Creating a Model Syllabus for Bioterrorism and Public Health Law Workshop

We will discuss questions that form the background to creating a model syllabus for teaching bioterrorism and public health law. These questions include:

• Why law students should study bioterrorism and public health law
• The extent to which bioterrorism and public health law currently exists in the law school curriculum
• What barriers exist to incorporating bioterrorism and public health into the law school curriculum
• Strategies for overcoming the barriers to incorporating bioterrorism and public health law into the law school curriculum

We will create the skeleton of a bioterrorism and public health law syllabus by identifying broad topic areas that should be included, as well as their general structure. The following is a tentative list of core law school topic areas impacted by bioterrorism and public health law, which the group can review, revise and hone into a firmer structure:

• constitutional law - individual civil rights
• constitutional law - federal/state relationships; structure of the public health system
• criminal law
• immigration law
• international law
• legislative process/administrative law/statutory interpretation
• property law
• tort law

• What these topics are. A preliminary list includes epidemiology, statistics, biology and population-based reasoning and policymaking.
• The challenge of teaching these topics to law students
• What law students need to know about these topics
• Methods for teaching these topics to law students

Break Out Sessions - Fleshing Out the Topics

We will break into small groups with an assigned topic area. Each group will develop its topic section of the syllabus, concentrating on its overall structure, the particular subtopics topics that require coverage, the perspectives that should be represented within the subtopics, and the identification of specific readings, as time permits. Each group will produce a hard copy of its portion of the syllabus at the end of the session so that all group results can be combined into one model syllabus for review and comment.

Review of Model Syllabus Sections

The small groups will report back on their development of model syllabus topic sections. We will review the model syllabus which represents the combined efforts of the syllabi produced by the small groups. We will attempt to identify a core area of coverage, with alternative inserts of additional topics and more specialized coverage. We will also identify how to incorporate the nonlegal topics into the syllabus.

Review of Yesterday's Work

We will review each of the topic areas in the syllabus and will suggest additions and revisions. We will attempt to identify particular cases, statutes, and other readings that should fall within each area. We will attempt to identify perspectives that should be represented within each topic area and will suggest readings to ensure that they are represented. The result will be an inclusive set of readings that can be honed by individual professors to suit the focus of their courses.

Break Out Sessions - Developing Teaching Problems

We will break into small groups according to topic areas, and will develop problem(s) to teach it. Each group will produce a hard copy of its problem(s), so they can be copied and distributed after the session.

The groups will report back on their development of teaching problems. We will review the teaching problems developed by the groups, suggesting additions and revisions. We will also discuss the following:

• the overall results of the workshop, with emphasis both on the progress made and additional efforts necessary into the future
• efforts beyond creating a model syllabus for stimulating interest in bioterrorism and public health law in law schools
• other potential audiences for bioterrorism and public health law materials
• other ways to stimulate interest in the topics and address legal issues raised outside the context of law schools