law and other branches of international law, eg human rights law and investment law; How to develop a research on international environmental law.

Drawing upon criminological, sociological, historical, political economy, penal theory, intersectional and decolonial perspectives, this course critically examines why and how societies punish criminal wrongdoing. It provides students with a thorough understanding of the main theoretical perspectives on punishment and their application to contemporary issues in penal policy.

This course explores fundamental questions on law: What is the nature of law? What is the relation between law and morality or other norms? What is justice? The course critically analyzes selected readings and discusses the key questions in the philosophy of law.

This covers how international disputes are settled (or not) under international law. The class focuses on international disputes and examines how international law is applied to legal issues of disputes. Students obtain a critical approach to international law in perspective of its role and limits. This course also examines other mechanisms of dispute settlement developed in specific areas of international law. There are no prerequisites, and no prior knowledge in international law will be assumed. This course is primarily for students who have not studied international law before. Students with different backgrounds in international law are also welcome in this course. 

This course provides students with an opportunity to explore various actual cross-border M&A (merger and acquisition) transactions including outbound and in-bound investments and related contracts and processes from a practitioner’s perspective. 

Under the guidance of professors or lawyers at legal clinics or legal counseling centers on campus or at law offices off campus, students gain experience through participation in planning, due diligence, contract drafting and negotiation exercises. The course allows students to experience the practical aspects of working on cross-border M&A transactions and to equip them with the ability to spot potential issues and come up with solutions in the context of such transactions, thereby helping to prepare them for a future career as an international corporate practitioner. The course is conducted in English, with an emphasis on enhancing the students’ ability to communicate in English and handle English language documents, which are critically important skills for engaging in international transactional work. 

This course promotes comprehensive understanding of international environmental law, one of the fastest growing fields of the international law. It reviews theories, historical developments, and major international environmental agreements. The course takes interdisciplinary approaches, considering distinctive features of environmental problems, the development of principles and the formation of the international environmental regimes, the roles of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, the inter-linkages that exist between the environment and trade, investment, and human rights. Various simulation negotiations will be used to encourage students' participation.  

This course examines a variety of theoretical perspectives on the reasons why people commit crime, what constitutes crime, and how states respond to crime. Students explore a range of theories from classical and positivist approaches, to sociological theories, to feminist approaches, and contemporary research. The relevance of these theories to the case of Ireland, and aspects of criminal justice internationally are also assessed.