Upper-Level Course Descriptions

Administrative Law
This course provides an introduction to the legal doctrines designed to empower and constrain government agencies and officials in their daily practice of governance. Topics include the constitutional status of administrative agencies, due process, the Administrative Procedure Act and the availability and standards of judicial review of agency actions. The course emphasizes the historical evolution of the modern administrative state and the regulatory agency’s peculiar role in our system of governance.
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Advanced Criminal Procedure: Adjudication
This course closely examines some of the constitutional complexities in the prosecution and defense of criminal cases in state and federal courts. Students investigate how the law fashions the adjudicatory process and how the law evaluates what is “fair” and what is “legitimate” in formally deciding on whom to impose punishment. The course covers, among other things, pretrial detention, right to counsel, plea bargaining, discovery, trial processes, and sentencing.
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Advanced Criminal Procedure: Investigation
During this course, students will examine the law of criminal investigation. The primary focus of the course will be to present and discuss leading Supreme Court decisions in the field of constitutional criminal procedure. Students will study decisions which apply the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments and the Due Process Clause to the criminal justice process and the procedures through which criminal laws are enforced.
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Advanced Family Law Litigation
This upper level seminar employs an extended simulation to introduce students to family law litigation in the context of domestic violence. Students conduct client interviews; develop a theory of the case; draft numerous pleadings - including an application for a restraining order, a divorce complaint or answer and counterclaim, a pretrial motion or opposition, interrogatories and answers, and a pretrial memorandum; argue a motion; conduct settlement negotiations; participate in a pretrial conference, and engage in direct or cross examination of witnesses. Experienced practitioners are frequently invited to join the class to share their expertise and/or participate in the role plays as expert witnesses or judges. There are regular reading, writing and journaling assignments. Students are evaluated on their oral and written work throughout the quarter, and on their preparation for and participation in class.
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Advanced Legal Research
This course focuses on advanced research techniques and strategies to enhance the efficient practice of law. Students will learn effective research strategies to consult major electronic and print legal research sources. The course uses a combination of lectures, interactive sessions, exercises, and a final project to teach research in cases, statutes, legislative history, administrative law, finding and updating tools, specialized sources, computer databases, Internet research, and other sophisticated research technologies. In place of a final exam, students will create a research guide on a topic that interests them and also orally present their project to the class.
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Advanced Legal Skills in Social Context
This six credit course provides a select group of upper level students with advanced lawyering training in examining the role of law in our diverse society, by looking critically and analytically at societal assumptions, beliefs and values codified in all legal doctrine and to grapple with emerging law. Students who take ALSSC are also trained to act as lawyering fellows for law office teams of first year students in their required companion course, LSSC. In this capacity, ALSSC students also develop and manage the implementation of social justice projects that seek to use law as a tool for social change.
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Affordable Housing Law — Theory and Practice
This course will explore how and why Federal law supports the production, finance and operation of affordable housing, and the consequences, both intended and unintended, of historical shifts in Federal housing policy. Students will examine in detail the ways in which both housing regulation and the tax code affect the structure and documentation of complex transactions, and will analyze the “real world” impact of changing policies and legal requirements on the practice of affordable housing law.
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Alternative Dispute Resolution
Law school courses focus almost exclusively on adjudication as a model for resolving legal disputes, yet only a fraction of disputes actually go to trial. This course exposes students to the many alternatives to trial, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, fact-finding and hybrid combinations of these methods. After the characteristics of these various models are examined, simulations drawn from a number of different areas (such as family, environmental, commercial and consumer law) will be used to explore the conceptual, practical and ethical issues that come up in different contexts. Guest speakers and audiovisual materials will be included. A final paper or final examination will be required.
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Animal Law
Students will be introduced to a new and developing field of law regarding animals and their legal rights. As a formal discipline, this field is in its infancy, and thus, practitioners and scholars draw frequently from core areas of law to create theories pertaining to the legal rights of animals. This course will examine these theories and will address fundamental issues in animal law, such as the legal implications of animals being classified as property, the constitutional doctrine of standing as an obstacle to pursuing political, moral and ethical agendas on behalf of animals, and the modernization and criminalization of animal cruelty statutes. In addition, students will be exposed to the various international, federal and state laws enacted to protect the welfare and well-being of animals.
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Antitrust
The federal antitrust laws, first created to break apart the powerful business “trusts” of the late 1800s, have since been applied to markets as diverse as utilities, ski areas, sports leagues, copy machine repair services and computer hardware and software. This course will explore the core principles of antitrust law, with an emphasis on three substantive areas: monopolization, horizontal merger analysis, and agreements among competitors. Because antitrust cases and scholarship rely heavily upon economics, the course begins with an introduction to firm and market economics, and economic analysis plays a significant role in our discussions.
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Appellate Advocacy
This course covers the practical aspects of appellate practice, focusing on appellate brief writing and oral advocacy. Using a simulated lower court record, students will prepare a draft and a final version of an appellate brief and participate in two rounds of oral argument.
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Basic Income Taxation
This introductory tax course covers the fundamental concepts and operations in income taxation. Tax issues are raised in the context of typical lawyer-client situations: the employment contract (fringe benefits, employee business expenses), buying and selling a house and other property, personal injury expenses and recoveries, and running a small business. An important aspect in understanding the details covered will be comprehension of the economic policy objectives, and unintended results, of specific tax provisions such as capital gains taxation. The course is focused on the statute, cases and administrative law that define the income tax base. Tax rates are also examined and tax unit issues are covered for individual wage-earners, married couples, children living in the home, pensioners and small businesses organized as sole proprietorships.
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Bioethics and the Law
This course will focus on the intersection of law and bioethics and will consider how different ethical theories may guide legal decisions. Topics will include physician-assisted suicide, testing for HIV, reproductive technology, and rationing of health care. Students will be expected to write a research paper and share some of what they have learned with the class.
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Civil Trial Practice
An introduction to the tactical and strategic problems commonly encountered in the trial of cases is the main objective of this course. Although the focus of class discussion is directed toward civil litigation, the techniques and problems are common to criminal cases. Attention is given to the forensic aspects of trial practice, techniques of direct and cross-examination, and opening and closing summations.
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Collective Bargaining
This course consists of a collective bargaining simulation exercise in which students participate in the process of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement. Students are divided into teams representing either management or labor and formulate proposals and counterproposals, and attempt to reconcile significant differences between the labor and management positions. Negotiators are required to operate within the context of the applicable statutory framework including the National Labor Relations Act, Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, Fair Labor Standards Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Every effort is made to simulate an actual collective bargaining negotiation.
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Commercial Law: Bankruptcy
This course explores basic principles of consumer and business bankruptcy. We examine how the bankruptcy process works, the underlying policies that purport to justify the way the law is written and construed, and the mechanics of applying key sections of the federal Bankruptcy Code. To convey the liveliness and volatility of bankruptcy practice, and to provide an introduction to strategic thinking in bankruptcy, the course relies primarily on problem solving and discussion.
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Commercial Law: Business Bankruptcy
After a brief foray into consumer bankruptcy, this course studies business reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. It addresses issues as they would arise in a Chapter 11 reorganization case from the moment a Chapter 11 petition is filed to confirmation of a Chapter 11 plan. Those planning to practice business law should consider taking this course because proper structuring of a deal at state law requires understanding the bankruptcy implications if one of the parties subsequently encounters problems. The course explores strategies for the debtor, unsecured creditors and secured lenders. It does so in the context of analyzing cases and problems in light of the Bankruptcy Code.
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Commercial Law: Payment Systems
When money changes hands by check, credit card or electric transfer, and when notes or drafts change hands prior to their payment, the movement of funds or paper is itself a commercial transaction. This course studies the law of payments, primarily Articles 3, 4 and 4A of the Uniform Commercial Code. topics include the negotiability of commercial paper, the consequences of negotiability for merchants, consumers and banks; how check clear through banks; and who bears the loss in the event of fraud, theft or mistake.
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Commercial Law: Secured Transactions
This course has as its principal focus the way that most credit in America is extended. Most creditors require collateral to secure their loans. Hence, secured transactions are pervasive in our society, even if most people do not know the legal term for many of their transactions. Such transactions range from buying automobiles or large household goods on credit to large mega-loans made by banks to large corporations. The primary law studied is Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code and certain sections of the federal Bankruptcy Code. The course also seeks to introduce students to commercial transactions generally and to further their facility with issues of statutory construction.
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Communications Law
This course surveys legal issues associated with the regulation of the mass media, but with particular emphasis upon the broadcast media. FCC regulatory and licensing issues will be covered extensively. First Amendment issues as related to television and radio are an important part of the course. To the degree that time allows, defamation and privacy issues will also be considered.
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Comparative Law: Law, Markets and Democracy in East Asia
Today, we see a variety of market developments and rule of law programs around the world promulgated by such international institutions as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Asian Development Bank. Markets are viewed as the panacea to the ills associated with economic development, and "rule of law" is synonymous with democracy, equality, and universal rights. This course examines the truth of the above assumptions by a study of the legal systems in East Asian countries, selected for their varying stages of economic development. The course will examine three areas: the cultural forces behind legal systems; the forces of economic development and the political, social and legal institutions established to promote this national goal; and finally, the intended and unintended consequences of these legal institutions. Will the injection of these institutions also result in the promotion of democracy, equality (with a focus on gender), and human rights? By looking at the theoretical underpinnings of legal systems different from the United States, and by the use of comparative methodology, students are encouraged to question the cultural assumptions underlying the American legal system as well as the power of law as a force for social change. Students are encouraged to do research on a topic of their choice, focusing on one aspect of a legal system other than the U.S.
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Conflict of Laws
“Conflict of laws” problems arise when two or more judicial or legislative jurisdictions seem to have a claim to govern some set of events. This course will concentrate on the debate among the various approaches to deciding “which law” applies to the events in question. The course will examine the history of this debate as a case study in the history of American legal theory, from Formalism to the many forms of Post-Realism. Students will learn the variety of styles of legal reasoning that this history has bequeathed to us. The course will also examine some international conflict of laws problems, a field sometimes called “private international law.” Throughout, the course will attempt to disprove the description of conflict of laws offered by a noted commentator: “The realm of the conflict of laws is a dismal swamp, filled with quaking quagmires, and inhabited by learned but eccentric professors, who theorize about mysterious matters in a strange and incomprehensible jargon. The ordinary court, or lawyer, is quite lost when engulfed and entangled in it.”
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Constitutional Litigation
In the first phase of the course, the class considers strategic and tactical decision-making in constitutional litigation. In the second phase, students report on the process of litigating cases involving constitutional issues. Relying on briefs, court records and interviews with counsel, students report to the class and prepare a research paper setting out their findings. The paper is a major commitment of time and energy; only students with a significant interest in litigation of constitutional questions should apply. Papers are eligible to satisfy the writing requirement.
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Corporate Finance: Transactions
This course provides an overview of corporate finance concepts and their relationship to corporate transactional practice. The course begins with coverage of basic corporate finance concepts, i.e., risk, valuation, present value, leverage, and diversification. The concepts are then discussed in the context of corporate transactions such as business restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings. In addition to focusing on the conceptual underpinnings of corporate transactions, students will be required to understand how elements of a business deal get translated into drafting strategies.
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Corporate Taxation
An introduction to Subchapter C of the Internal Revenue Code and an exercise in reading a short but difficult statute. Among topics covered are taxation of dividends, stock redemptions, liquidations, distributions, and taxable and tax-free sales of corporate stock and assets.
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Corporations
This course relates to the formation, financial structure, and governance of business enterprises, especially incorporated businesses. Partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability companies and limited liability partnerships are also explored, principally as they compare to the corporate form. The topics studied include: rights of creditors to hold principals of the enterprise liable; distribution of control within the corporation; fiduciary duties of directors and officers; key aspects of the federal securities laws (including the regulation of insider trading and proxies); organic changes (such as mergers); shifts in control (such as takeovers and freeze-outs); and legal implications of the roles of corporations in society. The course introduces some of the specialized concepts explored in detail in courses on Securities Regulation and Corporate Finance.
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Criminal Advocacy Clinic
This is a course about you, because all advocacy begins with that — with who you are. There are three basic interrelated facets of this course: (1) three-person teams will each represent a person who has been accused of committing a crime; (2) participants will attend a 3+-hour class twice a week to work on, among other things, advocacy skills and the mechanics of representing clients; (3) through extensive reading and role playing, and through self-exploration exercises, participants will dig into themselves, explore who they are as persons, to find the source of their own personal power as advocates.
This is a demanding course, on your time, on your mind, and on your emotions. The field work — working with the client, investigating the case, interviewing witnesses, preparing for and going to court — will demand your time and energy (probably around ten to fifteen hours per week). The readings are lengthy and absolutely cannot be bypassed. The role-playing exercises demand serious out-of-class preparation. In-class participation is unavoidable (no hiding, just like in a courtroom). Register only after considering all of this. You might also consider reading, before registering, the instructor’s article, Learning to Fight Against the Death Penalty at the Trial Lawyers College (posted on TWEN), to get a more concrete sense of what is expected. If nothing else, you’ll learn from this article that if you expect or want to learn a “bag of tricks” in the hopes of becoming an effective trial lawyer, then you ought not register for this course. This course is designed to heighten our consciousness of what it means to be persuasive, what it feels like to be prepared for courtroom battle, and what is entailed in representing indigent criminal defendants. The course will not turn you into Clarence Darrow; and that’s a good thing, because no course could turn Clarence Darrow into you.
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Criminal Trial Practice
Lectures on cases tried in state and federal courts, from arrest to appeal, are used to highlight criminal trial practice. One case is used throughout in which students are assigned roles including defense attorney, prosecutor, judge, witness (expert and lay), juror, clerk and defendant. Materials are based on actual cases. Emphasis is on federal criminal trials.
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Critical Race Theory
The purpose of this course is to explore the area of legal scholarship popularly known as critical race theory. Critical race theorists examine the interconnection between issues of race and law. The readings in the course will serve as the basis for examining a host of legal issues from broad theoretical perspectives. Through the course we will examine the central works in critical race theory produced both within and outside of the legal academy. Enrollment is limited and evaluation will be based on class participation and a paper project. The paper will satisfy the upper-level writing requirement for those who choose to use it for that purpose.
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Disability Law
This course explores how the law treats individuals with disabilities. We will analyze what is meant by the term “disability” and consider constitutional review of state actions discriminating against individuals with disabilities. Particular attention will be given to the the rights and obligations created by the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The rights of individuals with disabilities to be educated, work, receive health care, and enjoy public accommodations will be considered in depth. This course is designed for students wishing to represent individuals with disabilities as well as students who may represent employers and public accommodations.
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Domestic Violence Clinic
The Domestic Violence Clinic requires 25 hours of intensive training, 2 hours of weekly class and 1.5 days of supervised practice per week. Students staff an office at Dorchester District Court where they are responsible for assisting clients in securing civil restraining orders and criminal justice services, as well as legal services for family law, housing, income benefits, immigration and related social services.
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Education Law
A survey of current issues in U.S. education law including high stakes testing, "No Child Left Behind", the charter school movement, vouchers, church/state issues, home schooling, and school funding.
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Employment Discrimination
This course focuses on the rights of workers to be free of discrimination in the workplace, and the obligations of employers to provide a discrimination-free workplace. Emphasis is placed on the scope and limitations of fair employment statutes, including definitions of employee and employer, types of actionable discrimination, shifting burdens of proof and other definitional or procedural issues that frequently determine the outcome of cases. The course will primarily address Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but will also cover other state and federal anti-discrimination laws. We will not only discuss litigation, but will also address approaches that responsible employers might take to develop effective anti-discrimination policies.
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Employment Law — Compensation, Benefits and Retirement
This course surveys the legal and policy issues concerning minimum wage and wage-payment laws, regulation of working time and overtime premiums, family & medical leave, unemployment insurance, COBRA, Social Security and pensions and ERISA. It stresses close reading of statutes and administrative regulations. The problems of low-wage workers receive special emphasis.
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Employment Law — Job Security & Rights
This course surveys the legal and policy issues concerning the employment relationship, focusing on hiring and firing, job security, non-competition agreements, job-related intellectual property, employer control of employee conduct on- and off-duty rights, employee privacy, mass dismissals and plant closings and employment arbitration. The problems of low-wage workers receive special emphasis.
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Entertainment Law
Entertainment Law involves the study of legal principles and business practices of the entertainment industry, with a focus on such matters as they exist in the film, television and music industries, as well as publishing, video games, emerging media and the Internet. The course is divided generally into four segments: Intellectual Property (including idea submissions, copyright, trademark and privacy and publicity rights); Representation of Entertainers (including the roles of agents, managers, lawyers and unions); Contracts, Credits and Compensation; and Restrictions on Entertainment Content (including defamation, discrimination, obscenity and indecency, and violence). The focus is on the practical application of the legal principles, including an awareness of issues that arise in negotiations, contracts and litigation involving entertainment companies and creative talent.
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Environmental Law
This course focuses on federal and state environmental laws. Topics include pollution control, waste management, and cleanup of contaminated land and water. The course explores legislative policy and regulatory decisions as well as enforcement issues. We will give attention to questions of environmental justice and to the strategic use of legal tools in working to ensure safe and healthy surroundings for diverse groups of people.
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Estate Planning
This course covers basic principles of estate planning and transfer taxation, including gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes. Focusing on fundamentals of current transfer tax systems, the course examines classic transfer techniques and vehicles. The course also emphasizes the importance of identifying non-tax considerations and designing tax-efficient plans consistent with personal needs. In addition, consideration is given to ethical issues in estate planning and public policy implications of transfer tax laws.
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Evidence
This course examines how courtroom lawyers use the evidence rules to present their cases---notably, rules regarding relevance, hearsay, impeachment, character, and experts. The approach to the study of evidence will be primarily through the "problem" method---that is, applying the provisions of the Federal Rules of Evidence to concrete courtroom situations. Theoretical issues will be explored as a way to deepen the student's appreciation of how the evidence rules can and ought to be used in litigation.
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Family Law
This is a basic course in family law and family policy. The first half of the course explores state regulation of intimate relationships, asking what purposes marriage serves, and looking at the law of incest, polygamy and same sex marriage. The second half of the course examines practical problems in family law: cohabitants’ rights; common law marriage; and the many issues relating to divorce, with a particular focus on money and children.
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Federal Courts and the Federal System
The subject of this course is the distribution of power between the states and the federal government, and between the federal courts and other branches of the federal government as manifested in jurisdictional rules of the federal courts. The topics covered include the nature of the federal judicial function, the review of state court decisions by the United States Supreme Court, and the jurisdiction of federal district courts, with special emphasis on actions claiming constitutional protection against state official actions.
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First Amendment
This course examines several rights protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. The focus is on the principles and processes developed by the judiciary to protect various forms of speech, expression and association. The course does NOT deal with the free exercise of religion or the establishment clause. The course also focuses on integrating doctrine with the core values of the First Amendment as well as emphasizing the need for students to develop their own preferred approach to protecting free expression. The course does not, except tangentially, deal with other parts of the Bill of Rights.
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Global AIDS Policy Seminar
The global HIV/AIDS pandemic, the preeminent public health and human rights challenge of our time, is structured by biological, economic, social, and cultural forces ranging from the arcane structures of the international intellectual property regime to the cultural norms that prefigure sexual intimacy. This seminar will explore selected policy options for reversing and responding to the tide of infection. Pharmaceutical research, development, and access, neo-liberal economic and trade policies, gender relations and prevention policies, global health initiatives and primary health systems, health care policy and health worker migration – these and many other topics will be the subject of classroom discussion and student research papers.
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Health Law
This course examines the legal regulation of the provision of health care services. Much of the focus is on the relationship between law and health care policy. Topics include access to health insurance and health care, health care financing, malpractice liability, the organization and responsibility of health care institutions, especially hospitals, the regulation of the quality of care and the formulation of health policy. This course is highly recommended for all students enrolled in the JD/MPH dual degree program, but is open to others as well.
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Human Rights in the Global Economy
Can recognizing “the right to housing” make the demands of homeless persons for adequate housing more effective? Does the right to maintain cultural or religious traditions conflict with the right to be free from gender discrimination? This course highlights the growing influence of the international economic, social, and cultural rights framework as well as the implications of globalization for all international human rights. We will begin by examining the history and theoretical origins of socioeconomic and cultural rights such as rights to food, housing, health, education, and cultural expression. We then engage the legal framework under major international and regional human rights treaties and leading interpretations of them by international, regional, and domestic courts and other actors. Finally, we grapple with the tensions among collective rights, cultural imperatives, and traditional human rights. There is no prerequisite for this course.
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Immigration Law
This course is designed to give the student an overview of U.S. immigration laws with special emphasis on the Immigration Act of 1990. The focus is on the day-to-day practice of immigration law, including an examination of the substantive and procedural aspects of this practice, and a historical analysis of the changes in our immigration laws and policies. The course also examines the interrelationship of administrative law, constitutional law, foreign law, federal court jurisdiction, international law and criminal law. Included in the topics covered will be the various non-immigrant and immigrant classifications, the preference system for immigrants, the difference between exclusion and deportation hearings, statutory grounds for exclusion and deportation, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights of aliens, political asylum applications, U.S. citizenship and naturalization, administrative and judicial review, the Refugee Act of l980 and the new political asylum regulations.
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Independent Study
Any upper level student in good standing may engage in one or more independent study projects, totaling not more than three credits during an academic quarter and six credits during the two upper level years. A student wishing to conduct an independent study must secure the approval of a faculty member who agrees to supervise the project. Many students use independent studies to continue to examine a topic begun during co-op, or to extend the syllabus of a course. Students may also design projects which are not based in either course work or co-op, but in all cases a faculty sponsor must agree to the project.
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Intellectual Property
In our modern day ‘information economy,’ the law of intellectual property has taken on enormous importance to both creators and users of intellectual creations. This course introduces students to the classic principles of copyright, patent, trademark, and trade secret law and explores the ways in which those principles are shifting and adapting in response to new technology.
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International and Foreign Legal Research
This course is designed to teach students how to research international and foreign legal materials. The course uses a combination of lectures, hands on research exercises, and interactive activities to teach essential research skills. Students will learn effective research strategies to consult both electronic and print legal research sources. Some topics covered include: foreign and international secondary sources, treaties, jurisprudence, and the documents of international organizations including the United Nations and the European Union. The class will also explore research in topical areas such as International IP sources and Human Rights.
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International Business Regulation
This course examines international and domestic law regulating multinational enterprises. It is intended for students interested in the work of international lawyers representing corporations and other economic actors, serving in relevant government agencies and international organizations, and engaged in the public interest work of NGOs. The course will cover, among other things, the role of lawyers in the international business environment, legal aspects of multinational enterprises, the international sale of goods, foreign investment issues, select international aspects of mergers and acquisitions, and international joint venturing.
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International Business Transactions
This course deals with transnational commercial law. It addresses the legal framework for international sales transactions, including the commercial terms of the sales agreement, shipping contracts, insurance, financing arrangements, and customs documentation. It also examines foreign direct investment transactions, international franchise and distribution agreements, and contracts for the transfer of technology.  Bribery of foreign officials and liability under US and international rules are also included. Dispute resolution will be considered briefly with emphasis on choice of law and forum, arbitration, and enforcement of arbitral awards and foreign judgments.
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International Criminal Law
An overview of substantive and procedural international criminal law and its enforcement mechanisms, this course will cover principles of state liability and individual culpability, international crimes, international criminal procedure, and punishment. It will focus on the sources and principles of international criminal law, how international human rights, humanitarian and criminal law are binding on U.S. and other domestic courts, and the history and operations of international human rights, humanitarian and criminal tribunals. It will also address state liability for failure to investigate, prosecute and punish gross human rights violations and other international crimes, conspiracy and corporate responsibility, and individual culpability and defenses for state actors and private individuals. It will consider international crimes such as War crimes, crimes against peace and humanity, and breaches of the Geneva Convention. It will consider principles of punishment, including the death penalty.
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International Human Rights Legal Research Seminar
This research, writing, and discussion seminar uses interdisciplinary theoretical approaches (i.e., post-colonial theory, cultural studies, feminist studies, critical race theory, migration studies) to explore and critique the possibilities and limits of the international human rights legal framework. Students will be asked to choose and research a relevant and narrowly-tailored topic relating to the implications of identity (race, gender, class, national or migration status, sexuality, disability, etc.) for an international human rights issue in a specific practical or theoretical context. In addition to submitting a preliminary topic, bibliography, outline, and draft section, each student will present their research to other members of the seminar for discussion and feedback from other students and the instructor before submitting the final paper at the end of the quarter. Readings include a range of primary documents from UN and regional human rights systems, law review articles and books primarily drawn from the "Third World Approaches to International Law" movement, as well as a reader on post-colonial theory.
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International Law
This course introduces students to fundamental concepts and unresolved problems in international law. We discuss historical and contemporary theoretical debates about the roles and utility of international law. Students are introduced to the sources of international law and to methods of international dispute resolution in domestic and international fora. This course explores the part that international law has played (or failed to play) in the prevention or conduct of war, the promotion of human rights and international economic development.
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Transnational Litigation
This course focuses on the procedural, jurisdictional and choice of law issues resulting from the presence of international elements in litigation (obtaining jurisdiction on foreign parties, international service of process, obtaining evidence abroad, applying foreign law, recognition of foreign judgments, etc). While the focus is mostly on international elements in US-based jurisdiction, a comparative approach will provide insights into how those issues are addressed abroad. The course takes a pragmatic approach and provides opportunities for mini oral arguments to illustrate the main aspect of the course. Students are encouraged to take an upper-class jurisdiction and choice of law class before or concurrently with this class.
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International Tax and Business Planning
This course is about the United States' taxation of international transactions. That includes the taxation of American corporations and individuals on their foreign income and the taxation of foreign individuals and corporations on their United States income.
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International Trade
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the legal framework for U.S. and international regulation of international trade. The course will include a brief introduction to the economics of trade and trade restriction measures. It will then focus on the World Trade Organization agreements regulating international trade in goods, services and intellectual property; it will provide an overview of the North American Free Trade Agreement; and it will examine U.S. trade laws particularly relief from "unfairly" traded imports, boycotts and trade sanctions.
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Jurisprudence
This course focuses on the structure and function of law. We will focus on legal theory looking at many of the major questions in philosophy of law such as: the relationship of law and morals; legal reasoning; judicial decision-making; constitutional interpretation; the structure of legal systems; and the justification of punishment. The class will emphasize Anglo-American jurisprudence. Students will explore not only theoretical issues but will also explore the historical relationships of different schools of jurisprudence, and the application of legal theory to legal problems. The class will give students a strong foundation in U.S. jurisprudence and the role of this subject in modern problems arising in law and policy.
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Juvenile Courts: Delinquency, Abuse and Neglect
This course covers the broad topic of children in custody for delinquency, abuse or neglect and for status offenses. Through an examination of fundamental case law, statutory law and theory of juvenile law, participants will be exposed to both substantive and procedural principles of the juvenile court system. The course examines how children come into court jurisdiction and the educational and mental health services they require while in foster care or in detention. The course looks at foster care, termination of parental rights and adoption as well as the juvenile death penalty issue. Court attendance is a requirement.
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Labor Arbitration Workshop
In this workshop, students will explore the important role of alternative dispute resolution in the workplace. Using court and arbitration decisions as well as supplementary materials, students will discuss the relationship between arbitration and the judicial system, a union’s duty of fair representation, issues of arbitrability, evidence and procedure, as well as a variety of substantive contractual issues normally addressed in arbitration, such as seniority, fringe benefits, wages and hours, subcontracting and union security. In particular, the course will focus on “just cause” discharge and discipline cases. Although there are no prerequisites or co-requisites, Labor Law I is recommended.
During the course of the quarter, students will draft an arbitration brief based on a transcript of a hearing and participate in an arbitration simulation using witnesses and documentary evidence.
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Labor Law I
A general introduction to the law of labor relations through an examination of the National Labor Relations Act and leading cases, in conjunction with historical, social and economic materials. Topics include organization, union recognition, unfair labor practices and collective bargaining.
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Labor Law II
An advanced labor law course focusing on the law of the collective bargaining agreement. The course compares collective bargaining rights to other workplace rights systems, such as individual statutory entitlement and public employee constitutional rights.
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Land Use
A survey of legal doctrines, techniques and institutions relating to regulation of the use of real property. Topics covered include constitutional questions of takings by public agencies, the scope of the police power as it affects land use and the basic techniques of zoning and subdivision control. Students study, among other issues, recent cases on exclusion of low income housing, current techniques to encourage housing development (inclusionary or "linkage" regulations) and First Amendment questions arising from land use controls.
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Law and Economic Development
This course will examine the prevailing economic theories of and strategies for economic development since World War II and the legal and institutional frameworks devised to implement these strategies. Questions we will explore will include: What kinds of legal and institutional arrangements best facilitate economic growth? How does law structure and shape markets? What is “development” and how can it best be measured? Can legal instruments be used effectively to address underdevelopment in a structural way? While the focus will be on development in the so-called “developing world,” we will also explore some strategies for addressing development in a local community context. We will conclude the course by applying what we have learned to address several development case studies posing particular problems in particular regions and contexts.
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Law and Literature: Life as a Lawyer
This course offers students the opportunity to think and write about how they choose to create their lives as lawyers, and to ponder the benefits and burdens of “thinking like a lawyer.” At the heart of the course is the reading of two novels, a play, and a biography, as well as several short stories. Most of the readings deal very little with lawyers, but they do invite us to think about how lawyers think, write, talk, and act compared to others, and how one might hope to live a fulfilling life as a lawyer. This is in large measure a writing course, requiring eight short papers. The writing requirement is described in more detail in the syllabus. Some sample papers from students who took the similar Legal Imagination course are on reserve in the library. This course differs from that course in three primary ways: 1) we will not be reading from James White’s book, The Legal Imagination; 2) this course deals less with linguistics and the role of language than White emphasized; and 3) we will confront more directly our aspirations and fears about the practice of law and our roles as lawyers.
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Law and Psychiatry
This seminar examines the interaction of psychiatry and the law in several major areas: (1) regulation of professional practice, including the licensing and disciplining of the profession; (2) particular tort doctrines, such as breach of confidentiality and informed consent; (3) the civil commitment system; and (4) criminal law. No background in this area is assumed. Classes will be held in a seminar/discussion format, with class participation as a highly valued component of your evaluation. Students will also be required to do a major paper with an in-class presentation on a topic related to the material and approved by the instructor.
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Law of Financial Institutions
This course will survey the complex regulatory regime governing the operations of commercial banking organizations in the United States. The primary focus will be on federal regulation of banks and bank holding companies. Nevertheless there will also, of necessity, be coverage of federal regulation of other types of depository institutions and holding companies — such as credit unions, savings associations, and savings and loan holding companies — as well as of state regulation of depository institutions and their holding companies. Current issues relating to bank mergers, diversification of banking organizations into other forms of financial and commercial activities (including securities and insurance), regulatory responses to specific problems (such as capital adequacy, deposit insurance, limitations on lending authority, anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism initiatives) will be considered.
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Law, Policy and Society
This seminar is offered on a limited enrollment basis to law students, as well as to Ph.D. students in the Law, Policy and Society Program. Northeastern University faculty members lecture on their work in, and particular approach to, the field of law, policy and society. Seminar discussions focus on the meaning and usefulness of interdisciplinary research. Two papers evaluating various paradigms for analyzing issues in law, policy and society are required.
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Legal Analysis (Bar Review Prep Course)
In preparation for graduation and the bar exam, Legal Analysis offers third year students the opportunity to review all first year doctrinal subjects plus upper level Evidence, as well as offering material not covered in the courses they have previously taken. Although this course is voluntary and not a substitute for a commercial bar review course, it will be a useful tool in the third year students' preparation for their bar exam.
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Legal Interviewing and Counseling
Students in this course will study the principles of interviewing and counseling, learning how to interview clients to identify their legal problems and to gather information on which solutions to those problems can be based. Students will also practice interviewing witnesses and students will be taught how to counsel clients - a process by which, having determined what the client’s legal problems are, the lawyer helps clients make decisions by identifying potential strategies and solutions and their likely positive and negative consequences. Students will practice specific interviewing and counseling techniques and have the opportunity to receive feedback from classmates and the instructor.
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Legal Writing Workshop
This course is for students who wish to strengthen their writing and analytic skills. The first part of the course will focus on objective writing. Students will work on an office memorandum analyzing a statute and case law. The classes will focus on large scale organization, small scale organization, case analysis, and revising your own work. The second part of the course will focus on persuasive writing and research. Students will research and draft an appellate brief based on a constitutional issue, paying particular attention to persuasive writing techniques. The appellate brief will fulfill the upper level writing requirement. The entire course will focus on writing concisely, using citations accurately, and other skills essential to effective legal writing.
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Legislation
This course deals with the distinctive nature of legislation as a source of law. Topics for study include the legislative process, the role of legislatures and the theory and practice of statutory interpretation. Materials and lectures will be based in part on case studies taken from recent Supreme Court and Congressional actions, particularly in the area of civil rights. One session will be a simulated legislative session. Several short legislative drafting assignments will be required.
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Modern Real Estate Development
This course will explore the basic elements of commercial real estate transactions, with a focus on the acquisition and financing of real estate development. We will discuss the economic considerations (including basic tax benefits) and risk elements of real estate development, as well as some of the emerging trends in real estate development and their theoretical implications. We will give limited consideration to residential real estate transactions. An affordable housing transaction will serve as the basis for the course discussions. Course materials will include typical transactional documents. During the term, one or more in-class drafting exercises will be included to help focus the discussion of the issues.
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Natural Resources Law
This course addresses legal requirements and institutions dealing with animal and plant species, biological resources, habitats, and ecosystems. Major themes include biological diversity, endangered and threatened species, public and private rights in migratory resources, public trust doctrine, the allocation of power among federal, state, and local governments, and the roles of administrative agencies in ecosystem management. The course provides opportunities to explore specific topics of interest such as environmental ethics, wetlands protection, fisheries law, Native American hunting rights and fishing rights, and management of national parks, forests, and grazing lands.
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Negotiation
Negotiation is a course in which students study theories of negotiation and apply those theories in simulated disputes and transactions which are then debriefed in class. The major simulations in Professor Baker’s course include a criminal plea bargain, a disability-based wrongful termination case, and a current international access to medicines dispute. The course focuses on: (1) negotiation planning, (2) case preparation and evaluation, (3) client counseling and informed client consent, (4) analysis of the bargaining range and principled concession patterns, (5) competitive, cooperative and problem-solving strategies, (6) information bargaining, (7) ethics and (8) critiques of negotiation patterns and institutions. Students are required to turn in preparation materials and to keep weekly journals, reviewed by the instructor, addressing their experiences in, and thoughts about, negotiations. Students are encouraged to internalize habits of analysis, prediction, preparation, and flexibility and to become more self-evaluative for their future negotiating experiences.
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Non-Profit Organizations
This course is about federal regulation of nonprofit organizations. Why does the government exempt certain organizations from tax? What are the rules that non-profit organizations must follow in order to retain their tax-exempt status? What activities by non-profit organizations are prohibited by federal law? These and other questions about non-profit organizations will be discussed. The course will focus on relevant Federal tax law, but there is no prerequisite for the course. Although the course is about the Internal Revenue Code, the concepts of income taxation (what is income? when is it income? etc.) are irrelevant because nonprofit organizations are exempt from tax.
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Patent Law
This course will provide an in-depth review of patent law and practice. The course will cover the administrative process for obtaining patents, including the requirements for patentability. The course will also cover enforcement of patent rights and the defense of patent infringement suits. The course will be presented in a simple, non-technical manner so that students of all disciplines can learn and understand the concepts.
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Poverty Law and Practice Clinic
The twenty hours a week spent in the clinic provides an opportunity for students to provide direct representation to clients confronting legal challenges as they try to balance family and work responsibilities. Students have complete responsibility for a range of clients under the supervision of a faculty member. Students interview, research, plan, investigate, counsel, negotiate, and advocate for their clients. The clinic encourages students to maintain a client-centered focus and looks to extend the experience beyond the problem of the individual to the benefit for the community. The clinic also provides an opportunity to work in collaboration with a community organization in order to experience collaborative efforts for systemic change for low income clients.
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Prisoners' Rights Clinic
This clinical course is offered during both the fall and winter quarters. It provides upper-level students with an opportunity to develop and refine valuable advocacy skills under the close supervision of two experienced practitioners. Typically, each student gets to handle, from beginning to end, either an adversarial hearing (final parole revocation), or a non-adversarial parole release hearing for an inmate serving a life sentence. Through this experience, students learn how to properly conduct client/witness interviews and thorough factual investigations, to examine and cross-examine witnesses effectively and to make persuasive opening and closing statements. Students also learn how to write winning administrative appeals. The skills students learn in this course are easily transferable to any civil or criminal practice after law school. The course also presents a survey of the constitutional law relating to the sentencing process and the rights of prisoners while incarcerated and while on parole.
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Private Law and Public Policy
How can lawyers working in the “private” arena influence public policy? This course looks at tort-based litigation that impacts tobacco control, climate change, and other policy arenas. It considers the financial consequences of “mass torts”, class actions and punitive damages on plaintiffs’ attorneys as well as on defendants, and examines doctrinal, ethical and practical issues raised by the effort to use civil remedies to achieve social change.
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Problems in Public Health Law
This course will explore the rationales for using law to protect and preserve the public’s health, the legal tools that may be used to achieve that end, and the conflicts and problems that may result from legal interventions. Topics discussed will include the use of law to reduce the spread of HIV and other infectious diseases, control of tobacco and other hazardous products, bioterrorism, and the threats TO CIVIL LIBERTIES AND MINORITY GROUPS engendered by all such legal efforts. This course is highly recommended for all students enrolled in the J.D./M.P.H. dual degree program, but is open to other students as well.
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Professional Responsibility
This course focuses on the legal, ethical and professional dilemmas encountered by lawyers. The course emphasis is on dealing with these dilemmas in the everyday practice of law while understanding the underlying issues and gaining a perspective within which to evaluate them.
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Public Health Legal Clinic
This clinic supports the work of the Public Health Advocacy Institute, a Northeastern-based think tank. It provides students with an opportunity to gain experience in public interest law, health law, and the use of litigation to effect changes in public health policy. The clinic’s primary focus will be on tobacco control and on the emerging issue of obesity-related litigation and policy, but students may explore other public health-related topics as well. This clinic also provides a unique opportunity for students to develop their academic legal writing skills; the final project in this course is the equivalent of a law review article. In addition to weekly class readings and discussions, each student will work on a major research project throughout the quarter, meet regularly with the instructor to discuss the project, give an oral presentation to the class, and write a substantial paper discussing his/her research.
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Quantitative Methods
Quantitative Methods is a skills course intended to enhance students’ ability to identify legal situations that need to be quantified and to solve simple quantitative problems. No prior experience in quantitative analysis is necessary. The course explores a wide variety of legal contexts in which quantitative issues arise and emphasizes applications to actual problems. Examples of applications (and legal contexts) include: calculating the present value of cash flows in settlements (divorce, personal injury); preparing and analyzing financial statements (corporate); statistical analyses to determine violations of truth in labeling/advertising, equal employment opportunities; discrimination in application of the death penalty (criminal).
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Refugees and Asylum Law
This course will explore the law of asylum and refugees. The primary focus will be on U.S. law as it has evolved since passage of the Refugee Act of 1980. This will include legislation and case law - both administrative and federal court cases. It will also look at relevant international law and standards utilized in other countries by way of comparison with U.S. Law. We will also examine the process of asylum adjudications to analyze issues of due process, credibility, cross cultural communication and integrity of the various legal procedures. We will explore new and emerging theories of asylum eligibility and policy developments which impact asylum seekers in the United States.
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Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights
This course will examine how sexual and reproductive health laws impede or increase access to sexual and reproductive health care and shape how we understand what constitutes sexual and reproductive health. Attention will be paid to understanding legal doctrine, public health research, and critically assessing issues arising from sexual and reproductive health law. The course will draw on various tools of analysis including critical race theory, critical legal theory, human rights, and a range of public health methods. Topics covered will include, amongst others, sexual and reproductive health law as it pertains to abortion, sexuality, pregnancy, marriage, health care in prisons, immigrants, HIV/AIDS, and sex education. The course covers both domestic and international issues pertaining to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
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Rights of Non-citizens
This seminar explores the rights of noncitizens in the United States under both domestic and international law. The primary focus of this course is on the constitutional and human rights of noncitizens in a wide range of contexts (including workplace rights, public benefits, and public education) rather than on statutory immigration law. Students will be asked to choose and research a relevant topic, incorporating both domestic and international law into their analysis. Students will present their research to other members of the seminar for discussion and feedback from other students and the instructor before submitting the final paper at the end of the quarter. Final papers can be used to satisfy the law school's "rigorous writing" requirement. Readings will include case law, statutes, policy reports, and academic articles from a variety of disciplines.
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Securities Regulation
Federal regulation of securities transactions originated in the New Deal investor protection legislation of the early 1930s and must now adapt to the changes and challenges of the 21st century. This course surveys major issues in the registration of initial public offerings (“IPOs”) under the Securities Act of 1933 and relevant provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, civil liability provisions, and the major exemptions from registration. Students will engage in detailed statutory analysis, as well as analysis of judicial and administrative decisions. The material covered in the course also raises important public policy issues such as “market democracy” and the role of regulation, disclosure policy with regard to corporate accountability and social responsibility, and the implications of internet disclosure.
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Seminar: Balancing Liberty and Security
This course will examine the challenges, obstacles and issues presented in the struggle to create a balance between securing our homeland and respecting the rights of all of those who call this land home. We will examine recent Supreme Court decisions (Handi, Rasul, and Padilla) as well as international perspectives on counterterrorism strategies. The course will include a discussion of the privacy and human rights issues that have arisen since September 11th and the ethical responsibility of lawyers adjudicating those issues. Students will take a take-home exam at the end of the quarter.
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Seminar: Professional Responsibility
This small section of Professional Responsibility is taught as a seminar-style course. The course incorporates basic analytical and legal reasoning techniques, as well as offers opportunities for students to improve their legal writing through analysis and critique. Writing is done in the context of Professional Responsibility doctrine with a focus on legal, ethical and professional dilemmas encountered by lawyers. This course fulfills the 3 credit Professional Responsibility course requirement while, at the same time, refines students' basic analytical and writing skills.
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Seminar: Teaching the Constitution
This seminar, which constitutes the one half of the Marshall-Brennan Teaching Fellowship, trains students to teach the Constitution using We the Students, a curriculum and textbook featuring Supreme Court cases about education and the rights of students. The course explores the relevant case law as well as effective methods for teaching this material to high school students. Issues covered include freedom of expression, school prayer, student searches, drug testing, suspensions, school funding, and affirmative action. To complete the course, teaching fellows must develop an original lesson plan and complete an outline and first draft of a 15-20 page paper on a current education law or policy or related constitutional issue.
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Sexuality, Gender and the Law
This course uses case law and theory to address doctrinal problems and justice concerns associated with gender and sexuality. The syllabus is organized around notions such as privacy, identity and consent, all of which are conceptual pillars upon which arguments in the domain of sexuality and gender typically rely. Doctrinal topics include same-sex marriage, sodomy, sexual harassment, discrimination, among others, but the course is not a doctrinal survey; it is a critical inquiry into key concepts that cut across doctrinal areas. Students should expect to write a paper and share some of what they have learned with the class.
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Sports Law
This course explores the legal, economic and social aspects of national and international professional and amateur sports. The course will focus on judicial, administrative, legislative and private decisions that have created a cohesive body of principles for the resolution of disputes involving athletes, clubs, leagues, spectators, and fans. These decisions address issues of antitrust, labor, tort, agency, and constitutional law. We will pay particular attention to the governance of sports, player reservation systems and player contracts, collective bargaining and salary arbitration, franchise free agency, violence in sports, NCAA rules and regulations, gender and handicapped discrimination, and sports agents. Students will draft a research paper on a topic approved by the instructor.
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State and Local Government
This course offers an introduction to the workings of state and local governments, and to the roles of law and of lawyers in shaping and controlling their operation. Topics to be covered include: the sources and scope of state and of local lawmaking authority, intergovernmental relationships, modes of citizen participation in and control over the governing process, and state and municipal fiscal structure and operations. In exploring these topics, the course will focus both on the practical roles played by attorneys (employed inside or outside of government) in the governmental processes and on the place of decentralized governmental units within the vision of a democratic polity.
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State and Local Taxation
This course surveys the variety of regimes deployed by various states to fund state and municipal government, with primary attention to state income taxation of individuals and businesses, property taxation and sales taxes. Among the topics to be covered are federal and state constitutional constraints on state and local tax structures, alternative methods of state business taxation, and issues relating to the taxation of interstate activity. The course will approach these topics from the viewpoints both of state tax policy-making and of taxpayer planning and representation.
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Tactics & Trial Strategy in Criminal Litigation
This course will focus on the strategic and tactical decisions lawyers and clients make in criminal cases. The first part of the course will examine discreet issues within certain infamous cases chosen by the professor. In class we will identify and assess the ways in which certain decisions substantially affected the path of the litigation. Within the first few weeks students will select a criminal case that he/she will single-handedly deconstruct in similar fashion to the process described above. Students will present their case study to the class, which will then be followed by an in-depth research paper about their findings and assessment. The research skills students will employ during the semester will be both investigative and legal. Students will seek to obtain relevant portions of the court record, briefs, pleadings, transcripts, interviews with counsel, interviews with the client (if possible), and other source materials. Students will best benefit from this course once they have taken advanced criminal procedure and/or have an understanding of the adjudicative process either from coop or other relevant experience.
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Trademark Law
This course will examine the state and federal systems of trademark and unfair competition law. We will study the theoretical foundations for trademark law, the law's doctrinal development, and more practical questions about how to obtain, maintain, and assert trademark rights.
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Trusts and Estates
This basic course covers all aspects of inheritance, including intestacy, wills, common modern will substitutes, trusts, and future interests, with attention to rights of spouses and children, charitable interests, fiduciary duty, and other issues. The focus is practical, and students are required to write numerous short exercises - including analysis, planning advice, and formal drafting - to address realistic problems.
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Welfare Law
This course examines American public assistance as a legal institution. After reviewing the historical, sociological and juridical roots of the welfare system, students examine the laws governing major assistance programs, especially eligibility requirements, rules governing grant determination, work and family rules, and procedural rights. Primary emphasis is on statutory and regulatory construction. The course explores methods by which lawyers can deal with the system: advocacy in the administrative process, litigation, legislative reform and representation of recipient organizations.
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