Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• 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
  This course focuses on the law governing international trade, including both the law established by the World Trade Organization and relevant U.S. laws. This will include an in-depth analysis of the treaties, regulations, and case law that govern international trade. The course will cover the basic principles and mechanisms of international trade law, including most-favored-nation (MFN), national treatment, dispute settlement, as well as relevant laws in different substantive areas such as tariffs, quotas, services, intellectual property, and trade remedies. The course will also examine the political economy of international trade relations, including how economic and political forces have shaped current regulatory policies and may shape future policies.
• LAW JD 859: Immigrants' Rights - Human Traffic Clinic
  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
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to one of the four clinics in the Civil Litigation and Justice Program. These clinics are: the Access to Justice Clinic (A2J), the Appellate Clinic, the Civil Litigation Clinic (CLC), and the Consumer Economic Justice Clinic (CEJC). Students in the Civil Litigation and Justice Program handle their own caseloads and/or systems change projects under the supervision of clinical faculty. Students participate in the Program for the full year through one of the four clinic options. 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
  This seminar will provide students with the foundations of client interviewing and counseling and offer opportunities to develop the real-world skills necessary to effectively work with clients. We will discuss different styles and contexts of counseling clients, as well as examining client counseling at several stages of the attorney-client relationship, including the initial client meeting, client interviews, 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 client counseling skills by participating in a variety of hands-on activities, including conducting mock interviews, role plays, and case conferences. The course has multiple points of assessment including class participation, short written assignments, and client counseling simulations. 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: Defender Clinic
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Defender Clinic. In the Defender Clinic, students represent clients charged with criminal offenses in the Boston Municipal Court, handling felony and misdemeanor cases under the supervision of a clinical faculty member. Students gain exposure in lawyering experiences such as investigation, interviewing, counseling, and trial advocacy. Students must be available to be in court selected court day(s) each week. Students will receive more information about which days they must have available for court before they must register for all courses. Students complement their casework with work on criminal law related projects. PRE/COREQS: Criminal Trial Advocacy (except where student has previously completed another trial advocacy course); Evidence (strongly recommended) or Criminal Procedure (Comprehensive (AB) or Investigation (A)). 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 864: Defender Clinic - Advanced
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Defender Clinic. Students who advance to the Defender Clinic – Advanced continue the fieldwork and coursework from the prior semester. Students further develop their lawyering skills as they work on cases and criminal law related projects with increasing independence. Students must be available to be in court selected court day(s) each week. PRE/COREQS: Evidence and Criminal Procedure (Comprehensive (AB) or Investigation (A)). 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 865: Trusts and Estates
  This course is an introduction to the basic elements of the gratuitous wealth transmission process. Topics include (1) an overview of the estate planning process and policy considerations bearing on private wealth transmission; (2) the distribution of property in the absence of a will (intestacy); (3) the law of wills, including formal requisites for validity, revocation and construction of, and challenges to a will; (4) will substitutes and planning for incapacity; (5) an introduction to types of trusts, and to the basic law governing interests in trusts and fiduciary administration; and (5) a brief introduction to wealth transfer taxation. Time permitting, there may also be brief coverage of powers of appointment, and spendthrift, and charitable trusts.
• LAW JD 866: SILC: Privacy, Health and Media Seminar 1
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Student Innovations Law Clinic. The BU/MIT Student Innovations Law Clinic (SILC) provides counseling and guidance to assist MIT and BU students with laws and regulations that relate to their innovation-related academic and extracurricular activities. As a companion to SILC Fieldwork course, in Privacy, Health & Media Seminar 1 students in SILC's Privacy, Health & Media Practice Group meet to review substantive legal issues in information privacy, cybersecurity, and health law and how they relate to SILC's practice, including issues in consumer privacy; sectoral privacy in health, finance, and education; cybersecurity and breach response; and FDA regulation of information technology and devices. The seminar will also introduce students to the lawyering skills (including interviewing, counseling, negotiation, drafting, etc.) that will help them in counseling MIT and BU students on their creative and innovative projects. This class will occasionally meet with some or all of the students in the other SILC Practice Group sections for clinic-wide discussions and case round presentations. 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 867: HEALTH CARE FINANCE
  This 3-credit course will cover the legal structures governing public and private health care finance. Topics include an overview of health care and health care insurance markets, the history and economics of health care insurance, employer-sponsored insurance including ERISA preemption, the Affordable Care Act's structure and related litigation, Medicare, and Medicaid. Grades will be based primarily on a 3-hour, in-class, open-book final examination. Student participation is required and will affect course grades. No prerequisites.
• 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: SILC: Privacy, Health & Media Seminar 2
  THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Student Innovations Law Clinic. The BU/MIT Student Innovations Law Clinic (SILC) provides counseling and guidance to assist MIT and BU students with laws and regulations that relate to their innovation-related academic and extracurricular activities. As a companion to SILC Fieldwork course, in Privacy, Health & Media Seminar 2 students in SILC's Privacy, Health & Media Practice Group expand upon the legal and practice issues reviewed in the fall seminar, including issues in consumer privacy; sectoral privacy in health, finance, and education; cybersecurity and breach response; and FDA regulation of information technology and devices. This class will occasionally meet with some or all of the students in the other SILC Practice Group sections for clinic-wide discussions and case round presentations. 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 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 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.
• LAW JD 873: Civil Procedure
  Examines the structure and function of civil procedure and the requirements of due process of law.
• LAW JD 874: Advanced Legal Writing and Editing
  The purpose of this seminar is to provide students with the opportunity to improve their writing, editing and communication skills. Students will prepare a variety of practice related documents based on a single fact pattern. Some legal research will be necessary, but the emphasis will be on writing, not on research. Students will also have the opportunity to edit other students' papers, with the goal of improving their own writing skills. Actors will perform a scenario for the class, from which students will extract the pertinent facts. From this fact pattern, students will draft an inter office memo, a letter or memo to a non lawyer client, and a trial or appellate brief. Students will also engage in simulated client interviewing and counseling sessions, as well as a simulated meeting with a supervisor. Students will be graded on the basis of their written work, editing work on their classmate's papers and on their classroom performance. There will be no final exam. NOTE: This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 14 students. 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 875: PUBLIC INTEREST LAW
  Public interest legal practice takes many forms. It can involve government agencies, non-profit organizations, private law firms doing pro bono work, public defender's office, labor unions, and inter-governmental organizations, among others. It can take the form of litigation, transactional work, policy-related work, or legislative advocacy. Also, attorneys adopt varied models of public interest lawyering, including approaches known as community lawyering, cause lawyering, and movement lawyering. This seminar engages through readings, guest speakers, and class discussion to examine the various approaches to public interest lawyering. Students will explore how to define the "public interest" and learn different models for public interest lawyering. Students also will gain familiarity with the different substantive areas of public interest law, organizational settings for public interest practice, and modes of public interest advocacy. Many class sessions will include a guest faculty member or a guest attorney who will present a sample of their public interest work in connection with class themes. There will also be time dedicated to discussing speaker presentations. Students will be required to submit short reaction papers to the readings and presentations and perform an in-class oral presentation based on class themes. 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, 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 876: Property
  Conceptual analysis and underlying policy considerations in basic property law.
• LAW JD 878: Race and the Law
  In this seminar we will study historical and contemporary issues situated at the intersection of race and law. We will also critically examine the role that law has played in creating, maintaining, sustaining, and resisting various systems of power in the United States. Together, we will analyze varying propositions stemming from our legal system, like the claim of systemic oppression, the existence of an egalitarian legal system, and the systemic nature of racial injustice. Moreover, we will examine what role law has played in influencing the conception of race and the settings in which race operates. We will approach these questions through the lens of territorial expansion in the United States, focusing on major movements in the fields of Federal Indian Law, territorial governance, and the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Reconstruction Amendments. Final research paper in lieu of exam. UPPERCLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: Students may use this class to satisfy the requirement. **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 for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.