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 739: Semester-in-Practice: Fieldwork (C)
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. This course is the fieldwork component of the Semester-in-Practice Program. Students spend a semester working full-time for credit in non-profits, government agencies, courts, private companies, or law firms. Placements may be paid or unpaid. Students may find their own placements that must be approved by the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office, 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 the Semester-in-Practice Program may count the credits towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: Semester-in-Practice: Seminar (JD 740).
• LAW JD 740: Semester-in-Practice: Seminar
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. This course is the seminar component of the Semester-in-Practice Program. Students will take the course online or on campus course (depending on the location of their placement). Topics covered in class will include legal ethics and professional responsibility, professional development, access to justice, cross-cultural lawyering, and the changing role of the legal professional. Students will have weekly readings and be expected to write weekly reflective memoranda. They will also give a presentation and prepare a final 10-12 page paper. NOTE: Students enrolled in this course may count the credits towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: Semester-in-Practice: Fieldwork (JD 739).
• LAW JD 743: NY Pro Bono Scholars: Fieldwork
  This CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. Through the Pro Bono Scholars Program, students spend their spring 3L semester working full-time for credit at a government agency or non-profit providing direct legal services to indigent clients. Participating students sit for the February New York bar exam, and begin their fieldwork the week after. Students passing the bar exam and completing other NY bar and BU Law graduation requirements are admitted to the NY bar in late June. NOTE: Students who enroll in this program may count the credits toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: NY Pro Bono Scholars Program: Directed Study (JD 744).
• LAW JD 744: NY Pro Bono Scholars: Directed Study
  This CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. This is the companion academic component for students enrolled in the Pro Bono Scholars Program: Fieldwork course. Students work with a faculty supervisor in designing their own reading list, writing a 15-20 page research paper, and submitting seven 4-6 page bi-weekly journals. COREQUISITE: NY Pro Bono Scholars Program: Fieldwork (JD 743).
• LAW JD 749: Disability Law (S)
  This seminar surveys the evolution of federal law as it relates to people with disabilities. We will cover disability discrimination in the areas of employment, education, government services, public accommodations run by private entities, and housing. In exploring these areas we will examine relevant case law and statutes (i.e. the ADA and its amendments, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the IDEA, and the Fair Housing Act) and their implementing regulations and guidance. In addition to studying legal authorities, we will engage in practical classroom exercises and hear from attorneys practicing in disability law-related settings. Readings will be provided. Grades will be based on class participation and a final paper. 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 762: Health Law Externship: Fieldwork (C)
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Office of Experiential Education to enroll. Students receive credit for working at a public agency, a non-profit, or a private health care organization. Placements may be paid or unpaid. Prior to the beginning of the semester, the course instructor works with students to identify suitable field placements depending on each student's individual interests and career goals. Once possible placements are identified, students are responsible for applying and being accepted to those organizations. Students receive 3-9 variable P/F credits for their fieldwork, as determined in consultation with their placement supervisors. Each credit requires 50 hours of work over the course of the 13-week semester (averaging 4 hours per week). NOTE: Students who enroll in this externship may count the credits towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: Health Law Externship: Seminar (JD 764).
• LAW JD 763: Administrative Law Research
  Many practice areas, from environmental law to immigration law, are heavily regulatory. Learn about the structure of administrative law research, from enabling statutes to agency adjudication, in this class. The class will focus on developing your understanding of the structure of administrative agencies and using the various sources of administrative law. You will learn what information is available from government sources and what specialty publishers bring to the table with an emphasis on being cost effective in the workplace. Classes will combine instruction and hands-on exercises using the major print, electronic and web based resources in administrative law. NOTE: Students may not add this course after the first class has been held. NOTE: This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 16 students 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. Meeting dates TBD.
• LAW JD 764: Health Law Externship: Seminar
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Office of Experiential Education to enroll. This is the companion academic component for students enrolled in the Health Law Externship: Fieldwork course. The one-hour weekly seminar examines various health law issues as well as the challenges of working in a health care environment. The seminar requires students to write a paper and make a class presentation. In addition, each student submits reflective memoranda chronicling their educational experience and reactions to the practice of law observed at the field placements. NOTE: Students who enroll in this externship may count the credits toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: Health Law Externship Program: Fieldwork (JD 762). GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 765: Critical Civil Procedure
  Many of our most famous--and infamous--cases are procedural. Because procedural rules allow, or restrict, access to justice, procedure is a central pressure point in the struggle to eradicate structural inequality and oppression through the courts. This seminar will focus on the ways in which aspects of civil procedure decrease or perpetuate structural inequality for marginalized communities, especially regarding issues such as race, sex, gender, disability, nationality/immigration status, sexual orientation, and religion. We will read short, provocative essays to analyze which communities do, and do not, get a fair opportunity to have their claim or defense heard in court. From a critical perspective, we will engage in a discourse about the procedural, structural limitations on social justice. Another goal of this seminar is to explore a more complex view of our professional roles as attorneys. GRADING NOTICE: This class will 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 766: Environmental Law Practicum (C)
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Environmental Law Practicum. Students receive credit for completing environmental law-related legal projects for a regional or national environmental law organization, such as the Conservation Law Foundation and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Projects will vary in scope and content based on student interest and the needs of the partnering organization. Project topics include clean energy, clean water, and environmental justice, which concerns the intersection of civil rights, fundamental fairness, and environmental policy. Students may also have the opportunity to work on litigation-related matters. Throughout the semester, students will work both under the supervision of an attorney at the partner organization and under the supervision of Professor Pam Hill. Practicum students must attend at least six class meetings with Professor Hill. Students receive either 1, 2 or 3 graded credits depending on the nature of the project and the anticipated workload. NOTE: This clinic counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 767: Climate Risk & Financial Institutions: Submerging Markets (S)
  This seminar will explore how the law shapes the assessment of, and response to, the financial risks of climate change. We'll look, for example, at how misaligned incentives for risk-taking (such as between a developer and a house buyer, or between a corporation and its insurer) lead to overdevelopment in flood plains and areas with high wildfire risk. After an introduction to the economics of climate change, we'll turn to questions like: What role do securities regulators, insurance commissioners, and central bankers play in the transition to a greener economy? What does "ESG" investing mean and does it do anything? Are markets foreseeing both physical risks and transition risks (i.e., stranded assets)? Our approach will consider the political economy of risk bearing, and investigate dynamics like the influence of credit ratings agencies on local government investment in sea-level rise adaptation. 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 768: Criminal Motion Practice and Advocacy
  Advocacy courses in law school tend to focus on the traditional Trial Advocacy model (opening statements, direct and cross examinations, and closing arguments) or post-trial Appellate Advocacy. The vast majority of cases, however, never reach trial. Criminal Motion Practice and Advocacy will look comprehensively at the pre-trial motions that comprise the bulk of criminal litigation. Students will have the opportunity to research, write, and argue their own pretrial motions against opposing counsel. The course will travel chronologically through the life of a criminal case, beginning at arraignment and focusing on the art of motions practice. In class exercises will include arguments for Motions to Suppress searches and seizures based on search warrants, as well as Motion to Suppress hearings with live witness testimony and examination. NOTES: This class does not satisfy the upper-class writing requirement. This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 12 students. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. PREREQUISITE: Criminal Procedure. 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 for a section are required to attend the first meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 771: Learning From Practice Externship: Seminar
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. This is the companion academic component for students enrolled in the Learning from Practice: Fieldwork course. This one-hour weekly seminar focuses on the ways in which lawyers develop skills on the job, and identifies best practice for professional development, mentoring, networking, communication, and interacting with clients and the media. The course also examines issues involving diversity, work-life balance, and ethical considerations. The seminar requires students to make a class presentation and keep a reflective journal chronicling their educational experience and reactions to the practice of law observed at the field placement. NOTE: Students who enroll in this externship may count the credits toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: Learning from Practice Externship (JD 809). GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 773: Transaction Simulation: Auction and Sale of a Private Company
  Practice Area: Mergers & Acquisitions This course is one of the semester-long transaction simulations offered as part of the Transactional Law Program and satisfies the Transaction Simulation requirement of the Transactional Practice Concentration. The simulated transaction is the acquisition in a merger transaction of a privately-held company in the single-cup coffee brewing industry through an auction process. The course exposes students to the primary tasks undertaken by both junior and more senior attorneys in a private company auction and sale, and in doing so builds skills students will need as they enter transactional practice. Students will perform analytical, drafting and other legal tasks during each stage of the transaction from inception through closing, including revising and negotiating final terms of a merger agreement for the proposed transaction and preparing the related disclosure schedules. Much of the course work will be done in teams representing the company being sold or a potential purchaser of that company. The course grade will be based on drafting assignments, contributions to team efforts such as in-class presentations and negotiation sessions, and individual class participation. CLASS SIZE: Limited to 16 students. PREREQUISITE: Contract Drafting is recommended, but not required. NOTES: This course counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement and also satisfies the Transaction Simulation requirement of the Transactional Practice Concentration. 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 course. Students who are on the wait list are required to attend the first class to be considered for enrollment. Because the course involves regular in-class exercises, some of which are done in teams, and class participation is a significant component of a student's final grade, regular class attendance is essential and thus the course normally does not accommodate flexibility in attendance.
• LAW JD 776: Intellectual Property Workshop (S)
  This seminar examines topics from the frontiers of intellectual property law. The class provides students with the opportunity to meet and interact with cutting-edge IP scholars who will be invited to speak. Students will read the speakers' works in progress, critique those writings in papers and oral give-and-take discussions with the authors, and will be provided additional reading as appropriate. The goals of this workshop are three: for students to deepen their substantive knowledge of IP law, for students to increase their abilities to participate in scholarly debate, and for established scholars to improve their working papers through the input of the workshop group. COREQUISITE/PREREQUISITE: Ideally, students should have taken or be concurrently enrolled in a course in IP, Copyright, Patent, or Trademark. Students who have not taken such a course (or who are not enrolled currently in such a course) must obtain the permission of the instructor. Students in the seminar will write several short papers commenting on the papers presented in the workshop. 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 777: Education Law
  In this course, we will examine the relationship between law, public policy, and current issues in education at both the K-12 and higher ed levels. Major themes will include campus safety and privacy; the right to an equal and quality education (with a focus on desegregation and resegregation); constitutional issues in public schools (including religious considerations and student freedom of expression); and structures of educational governance and various school reforms. Related topics of engagement will likely include policing in schools, ongoing legal battles over race-conscious practices and policies, the unmet needs of English language learners, and the impact of the charter school movement. NOTE: Previously Education Law and Policy. Students previously enrolled in the seminar may not register for this course. Course assessment will include a three-hour final examination. Class participation will also factor into final grades. NOTES: This class does not satisfy the upper-class writing requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 778: Introduction to Risk Management and Compliance
  Spanning the range of industries from health care to financial services to manufacturing and beyond, compliance is the fast-growing practice of managing the full range of legal risk within highly-regulated organizations. At the complex intersection of law, business operations, reputation, and ethics, compliance lawyers practice "preventive law" to protect companies against corporate criminal and civil liability. We will discuss how to identify and evaluate an organization's legal risks and and work in multidisciplinary teams to develop effective strategies to prevent wrongdoing (and detect violations when they do occur). Among other topics, we will look at the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and enforcement guidance from the Department of Justice and Securities & Exchange Commission to see how compliance has become a key mechanism of corporate accountability in the U.S. and globally.
• LAW JD 780: Trademark and Unfair Competition
  This course will examine the precepts of trademark and unfair competition law. We will investigate issues of ownership, protectability, and infringement in the context of words, symbols, slogans, product design and trade dress. The course also will handle related issues, depending on class interest, such as: trademark's common law roots, false and comparative advertising, parody, the right of publicity, the First Amendment, a comparison of how copyright and trademark treat 'functional' designs, the influence of misappropriation law and fears of free riding, and the challenge of applying trademark laws in the Internet context. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 783: Transaction Simulation: Int'l Business Collaboration
  Practice Areas: Cross-Border Transactions and International Negotiations This course is one of the semester-long transaction simulations offered as part of the Transactional Law Program and satisfies the Transaction Simulation requirement of the Transactional Practice Concentration. The simulated transaction involves two companies, one a large U.S.-based pharmaceutical company, and the other an African company majority owned by the government. The two companies are interested in working together to produce and commercialize a plant-based product which may be effective in treating, and possibly even preventing, arthritis. The pharmaceutical company has developed and patented a process to extract the active ingredient from the plant which is available in ample supply from the African company. The form of their collaboration could be a joint venture, a licensing agreement or a long term supply contract. For much of the course, the class will be divided into two teams, with each team representing one of the parties to the potential transaction. Negotiations between the two teams will take place through written exchanges and real-time negotiation. The course provides students with an opportunity to gain insight into the dynamics of negotiating and structuring business transactions, to learn about the role that lawyers, law and business play in these negotiations, and to develop experience in drafting communications and actual negotiations. Students will also learn about the legal and business issues that may arise in joint ventures, supply agreements and licensing agreements, particularly in an international transaction. CLASS SIZE: Limited to 12 students. This course is open to LLM students provided there are available seats and with the permission of the Instructor and the Assistant Dean of Graduate and International Programs. PREREQUISITES: Corporations and Contract Drafting (or Transactional Contracts in the case of LLM students) are recommended, but not required. NOTES: This course counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement and also satisfies the Transaction Simulation requirement of the Transactional Practice Concentration. 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 course. Students who are on the wait list are required to attend the first class to be considered for enrollment. Because the course involves regular in-class exercises, some of which are done in teams, and class participation is a significant component of a student's final grade, regular class attendance is essential and thus the course normally does not accommodate flexibility in attendance.
• LAW JD 784: Transaction Simulation: The Rise and Fall of a Syndicated Loan
  Practice Areas: General Business, Banking/Finance, Corporate Governance and Restructuring This course is one of the semester-long transaction simulations offered as part of the Transactional Law Program and satisfies the Transaction Simulation requirement of the Transactional Practice Concentration. The simulated transaction is the structuring, negotiation and documentation, and subsequent restructuring, of a $1.7 billion secured, syndicated commercial loan to a privately- held but well-funded biotechnology company whose principal business is the development and commercialization of medical testing and diagnostic products and services (the "Company"). As the financial institutions which have been approached about making this loan are aware, the Company's primary purpose for seeking this loan is to use the loan proceeds to pay an extraordinary dividend to its founder and controlling shareholder and a private equity firm which is its primary outside investor (often referred to as a "dividend recap loan"). The course will explore some of the key issues, and students will perform several of the principal tasks which transactional lawyers specializing in general business, banking/finance, corporate governance and restructuring must consider and carry out in advising corporate clients and financial institutions in connection with a dividend recap loan. These will include advising the Company's board of directors and officers (or alternatively, the prospective lenders) in evaluating whether to engage in the loan and dividend transaction, the steps needed to obtain corporate approval for it and structuring, negotiating and documenting these types of transactions. We will also examine the critical role various provisions of the credit and security agreements for the loan play following the loan closing when serious problems and potential events of default arise leading to a restructuring of the original loan. As the course proceeds, students will be divided into teams (the composition of which will change regularly) representing various parties to the transactions, and will perform the key analytical, drafting, negotiation and other legal tasks required to effectively represent their respective clients during the various stages of the transactions. The course grade will be based on drafting assignments, contributions to team efforts such as in-class presentations and negotiation sessions, and individual class participation. CLASS SIZE: Limited to 12 students. PREREQUISITE OR CO-REQUISITE: Corporations. Contract Drafting is recommended, but not required. NOTES: This course counts toward the 6- credit Experiential Learning requirement and also satisfies the Transaction Simulation requirement of the Transactional Practice Concentration. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS: 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 course. Students who are on the wait list are required to attend the first class to be considered for enrollment. Because the course involves regular in-class exercises, some of which are done in teams, and class participation is a significant component of a student's final grade, regular class attendance is essential and thus the course normally does not accommodate flexibility in attendance.

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