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). Students can either write a research paper or complete a take-home examination. Research papers may, but need not, fulfill the Writing Requirement.
• LAW JD 805: Secured Transactions
  Many commercial and consumer financing transactions involve the creation of security interests in the borrower's personal property that are akin to mortgages of real property. (Indeed, much commercial activity involves the grant of a UCC Article 9 security interest, and the economic system depends on Article 9 to provide much of the law against which modern commerce takes place.) In a secured transaction, in the event of the borrower's default, the lender can foreclose on the collateral subject to the security interest to help liquidate the debt. While simple to describe, secured transactions and the rules that govern them can be complex. This course covers the basic secured transaction governed by Article 9 of the UCC. Topics covered will include creation and perfection of security interests, priority contests, and default. The course is an excellent precursor to Bankruptcy and often helpful when sitting for the bar exam.
• LAW JD 806: Prosecutorial Ethics (S)
  Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson once noted, "The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America." This seminar examines the unique role and power of prosecutors in the United States and their responsibility to ensure "that guilt shall not escape or innocence suffer." We will study the ways in which a prosecutor exercises discretion -- in deciding what charges to bring (or whether to bring them at all), in conducting trials, in recommending punishment -- and the ethical and practical considerations that affect those determinations. What duty does the prosecutor owe to the victim? To the police? To the public at large? How might their interests conflict with prosecutors' objectives and impact their decisions? A major focus of this course will be the prosecutor's obligations to the accused and the various ways in which they are breached. We will examine the potential consequences of prosecutorial misconduct, the instances in which it may or may not be remedied, and to what extent it can be deterred. Students will engage in mock disciplinary hearings, playing the role of bar counsel in bringing allegations of misconduct or defending prosecutors against such claims. Throughout the semester we'll refer to Rules of Professional Conduct that apply to all lawyers, while scrutinizing others that bind prosecutors but not defense attorneys. Other topics to be covered include the relationship between the prosecutor and the grand jury, conflicts of interest, selective prosecution, trial misconduct, prosecutorial immunity, mandatory minimum sentences, the use of confidential informants and cooperating witnesses, discovery of exculpatory evidence, post-conviction obligations and wrongful convictions. Our study will draw heavily from historical events such as the Duke Lacrosse rape allegations, the Clinton/Lewinsky and other political scandals, and the prosecutions of O.J. Simpson and other celebrities, as well as more recent events such as the Boston Marathon bombing, the Dookhan drug lab scandal, and the deaths of several unarmed individuals at the hands of the police. NOTE: This seminar does not satisfy the Upperclass Writing Requirement. This seminar satisfies the Professional Responsibility requirement. While there are no required prerequisites for taking this course, it is recommended that students have taken or be enrolled in Criminal Procedure (Comprehensive, Investigatory or Adjudicatory). 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 807: Business Immigration
  This course will provide an overview of business immigration law, with a particular focus on how various federal administrative agencies are engaged in shaping a complex, multidisciplinary immigration law ecosystem for employers. In addition to a substantive overview of nonimmigrant and immigrant visa classifications throughout the course, we will explore how immigration laws are informed by, and overlap with, other key areas such as corporate and securities law, employment and labor law and tax law. Topics will include entity formation of new businesses; visa challenges in entrepreneurship; immigration obstacles faced by multinational businesses; immigration consequences of mergers and acquisitions; the intersection of business immigration with employment laws; enforcement trends targeted at employers; and the role of the IRS and tax laws in business immigration. We will also briefly review administrative law basics, explore the parameters of executive power in shaping business immigration law, and examine the plenary power of the President over immigration. Throughout the course, we will discuss how debates about outsourcing, unemployment and national security, among others, inform a complex national discussion about business immigration. We will also identify, examine and discuss core professional responsibility issues that arise in business immigration practice. There are no prerequisites for this course. There is no writing requirement, but there will be weekly quizzes and a final examination. Class attendance and participation are essential.
• LAW JD 808: Corporate Governance Trends: The Board, The Shareholder & The Lawyer
  This course will cover key issues in corporate governance. While basic concepts and principles will be addressed, including the relevant legal framework and the roles of different players such as Boards of Directors, management and shareholders, the emphasis will be on current developments in this important and rapidly evolving field. The course will include lectures and in-class discussion, as well as role-playing exercises intended to present students with "real-world" situations faced by practitioners in the corporate governance field. Homework assignments will focus substantially on recent experiences of U.S. public corporations. Drafting assignments will include sample client memos, proxy disclosure, written presentations to Boards of Directors and reaction papers. Readings will include current articles, whitepapers, policies, SEC filings and website postings. We will also study relevant statutes, SEC rules, case law and commentaries. We will have governance experts representing multiple constituencies as guest instructors. The course grade will be based on drafting assignments, contributions to in-class activities and thoughtful participation in class discussions. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 15 students. PREREQUISITE: Corporations. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: A student who fails to attend the first class or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the class. Students who are on the wait list are required to attend the first meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 809: Learning From Practice Externship (C)
  This CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. Students receive credit for working in the legal department of a non-profit, government agency, private company, or at a law firm (working on pro bono projects only). Placements may be paid or unpaid. Students may find their own placements that must be approved by the Office of Experiential Education, or the Office has resources to help students identify and apply to suitable field placements based on their interests and career goals. NOTE: Students who enroll in this externship may count the credits toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: Learning from Practice: Seminar (JD 771).
• LAW JD 810: Constitutional Law
  Considers selected issues concerning judicial review, federalism, separation of powers, and individual rights.
• LAW JD 811: Criminal Justice (S)
  This seminar will critically examine selected issues in the practice of American criminal justice. Topics may include a selection from the following list: racial dimensions of policing, prosecution, and incarceration; family and community impact of criminal justice policies and practices; the capacity of the poor to find justice in the criminal system; police violence and culture; sentencing law and practice; plea bargaining; prosecutorial discretion; police discretion; drug law and policy (including mandatory minimums and the war on drugs); prisoners' rights; solitary confinement; cruel and unusual punishment (including sentences of life without parole); prison violence/rape; racial segregation in prison; prison overcrowding; privatization of prisons; alternatives to prison. We may also look at comparisons with criminal justice systems in other countries and avenues for reform. Students will make presentations to the group and execute substantial written assignments. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may elect to use this course to fulfill the upper-class writing 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 812: Contracts for LLMs
  This course will use the case method to examine legal and equitable remedies for enforcing contracts, determining what promises are enforceable, elements of assent, standards of fairness and restrictions on bargaining process, and tests for performance and breach. Designed for students preparing to sit for the bar, this course will focus on those areas emphasized on the multi-state, New York, and Massachusetts bar exams. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• 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
  McClain: This course offers a survey of family law, including case law, statutory law, and the constitutional limitations on regulation of the family. An aim of the course is to introduce students to family law as a dynamic field of law concerning a basic social institution: the family. Family law is a foundational course relevant to many areas of law practice. Students will gain knowledge about how family law intersects with many other fields of law, such as contracts, constitutional law, conflicts of laws, criminal law, property, tax, torts, and trusts and estates, as well as how family law draws on the social sciences. Students will be introduced to the role of negotiation, mediation, and other forms of dispute resolution in the practice of family law. The course will focus on marriage, nonmarital families, divorce, pathways to becoming a parent, and the parent-child relationship. Topics include defining and regulating marriage; formal and informal marriage; cohabitation and alternatives to marriage (such as domestic partnerships); common law incidents of marriage and transformation of the common law; domestic violence; traditional and "no fault" divorce; property division; spousal support; child support; child custody; and regulating parenthood. There will be a final examination. There will also be one short paper and an in-class skills exercise, which will contribute to the final grade. Silbaugh: 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; divorce and dissolution of relationships; the financial consequences of divorce including property division and alimony; premarital agreements; the laws governing non-marital relationships; family mediation; child custody, visitation, and parenting plans; child support; paternity; assisted reproductive technologies; 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. GRADING NOTICE: Silbaugh section does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 815: Corporations for LLMs
  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. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• 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. PREREQUISITE: Business Fundamentals. GRADING NOTICE: The CR/NC/H option is only offered in Professor Marks's section.
• LAW JD 817: Human Trafficking Clinic: Adv. Advocacy Seminar (S)
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program. In this seminar, students will further develop their trial advocacy and client counseling skills by participating in multiple simulations and a mock hearing. They will learn about comparative models to address human trafficking, and the challenges of a criminal justice framework to solving complex social problems. The course will focus on the lawyer's role in anti-trafficking work, given: (1) converging areas of law; (2) the emerging multi-disciplinary nature of legal work; and (3) tensions among the role of the client as both victim and defendant. Courses will focus on further developing students' competencies in the following areas: (1) strategic planning and decision-making; (2) client interviewing and counseling; (3) trial advocacy; (4) leadership and innovation; and (5) professional responsibility. Classes will focus on a wide range of topics, including: (1) oral advocacy; (2) direct and cross examination; (3) accompaniment and survivor-led advocacy; (4) legal advocacy and brief writing; (4) legislative advocacy; and (5) developing professional roles and self-care. NOTE: The Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 819: Criminal Procedure: Comprehensive
  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. RESTRICTION: Students may not enroll in this section and Criminal Procedure (JD821) or Criminal Procedure: Adjudicatory (JD820).
• LAW JD 820: Criminal Procedure: Adjudicatory Process
  This course examines the procedures and institutions involved in adjudicating the fate of an accused after arrest. Topics include such matters as the right to counsel, charging by grand jury and otherwise, prosecutorial discretion and plea bargaining, discovery, double jeopardy, trial practice (including the right to a jury trial, the right to confront witnesses, the meaning of "proof beyond a reasonable doubt", etc.), evolving practices in sentencing, and criminal appeals. RESTRICTIONS: Enrollment is limited to students who have not taken and are not currently enrolled in Rossman's Criminal Procedure (JD 819). Students who have taken or who are enrolled in Maclin's Criminal Procedure (JD 821) are permitted to take this course. OFFERING PATTERN: This class is not offered every year. Students are advised to take this into account when planning their long-term schedule.
• LAW JD 821: Criminal Procedure: Investigatory Process
  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. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option. RESTRICTION: Students may not enroll in this section and Criminal Procedure (JD819).
• LAW JD 822: Privacy (S)
  Modern information technology and new information-intensive businesses and social practices have moved privacy concerns into the spotlight. And though privacy law has existed as a legal practice area for a generation or more, laws and practice in the area are increasingly complex and evolving rapidly. This course examines law and policy issues concerning personal information and privacy. Law enforcement, national security, and other public law topics will be considered, but the main focus will be civil law and the use of personally identifying information by businesses. We will consider privacy-related statutes and regulations; a variety of recent controversies drawing from Constitutional law, contract, and tort law; established privacy regimes in the EU and elsewhere; and emerging laws that have implications for the use and protection of personal information globally. 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. GRADING NOTICE: This class 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 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 examines 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? Selected issues for inquiry include: police interrogation of juveniles; school safety and zero tolerance policies; adjudicative competency; anti-youth crime policies; conditions of incarceration; and changes brought about by elimination of mandatory juvenile life without parole. We will examine these issues through use of court cases, law review articles, governmental and private organizational position papers, 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 overarching issue of whether it makes sense to maintain a separate justice system for juveniles, we will compare our system to those of other nations. We will visit the Boston Juvenile Court to observe a delinquency session and speak with court personnel. Students are expected to attend each class prepared to discuss the assigned readings. Course requirements include a 15-20 page final paper, a class presentation based on the paper topic or related class readings, and several assigned reading response papers over the course of the semester. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 14 students. 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 (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 825: Election Law
  This course examines the law that organizes democratic processes of election and decision-making. After considering the historical struggle for minority enfranchisement and the Supreme Court's first forays into redistricting and reapportionment, we move to more contemporary topics, including: (1) the constitutional role and rights of political parties, (2) campaign-finance law (with special attention to Citizens United and the DC Circuit's equally important decision in SpeechNow.org), (3) the connection of race and political participation under the Voting Rights Act, (4) the new wave of "vote denial" cases in the last few years, (5) the changed understanding of "racial gerrymandering" under the Constitution, (6) the Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore, and (7) the constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

Back to full list of School of Law