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.

• LAW JD 889: Introduction to Federal Income Taxation
  The income tax is a pervasive feature of life in the United States and lawyers encounter tax issues in virtually every field of practice. This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of the federal income tax, and its impact on a wide range of matters, including employment, tort claims, divorce, retirement, and especially business activities and investments of all types. Topics include: the concept of income, determination of gross income, allowance of deductions and the determination of taxable income, identification of the taxpayer, taxable periods and timing, the determination of gain or loss (including realization and recognition) from dealings in property, the concept of income tax basis, and the process of change in the tax law. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 890: National Security Law
  This course will introduce the framework of constitutional, statutory, and international law that authorizes and constrains the conduct of U.S. foreign affairs and national security policy. We will study the allocation of foreign affairs and national security authority among the branches of government, as well as selected topics of contemporary relevance. These will vary with contemporary events but will draw from the following: international and domestic law governing recourse to force and the conduct of hostilities; the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of alleged unprivileged belligerents and other suspects in national security matters before courts and military commissions; torture and extraordinary rendition; covert action; the protection of civil liberties in wartime; surveillance; and contemporary issues at the intersection of international economic law, trade, and national security.
• LAW JD 891: Antitrust & Health Care (S)
  The healthcare industry has been a leading target of antitrust enforcement over the past two decades, and most of that has focused on the conduct of pharmaceutical companies. The high cost of prescription drugs is one of the biggest public policy challenges of our time and is now an issue squarely in the cross hairs of federal and state antitrust enforcers. The cases that result feature the application of traditional antitrust principles, formed over the last century, to a unique industry with atypical economics, complex regulatory schemes, and extensive enforcement of patent rights. At every turn, courts and regulators must balance the need to promote price-reducing competition with the need to maintain incentives for massive private R&D investment. This seminar will serve as an introduction to those cases. It will focus on the most common antitrust matters that arise from the competition between branded and generic drugs. It will also survey other hot topics at the antitrust-healthcare intersection more broadly, such as hospital and health system mergers and the conduct of state medical boards. The course will follow the development of the law and critically assess both enforcers' theories and the industry's defenses, all in a balanced dialogue about the appropriate reach of antitrust in healthcare. 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. **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 892: Torts
  Principles of civil recovery for injury, including strict liability, negligence, and the intentional torts, with emphasis on the social, economic, and moral underpinnings of the doctrines.
• LAW JD 893: Health Justice Practicum
  The Health Justice Practicum is a new one-semester, two-credit course enrolling a maximum of six students. Students will collaborate with frontline health care providers who serve marginalized populations on projects that require legal and problem-solving skills and where providers and/or patients have identified a systemic problem affecting patients' health and wellbeing. In Spring 2022, we will be collaborating with Project RESPECT, an integrated obstetrics, addiction medicine, and behavioral health clinic at Boston Medical Center that serves low-income pregnant and parenting people in recovery from substance use disorders (SUDs), especially opioid use disorders (OUDs). Project RESPECT providers have identified a problem in Massachusetts law that significantly harms low-income parents in recovery from SUDs and their children, disproportionately harming Black, Indigenous, or other people of color (BIPOC) families. Children born to women in evidence-based medication-assisted recovery (e.g., methadone treatment) must be reported at birth to the Department of Children and Families as if the mother were actively using drugs. Children born to BIPOC mothers are more likely than children born to white mothers both to be reported to child protection authorities and to be separated from their families as a result. The trauma of custody disruption has demonstrated serious effects on both recovering parents and child health and development. We will explore and advocate for possible legal and policy advocacy solutions to these issues--for example, changes in mandatory reporting laws and reformed child protection agency practices to eliminate discriminatory decisionmaking. Students will attend group meetings as well as work on research and advocacy. The project work will allow students to hone their research, analytical, writing, presentation, and problem-solving skills. Regular group meetings will deepen students' understanding of their projects by providing a broader context. Students will also meet individually or in teams with the faculty supervisor to discuss their project work. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 894: Trial Advocacy
  This course introduces the student to the structure of the trial process and the skills used by trial lawyers. The topics covered range from opening statements to closing arguments, including conducting direct and cross-examination of witnesses, making and meeting objections, introducing documents and discovery into evidence, and using hypothetical questions with expert witnesses. Students must perform simulated exercises and will try one or more civil or criminal cases before a jury. Visit the web for more information on the instructors. PREREQUISITE: EVIDENCE. Students taking TRIAL ADVOCACY in the second semester of their third year may take EVIDENCE as a COREQUISITE. Students who have taken a trial advocacy course as part of a clinic may not subsequently enroll in Trial Advocacy. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 12 students. 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 a section of Trial Advocacy, 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 896: Corporate Counsel Externship Seminar
  This CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. This is a 2-credit graded seminar for those students doing fieldwork in Corporate Counsel offices that meets every week for 1.5 hours. The seminar will cover a range of topics and competencies essential to the day-to-day role of a lawyer in the corporate counsel offices of for-profit and nonprofit companies, such as: understanding the modern and future role of corporate counsel offices, on a global scale; exercising executive leadership; representing a business entity through its constituents; becoming both a trusted legal advisor and strategic business partner to the corporate client; upholding confidentiality and ethical standards; learning the client's business; understanding the role of regulatory compliance; communicating effectively in a business setting; managing priorities and crises; collaborating with multi-disciplined teams; and solving problems with workable solutions that enable the client's objectives. To maximize the students' growth over the semester, the seminar will also teach students how lawyers learn from practice, build strong supervisory and mentorship relationships, build cultural competence, reflect and self-assess, and set and measure progress on professional development goals. Students will write reflective papers, make oral presentations, and complete other work as required by the instructor. COREQUISITE: Corporate Counsel Externship Fieldwork (JD 954). NOTE: Students who enroll in this externship may count the credits towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement.
• LAW JD 898: Criminal Trial Practice II/Defenders (C)
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Criminal Law Clinical Program. Criminal Trial Practice II is for students in their second semester of the Program who have been assigned to the Defender section. Students represent indigent defendants charged with criminal offenses in either the Boston Municipal Court or the Boston Juvenile Court. Students gain exposure to lawyering experiences such as investigation, interviewing, counseling and trial advocacy with a primary emphasis on the development of trial skills. Students spend the first part of the semester acting as defense counsel in misdemeanor cases of increasing complexity. Later in the semester, representation in felony cases is possible, as well as exposure to a number of other aspects of the criminal justice system. Students must be available to be in court two days a week, from Monday through Thursday. PREREQS: Evidence; Trial Advocacy or Criminal Trial Advocacy; Criminal Procedure (Comprehensive, Investigatory, or Adjudicatory). NOTE: The Criminal Law Clinical Program counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 899: Criminal Trial Practice II/Prosecutors (C)
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Criminal Law Clinical Program. Criminal Trial Practice II is for students in their second semester of the Program who have been assigned to the Prosecutor section. Students act as prosecutors in the Quincy District Court on behalf of the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office, handling felony and misdemeanor cases of increasing complexity under the supervision of the clinical professor. Students are exposed to a wide variety of experiences, including investigation, interviewing, and trial advocacy. Students handle pretrial matters, litigate evidentiary hearings, and are assigned to conduct every phase of jury or bench trials. Students collaborate but serve as the lead prosecutors on their own cases. Case assignments are based upon an individual assessment of a student's progress and demonstrated competence. Students in the Prosecutor Clinic may choose to enroll for 5 or 8 credits. Those receiving 5 credits must be available to be in court one full day and one additional morning per week on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Those receiving 8 credits must be available two full days per week on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. PREREQS: Evidence; Trial Advocacy or Criminal Trial Advocacy; Criminal Procedure (Comprehensive, Investigatory, or Adjudicatory). NOTE: The Criminal Law Clinical Program counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 901: Appellate Advocacy Program Director
  This class is restricted to third-year students who applied and were accepted as directors of the BU Law Moot Court programs (Stone and Albers). NOTE: This class may be used to satisfy the Upper-class Writing requirement.
• LAW JD 902: Wrongful Convictions Practicum
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Wrongful Convictions Practicum. Students work on cases from prisoners claiming an unjust result after either trial or plea. Practicum students represent incarcerated clients and handle multiple aspects of post- conviction litigation. Students review attorneys' files, pleadings, transcripts of trials and other court proceedings, and judicial decisions with the goal of identifying potential areas of investigation and legal research that may lead to a motion for a new trial or other post-conviction relief for an incarcerated client. Students will also meet with these clients and potentially with witnesses. Issues covered in a given case may include jury contamination, Fourth Amendment violations, and issues of mental health and constitutional limitations on sentencing. In addition to this case field work, students meet in weekly seminars with the practicum instructor. NOTE: The Wrongful Convictions Practicum counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. The Wrongful Convictions Practicum will be taught remotely in Fall 2021. Students are advised to check their prospective jurisdictions' bar requirements for any distance education reporting requirements or any limits on the number of distance education credits a student can receive.
• LAW JD 903: Supreme Court 2021 Term: Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Habeas Cases (S)
  This course will focus on criminal procedure and criminal law cases that are currently on the docket of the Supreme Court. Each week, the class will read a substantial amount of materials in preparation for one case, including its lower court opinion, the briefs from each party, two sets of amicus briefs, and a Supreme Court opinion drafted by a member of the class. Students will also be expected to read the most significant Supreme Court precedents involving each case. Prior to each class session, each student will be responsible for writing a 3-5 page memo critiquing the readings of the week. Students will also be responsible for drafting one 20-25 page Supreme Court opinion to be distributed to and discussed by the class. Criminal Procedure is not a prerequisite for this course. NOTE: This class does not 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 904: Law of Consumer Markets (S)
  Understanding the laws governing consumer transactions is relevant not only to our daily lives but also to many careers in the law. Why do consumer laws matter for societal issues such as racial and income inequality? How can government agencies best promote compliance while minimizing burden to businesses? How should leaders of consumer corporations navigate a heavier regulatory era? This seminar will examine consumer laws from three main perspectives: the businesses that must comply with regulations; the agencies--such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission--that write or enforce rules; and the consumers who purchase over $10 trillion in goods and services annually. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. NOTE: This class does not 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 905: Entertainment Law (S)
  This seminar will focus on the varied legal doctrines that influence both the business and practice of Entertainment Law. Some of the primary topics include issues involving publicity rights and the use and control of image, celebrity and promotion issues, defamation and free speech, invasion of privacy, copyright including infringement and dispute and other general contractual relations surrounding the entertainment field. The course will also explore the practical aspects of entertainment law such as complicated litigation issues involving jurisdictional and venue concerns, client counseling and negotiations and other ethical concerns raised in the course of representation of your client. This course will not focus on sports entertainment or any other specific labor-related organizations. There will be no final exam. Grades will be based upon papers and class participation. NOTES: This class does not satisfy the upper-class writing requirement. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 18 students. 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 907: Representing Life Sciences Companies: Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices (S)
  Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals are two of the fastest growing industries in the U.S., and the legal issues that arise in connection with representing them are complex and evolving. This seminar will focus on the transactional, intellectual property, and regulatory legal issues that challenge lawyers working with clients in these industries. We will begin with an overview of these industries, including a basic review of the sciences underpinning them (intended for non-scientists). We will then delve into complex legal issues such as licensing, collaborations, and consortium building; academic-industry interactions; the drug and biologic regulatory approval process; issues arising in clinical trials; and legal issues arising in the manufacture and distribution of life sciences products. If time permits, we will also examine the medical device industry and the ways in which that industry differs from the biopharmaceutical industry. In lieu of an exam, students will prepare a 25 page, journal-worthy article addressing a legal topic of the student's selection. PREREQUISITE: No scientific background will be required, but students will benefit from prior or contemporaneous coursework in intellectual property. 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 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 913: Hospital Law
  This course focuses on the highly regulated industry of health care, but with attention to the law applicable to hospitals and health systems. The course will review Federal and State statutes, regulations, as well as case law relevant to hospital organization, responsibilities and liability, credentialing, fraud and abuse laws and compliance oversight. The course is intended to develop competencies in understanding health care and health care insurance laws and regulations as they pertain to hospitals, developing familiarity with the reimbursement (particularly Medicare & Medicaid), regulatory compliance and enforcement issues facing hospital counsel. In addition, it is expected that students will demonstrate legal analysis and reasoning, problem-solving and communications skills required for work in a hospital/health care setting. Through understanding core health care law principles, students will learn the foundational legal, structural and business aspects of the modern hospital complex. Understanding how hospitals fit into the broader health care environment of payors, physicians, patients, regulators and other health care providers, law students will be able to appreciate the challenging dynamics affecting the health care system and the role of the hospital, often at the hub of activity, both in terms of current practice, but also health care delivery system reform. After completing the class, students will have been exposed to the key health care-related legal issues facing hospitals that hospital counsel and other health care lawyers need to know. Additionally, recognition of these stressors will be important training for lawyers in other disciplines interacting with hospitals, such as labor and employment law, intellectual property, antitrust, criminal defense, environmental, corporate, employee benefits, tax, etc. Course materials include a case book, primary source documentation, and guest lectures from in-house and outside counsel representing hospitals. NOTES: This class does not satisfy the upper-class writing requirement.
• LAW JD 914: Gender Equality Law
  This survey course provides an overview of the law concerning gender discrimination and gender equality. It will provide students with a foundation for understanding and evaluating how gender shapes and informs the law and how legal doctrine in a number of specific areas responds to problems of sex or gender discrimination. The course will address both the historical role of law in creating and maintaining forms of gender discrimination in basic social institutions and the efforts of activists, lawyers, and legal scholars to challenge such discrimination and secure equality through law. The course will introduce a variety of theoretical approaches to the study of gender and equality, as well as many substantive areas of law that implicate sex and gender. The course uses legal cases across a wide variety of subject matter areas in order to develop those theoretical frameworks, including constitutional law, employment discrimination law, family law, criminal law, education law, reproductive rights and justice, poverty law, and immigration. Those cases will include classic sex discrimination cases challenging the unequal treatment of women as well as newer cases challenging discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation as discrimination based on "sex." Through a series of "Putting Theory into Practice" problems, students will be able to test the application of such theoretical frameworks about gender and the law in numerous real-life situations, ranging from sports, the military, schools and campus life, television programming, assisted reproductive technology, parenting, the Affordable Care Act, and legal practice. Students will gain understanding of how the study of gender discrimination and equality enriches the study of law more generally. The course will also be a helpful building block for a variety of legal career paths. Student evaluation will be based on a final examination, short written responses to several "Putting Theory into Practice" problems, and class participation.
• LAW JD 917: Queerness & the Law
  This course explores the interactions between gender, sexual orientation, and the law in the United States, historically and contemporaneously. Over the course of the semester, students will gain a critical understanding of how doctrines of positive rights, conduct, privacy, and equal protection have shaped views on gender and sexual orientation across time, and how the latter have likewise shaped the former. Looking through the lens of modern legislation, litigation, and the lived experiences of LGBTQ people in the United States, students will develop their own theories of law regarding gender and sexual orientation--theories of law that will hopefully be applicable throughout their careers as legal professionals.
• LAW JD 918: Compliance and Risk Management in Global Commerce
  This course covers U.S. laws governing global trade and finance. We will examine the compliance obligations of multinational enterprises pursuant to U.S. export controls, sanctions, AML and terrorist-financing laws. Key focuses of the course will be the extraterritorial scope of U.S. laws, and techniques for mitigating legal risk in transnational business operations. Students will learn how to: 1. Identify and assess legal risk in transnational trade and financial operations; 2. Build compliance programs that effectively mitigate such risk; and, 3. Manage interactions between multinational enterprises and U.S. enforcement agencies.
• LAW JD 919: Whistleblower Law & Practice (S)
  This course will examine federal (and some state) laws that protect and incentivize whistleblowers to provide information and assist in the enforcement of laws prohibiting fraud and misfeasance in both the public and private sectors. It will cover both the substantive law as well as the practical aspects of lawyering in this field. There are two types of whistleblower laws, and the seminar will cover both: 1) laws which protect whistleblowers inside and outside of government from retaliation by their employers for having engaged in protected activity, and 2) laws which provide financial incentives to whistleblowers for reporting fraud against the government, or fraud in the securities and commodities markets. The course will examine the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 (WPA) and the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 (WPEA), the primary tools that protect whistleblowers inside of government from speaking up about government malfeasance. We will use as a specific case study the government whistleblower whose complaint led to the impeachment of the President, and the President's attempts to force disclosure of his/her identity. In the second category, the course will include a study of the federal False Claims Act - the Government's primary law enforcement mechanism for prosecuting financial frauds against the Government and its unique "qui tam" provisions which authorize private citizens to participate in that effort and offer a reward for successfully pursuing a case on the Government's behalf. The course will also study the SEC and CFTC whistleblower programs, established through the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. Current trends and developing case law in these programs will be examined, and we will undertake a detailed comparison of these models to the False Claims Act's qui tam provisions. Each student will write a paper based on a personal interview with one or more whistleblowers who have gone through the experience and/or whistleblower attorneys who have a substantial practice in this area. Alternatively, students who express a particular interest in an area relevant to the course may get permission to explore that topic in their paper. The paper will constitute 75% of the student's grade for the course. The course will be taught predominantly through simulated problems, based on composites of actual cases. By using these simulated problems, students will gain professional practice skills, including drafting, negotiating, and client representation. Students will work on a final project or paper, involving analyzing and proposing solutions to a current policy issue, or analyzing an actual whistleblower case. NOTE: This class does not automatically 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.

Back to full list of School of Law