Time Schedule:
Karen S. Weaver
LAW A 583
Seattle Campus
Class description
Insurance permeates the practice of civil law. A basic knowledge of insurance is essential for civil litigators, transactional attorneys and those in general practice. This course will focus on property & casualty insurance, how they work, how policies are constructed and interpreted, extracontractual issues, and professional and ethical obligations of insurers and of counsel. This year we may add a session on Health Care Reform. Graduates from prior years have reported that this course was very helpful in their subsequent law practices.
Student learning goals
Understand insuring mechanism and how it operates as one risk management tool among many.
Read and interpret insurance policies knowledgeably.
Basic understanding of insurance principles and operation, all types of policies.
Extensive familiarity with standard CGL (commercial general liability) policy language and insuring principles.
Significant familiarity with extra-contractual theories of liability.
Ability to recognize when insurance may impact areas of personal and commercial interactions.
General method of instruction
Some lecture. Reading and discussion of published caselaw and statutes. Due to the absence of a coursebook, per se, class attendance is very important.
Recommended preparation
Basic knowledge of contracts, torts and civil procedure. Additional substantive legal knowledge is helpful but not essential.
Class assignments and grading
Reading assignments (cases and handouts). Participation in class discussion. Two short take-home writing assignments. One final exam (modified open book).
See course website and syllabus.
