Course & Seminar Descriptions

This course considers emerging issues in the law and policy of policing. Policing is bounded by U.S. constitutional law but also heavily determined by state and local statutes and regulations. As such, policing traditionally engages legal questions such as search, seizure, interrogation, and identification. At the same time, emerging issues for contemporary police include policing a pandemic, historical injustice in policing, international and domestic terrorism, and gun violence on college campuses and universities. This course addresses many topics that have impacted police and communities since the first wave of protests in 2014–2015 through the murder of George Floyd through the lens of 4th, 5th, and 6th amendment issues. This course engages students in a deeper understanding of 21st century policing, drawing on contemporary developments in law and policy grounded in the realities of the experiences of police and communities.

This course will examine the nature and functions of federal administrative agencies and the legal controls on agency action. Agency action is situated and examined in its political and legal contexts. Topics include the status of administrative agencies in the constitutional framework of separation of powers including the non-delegation doctrine, the President's appointment and removal powers in light of the unitary executive, the constitutionality of the legislative and line-item vetoes, the constitutionality of agency adjudication, and the constitutional (and political) status of independent agencies; agency rulemaking and adjudication including the choice of procedural model and the procedural requirements of the rulemaking model; and the availability, timing and scope of judicial review of agency action including standing to seek judicial review and exceptions to the availability of judicial review. The course also examines different methods of policy analysis such as regulatory impact analysis and cost-benefit analysis. Additional topics include discriminatory enforcement, regulatory delay, judicial imposition of procedural constraints on agencies, the implication of private rights of action from regulatory statutes and the availability citizens' suits. Some attention may be paid to differences between state and federal separation of powers doctrines.

This course teaches students evidence at an advanced level through student exercises simulating courtroom presentations. This is simulation course and the emphasis is on performance and feedback in order to integrate legal evidence theory with the professional skills students need to advocate for their future clients. After evidence related exercises, students will engage in self-critique and will also receive feedback from fellow classmates and the instructor. The instructor will utilize the student exercises to teach the law of evidence at a level beyond the introductory evidence course and advocacy skills. Class discussion and exercises will provide opportunities to improve trial and advocacy skills, recognize and address ethical issues, and consider broad societal questions. Exercises may include the following: a motion in limine concerning prior bad acts evidence, a voir dire on an issue of rape shield, or a Daubert hearing concerning expert testimony on causation in a toxic tort case. PREREQUISITE: Evidence. NOTE: This course counts towards the 6-credit experiential learning requirement.

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.

In this class students will be exposed to how legal research functions in practice. The research projects will be designed to highlight major legal research tools in both online and print formats. The projects will feature tasks such locating court documents, doing a legislative history, finding agency regulations and guidance, doing state specific research with practice series, researching an unfamiliar area of the law using secondary sources, as well as learning to use Lexis/Nexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law in a cost effective manner. Most classes will have an assignment and some will be longer projects such as a client letter, a research memo for a supervisor and all will include a research log. There will be an exam where the students must do several short research assignments with a research log. The objective of the class is for students to become comfortable completing simple and complex research in a work setting. NOTE: This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. 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.

The purpose of this seminar is to provide students with the opportunity to improve their writing, editing and communication skills. Students will prepare a variety of practice related documents based on a single fact pattern. Some legal research will be necessary, but the emphasis will be on writing, not on research. Students will also have the opportunity to edit other students' papers, with the goal of improving their own writing skills. Actors will perform a scenario for the class, from which students will extract the pertinent facts. From this fact pattern, students will draft an inter office memo, a letter or memo to a non lawyer client, and a trial or appellate brief. Students will also engage in simulated client interviewing and counseling sessions, as well as a simulated meeting with a supervisor. Students will be graded on the basis of their written work, editing work on their classmate's papers and on their classroom performance. There will be no final exam. NOTE: This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 14 students. 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 (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.

The seminar will evaluate the current affordable housing crisis and the ways in which it has been influenced by significant events, including population growth pressures, the Great Migration, the 1918 Flu Pandemic, the spread of zoning in the 1920s, race-based restrictive housing covenants, red-lining, rent control and other topics. The course will examine the impact of racism, casteism and economic discrimination on housing law and the permitting, financing and taxation of housing by reviewing the relevant decisional law, local, state and federal regulations and statutes and housing policy reports and articles. The affordable housing crisis will be examined from the perspectives of the individuals who need affordable housing, the individuals who oppose affordable housing being built near them, the developers who design and build housing, the local officials who perform the permitting and the state and federal officials who create and enforce the regulatory, statutory and tax schemes that mold how affordable housing is created. A 15-20 page term paper will be required that examines one or more aspects of affordable housing law, with a variety of potential topics to be offered at the outset of the course. 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 seminar will cover the practice of aggregate litigation from a social justice perspective, with a particular emphasis on cases now pending in courts across the country. Topics will include all aspects of class action practice, cases seeking to invalidate federal and state regulations, and other opportunities to litigate cases of public importance at scale. Each student will be asked to select a case of national importance presently pending in court. Students will be expected to write a paper that satisfies the upper-class writing assignment and to lead a class discussion on their case of choice. ** 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 course builds upon the foundations laid in civil procedure and ethics courses to introduce students to the effective, responsible use of generative artificial intelligence ("AI") in litigation. Students will learn how to evaluate and select AI tools for legal practice while identifying and navigating potential ethical traps—including client confidentiality, AI "hallucinations," and the duty of proper supervision. Through hands-on exercises, students will practice using AI to facilitate common litigation workflows, such as case evaluation, legal research, drafting, document review, discovery, deposition preparation, trial preparation, and appeals. While the course will primarily utilize dedicated legal AI platforms (e.g., Lexis+ AI, Thomson Reuters CoCounsel, and Harvey), the techniques learned will transfer to other AI tools, including general-purpose models like Google's Gemini, OpenAI's ChatGPT, and Anthropic's Claude. There will be a mid-semester exam in addition to assignments and a presentation. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: This course requires extensive, hands-on practical work and enrollment is limited to 25 students.

This course will explore how artificial intelligence is transforming corporate compliance programs. Students will develop practical strategies for integrating AI into compliance frameworks. The course will emphasize real-world case studies, regulatory guidance, and hands on exercises. There will be no final exam. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class does not satisfy the requirement.

For an industry that has kept fax machines alive for decades, the healthcare industry is currently deploying Artificial Intelligence (AI) faster than many other industries. This course will explore the real-time transformative impact of AI on the healthcare industry. Taking a holistic approach, we will examine how AI is disrupting long established practices in healthcare, and what attorneys need to consider as they advise clients across the healthcare continuum, including hospitals, insurers, and health-tech companies. The course will: (1) Provide an introductory overview of significant AI concepts including machine learning, generative AI, and agentic AI. (2) Track the tension between state and federal AI regulations; especially as they overlay on the established healthcare regulatory framework. (3) Analyze the evolution of specific healthcare topics e.g., scope of practice, privacy, and Software as a Medical Device in the context of rapidly advancing AI technology. (4) Discuss ethical and policy implications of the new technology and how it can improve or exacerbate current health disparities, including patient outcomes and patient safety. (5) Examine topics that often come up in practice including governance and contracting issues such as liability, data use, and intellectual property rights. Participants will be evaluated on class participation and assignments. There will be a final exam. PRE/COREQUISITES: Participants should have some familiarity with healthcare law, through a previous course, a concurrent course, or work experience. RESTRICTION: Students may not enroll in this course and AI in the Professions (JD795).

This course will focus on the healthcare professions and the legal profession primarily, and explore how the rise of artificial intelligence is challenging traditional modes of licensing, regulation, and liability. The course will include state AI laws, state licensure systems, professional rules of conduct, Federal policy including FDA law for software as a medical device (SAMD), and some discussion of comparative approaches such as the European Union. The course will include student use of AI platforms, for benchmarking, research and to develop their own skills. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: Students may use this class to satisfy the requirement with a 6,000-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.

Alternative business entities -- particularly LLCs and partnerships -- have become entities of choice, and many more LLCs are now formed than corporations incorporated (especially in Delaware, where more than 70% of new companies are LLCs). The course will address choice of entity decisions, examine the differences and similarities among alternative business entities, including new forms such as the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and consider questions involving management, fiduciary and other duties, obligations to non-owners and economic and tax issues. The class will also consider the diverse use cases for alternative entities and the intersection of alternative entity law with securities law, bankruptcy law, and other sometimes inconsistent statutory regimes.

The goal of this course is to improve students' ability to resolve disputes and to productively engage in conflict. In this highly interactive class, students will examine a variety of dispute resolution processes, other than traditional court adjudication, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, dispute system design and restorative justice. Over the course of the semester, students will engage in a series of exercises (i.e., role-plays) through which they can develop and hone their skills and approaches to dispute resolution. Discussion and short lectures will accompany the exercises, as appropriate. There will be short written assignments as well as a longer paper due at the end of the semester. No final exam. NOTE: This course counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option. RESTRICTION: Students may not enroll in both Alternative Dispute Resolution and Negotiation (JD921).

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.

American Journal of Law and Medicine - 2L Journal Member

American Journal of Law and Medicine - 3L Editor

What legal protections - if any - do animals truly have? How does the law define their worth, their suffering, or their right to exist free from harm? Introduction to Animal Law invites students into a complex and rapidly evolving field at the intersection of legal theory, ethics, and our relationship with non-human animals. We begin by exploring foundational questions: What is the legal status of animals? Are they property, persons, or something in between? From there, we'll examine the legal frameworks that govern human-animal interactions across a wide range of contexts - animals as victims of abuse, as food, as companions, as research subjects, and even as consumers of antibiotics. Along the way, we'll consider the role of animals in entertainment, agriculture, and wildlife policy, highlighting both the explicit and hidden ways the law shapes their lives - and ours. Though the course centers on U.S. Law, it will include comparative and international perspectives to explore how different societies conceptualize animal rights and welfare. A central inquiry will be the motivations behind human efforts to protect animals: Are these rooted in compassion, utility, justice - or something more complex? We will also tackle one of the most pressing legal dilemmas in the field: who was the right to speak for animals, and under what circumstances can humans represent them in legal proceedings? The course is open to all students - no prior legal experience required. Students will be expected to engage critically with readings and contribute thoughtfully to discussions. Rich in legal debate and ethical complexity, animal law challenges us to rethink our most basic assumptions about rights, representation, and justice across species lines. NOTE: There will be a midterm exam and a final (3,000 word) research paper. UPPERCLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to partially satisfy the requirement.

The healthcare industry has been a leading target of antitrust enforcement over the past two decades, and most of that has focused on the conduct of pharmaceutical companies. The high cost of prescription drugs is one of the biggest public policy challenges of our time and is now an issue squarely in the cross hairs of federal and state antitrust enforcers. The cases that result feature the application of traditional antitrust principles, formed over the last century, to a unique industry with atypical economics, complex regulatory schemes, and extensive enforcement of patent rights. At every turn, courts and regulators must balance the need to promote price-reducing competition with the need to maintain incentives for massive private R&D investment. This seminar will serve as an introduction to those cases. It will focus on the most common antitrust matters that arise from the competition between branded and generic drugs. It will also survey other hot topics at the antitrust-healthcare intersection more broadly, such as hospital and health system mergers. The course will also serve to develop practical lawyering skills--including how to critically analyze precedent, how to frame and to communicate advice to clients when legal standards are uncertain, and how lawyers shape the law. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement either partially or in full. **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.

The antitrust laws reflect a conviction that competition in the marketplace will yield the best outcomes for consumers and the optimal allocation of resources in our economy. Beginning with the Sherman Act of 1890, the antitrust statutes condemn a variety of acts -- from mergers to agreements among competitors to monopolists' exclusionary business practices -- that restrain trade or contribute to monopoly power. The statutes, however, are written in general terms, leaving it to the courts to draw the line between lawful competition and unlawful restraints of trade or monopolization. Early on, the Supreme Court established that the law reaches only "unreasonable" restraints, which only begs the question of how to draw the line between "reasonable" competition and "unreasonable" interference with competitive markets. Over the course of the twentieth century, the courts struggled to fix this line; as the century closed, they had settled on an economically-oriented normative framework that largely deferred to firm decisions and doubted the value of government intervention in markets. In recent years, however, a cacophony of voices -- ranging from activists to scholars to politicians of all stripes -- has begun to call that framework into question and to call for renewed enforcement of antitrust laws. This course will explore the principal statutes and common law that have shaped antitrust law over the past century-and-a-quarter since Congress passed the Sherman Act. We will also examine the standards and procedures that the antitrust agencies use to evaluate mergers and to challenge conduct as anticompetitive. As we critically evaluate the case law, we will also reflect on current calls for reform. While we will engage rigorously with economics, all of the economic principles necessary to understand the case law and debates will be explained in the course; formal training in economics is not a requirement.

This class is restricted to third-year students who applied and were accepted as directors of the BU Law Moot Court programs (Stone and Albers). NOTE: This class may be used to satisfy the Upper-class Writing requirement.

This course will explore the implications of advances in artificial intelligence for the law and policy of U.S. national security. Students will first learn to understand and classify AI systems. The class will then consider the lawfulness and prudence of current and potential future uses of AI in intelligence, law enforcement, and armed conflict. The course will also explore AI’s potential effects in the online information space, cybersecurity, and terrorism, before considering possible government responses and the applicable legal principles. The class will also situate AI within the broader geopolitical context, including great-power competition with China. Student assessments will include written assignments, a class presentation, and a final exam.

This one credit seminar explores the rapidly evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the practice of law. Featuring guest speakers from a wide range of practice settings—including large law firms, boutique firms, corporate legal departments, government agencies, legal services, and the judiciary—the course examines how AI tools are transforming legal research, drafting, discovery, compliance, litigation strategy, client counseling, and law practice management. Through practitioner-led discussions students will evaluate the practical uses of AI technologies. The seminar emphasizes real-world applications, ethical considerations, and professional responsibility implications under the ABA Model Rules. Students will critically assess the benefits and efficiencies AI can bring to legal practice and the significant challenges it presents, including ethical pitfalls, overreliance, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and systemic bias. The seminar is discussion-based. Students will have weekly readings, submit short papers that include questions for the week’s speaker(s), and will give a final presentation on an AI related topic. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may not be used to satisfy the requirement. **A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping society, legal institutions, and the practice of law. This course examines the emerging law, regulation, and policy of AI while preparing students to work effectively with the technologies that are already transforming legal practice. Students will study how existing legal doctrines apply to AI systems and how those doctrines may evolve as AI increasingly influences decision-making in business, government, medicine, consumer markets, and everyday life. Topics include liability, privacy, intellectual property, consumer protection, fairness, bias and discrimination, explainability, and AI governance. The course is also a practical introduction to AI-assisted lawyering. Students will develop a working understanding of the concepts and terminology needed to engage confidently with contemporary AI systems and large language models; no technical background is required. Through concrete legal use cases, students will explore how legal AI tools and LLMs can enhance analysis, problem-solving, and professional judgment, while also confronting their limitations and risks, including hallucinations, bias, opacity, overreliance, and professional responsibility concerns. Use of generative AI is integral to the course. The course is grounded in the view that the next generation of lawyers will practice co-intelligence: a disciplined partnership between human judgment and artificial intelligence in which the combined output exceeds what either could achieve alone.

This course provides a practically oriented introduction to the organization, ownership structures, powers, and regulation of State and Federally chartered banks, savings institutions, and holding companies. Students are introduced to the history and development and current structure of the U.S. banking and thrift industries, the differences in corporate powers between deposit-taking and other types of business organization, the historic roots and current status of America’s “dual banking system,” and the origin, “moral hazards” and other effects and limitations of federal deposit insurance. Through review of assigned commentary, corporate charter and bylaw provisions, judicial and agency decisions, agency policy statements, and Federal and State statutes and regulations, students will examine the evolution, corporate organization and regulation of bank, savings and loan, and financial holding companies, including business powers, capital and liquidity requirements, affiliate and insider transactions restrictions, restrictions on geographic and product line expansion. The course includes critical review of the existing system of supervision, licensing and examination of financial institutions, the application of antitrust principles to the banking industry, and the principles and tools of financial consumer protection. Also reviewed are the supervisory and enforcement powers of the Federal financial regulatory agencies. Focusing on the 2023 failures of Silicon Valley, Signature, and First Republic Bank, the FDIC’s tools and methodologies for resolving failed financial institutions are also examined. The course text is the current (3rd) edition of M.Barr, H.Jackson & M. Tahyar’s Financial Regulation Law & Policy. Weekly lectures are supplemented with topical slides and instructors’ notes, and sample documents from actual transactions. A research paper on an assigned topic of current interest is required. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online (OL) section of any Banking course.

This course examines bankruptcy and related state law from the point of view of secured and unsecured creditors. The course begins with survey of individual state law collection remedies and non-bankruptcy composition and liquidation schemes. The balance (and bulk) of the course focuses on the rights, obligations and procedures created by federal bankruptcy law. Topics addressed include: the automatic stay, the use and protection of collateral during the pendency of a bankruptcy case, the avoidance of pre- bankruptcy transfers as preferences and fraudulent transfers, the treatment of executory contracts and unexpired leases, debtor-in- possession financing, asset sales and the negotiation and confirmation of a plan of reorganization that is binding on all creditors. Finally, the course will discuss recent !' bankruptcy reform!' legislation, which affects both corporate and consumer bankruptcies. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online (OL) section of any Banking course.

This course provides an overview of both consumer and business bankruptcy. We begin with creditors' collection rights under state law and then turn to consumer bankruptcy under Chapters 7 and 13 of the Bankruptcy Code. Topics include the bankruptcy estate, the automatic stay, exemptions, the treatment of secured and unsecured debt, the means test, repayment plans, and discharge. We then examine business bankruptcy, focusing on the legal requirements for reorganization plans under Chapter 11, debtor-in-possession financing, avoidance actions, preferences, fraudulent transfers, executory contracts, plan confirmation, cramdown of secured and unsecured creditors, and § 363 asset sales. Throughout, the course considers the policy goals of bankruptcy and strategic issues in bankruptcy practice, while also requiring students to apply basic corporate finance concepts through assigned problem sets. Recommended Courses: Corporations, Secured Transactions

Students in this course will learn and practice a specific set of skills and test-taking strategies with the goal of enhancing a student's ability to prepare for the July bar exam. It will introduce students to the content of the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) and its three forms of questions, multiple choice, essay and performance test. The subject matter will be drawn from some of the most highly tested topics on the UBE, including criminal law, constitutional law and torts. The materials for this course are provided by Themis Bar Review. This course is for students who want an early start on their bar exam preparation or are particularly concerned about not passing the bar exam. This course is not a replacement for a commercial bar review program. The course consists of weekly in-person classes, assignments outside of class and a final exam. Course enrollment is limited to two sections, 25 students per section. Prerequisites: This class is restricted to graduating third-year JD students. GRADING NOTICE: This course will not offer the CR/NC/H option.

In order to graduate, students must fulfill the Business Fundamentals Requirement. This is accomplished by taking Introduction to Business Fundamentals, an online, self-paced, asynchronous program. The curriculum consists of modules covering business basics, corporate finance and financial accounting, including the following subjects: capital markets; the basics of financial reporting; balance sheets; income statements and cash flow; business forms and organizations; financing organizations; discounting; and calculating risk, return and valuation. Assessment is based on multiple choice exams. Students may opt-out of the course if they score an 84 or better on the pre-course exam. A score of 70 or better on the post-course exam, following successful completion of the course, is necessary to meet the requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course awards no credits and is graded P/F. Students may enroll in the program for the fall, spring or summer semesters, but should complete the course by the conclusion of the fall semester of the 3L year.

This course will provide an overview of business immigration law, with a particular focus on the various nonimmigrant and immigrant visa categories a business immigration lawyer would be expected to handle. Topics will include business immigration visa categories, business immigration strategies, visa challenges in entrepreneurship; immigration obstacles faced by multinational businesses; the intersection of business immigration with employment laws; and enforcement trends targeted at employers. We will also briefly review the parameters of executive power in shaping business immigration law and the regulatory process. We will also identify, examine and discuss core professional responsibility issues that arise in business immigration practice. There are no prerequisites for this course. There is no writing requirement, but there will be weekly reading assignments and frequent hypotheticals to analyze before class for class discussion as well as a final examination. Class attendance and participation are essential.

This course introduces lawyers to the economics of financial markets and institutions. Emphasis is placed on the interaction of commercial banks, the Federal Reserve System, and monetary policy. Other topics include the characteristics of financial instruments (such as Treasury securities, corporate stocks and bonds, and secondary market mortgage-backed securities), how they are priced in the market, the factors determining the level and shape of the Treasury yield curve, and the relationship between commercial banking and the growth of the over-the-counter derivatives market. Course grades will be based on midterm and final examinations, and on written assignments. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online (OL) section of any Banking course.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have applied to and been accepted by the Appellate Clinic. Students in the Appellate Clinic represent public interest clients in courts of appeals and the Supreme Court under the supervision of clinical faculty. Appellate Clinic clients are individuals and entities otherwise unlikely to obtain quality representation including civil-rights plaintiffs, employees, consumers, tenants, immigrants, and criminal defendants. We occasionally represent amici as well. Students collaborate on brief writing and oral argument projects with a team comprised of other clinic students and the clinic’s director. The clinic’s director prepares students for their cases through weekly team supervision meetings, individual meetings, case rounds, moots, and workshops as appropriate. The Appellate Clinic seminar provides substantive and skills-based training that will support your client work. Seminar meets once a week and focuses on the mechanics of written and oral appellate advocacy and the substantive areas of law the clinic is currently litigating. The seminar addresses each stage of the appellate process so that students develop an understanding of how to litigate an appeal from start to finish. That means that typically in the fall, seminar is focused on opening briefs, appellate mediation, collaboration, and other critical appellate skills. PRE/CO-REQUISITES: All first-year courses. Federal Courts and Professional Responsibility are highly recommended as pre-requisites or co-requisites, but not required. NOTE: The Appellate Clinic 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 taken the Appellate Clinic fall course. In the spring, Appellate Clinic students continue to represent their clients who are individuals and entities otherwise unlikely to obtain quality representation including civil-rights plaintiffs, employees, consumers, tenants, immigrants, and criminal defendants. The clinic occasionally represent amici as well. As in the fall, students collaborate on brief writing and oral argument projects with a team comprised of other clinic students and the clinic’s director. The clinic’s director prepares students for their cases through weekly team supervision meetings, individual meetings, case rounds, moots, and workshops as appropriate. The spring seminar builds on the work students have done in the fall to learn the mechanics of written and oral appellate advocacy and the substantive areas of law the clinic is currently litigating. That means that typically the spring seminar will focus on reply briefs, oral argument prep, petitions for en banc relief, supreme court practice, and other critical appellate litigation skills. PRE/CO-REQUISITES: All first-year courses and the Appellate Clinic Fall course. Federal Courts and Professional Responsibility are highly recommended as pre-requisites or co-requisites, but not required. NOTE: The Appellate Clinic 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 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 CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Civil Litigation Clinic. Pretrial Advocacy is the companion fall classroom component for students in the Civil Litigation Clinic. Classes are devoted to learning the theories of practice for use in the field, reinforced by activities and simulations in which students practice skills through role play. PRE/CO-REQUISITES: Evidence and Professional Responsibility. NOTE: Students who enroll in this component of the clinic may count the credits towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. It may not be used to satisfy more than one 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 Civil Litigation and Justice Program. Trial Advocacy is the companion spring classroom component for students in the Civil Litigation Clinic. Trial Advocacy classes are devoted to learning the theories of practice for use in the field, reinforced by activities and simulations in which students practice skills through role play. NOTE: This course counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

This seminar will provide students with the foundations of client interviewing and counseling and offer opportunities to develop the real-world skills necessary to effectively work with clients. We will discuss different styles and contexts of counseling clients, as well as examining client counseling at several stages of the attorney-client relationship, including the initial client meeting, client interviews, and strategically guiding the client's decision-making as the matter evolves. Students will not only study methods of effective client counseling; they will practice client counseling skills by participating in a variety of hands-on activities, including conducting mock interviews, role plays, and case conferences. The course has multiple points of assessment including class participation, short written assignments, and client counseling simulations. NOTE: This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. 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 (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 studies the legal issues involved in negotiating and documenting various types of commercial lending transactions ranging from short-term unsecured loans to secured and long-term financings. The process is followed from the initial identification of a lending opportunity to pre-commitment correspondence and commitment letters, through to the key documents required at closing. The major aspects of a loan agreement, including definitional provisions, representations and warranties, lending provisions, pricing, affirmative and negative covenants, and events of defaults are studied in detail in an effort to ensure that students understand the mechanics of a commercial loan agreement. Security interests in real estate and personal property are addressed. Loan syndications and the loan markets are examined. Issues relating to guaranties and subordination agreements are considered. Overviews of Chapter 11 bankruptcy and lender liability are provided. A lecture and discussion format is employed. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online (OL) section of any Banking course.

This course considers different solutions adopted by nine industrialized countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States) to common problems in income tax design. It responds to the need for a broader understanding of the way that tax matters are handled in different countries as business transactions become increasingly global. The course presents a policy-focused overview of variant tax treatments in individual, business (corporate and partnership) and cross-border transactions. The intent is not to develop an expertise in any one, or any group of tax systems, but rather to provide a comparative knowledge base upon which a further, in-depth inquiry can be based. Course Structure: This course follows an assigned text. After the opening class the course is structured in three equal (four-class) segments on (1) Individual, (2) Business and (3) International tax topics. An effort will be made when appropriate to update the materials in the text, allowing us to discuss some current problems. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online section of any tax courses without receiving prior approval from the Assistant Dean for Graduate, International, and Online programs.

Online section not open to JD students.

This seminar offers an overview of the legal system of the People’s Republic of China. Topics include China’s basic political and economic structure, the courts and dispute resolution system, and selected topics in property law, corporate law, technology regulation, foreign investment, trade, national security, and international law. The seminar also examines the political and economic factors that shape China's legal institutions, as well as broader questions of legal comparison. 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, 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 considers the details of the world's leading Value Added Tax system, the E.U. VAT. Students should expect to acquire a good grounding in the major legal instruments of the community (regulations, directions and decisions) which have binding effect on the member states as well as the recommendations and opinions which do not. Case law will be considered primarily from the leading decisions of the European Court Justice, although an occasional decision or two from domestic courts will be included. Major developments in the E.U. VAT are expected to be covered, including: (1) the adoption of the "reverse charge" mechanism as a response to widespread carousel fraud, (2) the inclusion of a transfer pricing regime under Rationalization Directive, and (3) proposals for major changes in the place of supply rules in services and intangibles. There are no pre-requisites for this course. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online section of any tax courses without receiving prior approval from the Assistant Dean for Graduate, International, and Online programs.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied and been accepted to the Compassionate Release Practicum. In April of 2018, Massachusetts joined 44 states and the federal government in providing a statutory mechanism by which terminally ill and/or permanently incapacitated inmates could be released on so-called medical parole. The new statute was a result of ongoing compromises as part of the omnibus criminal justice reform bill, and pending constitutional litigation which became moot. To date only one person has been released. The intent of the practicum is to engage students both in direct representation of inmates not otherwise entitled to counsel, and in brainstorming and developing solutions in this new and rapidly developing area of law. Students will learn about legislative history and lobbying, about statutory construction, FOIA, and about the constitutional underpinnings of compassionate release. Students will learn and demonstrate drafting, client counseling and negotiation skills. This practicum can be taken for one (50 hours) or two (100 hours) graded credits. Students will write a total of twenty pages, which likely will include a petition for release, and a superior court complaint and motion for judgment on the pleadings. Students will in addition write two journal reflections. There will be a weekly one hour seminar at a time arranged with the students. The final grade is based on class participation, revised writing and journal reflections. NOTE: The Compassionate Release Practicum counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

This class is designed to prepare and support the 3L members of BU Law's extramural moot court teams who also serve as Stone and Albers competition preceptors. This seminar will focus on improving students' appellate brief writing skills through a series of course meetings that involve skills training and in-class exercises. The seminar will meet weekly as a group for the first half of the semester and will focus on competition brief writing skills, including research, organization, persuasive writing, and editing. The course will make use of former competition problems to prepare students to write their competition briefs in their specific competitions. For the second half of the semester, students participating in the National Moot Court competition (who serve as Albers preceptors in spring) will meet on an arranged schedule to conduct at least six one-hour formal oral argument practices. The National Moot Court competition students will also be required to write a reflection paper due no later than two weeks after the close of their competition. Students participating in spring competitions will serve as Stone competition preceptors, scoring briefs or oral arguments. These Stone preceptors will meet to work on editing and feedback skills. There will be no final exam. Note that students who are participating on extramural moot court teams that are assigned to serve as either Stone or Albers preceptors must still serve as preceptors even if they do not enroll in this course. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 25 students. GRADING NOTICE: CR/NC graded. NOTE: This class may not be used to satisfy the Upper-class Writing Requirement. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: A student who fails to attend the first class or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar will be administratively dropped from the course.

This class is designed to prepare and support the 3L members of BU Law's extramural moot court teams who also serve as Stone and Albers competition preceptors. This course will focus on improving students' appellate oral advocacy skills through a series of course meetings that involve skills training and in-class exercises. For the first month of the semester, the seminar will meet weekly as a group and will focus on oral advocacy skills, including how to prepare, argument organization, and presentation best practices. For the remainder of the spring semester, students participating in spring competitions will meet on an arranged schedule to conduct at least four one-hour oral argument practices for their competition and to attend and to serve as judges for at least two other one-hour oral argument practices for other competitions. Students serving as Albers preceptors will score briefs and oral arguments. These Albers preceptors will meet to work on editing and feedback skills. All students participating in spring competitions will be required to write a reflection paper due no later than two weeks after the close of their competition. There will be no final exam. Note that students who are participating on extramural moot court teams that are assigned to serve as either Stone or Albers preceptors must still serve as preceptors even if they do not enroll in this course. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 25 students. GRADING NOTICE: CR/NC graded. NOTE: This class does not satisfy the Upper-class Writing Requirement. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: A student who fails to attend the first class or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar will be administratively dropped from the course.

This course will take students through the compliance mechanisms within financial organizations putting regulatory requirements into practice. The purpose of the class is to offer a fundamental preparation to the lawyer in a financial institution's legal department or a separate compliance department. This course covers the following: * The history of compliance * The interaction between business processes, legal requirements, and compliance. * The profession of financial compliance * The interaction of conflicts, risks and ethics * Defining best practice, business process, risk assessment and controls and their interactions within financial institutions *Compliance for investment advisers, private funds, mutual funds, broker-dealers, and other regulatory regimes * Interacting with regulators, enforcement agencies and investigations * Business ethics and culture in financial institutions. The course will use an exam as the final assessment. GRADING NOTICE: This course will not offer the CR/NC/H option.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Civil Litigation and Justice Program - Consumer Economic Justice Clinic. In addition to the clinic fieldwork, students will attend a weekly classroom seminar. The fall seminar will cover substantive consumer law as well as theories and policies that explain the current state of consumer protection and economic injustice. Students will learn about key state and federal consumer protection laws including the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, The Truth in Lending Act, M.G.L. Chapter 93A (also called the "Massachusetts Consumer Protection Law") and how these laws may be used to move low-income consumers towards economic justice. PRE/CO-REQUISITES: Evidence and Professional Responsibility. NOTE: This course 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 Civil Litigation and Justice Program - Consumer Economic Justice Clinic. In addition to the clinic fieldwork, students will attend a weekly classroom seminar. In the spring seminar, students will explore the role of consumer protection laws and theories as a means to economic justice. Students will also reflect on their experiences from the fieldwork and how they relate to larger systemic problems. In the Spring Semester, the seminar will apply a macro lens to analyze the causes of individual consumer legal problems, including government and policy reasons, and the causes of economic injustice as a systemic problem. Students may also research and write papers for publication (e.g., comments on a proposed bill, a policy paper, or a know-your-rights article) about a consumer law issue. PRE/CO-REQUISITES: Evidence and Professional Responsibility. NOTE: This course counts towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

This class presents an overview of the laws relating to traditional and innovative consumer financial products and services, including the impact of the new consumer protection provisions of the Dodd-Frank banking law on creditors and consumers. The course focuses on federal consumer financial laws governing installment, revolving, and real estate lending, credit and debit cards; and ATM networks, point of sale payment systems, home banking, stored value and prepaid cards; and other deposit and loan products and services. The course examines the design of retail financial products and considers operational issues, the regulatory framework, and consumer protection laws including The Consumer Financial Protection Act, Truth in Lending, Equal Credit Opportunity, Community Reinvestment Acts, and federal and state laws governing fair credit reporting, trade practices, usury, electronic funds transfers, and funds availability. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online (OL) section of any Banking course.

Having taken the 1L Constitutional Law course (a pre-requisite for this seminar), students taking this course will do a deeper dive into the issues where the Constitution comes alive in our daily lives -- the ways in which citizens in general and lawyers in particular need to understand the role the Constitution plays in political and social debates over free speech, voting rights, reproductive rights and so much more. The course will cover several issues currently on the Supreme Court's docket, and the course topics will intersect with developments in the news on a regular basis. There is no exam. Students will be required to write a paper on an issue of their choice. Grades are determined by the quality of the paper and class participation. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may be used to satisfy the requirement either partially or in full. ** 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 is the foundational skills course within the Transactional Law Program. It teaches students basic principles and skills of drafting and analyzing commercial and transaction agreements, with a focus on recognizing, and addressing through contractual provisions, key business issues in transactions. Although the course will be of particular interest to students interested in a corporate or transactional law practice, since most practicing attorneys will need to work with contracts at some point in their career, the concepts and skills which the course conveys are applicable to virtually all practice areas and specialties. While the course utilizes lectures to introduce various contract concepts and techniques essential for drafting and reviewing commercial and transaction agreements, it also requires that students complete both in-class exercises and out-of-class assignments as a means of building basic drafting skills and a solid understanding of the structure and operation of contractual provisions in a business transaction. The course also considers various ethical issues that may arise in the contract drafting and review process and in transactional practice generally. Grades will be based on class participation and graded drafting assignments. CLASS SIZE: 12 students. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT/EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING REQUIREMENT: This course is a designated Professional Writing Course which may be used to partially satisfy the Upper-Class Writing Requirement (with a grade of B or higher) or the 6-credit Experiential Learning Requirement, but not both. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: A student who fails to attend the first class or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar will be administratively dropped from the course. Students who are on the wait list are required to attend the first class to be considered for enrollment. Because the course involves regular in-class exercises, some of which are done in teams, and class participation is a significant component of a student's final grade, regular class attendance is essential and thus the course cannot accommodate flexibility in attendance.

This course will give you an introduction to copyright, including a foundation in the theories underlying copyright law, an understanding of the current contours of copyright protection, the basic elements of proving infringement, the fair use defense to and remedies for infringement, and familiarity with related forms of liability such as contributory and vicarious liability. Each class meeting will consist of a combination of lecture and class discussion. Our discussions will focus on discussion of the reading - including cases and policies - and applying the reading to new scenarios. We'll work through hypotheticals based on real-world examples and explore scenarios that will require you to think from a variety of different perspectives. Grading will be based on class participation, including problem sets and hypotheticals worked on in groups, and a 3-hour, closed book, final exam.

This CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. This is the companion fieldwork component for students enrolled in the Corporate Counsel Externship: Seminar. Students will work at legal offices of for-profit and nonprofit companies in unpaid or paid placements. Students will receive 3-9 variable P/F credits for working at their placements. Each credit requires 50 hours of work over the course of the 13-week semester (averaging 4 hours per week). COREQUISITE: Corporate Counsel Externship Seminar (JD 896). NOTE: Students who enroll in this externship may count the credits towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement.

This CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. This is a 2-credit graded seminar for those students doing fieldwork in Corporate Counsel offices that meets every week for 1.5 hours. The seminar will cover a range of topics and competencies essential to the day-to-day role of a lawyer in the corporate counsel offices of for-profit and nonprofit companies, such as: understanding the modern and future role of corporate counsel offices, on a global scale; exercising executive leadership; representing a business entity through its constituents; becoming both a trusted legal advisor and strategic business partner to the corporate client; upholding confidentiality and ethical standards; learning the client's business; understanding the role of regulatory compliance; communicating effectively in a business setting; managing priorities and crises; collaborating with multi-disciplined teams; and solving problems with workable solutions that enable the client's objectives. To maximize the students' growth over the semester, the seminar will also teach students how lawyers learn from practice, build strong supervisory and mentorship relationships, build cultural competence, reflect and self-assess, and set and measure progress on professional development goals. Students will write reflective papers, make oral presentations, and complete other work as required by the instructor. COREQUISITE: Corporate Counsel Externship Fieldwork (JD 954). NOTE: Students who enroll in this externship may count the credits towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement.

This course covers the foundations of corporate finance. It starts with the concepts of time value of money, discounting, and present value. With that background it then considers the major financial decisions made by corporate managers. Topics include the valuation of financial assets and liabilities, criteria for making investment decisions, business valuation, relationships between risk and return, portfolio theory, market efficiency, capital structure choice, and cost of capital. PREREQUISITE: Business Fundamentals, Corporation

Income tax considerations relating to corporate tax free reorganizations including: review of the requirements for tax free treatment of acquisitive and time permitting divisive reorganizations; review of the tax treatment to all relevant parties to the transaction; consideration of special problems associated with certain types of reorganizations. Prerequisite: Introduction to Corporate Tax. Note: Limited enrollment. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online section of any tax courses without receiving prior approval from the Assistant Dean for Graduate, International, and Online programs.

Course about the legal structure and characteristics of business corporations. Topics include the promotion and formation of corporations; the distribution of power between management and shareholders; the limitations on management powers imposed by state law fiduciary duties and federal securities laws; shareholder derivative suits; capital structure and financing of corporations; and fundamental changes in corporate structure, such as mergers and sales of assets. Hirst's Section: This section covers similar topics, but has a different emphasis and approach, involving fewer cases, and more exercises and analysis of real-world transactions and documents, including from Tesla, Twitter, and Boeing. The course involves self-directed learning through the submission of multiple choice quizzes, and some use of corporate-finance-style numerical analyses. Laptops and similar devices are generally not permitted without an accommodation. The course serves as a prerequisite to advanced courses. PREREQUISITE: Business Fundamentals.

The seminar will examine the role of the courts in both enabling and hindering the remarkable social/political/cultural shifts that have made it possible for many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans to participate more fully in our common life while being as open as they choose about who they are, creating for many of us a changed landscape impossible to have imagined a just a few decades ago. The First Amendment will be a primary focus, although the questions posed will inevitably spill over into considerations of the Due Process and Equal Protection provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment. Our perspective will be critical, recognizing evolving openness in the courts where it appears and at the same time calling out the conscious, unconscious and systemic bias that continues to pervade the law. The plan is to begin with the unlikely emergence of the First Amendment as a friend to LGBT folk in the otherwise hostile legal landscape of the Fifties. Then, we will track how, fertilized by the African-American civil rights and feminist movements of the Sixties and early Seventies, the right to speak burgeoned into the right to participate openly in civic venues that were formerly off limits. We will look at how, and to what extent, the role of the state as guardian of gender conformity lost much of its power to impede openness and equality for people who had historically been regarded as simply beyond the pale of community. We will examine the "red lines" that queer people were forbidden to cross, like the scouts, the military, athletics, parenting and marriage; and the extent to which those lines have eroded or become more rigid. We will assess the "blowback," such as the spate of laws forbidding discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the schools; laws targeting transgender individuals; and the increasing use of the First Amendment to create exemptions to public accommodation laws. Finally, we will think together about the advantages and possible drawbacks of the strategies employed to advance equality for LGBTQ folks as these strategies relate to the larger struggle for human liberation and for the fostering of an environment that makes it easier for the planet and its inhabitants to thrive. To help facilitate this discussion, one or more sessions will, if feasible, include practicing attorneys working in this area of the law. There will be final paper in lieu of an examination. Grades will be based on the paper and class participation, including weekly response papers to the material covered in our weekly sessions. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class 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, 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

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who are officially registered for The Criminal System: Theory & Practice (JD987). Externship placements will all be local and part-time. Placement opportunities include the Suffolk DA Office - Superior Court units, Prisoners Legal Services, CPCS, and the MA Parole Board. The Office of Experiential Programs will help students identify and apply to suitable field placements. Students receive 2-9 variable P/F credits for their fieldwork, as determined in consultation with their placement supervisors. Each credit requires 42.5 hours of work over the course of the 13-week semester (averaging 4 hours per week). NOTE: Students who enroll in this externship may count the credits towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: The Criminal System: Theory & Practice (JD 987).

Advocacy courses in law school tend to focus on the traditional Trial Advocacy model (opening statements, direct and cross examinations, and closing arguments) or post-trial Appellate Advocacy. The vast majority of cases, however, never reach trial. Criminal Motion Practice and Advocacy will look comprehensively at the pre-trial motions that comprise the bulk of criminal litigation. Students will have the opportunity to research, write, and argue their own pretrial motions against opposing counsel. The course will travel chronologically through the life of a criminal case, beginning at arraignment and focusing on the art of motions practice. In class exercises will include arguments for Motions to Suppress searches and seizures based on search warrants, as well as Motion to Suppress hearings with live witness testimony and examination. NOTES: This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 12 students. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. PREREQUISITE: Criminal Procedure. 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 for a section are required to attend the first meeting to be considered for enrollment.

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 Prosecution Clinic. In the Criminal Prosecution Clinic, 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 a 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 serve as the lead prosecutors on their own cases. Students must be available to be in court selected court day(s) each week. Students will receive more information about which days they must have available for court before they must register for all courses. PRE/COREQS: Criminal Trial Advocacy (except where student has previously completed another trial advocacy course); Evidence (strongly recommended) or Criminal Procedure (Comprehensive (AB) or Investigation (A)). 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 Prosecution Clinic. Students who advance to the Criminal Prosecution Clinic – Advanced continue the fieldwork and coursework from the prior semester. Students further develop their lawyering skills as they work on cases with increasing independence. Students must be available to be in court selected court day(s) each week. PRE/COREQS: Evidence and Criminal Procedure (Comprehensive (AB) or Investigation (A)). 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 seminar will combine an externship field placement for each student with critical analysis of selected issues in the practice of American criminal justice. Students will combine reading and research on the American system of criminalization with their own careful reflections on their experiences in their crime-related externships. Crime related externships may include: Suffolk County DA's Office, Superior Court Units; CPCS, Superior Court Units; Prisoners Legal Services; Boston Police Department; and any other setting that provides legal experience in a crime-related setting. The weekly subject matter of the seminar may depend in part on the precise externship placements of the students but will likely include a selection from the following list: the practice of misdemeanor courts; the practice realities of indigent defense; the salience of race, gender, and class in the criminal system; family and community impact of criminal justice policies and practices; police violence and culture; plea bargaining; prosecutorial discretion; police discretion; the experience of incarceration (including prisoners' rights, solitary confinement, prison violence, and other matters); alternatives to prison; the theory and practice of reentry into the community; and other topics. We will also look at comparisons with criminal systems in other countries and avenues for reform. Students will make presentations to the group and execute substantial written assignments. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students will be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing requirement with this seminar after consultation with the instructor. NOTE: This class may be used for credits toward Experiential Learning requirement or the upper-class writing requirement. This class may not be used to satisfy more than one requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This class will 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 waitlist for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.

This Course will cover the legal, evidentiary, and procedural challenges presented in the prosecution of criminal tax cases. Class discussion will cover basic criminal tax violations found in United States Code Title 26 and a selection of federal crimes found in Title 18. The Course will also cover: IRS and Department of Justice, Tax Division practice and procedure; IRS audit, appeal and collection procedure and parallel civil and criminal tax procedures; the various methods of proof used by the IRS in investigating and prosecuting criminal tax fraud cases; federal grand jury practice; financial records search warrants; federal conspiracy and money laundering offenses; testimonial and document production immunity; foreign evidence processes, including select portions of the Title III of the USA PATRIOT ACT (also known as the International Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act of 2001; and application of criminal tax offenses to terrorism financing cases. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online section of any tax courses without receiving prior approval from the Assistant Dean for Graduate, International, and Online programs.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Criminal Law Clinical Program. This course meets in the fall and is mandatory for all 2L students in the Criminal Law Clinical Program. Criminal Trial Advocacy focuses on teaching courtroom skills in the context of criminal trial litigation. 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.

Noncitizens are increasingly impacted by interactions with the criminal legal system, often facing detention and deportation from the United States as a result of even minor infractions. This course will explore the dynamic field of "crimmigration" -- the intersection between immigration law and criminal law. Through readings, discussion, and independent research projects, students will learn to analyze constitutional, statutory, and regulatory provisions concerning immigration, as well as procedural and substantive requirements in criminal proceedings as they affect noncitizens. Students will also engage with the growing conversation around immigration and criminal abolition, as a response to the expanding carceral state. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement.

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 focuses on recent trends and developments in employment law as seen from the perspective of a practitioner. Topics include recent legislative, government, and practice developments related to the Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission’s objectives, paid leaves of absences, restrictive covenants, sexual harassment, and salary transparency. Topics also include increased prevalence of failure to accommodate claims (disability and religion) and retaliation claims, increases in unionization efforts, and the complexities caused by remote workers. NOTE: Prior labor/employment law coursework is preferred but not strictly required. The class will consist of weekly discussions based on assigned reading/viewing often with required short exercises or reflections, as well as a final research paper. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the requirement with the approval of the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs.** 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.

The expanded use of technology in all aspects of our lives provides tremendous opportunities and creates constantly evolving risks – and has resulted in a patchwork of legal responses. This course will explore the rapidly changing landscape of cyber law, focusing on the legal framework, policy issues, and practical application of these laws. Specifically, the course will cover cyber crime, including cyber-enabled fraud schemes, computer “hacking,” and nation-state cyber activity. The course will also cover cyber security and privacy issues, and the impact of technology on data collection and electronic evidence gathering. We will analyze the framework of both constitutional law and relevant domestic statutes related to data collection, and the intersection of domestic and global concepts of data privacy. Students will explore the strategies used to respond to these challenges by individuals, businesses, governments, and regulatory agencies.

This course provides an overview of cybersecurity including common terms, policy, strategy, operations, remediation, vulnerabilities, threats, and federal and state statutes and regulations as these pertain to financial services and banking. The cybersecurity triad of Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA) and Privacy are covered from the perspective of the Board of Directors, Risk Management Committees, Chief Risk Officers, Chief Information Security Officers, Clients, Regulators, and others. Common Cybersecurity Frameworks such as National Institute for Science and Technology (NIST), Center for Internet Security (CIS), Assessments and Reports, Techniques for Mitigation (outsourcing, cyber-insurance), are covered. Federal and State Statutory and Regulatory compliance are covered including Graham Leach Bliley (GLBA) Sarbanes-Oxley, Payment Card Industry (PCI), and jurisdictions of Massachusetts, New York, and California. NIST pillars shall be reviewed, emerging standards, applicability to businesses, supply chains, and responsibilities of boards, senior executives, management, and the CISO. The Role of the CISO, CRO, legal counsels, and other parties shall be discussed including new assessment and reporting requirements. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online (OL) section of any Banking course.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Defender Clinic. In the Defender Clinic, students represent clients charged with criminal offenses in the Boston Municipal Court, handling felony and misdemeanor cases under the supervision of a clinical faculty member. Students gain exposure in lawyering experiences such as investigation, interviewing, counseling, and trial advocacy. Students must be available to be in court selected court day(s) each week. Students will receive more information about which days they must have available for court before they must register for all courses. Students complement their casework with work on criminal law related projects. PRE/COREQS: Criminal Trial Advocacy (except where student has previously completed another trial advocacy course); Evidence (strongly recommended) or Criminal Procedure (Comprehensive (AB) or Investigation (A)). 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 Defender Clinic. Students who advance to the Defender Clinic – Advanced continue the fieldwork and coursework from the prior semester. Students further develop their lawyering skills as they work on cases and criminal law related projects with increasing independence. Students must be available to be in court selected court day(s) each week. PRE/COREQS: Evidence and Criminal Procedure (Comprehensive (AB) or Investigation (A)). 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 course will introduce students to the basic economics and business purposes of a variety of derivative instruments and transactions, both exchange-traded and privately traded, and to the laws and regulations governing derivative activities and transactions. Derivatives covered will include futures, forwards, options and swaps in the interest-rate, currency, credit, equity, commodity, energy, weather and environmental areas. Students will also learn key issues and choices that arise in negotiating derivative transactions. The course will cover the increasing intersection of derivatives, cryptocurrencies and distributed ledger (blockchain) technologies, and the related rapidly changing regulatory landscape. We will discuss the treatment of derivatives in bankruptcy and financial crises, and the public-interest uses of derivatives. Finally, current "hot topics" in commodities and derivatives regulation and negotiation will be discussed. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online (OL) section of any Banking course.

This readings seminar will focus on emerging issues of civil liberties in our digital society, with special attention paid to privacy and freedom of speech in the age of social media, platforms, and artificial intelligence. We will explore the potential and dangers of the Internet revolution in communications, and how it is affected by the activities of users, by companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, and by government attempts to restrain or shape the evolution of online activity through law. The course will be structured around discussions of principal readings of relatively recent (and readable) books and articles, including the possibility of videoconferencing or in-person lectures with some of the authors to discuss their work. There will be three student papers required - two short papers due during the semester providing a critical review of one of the readings chosen by the student, and a slightly longer paper due at the end of exams comparing and critiquing two of the principal readings. In addition to gaining a deeper understanding of the topics of the books, we will work on developing essential skills for lawyers of close reading and clear and persuasive writing. 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. 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 will consider how the evolution and global reach of technology in the areas of criminal practice and privacy rights has created an environment and area of the law that is frequently enacted only to be outpaced, eclipsed, and rendered irrelevant almost immediately by the very thing it seeks to regulate. This course provides an overview of cybercrime, privacy rights, and digital evidence practice; focusing on the current legal and technical landscape facing investigators and prosecutors in our justice system as they respond to the now commonly overlapping digital, cloud, and physical crime scenes. This course will give students the ability to assess current issues in this space using real-world examples. Students will examine the various constitutional protections afforded to users in the digital space, the law and policies that govern detection and prosecution, using this evidence in investigative practice, understanding the principles of digital search and seizure, and privacy rights vs. privacy protections. This course provides a summary of this fast-growing area of the law arising out of digital evidence investigation as it is used in criminal law as well as in areas of collateral civil practice. 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 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.

Graduate Prerequisites: QST HM703, QST FE712 or FE722, QST MK723 or MK724, QST SI750 or SI751 - This course will examine issues and opportunities in life sciences focused on the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices sectors and the life sciences service industry supporting these sectors, through the eyes of the CEO. The course will investigate who manages these companies and what are the strategies that are used to build successful enterprises. Students will be introduced to individuals and institutions at every stage of the development cycle from idea generation and start-up fundraising to manufacturing, commercialization and global expansion. We will specifically look at key elements of strategy and the execution by examining companies, that have either succeeded or failed, by discussing the pros and cons of different approaches and teasing out the lessons one can derive from leaders in the field and case studies examining their approaches.

REMINDER: This is a QST 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.

This seminar will explore the economics of intellectual property law. There are no prerequisites. The readings for the seminar will consist of Cass and Hylton, Laws of Creation (2013), and several cases and articles. The seminar will emphasize understanding the policy justifications for the major doctrines in intellectual property. The topics studies will include patent law, copyright law, trademark law, trade secret law, and the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 14 students. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may be used to satisfy the requirement.

In this course, we will examine the relationship between law, public policy, and current issues in education in both K-12 and post-secondary institutions. Major themes will include regulation of education by state and federal government; accreditation; legal oversight through constitutional versus regulatory and case law; and an attorney’s obligation to advise and empower their education clients. Legal issues presented will include but not be limited to contract rights of different employees and students; tort liability management; free speech; free expression of religion; due process; intellectual property rights; Americans with Disabilities Act/Section 504; Title IX; campus safety and privacy; the right to education; and more. Course assessment will include client memos, in-class exercises, and a client advisory including video and written instruction. Class participation in-class and by discussion boards will also factor into final grades.

The purpose of this seminar is to teach students how to take and defend effective and ethical depositions. The course involves both a simulated deposition component and a professional responsibility component. Simulated Deposition Course Component: Students will be divided into firms representing either the Plaintiff or the Defendants in a gender discrimination and defamation case brought by an attorney who has been denied partnership. The students will prepare and perform depositions of lay and expert witnesses and gather experience with obtaining and developing facts, preserving testimony, and the uses of depositions. Professional Responsibility Course Component: The simulated context offers the opportunity to explore several professional responsibility issues that arise naturally in deposition practice. These issues emerge largely because of the dual professional roles of an attorney: zealous representative and officer of the court. Some of the more timely issues involve proper witness preparation, improper witness coaching, inadvertent waiver of privilege, and abusive tactics. Writing and Performance Requirements: Each week students will write a short one or two page comment on the professional responsibility issues raised in class. At the end of the course, students will perform a videotaped deposition rather than take a final written exam. NOTE: This class may be used to satisfy the Professional Responsibility requirement, credits toward Experiential Learning requirement, or the upper-class writing requirement. This class may not be used to satisfy more than one requirement. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 12 students per section. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.

This course examines the law that organizes democratic elections. After discussing the ideas and concepts that have influenced the development of the right to vote and the basic organizing structure of our election systems, we will explore a number of topics, including: (1) the role of political parties, (2) the disenfranchisement of black voters, (3) the passage and operation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, (4) the practice of felon disfranchisement, (5) the problems of racial and partisan gerrymandering, (6) the proper role of the courts, (7) special issues that arise in presidential elections, and (8) recent efforts to unduly influence or subvert elections. Throughout, students will learn to not only identify ongoing problems but also evaluate possible reforms.

This course examines federal civil rights laws prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, and disability. The course considers litigation strategy and the sources, theories, and goals of anti-discrimination law. Specific subjects covered include discriminatory refusals to hire and terminations, workplace harassment, the applicability of current law to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and employers’ responsibilities (or lack thereof) to accommodate or address pregnancy and family responsibilities, religious practices, and disabilities.

This course is about the legal regulation of the employment relationship in the U.S. It surveys relevant common law doctrines and selected statutes affecting this. Among the substantive issues to be considered are the at-will default rule (and many of its modifications); regulation of wages and workplace safety; unemployment insurance; whistle-blowing; workplace disputes about property rights (including restrictive covenants surrounding trade secrets, non-compete; arbitration agreements); torts arising in employment contexts (negligent hiring and retention; defamation); liability coverage, and other topics.

Energy law and policy are integral to the U.S. and broader global economy and have major impacts on the environment. This seminar will provide an overview of U.S. energy law and policy and how that law and policy is changing to facilitate decarbonization goals and growing energy needs. The seminar will also explore transactions in the conventional and renewable energy industries, including mergers and acquisitions, financings and private equity investments, and how the relevant legal frameworks and regulatory dynamics impact those transactions. Students will examine sample transaction documents and explore how they are negotiated with a longtime energy M&A practitioner. There are no pre-requisites. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this seminar to partially satisfy the Upper-Class Writing Requirement with the approval of the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs.

This seminar will focus on the varied legal and business doctrines that influence the practice of entertainment law. Some of the primary topics include copyright and trademark protection and enforcement; defamation and freedom of speech; privacy and publicity rights; social media; licensing and merchandising entertainment properties; and other general contractual relations within the entertainment industry. The course will also examine the practical aspects of entertainment law, such as client counseling and negotiations and contract drafting. There will be no final exam. Grades will be based upon papers and class participation. NOTES: This class may not be used to 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 is an introductory survey course in environmental law. We will consider the theoretical foundations and political dimensions of environmental law as we focus on several key statutes including the Clean Air Act (and its application to climate change), Clean Water Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (the Superfund statute), and the National Environmental Protection Act.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have formally applied to and been accepted to the Environmental Law Practicum. Students receive credit for completing environmental law-related legal projects for a regional or national environmental law organization, such as the Conservation Law Foundation and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Projects will vary in scope and content based on student interest and the needs of the partnering organization. Project topics include clean energy, clean water, and environmental justice, which concerns the intersection of civil rights, fundamental fairness, and environmental policy. Students may also have the opportunity to work on litigation-related matters. Throughout the semester, students will work both under the supervision of an attorney at the partner organization and under the supervision of Professor Pam Hill. Practicum students must attend at least six class meetings with Professor Hill. Students receive either 1, 2 or 3 graded credits depending on the nature of the project and the anticipated workload. NOTE: This clinic counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

This course provides an introduction to the regulation of retirement plans covered under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), a federal law that transformed the legal landscape of private-sector retirement plans. Specifically, the course will cover public policy implications of offering and regulating retirement plans including tax policy concerning incentives for employers to offer retirement plans and for employees to defer income to these plans, the different types of retirement plans subject to regulation under ERISA with a focus on defined contribution plans such as cash or deferred arrangements (401(k) plans) under the Internal Revenue Code, how plans qualify for preferential tax treatment under the Code, federal preemption of ERISA-governed benefit plans, ERISA's fiduciary duties and prohibited transaction rules, and civil enforcement in the courts as well as by the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor. The course will be relevant for any student interested in employee benefits, tax law, employment law, labor law, business law, or securities law. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online section of any tax courses without receiving prior approval from the Assistant Dean for Graduate, International, and Online programs.

Principle issues of estate and gift taxation. Topics include the definition of taxable gifts and exclusions and deductions; determination of the taxable estate of a decedent including problems with lifetime transfers; valuation issues; deductions from the taxable estate with special emphasis on property passing to a spouse; and transfers with retained interests. Reference is made throughout to planning issues relating to estate and gift taxation and is designed to give both a requisite background for those intending additional study of estate planning and a comfortable familiarity with the subject for those going on to other tax fields. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online section of any tax courses without receiving prior approval from the Assistant Dean for Graduate, International, and Online programs. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online section of any tax courses without receiving prior approval from the Assistant Dean for Graduate, International, and Online programs.

This course will examine in depth the theoretical and practical aspects of a variety of estate planning strategies currently being used in the real world. The primary focus of the course will be on federal income, estate, gift, and generation skipping transfer tax issues which arise in the estate planning context, although other planning issues, including professional ethics, will also be considered. The course will use case studies of specific tax driven planning strategies, including grantor trusts, marital deduction trusts, post- mortem planning, and planning for incapacity. Prerequisite or corequisite: Federal Income Taxation I and Estate and Gift Tax. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online section of any tax courses without receiving prior approval from the Assistant Dean for Graduate, International, and Online programs.

This introductory course is designed to enable students to learn EU Law fundamentals, research current EU Law developments, and present their findings professionally. Reading assignments and in-class work will cover: Historical and economic foundations of the Treaty of Rome (EEC 1957); institutional and constitutional structure of the EU; legal infrastructure of the EU internal market; EU external relations; human rights protection in the EU legal system; legal management of the EU 'crises' of the 21st century; and EU law perspectives on geopolitical turmoil. An in-class examination shortly after spring break will assess students' knowledge of assigned readings (50% of the final grade). Students will present their own research to the class during the last part of the semester (50% of the final grade). ENROLLMENT RESTRICTION: Students who previously enrolled in the 3-credit seminar (JD880) may not take this course.

Donweber/Gonzales Rose/Lowy: Practical and theoretical aspects of the rules of evidence. The purpose and policies underlying the evidentiary rules are stressed throughout in order to make the rules meaningful, predictable, and functional both for students interested in trial practice and for students who anticipate engaging in a more diversified practice. In addition to covering the substantive rules of evidence, the course demonstrates the significance of evidence as a tactical device at the trial and as a vital skill for the office lawyer. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: Professor Gonzales Rose’s section may be used to satisfy the requirement partially or in full. Pedro: In this course, we will examine evidence rules and principles with a focus on the U.S. Federal Rules of Evidence, relevant constitutional provisions, and cases interpreting both. In addition to covering the rules of evidence, the course explores the significance of evidence as a strategic device in civil and criminal litigation, especially at trial. Some topics covered include: hearsay and its exceptions; relevance and prejudice; examination and impeachment of witnesses; privileges; expert testimony; and scientific, character, and propensity evidence. We will frequently use anonymous polling and discussion with a problems-based approach. We will engage in thoughtful discussions about cases alleging serious criminal offenses and civil injuries that may be disturbing. The course includes mandatory, practice quizzes and a practice midterm (specific student performance on the practices do not count toward the final grade) and assessment for the course will be based upon a final examination

Study of the tax and ERISA aspects of various forms of executive compensation. Topics include traditional fringe benefits and deferred compensation arrangements, incentive and non-qualified stock option and restricted stock plans, stock appreciation rights, excess benefit arrangements, rabbi trusts, golden parachute agreements, split-dollar insurance arrangements, and special issues for tax-exempt organizations. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online section of any tax courses without receiving prior approval from the Assistant Dean for Graduate, International, and Online programs.

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 course offers a survey of family law, including case law, statutory law, and the role of constitutional rights in limiting governmental regulation of the family. This course will introduce students to law concerning a basic social institution: the family. Students will gain knowledge about how family law intersects with many other fields of law, such as contracts, constitutional law, criminal law, property, torts, public and social welfare law, as well as how social science informs family law. The course will focus on marriage (including the recognition of same-sex marriage), nonmarital families, divorce, pathways to becoming a parent, and the parent-child relationship. Topics include defining and regulating marriage; formal marriage; common law marriage; nonmarital couples, cohabitation, and alternatives to marriage; common law incidents of marriage and the transformation of the common law; domestic violence; traditional and "no fault" divorce; property division; spousal support; child support; child custody; adoption; and regulating parenthood. There will be a final examination. The teaching method is a combination of lecture and class discussion, along with in-class small group problem-solving exercises. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

This is a basic survey course covering the federal courts, their place in the structure of American government, their relations with the Legislative and Executive branches and with the states, and their adjudication of federal-question cases concerning constitutional and civil rights, federal social welfare programs, and environmental and business regulation. This course builds on first-year courses in Constitutional Law and Civil Procedure and complements upperclass courses on modern public law and legal institutions: e.g., Administrative Law, Immigration Law, Environmental Law, Labor Law, and Conflict of Laws. Topics include the separation of federal judicial, legislative, and executive powers, Congress' authority to prescribe the federal courts' jurisdiction and to assign adjudicatory duties to other bodies (e.g., legislative, courts and agencies), private authority to mount litigation to enforce federal law, standing to sue in federal court, conflicts between federal and state courts, the states' immunity from private lawsuits, the Supreme Court's authority to review state court judgments, and "abstention" doctrines governing the exercise of federal judicial power. We will explore theoretical and policy questions asking not only what federal-courts law is at the moment, but also what it should be. Yet we will organize our discussions around practical lawyering in the federal courts' identifying and analyzing the constitutional, statutory, and judge-made hurdles that litigants must clear to obtain a decision on the merits of a federal question. Especially recommended for students who plan to practice with firms that represent clients subject to federal regulation, to pursue careers with federal or state agencies and departments, or to handle constitutional, civil rights, or other public interest litigation.

This is a basic survey course covering the federal courts, their place in the structure of American government, their relations with the Legislative and Executive branches and with the states, and their adjudication of federal-question cases concerning constitutional and civil rights, federal social welfare programs, and environmental and business regulation. This course builds on first-year courses in Constitutional Law and Civil Procedure and complements upperclass courses on modern public law and legal institutions: e.g., Administrative Law, Immigration Law, Environmental Law, Labor Law, and Conflict of Laws. Topics include the separation of federal judicial, legislative, and executive powers, Congress' authority to prescribe the federal courts' jurisdiction and to assign adjudicatory duties to other bodies (e.g., legislative, courts and agencies), private authority to mount litigation to enforce federal law, standing to sue in federal court, conflicts between federal and state courts, the states' immunity from private lawsuits, the Supreme Court's authority to review state court judgments, and "abstention" doctrines governing the exercise of federal judicial power. We will explore theoretical and policy questions asking not only what federal-courts law is at the moment, but also what it should be. Yet we will organize our discussions around practical lawyering in the federal courts' identifying and analyzing the constitutional, statutory, and judge-made hurdles that litigants must clear to obtain a decision on the merits of a federal question. Especially recommended for students who plan to practice with firms that represent clients subject to federal regulation, to pursue careers with federal or state agencies and departments, or to handle constitutional, civil rights, or other public interest litigation.

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.

The seminar consists of an overview of the federal criminal process from beginning to end. It covers topics such as grand jury investigation and indictment, pretrial release and detention, discovery, plea bargaining, and sentencing. Lectures will cover the various areas, and will include guest speakers such as a federal prosecutor and defender. Students will be required to prepare two written court documents, one regarding release/detention, and the other sentencing, one as a prosecutor and the other as a defender. Additionally, the students will argue both. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This Dedicated Writing 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 landscape of the financial system is defined by crises and the responses to those crises. Whether it is the Panic of 1907 that let to the creation of the Federal Reserve, the Great Depression that produced the Glass Steagall Act, or the Great Recession of 2008-09 that resulted in the Dodd Frank Act, one cannot appreciate the nuances of the financial system without an appreciation for how it was shaped. This course respects the significant role of history in shaping the current financial system. It is, however, in discussing current events in the context of that development that the course delivers the greatest value. Each student is expected to keep abreast of recent developments in the financial services industry and come to class prepared to discuss them. In this regard, something new is afoot today. It is called "fintech" or financial technology. Each crisis and each regulatory reaction call for financial institutions to be more highly regulated. This imposes additional costs on incumbent institutions. It also opens the door for the digitization of finance, new ways of making payments, and an opportunity for AI to be a substitute for the old ways of doing business. All this comes with considerable risk and opportunity. This course provides the student with a perspective on historical developments. For example, the origins of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09 are explored along with the extensive financial reform responses to the crisis be they legislative, regulatory or market- driven. The course has three parts: the Buildup, the Eye-of-the Storm, and the Response. In the first part, the causes of this and other financial crises are explored including the housing bubble, the development of the "shadow" financial system, new financial instruments, regulatory gaps and deregulation, monetary policies, compensation practices, accounting deficiencies, governance breakdowns, and more. In the second part, policy responses to the crisis are detailed such as: central bank liquidity facilities, government investment programs such as TARP, fiscal stimulus, stress-testing, enforcement actions and the lack thereof, and global coordination of responses. The critical role of Government Sponsored Enterprises, GSEs, is also explored. Finally, the course takes an analytical view of the reforms prompted by the crisis. These include various systemic risk measures, guidance from the G-20 and Financial Stability Board, Basel III, the treatment of home/host country issues, and the current state-of-play of the regulation of the derivatives marketplace. In each of these three parts, the role of fintech is discussed. This includes the topics of crypto, stablecoins, real time payments, asset digitization, and AI assisted credit underwriting. When the instructor believes an outside subject matter expert will enhance the discussion, he will call on qualified practitioners to participate. Students are expected to make their own presentations as well. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online (OL) section of any Banking course.

Understanding financial statements and reports. The objective of the course is that students will be able to read and understand the four financial statements and the 10-k annual report. Emphasis is placed on understanding the nature and meaning of the reports, as well as the relationship to the underlying transactions. Other topics include: basic accounting principles, US GAAP versus IFRS, financial statement analysis, the relationship of the financial statement information to covenant documents, and accounting gamesmanship. RESTRICTION: Not open to students who have had more than one three-hour college course, or its equivalent, in accounting.

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 introduces the tripartite framework of constitutional, statutory, and international law that both authorizes and constrains the conduct of U.S. foreign affairs. After studying how the framing generation allocated foreign affairs power between and among the federal branches and the states, we will focus on discrete topics of contemporary relevance or interest. Topics vary at the margins from year to year but generally include (1) the role, powers, and limits of the judiciary in foreign affairs; (2) presidential and congressional foreign affairs powers—and the dynamics of cooperation, acquiescence, and conflict between the political branches; (3) how U.S. national law incorporates international law insofar as it does; (4) whether and how constitutional rights apply to persons outside U.S. territory or jurisdiction; (5) war powers; (6) the detention, interrogation, and trial of unprivileged belligerents (e.g., criminal gangs, terrorist networks, rebel forces, etc.); (7) sanctions; and (8) civil rights and liberties in war. We may have the time to cover other topics. Current events will be woven into the curriculum periodically. There will be an in-person final exam.

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.

The course is a survey of the key areas of Governance, Compliance Sanctions and Risk in financial services to give students a preliminary understanding of the subject. The focus will be on industry issues and regulatory oversight by the regulatory agencies relative to the types of services provided by financial institutions. We will analyze and discuss federal and state statutes, regulations and policy statements, filings with regulatory agencies, and agency and judicial decisions. We will consider and discuss actual institutions and enforcement actions (e.g., Wells Fargo compliance failure and Enron whistleblower). JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online (OL) section of any Banking course.

This seminar offers an in-depth exploration of the interactions of happiness and the law. The course is structured into three interconnected units: • Unit 1: Happiness, Law, and Public Policy: This unit delves into how social policies and legal frameworks can be designed to promote happiness and well-being at a societal level. It examines the use of happiness data and insights from behavioral sciences to inform legal change in areas such as criminal law, civil procedure, corporate law, and tax law. • Unit 2: How to Be a Happy Lawyer: This unit focuses on cultivating meaningful and fulfilling legal careers. Drawing on general happiness studies and the growing field of law and mindfulness, it explores strategies for lawyers to enhance their own well-being and job satisfaction. • Unit 3: The Lawyer-Client Relationship: This unit analyzes the lawyer-client relationship beyond traditional paradigms. It considers the potential for this relationship to increase the happiness and well-being of both attorneys and clients, incorporating perspectives from philosophy, psychology, economics, and political science. The seminar employs a variety of pedagogical methods to facilitate student learning. These include Socratic discussion of assigned readings, synchronous and asynchronous experiential exercises, and hands-on activities. Students will have the opportunity to experiment with mindfulness techniques and develop an actionable personal career-life plan that integrates the themes of the course. Additional experiential exercises will be incorporated throughout the semester to provide practical application of course concepts. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This seminar may be used to partially 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.

Graduate Prerequisites: (SPHPH719) or consent of instructor. - This course focuses on health and how 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.

Health care organizations of all types (hospitals and health systems, medical device and pharmaceutical companies, health plans, and other health care providers) must develop and maintain an effective corporate compliance and ethics program. Boards of Directors are judged on whether or not they have taken steps, directly and through management, to implement such programs. This is necessary both as a core management tool and to demonstrate a commitment to good governance and compliance in order to take advantage of penalty reductions under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, including the Sentencing Commission's June 2020 revisions. "Such compliance and ethics program shall be reasonably designed, implemented, and enforced so that the program is generally effective in preventing and detecting criminal conduct." But how do you design such a program? How does legal counsel assist the company in building and operating one? What distinguishes the "legal function" from the "compliance function"? Lawyers working in health care businesses need to be able to answer these questions to advice the board and management. This course focuses on the fundamentals required to develop and maintain an effective health care corporate compliance program. Students will study the seven elements of a successful compliance program in practical detail and will learn best practices for compliance programs. Specifically, this will include learning how best to design and implement compliance oversight and committees, practicing policy drafting, and exploring the most effective ways to educate and train in compliance. This will also include developing an excellent understanding of audit, investigation, and corrective action skills and strategies.

This 3-credit course will cover the legal structures governing public and private health care finance. Topics include an overview of health care and health care insurance markets, the history and economics of health care insurance, employer-sponsored insurance including ERISA preemption, the Affordable Care Act's structure and related litigation, Medicare, and Medicaid. Grades will be based primarily on a 3-hour, in-class, open-book final examination. Student participation is required and will affect course grades. No prerequisites.

This seminar will use a practical, case-study approach to some of the issues arising in the complex world of health care enforcement and compliance. With emphasis on the procedural mechanisms of the False Claims Act and the substantive law of the Anti-Kickback Act, the Stark I and II laws, the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, and the government's remedial authorities, the seminar will explore how prosecutors, defense attorneys, whistleblowers, and compliance officials inside health care companies approach their work and advise their clients. The seminar will explore the relationships between regulated industries (e.g., pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, doctors, medical device companies) and government insurance programs (e.g., Medicaid and Medicare), why these relationships generate billions of dollars every year in fraud, and how the interested constituencies are approaching these issues. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may not be used to satisfy the requirement. **A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.

This seminar is designed to teach students the whats and whys of healthcare transactions of all types and give students an overview of the regulatory and business landscape for this vibrant field. After an introduction to types of deals, the regulatory context of health care, and health care transactional theory, we will turn to case studies of complex health care transactions, drawing on actual documents and the experience of practitioners who worked on the deals. Transaction types will include hospital and physician group M&A, joint ventures, clinical affiliations, and others. We will be joined by regulators, partners, associates and general counsel from leading firms to provide real-world insights and discuss the health care transactions they were personally involved in. Students will complete two oral and two written assignments. Working alone or in pairs, each student will analyze a deal and present it to the class, with the lawyers who closed it. In addition, each student will present a short case brief to provide context for the legal issues being covered in class. Written assignments include: (i) working in teams, negotiating and drafting a term sheet for a transaction; and (ii) a post-mortem reflection on lessons learned and ethical issues to consider in transactional law. PREREQUISITE/COREQUISITE: This course does not assume any particular prerequisites/corequisites. Health Law Finance, Health Law Survey Colloquium and/or Corporations, however, would be helpful to have taken or take during this semester. 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.

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.

Bioethics asks not only what science, biotechnology and medicine can do, but what we should allow them to do—and who gets to decide. This course analyzes contemporary issues in health care and biomedical research to explore how law both structures, and is reshaped by, central problems in bioethics. Topics include experimentation on human subjects; research misconduct and the regulation of scientific integrity; researcher and physician conflicts of interest; reproductive ethics, including prenatal embryo testing; genetic and genomic information and data privacy; end of life decision making and medical aid in dying; organ donation, transplantation, and allocation; artificial intelligence and digital health tools in clinical care and research; and access to investigational medical products, such as through FDA’s expanded access (“compassionate use”) pathway. Throughout the course, students will engage with primary legal materials, interdisciplinary scholarship in law, public health, and bioethics, and problem based hypotheticals that require analysis of the trade offs among autonomy, justice, and innovation. This course will familiarize students with key bioethical debates, the legal framework relevant to each debate, and the policy goals on which each framework is based, which will enable them to make recommendations and consider legal reforms in these areas. The course will be of interest to students interested in health law, bioethics, the regulation of emerging technologies or policy work in government, hospitals, life science companies, advocacy organizations.

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Office of Experiential Education to enroll. Students receive credit for working at a public agency, a non-profit, or a private health care organization. Placements may be paid or unpaid. Prior to the beginning of the semester, the course instructor works with students to identify suitable field placements depending on each student's individual interests and career goals. Once possible placements are identified, students are responsible for applying and being accepted to those organizations. Students receive 3-9 variable P/F credits for their fieldwork, as determined in consultation with their placement supervisors. Each credit requires 50 hours of work over the course of the 13-week semester (averaging 4 hours per week). NOTE: Students who enroll in this externship may count the credits towards the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: Health Law Externship: Seminar (JD 764).

THIS CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Office of Experiential Education to enroll. This is the companion academic component for students enrolled in the Health Law Externship: Fieldwork course. The one-hour weekly seminar examines various health law issues as well as the challenges of working in a health care environment. The seminar requires students to write a paper and make a class presentation. In addition, each student submits reflective memoranda chronicling their educational experience and reactions to the practice of law observed at the field placements. NOTE: Students who enroll in this externship may count the credits toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: Health Law Externship Program: Fieldwork (JD 762). GRADING NOTICE: This class does 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.

The Health Law Survey Colloquium (HLSC), led by the director of the Health Law Program, is designed to orient students to the breadth of health law expertise at Boston University by featuring various BU faculty as guest lecturers each week. The HLSC will present a diverse range of topics spanning the field of health law. By asking each speaker to share something from their core specialty, we expect to receive enthusiastic and highly-engaging conversations with the students. Relevant readings may include scholarly works in progress (as in typical colloquia) but also excerpts from casebooks, primary sources, new legal or regulatory developments, or case studies from practice. Students will write response papers. 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 (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 is an applied consulting project course that aims to develop reflexive practitioners who can elicit client requirements, translate requirements into a problem statement and develop actionable solutions that meet client needs. The course uses a mix of case studies, individual memos and team project deliverables to systematically apply skills developed over the course of the MBA to solve real-world health sector problems. Students work on the consulting assignment in teams of up to four students based on having a shared interest in a prospective consulting project. These projects are curated in partnership with sponsor organizations to be executable within the framework of an academic semester. Projects in the past have ranged from improving the departmental revenue cycle within an academic medical center, developing an international pricing strategy for the introduction of a new product by a pharmaceutical company, to improving safety culture at a large hospital. These projects all have active involvement of the project sponsors who provide access to their organizations and provide ongoing feedback over the lifecycle of the consulting engagement.

REMINDER: This is a QST 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.

This workshop-format seminar examines the interplay of law, constitutions, and culture from an historical perspective. The heart of the seminar is student engagement with works-in-progress by leading scholars in the history, theory, and culture of law, broadly understood. The first three class sessions will be devoted to developing the intellectual tools necessary for reading and engaging with such papers. Starting in week 4 of the semester, the class format will alternate between workshop sessions and more traditional seminar sessions. During the five workshop sessions, an invited scholar will present a current scholarly work-in-progress for discussion. Students will read the speaker's paper in advance and prepare discussion questions for the seminar. During the other sessions, the class will meet as a normal seminar, during which we will discuss readings related to the workshop papers and legal history more generally. The written work for the seminar will consist of a series of brief, critical essays in response to a student-selected subset of the workshop papers. NOTE: This course is open to law students and to graduate students from other departments. A background in history is not a prerequisite. Graduate students from outside the law school may be able to receive 4 credits for this course. Please consult the professor regarding this option. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: Students may use this class to satisfy the upper-class writing requirement.

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 course focuses on the highly regulated industry of health care, but with attention to the law applicable to hospitals and health systems. The course will review Federal and State statutes, regulations, as well as case law relevant to hospital organization, responsibilities and liability, credentialing, fraud and abuse laws and compliance oversight. The course is intended to develop competencies in understanding health care and health care insurance laws and regulations as they pertain to hospitals, developing familiarity with the reimbursement (particularly Medicare & Medicaid), regulatory compliance and enforcement issues facing hospital counsel. In addition, it is expected that students will demonstrate legal analysis and reasoning, problem-solving and communications skills required for work in a hospital/health care setting. Through understanding core health care law principles, students will learn the foundational legal, structural and business aspects of the modern hospital complex. Understanding how hospitals fit into the broader health care environment of payors, physicians, patients, regulators and other health care providers, law students will be able to appreciate the challenging dynamics affecting the health care system and the role of the hospital, often at the hub of activity, both in terms of current practice, but also health care delivery system reform. After completing the class, students will have been exposed to the key health care-related legal issues facing hospitals that hospital counsel and other health care lawyers need to know. Additionally, recognition of these stressors will be important training for lawyers in other disciplines interacting with hospitals, such as labor and employment law, intellectual property, antitrust, criminal defense, environmental, corporate, employee benefits, tax, etc. Course materials include a case book, primary source documentation, and guest lectures from in-house and outside counsel representing hospitals.

Over the last sixty years housing law has evolved in a number of significant ways. Where once a lease was primarily considered to involve a transfer of an interest in land, it is now considered to involve a relationship framed by contract principles. Consistent with this change, tort law involving rental property is moving from a traditional negligence standard to a more complex standard based upon a duty derived from the implied warranty of habitability. Courts must now determine whether landlords should be held strictly liable in tort for personal injury claims based on defective conditions, inadequate security, lead poisoning, etc. Where formerly a landlord had significant discretion over tenant selection and tenancy termination, a variety of state housing laws and federal/state anti-discrimination laws now place significant limits on the landlord's power and control over these tenancy relationships. Public housing and governmentally subsidized housing has generated much heated debate as well as litigation over such issues as development-based policing authority and the right to evict entire families based upon criminal conduct of one family member. Finally, during the past four years complex title, tenancy, consumer rights and community preservation issues have arisen in the wake of the foreclosure crisis that has swept the nation. This seminar will focus on the various legal, social policy, and practical issues emerging with respect to traditional tenancies, premises liability, public safety in public and subsidized housing, housing discrimination, environmental protection, and control of foreclosed property. Student classroom participation and papers are required. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing requirement with the approval of the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs. OFFERING PATTERN: This class is frequently offered in alternating years. 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.

Immigration law research is complex, requiring knowledge of unique sources and materials. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit noted the “labyrinthine character of modern immigration law -- a maze of hyper-technical statutes and regulations.” Drax v. Reno, 338 F.3d 98, 99 (2d Cir. 2003). In addition, it is an area with the potential for sweeping legislative and regulatory change in the upcoming year. This one-credit experiential course will help students navigate this complex and shifting legal and regulatory environment, by covering a broad spectrum of search strategies and tactics for researching immigration law issues.  The course will initially focus on some key immigration statutes (the Immigration and Nationality Act and its many amendments, the Refugee Act, and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility of 1996). From there the course will proceed to administrative law, which heavily impacts immigration. Students will look at the agencies responsible for immigration procedure, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of Labor (DOL), and they will learn to research the regulations, administrative decisions, and guidance documents from these agencies and how they affect immigration law. Research topics will include asylum law, grounds of inadmissibility, deportation and removal proceedings, visa classifications, business immigration law and the intersection of criminal law and immigration. The goal of the course is for students to become comfortable researching both simple and complex immigration issues. NOTE: This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. 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 course will cover the U.S. tax rules applicable to taxation of income from U.S. (and sometimes foreign) sources received by corporations and individuals that are non-residents of the United States. In some cases, such income will be derived from passive investments and be in the form of dividends, interest, rents, or royalties. In other cases, the income will arise from active business activities. The course will address the concept of residence and entity classification, the U.S. source of income rules, the U.S. withholding tax rules (including the obligations of withholding agents) with respect to non-business income, the types of activities that can generate a "trade or business" (tax nexus) in the U.S., the U.S. rules for determining income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business and thus taxable in the U.S., the branch profits tax, FIRPTA (foreign investment in U.S. real property) and the U.S. rules applicable to financing U.S. operations owned by non-U.S. taxpayers Finally, we will address the impact of tax treaties on the taxation of income of non-residents. This course will be of interest to students who will represent foreign resident taxpayers with economic operations in the United States. Prerequisite or corequisite: Federal Income Taxation I; Recommended: Tax Aspects of International Business. JD students are not permitted to enroll in the online section of any tax courses without receiving prior approval from the Assistant Dean for Graduate, International, and Online programs.

This CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. Students receive credit for an externship done in conjunction with an independent study project. Qualifying placements include the legal departments of non-profits, government agencies, private companies, or law firms. Placements may be paid or unpaid. Students may find their own placements that must be approved by the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office, or the Office has resources to help students identify and apply to suitable field placements based on their interests and career goals. Students receive 2-9 variable P/F credits for their fieldwork, as determined in consultation with their placement supervisors. Each credit requires 42.5 hours of work over the course of the 13-week semester (averaging 4 hours per week). NOTE: Students who enroll in this externship may count the credits toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. COREQUISITE: INDEPENDENT PROPOSAL EXTERNSHIP: IND STUDY (LAW JD 710)

This CLASS IS RESTRICTED to students who have received permission from the Clinical and Experiential Programs Office to enroll. In lieu of a seminar, students write a 15–20 page paper and submit seven bi-weekly journals (4–6 pages each) under the guidance of a faculty supervisor. The 2 credits count towards the 3-credit cap on independent study credits as well as the 17-credit cap on non-GPA credits. Students may satisfy the upper-class writing requirement through the paper under agreement of the sponsoring faculty member. COREQUISITE: INDEPENDENT PROPOSAL EXTERNSHIP: FIELDWORK (LAW JD 709).