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Legislative Counsel Clinic

Legislative Counsel Clinic – JD 786 (A1) Fall or (B1) Spring

BU Law now offers a range of opportunities for students to learn about the legislative process. In addition to the Legislative Drafting Clinic and Legislative Internship Program, students will be able to take a new clinic: the Legislative Counsel Clinic. The Legislative Counsel Clinic will give students the opportunity to develop and apply a variety of legal skills to the legislative process. Clinic participants will work on several projects during the semester that will highlight different aspects of the legislative process, allowing students to relate—and test—the theories discussed in class to real life situations.

This clinic is meant to be useful—and interesting—to a broad range of law students. Some students may already be thinking of career as a legislative lawyer by working for Congress, a legislature, an advocacy group or as a lobbyist. This clinic will provide these students hands-on experience to develop the skills that will be essential in their future career. Any law student, however, will find this clinic beneficial. Today, nearly every area of law is impacted by statutory changes. Therefore, lawyers who practice corporate, tort, labor, tax, intellectual property, health care, family law—and just about any other legal specialty imaginable, should have a solid understanding of how legislatures operate and how statutory law is created. No matter where a student is practicing in a few years, this clinical will help them better interpret statutes and help them influence the legislative process on issues important to them and their clients.

Gun Control, Corporate Taxes, Mental Health, Access to College

At the heart of this clinic are the fieldwork projects.  These projects allow students to directly participate in some of the key policy discussions currently taking place on Beacon Hill.  The projects highlight different aspects of the legislative process including the operation of legislative committees, how to build coalitions and advocate for legislation, the legislative oversight function, and the collection of legislative history.

Students are currently working on the following projects with the various committees of the Massachusetts General Court:   

• Reform the Criminal Offender Record Index (CORI) System;
• Improve mental health care for children;
• Reform the way state transportation projects are financed;
• Improve access to the Commonwealth’s community college system;     
• Reform the Small Claims Court;           
• Updating the animal control laws;  
• Provide greater protection to the Commonwealth’s waterways;
• Improve the Child In Need of Services (CHINS) Statute.

In addition, the Clinic will be conducting oversight projects to review whether existing statutes and government programs are functioning as intended and proposing revisions.  This semester a team of four students will be assisting the Governor’s Commission on Corporate Taxation, which is reviewing the state’s corporate tax laws and proposing changes that will make the system fairer and encourage economic growth.  Students will also be reviewing the Gun Control Act of 1998 on behalf of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and the structure of Metropolitan Planning Organizations, which helps allocate transportation funding to various regions of the state. 

Finally, the Clinic students will be working on the Legislative History Project.  Historically, practitioners, courts and administrative agencies trying to understand and interpret Massachusetts statutes have had little or no legislative history to help their inquiry.  The testimony submitted to the relevant committees, speeches given on the floors of the Senate and House and committee reports are typically not available or accessible to those who would benefit from the primary sources that are so valuable in other jurisdictions.  As an ongoing project of the clinic, students will gather, organize and put into context the summaries, reports, testimony, and other documentation related to recent substantive changes to the General Laws.  These sources will then be posted on the web for the benefit of anyone who seeks a deeper understanding of new statutes.                

For More Information

Sean J. Kealy, Clinical Associate Professor

skealy@bu.edu

(617) 353-8373