Course Descriptions

2005 - 2006 Academic Year

• Alternative Dispute Resolution

• Collective Bargaining

• Labor Arbitration Workshop

• Negotiation

• Certiorari/Criminal Appeals Clinic
• Criminal Advocacy Clinic
• Domestic Violence Clinic
• Poverty Law and Practice Clinic
• Prisoners’ Rights Clinic
• Public Health Legal Clinic

• Advanced Criminal Procedure: Adjudication
• Advanced Criminal Procedure: Investigation
• Certiorari/Criminal Appeals Clinic
• Comparative Constitutional Law
• Constitutional Litigation
• Employment Discrimination
• Federal Courts and the Federal System
• First Amendment
• Human Rights in the Global Economy
• Land Use
• Prisoners’ Rights Clinic
• Seminar:  Balancing Security and Liberty in a Post-September 11th World
• Seminar: Racism and American Law
• Seminar:  Women's Rights Lawyering
• Sexuality, Gender and the Law
• State and Local Government

• Affordable Housing Law - Theory and Practice
• Antitrust
• Basic Income Taxation
• Commercial Law: Bankruptcy
• Commercial Law: Secured Transactions
• Corporate Finance: Reorganizations
• Corporate Taxation
• Corporations
• Entertainment Law
• Intellectual Property
• International Business Regulation
• International Taxation
• Modern Real Estate Development
• Non-Profit Organizations
• Patent Law
• Quantitative Methods for Lawyers
• Securities Regulation
• Software and Internet Law
• Sports Law

• Advanced Criminal Procedure: Adjudication
• Advanced Criminal Procedure: Investigation
• Certiorari/Criminal Appeals Clinic
• Criminal Advocacy Clinic
• Criminal Trial Practice
• Evidence
• International Criminal Law
• Juvenile Courts:  Delinquency, Abuse and Neglect
• Prisoners’ Rights Clinic
• Seminar:  Balancing Security and Liberty in a Post-September 11th World

• Administrative Law
• Land Use
• Modern Real Estate Development
• New Approaches to Environmental Protection
• Wildlife and Ecosystems Law

• Battered Women and the Law
• Domestic Violence Clinic
• Estate Planning
• Family Law
• Juvenile Courts:  Delinquency, Abuse and Neglect
• Poverty Law and Practice Clinic
• Seminar:  Women's Rights Lawyering
• Trusts and Estates
• Welfare Law

• Bioethics and the Law
• Disability Law
• Health Law
• Poverty Law and Practice Clinic
• Problems in Public Health Law
• Public Health Legal Clinic

• Entertainment Law
• Intellectual Property
• Patent Law
• Software and Internet Law

• Human Rights in the Global Economy
• International Business Regulation
• International Criminal Law
• International Law
• International Taxation
• Prisoners’ Rights Clinic
• Public Health Legal Clinic
• Seminar:  Balancing Security and Liberty in a Post-September 11th World
• Seminar:  International Human Rights: Race, Gender, Culture

• Battered Women and the Law
• Bioethics and the Law
• Critical Legal Theory
• Employment Discrimination
• First Amendment
• Human Rights in the Global Economy
• Law, Policy and Society
• Legal Discourse on Difference (TFs only)
• Professional Responsibility
• Seminar:  International Human Rights: Race, Gender, Culture
• Seminar:  Professional Responsibility
• Seminar:  Racism and American Law
• Seminar:  Women's Rights Lawyering
• Sexuality, Gender and the Law
• The Legal Imagination

• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Collective Bargaining
• Disability Law
• Employment Discrimination
• Employment Law
• Labor Arbitration Workshop
• Labor Law I
• Labor Law II
• Negotiation
• Poverty Law and Practice Clinic
• Sports Law

• Advanced Criminal Procedure: Adjudication
• Advanced Criminal Procedure: Investigation
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Appellate Advocacy
• Certiorari/Criminal Appeals Clinic
• Civil Trial Practice
• Constitutional Litigation
• Criminal Advocacy Clinic
• Criminal Trial Practice
• Domestic Violence Clinic
• Evidence
• Federal Courts and the Federal System
• New Approaches to Environmental Protection
• Professional Responsibility
• Public Health Legal Clinic
• Quantitative Methods
• Seminar:  Professional Responsibility
• Seminar:  Women's Rights Lawyering

• Affordable Housing Law - Theory and Practice
• Estate Planning
• Intellectual Property
• Land Use
• Modern Real Estate Development
• Poverty Law and Practice Clinic
• Trusts and Estates
• Wildlife and Ecosystems Law

• Affordable Housing Law - Theory and Practice
• Battered Women and the Law
• Bioethics and the Law
• Certiorari/Criminal Appeals Clinic
• Civil Trial Practice
• Collective Bargaining
• Criminal Advocacy Clinic
• Criminal Trial Practice
• Disability Law
• Domestic Violence Clinic
• Education Law
• Employment Discrimination
• Employment Law
• First Amendment
• Health Law
• Immigration Law
• Juvenile Courts:  Delinquency, Abuse and Neglect
• Labor Law I
• Labor Law II
• Law and Economic Development
• Legal Discourse on Difference (TFs only)
• Modern Real Estate Development
• New Approaches to Environmental Protection
• Non-Profit Organizations
• Poverty Law and Practice Clinic
• Prisoners’ Rights Clinic
• Problems in Public Health Law
• Public Health Legal Clinic
• Quantitative Methods
• Seminar: International Human Rights: Race, Gender, Culture
• Seminar: Racism and American Law
• Seminar:  Women's Rights Lawyering
• Sexuality, Gender and the Law
• Wildlife and Ecosystems Law
• Welfare Law

• Administrative Law
• Antitrust
• Education Law
• Employment Discrimination
• Employment Law
• Health Law
• Immigration Law
• Labor Arbitration Workshop
• Labor Law I
• Labor Law II
• New Approaches to Environmental Protection
• Poverty Law and Practice Clinic
• Public Health Legal Clinic
• Securities Regulation
• State and Local Government
• Wildlife and Ecosystems Law
• Welfare Law

• Advanced Legal Practice (TAs only)
• Advanced Legal Research
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Appellate Advocacy
• Basic Income Taxation
• Certiorari/Criminal Appeals Clinic
• Civil Trial Practice
• Collective Bargaining
• Constitutional Litigation
• Criminal Advocacy Clinic
• Criminal Trial Practice
• Domestic Violence Clinic
• Estate Planning
• Evidence
• Labor Arbitration Workshop
• Legal Discourse on Difference (TFs only)
• Negotiation
• Poverty Law and Practice Clinic
• Prisoners’ Rights Clinic
• Public Health Legal Clinic
• Quantitative Methods
• Seminar:  Advanced Legal Writing
• Seminar:  Professional Responsibility
• Seminar:  Women's Rights Lawyering

• Basic Income Taxation
• Corporate Taxation
• Estate Planning
• International Taxation
• Non-Profit Organizations

• New Approaches to Environmental Protection
• Poverty Law and Practice Clinic
• Public Health Legal Clinic

This list of courses is only suggestive.
Upper-level course offerings depend on sufficient enrollment, and some may be offered only in alternate years.

+ Indicates courses approved by Tufts for credit in the JD/MPH program.

This course provides an introduction to the law (constitutional, statutory and judge-made) affecting government agencies and officials. Topics include the constitutional status of administrative agencies, administrative due process and the availability and methods 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.

A focused examination of some of the constitutional complexities in the prosecution and defense of criminal cases in state and federal courts. This course includes a grounding in the historical development of the rights of the accused, the conceptual framework of contemporary analysis and the prospects for change in the coming years.

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.

This is a limited-enrollment workshop for students selected as teaching assistants in the Legal Practice Program. The workshop involves a number of skills and substantive components: legal research methodology, conventions of legal analysis and legal discourse, critique of legal writing, conferencing skills, oral advocacy, small group instruction and principles of supervision.

Students will learn about all major legal research sources, print and electronic, and learn to construct an effective research strategy. 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. The focus will be on advanced research techniques and strategies to enhance the practice of law. Class will meet twice a week.

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.

The course will begin with a discussion of the basic economic and political justifications for affordable housing legislation and a brief survey of legislative initiatives over time, to illustrate the breadth and scope of federal affordable housing programs and the way in which those programs have reflected the changing social and political environment. Against this backdrop, the course will focus on large-scale comprehensive neighborhood revitalization programs involving public/private partnerships under the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, the Internal Revenue Code, and associated federal regulations. Topics for discussion include the role of the Federal government in determining access to housing, the pros and cons of using tax incentives to finance development, housing as a vehicle for social change, and the role of law in reducing racial and class disparities in housing. Students will examine the practical implications of the interplay between traditional public housing and tax-driven private investment through role-play negotiations, drafting exercises, and document review, in addition to analysis of key statutory and regulatory provisions.

Although this course has no prerequisites, administrative law and basic income taxation are recommended.

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.

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 examine the major federal laws promoting competition, including the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, and will survey the application and enforcement of these laws by the government and private litigants. The course will also address the current debate over the appropriate role of antitrust law in our increasingly global, service-oriented and technology-based economy.

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.

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, divorce, 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.

This course begins with a focus on the dynamics of violence in intimate relationships, and on the cultural context in which abusive relationships are embedded. Later classes will examine those aspects of the legal system having the most immediate relevance to a woman seeking to protect herself against the violence of a partner, or to end an abusive relationship. Specifically, we will look at family law, alternative dispute resolution, abuse prevention legislation, criminal law and the criminal justice system, recent developments in tort law, the new federal Violence Against Women Act and violence against women as a violation of international human rights. The course will end with a look at the particular challenges faced by advocates working with battered women, and some innovative programmatic responses to the needs of battered women on the part of both public and private agencies and organizations.

The course is interdisciplinary, drawing from research and scholarship in history, anthropology, sociology and psychology as well as law. The classes will be in a discussion seminar-style format, with a strong emphasis on active participation by all members of the class. Role plays will be used from time to time to focus issues for discussion. Occasionally, guests with relevant experience will be invited to join the class, and written materials will be supplemented with relevant film footage.

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.

This course provides students with direct experience in written appellate advocacy. Working under the direction of the instructor, students bear primary responsibility for the analysis, research and writing of a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States seeking review of constitutional and/or federal issues arising in a capital case. The course offers students an opportunity to enhance their analytic, research and written advocacy skills, while at the same time learning about the certiorari process and the outline of Supreme Court capital punishment jurisprudence. There are no course prerequisites, although Advanced Criminal Procedure and Federal Courts are helpful; a writing sample is required.

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. Prior course work in evidence is a prerequisite.

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.

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.

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, which has recently been revised, 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.

We explore constitutional developments in other countries for insight on similar legal problems and to challenge accepted dogma about our own regime. This course considers structural governance questions, including the constitutional role in establishing institutions of state and monitoring democratic politics. Students explore how different regimes approach the same questions about individual rights, such as religious freedom, gender and racial equality, and positive rights. We examine the adoption, maintenance, and amendment of constitutions, and judicial review. We consider how US courts have employed foreign constitutional law, and what principles should govern constitutional borrowings.

During the first phase of the course, the class considers strategic and tactical decision-making in constitutional litigation. During 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 and only students with a significant interest in litigation of constitutional questions should apply.

This course covers the interconnection between law and corporate finance. Theories of finance, such as valuation under uncertainty, portfolio theory and the efficient market hypothesis are applied to different legal contexts. Among the legal topics covered are securities holders’ rights, corporate reorganizations and takeovers (emphasis on securities holders’ rights and reorganizations). Limited to students who have taken Corporations, or have equivalent prior experience.

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. Prerequisite is Basic Income Taxation.

This is a basic course in the law of business corporations. Aspects of the law of agency and the law of partnerships also will be explored as they relate to the development of corporate legal controls. Among topics to be studied are: 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. Course materials may address these issues in the context of various types of corporate enterprises (e.g., closely-held corporations, corporate producer-cooperatives, and publicly-held corporations). The course introduces some of the specialized concepts explored in greater detail in the courses on Securities Regulation and Corporate Finance: Reorganizations.

This course endeavors to provide students with an analytic and practical framework within which to assimilate field experience. Preparation at every level is emphasized in this course, including techniques, strategies and decision-making processes involved in the handling of a "routine" criminal case. Thus, each student participates, typically as one of a three-member team, in the management of one actual case in a local criminal court, usually Roxbury District Court. The cases are assigned by the court to the Criminal Advocacy program, and each team’s work is closely supervised.

The classroom component of the course includes twice weekly meetings during which students perform exercises based on hypothetical facts designed to cover the basics: case analysis, direct and cross-examination, interviewing, arguments, motions to suppress, documentary evidence, etc. There is no text; however, students are expected to research relevant bodies of law. All exercises are analyzed with a view to formulating criteria for self-evaluation. In addition to written assignments, students are expected to maintain a "diary." The final classroom exercise consists of 3 mock jury trials.

Lectures on criminal cases tried in state and federal courts, from arrest to appeal, are used to highlight criminal trial practice. One case is used throughout the course in which students are assigned roles including defense attorney, prosecutor, judge, witness (both expert and lay), juror, clerk and defendant. All materials are based on actual cases. Main emphasis is on federal criminal trials.

This course examines critical traditions within 20th century legal thought, e.g. legal realism, critical legal studies, critical race theory, critical feminist theory, LatCrit theory, Asian American critical legal theory, queer legal theory, and critical empiricism.  The goal of the course is to explore ways to think about the questions:  Can legal practices be socially transformative?  Can a working life centered on legal activities be fashioned as a contribution to egalitarian social transformation?

This course will explore how the law treats individuals with disabilities. After analyzing what is meant by the term "disability," we will consider constitutional review of state actions discriminating against individuals with disabilities in addition to statutory rights and obligations created by the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as well as some governmental benefit programs. The rights of individuals with disabilities to have a family life, be educated, work 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.

The School of Law’s Domestic Violence Institute offers an upper-level clinic focused on violence prevention and criminal intervention at Dorchester District Court. In this clinic, students develop traditional lawyering skills - including interviewing and counseling clients, and preparing and presenting cases in court - in the context of a busy community court that handles thousands of domestic abuse cases each year. The clinic also trains students to participate in a broader community-based response to domestic violence and to work collaboratively in interdisciplinary teams with battered women survivors, advocacy groups and police and law enforcement personnel.

LAW2530

An introduction to topics in education including compulsory education, the home schooling movement, state aid to private and religious schools, and students' rights.

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.

This course surveys common law, statutory and administrative regulation of the employment relationship and current policy issues concerning paid employment. Topics discussed include labor market theory, job security, mass dismissals and plant closings, employer control of employee behavior, employee privacy, minimum wage and maximum hour regulation, child labor, international labor standards, sweatshops, part-time and contingent employment relationships, child care, leave policy, issues for parents and other caretakers who enter paid labor markets, unemployment insurance, health care insurance, retirement income, and the regulation of pension and benefit plans. Legal and policy issues of concern to low-wage workers receive particular emphasis.

Entertainment law involves the study of business practices and legal principles applicable to the entertainment and sports industries. The course will emphasize practical application of those principles and practices in negotiation and litigation. Topics include the antitrust environment of the sports and entertainment industries, Title IX in college athletics, antitrust control, ownership of creative work and compensation. Students should have a sound understanding of contract law. Some knowledge of intellectual property, labor or antitrust will be useful.

This course covers basic principles of estate and gift taxation as a means to develop students’ skill at designing estate plans and drafting appropriate will and trust provisions to accomplish tax savings and other goals. Students are expected to submit written work regularly for critiquing and to develop and resolve a complex planning problem of interest to them.

Exploration of the rules of evidence and their rationale, including the Federal Rules of Evidence. Topics covered include relevancy, hearsay, impeachment, cross-examination, opinions and experts, documents and non-constitutional privileges. Classes center on student use of the rules in simulated problems found in the case book. On occasion, classes focus on portions of the trial of a simulated case.

This is a basic course in family law and family policy. The first half of the course explores state regulation of intimate relationships looking at the law of incest, polygamy and same sex marriage. Students complete a short research paper on a family policy topic of their choice. The second half of the course examines practical problems in family law: cohabitants’ rights; common law marriage; and the many issues relating to divorce. The final paper involves a close analysis of a simulated divorce case file.

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.

This course examines 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, association and religion. The course also focuses on integrating doctrine with the core values of the First Amendment and on recent theoretical developments. The course does not, except tangentially, deal with other parts of the Bill of Rights.

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 care, health care financing, malpractice liability, regulation of the quality of care and the formulation of public health policy.

This course highlights the growing influence of the economic, social, and cultural rights framework as well as the implications of globalization for all forms of international human rights law. We will examine the history and theoretical origins of socioeconomic and cultural rights such as the right to food, housing, health care, and cultural expression; the major international and regional treaties that elaborate those rights; the right to development and other collective rights, the rights of indigenous peoples; and the potential conflict between individual rights and cultural imperatives. There is no prerequisite for this course.

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.

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 and a signed form must be filed with the Office of Academic and Student Affairs within the first five days of the quarter.

1 - 3 quarter hours

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.

This course is designed to give you a thorough introduction to the legal regulation of global business. It is designed to be of interest to persons who wish to become international business practitioners as well as to persons who are interested in international economic policy whether from the perspective of national governments or NGOs. It begins by exploring the numerous levels of legal regulation that affect corporations and other economic actors engaged in cross-border transactions, including private law rules (e.g. contract and property), national regulation, the extraterritorial reach of national laws, regional economic regimes (e.g. NAFTA and the European Union), public international law, and international economic law. The next part of the course looks at trade law under GATT/World Trade Organization system. This part is designed to give you a facility with important trade law concepts such as "comparative advantage," "tariffs," "subsidies," "most favored nation," "national treatment," the remedial regimes available under the trade system for violations of trade law and the structure and functions of the main international trade institutions. The remainder of the course involves a series of case studies of contemporary business problems that we analyze through discussion and role-playing in light of the knowledge we have gained from the earlier parts of the course. Some of the topics for the case studies include "Trade Law, Pharmaceuticals, HIV/AIDS and access to medicines in developing countries," "Attempts by the European Union to regulate the import of Genetically Modified Foods from US," "The effects of Immigration on domestic wage rates," and "Outsourcing of White Collar Jobs to non-US markets."

This course will be presented in five parts: 1) An overview of international criminal law and its enforcement mechanisms; 2) Principles of state liability and individual culpability; 3) International crimes; 4) International criminal procedure; and 5) Punishment.

Part 1 includes: a. Sources and principles of international law; b. How international human rights, humanitarian and criminal law is binding on U.S. and other domestic courts; c. History and operations of international human rights, humanitarian and criminal tribunals, (such as Nuremberg, Tokyo and other war crimes tribunals; United Nations courts and tribunals; the European court of human rights; the human rights commission for Bosnia and Hertzogovina; the inter-American commission and court on human rights; and the African commission on human and people’s rights).

Part 2 includes: a. State liability for failure to investigate, prosecute and punish gross human rights violations and other international crimes; b. Conspiracy and corporate responsibility; c. Individual culpability and defenses for state actors and private individuals.

Part 3 includes: a. War crimes, crimes against peace and humanity, and grave breaches of the Geneva Convention; b. Genocide; c. Forced disappearances; d. Sexual violence.

Part 4 includes: a. Police practices, (search & seizure and the exclusionary rule; arrest; court access for determining legality of arrests and detention; pre-trial publicity and presumption of innocence); b. Due process trial provisions, (assistance of counsel; judge and jury impartiality; examination of witnesses and documents; privilege against self-incrimination; right to speedy trial; ex post facto laws; double jeopardy).

Part 5 includes: a. Principles underlying punishment; b. Death penalty.

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.

LAW2529

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.

3 quarter hours

LAW2526

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.

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. There are no prerequisites, but 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.

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.

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.  Labor Law I, or an equivalent exposure to the National Labor Relations Act Law and procedure, is a prerequisite to Labor Law II.

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.

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.

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 the various paradigms for analyzing issues in law, policy and society are required. (This course follows the University’s academic calendar.)

This is a limited-enrollment class for students selected as teaching facilitators for the Law , Culture, and Difference course.  This course provides upper-level students with an opportunity to continue examining the role of law within a diverse society, to look critically at the assumptions, beliefs and values that underlie legal doctrine and to examine emerging theories of law that grapple with and explore difference. Students who take LDD are also trained to act as teaching facilitators for first-year students in the Law, Culture and Difference course.

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.

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.

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 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. Most students are observed at least once in a negotiation session and receive feedback from the instructor. Students are required 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.

This course will explore the growing number of so-called "third generation" approaches to environmental protection operating outside of the traditional model, which relies primarily on federal statutory and regulatory interventions. Topics to be covered will include innovations at the municipal, state, interstate and international level, as well as the use of common law and other non-legislative approaches to achieving environmental objectives. Several of the classes will feature guest lecturers who are personally engaged in redefining the practice of environmental law through the use of these cutting-edge legal strategies. After surveying the variety of new approaches now in use or under consideration, the closing sessions of the class will focus on the issue of global climate change and how many of these new approaches are being used separately and in combination to address a pressing environmental issue in the absence of federal regulatory authority.

This course is about federal regulation of nonprofit organizations. The regulatory statute is the Internal Revenue Code. The method of regulation is to set conditions which organizations must meet if they are to be exempt from tax.

There is no prerequisite to this course. Although it 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.

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.

The clinic represents a number of community-based organizations that seek to give poor people a powerful voice for self-determination. These poor people’s organizations empower their members on issues of housing, work and welfare. Organizational goals are pursued through community education, individual and group advocacy.

Clinic students will be assigned to represent organizations, their members and individual clients who seek assistance. In addition to community education, students will appear before administrative, legislative and judicial decision-makers on behalf of their clients. Students will focus on particular substantive legal areas such as employment, housing and welfare, and will learn to make that knowledge available to community organizations.

Students will devote 20 hours per week to the course.

(Limit depends on the rotation. Preference for third year students and fluent Spanish speakers.)

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 both an adversarial proceeding (a disciplinary hearing) and a non-adversarial proceeding (parole related hearing or classification hearing) from beginning to end. 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.

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, the role of law in influencing racial and class disparities in health, bioterrorism, and the civil liberties threats 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.

This course focuses on the legal, ethical and professional dilemmas encountered by lawyers. Emphasis is on justice as a product of the quality of life that society provides to people rather than merely the process that the legal system provides once a crime or breach of duty has occurred. The course also provides students with a working knowledge of the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the Code of Professional Responsibility as well as an understanding of the underlying issues and a perspective within which to evaluate them. In addition, the course examines the distribution of legal services to poor and non-poor clients.

This clinic provides students with an opportunity to gain experience in public interest law, health law, municipal 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.  However, students may explore other public health-related topics as well.  In addition to weekly class readings and discussions, each student will be expected to work on a major research project throughout the quarter, to meet regularly with an attorney mentor at the school’s Tobacco Control Resource Center or Public Health Advocacy Institute, and to produce a substantial paper summarizing his/her research.

Enrollment is limited to 6

6 quarter hours

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). MBA students who have taken Quantitative Methods should not enroll.

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. Corporations, or its equivalent, is a prerequisite.

This seminar 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 an issue in a complex area of the law. The classes will focus on the process of first creating a structure through which to analyze the issue and of then using that structure effectively to write an incisive discussion. The second part of the course will focus on persuasive writing. Students will work on an appellate brief on the same issue they analyzed in their office memorandum.  The entire course will focus on writing precisely and concisely, using citation form accurately and effectively, and other skills essential to effective legal writing and analysis.

LAW2528

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 are expected to write a research paper on a topic related to the issues discussed in class.

Enrollment is limited to 15

3 quarter hours

This research and writing seminar provides an opportunity for in-depth exploration of a specific human rights issue raised by racial, gender, cultural, or other forms of group or individual identity. Students work with the instructor to develop a research topic. Each student is required to submit a preliminary outline and bibliography to the instructor and to present and circulate a first draft to the seminar participants. Class discussions will center on the development of the research papers and on readings by critical theorists who have examined the implications of race, gender, cultural, and other forms of identity for human rights law. Having taken a course in International Law, Comparative Law, or Human Rights Law is a prerequisite for taking this course.

This small section of Professional Responsibility will be taught as a seminar-style course. The course will incorporate basic analytical and legal reasoning techniques, as well as offer opportunities for students to have their legal writing critiqued. This will be 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 your basic analytical and writing skills.

To analyze the effectiveness of lawyers and the legal process in providing relief for victims of contemporary racial injustice, this course reviews the development of American law bearing on racial issues from the introduction of slavery to the present. Court decisions, statutes and appropriate writings are used to trace the change in the legal status of African people and then review their continuing efforts to eliminate racist policies in voting, public accommodations and the administration of justice. Special attention is given to education. Some attention is given to limits on the right to protest all forms of discrimination imposed by the courts. The alternatives to legally protected protest activities, including civil disobedience, are also reviewed.

Building on students’ basic background in women’s rights, this course addresses the theoretical, strategic and policy concerns that arise in the practice of women’s rights law. Students will work through a variety of contemporary case studies involving strategic litigation, legislative drafting, and domestic and international advocacy. Substantive areas addressed will range from poverty law to immigration law to constitutional law to legal ethics, all from a strategic women’s rights perspective. The course will also incorporate skill-building exercises addressing strategic planning, drafting, coalition-building, media relations and legal research and writing.

The course uses case law, feminist theory and queer theory to address doctrinal problems and justice concerns associated with gender and sexuality.  Topics include privacy, same-sex marriage, sodomy, sexual harassment, discrimination, among others. Students should expect to write a paper and share some of what they have learned with the class.

This course will examine the unique ways in which legal theory and practice have grown and adapted since the introduction of computers, with a particular emphasis on intellectual property law. The course will explore the application of copyright, patent and trade secret regimes to computer software and electronic information, and will examine a number of special issues relating to contracts involving computer-related products and services. Limited to students who have taken, or who are currently taking, intellectual property.

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.

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 covered include: the sources and scope of state and 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.

The Legal Imagination course is based on a book by the same name by James B. White. In the past, we have read and discussed large portions of that book, as well as Shakespeare’s "Troilus and Cressida" and "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austin. The central questions in the course are: What does it mean to think, speak, and write like a lawyer? What does one gain and lose as a human being in the process? During the course, students write approximately ten short papers, each of which deepen one’s exploration of those questions. We discuss student papers and the questions in class.

This is a basic course in the law of wills and trusts. It covers intestacy, the law of wills including the formal requirements for a valid will, the use and application of various will substitutes such as inter vivos gifts and joint tenancies, and the basic law of trusts. To the extent feasible, issues are examined in a counseling and planning context.

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.

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.