Faculty Highlights Repository

2020

January

Luz Nagle, Group exercises • Students are divided into small groups to work throughout the semester. Groups must be diverse (from different countries, gender, race, etc.).• Group exercises foster the following competencies: mentoring and collaboration, leadership, delegation and supervision.• Projects are complex and multilayered to be challenging, engaging, and stimulating. Complexity makes a project difficult for one person alone to complete. Completing a successful task requires “positive interdependence” and active collaboration. The exercises focus on both the process of cooperation and the product. The various projects and exercises are intended to instill in and communicate to the students multiple competencies of a highly successful lawyer. These competencies are based on four pillars: knowledge, skills, behaviors, and values. I develop group exercises for each class in order to foster the following competencies: (1) Collaboration and Mentoring. Each group must include foreign and US students. US JD students are encouraged to mentor the foreign students on U.S. law/issues, and the international students are encouraged to mentor the US JD students on global topics and issues from their countries of origin. Collaboration and mentoring: allows all students to play an important role by strengthening existing skills and expanding one another’s expertise; inspires confidence, honesty, trustworthiness and reliability; improves a student’s ability to request feedback and be receptive to feedback.(2) Leadership, delegation and supervision. Students choose a leader or leaders who is/are keen in understanding others and their strengths and who can coordinate, delegate and supervise. Someone who can make everyone excited about working together is a plus. Leader(s) encourage(s) problem solving, accountability and communication. (3) Managing and controlling the project: This includes assigning team roles, time management, efficiency, and meeting deadlines to obtain high-quality product. Ability to work independently to collaborate with the group (positive interdependence) is key and entails initiative, motivation, effort, and a strong work ethic.(4) Negotiation skills: Students engage in various discussions (on the process and substance) that promote reaching a consensus—which is key to collaboration. Students have choices, beliefs, and views that they will defend through oral or written communication using evidence and analytical reasoning. They will argue respectfully and constructively. They will negotiate by proposing solutions and having a discussion, and by engaging in a dialogue to reach a common vision. (5) Analytical skills: Identify the legal issue from the facts; Apply the law; Draw conclusions; Offer suggestions.(6) Gain legal competency and practical knowledge.(7) Improve research skills.(8) Increase competency in effective written and oral communication. I meet with each group to describe the expectations for teamwork and the role of peer review. Peer review is a crucial element to fostering competencies. Group members realize that their peer is not only a contributing member of the team but one who will encourage cooperation, honesty, trustworthiness and excellence through his/her role as reviewer, International Law, January 2020

Luz Nagle, Developed a final project in which the students write a Human Trafficking Compliance Manual for a private company. Private sector companies are at risk of inadvertently supporting human trafficking. There are increasing allegations that companies use forced labor to build components, extract raw materials, and assemble products. We also read reports of abuse of workers by construction companies and the fishing industry. The growing complexity of supply chains and a greater focus on the issue by regulators, human rights organizations, and some federal and state governments have made this a heightened risk for companies. To address it, some have turned to drafting supplier codes of conduct. In the United States, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act “provides ways to prosecute entities and individuals who indirectly support the actions of traffickers. Additionally, several federal regulations have created mandates for certain companies to have corporate human trafficking compliance programs. Failure to comply with such mandates results in fines, and additional criminal and civil liability exposure.” Worldwide, many countries have implemented a variety of legislation affecting corporations. Companies must answer several questions, such as what should do to ensure that they see the red flags to avoid risks? What rules and regulations do they need to be mindful of in the countries they operate, including in the United States? Each student assume the role of in-house counsel for a multinational company/industry of his/her choice. Through a process of drafting and professor feedback using Teams,the final submission of a compliance manual includes presenting the manual to the class and taking questions (which this semester was done online using Zoom). For the Manual, each student must: Draft policies and procedures to meet the regulatory, legal, and fiduciary obligations of the company or industry you represent; Provide advice on how to conduct business per regulations and any applicable laws; and; Give instruction on how to monitor and verify that the company-industry follows the policies and procedures and that they are effective.Among the issues to addres:Human trafficking risks that the industry/company has in the particular country of operation (corruption related to human trafficking, labor/sex trafficking, any other related risk).The specific risk(s) factor(s) they will have in the countries where they have operations (with suppliers, subcontractors, international and domestic laws/regulations), Human Trafficking, January 2020


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