Human Rights Law Courses

The next generation of lawyers will practice co-intelligence—a dynamic partnership between human judgment and artificial intelligence in which their combined output exceeds what either could achieve alone. Taught by the Director of the BU Law AI Program, this seminar will teach you to work with generative AI as an active collaborator that can deepen your creativity, sharpen your reasoning, and expand your judgment on complex legal problems. Throughout the term, you will develop disciplined and reproducible methods for AI-enhanced legal work: decomposing novel problems into analyzable components, stress-testing arguments, running counterfactual and scenario analyses, and using AI to expose gaps or weaknesses that traditional workflows might overlook. You’ll gain a working understanding of large language models—their mechanisms, pattern-recognition strengths, and characteristic failure modes of hallucination, bias, and overconfidence—so you can exercise professional judgment about when AI output deserves acceptance, refinement, or rejection. Between class sessions, you’ll experiment with AI across legal use cases that demand creative and strategic thinking, then bring those explorations back to the seminar for collaborative critique. Together, students will compare approaches, analyze results, and co-build a shared playbook for high-level, AI-augmented lawyering. The course culminates in a “Before and After AI” capstone paper applying the cognitive partnership model to a hypothetical problem in litigation, regulatory advocacy, or transactional practice. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: Students may partially satisfy the requirement with a 3,000-word research paper. ** 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.

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FALL 2026: LAW JD 917 A1, Aug 31st to Dec 3rd 2026

This course provides an in-depth exploration of the intersection between business operations and human rights, equipping students with the knowledge and analytical tools to assess corporate responsibilities in a globalized world. Students will critically examine international human rights law and analyze its impact on corporate practices and the evolving Business and Human Rights agenda. The course will cover key frameworks, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and introduce sector-specific human rights due diligence approaches. In addition to examining international and regional developments—particularly in the Inter-American and European systems—students will also analyze domestic legal frameworks in the United States, Germany, and France, as well as the European Union Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence. These comparative perspectives will help students understand how different jurisdictions are advancing corporate accountability for human rights impacts. By the end of the course, students will be able to evaluate corporate human rights obligations, understand the legal and ethical dimensions of business activities, and critically assess strategies for mitigating human rights risks in various industries. Final research paper and presentation required in lieu of final exam. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may be used to partially satisfy the requirement.

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This course is about civil and criminal enforcement of constitutional rights and other federal rights against government officials. The primary focus is on civil rights litigation in federal courts against state officials under the civil rights statutes passed in the wake of the civil war, including 42 U.S.C. § 1983, 1981, 1982 and 1985 on the civil side and 18, U.S.C. § 242 and 249 on the criminal side. The criminal segment of the course will be taught by an Assistant United States Attorney in charge of the Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit and the Civil Rights Enforcement Team in the District of Massachusetts. Criminal issues include prosecutions of police officers for violating the civil rights of arrestees and hate crimes. On the civil side, we will examine the rights that give rise to civil rights action and, to a lesser extent, the scope of those rights. The kinds of cases include police brutality, unlawful searches and seizures and discrimination in government jobs. The issues that arise include many statutory questions, such as identification of proper parties to 1983 actions, and judge-make defenses, such as official and state immunities from damages actions and injunctive suits. We will also look at federalism and eleventh amendment limitations on congressional power and federal court remedial power in 1983 actions, although coverage of these issues will not be as thorough as in Federal Courts. The standards for holding local governments liable for damages will also be examined. Our major foray into the substance of constitutional rights will be with regard to the role of state remedies and defendant's state of mind for fourteenth amendment procedural due process violations. We will also look at substantive constitutional rights such as police brutality, medical care for prisoners and detainees, high speed police chases and other similar areas. There will also be some coverage of remedies against federal officials directly under the constitution and remedies against private individuals for civil rights violations. OFFERING PATTERN: This class is not offered every year. Students are advised to take this into account when planning their long-term schedule.

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THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program. In this seminar, students will further develop their trial advocacy and client counseling skills by participating in multiple simulations and a mock hearing. They will learn about comparative models to address human trafficking, and the challenges of a criminal justice framework to solving complex social problems. The course will focus on the lawyer's role in anti-trafficking work, given: (1) converging areas of law; (2) the emerging multi-disciplinary nature of legal work; and (3) tensions among the role of the client as both victim and defendant. Courses will focus on further developing students' competencies in the following areas: (1) strategic planning and decision-making; (2) client interviewing and counseling; (3) trial advocacy; (4) leadership and innovation; and (5) professional responsibility. Classes will focus on a wide range of topics, including: (1) oral advocacy; (2) direct and cross examination; (3) accompaniment and survivor-led advocacy; (4) legal advocacy and brief writing; (4) legislative advocacy; and (5) developing professional roles and self-care. NOTE: The Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

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SPRG 2027: LAW JD 817 A1, Jan 11th to Apr 21st 2027

This is an introductory seminar to international human rights law. The class will introduce students to the concepts of human rights, and the legal texts that have codified and provided content to those concepts in the last seventy years. The class aims to work at three levels: to examine the role of human rights (law) in history and politics; to analyze the doctrine of international human rights law; to introduce key areas of current and future human rights practice. We will accordingly look at the historical evolution and political role of human rights law, and ask whether there is such a thing as universal human rights, or whether the concepts are dependent on specific regions, cultures and political systems. We will look at the key institutions and mechanisms, at the global and regional level, for the monitoring and enforcement of human rights law. We will analyze the law on specific rights (for example the right to life, the prohibition of torture, the right to self-determination) as well as in specific contexts and themes (for example human rights and climate change; business and human rights) to understand the reach and function of human rights law in the international system. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement.

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FALL 2026: LAW JD 991 A1, Aug 31st to Dec 3rd 2026

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the International Human Rights Clinic. Students in the Clinic work on policy issues on behalf of institutional clients that represent refugees, forced migrants, immigrants, and stateless persons. Students work on long-term human rights projects such as: working with NGOs in advocacy in the UN human rights system or in regional organs (e.g., Inter-American and European human rights bodies); advocating for durable solutions to statelessness and citizenship deprivation in the Middle East; and organizing workshops and presentations to major stakeholders around the world. Students conduct legal and factual research and outreach to partners and project strategy development, and prepare written reports and submissions to international and regional agencies. The clinic fieldwork may include international travel. PRE/CO-REQUISITE: International Human Rights (LAW JD 991). NOTE: The International Human Rights Clinic counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

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FALL 2026: LAW JD 975 A1, Aug 31st to Dec 3rd 2026
SPRG 2027: LAW JD 975 A1, Jan 11th to Apr 21st 2027

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the International Human Rights Clinic. This is the companion spring classroom component for students in the Clinic. The course focuses on further developing skills in the context of the substantive law and mechanisms of the Inter-American Human Rights system. Classes will cover: interviewing and counseling institutional (non-governmental organizations) clients; designing and implementing human rights field research; ethical pitfalls and professional 'best practices' in human rights collaborations with international networks; advocacy within the Inter-American machinery; and simulations using comparative and foreign human rights problems. The classes will be a combination of readings and discussion; simulations; student presentations; short papers and case rounds to discuss project work; and group and individual feedback on project development. NOTE: This course counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

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SPRG 2027: LAW JD 843 A1, Jan 11th to Apr 21st 2027

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the International Human Rights Clinic. This course is the companion fall classroom component for students enrolled in the Clinic and provides an introduction to essential lawyering skills, with a focus on those relevant to the practice of human rights law. The goal of the course is to help students develop a wide range of competencies, including written and oral communication and advocacy, legal research, factual investigation, witness interviewing, professional responsibility, and strategic thinking and problem-solving. NOTE: This course counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

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FALL 2026: LAW JD 840 A1, Aug 31st to Dec 3rd 2026

This course examines the application of international law to situations of armed conflict. The first part of the course provides a theoretical and historical background regarding international law governing the use of force, looking first at debates over the role and effectiveness of international law in international relations, turning to questions about how international law seeks to regulate the use of force in the international system and the extent to which actors comply with their obligations under international law. The second part of the course focuses on international humanitarian law, examining different forms of humanitarian law violations, considering how international humanitarian law affects the behavior of governments and non-state actors during conflict, and discussing why governments and non-state actors often fail to abide by international humanitarian law. In this section, we will also pay particular attention to specific cases of armed conflict – both interstate conflicts such as the war between Russia and Ukraine and civil conflicts such as Libya, Rwanda, and Syria. The last section of the course considers questions about the enforcement of international humanitarian law and attempts to secure justice for violations of international law, including discussions of ad-hoc international criminal tribunals, the International Criminal Court, and efforts to hold individuals accountable for atrocity crimes in domestic courts.

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FALL 2026: LAW JD 697 A1, Aug 31st to Dec 3rd 2026

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: Supervised Study (JD 744).

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SPRG 2027: LAW JD 743 A1, Jan 11th to Apr 21st 2027

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).

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SPRG 2027: LAW JD 744 A1, Jan 11th to Apr 21st 2027

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.

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SPRG 2027: LAW JD 875 A1, Jan 11th to Apr 21st 2027