Courses

• LAW JD 832: Energy Law & Policy (S)
  Energy policy has multiple implications for our society, including environmental and economic consequences. This seminar will consider regulatory, subsidy and other legal issues related to energy policy. Particular attention will focus on alternative energy sources. ** 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 833: Environmental Law
  This is an introductory survey class in environmental law. Topics include the control of air and water pollution, toxic substances, and hazardous waste, as well as protection of wetlands and endangered species. Administrative Law is recommended but not required as a prerequisite.
• LAW JD 834: Employment Discrimination and Employment Law
  The course focuses on race, sex, age, and disability employment discrimination prohibitions. Affirmative action, religious discrimination, constitutional protections of public sector workers, anti retaliation and whistleblower laws, and common law protection against arbitrary dismissals are also covered. Important procedural issues, including arbitration, are highlighted.
• LAW JD 836: Federal Courts
  A basic survey course, covering the federal courts and their conduct of litigation concerning business regulation, environmental protection, and civil rights. This course picks up where the first year course in Civil Procedure leaves off and complements other courses on modern regulation and legal institutions: e.g., Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Labor Law, Conflict of Laws, and Constitutional Law. Topics include the prerequisites for gaining access to the federal district courts and the United States Supreme Court, the relationship between the federal courts and state courts, and "abstention" doctrines governing the exercise of federal judicial power. Especially recommended for students who plan to practice with firms that represent clients subject to federal regulation, to pursue careers with federal or state agencies and departments, or to handle constitutional, civil rights, or other public interest litigation.
• LAW JD 837: Wrongful Convictions and the US Criminal Justice System (S)
  The past two decades have witnessed an unprecedented surge in the freeing from our nations jails and prisons of innocent people who were wrongfully convicted. Many have served lengthy sentences and some have spent years on death row awaiting execution for crimes they did not commit. This course will examine the broad range of factors that contribute to the wrongful conviction of the innocent and, in doing so, will shed light on broader questions about the functioning of the US criminal justice system. We will explore the role played by faulty eyewitness-identification procedures; coercive and deceptive police interrogation procedures; the mishandling of confidential informants, cooperating witnesses, and jailhouse snitches; junk science, disorganized crime labs, and incompetent and corrupt experts; police and prosecutorial failures to preserve & disclose exculpatory evidence; and incompetent defense counsel and underfunded criminal-defense-delivery systems. We will also examine the role of racial and ethnic bias, profiling, and tunnel vision, before considering how wrongful convictions affect the debate over the death penalty. We will look the use of postconviction procedures such as appeals, new-trial motions, and habeas corpus petitions, to free the wrongfully convicted. Finally, we will explore some of the reforms that have been proposed and some of the critiques -- from both the left and the right -- of the innocence movement, with its reliance on DNA technologies, and its narrow focus on the "wrong-man" notion of the "factually innocent." Films, case studies, and guest speakers will help ground our discussion in concrete examples. OFFERING PATTERN: This class is frequently offered in alternating years. Students are advised to take this into account when planning their long-term schedule. **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 838: Antitrust Law
  Antitrust law regulates the competition between business firms in unregulated markets (and in varying degrees in regulated markets, where it supplies a benchmark standard). Thus, all privately owned economic entities are subject to or affected by the antitrust laws (federal or state), ranging from the largest multinationals to self-employed individuals, e.g., lawyers. Antitrust law constrains business behavior that injures the competitive process, encompassing such topics as price fixing, boycotts, monopolization, mergers, price discrimination, distributorship limitations and similar trade restrictions. Antitrust analysis is increasingly economic in its orientation and therefore economic analysis will form a vital part of the course. Supplementary economic readings are suggested for students without previous economic background (and for others who may wish to refresh their knowledge). GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 839: First Amendment
  This course will begin with an examination of freedom of expression and freedom of the press and will then move to a study of freedom of religion -- the establishment clause and the free exercise clause. We shall cover issues such as the protection of political speech, sexualized speech (obscenity and pornography), symbolic speech and speech in public places in addition to issues related to press censorship, reporters' privilege and press coverage of trials. In the area of freedom of religion we shall review the jurisprudence on the role of religion in the public sphere as well as the constitutional command to guarantee free exercise of religion. While studying the doctrines developed under the Bill of Rights, we shall also address theoretical questions such as the role of rights in constitutional democracy and the institutional question of judicial review.
• LAW JD 841: Sup Res&Writing
  
• LAW JD 842: International Business Transactions
  This course will focus on the legal problems encountered in commercial and financial business ventures that cross national borders. Topics include formation of contracts, choice of law, financing the international sale of goods through letters of credit, regulation of international trade, the organizations and operations of the institutions of the World Trade Organization, foreign investment, investment in free trade areas such as the European Union, international dispute settlement, and international transfer of intellectual property.
• LAW JD 846: Historical Perspectives on Law, Constitutions and Culture (S)
  This workshop-format seminar examines the interplay of law, constitutions, and culture from an historical perspective. The heart of the seminar is student engagement with works-in-progress by leading scholars in the history, theory, and culture of law, broadly understood. The first three class sessions will be devoted to developing the intellectual tools necessary for reading and engaging with such papers. Starting in week 4 of the semester, the class format will alternate between workshop sessions and more traditional seminar sessions. During the five workshop sessions, an invited scholar will present a current scholarly work-in-progress for discussion. Students will read the speaker's paper in advance and prepare discussion questions for the seminar. During the other sessions, the class will meet as a normal seminar, during which we will discuss readings related to the workshop papers and legal history more generally. The written work for the seminar will consist of a series of brief, critical essays in response to a student-selected subset of the workshop papers. NOTE: This course is open to law students and to graduate students from other departments. A background in history is not a prerequisite. Graduate students from outside the law school may be able to receive 4 credits for this course. Please consult the professor regarding this option. ** 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 849: Trial Evidence
  The new trial lawyer faces a daunting challenge; how to "master" the rules of evidence sufficiently well to effectively meet the tactical and strategic challenges of the trial. The rules of evidence, some of which are unwritten, are difficult to understand until experienced in a trial setting. This on-your-feet course provides that experience. This is a practical introduction to evidence which equips one with a high level of proficiency in evidentiary advocacy procedures - the mechanics of arguing evidentiary issues - as well as a working knowledge and comfort level with evidentiary rules and concepts that trial lawyers frequently encounter. You will conduct a large number of witness examinations and other evidentiary exercises. A basic evidence course is a prerequisite for Trial Evidence, but the learn by doing approach utilized is distinct from that of a basic evidence course. This course, which seeks to foster strong communication skills modeled on the less formal school of advocacy, is an excellent complement to a trial advocacy class. NOTE: One class is held at the Suffolk Superior Court located at the Suffolk County Courthouse at Three Pemberton Square. PREREQUISITE: EVIDENCE. NOTE: This course satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement.
• LAW JD 850: Insurance Law
  The presence or absence of insurance is in many instances the single most important determinant of whether and how a tort or contracts action is litigated. This course focuses on both individual and commercial forms of insurance coverage. Students are introduced to the key insurance concepts of risk management, including the transfer, pooling and allocation of covered risks. Problems of contract interpretation, imperfect information, adverse selection and discrimination will be treated at length. Additionally, the class will take up issues particular to property, life, health, disability, liability and auto insurance. Finally, some time will be devoted to the state regulatory regimes designed to ensure solvency and profitability, and to the secondary market (i.e. reinsurance, and surplus and excess lines). A final exam is required although a research paper may be substituted with instructor approval.
• LAW JD 851: Labor Law
  Survey of modern labor management and union relations law in the private sector. Organization of workers and the representation process; collective bargaining; unfair practices, employer and union; negotiation and enforcement of collective agreement, including arbitration; regulation of strikes and lockouts. Administrative law and federalism principles will be treated. Employment discrimination and other individual employee protection laws are not treated in this course.
• LAW JD 852: Mutual Funds (Investment Companies)
  Investment companies have become an important part of the financial system. This course is designed to familiarize students with the special laws governing investment companies: their creation, structure, corporate governance, operations, including the distribution of shares and the management of the portfolios, dissolution, and, time permitting, taxation. In particular, the course will focus on the Investment Company Act of 1940, and on the practice in this area before the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• LAW JD 853: Philosophy of Law
  This course will critically examine ideas about the nature of law, duties of obedience and resistance, and legal interpretation, with an emphasis on modern theories. Written work will consist of three short papers, one on each segment of the course. (This course is cross-listed as CAS PH455/GRS PH655 and can be expected to include a limited number of non-law students.)
• LAW JD 854: White Collar Crime
  The past several years have witnessed an explosion in white collar criminal prosecutions: Arthur Andersen, Martha Stewart, Bernard Madoff and Jeffrey Skilling (Enron) to name a few. The purpose of this Course is to teach present-day "white collar crime" practice, including the elements of principal federal statutes and the special procedures followed by prosecutors. The course will review the theoretical bases of modern "white collar crime" prosecution, the major statutes in a prosecutor's "tool-box" (mail and wire fraud, securities fraud, bribery and extortion, obstruction of justice, RICO, and perjury) and procedural aspects of white collar crime (such as, grand jury process and sentencing). Students will learn significant and interesting recent cases and the prosecutorial and defensive techniques employed in white collar crime cases. Upon successful completion of the course, students will be familiar with the statutes, procedures, and methods of issue analysis employed by prosecutors and private lawyers in "white collar crime" practice. PREREQUISITE: Students should be familiar with criminal law and procedure and Constitutional law before taking this course. NOTES: This class does not satisfy the Upper-class Writing Requirement. There will be a take-home final.
• LAW JD 856: Restitution and Unjust Enrichment
  A survey of the modern U.S. law of restitution and unjust enrichment, organized around the new "Restatement Third, Restitution and Unjust Enrichment," scheduled to be completed during the summer of 2010 and published some time in 2011. Our syllabus will combine selections from the Restatement with selected cases. "Restitution" in this context refers to an independent cause of action based on the claim that the defendant has been unjustly enriched at the expense of the plaintiff. The action in restitution often involves characteristic equitable remedies, such as constructive trust, subrogation, and rules of "tracing." Restitution is a basic "building block" subject, like contract and torts, with potential application to transactions across every part of the private legal spectrum. Students who have never heard of it before (except possibly in their Contracts class) are usually surprised to see how many interesting topics it involves. Course materials will be made available through a course website.
• LAW JD 857: Intellectual Property
  This course explores how the law deals with the products of creative activity. The range of subject matter is large, embracing things as different as mechanical inventions and melodies; baubles and boat designs; catalogues, computers and cartoons. Among the areas of potential coverage are federal copyright law, federal trademark law, state law theories of unfair competition, trade secret law, patent law, state rights of publicity, and misappropriation. Also considered will be whether federal law should preempt the efforts of state judges and legislatures to regulate intellectual products.
• LAW JD 858: International Trade Regulation (S)
  This seminar surveys the origins and development of the WTO, with emphasis on the WTO legal process and its interaction with US trade agencies. It covers the underlying philosophy of free trade and introduces the major legal disciplines under the WTO. It also deals with the social and political implications of free trade, and with some of the controversies concerning the future evolution of the WTO. **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 860: Fiduciary Law
  With few exceptions fiduciary law appears in all legal subjects: contract, tort and property; trusts and estates, agency and partnership; corporation and securities regulation; criminal law, health law, and civil procedure. You cannot escape it. We learn snippets of the subjects in different contexts. This course offers a view of fiduciary law as a legal category, highlights its uniqueness and history, and predicts its future development or disappearance. We sample statutory and common law fiduciaries of various kinds and ask: When and why do fiduciary duties arise? Why so many different fiduciaries with similar, but different rules? Are family members, the clergy, and broker-dealers fiduciaries? What are the remedies for the breach of their duties? Is contract a good and simplified substitute to this mess? Can civil law and common law systems in the fiduciary law area be unified, as we move to, or already are in, a global business environment? Course reading materials are a manuscript in the making. Students' comments and contributions are very welcome.

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