JD Program Course Updates
This page will be updated with any corrections, time changes, new courses and cancellations throughout the year as new information becomes available. Please check back regularly to view any new announcements.
Fall 2025
Compliance in Financial Service Companies
LAW JD 683
This course has been cancelled. We hope to offer the class in 2026-2027.
Election Law
LAW JD 825
This course will now be taught by Theresa Lee on Wednesday, 8:30 – 10:30 a.m. The instructor will connect remotely via Zoom. Please note that the section has been change from A1 to OL.
Evidence
LAW JD 831 (C1)
Ngozi Okidegbe
This additional section will meet on Tuesday/Thursday, 8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Introduction to Government Oversight
LAW JD 808 A1
This course has been cancelled. We hope to offer the class next year.
Law, Data Science, and Technology Series
LAW JD 676 A1
Stacey Dogan and Ngozi Okidegbe will lead this new year-long, one credit course. Students will register for ½ credit in both the fall and spring semesters. The fall sessions will be scheduled for Tuesday/Thursday, 3:30-5:00 p.m. The specific dates will be confirmed in August. The spring sessions will take place on Wednesdays, 3:30-5:00 p.m., specific dates TBD. The course description follows:
This series consists of two currently offered lecture series: Social Justice for Data Sciences Lecture Series and Cyber Alliance Speaker series.
The Social Justice for Data Science Lecture Series, hosted by the Faculty of Computing and Data Sciences and the Law School, brings together leading scholars in law, computer science, humanities, and social science to examine the current state of data science and social justice. The goal of the series is to engage with the relationship between justice (as a historically contingent and value-laden category) and data science (with a focus on datafication, automation, predictive analytics, and algorithmic decision-making). The series holds four sessions that are each an hour and half long in the fall term.
The Cyber Alliance Speaker Series hosted by the Faculty of Computing and Data Sciences, Law School, and Questrom School of Business, bring together leading scholars working in the areas of law, technology, business, and policy. The series holds five sessions that are each an hour and half long throughout the Fall and Spring term.
The Colloquium will expose students to cross-disciplinary talks and presentations and enable students to think critically about law, computation, and data sciences. To prepare for each session, students will read the speaker’s paper or a prior paper and will write short reaction responses that include three questions. Lecture dates to be announced. GRADING NOTICE: This year-long course is graded Pass/Fail at the end of spring term.
Legal Analysis in Practice
LAW JD 700 B1
Section B1 has been cancelled. Space is still available in the A1 section that meets Thursday, 4:20-6:20 p.m.
Presidential Leadership, Executive Power & Constitutional Change
LAW JD 916 A1
This course has been cancelled. A comparable new seminar, Presidential Power is being offered on Wednesday, 2:10 – 4:10. Please see JD 695 A1 below for the class description.
Presidential Power (S)
LAW JD 695 A1
This new seminar will be taught by Chris Edelson on Wednesday, 2:10 – 4:10 p.m.
The United States Constitution is famously brief when it comes to describing emergency power; in fact, it assigns no specific substantive emergency power to the president. However, presidents have asserted authority to act during emergencies—either based on claimed statutory authority or claimed unilateral authority to act without congressional approval or even against the law.
In this course, students will explore the origins and development of emergency presidential power under the Constitution and statutory law. Students will consider what we can know about the framers’ intentions in this area, and whether evidence of their intentions is useful in defining emergency presidential power in the context of the liberal democracy the United States became in the 20th century. We will study how emergency presidential power has been used in the past, why the 9/11 terrorist attacks are an important turning point when it comes to emergency presidential power, and how emergency presidential power has been asserted in the first and second Trump administrations. Students will consider whether emergency presidential power can be reconciled with constitutional democracy in the U.S. We will consider judicial opinions, Office of Legal Counsel opinions, and scholarly analysis in exploring each of these questions.
Students will consider what limits and constraints exist when it comes to emergency presidential power, whether they are effective, and whether new constraints would be wise. This will include discussion of the role of the federal courts, Congress, and state governments. The course will emphasize questions of legality—constitutional and otherwise—in the context of historical change and our present experience. We will also consider how emergency power relates both to democracy and authoritarians, and why some scholars see emergency power as a way for aspiring authoritarians to consolidate power based either on real or pretextual emergencies.
Grading will be based primarily on a 6,000-word paper (60%), as well as classroom participation (40%). UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement.
Spring 2026
Arbitration in the US
LAW JD 995 A1
Victoria Sahani will teach this new 3-credit course on Monday/Wednesday, 4:30-6:00 p.m. Interested students may register for the course via MyBU Student during add/drop.
This course explores arbitration as a private dispute resolution method in the United States, with a particular focus on its application in commercial, securities, consumer, class action, labor, and employment contexts. The aim is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of arbitration law and procedures, enabling them to effectively advise clients about arbitration, negotiate arbitration clauses, and participate in arbitral proceedings. Students will learn about various types of arbitration processes, comparing them with other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods and litigation, as well as the roles of both courts and arbitration institutions during arbitrator appointments and other aspects of procedure. The course covers the full arbitration lifecycle including drafting pre- and post-dispute arbitration agreements; enforcing arbitration agreements; handling anti-arbitration injunctions and parallel proceedings; filing the initial demand for arbitration and the reply; selecting the arbitrator(s); participating in pre-hearing conferences; issuing procedural orders; filing briefs and motions; presenting evidence; conducting hearings; distinguishing between interim, partial, and final arbitral awards; and finally, post-award enforcement, set aside, and vacatur. This course explains the legal underpinnings of arbitration, examining sources such as the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), state arbitration laws (including the FAA’s partial preemption of state laws), U.S. Supreme Court and lower court interpretations of federal and state arbitration laws, the rules of arbitral institutions, and sample arbitration agreements. Additionally, the course addresses the ethical obligations of arbitrators, disclosure requirements related to conflicts of interest, and fairness issues within the contexts of consumer and employment arbitration. Finally, this course highlights contemporary developments, such as class and mass arbitration, third-party funding of arbitration, and arbitration in the news media. There will be an in-person final exam for all students. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: In addition to taking the final examination, a limited number of students may request permission from the professor to write an additional paper to fulfill the requirement. The paper will not be graded and will not count toward their final grade in the course.
Bankruptcy & Creditors’ Rights
LAW JD 803 (B1)
Elizabeth King
This new addition will meet Monday/Wednesday, 2:10 p.m. – 4:10 p.m.
International Business Transactions
LAW JD 858 (A1)
Weijia Rao
This course has been cancelled.
Islamic Law (S)
LAW JD 675 (A1)
Sadiq Reza
This new addition will meet Tuesday, 4:20 p.m. – 6:20 p.m.
Professional Responsibility
LAW JD 984 (A1)
Victoria Sahani will now be teaching this course on Tuesday/Thursday, 11:00 a.m. – 12:25 p.m.
Writing for Legal Change (S)
LAW JD 908 (A1)
This seminar has been cancelled.
updated 09/12/2025