Courses

• LAW JD 804: American Legal History
  Selected topics in 19th- and 20th-century U.S. legal history. We will first explore the role of the legal profession in four public controversies: the authority of English common law after the American Revolution, slavery and racism, women's rights, and organized labor. We will then turn our attention to various methodologies for interpreting legal change: formalism, realism, law and economics, critical legal studies, and feminist jurisprudence. Readings (which will be plentiful) are drawn from primary sources (cases, speeches, and treatises) and secondary literature (articles and books). 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 805: Commercial Law: Secured Financing Transactions
  Many commercial financing transactions involve the creation of security interests in the borrower's personal property that are akin to mortgages of real property. Much business credit is provided on a secured credit -- if security is unavailable, credit markets can dry up. Additionally, the debt obligation can be packaged with others and serve as the backing for securities akin to those that have recently been much in the news. This course governs the basic secured transaction governed by Article 9 of the U.C.C. Topics covered will include creation and perfection of security interests, priority contests, and the consequences of default. There are no PREREQUISITES for this course. Students who desire a thorough exposure to the Uniform Commercial Code may wish to take the course in COMMERCIAL CODE instead. RESTRICTION: Enrollment is limited to students who have not taken or enrolled in COMMERCIAL CODE.
• LAW JD 807: Commercial Code
  Survey course in commercial transactions under the Uniform Commercial Code. Focus is upon the Uniform Commercial Code as a codified body of law with emphasis given to statutory treatment of the law of sales, secured transactions and negotiable instruments. RESTRICTION: Students who have previously completed Commercial Law: Sales, Commercial Law: Secured Transactions; and/or Commercial Law: Payments may enroll with the permission of the instructor.
• LAW JD 808: Commercial Law: Sales
  Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code is the focus of this course. Emphasis will be on specific topics such as contract formation and interpretation within the Sales article. The course will also deal with remedies for breach of contract. The Sales course will emphasize a more intense discussion and consideration of particular topics in the Sales area than is possible with the four hour Commercial Code course. RESTRICTION: Students who have taken or enrolled in COMMERCIAL CODE may enroll with the permission of the instructor.
• LAW JD 810: Constitutional Law
  Considers selected issues concerning judicial review, federalism, separation of powers, and individual rights.
• LAW JD 812: Attorney-Client Privilege, Work Product & Lawyer-Client Confidentiality (S)
  This seminar will offer an in-depth analysis of the attorney-client privilege, the work product doctrine, and lawyer-client confidentiality with special emphasis on recent developments in these areas of the law. Among sub-topics to be covered will be (a) changes in the American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Rules 1.6 and 1.13, and the reasons why these changes occurred; (b) the erosion of the attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine through governmental action requiring waivers of the privilege in corporate crime cases; (c) case law interpretations of what constitutes a waiver and what falls within the crime fraud exception; (d) an analysis of common interest agreements, and their effectiveness in protecting attorney-client privilege and work product; (e) the impact of corporate scandals on confidentiality within corporations, including whether the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and new SEC Regulation for lawyer conduct will destroy the concept of candid communications between corporate officers and in-house counsel contemplated by the Upjohn case; and (f) whether any confidential or privileged communications continue to exist between governmental lawyers and their governmental clients. Students will be asked to complete a paper as part of the course. NOTES: This seminar does not satisfy the Professional Responsibility requirement. This seminar satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement. 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 wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 813: Contracts
  Legal and equitable remedies for enforcing contracts, determining what promises are enforceable, elements of assent, standards of fairness and restrictions on bargaining processes, and tests for performance and breach
• LAW JD 814: Family Law
  SILBAUGH'S SECTION: This survey course will provide an introduction to the legal regulation of the family. The course will focus on the legal regulation and response to both adult and adult-child relationships. Topics covered will include: cohabitation; marriage; civil union; domestic partnership; divorce and dissolution of relationships; the financial consequences of divorce including property division and alimony; premarital agreements; the laws governing non-marital relationships; domestic violence; child custody, visitation, and parenting plans; child support; paternity; assisted reproductive technologies; child welfare issues such as abuse and neglect laws; reproductive rights; and adoption. The course will also cover the interaction between families and the state in related areas of law including employment law and education law. There will be a final examination as well as in-class drafting and negotiation exercises. MCCLAIN'S SECTION: This survey course will provide an introduction to family law. Students will learn about the legal regulation of the family, a basic social institution. The course will focus on marriage, divorce, and parenthood. Topics concerning marriage will include: legal definitions of family, legal requirements for entering into marriage, informal marriage, cohabitation, legal consequences of marital status, common law incidents of marriage and transformation of the common law, domestic violence, legal and political debates over same-sex marriage and recognizing legal alternatives to marriage such as civil unions and domestic partnerships. Topics concerning family dissolution will include traditional and "no fault" divorce, lawyering and alternative dispute resolution, child custody, property division, and spousal and child support. Students will also learn about tensions in family law over how to define and recognize legal parenthood. We will address some issues of conflicts of law and federal and state jurisdiction over family law. An aim of the course is to introduce students to family law as a dynamic field of law, which has undergone significant transformation and which draws on many other fields of law, such as property, contracts, constitutional law, conflicts of laws, and torts, as well as on the social sciences. There will be a final examination. There is also a course requirement of an in-class, ungraded negotiation exercise and a related short paper. NOTE: Professor McClain's section of this course satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement.
• LAW JD 815: Negotiable Instruments
  This course will focus its attention on Article 3 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Its purpose will be to provide an in depth study of the law governing promissory notes, drafts, and checks. Although business transactions will be emphasized, consumer related issues, in so far as they involve promissory notes and checks, will also be considered. The law governing bank collections of checks (Article 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code) will be examined only as it relates to Article 3 issues. Because this course involves intensive study of negotiable instruments not possible in the Commercial Code course, students who have taken or wish to take the Commercial Code course and the Sales course may also take the negotiable instruments course with the permission of the instructor.
• LAW JD 816: Corporations
  Course about the legal structure and characteristics of business corporations. Topics include the promotion and formation of corporations; the distribution of power between management and shareholders; the limitations on management powers imposed by state law fiduciary duties and federal securities laws; shareholder derivative suits; capital structure and financing of corporations; and fundamental changes in corporate structure, such as mergers and sales of assets. The course serves as a PREREQUISITE to advanced courses. NOTE: Professor Outterson will not permit laptops in class for his fall section. The exam will be closed book.
• LAW JD 817: Legislative Policy & Drafting Clinic/General (C)
  The Legislative Policy & Drafting Clinic is a one-semester clinical program offered in the fall. Students must apply and be accepted to the program before they register. Drafters selected for the Legislative Drafting Clinics may enroll in any one of the four clinics. Drafters select their projects from a wide range of topic areas. Each drafter provides the client with a legislative bill and a supporting research report. Most bills are filed in the Massachusetts legislature, and some have become law. Successful completion of the research report satisfies the Upper-class Writing Requirement. During the first half of the semester, drafters in all of the Legislation Clinics meet together in a twice-weekly seminar on legislative problem-solving, research methods and legislative drafting techniques. During the second half of the semester, the clinics separate and meet in small critique groups that bring together drafters, editors and faculty. Critique group members review the first draft of each report and bill. The group advises each drafter on researching facts and law, presenting a persuasive analysis and drafting clear, enforceable legislation. Many drafters have reported that their analytical skills and writing style improved significantly through the critique group process. The Legislation Clinics provide each drafter with a student editor selected from former drafters in the program. Editors advise their drafters throughout every phase of the analysis and drafting process. NOTE: The Legislative Policy & Drafting Clinic satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement.
• LAW JD 818: Legislative Policy & Drafting Clinic/Editor
  After completing a semester as a drafter, a student may be selected by the clinic faculty to serve as a clinic editor. Editors are selected based on their work as drafters and their enthusiasm for advising drafters. Editors may serve for one or two semesters and receive two credits per semester.
• LAW JD 819: Criminal Procedure
  This course examines basic issues in criminal procedure that cut across the investigative and adjudicative stages. We will consider how the Constitution shapes the criminal justice system in the courtroom in areas such as the concepts of the presumption of innocence and proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the right to counsel, grand jury requests for the production of evidence, plea bargaining and the application of the Exclusionary Rule seeking to suppress evidence the police obtained in violation of the Constitution. We will also study the limits the Constitution places on the power of the police in the areas of interrogation, searches, seizures of property and stop and arrest, paying particular attention to the issue of racial profiling.
• LAW JD 821: Criminal Procedure
  This course covers search and seizure, the privilege against self-incrimination, confessions and the rights to counsel during custodial police interrogation. In general the course will examine the constitutional law in cases arising out of the conflict between police practices and the Bill of Rights.
• LAW JD 823: Problems in the Study of Race and Litigation (S)
  This seminar will examine microscopically several cases arising from racial conflicts at various points in American history. For most of our sessions we shall read an appellate court opinion of the case in question and a book about the legal controversy. Some of the cases to be examined are well known: e.g. Dred Scott v. Sandford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Korematsu v. United States. Others, though, are now rather obscure: e.g. Shipp v. United States. Grading will be based on (1) writing and (2) class participation. The writing requirement will consist of a brief (no longer than 500 word statement) statement that every member of the class must submit to me by email before and after each class. In the before-class statement you should tell me what you found most interesting in the reading and what you would most like to pursue in the class discussion. In the after-class discussion you should tell me what you found to be the most interesting ideas generated in the class. I shall deliver remarks at the beginning of each class session. Afterwards I will expect members of the class to offer comments, questions, and criticisms. I will expect each member of the seminar to be an active member. ** 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 824: Juvenile Delinquency (S)
  The American juvenile justice system was established over one hundred years ago to address the problem of young offenders. This course explores the historical, social and legal foundations for our current system. We will examine the issue of "rights" as applied to children and look at the effects of ideology and politics on the current juvenile justice system. How have assumptions of childhood and responsibility changed? Has the juvenile court been "criminalized" with the introduction of due process rights for children? Under what circumstances are children treated as adult offenders? Issues such as police interrogation of juveniles, school safety, search and seizure, female offenders, and anti-youth crime policies will be addressed by scrutinizing court cases and legislative history. Using the Massachusetts model, one of the early and often emulated juvenile systems, we will examine the changes in the prosecution and incarceration of juveniles over the past century. As we consider the over arching issue of whether it makes sense to maintain a separate system for juveniles, we may compare our system to those of other nations. Students are expected to attend each class prepared to discuss the assigned readings. Course requirements include a weekly reading response, a 15-20 page final paper, a class presentation based on paper topic or related class readings, and a visit to the Boston Juvenile Court. A limited number of students will be permitted to fulfill the upper-class writing certification 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 826: Mediation: Theory & Practice (S)
  Mediation is part of the legal landscape in almost every substantive area and legal setting. This course will cover the theory and practice of mediation, the use of mediation to resolve disputes in various different legal contexts, and the development of practical mediation skills. We will examine the mediation process from the role of the mediator through the attorney representing a party in mediation. We will also address direct negotiation, the decision to mediate, mediator selection, preparation for mediation, and ethical issues involved in negotiation. The course will provide skill building through several interactive role-plays, in which students will have opportunities to act as a mediator, a party in mediation, and counsel to a party in mediation. The role play mediations and other exercises will survey many of the areas in which mediation is being used, including business and commercial; court-connected, federal-state agency (environmental and others); construction, employment/workplace; family/ divorce; school, community, and international. Due to the interactive nature of the class, students will be expected to attend all scheduled classes and to participate actively. Active participation includes in-class discussions, mediation role-plays, assigned reading, and writing a weekly mediator's journal. 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, 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 827: Restorative Justice: Principles and Practices
  The course explores the needs of key stakeholders in a justice system (victims, offenders, communities, justice systems), outlines the basic principles and values of restorative justice with comparisons to the principles and values of retributive justice, and introduces some of the primary models of practice. It also identifies challenges to restorative justice. These discussions will takes place in the context of secular and religious understandings of justice. The course is organized around the issue of crime and harm within a western legal context. However, attention is given to applications and lessons from other contexts. Of particular interest is the contribution of traditional or indigenous approaches to justice as well as applications in post-conflict situations, such as South Africa. The class will include presentations by the instructor, class discussion of the assigned reading, conversations with victims, offenders and community members, and role plays of different practices. The class will include students from both the Law School and the School of Theology. Students will be graded on the basis of their written work and classroom performance. There will be no final exam. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 15 students.
• LAW JD 828: Wrongful Convictions Clinic (C)
  Participants will engage in screening applications from prisoners claiming innocence, who have requested help from the New England Innocence Project. This may involve reading prisoner questionnaires, pleadings and court opinions in the case, legal research and analysis of the requirements for obtaining a new trial, review of attorney files, and search for forensic evidence in the case. Clinic students are obliged to spend five hours a week on Clinic work, under supervision. Students will receive one ungraded credit for this work. Interested students should enroll in the Clinic through the Registrar's regular course registration process. Preference will be given to third year students. Two applicants will be chosen from the enrollees by lottery in the summer; subsequent openings, if any, will be filled from the wait-list. Participants will be expected to attend an orientation program, conducted at the offices of Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston, in late September. Although it is possible that a student's Clinic case work will be completed in the Fall semester, it is more likely to continue into and through the 2012 Spring semester. In that case, award of the credit hour will be deferred until satisfactory completion of work in the Spring. Hours spent on Clinic work in the Spring semester may be counted toward satisfaction of the School's Pro Bono Pledge. NOTES: This Clinic satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement. Enrolling in this Clinic will not disadvantage participants who wish to enroll in other law school clinics, either contemporaneously or subsequently.
• LAW JD 829: Domestic Violence (S)
  Domestic violence is a pervasive social problem that until recently has gone largely unrecognized if not tacitly accepted by society and the legal system. Statutes have been adopted in every state addressing the prevention and punishment of family violence and federal legislation has also addressed issues of domestic violence. A body of case law has developed which has contributed to a more sophisticated understanding of the problems and issues and reflects a recognition that the impact of domestic violence extends beyond the criminal law and domestic relations law. The seminar will proceed on the theory that an understanding of the nature of domestic violence is important and useful for any lawyer in numerous ways in his or her personal and professional life whether as a litigator in the area of domestic violence or domestic relations or in seemingly unrelated areas; when dealing with the issue within a law office or within a client's business; and in the classic role of the lawyer as a community leader. The seminar will deal with the substantive law as well as the historic acceptance of violence within the family unit. We will consider the control and power nature of the battered, the victim and how to empower her, treatment and/or punishment of the batterers, the impact on children of abuse of their caretakers and violence directed at children. The Quincy Massachusetts District Court has been the scene of a widely recognized and successful collaboration between the court, the prosecutor's office and other agencies in an integrated response to domestic violence. The Quincy model will be examined. There will be research assignments during the semester and each student will study a jurisdiction, prepare a short paper dealing with the domestic violence prevention statute of the selected jurisdiction and serve as the seminar's resource person for that jurisdiction so that, as a group, we may have the benefit of a national survey of the issues discussed and examine various statutory approaches. Requirements are active participation of each student, the relatively short research paper, and a substantial final paper in lieu of a final exam. The grade will be based on the short paper (10%), class participation (30%) and the final paper (60%). NOTE: This seminar satisfies the Upper-class Professional Skills requirement. 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 wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.

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