Biography
Constance Browne came to Boston University School of Law in 1982 as an instructor in the First-Year Writing Program and joined the full-time faculty of the clinical programs in 1989. As an associate professor in the Civil Litigation & Justice Program, she supervises students who represent clients in special education, unemployment, divorce, disability and housing cases. She also teaches courses in lawyering skills, helping students to develop and polish their interviewing, counseling, negotiating and trial advocacy abilities. In addition to teaching in the clinical program, Professor Browne offers an advanced writing and editing seminar and a seminar in trial advocacy. She helped initiate the Student Trial Team Program and served as a faculty advisor for the School of Law’s Public Interest Law Journal from the publication’s inception until 1995.
Before coming to Boston University, Professor Browne was in private civil litigation practice for seven years. Her publications include “Absolute Veterans’ Preference in Public Employment: Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts et al. v. Feeney,” and “Title VII and the Equal Pay Act: Gunther v. County of Washington,” both for the Boston College Law Review.
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Courses
Civil Litigation and Justice Program: LAW JD 861
3 credits
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.
FALL 2025: LAW JD 861 B1 , Sep 2nd to Dec 19th 2025
FALL 2025: LAW JD 861 C1 , Sep 2nd to Dec 19th 2025
FALL 2025: LAW JD 861 D1 , Sep 2nd to Dec 19th 2025
SPRG 2026: LAW JD 861 A1 , Jan 12th to May 8th 2026
SPRG 2026: LAW JD 861 B1 , Jan 12th to May 8th 2026
SPRG 2026: LAW JD 861 C1 , Jan 12th to May 8th 2026
SPRG 2026: LAW JD 861 D1 , Jan 12th to May 8th 2026
Civil Litigation: Trial Advocacy: LAW JD 974
3 credits
THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Civil Litigation and Justice Program. Trial Advocacy is the companion spring classroom component for students in the Civil Litigation Clinic. Trial Advocacy classes are devoted to learning the theories of practice for use in the field, reinforced by activities and simulations in which students practice skills through role play, NOTE: This course counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
SPRG 2026: LAW JD 974 A1 , Jan 12th to May 8th 2026
Effective and Ethical Depositions: LAW JD 958
3 credits
The purpose of this seminar is to teach students how to take and defend effective and ethical depositions. The course involves both a simulated deposition component and a professional responsibility component. Simulated Deposition Course Component: Students will be divided into firms representing either the Plaintiff or the Defendants in a gender discrimination and defamation case brought by an attorney who has been denied partnership. The students will prepare and perform depositions of lay and expert witnesses and gather experience with obtaining and developing facts, preserving testimony, and the uses of depositions. Professional Responsibility Course Component: The simulated context offers the opportunity to explore several professional responsibility issues that arise naturally in deposition practice. These issues emerge largely because of the dual professional roles of an attorney: zealous representative and officer of the court. Some of the more timely issues involve proper witness preparation, improper witness coaching, inadvertent waiver of privilege, and abusive tactics. Writing and Performance Requirements: Each week students will write a short one or two page comment on the professional responsibility issues raised in class. At the end of the course, students will perform a videotaped deposition rather than take a final written exam. NOTE: This class may be used to satisfy the Professional Responsibility requirement, credits toward Experiential Learning requirement, or the upper-class writing requirement. This class may not be used to satisfy more than one requirement. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 12 students per section. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ** 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.
SPRG 2026: LAW JD 958 A1 , Jan 12th to May 8th 2026
SPRG 2026: LAW JD 958 B1 , Jan 12th to May 8th 2026