Courses Related to Race and the Law

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.

Selected topics in 19th- and 20th-century U.S. legal history. We will first explore the role of the legal profession in four public controversies: the authority of English common law after the American Revolution, slavery and racism, women's rights, and organized labor. We will then turn our attention to various methodologies for interpreting legal change: formalism, realism, law and economics, critical legal studies, and feminist jurisprudence. Readings (which will be plentiful) are drawn from primary sources (cases, speeches, and treatises) and secondary literature (articles and books). Students can either write a research paper or complete a take-home examination. Research papers may, but need not, fulfill the Writing Requirement.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Practicum. The Antiracism and Community Lawyering practicum will be offered in collaboration with the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality (Korematsu Center). The practicum will train students in the tradition of "rebellious lawyering," and provide them with real-world opportunities to support racial justice projects in collaboration with community partners. Through the practicum, students will work closely with the Korematsu Center and community-based organizations on research, advocacy, and policy projects aimed at combatting subordination and advancing liberation for all. Projects may include amicus briefs, direct representation, white papers, policy reports, fact sheets, public education projects, legislative testimony, or research memos. In alignment with the traditions of community and movement lawyering, the practicum directors and students will work in partnership with people who are directly impacted by racism and oppression and who are organizing towards liberatory solutions. NOTE: This practicum counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

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.

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.

Criminal Procedure is divided into two parts: investigation and adjudication. Students may take separate courses in investigation and adjudication or may take a one-semester course that covers both, although less intensively. Criminal Procedure A and B each stand on their own and may be taken in either order. One may be taken without the other. Criminal Procedure A focuses on the investigation part, that is, focuses on police investigation and the rights of defendants. This course covers search and seizure, the privilege against self-incrimination, confessions and the rights to counsel during custodial police interrogation. In general the course will examine the constitutional law in cases arising out of the conflict between police practices and the Bill of Rights. RESTRICTION: Students may not enroll in this section and Criminal Procedure AB.

This course covers the same subject areas as Criminal Procedure A and Criminal Procedure B, although less intensively. This course is suitable for those who want to cover both the investigatory process and the adjudicatory process in one semester. More specifically, this course surveys the constitutional rules that govern investigation, prosecution, and adjudication in the criminal process, rules that derive primarily from the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments. Topics include police powers and limits in searches and seizures (e.g., stops, frisks, arrests, excessive force, profiling, and surveillance), police interrogations (Miranda), the exclusionary rule (the suppression of evidence obtained unconstitutionally), bail and detention, the right to counsel, the right to trial by jury, grand jury proceedings, prosecutorial charging and discretion, double jeopardy, discovery and exculpatory evidence, plea bargaining, jury selection, and the rights to a public, speedy, and fair trial. We will discuss policy and practical considerations as well as the governing constitutional doctrines, and classroom demonstrations will illustrate the course material. RESTRICTION: Students may not enroll in this section and Criminal Procedure A or B.

Criminal Procedure is divided into two parts: investigation and adjudication. Students may take separate courses in investigation and adjudication or may take a one-semester course that covers both, although less intensively. Criminal Procedure A and B each stand on their own and may be taken in either order. One may be taken without the other. Criminal Procedure B focuses on adjudication, that is, focuses on the constitutional rules of the criminal process from arrest to sentencing and appeal ("bail to jail"), particularly under the Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments. Topics include the right to counsel, effective assistance of counsel, pretrial release and detention, charging, grand jury, prosecutorial discretion, discovery, double jeopardy, plea bargaining, jury vs. bench trial, jury selection, speedy trial, confrontation, jury instructions, proof beyond a reasonable doubt, sentencing, and appeals. RESTRICTION: Students may not enroll in this section and Criminal Procedure AB.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Criminal Law Clinical Program. Criminal Trial Practice I is mandatory for students before advancing to CTP2. 2Ls take the course fall or spring, as determined in consultation with the Director of the Criminal Law Clinical Program upon acceptance to the Program. 3Ls take the course in the fall. The course consists of a fieldwork and classroom component. The classroom component provides students with an introduction to Massachusetts criminal procedure and basic instruction in lawyering skills such as case planning and investigation. For their fieldwork, students are assigned to cases handled by senior members of the Program and conduct tasks out of court such as legal research, fact investigation, witness interviews and preparation. Students spend one morning a week in court observing and second-seating the cases they have helped to prepare. Students will receive more information about which morning they must have available for court before they must register for all courses. NOTE: The Criminal Law Clinical Program counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Criminal Law Clinical Program. Criminal Trial Practice 2 is for students in their second semester of the Program who have been assigned to the Defender section. Students represent clients charged with criminal offenses in either the Boston Municipal Court or the Boston Juvenile Court, handling felony and misdemeanor cases of increasing complexity under the supervision of the clinical professor. Students gain exposure to lawyering experiences such as investigation, interviewing, counseling, and trial advocacy. Students must be available to be in court two full days a week. Students will receive more information about which days they must have available for court before they must register for all courses. PREREQS: Evidence; Trial Advocacy or Criminal Trial Advocacy; Criminal Procedure (Comprehensive, Constitutional, or Adjudicatory). NOTE: The Criminal Law Clinical Program counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Criminal Law Clinical Program. Criminal Trial Practice 2 is for students in their second semester of the Program and who have been assigned to the Prosecutor section. Students serve as prosecutors in the Quincy District Court on behalf of the Norfolk County District Attorney's office, handling felony and misdemeanor cases of increasing complexity under the direct supervision of the clinical faculty member. Students are exposed to a wide variety of experiences, including investigation, interviewing and trial advocacy. Students litigate evidentiary hearings and conduct every phase of jury and bench trials. Students collaborate but serve as the lead prosecutors on their own cases. Students in the Prosecutor Clinic may choose to enroll for 5 or 8 credits. Students must be available to be in court two full days per week. Students will receive more information about which morning they must have available for court before they must register for all courses. NOTE: The Criminal Clinical Program satisfies the upper-class professional skills requirement and counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

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.

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 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.

This seminar examines the development of feminist jurisprudence (also called feminist legal theory) and its critique of the U.S. legal system and its norms. It also includes some consideration of global feminism. The seminar takes up various debates within feminist jurisprudence and examines its application to many contemporary issues of law and public policy. The seminar provides an introduction to the various "generations" of feminist legal theory. Students will learn about prominent strands of feminist legal theory, including liberal (or sameness), relational (or difference), radical (or dominance), Critical Race (or intersectional) and anti-essentialist, postmodern, and "Third Wave" feminism. We will consider the relationship between social movements for equality and the development of feminist legal theory. Students will gain familiarity with the relationship between feminist jurisprudence and other forms of critical theory, such as masculinities theory, Queer Theory, and transgender theory. The seminar will assess debates within feminist jurisprudence concerning how best to understand gender, the ideals of sex equality and equal citizenship, questions of sameness and difference between women and men, and over whether it is desirable or possible to speak about "women" -- or "men" -- as meaningful categories, in view of differences based on class, ethnicity, race, gender identity, and sexual orientation and in view of critiques of identity categories. Topics covered vary, depending on student interest, but typically include some of the following: formal and substantive equality; antiracist feminism; legal regulation of sexuality, pregnancy, reproduction, family, and marriage; work/life issues; employment discrimination (including sexual harassment); gender and political leadership and representation; pornography; social welfare policy; violence against women; war and military service; and global feminism and international human rights. Students may write a research paper or two shorter papers. Either of these writing options may satisfy the Upper-class Writing requirement. Some short reflection papers are also required. *** This seminar is one of the required courses for the Reproductive Justice and Rights track within the Health Law Concentration. 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 provides students a chance to study contemporary issues of gender, law, and policy through the format of a series of presentations of works-in-progress by legal scholars actively engaged in new and important research on such issues. Many legal and social problems implicate gender and gender equality. Gender remains a significant category of analysis in numerous substantive areas of law. Gender equality is also a commitment of domestic law and international human rights law, but gender inequality persists. Gender scholars highlight the need for an intersectional approach to gender, even as some scholars question the continuing use of gender and other identity categories in law and policy. In alternating weeks, when there is no outside speaker, the instructor and students will discuss the paper that to be delivered the following week, as well as relevant background reading. Topics vary from year to year, depending on the speakers, but have included: anti-discrimination law, criminal law, elder law, employment law (including sexual harassment law), First Amendment (speech and religion and objections to antidiscrimination law), gender identity issues (including transgender rights), health law, international human rights, the intersection of race and gender, law and sexuality, privacy law, reproductive justice, health, and rights, and gender-based violence. Students will write a short reflection paper on each scholarly paper and one longer paper (10-12 pages) about one or more of the seven works. Interested faculty are invited to attend sessions when speakers present their work. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: With the instructor's permission, the longer paper written for this class may be used to partially satisfy 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.

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.

Graduate Prerequisites: (SPHPH719) or consent of instructor. - This course focuses on health and it is closely linked to the realization of human rights. Preventable illness, infant mortality, and premature death, for example, are closely tied to societal discrimination and violation of human rights. This course explores the relationship between human rights and health by examining relevant international declarations in historical context, exploring the meaning of "human rights" and "health," and analyzing specific case studies that illuminate the problems, prospects, and potential methods of promoting health by promoting human rights on the national and international levels.

REMINDER: This is a SPH course. Students cannot register through WebReg. Students who register for the class and want law credit must add the course to their law transcript by completing an add form at the Law Registrar's Office before the end of the add/drop period for that semester.

The Health Justice Practicum is a new one-semester, two-credit course enrolling a maximum of six students. Students will collaborate with frontline health care providers who serve marginalized populations on projects that require legal and problem-solving skills and where providers and/or patients have identified a systemic problem affecting patients' health and wellbeing. In Spring 2022, we will be collaborating with Project RESPECT, an integrated obstetrics, addiction medicine, and behavioral health clinic at Boston Medical Center that serves low-income pregnant and parenting people in recovery from substance use disorders (SUDs), especially opioid use disorders (OUDs). Project RESPECT providers have identified a problem in Massachusetts law that significantly harms low-income parents in recovery from SUDs and their children, disproportionately harming Black, Indigenous, or other people of color (BIPOC) families. Children born to women in evidence-based medication-assisted recovery (e.g., methadone treatment) must be reported at birth to the Department of Children and Families as if the mother were actively using drugs. Children born to BIPOC mothers are more likely than children born to white mothers both to be reported to child protection authorities and to be separated from their families as a result. The trauma of custody disruption has demonstrated serious effects on both recovering parents and child health and development. We will explore and advocate for possible legal and policy advocacy solutions to these issues--for example, changes in mandatory reporting laws and reformed child protection agency practices to eliminate discriminatory decisionmaking. Students will attend group meetings as well as work on research and advocacy. The project work will allow students to hone their research, analytical, writing, presentation, and problem-solving skills. Regular group meetings will deepen students' understanding of their projects by providing a broader context. Students will also meet individually or in teams with the faculty supervisor to discuss their project work. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option.

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.

This seminar will focus upon the substantive law of homicide, as well as the practical aspects of actual homicide investigations and trials: crime scene interpretation; DNA analysis; autopsies and related forensic evidence; expert testimony, particularly in the area of psychiatry and criminal responsibility; jury considerations; ethical concerns; and the role of the media. Students will have the opportunity to study actual murder cases, visit local crime laboratories and courtrooms, and learn prosecution, defense, and judicial perspectives on various contemporary issues arising in murder investigations and trials. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may not be used 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, 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.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program. Students have three fieldwork options: (1) concentration in immigrants' rights; (2) concentration in human trafficking; or (3) work on both types of cases. Students focusing on immigrants' rights will represent adult and children asylum seekers and other vulnerable noncitizens with the opportunity to litigate an immigration case in the Boston Immigration Court. Students focusing on anti-trafficking work will represent survivors of labor and sex trafficking in a wide range of civil matters and engage in policy-related work to address gaps in the local and national landscape. Students focusing on both immigrants' rights and human trafficking will represent immigrant clients and survivors of human trafficking in a range of civil matters. All students will have the opportunity to engage in immigrants' rights and human trafficking work through "Know-Your-Rights" visits at the local jail/detention center and by conducting intake at the Family Justice Center for human trafficking survivors. Students, working in pairs, assume the primary responsibility for multiple clients' complex cases, from start to finish. Students conduct client interviews, track down witnesses, speak with experts, develop documentary, testimonial and expert evidence, and write legal briefs. The clinical supervisors prepare students for their cases through weekly supervision meetings, mid-semester and final individual meetings, and mock hearings, as appropriate. NOTE: The Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. PRE/CO-REQUISITE: Evidence. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

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.

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 skills by participating in multiple mock hearings and portions of simulated trials. In particular, this course will focus on developing students' competencies in the following topics: (1) witness preparation, including working with lay and expert witnesses; (2) oral advocacy, including direct/cross examination and opening and closing statements; (3) factual and legal research; (4) cross-cultural lawyering and implicit bias; (5) legal advocacy and brief writing; (6) basic negotiation; and (7) developing professional roles and identities. Students will also be introduced to the intersections between criminal and immigration law, and to law and organizing in the immigration context. 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.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program. The seminar is the fall companion course for students enrolled in the Program. It provides a practice-oriented introduction to advocacy on behalf of indigent clients, including noncitizens and survivors of human trafficking. Students will develop a wide range of competencies with classes focusing topics including: (1) client interviewing and counseling; (2) case planning; (3) legal research and writing; (4) cultural competency; (5) legal story-telling and developing a theory of the case; (6) affidavit writing; (7) vicarious and secondary trauma; and (8) professional responsibility. Students will participate in class simulations, present in case rounds, and actively engage in facilitated discussions. There also will be two boot camp classes for students with specialized training in the following areas: (1) immigration law with a focus on asylum law and representing vulnerable noncitizens; and (2) human trafficking law with a focus on the protection framework in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and multi-disciplinary lawyering. 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.

This class will cover the immigration laws of the United States, including the administrative and regulatory framework of the United States agencies charged with enforcing U.S. immigration laws. The topics covered by this course include the power of the Congress to regulate immigration; the effect of politics on immigration policy; nonimmigrant and immigrant visa classifications; the law of asylum; the intersection of immigration law and criminal law; grounds of removal from the United States; relief from deportation, immigration court representation and access to justice; and the law of naturalization and derived citizenship.

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.

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.

This seminar will explore basic issues of jurisprudence as they arise in contemporary battles between originalism and its critics. What are the principal arguments for originalism and criticisms of it? What are the major varieties of originalism and alternatives to it? Does originalist analysis of “text and history”—as many originalists claim—avoid the need for normative judgments in constitutional interpretation? Or do originalists engage in “historical ventriloquism”—putting their normative arguments concerning text, history, and tradition in the mouths of historical framers, ratifiers, or lexicographers? We will consider such issues in three constitutional law contexts: the right to bear arms; substantive due process; and freedom of speech. (1) Originalism and the right to bear arms. The Supreme Court has based its major decisions protecting an individual right to bear arms on originalism. Do Heller v. District of Columbia, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, and United States v. Rahimi vindicate originalism as yielding objective answers of historical fact about constitutional meaning or, to the contrary, do they suggest that history and originalism itself is a site of contestation between competing understandings of our constitutional commitments? How does the Court actually use history and tradition in these cases? (2) Originalism and basic liberties. The Court’s decisions protecting or rejecting basic liberties under the Due Process Clause have vacillated between two competing approaches: a narrow conception of “history and tradition” in Washington v. Glucksberg and Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and a broader conception of tradition as a “living thing”—to be elaborated through “reasoned judgment” in common law constitutional interpretation—in Planned Parenthood v. Casey and Obergefell v. Hodges. Does protection of the right of pregnant persons to decide whether to terminate their pregnancies or the rights of same-sex couples to marry necessarily reject originalism in favor of a moral reading of the Constitution? How does the Court actually use history and tradition in denying rights in Glucksberg and Dobbs? In service of originalism as commonly understood or instead in support of conservative moralism and traditionalism? Does the Due Process Clause or the Equal Protection Clause provide the better ground for protecting such basic liberties? What are the criteria for deciding between these grounds? (3) Originalism and freedom of speech. Originalism is notably absent from the Court’s decisions protecting freedom of speech, including those where it clashes with securing the status of equality for all, e.g., LGBTQ+ rights in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. What accounts for this absence? What might it suggest about the Court’s “selective originalism”? Are there better ways of accommodating conflicts between such constitutional values than the Court’s absolutist protection of freedom of speech to the exclusion of equality for all? 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, 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.

The built environment around us is not inevitable or by accident. It is the outcome of a series of legal and political choices about how people should live together; about how to regulate and control the future use of the property around them. These choices result in a legal regime that, at once, is enormously complex, implicates the most basic questions of equity and constitutional freedoms, and affects people in every aspect of their daily lives. This course will examine land use from a legal, historical, theoretical, and, most important, practical perspective. Students will be introduced to a brief history of land use controls in the United States. The course will then cover the basic aspects of land use law: Euclidean zoning, special use permits, variances, vested rights and preexisting uses, exactions, exclusionary and inclusionary zoning, subdivision control, wetlands control, and legal challenges to zoning decisions. The course will also look at more recent trends and issues in land use law, such as smart growth and transit-oriented development, form- based zoning, marijuana regulations, short-term rentals, climate change resilience, and increased federal control of local land use. Finally, the course will examine the constitutional limits of land use regulation under the Fifth Amendment. Students will undertake practical exercises to introduce them to how land use lawyers practice. They will attend a zoning board hearing and report on it; they will analyze a client's proposal to determine what zoning relief is necessary; they will attend a zoning trial or appeal. The course will cover general zoning principles applicable nationally but will focus on Massachusetts law for the practical exercises. The class will require student participation in discussion. The only prerequisite is completion of first-year Property. Students will produce a brief paper on the zoning board meeting they attend and a final paper, and be asked to comment on the trial or hearing they attend. Grading will be based on class participation, the zoning exercise, the comments, and the two papers. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement.

This course will explore the legal treatment of Latinx people in the United States. Central to this examination will be: (1) the legal and social construction of race and racism as it pertains to Latinxs; (2) the racialized legal history of diverse ethnic groups including Chicanxs, Puerto Ricans, Cuban-Americans, and others; (3) constitutional and statutory civil rights law governing and impacting substantive areas such as education, employment, voting, public accommodations, speech, and immigration; and (4) the relationship between race, language, and notions of citizenship. A pervasive theme throughout the course will be the significance of race in the current era. This inquiry will be analyzed under modern civil rights perspectives of Traditionalism (e.g., advocating for colorblindness and "reverse" racism claims); Reformism (e.g., supporting modest reforms like limited affirmative action); and most pronouncedly Critical Race Theory (e.g., recognizing continued systemic subordination and envisioning structural reforms to increase racial justice). Students will produce and present an original 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, 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.

Understanding the laws governing consumer transactions is relevant not only to our daily lives but also to many careers in the law. Why do consumer laws matter for societal issues such as racial and income inequality' How can government agencies best promote compliance while minimizing burden to businesses' How should leaders of consumer corporations navigate a heavier regulatory era' This seminar will examine consumer laws from three main perspectives: the businesses that must comply with regulations; the agencies--such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission--that write or enforce rules; and the consumers who purchase over $10 trillion in goods and services annually. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. NOTE: This class does not satisfy the upper-class writing 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 covers select topics in natural resources law and policy, including protection of biodiversity and endangered species; management and preservation of public lands such as national forests, rangelands, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas, and national parks; conservation of wetland resources under section 404 of the Clean Water Act; and allocation of water resources. The overlap between this course and the course in Environmental Law is minimal, and students can enroll in this class regardless of whether they have previously taken the Environmental Law course.

Public health seeks to prevent unnecessary illness, injury, and death, which law can either facilitate or thwart. The field is transforming from state programs that prevent disease in populations (e.g., vaccination, newborn screening) to federal and international efforts to broadly recognize a population and individual "right to health." This course explores contemporary examples of public health problems such as disasters and emergencies, firearms regulation, regulating commercial speech to prevent consumer deception, and reproductive health. The course offers a framework for identifying and controlling health risks drawing on principles and theories of law, assessment of risk, policy evaluation, and empirical evidence. We will consider how laws at the state and federal levels regulate personal behaviors and products as well as impact the underlying determinants of health. Students will analyze different legal strategies that can be used to guide public health such as governmental nudges through funding, criminal and civil prohibitions, data collection and privacy, marketing restrictions, and taxation.

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.

Public Interest Law Journal - 2L Member

Public Interest Law Journal - 3L Editor

This course explores the interactions between gender, sexual orientation, and the law in the United States, historically and contemporaneously. Over the course of the semester, students will gain a critical understanding of how doctrines of positive rights, conduct, privacy, and equal protection have shaped views on gender and sexual orientation across time, and how the latter have likewise shaped the former. Looking through the lens of modern legislation, litigation, and the lived experiences of LGBTQ people in the United States, students will develop their own theories of law regarding gender and sexual orientation--theories of law that will hopefully be applicable throughout their careers as legal professionals. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may not be used to satisfy the requirement.

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.

This course will focus on cases that are currently on the docket of the Supreme Court across the range of the Court's subject matter. In the first week of class, we will read a set of pending certiorari petitions and vote as a class on whether we would grant the petition. (Petitions and background readings will be available on the course website.) Each student will be responsible for writing a brief memorandum in one case on whether the Court should grant the petition. Thereafter, each week, the class will read materials in preparation to discuss one or two cases pending on the merits, including its lower court opinion, the briefs from each party and selected amicus briefs. Prior to each class session, each student will be responsible for writing a brief memo (no more than a paragraph or two on each case) briefly stating how they would decide the case or cases for that week and why. Students will also be responsible for drafting one 20-25 page Supreme Court opinion and one 3-5 page dissenting opinion (either from their own opinion or someone else's) to be distributed to and discussed by the class. NOTE: Students registered for this seminar are encouraged to choose a case from the Court's docket during Fall Semester and take the lead on writing the opinion in that case. Students who do not choose a case in advance will be assigned one at the first class meeting. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may be used to satisfy the requirement; two drafts and research on secondary sources is required. GRADING NOTICE: This course 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.

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.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Wrongful Convictions Practicum. Students have the opportunity to enroll for one semester or as a full year course (two semesters in same academic year). Students work on the cases of prisoners who claim an unjust result after either trial or plea. Practicum students assist with screening new applications from prisoners seeking relief, and aid the instructor in representing one to two incarcerated clients. Students review attorneys' files, pleadings, transcripts of trials and other court proceedings, and judicial decisions with the goal of identifying potential areas of investigation and legal research that may lead to a motion for a new trial or other post-conviction relief for an incarcerated client. Students will also meet with these clients and potentially with witnesses. In addition to this case field work, students meet in weekly seminars with the instructor. NOTE: The Wrongful Convictions Practicum counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement.