Courses

• LAW JD 972: Lawyering in the 21st Century (S)
  The practice of law has changed dramatically in the last several decades and is expected to change even more in the not-too-distant future. Developments in global commerce and information technology are at the forefront of this change. The globalization of commerce has resulted in the globalization of law practice, making the regulation of lawyers more difficult and less predictable. Changes in lawyer regulation elsewhere in the world, such as the radical reforms recently enacted in the UK and in Australia (permitting the ownership of law firms by nonlawyers, including public investment, as well as the formation of multidisciplinary practices), are bound to have important implications for US lawyers. Even for lawyers whose practices remain primarily local, developments in information technology have resulted in new challenges, such as: 1) storing and protecting the confidentiality of electronic files; 2) regulating the quality of work outsourced to cheaper providers, including foreign lawyers; 3) regulating the provision of legal services through the internet; and 4) special issues concerning marketing and confidentiality that arise from the extensive use of social network sites. This seminar will explore the ethical issues raised by these changes in the practice of law, including issues concerning unauthorized practice of law, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, advertising and solicitation. A substantial research paper will be required. There are no prerequisites for this seminar. This seminar satisfies the upper-class professional responsibility requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H 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 973: Civil Litigation Program/Pretrial Advocacy
  The program also includes a serious classroom component during which you learn the theories of practice for use in the field. Pretrial Advocacy is taught in groups of roughly 14 students and two clinical professors per group. Half of the classes are devoted to activities and simulations in which you role play with the skills that are taught. Students in the HEFD (section A1) and IRC (section B1) options take Pretrial Advocacy in the fall. Students in the ERC fall option (section C1) will take Pretrial Advocacy plus a "bootcamp" in Trial Advocacy. Please note that only the HEFD and ERC section of Pre-Trial Advocacy will satisfy the Professional Responsibility requirement. The IRC section will not satisfy the requirement. GRADING NOTICE: HEFD & ERC sections do not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 974: Civil Litigation Program/Trial Advocacy
  The program also includes a serious classroom component during which you learn the theories of practice for use in the field. Trial Advocacy is taught in groups of roughly 14 students and two clinical professors per group. Half of the classes are devoted to activities and simulations in which you role play with the skills that are taught. Students in the HEFD (section A1) and IRC (section B1) options take Trial Advocacy in the spring. Students in the ERC spring option (section C2) will take Trial Advocacy plus a "bootcamp" in Pretrial Advocacy.
• LAW JD 975: International Human Rights Clinic (C)
  The International Human Rights Clinic is part of BU Law's expanded practicum of offerings in international human rights that includes the Semester-in-Practice Program in Geneva and international pro bono project trips. The Clinic develops and expands on human rights projects including: representing international NGO's in advocacy in the UN Human Rights Council, the treaty bodies, the regional human rights organs (in the American, African, and European human rights systems); filing briefs and amicus briefs on international human rights law issues in US domestic courts; participating in universal jurisdiction claims in the US and other courts. The International Human Rights Clinic is a two semester commitment. Students earn 3 credits per semester for completing the clinic fieldwork. Fieldwork includes some combination of the following: amicus briefs on human rights issues; handling appeals in refugee and international human rights cases; working on research, investigation and advocacy on international human rights issues, partnering with domestic and international non-governmental organizations on the Guantanamo cases, habeas cases, Alien Tort Claims Act and other cases; working on research, advocacy and drafting submissions to the various treaty bodies at the UN and the Human Rights Council in Geneva; Working in partnership with the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights (BCRHHR), focusing the health and human rights aspect of humanitarian cases. In addition to the fieldwork, students must take 2 seminar courses: International Human Rights (fall; 3 credits); and Human Rights Lawyering (spring; 3 credits). The clinic fieldwork is supervised by Professor Susan Akram. Professor Akram also teaches the two required seminar classes. To apply: Applications will be available on-line following the Open House. Applications will be due April 19
• LAW JD 977: Health Care Reform & the Constitution (S)
  This seminar will examine the complex web of federal and state regulations that form the center of American healthcare policy and American healthcare reform, including but not limited to the Obamacare statute's new laws and regulations. The goal for the semester will be to determine the best balance of federal and state governance and the best balance of legislative, executive, and judicial governance for healthcare policy. The first half of the course will center on the considerations that guide constitutional divisions of labor between our national and state governments (uniformity interests, political diversity, state experimentation, interstate competition, and regulatory success (among others)), and the second half of the course will center the considerations that guide constitutional divisions of labor among the three branches of the federal government (expertise, political accountability, agency capture, and individual justice (among others)). We will also discuss the role that private markets can, do, and should play in distributing scarce healthcare resources. Specific topics will include the Obamacare individual mandate and Medicaid expansion, public healthcare financing, private insurance regulation, healthcare quality controls, healthcare privacy rules, and bioethical questions like reproductive rights and the right to die. ** 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 980: International Business Arbitration (S)
  Legal dimensions of international business dispute resolution through binding arbitration. Treaty framework for determining validity of arbitration agreement and for recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards (New York Convention, Panama Convention, Washington Convention). Comparative approach (French, English, Swiss, and U.S. legal systems) to the influence of national law on international arbitration. UNCITRAL Model Law. NAFTA Chapter 11 and bilateral investment treaties. Special status of international commercial arbitration in national law. Major arbitral institutions and rules, including ICC, LCIA, AAA and ICSID. State contracts: Act of State and sovereign immunity. Expropriation claims. Delocalization and the influence of the arbitral seat. Arbitral awards as a contribution to lex mercatoria. NOTE: This seminar satisfies the Upper-class Professional Skills requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ** 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 981: Criminal Trial Advocacy
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to 2L students who have applied to and been accepted to start the Criminal Clinic in Spring 2014. Trial Advocacy is a three credit course which will meet once a week for two hours. It will focus on courtroom skills in the context of criminal trial litigation. NOTE: The Criminal Clinical Program satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement.
• LAW JD 982: Criminal Trial Practice I (C)
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have applied to and been accepted into the Criminal Clinical Program. The Fall section is restricted to 3Ls who will begin the program in Fall 2013. The Spring 2014 section is restricted to 2L students who will begin the program in Spring 2014. (Fall/3L section) Criminal Trial Practice I will meet in the first semester for two hours each week at the law school and will require students to be available one morning a week to be in court, from Monday through Thursday. The classroom component of this course will provide students an introduction to Massachusetts criminal procedure and basic instruction in lawyering skills such as case planning and investigation. Students in the program will be assigned to cases handled by senior members of the Prosecutor and Defender programs and will be expected to conduct tasks out of court such as legal research, fact investigation, witness interviews and preparation. One morning a week, these students will be in court observing and second seating the cases they have helped to prepare. After the completion of this course, students will be assigned to the Prosecutor or Defender component of the clinic and must register for the appropriate section in the following semester. (Spring/2L Section) Criminal Trial Practice I will meet in the second semester for three hours each week at the law school and will require students to be available one morning a week to be in court, from Monday through Thursday. The classroom component of this course will provide students an introduction to Massachusetts criminal procedure and basic instruction in lawyering skills such as case planning and investigation. Students in the program will be assigned to cases handled by senior members of the Prosecutor and Defender programs and will be expected to conduct tasks out of court such as legal research, fact investigation, witness interviews and preparation. One morning a week, these students will be in court observing and second seating the cases they have helped to prepare. NOTE: The Criminal Clinical Program satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement.
• LAW JD 984: Professional Responsibility
  This course offers an approach to the lawyer's responsibilities to clients, the profession, and the public. Topics addressed will be problems of disclosure, conflict of interest, advertising, adversary tactics, competence, attorney fees, and fiduciary duties. NOTE: This course satisfies the upper-class professional responsibility requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 985: Corporate Finance
  This course covers the foundations of corporate finance. It starts with an overview of accounting fundamentals, including basic financial statement analysis, and the concepts of time value of money and net present value. With this background, it then considers the major financial decisions made by corporate managers. Topics include criteria for making investment decisions, valuation of financial assets and liabilities, business valuation, relationships between risk and return, portfolio theory, market efficiency, capital structure choice, and cost of capital.
• LAW JD 986: Legal Writing Fellows
  This class is restricted to students who have applied and been accepted as Writing Fellows for the First Year Writing Program. Accepted students must register for both the fall and spring sections of the class.
• LAW JD 988: Mergers and Acquisitions
  GOODMAN'S SECTION: This course will cover the principal legal, tax and business issues of mergers and acquisitions. PREREQUISITE: Corporations or permission of the instructor. QUINN'S SECTION: This course is an introduction to the legal rules and principles governing corporate transactions including mergers and negotiated acquisitions. We will begin with an examination of the deal structures used in most common transactions, focusing on statutory requirements and relevant Federal regulations. We will then turn to questions of the Delaware common law and the fiduciary duties of selling directors in the context of mergers and acquisitions. Finally, we will turn to the merger agreement. In that setting, we will study the structure of the merger agreement and typical provisions negotiated in merger agreements. The object of this final section will be to understand the incentives addressed by each such provision and the legal limits to their use. PREREQUISITE: Corporations or permission of instructor. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 989: Jessup Moot Court: Problem Solving in International Law
  This course is restricted to students who applied and were accepted as participants for the Jessup Moot Court competition.
• LAW JD 991: International Human Rights (S)
  This is an introductory course to international human rights. The course will introduce students to the concepts of human rights, and the instruments that have codified and provided content to those concepts in the last sixty years. We will examine such questions as: Is there such a thing as human rights law? What standards, mechanisms, monitoring or enforcement machinery exists to make human rights concepts "legal"? Is there such a thing as universal consensus on human rights, or are the concepts relative from one region to the next? What, if any, constraints does human rights law place on the actions of sovereign states? How does the UN machinery operate in human rights law-making, monitoring and enforcement? What is the role of regional organizations, domestic courts and international entities in developing, promoting and implementing human rights norms? The course will take a contextualized approach using cases and current situations to address these questions primarily from a human rights perspective. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ** 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 992: Health Insurance, Health Reform and the Law (S)
  The seminar examines the pivotal role of insurance in health reform, health policy and the distribution of health care in the US. We explore how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act affects the design, operation, and regulation of health benefit plans, as well as the constitutionality of the individual mandate. Investigating arguments for and against specific regulations, we learn fundamentals of insurance and whether reforms affect larger principles of law. We also study Massachusetts, the model for federal health reform, and the comparative advantages of federal and state governance. Students explore the changing roles of insurance in the health system by analyzing and comparing federal and state laws governing different health benefit plans (including indemnity insurance, managed care, consumer choice, and health promotion plans), and how reforms affect current law, including state licensure, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Topics include basic concepts of insurance; accepting, managing and shifting financial risk; individual and employer mandates; health insurance exchanges; contracting with providers, employers, and individuals; designing and administering plans; defining benefits; and appeals and remedies. PREREQUISITE: JD 867 (Health Law) or JD 926 (Public Health Law) or LW 751 (Public Health Law at BUSPH) or permission of instructor. NOTE: This seminar satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may elect to use this course to fulfill the upper-class writing requirement with permission of the instructor. ** 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 998: Health Care Transactions (S)
  This course is similar to Deals (JD 904) but centered in the health care sector. Partners, associates and general counsel from leading firms will discuss the deals they were personally involved in. After an introduction to joint venture theory and the regulatory context of health care, everyone in the class examines 2 transactions: a physician recruiting agreement and an ambulatory surgery center JV. The remainder of the course will involve 5 -- 6 complex health care transactions, using actual documents from recent deals. The transactions run the gamut from hospital M&A to biotech licenses. For the transaction you select, you will work in teams to analyze the deal, and will present your conclusions to the lawyers who closed it. Your final project will be a negotiation or drafting assignment drawn from class materials. The course is taught by Dan Roble (partner emeritus, Ropes & Gray, Boston) and Jeff Heidt (partner at Verrill Dana, Boston), based on the course created by Professor Outterson. PREREQUISITES: The course does not have pre-requisites, but Corporations and Health Care are suggested; if you select the biotech transactions, IP and FDA are suggested. NOTES: This seminar satisfies the Upper-class Professional Skills requirement. This seminar does not satisfy the Upper-class Writing Requirement. 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 TX 901: Federal Income Taxation I
  This course presents a general introduction to the fundamentals of federal income tax, emphasizing issues common to individual taxpayers (but not including the federal income tax aspects of the acquisition, ownership, and disposition of property, which are the subject of Federal Income Taxation II). Topics include an overview of the federal tax system; gross income, inclusions, and exclusions; identity of the proper taxpayer; concepts and categories of deductions; and basic timing principles.
• LAW TX 902: Federal Income Taxation II
  Federal income tax aspects of the acquisition, ownership, and disposition of property. Topics include: 1.Realization and recognition, 2.Basis and amount realized, 3.The effects of debt (including its cancellation), 4.Depreciation and amortization, 5.At risk, not for profit, and passive activity loss deductibility limitations, 6.Capital gains and losses, related party transactions, quasi-capital assets and depreciation recapture, and 7.Deferred payment transactions (original issue discount and installment sales). Prerequisite or corequisite: Federal Income Taxation I.
• LAW TX 904: Estate and Gift Taxation
  Principle issues of estate and gift taxation. Topics include the definition of taxable gifts and exclusions and deductions; determination of the taxable estate of a decedent including problems with lifetime transfers; valuation issues; deductions from the taxable estate with special emphasis on property passing to a spouse; and transfers with retained interests. Reference is made throughout to planning issues relating to estate and gift taxation and is designed to give both a requisite background for those intending additional study of estate planning and a comfortable familiarity with the subject for those going on to other tax fields.
• LAW TX 905: Pensions and Profit Sharing Plans
  Regulation of pension and profit sharing plans by the Internal Revenue Code and Employee Retirement Income Security Act, with particular attention to rules applicable to tax-qualified pension and profit-sharing plans, including rules governing the structure of benefits and taxation of contributions and distributions.

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