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 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. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may not be used to satisfy the 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 850: Insurance Law
  The presence or absence of insurance is in many instances the single most important determinant of whether and how a tort or contracts action is litigated. This course focuses on both individual and commercial forms of insurance coverage. Students are introduced to the key insurance concepts of risk management, including the transfer, pooling and allocation of covered risks. Problems of contract interpretation, imperfect information, adverse selection and discrimination will be treated at length. Additionally, the class will take up issues particular to property, life, health, disability, liability and auto insurance. Finally, some time will be devoted to the state regulatory regimes designed to ensure solvency and profitability, and to the secondary market (i.e. reinsurance, and surplus and excess lines). A final exam is required.
• LAW JD 852: Regulated Money Management
  With approximately $30 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 focuses 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 examines how these statutes, in combination with other state and federal laws and regulations, govern the formation, structure, distribution and management of mutual funds and various investment-related products and services offered by advisers, brokers and other financial intermediaries. The course also examines 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. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 853: Employment Discrimination
  Comprehensive coverage of federal and state statutory anti-discrimination and accommodation laws governing employment. Federal statutes treated include Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, the Equal Pay Act, and section 1981. Constitutional equal protection law also will be treated where applicable. Topics include disparate treatment, disparate impact, systemic disparate treatment, harassment, retaliation, remedies, including affirmative action, and procedural choices.
• 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. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement.
• LAW JD 856: Health Law
  This survey course will cover the principles that govern and influence the interaction of patients, payors, and providers in the field traditionally referred to as "health law." Coverage includes establishment of the physician-patient relationship, privacy and confidentiality, medical malpractice, conflicts of interest, health care financing, federal preemption, billing fraud, public health law, proposals for health care reform, regulation of drugs and devices, licensure of health professions, and regulation of health facilities, including emergency departments. The course content will be in part driven by the students themselves delving deeper into assigned topics, through class presentations.
• 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 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 formed than corporations incorporated (especially in Delaware, where more than 70% of new companies are LLCs). The course will address choice of entity decisions, examine the differences and similarities among alternative business entities, including new forms such as the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and consider questions involving management, fiduciary and other duties, obligations to non- owners and economic and tax issues. The class will also consider the diverse use cases for alternative entities and the intersection of alternative entity law with securities law, bankruptcy law, and other sometimes inconsistent statutory regimes.
• 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. NOTE: This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may not be used to satisfy the requirement. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 863: Economic Democracy: Labor?s Voice at Work (S)
  Workers today have little say inside American companies. This course will explore worker voice in the corporation and workplaces more generally. We will investigate various methods for enhancing worker voice, such as codetermination, bicameralism, unionization, worker councils, employee ownership, and shareholder activism. We will explore how corporate law and investor law both inhibit and shape worker economic voice, and we will study various current developments including efforts to put workers on corporate boards, the human capital management movement, labor's capital activism, proposed reforms to corporate governance and corporate purpose, and expanding notions of fiduciary duty. There will be several professional and academic guest speakers. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. PREREQUISITE: Corporations. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the 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. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. PREREQUISITE: Business Fundamentals.
• 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.
• LAW JD 868: Moot Court
  The second component of the First Year Research and Writing requirement is participation in the J. Newton Esdaile Appellate Moot Court Program in the spring semester. Students conduct research, draft a brief and present a case in oral argument before a panel of moot-court judges made up of faculty, lawyers and students.
• LAW JD 869: Technology Law Clinic: Seminar 2
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Technology Law Clinic. This is the spring classroom component to the Technology Law Clinic. The seminar expands upon the lawyering skills and substantive legal discussions from the first semester, and will focus on questions of national policy as they relate to technology, including national control over technical information, academic privacy and freedom, and emerging cybersecurity regulation. NOTE: The Technology Law Clinic counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 870: Patent Law
  The basic questions in patent law are: why should society grant inventors a right to exclude others from using a patented invention? Who should be given the right? What is the scope of the right? How should the right be enforced? What disclosure duties should be placed on the patent holder? We will concentrate on these legal issues without getting mired in discussions of the technical details of particular inventions. Students without a technical background are welcome and encouraged to enroll.
• LAW JD 871: Trusts, Wills & Basic Estate Planning
  This course explores the basic law surrounding the disposition of property at death: (1) overview of the estate planning process and the policy considerations regarding inheritance law; (2) the process by which property is distributed in the absence of a will (intestacy); (3) the law of wills, examining challenges to a will, formal requirements for the execution of a valid will, revocation, and construction; (4) will substitutes and planning for incapacity; (5) the law of trusts, including revocable and pour-over trusts, and creditor and beneficiary rights; (6) brief coverage of powers of appointment, perpetuities, spendthrift, and charitable trusts. This course does not address in detail tax-motivated estate planning.
• LAW JD 872: Financial Reporting for Lawyers
  Understanding financial statements and reports. The objective of the course is that students will be able to read and understand the four financial statements and the 10-k annual report. Emphasis is placed on understanding the nature and meaning of the reports, as well as the relationship to the underlying transactions. Other topics include: basic accounting principles, US GAAP versus IFRS, financial statement analysis, the relationship of the financial statement information to covenant documents, and accounting gamesmanship. RESTRICTION: Not open to students who have had more than one three-hour college course, or its equivalent, in accounting. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

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