Courses

• LAW JD 940: Law & Economics Workshop (S)
  This seminar examines the intersection of Law and Economics. The seminar is structured around speakers presenting their working papers. The anticipated speakers will include leading scholars in various fields from many universities. Many speakers have advised the US government, foreign governments, and a variety of private organizations on both law and policy. Students will have the opportunity to critically discuss the papers presented in the seminar with an author present. The papers presented in the seminar may cover a broad range of topics including Corporations, Intellectual Property, Antitrust, Securities Regulation, Commercial Transactions, International Trade, Environmental Law, Criminal Law, Litigation, Tax, Torts, Property, and Contract. The unifying theme is the method of analysis – a focus on the consequences various laws are likely to have on the general public and society. No mathematics or economics background is required. Assessment is based on memos written by students in response to the papers. In lieu of the memo requirement students may, with the permission of the instructor, write a paper to fulfill the requirements of the seminar. The paper may, with the permission of the instructor, count towards the Upper-class Writing Requirement. No prerequisites required. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 941: Corporate Governance (S)
  This seminar will address corporate governance issues from an historical as well as current perspective. In addressing the legal framework of corporate governance for the modern U.S. corporation, we will consider the implications for corporate governance posed by different players, including investors, independent directors, corporate management, employees and other stakeholders. Throughout our discussions, we will seek to take into account the roles played by courts, legislatures, and regulatory bodies, as well as the challenges and responsibilities of lawyers who advise their clients in various settings. In addition to discussion of legal academic writings, cases and relevant laws, we will engage in a number of role-playing exercises in class. For example, students may be called upon to play various roles in a simulated annual meeting of shareholders involving a campaign to withhold votes to elect a company’s board chairman or to play the role of legal advisers to independent directors of a company's board who are called upon to negotiate the compensation of the company's chief executive officer. There is no exam in this course. Each student will be required to write one short paper (up to 5 pages) that will cover a topic for a given class and will be responsible for leading (or co-leading with one or more other students) the discussion on that topic for a substantial portion of that class. In this regard, the student or students responsible for leading the discussion in a given class will also be asked to identify and post an additional reading for that class. Each student will also be required to write a longer paper of publishable quality due at the end of the semester. The professor will consult with each student at the outset, when a research topic is chosen, and during other stages of the research and writing process. PREREQUISITE: Corporations. RECOMMENDED: Securities Regulation (either prior to or concurrent with this course.) LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing requirement with the approval of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who waitlist for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 942: English Legal History
  An introduction to the English background of our legal profession and common law system. Consideration of social, economic, and political forces at work in the development of legal culture and legal doctrines in property, contracts, torts, and criminal law. Readings and small-group projects will include study of primary source materials. LIMITED WRITING OPTION: Some students may, with the permission of the instructor, fulfill the Upperclass Writing Requirement by submitting a paper in lieu of the final examination.
• LAW JD 945: Trial Advocacy (Advanced)
  This class will be limited to 12 third-year students who have completed an evidence course, trial advocacy course, and have viewed "My Cousin Vinny ." Invited to participate in teaching this class are prominent members of the Massachusetts trial bar, a storyteller and, from time to time other interesting guests. The class focuses on the strategy, technique, and trial of complex multiparty cases, and the analysis of sophisticated evidentiary problems. NOTE: All classes are held at the school except for the final trial of a complex case which is held at the Suffolk County Courthouse and which takes place during two regularly scheduled class periods. NOTE: This course satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement. *** A student who fails either to attend the initial meeting of Trial Advocacy (Advanced), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the registrar, will be administratively dropped from the section. Students who are on a wait list for a section are required to attend the first section meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 946: Criminal Law
  Examines the basic principles of substantive criminal law, including the justifications for punishment, the essential elements of offenses, mitigating and exculpating defenses, and different forms of criminal liability.
• LAW JD 950: Homicide Investigations and Trials: Theory and Practice (S)
  This seminar will focus upon the substantive law of homicide, as well as the practical aspects of actual homicide investigations and trials: crime scene interpretation; DNA analysis; autopsies and related forensic evidence; expert testimony, particularly in the area of psychiatry and criminal responsibility; jury considerations; ethical concerns; and the role of the media. Students will have the opportunity to study actual murder cases, visit local crime laboratories and courtrooms, and learn prosecution, defense, and judicial perspectives on various contemporary issues arising in murder investigations and trials. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing requirement with the approval of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. NOTE: This seminar satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who waitlist for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 951: Comparative Law (S)
  This seminar is an introduction to comparative law’s themes and methods. Accordingly, the seminar is organized in two parts. The readings selected for the first part present theoretical articulations and practical applications of the main methodological approaches relied upon by comparative lawyers. Participants will become acquainted with the “mechanics”, as well as the broader implications, of the various ways of comparing: functionalism, structuralism, culturalism, postmodern neo-culturalism and critical comparative law. The materials discussed in the second part explore how these different methodologies play out in recent and heated comparative law debates. Participants will be asked to reflect over the common law-civil law dichotomy and its implications for the debate over the European Civil Code as well as for projects of harmonization, such as the World Bank’s “Legal Origins” study; the circulation of legal rules and institutions and the export of constitutional models in Eastern Europe and Iraq; the ambiguous relation between US and European legal cultures and the debate over different ideas of “privacy”; the “West” and the “Orient” in family law reform. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 952: Copyright Law
  This course is a policy-oriented study of federal copyright law as it pertains to works of art, motion pictures, music, literature, sculpture, design of useful objects, and software. The course will concentrate on the scope of copyright protected subject-matter, the exclusive rights granted to creators of "original works of authorship", the nature of an infringement action, and defenses such as fair use. The course also examines some of the related state rights, such as the right of publicity, the tort of misappropriation, and purported contracts (EULAs) created by click-wrap & shrinkwrap. We will examine the extent to which such state causes of action are pre-empted.
• LAW JD 953: International Intellectual Property (S)
  International law is increasingly important to domestic lawyers every day. This is as true in intellectual property as in any field. Regulation of intellectual property is a cornerstone in the globalization of trade and commerce. In order to harmonize intellectual property laws, more and more countries sign up to multilateral agreements regulating these laws. However, jurisdictional differences still exist and affect this process. This seminar examines international agreements and comparative laws on intellectual property and ways in which the intellectual property laws of the United States relate to those of other nations. Topics will include securing and enforcing rights in trademarks, copyrights and patents under international regimes and in various jurisdictions, and selected topics such as database protection, geographical indications, the interplay between intellectual property, international trade and culture, and Internet-related issues. The seminar is designed to afford students who intend to practice in IP an acquaintance with key international IP principles and policy issues. The seminar will impart understanding in these areas using materials such as treaties, cases and commentary. The seminar will treat international and European intellectual property separately, and will focus on the major international systems related to each substantive IP area. The seminar is open to students who have completed or are enrolled in an IP survey course, or to LLMs with some intellectual property experience. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing requirement with the approval of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. NOTE: THIS SEMINAR MEETS AUGUST 30 THROUGH OCTOBER 18. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 956: Pre-trial Advocacy: Civil and Criminal
  This is pre-trial advocacy, both civil and criminal, from soup to nuts. Learn how to prepare for argument and draft pleadings and supporting documentation. Each class you will be on your feet engaging in mock oral argument in support of those pleadings. On the civil side you will learn how to seek and oppose injunctive relief. You will master discovery practice under the Rules of Civil Procedure including practice involving interrogatories, requests for production of documents and depositions. You will also learn about motion practice including motions to dismiss and for summary judgment. On the criminal side you will argue bail matters and learn about discovery under the Rules of Criminal Procedure. Motions to dismiss due to insufficient Grand Jury presentation and motions to suppress statements and other evidence will be explored. Plea bargaining and guilty pleas will also be discussed. We will deal, too, with practices applicable to both the civil and criminal side including motions to sever, motions in limine , voir dire and jury impanelment . PREREQUISITE: EVIDENCE. NOTE: This course satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement. ** A student who fails either to attend the initial meeting of a section of Trial Advocacy, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the registrar, WILL BE administratively dropped from the section. Students who are on a wait list for a section are required to attend the first section meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 957: Law and Sexual Minorities (S)
  This seminar will consider the legal treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered citizens. In particular, the seminar will cover evolving family structures, privacy rights, the military, employment discrimination, and the tension between protecting the rights of victims of discrimination and those who discriminate. Students will write a research paper or an appellate brief and will prepare an oral presentation. Students may satisfy the Upper-class Writing Requirement with their paper. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 958: Effective & Ethical Depositions (S)
  The purpose of this seminar is to teach students how to take and defend effective and ethical depositions. The course involves both a simulated deposition component and a professional responsibility component. The seminar also satisfies the professional responsibility requirement. SIMULATED DEPOSITION COURSE COMPONENT: Students will be divided into firms representing either the Plaintiff or the Defendants in a gender discrimination and defamation case brought by an attorney who has been denied partnership. The students will prepare and perform depositions of lay and expert witnesses and gather experience with obtaining and developing facts, preserving testimony, and the uses of depositions. PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY COURSE COMPONENT: The simulated context offers the opportunity to explore several professional responsibility issues that arise naturally in deposition practice. These issues emerge largely because of the dual professional roles of an attorney: zealous representative and officer of the court. Some of the more timely issues involve proper witness preparation, improper witness coaching, inadvertent waiver of privilege, and abusive tactics. WRITING AND PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS: Each week students will write a short one or two page comment on the professional responsibility issues raised in class. At the end of the course, students will perform a videotaped deposition rather than take a final written exam. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT: Students may elect to fulfill the upper-class writing requirement with the permission of the instructor. NOTE: This seminar satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 959: International Business Agreements: Negotiating, Structuring and Drafting (S)
  This seminar will provide an overview of the private dimensions of negotiating and drafting international business agreements, and specifically on the contractual aspects. Students will gain hands on experience in structuring, drafting and analyzing various international business agreements and documents including global joint venture agreements and privatization provisions, sales, distribution and franchise agreements, international development agreements, share purchase agreements, letters of intent and technology licensing agreements. The design of the class will assist students in identifying critical legal issues and techniques likely to affect the outcome of international business negotiations including protecting against political, economic and legal risks. Emphasis will be placed on the important differences between international and domestic agreements from the American law perspective. Grades will be based on class participation and a final research paper. At the option of the student a final examination can be taken in lieu of a research paper. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing requirement. NOTE: This seminar satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement. **A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 961: Housing Law (S)
  Over the last fifty years housing law has evolved in a number of significant ways. Where once a lease was primarily a transfer of an interest in land, it is now primarily a contract. Where formerly a landlord could rent or not rent to whomever the landlord chose, a variety of federal and state anti-discrimination laws now limit the landlord's unbridled choices. Rent control laws now limit the ability of landlords to raise rents, to evict tenants, to convert their buildings to condominiums, etc. Public housing and governmentally subsidized housing has generated much heated debate as well as litigation over such issues as the location of the developments or the number of subsidized units in a given city, handicapped discrimination, racial discrimination, and drug evictions. Finally, landlords now find that they are increasingly liable in tort because of claims of inadequate security, lead poisoning, etc. This seminar will focus on the various policy, legislative, and social aspects of the issues surrounding rent control, public housing, subsidized housing, condominiums, housing discrimination, zoning (as it affects housing), environmental problems in housing and premises liability. Student presentations and papers are required. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing requirement with the approval of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who waitlist for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 962: Forensic Mental Health Issues for Lawyers (S)
  Attorneys routinely deal with forensic mental health issues in the practice of criminal, tort, juvenile delinquency, child protection, civil rights, disability, employment and family law. Familiarity with the law alone is rarely adequate for effective advocacy in these areas of law when mental health issues arise. This course surveys the intersection between psychiatry and law with a focus on applications for legal practice. Topics include: competence to stand trial, criminal responsibility, competence to be executed, involuntary civil commitment, child protection and divorce child custody, commitment of sexual offenders, mental health malpractice, emotional distress claims, and use of mental health expert testimony in the post-Daubert era. NOTES: This seminar does not satisfy the Upper-class Writing Requirement. This seminar satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 963: Licensing Law and Practice Workshop (S)
  The number of transactions worldwide involving intellectual property has skyrocketed in the past ten years, as increasing numbers of businesses seek to monetize their patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret assets. As a result, licensing has developed into distinct legal practice. This seminar will focus on the various practical legal and business issues that arise in patent, software, trade secret and trademark licensing (and - time permitting - music licensing) including contract law and intellectual property concerns as well as the effect of antitrust, bankruptcy and international law on these transactions. Prior coursework in intellectual property law would be useful, but is not required, as the course will include a segment on IP basics. The course will not include an exam or paper; instead, the course will be arranged in a workshop format, in which students will draft, edit, and revise various license agreements and related documents in response to case studies that are based on actual transactions. NOTES: This seminar does not satisfy the Upper-class Writing Requirement. This seminar satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 10 students. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who waitlist for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 964: Internet Law (S)
  The Internet and other digital technologies are preeminent in our lives and raise a myriad of novel challenges and dilemmas. This course will explore the pressing legal and policy questions in the field today: the bounds of jurisdiction; e-commerce and its regulation; intellectual property and peer-production; freedom of speech and content control; information privacy; security and cybercrime; and the effects of digital technologies on politics and democracy. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 10 students. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 965: Trust and Honesty in Law, Business and Public Policy
  This is a Course for law and graduate business students, in which students of both disciplines teach, and negotiate with each other in the context of real-life situations. The Course offers an opportunity for students of both disciplines to learn together the approach of each other’s discipline and environment. The teaching book, which Frankel and Fagan wrote, contains nine real-life cases (modeled after business-school format) in which law, trust, and honesty, were ignored with catastrophic results. The modules contain a role-play in which students would negotiate the contracts, control mechanisms, or other measures to avoid future disastrous results. The Course focuses on the nature of the particular businesses, the culture of the organizations and management, and the applicable laws. It emphasizes the approach in each discipline in seeking solutions to the problems. Professor Tamar Frankel (617.353.3773) is available to discuss any questions students might have. NOTE: This course satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement.
• LAW JD 967: Advanced Trial Practice (S)
  This intensive seminar takes an integrated approach to civil and criminal procedure, evidence, and trial practice to teach the current trial techniques at work in our courts. Taught at the United States District Court itself, the course involves in-court observations, specific critique of actual trial presentations, and seminar discussion of all aspects of procedure, trial preparation, evidence, and trial practice. A term paper on some aspect of the trial process is required. While neither evidence nor trial practice is a formal prerequisite for this course, they are recommended. The goal of the seminar is to enhance the quality of judgment, exposition, and fact-law teaching a lawyer exercises on behalf of the client in the trial environment. ** The first class will meet at the School of Law. Subsequent classes will meet on Wednesdays 12:00-2:30 p.m. in Judge Young's chambers. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing requirement with the approval of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. NOTE: This seminar satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 968: Immigration Law
  This class will cover the immigration laws of the United States, including the administrative and regulatory framework of the United States agencies charged with enforcing U.S. immigration laws. The topics covered by this course include the power of the Congress to regulate immigration; the effect of politics on immigration policy; nonimmigrant and immigrant visa classifications and visa processing; the law of asylum; the effect of criminal acts on immigration status; grounds of removal from the United States; relief from deportation, immigration court representation; and the law of naturalization and derived citizenship.

Note that this information may change at any time.

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