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 840: International Human Rights Clinic: Skills Seminar
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the International Human Rights Clinic. This course is the companion fall classroom component for students enrolled in the Clinic and provides an introduction to essential lawyering skills, with a focus on those relevant to the practice of human rights law. The goal of the course is to help students develop a wide range of competencies, including written and oral communication and advocacy, legal research, factual investigation, witness interviewing, professional responsibility, and strategic thinking and problem-solving. NOTE: This course counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 841: Supervised Research & Writing
  Upper-class students may pursue a special research interest under the guidance of a full time faculty member, and earn one or two semester credits for a Supervised Research and Writing project (also known as an Independent Study). The study must involve a substantial investment of time and effort, and result in significant written work that reflects a high standard of legal scholarship. The student's final grade will be based solely upon written work submitted, and will be included in the student's average. NOTE: Students must register for Supervised Research and Writing directly with the Registrar's Office. You may not register via the Student Link.
• LAW JD 842: International Business Transactions
  This course is designed to give students a broad overview of the law--domestic, foreign, and international--governing international business transactions. With the significant growth in international commerce and trade, and the forces of economic and social globalization, lawyers will increasingly confront international legal issues during their professional careers. This course will focus on the legal problems encountered in business ventures that cross national borders. Topics may include formation of contracts, choice of law, financing the international sale of goods through letters of credit, sales and distribution agreements, licensing and contract manufacturing, joint venture agreements, foreign investment, international dispute settlement, and global compliance issues. This course explores one or more of these topics with contract drafting and negotiation exercises. NOTE: While prior background in international law is not required, it is strongly recommended.
• LAW JD 843: Int'l Human Rights Clinic: Human Rights Advocacy (S)
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the International Human Rights Clinic. This is the companion spring classroom component for students in the Clinic. The course focuses on further developing skills in the context of the substantive law and mechanisms of the Inter-American Human Rights system. Classes will cover: interviewing and counseling institutional (non-governmental organizations) clients; designing and implementing human rights field research; ethical pitfalls and professional 'best practices' in human rights collaborations with international networks; advocacy within the Inter-American machinery; and simulations using comparative and foreign human rights problems. The classes will be a combination of readings and discussion; simulations; student presentations; short papers and case rounds to discuss project work; and group and individual feedback on project development. NOTE: This course counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 847: Federal Courts
  Federal Courts is a course about judicial power. In short, it helps students answer the question: What is the role of the federal judiciary in our constitutional democracy. We examine the statutory, constitutional, and judge-made doctrines that empower the federal courts, as well as those that limit their authority. What is a "case" to begin with? Are some disputes simply not cases amenable to resolution by federal judges? Who should be able to bring a case to the courts' attention? The simple answer is someone injured by unlawful conduct. But what constitutes an injury? And who decides what constitutes an injury? Who can be held accountable for injuries resulting from unlawful conduct? Should certain entities and people have immunity from suit in federal court altogether? We grapple with that question in our study of state sovereign immunity and official immunity doctrines. We also study the relationships between the federal courts and the other branches of government: Congress and the President. For example, does Congress have the power to abolish the federal courts, if it sees fit? Could it remove certain cases from the federal courts' jurisdiction, such as cases involving immigration or the Second Amendment? This course builds extensively on topics covered in Constitutional Law and Civil Procedure. It is strongly recommended for students who are interested in litigation of any sort (in state or federal court), civil rights, and government lawyering at any level, including clerking for a state or federal judge.
• LAW JD 849: Privacy, Security & Technology (S)
  This seminar explores how modern technology disrupts many of the customs and principles upon which our laws and institutions for national security have evolved. The advancement of modern technology is changing the nature of how we perceive and defend against security threats across all domains. Attacks can be launched in ways that national borders and other conventional defenses cannot easily stop, and the proliferation of privacy enhancing cryptographic tools provides virtual refuge for threat actors to congregate, coordinate and conspire. At the same time, the state has mobilized the use of new technologies--expanding, and indeed, redefining, surveillance capabilities--to predict, prevent and defend against threats in the modern era. This class will focus on a series of historical and contemporary challenges posed by a range of technologies to the government's administration of security and justice, and the solutions implemented or proposed by the state in response. The objective is to contextualize and deepen our understanding of the substantive and institutional questions that arise from the modern day "going dark" problem, in order to facilitate sound policy and good politics in areas that are devoid of law. Topics for discussion may include, but are not limited to: the use of cryptographic tools to evade government surveillance; government proposals for "backdoor" access to people's devices and data; the use of government hacking as a surveillance tool; and the use of machine learning to predict and prevent threat incidents. No technical knowledge is required. NOTES: 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 (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 851: Labor Law
  Survey of modern labor management and union relations law in the private sector. Organization of workers and the representation process; collective bargaining; unfair practices, employer and union; negotiation and enforcement of collective agreement, including arbitration; regulation of strikes and lockouts. Administrative law and federalism principles will be treated. Employment discrimination and other individual employee protection laws are not treated in this course.
• LAW JD 852: Regulated Money Management: Advisers & Mutual Funds
  With more than $25 trillion in assets under management, registered investment companies (commonly referred to as mutual funds) perform a significant role in raising and deploying capital within the U.S. financial system. This course is designed to familiarize students with the legal and regulatory framework of the investment management industry. The course will focus primarily on the regulation of investment advisers and mutual funds under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Investment Company Act of 1940 and will examine how these statutes, in combination with other state and federal laws and regulations, govern the formation, structure, distribution and management of mutual funds and other investment-related products and services offered by advisers, brokers and other financial intermediaries. The course will also examine the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission in regulating the investment management industry and the responsibilities of legal counsel in practicing before the SEC. NOTE: Students who have taken Mutual Funds may not enroll in this course.
• LAW JD 854: White Collar Crime
  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-credit 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 health 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 course is designed to develop a solid doctrinal foundation 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 both the cause of and solution to health care and health care insurance market imperfections.
• LAW JD 857: Intellectual Property
  In our modern information economy, the law of intellectual property has taken on enormous importance to both creators and users. This course introduces students to the principles of trade secret, patent, copyright, and trademark law, and explores the ways in which those principles are shifting and adapting in response to new technology. The course is open to all upper level students, without prerequisite. No scientific or technical background is required.
• LAW JD 858: International Trade Regulation (S)
  The first half of this seminar surveys the origins and development of the WTO, with emphasis on the WTO legal process and its interaction with U.S. trade agencies. It explores the philosophical underpinnings of free trade and its impact on developed, developing, and least developed countries. Each session compares U.S. and EU approaches to trade regulation. Meanwhile, in consultation with the instructor and Law Library staff, students develop individual research projects and produce thick outlines. The second half of the semester is devoted to students' presentations of their work in progress. A polished paper is expected of each student by the end of the exam period. Shorter response papers may also be required. RECOMMENDED COURSES: International Business Transactions, Intellectual Property, International Law. ** 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, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list are required to attend the first meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• 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 860: Alternative Business Entities
  Alternative business entities -- particularly LLCs and partnerships -- have become entities of choice, and many more LLCs are now organized than corporations incorporated (especially in Delaware). The course will address choice of entity decisions, examine the differences and similarities among alternative business entities, and consider questions involving management, fiduciary and other duties, obligations to non-owners and economic issues. PRE/COREQUISITE: Corporations. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 861: Civil Litigation and Justice Program (C)
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Civil Litigation and Justice Program. Student in the Civil Litigation and Justice Program handle their own caseloads, representing indigent clients in civil cases under the supervision of clinical faculty. Students may participate in the Program for either a full year (the Individual Rights Litigation Clinic (IRL) or Access to Justice Clinic (A2J)) or for one semester (the Employment Rights Clinic (ERC)). Students participating in IRL or A2J 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 and Justice 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)
  This seminar will provide students with the real-world skills necessary to effectively counsel their clients. We will discuss the differences in counseling clients when their legal matters are complex or simple, sensitive or uncontroversial, and high-risk or low-stakes. Finally, we will examine client counseling at several stages of the attorney-client relationship, including the initial client meeting, client and witness interviews, preparing the client to be deposed or testify, and strategically guiding the client's decision-making as the matter evolves. Students will not only study methods of effective client counseling; they will practice what they learn by conducting mock interviews and collaborating with their classmates/co-counsels to rehearse optimal client counseling techniques. 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 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. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 865: Employment Discrimination and Employment Law
  The course focuses on race, sex, age, and disability employment discrimination prohibitions. Affirmative action, religious discrimination, constitutional protections of public sector workers, anti‑retaliation and whistleblower laws, common law protection against arbitrary dismissals, the FMLA, and the FSLA are also covered. Important procedural issues, including arbitration, also are treated. RESTRICTION: Students who previously enrolled in Employment Discrimination (JD 853) may not register for this course. Students who previously enrolled in Employment Law (JD 834) may register for this course. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 866: Technology Law Clinic: Seminar 1
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Technology Law Clinic. This is the fall classroom component to the Technology Law Clinic. The seminar introduces students to the lawyering skills relevant to a modern technology law practice, including effective counseling of innovation clients The seminar also introduces a variety of legal issues that arise in research and innovation environments, including advanced topics in intellectual property, computer crimes, and data privacy. NOTE: The Technology Law Clinic counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

Back to full list of School of Law