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.
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LAW JD 712: LEGAL WRITING FOR CIVIL LITIGATION
This class is designed to give students experience in legal writing for civil litigation. Over the course of the semester, students will work on the various stages of a federal court litigation from pre-complaint investigation through dispositive motions. There will be opportunities to draft a variety of litigation documents, including complaints, discovery, motions, and research memos. Students will complete multiple drafts of key documents and will meet individually with the instructor to discuss the drafts. Students will focus on using the facts to tell their clients' story and making persuasive, winning arguments. In class, students will discuss a range of strategic questions including developing viable causes of action, identifying critical facts, and using written discovery to obtain information. Additionally, students will participate in several in-class exercises designed to improve the students' skills in writing, fact-gathering and argument. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This Dedicated Writing Class may be used to satisfy the requirement. RESTRICTION: Students may not enroll in both Legal Writing for Civil Litigation and Persuasive Writing: Trial Level (JD 713). ** 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 713: Persuasive Writing: Trial Level
This seminar will focus on improving students' persuasive writing skills through a series of assignments and in-class exercises. Students will draft a variety of trial-level documents designed to persuade, including a demand letter, a statement of the facts, a memorandum in support of a motion for summary judgment, and a reply memo. Legal research will be necessary for these assignments, but the emphasis will be on analysis and writing. Students will complete multiple drafts of these documents, meet individually with the instructors to discuss the drafts, and engage in peer editing of their classmates' papers to improve their own writing skills. The class will also include discussions of persuasive writing strategies, comparisons of examples of good and bad persuasive writing, and in-class writing exercises. Students will be graded on the basis of their written work and their peer editing work. Students will engage in oral presentation and advocacy in this course. There will be no final exam. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 14 students. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This Dedicated Writing Class may be used to satisfy the requirement. RESTRICTION: Students may not enroll in both Persuasive Writing: Trial Level and Legal Writing for Civil Litigation (JD 712). ** 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 714: Competitions: Oral Advocacy
This class is designed to prepare and support the 3L members of BU Law's extramural moot court teams who also serve as Stone and Albers competition preceptors. This course will focus on improving students' appellate oral advocacy skills through a series of course meetings that involve skills training and in-class exercises. For the first month of the semester, the seminar will meet weekly as a group and will focus on oral advocacy skills, including how to prepare, argument organization, and presentation best practices. For the remainder of the spring semester, students participating in spring competitions will meet on an arranged schedule to conduct at least four one-hour oral argument practices for their competition and to attend and to serve as judges for at least two other one-hour oral argument practices for other competitions. Students serving as Albers preceptors will score briefs and oral arguments. These Albers preceptors will meet to work on editing and feedback skills. All students participating in spring competitions will be required to write a reflection paper due no later than two weeks after the close of their competition. There will be no final exam. Note that students who are participating on extramural moot court teams that are assigned to serve as either Stone or Albers preceptors must still serve as preceptors even if they do not enroll in this course. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 25 students. GRADING NOTICE: CR/NC graded. NOTE: This class does not satisfy the Upper-class Writing Requirement. 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. -
LAW JD 716: CONSTRUCTION LAW
This course will introduce students to the key concepts of construction law. The course takes students from pre-construction through project execution, and addresses the issues and conflicts that frequently arise during the construction process. Although portions of the course will address issues of contract law and dispute resolution, the course focuses on issues that are particular and unique to construction. -
LAW JD 717: Health Law Research
Health law encompasses the engagement of the legal system with a large and dynamic segment of the U.S. economy. In this class, students will gain a familiarity with how to navigate the statutory and regulatory framework of health law, how to evaluate resources, and how complex and multi-part search strategies may be applied to research problems. Students will also gain a deeper understanding of databases beyond Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg, and of current awareness sources. Classes will combine instruction and hands-on exercises using print, electronic, and web-based resources. Students will be evaluated on several grounds, including class participation, regular assignments, and a short paper and presentation. NOTE: This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. NOTE: Students may not add this course after the first class has been held. 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. -
LAW JD 718: Transactional Law Research
Most students will end up practicing transactional law which presents unique legal research challenges. Students will learn to navigate the statutory and regulatory frameworks of transactional areas of the law like tax, banking, securities and other practice areas. They will research agency guidance, use specialized practice materials and search for filings and company information, among other research tasks. Legal information and technologies in these area are constantly changing and new lawyers should be familiar with the most recent research techniques and tools. Classes will combine instruction and hands-on exercises using major print, electronic, and web based resources for securities law research. Students will be required to complete several assignments using electronic and print resources and put together a final client presentation on a transaction. NOTES: This course counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. -
LAW JD 719: Language of Law
This course examines the historical underpinnings of language with a focus on how the prestige dialect affects understanding of and access to the law and legal system at all levels. The course will examine the language of law through four modules: (1) How language affects access to the American legal system; (2) How language affects outcomes in the American legal system; (3) How silence (what is not said or not written) affects access and outcomes; and (4) How language influences the attorneys' professional identities, including the students' own. Students will read a variety of cases and articles and listen to excerpts from podcasts and hearings in court to evaluate the role of language in shaping the law. Topics may be driven by student interest, but will center around issues of race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, ability, religion, age, and socioeconomic class. Students will also draw upon recent and current events to analyze how or if the language of law is changing and the impact therefrom. Students will choose an area where language impacts law to focus on and will use this topic for a research paper and presentation. Some shorter reflections may also be required. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may be used to partially satisfy the requirement. -
LAW JD 725: Student Innovations Law Clinic: Fieldwork
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 provides counseling and guidance to assist MIT and BU students with laws and regulations that relate to their innovation-related academic and extracurricular activities. The clinic provides counseling in a variety of different areas of law, organized into three practice groups: (1) Intellectual Property & Media; (2) Privacy, Security, & Health; and (3) Venture & Finance. Representation of clients can include client counseling, contract and policy drafting and review, negotiation with third parties, and, if capacity allows, litigation and other dispute resolution. CO-REQUISITE: If students have not done so already, students must take at least one course in any one of the following four areas: (1) intellectual property (either an IP survey course or other core IP course such as patent, copyright, trademark, or trade secret); (2) privacy (including information privacy law or information risk management); (3) cybersecurity; or (4) corporations. 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 726: Heath Care Fraud and Abuse
This seminar will use a practical, case-study approach to some of the issues arising in the complex world of health care enforcement and compliance. With emphasis on the procedural mechanisms of the False Claims Act and the substantive law of the Anti-Kickback Act, the Stark I and II laws, the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, and the government’s remedial authorities, the seminar will explore how prosecutors, defense attorneys, whistleblowers, and compliance officials inside health care companies approach their work and advise their clients. The seminar will explore the relationships between regulated industries (e.g., pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, doctors, medical device companies) and government insurance programs (e.g., Medicaid and Medicare), why these relationships generate billions of dollars every year in fraud, and how the interested constituencies are approaching these issues. 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, 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 727: HEALTH CARE DECISIONS
This course will cover issues that arise in clinical healthcare settings, primarily involving who decides and on what basis. Topics include: informed consent and materiality; competence and capacity to give consent; surrogates, advanced directives, physicians orders, and powers of attorney; end-of-life decision making, including withholding/removing treatment, euthanasia, and physician-assisted suicide; clinical ethics committees; patient confidentiality and duties to disclose; human subjects research and institutional review boards; physician conflicts of interest; pre-approval access to drugs; and rationing of scarce healthcare resources. -
LAW JD 728: DIGITAL MONEY & PROPERTY
What we earn, owe and own will soon be represented only by bits in a computer, but we are only beginning to understand the benefits, risks and legal pitfalls associated with this change. While crypto currencies have dominated the news, they are only part of the larger global conversion to digital money and property representations that is underway. In Norway, over 95% of consumer transactions are now made with digital fiat money, California is working on converting its entire car title system from paper to digital and virtually all central banks are working on introducing national digital currencies. The impact of digitization will cut across property law, banking and finance, secured transactions, consumer rights, bankruptcy and many other areas of law - all of which this seminar will explore. The relationship between money, the reach of government and the impact on societal wealth and inequalities will also be considered over the course of the semester -- as well as the potential for government to limit privacy and control behaviors using digital money and payment systems. The goal of this seminar will be to explore and understand current issues, but more importantly, to equip students with a framework to understand and apply the law to evolving and new forms of money and digital property throughout their careers. Over the course of the semester, we will review and study various laws that govern money, property rights and debt with a focus on recent changes to the Uniform Commercial relating to digital assets and currency including Article 12 on Controllable Electronic Records. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement. -
LAW JD 729: COMPLIANCE POLICY: SEMINAR
THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied and been accepted to the Compliance Policy Clinic. The Clinic is designed to develop core skills and capacities that are transferrable across compliance practice contexts and substantive areas of law. Clinic students hone research, analysis, writing, fact investigation, interviewing, presentation, counseling, project management, and interprofessional collaboration skills while deeply engaging issues of ethics, culture, risk management, and enforcement. PRE/CO-REQUISITE: Introduction to Risk Management and Compliance. Additional courses that may be helpful to take before or at the same time as the Clinic: Corporations, Administrative Law, Professional Responsibility. NOTE: The Compliance Policy Clinic counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning Requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. -
LAW JD 730: INTRO TO JEWISH LAW
This course shall serve as an introduction to the literature, history, and dynamic processes of Jewish Law. This survey will be grounded in particular studies of such topics as jurisprudence (legal testimony; self-incrimination; dissent), civil law (voting rights; inheritance), criminal law (capital punishment); war crimes and genocide; family law (marriage; divorce); and gender and sexuality, among others. Throughout the course, we will consider concepts of authority, power, and enforcement in Jewish law -- during times of self-governance, subjugation, and crisis (e.g., Holocaust). We will also examine how Jewish Law impacts legal culture and judicial decisions in the modern State of Israel. Comparative legal studies will also help bring further perspective to our introduction to Jewish Law. All readings will be in English and no prior knowledge of Jewish Law is necessary. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement. -
LAW JD 731: CRITICAL RACE THEORY
In the mid-1980s, a scholarly movement to become known as "Critical Race Theory" (CRT) developed in legal academia. Early critical race theorists--including Derrick Bell, Mari Matsuda, Charles Lawrence, Richard Delgado, Kimberle Crenshaw, and Patricia Williams--challenged the substance and style of conventional legal scholarship. Substantively, race crits rejected formal equality, individual rights, and colorblind approaches to solving legal problems. Stylistically, critical race scholars often employed new methodologies for legal scholarship, including storytelling and narrative. The Critical Race Theory Colloquium is designed to expose students to core CRT principles and interrogate CRT's possibilities and limitations. This endeavor will require students to think critically about race and racism in conjunction with other intersecting structures of oppression and hierarchy. The Critical Race Theory Colloquium employs a workshop-format that enables students to engage leading scholars in the field of Critical Race Theory. The first part of the semester will involve a general overview of Critical Race Theory. During the remaining meetings, invited scholars will present works-in-progress for discussion. To prepare, students will write short reaction papers that include three questions for further discussion. Final grades depend on the reaction papers, class participation, and attendance. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may not be used to satisfy the requirement. 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 732: LAW & SCIENCE
Whether it is a clinical trial, a psychology laboratory study, or an econometric analysis, science is essential to a wide range of legal and policy contexts including regulation (e.g., new drug approval), litigation (e.g., causation in mass torts), and even transactions (e.g., acquiring a company that depends on technology patents). Through this course, students will develop basic fluency with reading and interpreting scientific studies used across these domains, and will also introduce several critical themes, including animal research ethics, the role of expert witnesses, funding and conflicts of interests, the neutrality of science, and scientific integrity. Note that this course is focused on scientific methods in a legal context; it is not designed to teach substantive scientific concepts and requires no background or prerequisites in scientific fields. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement. -
LAW JD 733: Intellectual Property Research
This course begins with an overview of basic legal research skills, processes, and resources using intellectual property subject matter. The course then proceeds to specific research strategies in copyright, patents, and trademark law, providing students an increased understanding of advanced legal research skills using: secondary sources, legislative history, administrative materials, and more. Students will gain an even deeper understanding of the context and framework of legal resources and how they are applied to real-world research from practitioner guest lecturers. Classes combine instruction and hands-on exercises, with an emphasis on exposure to databases beyond Lexis and Westlaw. Students are evaluated on weekly research assignments and a final research project. PREREQUISITE: Intellectual Property. NOTE: Students may not add this course after the first class is held. NOTE: This class counts toward the 6-credit Experiential Learning requirement. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 15 students. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Students who fail to attend the first class or obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the class. Students on the waitlist are required to attend the first class meeting for enrollment eligibility. Meeting dates 1/18/2024-2/29/2024 -
LAW JD 734: Judicial Externship Program: 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 simultaneously enrolled in the Judicial Externship: Fieldwork course. The seminar focuses on teaching the substance and skills related to being a successful judicial extern. Topics include judicial ethics, legal research, judicial process, opinion drafting, judicial selection and recusal, and judicial decision-making. Students keep reflective journals chronicling their educational experience and reactions to the practice of law observed at the field placement. Please note that the course is scheduled to meet for seven two-hour class sessions, every other week. NOTE: Students who enroll in this externship may count the credits toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: Judicial Externship: Fieldwork (JD 735). GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. -
LAW JD 735: Judicial Externship Program: Fieldwork
THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. Students receive credit for working in chambers for a judge in the state or federal court system. The assignments handled by an extern are similar to those handled during a post-graduate clerkship. Students may find their own judicial placements that must be approved by the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office, or the Office will match the student with a judge. Students receive 4-9 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 toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: Judicial Externship: Seminar (JD 734). -
LAW JD 737: SILC: Venture and Finance 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 Venture & Finance Seminar 1 students in SILC's Venture & Finance Practice Group meet to review substantive legal issues in corporate law (including partnerships, LLCs, and corporations), business and financial regulation, securities law, and commercial law and regulation. 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 738: SILC: Venture and Finance 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 Venture & Finance Seminar 2 students in SILC's Venture & Finance Practice Group expand upon the legal and practice issues reviewed in the fall seminar, including issues in corporate law (including partnerships, LLCs, and corporations), business and financial regulation, securities law, and commercial law and regulation. 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.