Courses

• 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: Employment Discrimination
  Comprehensive coverage of federal and state statutory anti-discrimination and accommodation laws governing employment. Federal statutes treated include Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, the Equal Pay Act, and section 1981. Constitutional equal protection law also will be treated where applicable. Topics include disparate treatment, disparate impact, systemic disparate treatment, harassment, retaliation, remedies, including affirmative action, and procedural choices. This course does not substantially overlap either Employment Law or Labor Law and can be taken in addition to those courses.
• LAW JD 854: White Collar Crime
  The past several years have witnessed a number of high-profile white collar criminal prosecutions, including Bernard Madoff, Sheldon Silver (Speaker of NY State Assembly), Ronald Blagojevich (former Illinois governor), and U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, to name just a few. Developments continue, including the Supreme Court's 2016 unanimous reversal of former Virginia Governor Robert McConnell's bribery conviction, and the impact that decision is having on prosecutors nationwide. The purpose of this Course is to teach present-day white collar crime practice. The course will review: (i) the theoretical bases of modern white collar criminal prosecution; (ii) the major statutes used by prosecutors, including mail and wire fraud, securities fraud, bribery and extortion, obstruction of justice, perjury, and RICO; and (iii) the procedural aspects of white collar crime such as grand jury, attorney/client privilege, and sentencing. Students will learn the prosecutorial and defense techniques employed in significant recent white collar cases. Upon successful completion of the course, students will be familiar with the statutes, procedures, and legal analyses employed by prosecutors and private lawyers in white collar criminal practice. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. OFFERING PATTERN: This class not offered every year. Students are advised to take this into account when planning their long-term schedule.
• LAW JD 855: Land Use
  The built environment around us is not inevitable or by accident. It is the outcome of a series of legal and political choices about how people should live together; about how to regulate and control the future use of the property around them. These choices result in a legal regime that, at once, is enormously complex, implicates the most basic questions of equity and constitutional freedoms, and affects people in every aspect of their daily lives. This course will examine land use from a legal, historical, theoretical, and, most important, practical perspective. Students will be introduced to a brief history of land use controls in the United States. The course will then cover the basic aspects of land use law: Euclidean zoning, special use permits, variances, vested rights and preexisting uses, exactions, exclusionary and inclusionary zoning, subdivision control, wetlands control, and legal challenges to zoning decisions. The course will also look at more recent trends and issues in land use law, such as smart growth and transit-oriented development, form-based zoning, marijuana regulations, short-term rentals, climate change resilience, and increased federal control of local land use. Finally, the course will examine the constitutional limits of land use regulation under the Fifth Amendment. Students will undertake practical exercises to introduce them to how land use lawyers practice. They will attend a zoning board hearing and report on it; they will analyze a client's proposal to determine what zoning relief is necessary; they will attend a zoning trial or appeal. The course will cover general zoning principles applicable nationally but will focus on Massachusetts law for the practical exercises. The class will require student participation in discussion. The only prerequisite is completion of first-year Property. Students will produce a brief paper on the zoning board meeting they attend and a final paper, and be asked to comment on the trial or hearing they attend. Grading will be based on class participation, the zoning exercise, the comments, and the two papers.
• LAW JD 856: Health Law
  This four-unit course focuses on the business side of health care, including health care insurance regulation and laws designed to increase the quality and lower the cost of care. Topics include managed care regulation, institutional liability for medical malpractice and other forms of negligence, professional and facilities regulation, the corporate practice of medicine doctrine, corporate form, medical staff organization, referral fee laws, and antitrust law related to health care providers. The goal will be to provide a solid doctrinal background on today's most relevant areas of health law and to develop a strong ability to view the doctrine and policy through the lens of economics with a particular focus on law as the cause of and solution to health care and health care insurance market imperfections. An in-class group presentation project will hone client counseling skills.
• 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 859: Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Clinic: Fieldwork (C)
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program. Students have three fieldwork options: (1) concentration in immigrants' rights; (2) concentration in human trafficking; or (3) work on both types of cases. Students focusing on immigrants' rights will represent adult and children asylum seekers and other vulnerable noncitizens with the opportunity to litigate an immigration case in the Boston Immigration Court. Students focusing on anti-trafficking work will represent survivors of labor and sex trafficking in a wide range of civil matters and engage in policy-related work to address gaps in the local and national landscape. Students focusing on both immigrants' rights and human trafficking will represent immigrant clients and survivors of human trafficking in a range of civil matters. All students will have the opportunity to engage in immigrants' rights and human trafficking work through "Know-Your-Rights" visits at the local jail/detention center and by conducting intake at the Family Justice Center for human trafficking survivors. Students, working in pairs, assume the primary responsibility for multiple clients' complex cases, from start to finish. Students conduct client interviews, track down witnesses, speak with experts, develop documentary, testimonial and expert evidence, and write legal briefs. The clinical supervisors prepare students for their cases through weekly supervision meetings, mid-semester and final individual meetings, and mock hearings, as appropriate. NOTE: The Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. PRE/CO-REQUISITE: Evidence. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 861: Civil Litigation Program (C)
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Civil Litigation Program. Student in the Civil Litigation Program handle their own case loads, representing indigent clients in civil cases under the supervision of clinical faculty. Students may participate in the Program for either a full year (the Housing, Employment, Family and Disability Clinic (HEFD)) or for one semester (the Employment Rights Clinic (ERC)). Students participating in the HEFD Clinic work on cases in areas such as domestic relations, eviction defense, employment law and Social Security appeals. Students in the ERC represent clients in unemployment compensation cases, with a possibility of working on wage and hour disputes, discrimination/sexual harassment cases, and Family Medical Leave Act cases. PRE/CO-REQUISITES: Evidence. NOTE: The Civil Litigation Program counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 862: Client Counseling (S)
  The purpose of this seminar is to provide students with the opportunity to develop client counseling skills needed to deal with a wide variety of clients and their various legal problems. The focus of the seminar is on foundational skills necessary to successfully work with clients in identifying client interests and goals at the outset of a matter, and in discussing and analyzing strategic options and new developments as matters progress. This seminar is designed for students to learn by engaging in mock client counseling interviews and other group exercises. Accordingly, much of the time will be filled with practice interviews and discussion of strategies for how to navigate client interviews and meetings. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 16 students. NOTES: This seminar does not satisfy the upper-class writing requirement. This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning 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 863: Administrative Law II
  Administrative Law II is designed for students who have had the first year required course in Administrative Law, or its equivalent. In addition to some review of Administrative Law basics, this course will go into depth on subjects not covered in the first year course including the availability of judicial review (standing, ripeness, mootness and reviewability), adjudication, freedom of information, open meetings requirements, pre-emption of state law, licensing and ratemaking procedure and government liability under the Federal Tort Claims Act. There will also be in depth coverage of some issues covered in the first year course such as statutory interpretation methodology in the administrative state, the place of administrative agencies in the government and standards of judicial review including Chevron and its alternatives. PREREQUISITE: Administrative Law.
• LAW JD 864: Financial Regulation
  This course will survey the regulatory architecture of major U.S. financial institutions, including commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds, mutual funds, and insurance companies. Understanding the regulatory framework surrounding financial institutions requires situating them within a rapidly evolving political, technological and global context. The course will explore various regulatory mechanisms, such as bank supervision, security disclosures, fiduciary duties, consumer protections, capital requirements, and risk monitoring. The design of these complex governance tools has important implications for the health and stability of the economy, and thus for society. Attendance at the Graduate Program in Banking and Financial Law's three-day program, "Financial Services Basics," is highly recommended. PREREQUISITE: Business Fundamentals. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 866: Technology & Cyberlaw Clinic: Seminar 1
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Technology and Cyberlaw Clinic. This is the fall classroom component to the Technology & Cyberlaw Clinic. The seminar introduces students to the lawyering skills (including interviewing, counseling, negotiation, drafting, etc.) that will help them in counseling client innovators. From a substantive legal perspective, the course will likely involve an in-depth study of statutes, case law, and scholarly articles addressing law and technology issues, including advanced topics in intellectual property, computer crimes, and data privacy. NOTE: The Technology & Cyberlaw Clinic counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 868: Moot Court
  The second component of the First Year Research and Writing requirement is participation in the J. Newton Esdaile Appellate Moot Court Program in the spring semester. Students conduct research, draft a brief and present a case in oral argument before a panel of moot-court judges made up of faculty, lawyers and students.
• LAW JD 869: Technology & Cyberlaw Clinic: Seminar 2
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Technology and Cyberlaw Clinic. This is the spring classroom component to the Technology & Cyberlaw Clinic. The seminar expands upon the lawyering skills and substantive legal discussions from the first semester, and will focus on questions of national policy as they relate to technology, including national control over technical information, academic privacy and freedom, and emerging cybersecurity regulation. NOTE: The Technology & Cyberlaw Clinic counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 870: Patent Law
  The basic questions in patent law are: why should society permit the grant of an exclusive property right in information relating to an invention? Who should be given the right? What is the scope of the right? How should the right be enforced? What disclosure duties should be placed on the patent holder? We will concentrate on these legal issues without getting mired in discussions of the technical details of particular inventions. Students without a technical background are welcome and encouraged to enroll.
• LAW JD 871: Trusts, Wills & Basic Estate Planning
  Professor Seipp's Section: This course explores the basic law surrounding the disposition of property at death: (1) overview of the estate planning process and the policy considerations regarding inheritance law; (2) the process by which property is distributed in the absence of a will (intestacy); (3) the law of wills, examining formal requirements for the execution of a valid will, revocation, challenges to a will, and construction; (4) will substitutes and planning for incapacity; (5) the law of trusts, including revocable and pour-over trusts, creditor and beneficiary rights, and spendthrift trusts; (6) powers of appointment, perpetuities, and brief coverage of charitable trusts. This course does not address in detail tax-motivated estate planning. Professor Hurwitz's Section: This course explores the basic law surrounding the disposition of property at death: (1) overview of the estate planning process and the policy considerations regarding inheritance law; (2) the process by which property is distributed in the absence of a will (intestacy); (3) the law of wills, examining challenges to a will, formal requirements for the execution of a valid will, revocation, and construction; (4) will substitutes and planning for incapacity; (5) the law of trusts, including revocable and pour-over trusts, and creditor and beneficiary rights; (6) brief coverage of powers of appointment, perpetuities, spendthrift, and charitable trusts. This course does not address in detail tax-motivated estate planning.
• LAW JD 872: Financial Reporting for Lawyers
  Understanding financial statements and reports. The objective of the course is that students will be able to read and understand the four financial statements and the 10-k annual report. Emphasis is placed on understanding the nature and meaning of the reports, as well as the relationship to the underlying transactions. Other topics include: basic accounting principles, US GAAP versus IFRS, financial statement analysis, the relationship of the financial statement information to covenant documents, and accounting gamesmanship. RESTRICTION: Not open to students who have had more than one three-hour college course, or its equivalent, in accounting. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 873: Civil Procedure
  Examines the structure and function of civil procedure and the requirements of due process of law.
• LAW JD 874: Advanced Legal Writing (S)
  The purpose of this seminar is to provide students with the opportunity to improve their writing, editing and communication skills. Students will prepare a variety of practice related documents based on a single fact pattern. Some legal research will be necessary, but the emphasis will be on writing, not on research. Students will also have the opportunity to edit other students' papers, with the goal of improving their own writing skills. Actors will perform a scenario for the class, from which students will extract the pertinent facts. From this fact pattern, students will draft an inter-office memo, a letter or memo to a non-lawyer client, and a trial or appellate brief. Students will also engage in simulated client interviewing and counseling sessions, as well as a simulated meeting with a supervisor. Students will be graded on the basis of their written work, editing work on their classmate's papers and on their classroom performance. There will be no final exam. NOTES: This class does not satisfy the upper-class writing requirement. This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 14 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 875: Public Interest Law (S)
  Public interest legal practice takes many forms. It can involve government agencies, non-profit organizations, private law firms doing pro bono work, public defender's office, labor unions, and inter-governmental organizations, among others. It can take the form of litigation, transactional work, policy-related work, or legislative advocacy. Also, attorneys adopt varied models of public interest lawyering, including approaches known as community lawyering, cause lawyering, and movement lawyering. This seminar engages through readings, guest speakers, and class discussion to examine the various approaches to public interest lawyering. Students will explore how to define the "public interest" and learn different models for public interest lawyering. Students also will gain familiarity with the different substantive areas of public interest law, organizational settings for public interest practice, and modes of public interest advocacy. Many class sessions will include a guest faculty member or a guest attorney who will present a sample of their public interest work in connection with class themes. There will also be time dedicated to discussing speaker presentations. Students will be required to submit short reaction papers to the readings and presentations and perform an in-class oral presentation based on class themes. NOTE: This class does not satisfy the upper-class writing requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This class 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.

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