Related Courses

This course will be an introduction to the practice of aggregate litigation from a social justice perspective. Topics will include all aspects of class action practice, an introduction to multidistrict litigation, attorney general and public advocate public interest litigation, public client cases, non-class aggregate litigation, selected bankruptcy issues for individuals as creditors, and other possibilities for litigating public interest issues at scale. Much of the course will focus on consumer protection (including products liability), civil rights and regulated business activities. A sub-unit will address solutions, at scale, to gun violence.

This seminar will explore the Constitutional and statutory law related to Native Americans, Indian reservations, and tribal governments. The seminar will examine the historical foundations of Indian law and the current legal structures that govern the relationship between the United States and tribal nations. Students will spend significant time on issues surrounding tribal sovereignty, traditional cultural practices, self-determination, and social justice. Students will gain an understanding of the basis for modern Indian law and the complex legal issues facing native communities in the United States and abroad. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement. OFFERING PATTERN: This class is not offered every year. Students are advised to take this into account when planning their long-term schedule. ** 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.

This seminar surveys the evolution of federal law as it relates to people with disabilities. We will cover disability discrimination in the areas of employment, education, government services, public accommodations run by private entities, and housing. In exploring these areas we will examine relevant case law and statutes (i.e. the ADA and its amendments, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the IDEA, and the Fair Housing Act) and their implementing regulations and guidance. In addition to studying legal authorities, we will engage in practical classroom exercises and hear from attorneys practicing in disability law-related settings. Readings will be provided. Grades will be based on class participation and a final paper. 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.

This course examines federal criminal law as a distinct legal system shaped by the dynamic interplay between Congress, the executive branch, and the judiciary. Students will explore the Constitutional foundations of federal jurisdiction, the statutory framework of key offenses—including corruption, racketeering, and criminal violations of Constitutional rights—and the evolving role of federal agencies in enforcement. The course not only covers established doctrine but also highlights the unsettled questions that challenge courts, prosecutors, and policymakers. By analyzing case law, statutory materials, and institutional responses, students will gain insight into how each branch of government influences the development and enforcement of federal criminal law. This course will have a required final exam. PREREQUISITES: Criminal Law, Constitutional Law.

This course will examine the free speech, free exercise and establishment clauses of the First Amendment. About two-thirds of the course will focus on speech, including such topics as political speech (including campaign finance regulation), commercial speech, and expression in the public forum. The final one-third of the course will focus on religion, including such topics as freedom of religious practice, religion in schools, and religious displays and symbols.

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.

This seminar will examine the burgeoning field of law surrounding the use, sale, and production of cannabis. Possible topics include federal versus state power to regulate cannabis, the substantive criminal laws regarding cannabis, and a variety of other issues such as banking, tax, and environmental laws that impact the cannabis industry in the United States. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may 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.

This interdisciplinary seminar offers a deep exploration of large-scale forms of inequality, the social trauma they create, and the possibility of legal and political solutions. A persistent difficulty in American culture and jurisprudence is a refusal to conceive of structural and intergenerational harms against disfavored groups. The goal is to not only find conceptions of equality that might be suitable, but also to reason from injustice to justice. Special attention will be paid to connections between inequality and the political economy. Among the historical episodes to be discussed: Reconstruction as a missed opportunity at transitional justice; the expulsions of Chinese migrants and their families from the West Coast; white riots and other forms of terror visited upon freed persons and their allies; the shame and silence that surrounded the internment of Japanese Americans; the policy of separating migrant children from parents; and periodic roundups of the poor. 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.

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 enrolled in the Pro Bono Scholars Program: Fieldwork course. Students work with a faculty supervisor in designing their own reading list, writing a 15-20 page research paper, and submitting seven 4-6 page bi-weekly journals. COREQUISITE: NY Pro Bono Scholars Program: Fieldwork (JD 743).

This CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. Through the Pro Bono Scholars Program, students spend their spring 3L semester working full-time for credit at a government agency or non-profit providing direct legal services to indigent clients. Participating students sit for the February New York bar exam, and begin their fieldwork the week after. Students passing the bar exam and completing other NY bar and BU Law graduation requirements are admitted to the NY bar in late June. NOTE: Students who enroll in this program may count the credits toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: NY Pro Bono Scholars Program: Directed Study (JD 744).

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.

In this course 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.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Racial Justice & Movement Lawyering Clinic. The Clinic offers students the opportunity to provide legal support to organizations, coalitions, and grassroots groups seeking to challenge forms of subordination and build community power. Clinic fieldwork will vary based on the goals of our clients and movement partners but may involve litigation, policy advocacy, legal research, public education, or infrastructure/capacity-building projects. Under the clinic director’s supervision, students act as the lead attorneys on these projects, meaning that students will be responsible for establishing relationships with partners, identifying project goals, drafting agreements, and executing projects. In this process, students will learn to, among other things: develop litigation and non-litigation strategies; critically analyze the role of lawyers in social movements; identify different theories of social change; engage in legal writing that is persuasive and well-supported by evidence; and communicate complex legal subjects to a range of audiences. Students will also develop their professional identities and explore how they can most effectively show up for clients and community partners given their particular set of skills and experiences. CO-REQUISITE: LAW JD 949 (Clinic Seminar). NOTE: Both the fieldwork and in-class seminar count towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This clinic does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Racial Justice & Movement Lawyering Clinic. This seminar introduces students to skills and theoretical frameworks that can support their lawyering practice and invites students to engage in critical reflection regarding their clinical fieldwork. Topics covered in the seminar may include, for example: theories of change, interviewing and storytelling, ethical practice, fact development for litigation, interpreting and using data and social science research, and oral advocacy. We will also analyze the structural conditions that we face in our fieldwork and consider whether and how we, as lawyers, can support the imagination of new possibilities through generative collaborations with clients and community partners. Throughout the semester, students will have the opportunity to: present mock legislative testimony or engage in a mock oral argument related to their fieldwork; deliver a class presentation on a topic pertaining to social justice and the law; and participate in in case rounds practice, which entails sharing challenges that come up in our fieldwork and engaging in group-based problem-solving. CO-REQUISITE: LAW JD 948 (Clinic Fieldwork). NOTE: Both the fieldwork and in-class seminar count towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This clinic does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

The study of law largely involves understanding the substantive scopes of rights and of prohibitions, but, for the bar examination, for practice, and for intellectually engaging with legal topics conceptually, it is essential to understand what the potential solutions are for a wronged person or entity. Remedies is devoted to developing that latter understanding. In this course, we will explore the legal powers and limits for righting those who have been wronged and for preventing future wrongs. This course includes both public law and private law remedies with a particular focus on social justice and remedial topics that are generally not covered within the 1L curriculum or other required courses. In addition to helping to prepare students for bar examinations (which often test for remedies in civil procedure, contracts, property, and torts), examining remedial principles in this course will be useful to those encountering remedies problems in litigation across substantive fields. This course also covers historically-important and current, hot topics such as reparations, impact injunctions against governmental defendants (so-called "nationwide" or "universal" injunctions), and court-debt related remedies (such as litigation challenging drivers' license suspensions due to nonpayment of fines).

In the United States, and around the world, many people still suffer from basic lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services. This course explores the role of law in understanding the distribution of access to SRH services and care. We will draw on various theoretical and doctrinal tools including critical legal theory, critical race theory, sociology of science, human rights, feminist theory, and a range of public health methods to understand the current state of the law and the possibilities and limitations of legal reforms. The course will foreground issues of race and reproduction as well as the politics of public health law (including the role of scientific evidence and medical expertise in courts). We will examine various sites of lawmaking including courts and legislatures and we will pay attention to the legal reforms offered by social movements both for and against greater access to services and care.

Although state constitutional law has traditionally taken a back seat to the US Constitution at law schools, the subject is increasingly in the spotlight. As the US Supreme Court becomes less willing to protect rights such as abortion, or even the processes of democracy, lawyers must turn to the protections offered by state constitutions more often. State constitutional provisions also differ from the US Constitution in significant ways by not only protecting a plethora of different individual rights, but also defining communal welfare, and highlighting the conditions necessary to maintain a democracy. This course will explore the nature and significance of state constitutional law, including rights and government structures defined by the state constitutions. This course will cover how state institutions, such as legislatures and courts, protect and define legal rights and obligations in several areas, including: separation of powers, local government powers, school funding, taxation, criminal procedure, and freedom of speech. The course will also compare how state courts interpret their constitutions to federal court interpretation of the US Constitution. A student completing the course will understand and appreciate the role of state constitutions and if the states are, in Justice Brandeis’ words, “laboratories of democracy,” how state constitutions create and govern those laboratories. Assessment will take place in class when discussing readings and assigned exercises; through the written assignments, which include a legal blog article and an essay between 3,000-4,000 words; and a final exam. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: The written assignments may be used to partially satisfy the requirement.

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.

Whistleblowing has become a frequent topic in the news around law and politics. What exactly is it, and what laws govern it? Who represents whistleblowers, and what is there to know about lawyering in this space? This course will examine federal (and some state) laws that protect and incentivize whistleblowers to provide information and assist in the enforcement of laws prohibiting fraud and misfeasance in both the public and private sectors. It will cover both the substantive law as well as the practical aspects of lawyering in this field. There are two types of whistleblower laws, and the seminar will cover both: 1) laws which protect whistleblowers inside and outside of government from retaliation by their employers for having engaged in protected activity, and 2) laws which provide financial incentives to whistleblowers for reporting fraud against the government, or fraud in the securities and commodities markets. Each student will write a paper based on a whistleblower case and will be encouraged to interview one or more whistleblowers who have gone through the experience and/or whistleblower attorneys who have a substantial practice in this area. Alternatively, students who express a particular interest in an area relevant to the course may get permission to explore that topic in their paper. There is no examination in this course; the grade is based on the paper and the students' participation in the class discussions 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.