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 793: Trade Secrets and Restrictive Covenants
  This course examines the principles and practice of the law of trade secrets and restrictive covenants. Trade secrets, alongside contractual restrictions on information sharing and employee mobility (such as non-disclosure and non-compete agreements), can constitute some of the most valuable and contested assets of a modern venture. Situated at the collision point between intellectual property and employment law, this course evaluates the sources, mechanics, uses, and misuses of modern confidentiality governance. Students will be expected to evaluate contractual terms, assess policy arguments in favor of broader or narrower confidentiality protections, and explore the interrelationships between trade secrets law and areas including contract, tort, and constitutional law.
• LAW JD 794: Artificial Intelligence Law
  Artificial intelligence is reshaping society, legal institutions, and the practice of law. This course examines the emerging law, regulation, and policy of AI while preparing students to work effectively with the technologies that are already transforming legal practice. Students will study how existing legal doctrines apply to AI systems and how those doctrines may evolve as AI increasingly influences decision-making in business, government, medicine, consumer markets, and everyday life. Topics include liability, privacy, intellectual property, consumer protection, fairness, bias and discrimination, explainability, and AI governance. The course is also a practical introduction to AI-assisted lawyering. Students will develop a working understanding of the concepts and terminology needed to engage confidently with contemporary AI systems and large language models; no technical background is required. Through concrete legal use cases, students will explore how legal AI tools and LLMs can enhance analysis, problem-solving, and professional judgment, while also confronting their limitations and risks, including hallucinations, bias, opacity, overreliance, and professional responsibility concerns. Use of generative AI is integral to the course. The course is grounded in the view that the next generation of lawyers will practice co-intelligence: a disciplined partnership between human judgment and artificial intelligence in which the combined output exceeds what either could achieve alone.
• LAW JD 796: Animal Law
  What legal protections - if any - do animals truly have? How does the law define their worth, their suffering, or their right to exist free from harm? Introduction to Animal Law invites students into a complex and rapidly evolving field at the intersection of legal theory, ethics, and our relationship with non-human animals. We begin by exploring foundational questions: What is the legal status of animals? Are they property, persons, or something in between? From there, we'll examine the legal frameworks that govern human-animal interactions across a wide range of contexts - animals as victims of abuse, as food, as companions, as research subjects, and even as consumers of antibiotics. Along the way, we'll consider the role of animals in entertainment, agriculture, and wildlife policy, highlighting both the explicit and hidden ways the law shapes their lives - and ours. Though the course centers on U.S. Law, it will include comparative and international perspectives to explore how different societies conceptualize animal rights and welfare. A central inquiry will be the motivations behind human efforts to protect animals: Are these rooted in compassion, utility, justice - or something more complex? We will also tackle one of the most pressing legal dilemmas in the field: who was the right to speak for animals, and under what circumstances can humans represent them in legal proceedings? The course is open to all students - no prior legal experience required. Students will be expected to engage critically with readings and contribute thoughtfully to discussions. Rich in legal debate and ethical complexity, animal law challenges us to rethink our most basic assumptions about rights, representation, and justice across species lines. NOTE: There will be a midterm exam and a final (3,000 word) research paper. UPPERCLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to partially satisfy the requirement.
• LAW JD 797: Critical Legal Research
  This seminar explores the ways in which the tools (both print and electronic) used to conduct traditional legal research serve as hegemonic forces that reinforce the status quo and entrench societal oppressions. It also attempts to apply principles of Critical Race Theory to the legal research process both to uncover these hegemonic forces and to explore ways to overcome them. It draws on the work of Professors Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic and the innovative and novel ideas and theories being developed by newer, emerging, scholars applying the approach that is now known as Critical Legal Research (CLR). This they apply to their research, their pedagogy, and their research agendas. Indeed, Critical Legal Research has become a movement within law libraries and within the scholarly community. This research seminar can be described as a part of that movement. It is designed to meet the needs and serve the interests of aspiring public interest lawyers, students interested in social justice issues, and students interested in applying the principles of Critical Legal Studies or Critical Race Theory to their contemporary legal research projects, research behaviors, or legal studies. It complements the growing array of seminars and other courses offered here at BU Law that examine the practice of law through a critical lens. Topics to be covered include the legal research process, the limitations inherent in each step of that process, emerging critical approaches to conducting legal research, critical legal scholarship, critical race theory more specifically, and emerging legal research technologies and the specific shortcomings attributable to each. PREREQUISITE: Successful completion of both Lawyering Skills I and Lawyering Skills II. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: The capstone of this course will be a 6,000-word paper on a contemporary issue of justice OR an area of critical legal scholarship of interest to the student. This paper may serve as the foundation for a law review note or a foundation for completion of the Upper-Class Writing 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 798: Gender, Violence and the Law
  This seminar provides a detailed examination of gender-motivated violence and legal responses. Recently, there has been greater recognition of gender-based injuries within the law and the provision of new, important protections to survivors. However, despite considerable progress, gender-based violence continues to present theoretical and practical questions, such as: To what extent is gender-based violence different than other types of violence? What legal approaches are most effective to address the harms while recognizing that the diverse interests of survivors? How do societal norms related to gender-based violence impact legal remedies? How should courts balance the interests of other parties in such proceedings to ensure that constitutional rights remain intact? This seminar will explore the limits of the law in addressing gender-based violence and emerging non-traditional approaches, including problem-solving courts and restorative justice frameworks. It also will examine how the emergence of the #MeToo movement may influence legal responses to gender-based violence. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement.
• LAW JD 799: Tax Policy
  This seminar will examine the structural aspects of a general revenue system, with particular attention to the implications of choosing among the limited range of options for financing the Federal government in the United States. The seminar will include an introduction to the academic, legislative, and judicial history bearing on and leading to the current Federal tax system. Particular attention will be paid to taxation of income from property, and to the related matter of the implications of choices about property income taxation for the distributional burden of the tax system and the degree of inequality. PREREQUISITE: Introduction to Federal Income Taxation. RECOMMENDED: Corporate Finance. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may 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 waitlist for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.
• LAW JD 800: Local Government Law
  Local governments are considered the closest and most responsive form of government to the people. They are designed to create cities and towns that reflect the ideal of the residents' view of the ideal community. When all local government entities are taken into consideration, there are approximately 89,000 local government units in the country - including counties, municipalities, townships, special districts and school districts. Where do they get their powers? What are the limits? What should be the limits? This course provides a study of the law governing the powers and duties of local governments, mainly municipal corporations such as cities and towns. We look at the sources of municipal powers, the limits on those powers, the relationship between municipalities and the state including the relationship between state and local law, and the formation and expansion of municipalities. An important subject of study involves looking at various models of the relationship between the municipality and the state including home rule. We will also look at some issues in municipal finance and zoning power. Where possible, this course will focus on the intersection of local government law and important current events both locally and nationally. OFFERING PATTERN: This class is not offered every year. Students are advised to take this into account when planning their long-term schedule.
• LAW JD 801: Administrative Law
  This course will examine the nature and functions of federal administrative agencies and the legal controls on agency action. Agency action is situated and examined in its political and legal contexts. Topics include the status of administrative agencies in the constitutional framework of separation of powers including the non-delegation doctrine, the President's appointment and removal powers in light of the unitary executive, the constitutionality of the legislative and line-item vetoes, the constitutionality of agency adjudication, and the constitutional (and political) status of independent agencies; agency rulemaking and adjudication including the choice of procedural model and the procedural requirements of the rulemaking model; and the availability, timing and scope of judicial review of agency action including standing to seek judicial review and exceptions to the availability of judicial review. The course also examines different methods of policy analysis such as regulatory impact analysis and cost-benefit analysis. Additional topics include discriminatory enforcement, regulatory delay, judicial imposition of procedural constraints on agencies, the implication of private rights of action from regulatory statutes and the availability citizens' suits. Some attention may be paid to differences between state and federal separation of powers doctrines.
• LAW JD 802: Regulation of Drugs and Medical Devices
  This seminar examines the Food and Drug Administration as an administrative agency combining law and science to regulate activities affecting public health and safety. The course will focus on testing and approval of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, including artificial intelligence. In some semesters at varying degrees, the course will also include food, nutritional supplements, tobacco, cosmetics, and/or veterinary products. A writing project involving research will be required. RECOMMENDED COURSES: Health Law Survey Colloquium; Administrative Law. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may be used to satisfy the requirement. NOTE: Students who were enrolled in Food, Drug & Cosmetic Law (S) are restricted from registering.
• LAW JD 803: Bankruptcy and Creditors' Rights
  This course focuses on corporate reorganization and corporate finance. We will study the legal requirements for reorganization plans under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, as well as the use of going concern sales outside of Chapter 11. We will study important doctrinal issues relating to reorganization of corporate groups, including substantive consolidation and equitable subordination. We will investigate avoidance actions in bankruptcy, including preferences and fraudulent conveyance, and the treatment of pre-bankruptcy contracts. Other topics include the financing of corporate debtors in bankruptcy and workouts and duties to creditors outside of bankruptcy. Finally, we will also introduce and ultimately master some basic tools of corporate finance--present value, expected value, and risk and diversification. PREREQUISITE: Business Fundamentals, Corporations.
• LAW JD 805: Secured Transactions
  Many commercial and consumer financing transactions involve the creation of security interests in the borrower's personal property that are akin to mortgages of real property. (Indeed, much commercial activity involves the grant of a UCC Article 9 security interest, and the economic system depends on Article 9 to provide much of the law against which modern commerce takes place.) In a secured transaction, in the event of the borrower's default, the lender can foreclose on the collateral subject to the security interest to help liquidate the debt. While simple to describe, secured transactions and the rules that govern them can be complex. This course covers the basic secured transaction governed by Article 9 of the UCC. Topics covered will include creation and perfection of security interests, priority contests, and default. The course is an excellent precursor to Bankruptcy and often helpful when sitting for the bar exam. PREREQUISITE/COREQUISITE: Business Fundamentals. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 806: Prosecutorial Ethics
  Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson once noted, "The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America." This seminar examines the unique role and power of prosecutors and their responsibility to ensure "that guilt shall not escape or innocence suffer." We will study the ways in which prosecutors exercise their broad discretion and the ethical and practical considerations that affect those determinations. What duty does the prosecutor owe to a victim? To the police? To the public at large? How might those parties' interests conflict with a prosecutor's objectives and impact prosecutorial decisions? A major focus of this course will be the prosecutor's obligations to the accused and the various ways in which those duties are breached. We will examine the consequences of prosecutorial misconduct, the ways in which it may or may not be remedied, and to what extent it can be deterred. Other topics to be covered include the relationship between the prosecutor and the grand jury, conflicts of interest, selective prosecution, trial misconduct, prosecutorial immunity, mandatory minimum sentences, the use of confidential informants and cooperating witnesses, discovery of exculpatory evidence, post-conviction obligations, and wrongful convictions. Our study will draw heavily from historical as well as current events, and will include emphasis on the ways in which the role of the prosecutor is shifting. Students will engage in mock disciplinary hearings, playing the role of bar counsel in bringing allegations of misconduct against prosecutors or defending them against such claims. NOTE: seminar satisfies the Professional Responsibility requirement. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may not be used to satisfy the requirement. RECOMMENDED COURSE: Criminal Procedure, taken either prior to or concurrently with this seminar. GRADING NOTICE: This course 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 807: Business Immigration
  This course will provide an overview of business immigration law, with a particular focus on the various nonimmigrant and immigrant visa categories a business immigration lawyer would be expected to handle. Topics will include business immigration visa categories, business immigration strategies, visa challenges in entrepreneurship; immigration obstacles faced by multinational businesses; the intersection of business immigration with employment laws; and enforcement trends targeted at employers. We will also briefly review the parameters of executive power in shaping business immigration law and the regulatory process. We will also identify, examine and discuss core professional responsibility issues that arise in business immigration practice. There are no prerequisites for this course. There is no writing requirement, but there will be weekly reading assignments and frequent hypotheticals to analyze before class for class discussion as well as a final examination. Class attendance and participation are essential.
• LAW JD 808: Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Opportunities, Risks, and Realities
  This one credit seminar explores the rapidly evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the practice of law. Featuring guest speakers from a wide range of practice settings—including large law firms, boutique firms, corporate legal departments, government agencies, legal services, and the judiciary—the course examines how AI tools are transforming legal research, drafting, discovery, compliance, litigation strategy, client counseling, and law practice management. Through practitioner-led discussions students will evaluate the practical uses of AI technologies. The seminar emphasizes real-world applications, ethical considerations, and professional responsibility implications under the ABA Model Rules. Students will critically assess the benefits and efficiencies AI can bring to legal practice and the significant challenges it presents, including ethical pitfalls, overreliance, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and systemic bias. The seminar is discussion-based. Students will have weekly readings, submit short papers that include questions for the week’s speaker(s), and will give a final presentation on an AI related topic. 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 809: Learning from Practice Ext: 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 the legal department of a non-profit, government agency, judicial placement, private company, or at a law firm. 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 this externship may count the credits toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: Learning from Practice: Seminar (JD 771).
• LAW JD 810: Constitutional Law
  Considers selected issues concerning judicial review, federalism, separation of powers, and individual rights.
• LAW JD 811: Family Law
  This course offers a survey of family law, including case law, statutory law, and the role of constitutional rights in limiting governmental regulation of the family. This course will introduce students to law concerning a basic social institution: the family. Students will gain knowledge about how family law intersects with many other fields of law, such as contracts, constitutional law, criminal law, property, torts, public and social welfare law, as well as how social science informs family law. The course will focus on marriage (including the recognition of same-sex marriage), nonmarital families, divorce, pathways to becoming a parent, and the parent-child relationship. Topics include defining and regulating marriage; formal marriage; common law marriage; nonmarital couples, cohabitation, and alternatives to marriage; common law incidents of marriage and the transformation of the common law; domestic violence; traditional and "no fault" divorce; property division; spousal support; child support; child custody; adoption; and regulating parenthood. There will be a final examination. The teaching method is a combination of lecture and class discussion, along with in-class small group problem-solving exercises. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
• LAW JD 812: Trans. SIM: Pharma/Biotech
  Practice Areas: Healthcare law, Intellectual Property and Strategy Transactions This course is one of the semester-long transaction simulations offered as part of the Transactional Law Program. Collaborative activity is essential to the biopharmaceutical industry due to the high costs and risks associated with drug development. In this course, students will learn how to read, draft, and negotiate collaboration agreements for new drug research, development and commercialization partnerships between biopharmaceutical companies. The course will begin with a brief introductory overview of (i) the biotechnology industry, with a focus on the importance of partnering for successful drug development and commercialization; and (ii) different forms of partnering agreements to develop a general understanding of the structure of such contracts. For the duration of the course, students will be assigned to teams to review, revise and negotiate the terms of a collaboration agreement for their clients, either a large pharmaceutical company or a smaller biotechnology company. Students will learn to think critically about whether certain provisions favor one party or the other, and ways to modify such elements through drafting changes. At the conclusion of the course, each team will be asked to present the key terms of the proposed collaboration agreement to their client's board of directors. Through regular out-of-class assignments, including substantial drafting assignments involving marking up term sheets, preparing issues lists, revising key sections of the collaboration agreement that will be negotiated and finalized by the student teams, and delivering board presentations, the course builds contract analysis, drafting, negotiation and strategic thinking skills students will need as they enter transactional law practice. The course also addresses various ethical issues that may arise in connection with these types of transactions and in transactional practice generally. The course grade will be based on individual participation, drafting assignments, and contributions to team efforts. Please note that no scientific background is necessary for this course as we will not be focusing on the scientific rationale for collaborations. CLASS SIZE: Limited to 12 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, a
• LAW JD 813: Contracts
  Legal and equitable remedies for enforcing contracts, determining what promises are enforceable, elements of assent, standards of fairness and restrictions on bargaining processes, and tests for performance and breach
• LAW JD 814: Family Law
  This course offers a survey of family law, including case law, statutory law, and the constitutional limitations on regulation of the family. The course aims to introduce students to family law as a dynamic field of law concerning a basic social institution: the family. Family law is a foundational course relevant to many areas of law practice. Students will gain knowledge about how family law intersects with fields of law, such as contracts, constitutional law, conflicts of laws, criminal law, property, tax, and trusts and estates, and how family law draws on the social sciences. We will examine the role of family law in contributing to and ameliorating inequalities in society on various bases, including gender, race, class, and sexual orientation. Students will be introduced to the role of negotiation, mediation, and other forms of dispute resolution in family law practice. Topics include defining and regulating family (including marriage and parenthood); formal and informal marriage; cohabitation and alternatives to marriage (such as domestic partnerships); common law incidents of marriage and the transformation of the common law; marital agreements; intimate partner violence; traditional and "no-fault" divorce; property division; spousal support; child support; child custody; and the family regulation system. The teaching method is a combination of lecture and class discussion, along with in-class small group problem-solving exercises.