Courses
The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.
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LAW JD 940: Law & Economics Workshop (S)
The Law and Economics Seminar is a research workshop. Class sessions will alternate between (1) lectures on selected topics in microeconomic theory and empirical methods, including methodology commonly used in law and economics scholarship, and (2) presentations of working papers by outside speakers (typically faculty members from other institutions). The specific legal topics considered will vary depending on the interests of the speakers, but all paper presentations will focus on application of economics concepts and tools to legal and regulatory issues. Students are responsible for preparing short memoranda that respond to the presented papers. Final grades depend on attendance and participation. NOTES: This class does not satisfy the upper-class writing requirement. OFFERING PATTERN: This class is not offered every year. 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 941: Corporate Governance (S)
Public corporations play a central role in the U.S. economy and society. The impact of these corporations depends in large part on how they are governed. This course will explore the central issues in the governance of these corporations. These include for whose benefit corporations are operated; the balance of authority between managers and shareholders; how different governance structures affect the short-term and long-term value of the corporation; the effects of hedge funds and other shareholder activists; and the social and environmental responsibility of corporations. The course will examine the key constituencies in these debates: managers, directors, and investors, especially institutional investors like mutual funds, pension funds, and hedge funds. The course will consider the objectives and the behavior of each of these groups, and the laws and practices that shape their actions. There will be no exam. Instead, students will be assessed on a course paper and their class participation. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option. PREREQUISITE/COREQUISITE: Corporations (may be waived with instructor's permission). ** 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 942: English Legal History
This course will cover the history of the common law in England from the late twelfth century to the time of the American Revolution. We will study the development of the legal profession, its doctrines, and its techniques in five areas: procedure, criminal law, property, contract, and tort. The readings emphasize primary sources, and students will give presentations in teams on historical documents handed out in class. Students can either write a research paper or complete a take-home examination. Research papers may, but need not fulfill the Writing Requirement. OFFERING PATTERN: This class not offered every year. Students are advised to take this into account when planning their long-term schedule. -
LAW JD 945: Trial Advocacy (Advanced)
The purpose of this course is to enable students to further develop the skills acquired during the basic trial advocacy course and to introduce them to issues that are not generally addressed at the basic level. Those issues will include motions in limine, impaneling a jury, trial notebooks, effective use of experts, trial technology, preserving the record for appellate purposes and further developing direct and cross-examinations skills. This will be accomplished by using the entire case file used by counsel in a 1992 murder trial, Commonwealth v Fuller in Essex County, MA. The class will be divided into two teams: a prosecution team and a defense team. The case is evenly weighted so no team will have a built-in advantage. Each team will work together to address the issues facing that team. There will be plenty of opportunity for individual in-class demonstrations of various trial skills, including writing and arguing motions in limine, direct and cross examinations of an expert, etc. The students will learn that much of trial advocacy involves "brainstorming" the issues with one's peers, particularly during the early stages of a case. Accordingly, the course will be frontloaded with group discussion of the various issues facing the trial lawyer before the first juror is impaneled. The final exam of this course will be a mock trial of a case, one that is much more compact than the Fuller case. This trial will provide an excellent opportunity for the students to demonstrate the complete range of their trial skills. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. NOTE: This course counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. *** A student who fails either to attend the initial meeting of Trial Advocacy (Advanced), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the registrar, will be administratively dropped from the section. Students who are on a wait list for a section are required to attend the first section meeting to be considered for enrollment. -
LAW JD 946: Criminal Law
Examines the basic principles of substantive criminal law, including the justifications for punishment, the essential elements of offenses, mitigating and exculpating defenses, and different forms of criminal liability. -
LAW JD 947: Sex Crimes (S)
Over the last few decades, the public has become increasingly concerned about sexual crimes. In addition to harsher punishments, several civil, collateral consequences have become common such as indefinite commitment and registration. This class will explore how sexual offenses are dealt with in the criminal justice system and the underlying reasoning for the heightened attention, including morality, statistical data, and psychological/scientific evidence. We will discuss the limitations, if any, that govern collateral consequences such as indefinite civil commitment and registration (e.g. Constitutional restrictions, scientific uncertainty). The class aims to challenge preconceived notions of sex crimes and sex offenders through case law, guest speakers, academic literature, and real life scenarios. 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 course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. PRACTICUM OPTION: A limited number of students may apply to enroll in the Sex Crimes Practicum (JD962). **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 948: Regulation of the Immigrant Experience (S)
Recent census data informs us that there are approximately 40 million immigrants living in the United States. About 11 million of these immigrants are undocumented or otherwise in the country illegally. The rest of the country remains divided on their feelings regarding the immigrant population, with about half believing that immigrants "strengthen the country because of their hard work and talent, while 41% [believe them to be] a burden because they take jobs, health care and housing." (Information in this paragraph obtained from Most Illegal Immigrants Should Be Allowed to Stay, but Citizenship is More Divisive (Pew Research Ctr., Washington, D.C.), Mar. 28, 2013.) This course will investigate the life of an immigrant in American society from a legal perspective. Students will learn how immigrants, both documented and undocumented, interact with various sections of the American system. The goal is to assess various ways in which an individual's immigration status affects access to important rights and benefits accorded to citizens and analyze the legal rationale for existing limitations. We will examine these issues through the use of law review articles, court cases, existing and proposed legislation, newspaper articles, empirical studies, and governmental and private organizational position papers. Topics may include an investigation of an immigrant's access and limitations in primary and secondary education, public benefits, the court system, employment, voting, as well as modes of immigration policing by both federal immigration authorities and state police. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 16 students. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing 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 949: Free Speech and the Internet (S)
It has never been easier for the powerful to privilege certain speakers or specific information. Content platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter have the power to filter, block, and de-prioritize "fake news," deep-fake videos, and hate speech. How should companies address conflicting interests when free expression is on the line? Content platforms are global, and thus the challenges to free expression and other interests are global. Online intermediaries amass massive amounts of personal data about each and everyone one of us. That data is often used to manipulate us in ways that impact our thoughts, beliefs, and opportunities. Cambridge Analytica's use of our personal data is the tip of the iceberg. In the past, debates about our civil rights and civil liberties focused on organizational policies and individual decisions. But a new phenomenon leverages technology and personal data to privilege certain speakers and not others. This seminar will explore the technological systematization of the powerful granting privilege to itself with a focus on free expression. The seminar will cover basic First Amendment doctrine and theory and then extend the conversations to unique challenges for free expression and thought in the digital age. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing requirement with this seminar. ** 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 950: Homicide Investigations and Trials: Theory and Practice (S)
This seminar will focus upon the substantive law of homicide, as well as the practical aspects of actual homicide investigations and trials: crime scene interpretation; DNA analysis; autopsies and related forensic evidence; expert testimony, particularly in the area of psychiatry and criminal responsibility; jury considerations; ethical concerns; and the role of the media. Students will have the opportunity to study actual murder cases, visit local crime laboratories and courtrooms, and learn prosecution, defense, and judicial perspectives on various contemporary issues arising in murder investigations and trials. 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. OFFERING PATTERN: This class is not offered every year. 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, 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 951: Comparative Law (S)
This seminar is an introduction to comparative law's themes and methods. Accordingly, the seminar is organized in two parts. The readings selected for the first part present theoretical articulations and practical applications of the main methodological approaches relied upon by comparative lawyers. Participants will become acquainted with the "mechanics", as well as the broader implications, of the various ways of comparing: functionalism, structuralism, culturalism, postmodern neo-culturalism and critical comparative law. The materials discussed in the second part explore how these different methodologies play out in recent and heated comparative law debates. Participants will be asked to reflect over the common law-civil law dichotomy and its implications for the debate over the European Civil Code as well as for projects of harmonization, such as the World Bank's "Legal Origins" study; the circulation of legal rules and institutions and the export of constitutional models in Eastern Europe and Iraq; the ambiguous relation between US and European legal cultures and the debate over different ideas of "privacy"; the "West" and the "Orient" in family law reform. ** 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 952: Copyright Law
Copyright law is a federal statutory regime that connects to crucial issues in culture, competition, and science. Copyright's rules deeply affect literature, music, visual art, software, information, entertainment, and how the internet operates. In addition to its substantive coverage, the course will train you in how to interpret and apply a complex statute and its judicial overlay. The course covers several topics. (1) A central issue is how to construe the exclusive rights that federal copyright law grants to creators of "original works of authorship". These include rights over copying, rights to control public performance, and rights over the public's ability to adapt existing works to new purposes. The course will also address (2) the subject-matters eligible for federal copyright, including the special difficulties posed by works that-- like computer programs or furniture design -- have 'functions' beyond conveying information and affecting human perceptions. Also on offer will be investigating (3) the nature of an infringement action, (4) the policies served and dis-served by copyright, and (5) the limitations and exceptions to copyright (such as the doctrine of "fair use") which can protect free speech and other goals from copyright over-reach. The course also examines some state rights, such as the 'right of publicity' and 'hot news misappropriation'. The course particularly explores how these state-law doctrines interact with, or are pre-empted by, federal copyright law. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option. -
LAW JD 954: Corporate Counsel Externship Fieldwork
This CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. This is the companion fieldwork component for students enrolled in the Corporate Counsel Externship: Seminar. Students will work at legal offices of for-profit and nonprofit companies in unpaid or paid placements. Students will receive 3-9 variable P/F credits for working at their placements. Each credit requires 50 hours of work over the course of the 13-week semester (averaging 4 hours per week). COREQUISITE: Corporate Counsel Externship Seminar (JD 896). NOTE: Students who enroll in this externship may count the credits towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. -
LAW JD 956: Information Privacy Law
The collection, use, storage, and sharing of personal data has become increasingly important throughout society, from commerce to government and from health care to finance. For good reason, we call this the Information Age. Recall the countless high-profile privacy and data security controversies you have heard about in the last year: location tracking; inaccurate credit reports causing lost jobs; data breaches, hacking and identity theft; and government surveillance. Law has responded with a dizzying array of new rules -- and a rapidly growing area of professional specialization for attorneys. This course serves as an introduction to the emerging law of data privacy. By the end, you will be well grounded in many challenges facing any enterprise, public or private, that collects, processes, uses, and stores personal information. In addition to knowledge of constitutional, statutory, and common law rules as well as federal and state enforcement activity, we will learn about the policy questions that arise in this dynamic area, the legally relevant questions to ask when assessing information practices, and some of the many nonlegal models of information governance. You will gain a basic understanding of data privacy regulation in other countries, particularly the European Union. All students will benefit from more sophisticated knowledge about an issue that appears in the news every single day. But there are significant professional payoffs too. Major law firms have organized entire practice areas devoted to privacy and data protection law. In the last seven years the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), a key trade association in this space, more than tripled in size to 12,000 members. These trends mean that law school graduates will have increasing job opportunities in data privacy and security law. Meanwhile, in many other practice areas -- such as securities, labor and employment, health, advertising, and the list goes on -- familiarity with privacy and security law has become a major asset. Plus, the issues are fascinating and fun. If nothing else, you can have great conversations at parties. -
LAW JD 957: Queer Legal Scholarship (S)
This seminar will examine the laws relating to sexual orientation and gender identity through the lenses of academic writing and other legal literature. In the process, the course will explore the relationship between academic literature and social change. It will focus on relevant constitutional law theory (e.g. equal protection, due process, and First Amendment rights) as well as family law, immigration law and other federal, state and local laws impacting sexual minorities and sexuality generally. The course will examine how changing social mores and other changes are reflected in the law and vise- versa. This course is not intended to be a practical guide to future attorneys who may aspire to represent members of sexual minorities after graduation. It is more a legal research and writing course combined with an introduction to and an exploration of the above mentioned topics. Although primarily a course on current U.S. law, we may also incorporate historical, comparative, international, scientific and philosophical perspectives where appropriate. ** 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 958: Effective & Ethical Depositions (S)
The purpose of this seminar is to teach students how to take and defend effective and ethical depositions. The course involves both a simulated deposition component and a professional responsibility component. Simulated Deposition Course Component: Students will be divided into firms representing either the Plaintiff or the Defendants in a gender discrimination and defamation case brought by an attorney who has been denied partnership. The students will prepare and perform depositions of lay and expert witnesses and gather experience with obtaining and developing facts, preserving testimony, and the uses of depositions. Professional Responsibility Course Component: The simulated context offers the opportunity to explore several professional responsibility issues that arise naturally in deposition practice. These issues emerge largely because of the dual professional roles of an attorney: zealous representative and officer of the court. Some of the more timely issues involve proper witness preparation, improper witness coaching, inadvertent waiver of privilege, and abusive tactics. Writing and Performance Requirements: Each week students will write a short one or two page comment on the professional responsibility issues raised in class. At the end of the course, students will perform a videotaped deposition rather than take a final written exam. NOTE: This class may be used to satisfy the Professional Responsibility requirement, credits toward Experiential Learning requirement, or the upper-class writing requirement. This class may not be used to satisfy more than one requirement. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 12 students per section. 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. -
LAW JD 959: International Business Agreements: Negotiating, Structuring and Drafting (S)
This seminar will provide an overview of the private dimensions of negotiating and drafting international business agreements, and specifically on the contractual aspects. Students will gain hands on experience in structuring, drafting and analyzing various international business agreements and documents including global joint venture agreements and privatization provisions, sales, distribution and franchise agreements, international development agreements, share purchase agreements, letters of intent and technology licensing agreements. The design of the class will assist students in identifying critical legal issues and techniques likely to affect the outcome of international business negotiations including protecting against political, economic and legal risks. Emphasis will be placed on the important differences between international and domestic agreements from the American law perspective. Grades will be based on class participation and a final research paper. At the option of the student a final examination can be taken in lieu of a research paper. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing 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 961: Housing Law (S)
Over the last sixty years housing law has evolved in a number of significant ways. Where once a lease was primarily considered to involve a transfer of an interest in land, it is now considered to involve a relationship framed by contract principles. Consistent with this change, tort law involving rental property is moving from a traditional negligence standard to a more complex standard based upon a duty derived from the implied warranty of habitability. Courts must now determine whether landlords should be held strictly liable in tort for personal injury claims based on defective conditions, inadequate security, lead poisoning, etc. Where formerly a landlord had significant discretion over tenant selection and tenancy termination, a variety of state housing laws and federal/state anti-discrimination laws now place significant limits on the landlord's power and control over these tenancy relationships. Public housing and governmentally subsidized housing has generated much heated debate as well as litigation over such issues as development-based policing authority and the right to evict entire families based upon criminal conduct of one family member. Finally, during the past four years complex title, tenancy, consumer rights and community preservation issues have arisen in the wake of the foreclosure crisis that has swept the nation. This seminar will focus on the various legal, social policy, and practical issues emerging with respect to traditional tenancies, premises liability, public safety in public and subsidized housing, housing discrimination, environmental protection, and control of foreclosed property. Student classroom participation and papers are required. 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 course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. 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, 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 962: Sex Crimes Practicum
This CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have applied to and been accepted to the Sex Crimes Practicum. Students receive credit for completing a sex-crimes related project -- either litigation or policy-oriented -- as a supplement to the Sex Crimes seminar. Projects will vary in scope and content based on student interest and the number of students enrolled. Project topics include sex crime policy, the identification and tracking of constitutional challenges to civil laws, and work on pending cases such as registration hearing, civil commitment trials, or criminal appeals. Throughout the semester, students will work under the supervision of Professor Eric Tennen. Practicum students must attend six class meetings with Professor Tennen. Students receive either 1 or 2 graded credits depending on the nature of the project and the anticipated workload. NOTE: This clinic counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. PRE-/CO-REQUISITE: Sex Crimes (JD 947), or equivalent work experience or academic foundation, determined on a case-by-case basis by the instructor. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. -
LAW JD 963: Civil Litigation: A2J Skills & Professional Responsibility
THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Access to Justice Clinic of the Civil Litigation and Justice Program. This seminar examines the larger societal context of students' fieldwork representing poverty-law clients in family, housing, employment, and disability cases. Students will actively analyze and address the intersections of the legal system with the multiple systemic barriers their clients face (e.g., gender, race, class, disability). In addition to the skills and legal knowledge relevant to representation of clinic clients, seminar discussions and projects will focus on proposed solutions to the systemic challenges faced by those clients, and situate them within current theories of law as a tool for social justice. NOTE: This course counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. This class may be used to satisfy the Professional Responsibility requirement, in which case credits for the class may not be counted towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. -
LAW JD 965: Civil Litigation: A2J Skills II
THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Access to Justice Clinic of the Civil Litigation and Justice Program. This seminar continues the coursework of the fall semester in examining the larger societal context of students' fieldwork representing poverty-law clients in family, housing, employment, and disability cases. Students will actively analyze and address the intersections of the legal system with the multiple systemic barriers their clients face (e.g., gender, race, class, disability). In addition to the skills and legal knowledge relevant to representation of clinic clients, seminar discussions and projects will focus on proposed solutions to the systemic challenges faced by those clients, and situate them within current theories of law as a tool for social justice. NOTE: This course counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.