Small Firm Practice Concentration

Designed to give students a familiarity with accounting and business theory and terminology. Heavy emphasis is placed on planning and analyzing various business transactions from an accounting and legal perspective using financial data and incorporating tax implications. Please check the most recent course registration information to determine if this course meets the Experiential Education/Professional Skills requirement.

This course is designed for students interested in regulatory law and those who seek additional coverage of pertinent constitutional law topics. Coverage includes the sources and nature of agency authority, agency rule making and adjudication, and judicial review of agency action. Constitutional issues addressed include the interplay of power among the three federal branches, procedural due process, and justiciability issues such as standing, ripeness, and mootness. Special emphasis is placed on the federal Administrative Procedure Act; state analogs may be studied as well. Attention also may be given to the internal functioning of typical administrative bodies and to the relationship between regulators and the regulated community.

Students in this clinical component course spend 10 (2-credit) or 15 (3-credit) hours a week in the same or a similar setting in which they have successfully completed work in a prior clinic. Although students seeking further clinical experiences generally are better served by expanding their resumes and taking a different clinic in a different setting, for a few students where continuing in the same or equivalent setting will be more beneficial educationally, the Advanced Clinic provides the mechanism for continuing in a placement and receiving credit. Students will submit weekly journals, describing and reflecting on their experiences in the field, and will meet in a series of seminars with the course instructor and/or the Clinical Director to explore the relationship between the principles covered in the substantive class and the students’ fieldwork. Students will need approval both from the Clinical Director and the course instructor for the relevant subject area clinic, and will further need to develop with their course instructor a plan for the student’s participation in seminars to reflect the advanced nature of the learning. Please note that students approved for the Advanced Clinic, which would be their second semester in the same placement, may not be approved through any additional semesters in the same placement through any vehicle, including the Practice Credit. This course satisfies the Experiential Education/Professional Skills Requirement.

This course is a broad overview of the US Bankruptcy Code and Rules, including the history and philosophy of bankruptcy law, focusing on business bankruptcy under Chapters 7 and 11. The course deals extensively with the rights and obligations of debtors and creditors, including secured and priority creditors. In addition, the course addresses the mechanics of filing, administration, and dispute resolution in Bankruptcy Court, including strategic planning for both debtors and creditors. Major conceptual analysis will include the automatic stay, claims, the estate, discharge and its limits, avoidable transfers, executor contracts, and related topics. Jurisdiction and appellate procedures may also be covered. This course may be offered every other year.

Examines the similarities and differences among various types of business organizations (sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies). Important issues studied include organization and formation requirements; roles, responsibilities, and potential liabilities of persons acting on behalf of the business organization and/or owning the business organization; the procedures and most frequent grounds for litigation involving business organizations; corporate social responsibility; and a brief introduction to the law of securities regulation and corporate control.

This capstone course focuses on typical issues lawyers face in representing closely-held and private businesses. These issues track the life cycle of the business from formation through operation and growth and ending with an exit from the business. The approach of the course integrates issues from substantive corporation law, partnership law and limited liability company (LLC) law with federal business income tax and federal securities law issues. Specific issues addressed include: choice of entity; determining governance structure; financing the business; compensating the owners and manager; operating and growing the business; exit strategies including selling the business, merging the business, or going public. Additional topics include practical and ethical issues involving who the lawyer represents, distinguishing legal issues from business issues and alternatives to traditional hourly billing. This course may be offered every other year.

The Business Practice credit provides an opportunity for students to gain practical legal experience in a setting outside the law school; it is an externship credit for students interested in business law. Each student works in an appropriate placement that has been approved by a faculty member who teaches a related subject and the Clinical Director. Students spend an average of five hours per week, totaling a minimum of 65 hours per semester, assisting attorneys in handling matters involving various areas of business law. Because of the differing types of work in these placements, the number of hours of field work may vary somewhat from week to week, as determined by the student, the faculty member, and the field supervisor. Students will submit weekly journals, describing and reflecting on their experiences in the field, and will meet periodically with their faculty advisor to explore the relationship between the principles covered in the substantive class and the students’ fieldwork. Prerequisites/corequisites are various business law courses, based on the subject matter of the fieldwork.

The theme of this seminar is the manner in which tensions related to the division of power and control play out between children and parents, children and the state, and parents and the state in a wide variety of contexts. Topics include, but are not limited to, the right of parents to make medical, educational, and other decisions about their children without state intervention; First Amendment rights of children; rights of young children in school; children’s economic relationship within the family; child abuse and neglect; child custody; corporal punishment; and the nature and scope of constitutional rights and privileges in delinquency proceedings.

This course studies relief for individual debtors under Chapter 7 (liquidation) and Chapter 13 (rehabilitation). Topics covered include prebankruptcy planning; the means test; eligibility; property of the estate; the automatic stay; exemptions; lien avoidance; nondischargeable debts, including domestic support and other marital obligations; jurisdiction issues in concurrent divorce and bankruptcy proceedings; reaffirmation and redemption rights; the trustee’s avoiding powers; avoidance actions; Chapter 13 plans; and the bankruptcy discharge. This course may be offered every other year.

This course will focus on a series of realistic commercial transactions, with particular attention to the incorporation of the business terms into various agreements, as well as a review of how the standard key legal provisions and concepts interact within an agreement. Students will consider how business terms affect the legal provisions in an agreement and how precise drafting can convey the deal terms as intended. Students will analyze term sheets and letters of intent from a corporate, real estate, or other deal-making context for purposes of incorporating deal terms into transactional agreements, which may include asset, stock or purchase and sale agreements; assumption and assignment agreements; employment agreements; shareholder agreements; leases; operating agreements; loan agreements; escrow agreements; settlement agreements; closing agreements, and the like. Students may work in groups and draft documents based upon real transactions. Additionally, students will be exposed to the types of drafting assignments that a law firm setting might provide or require.

This course addresses the historical and contemporary relationship between criminal and immigration law. Intended for students interested in practicing Immigration or Criminal Law, the course will explore how various pleas, sentences, and convictions impact foreign nationals. The course covers criminal grounds of deportability and inadmissibility, categorization of crimes under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), types of immigration relief available to foreign nationals with criminal history, and postconviction relief for foreign nationals in criminal court. The course is practice oriented. Students should come away with an understanding of how criminal attorneys should handle cases involving noncitizens. It also will provide a toolbox for immigration attorneys for advising criminal defense attorneys in criminal proceedings, for practice before the immigration courts, and for seeking postconviction relief in criminal court.

This course is designed to prepare students for handling divorce cases through the trial phase. This course presumes prior knowledge of the substantive law areas covered during the first two years of law school, especially family law. The course itself concentrates on divorce and the development of skills in trial advocacy as applied to the field of family law. Problems faced by students acting as counsel include client interviews, investigation, discovery, pleadings and amended pleadings, motions, opening and closing statements, examination of witnesses, offers of opinion, evidence, offers of exhibits into evidence, objections, the impeachment of witnesses, and preserving rights on appeal. Simulation exercises are critiqued by the instructors and class. Please check the most recent course registration information to determine if this course meets the Experiential Education/Professional Skills requirements.

The course addresses partner-violence issues in the legal system, including the consequences for children, focusing, initially, on those issues relating to civil orders of protection; prosecution and defense of criminal charges; and divorce, custody, and child support, along with the role of the Department of Children and Families. In the final third of the course, students choose other legal issues in partner-violence cases to present to the class. Presentations in earlier years have included such topics as immigration, cyberstalking, religious law, housing, and evidence issues that are significant in partner-violence cases. Students will be encouraged to consider how issues of race, class, ethnicity, and gender affect the analyses.

This course deals with the employer/employee relationship when the employee is not represented by a labor union, but rather seeks protection under state or federal legislation. Among the topics are legal restraints on employer screening of employees, wage and hour legislation, occupational health and safety legislation, restrictions on employee discharge, employment discrimination, retirement, and other employee workplace rights and protections. This course may be offered every other year.

Covers both estate planning for smaller estates and tax-oriented estate planning. After a consideration of planning techniques for the smaller estate, basic concepts of federal estate and gift taxation are introduced through the study of relevant estate and gift tax code sections and regulations. Thereafter, the course considers various problems involved in planning for the preservation and disposition of wealth. Among the tools studied are wills, revocable and irrevocable inter vivos trusts, and various gifting techniques. Careful analysis is given to the impact of estate, gift, and income tax laws on the disposition of property under different types of plans. Please check the most recent course registration information to determine if this course meets the Experiential Education/Professional Skills requirements.

Surveys many legal problems of the family. Students taking this course will learn about the effect of the constitution on reproductive activity and family formation and structure. They also will learn about procedures for family dissolution, custody, and support, regardless of whether there has been a marriage or not. In addition, students will learn about the various ways in which members of families can use contracts to create their own relations and the settings in which the state does not permit self-determination. Finally, the course explores the lawyer’s role in family counseling and litigation. One or more written exercises are sometimes required during the course, in addition to a final examination.

Students in this clinical component spend 10 (2-credit) or 15 (3-credit) hours a week in settings that expose them to the practice of family law. Most placements will be in settings such as legal services offices, including New England Law’s in-house clinic, in which students will handle family law cases pursuant to Supreme Judicial Court Rule 3:03, the student practice rule. Since most legal services offices take family law cases primarily where there are issues of domestic violence, the family law placements typically will expose students to issues covered in the Domestic Violence and Family Law courses. Settings beyond legal services offices will be appropriate placements as well, as long as the substantive work in the field will expose students to issues covered in the courses recognized as the corequisites/prerequisites. Students will submit weekly journals, describing and reflecting on their experiences in the field, and will meet in a series of seminars with the course instructor and/or the Clinical Director to explore the relationship between the principles covered in the substantive class and the students’ fieldwork. Prerequisite/corequisites include Domestic Violence and Family Law. This course satisfies the Experiential Education/Professional Skills Requirement.

The objective of the course is to provide the student with a general knowledge of immigration laws and procedures in the United States. Focus is on the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the specific procedures established for the processing of affirmative applications for status, as well as defending against removal. The course covers the constitutional authority of the federal government to legislate and regulate immigration, nonimmigrant and immigrant visas (including family and employment based), grounds of inadmissibility and deportability, and defenses against removal. It also touches on asylum law and issues impacting those present without documentation. The course is practice oriented, with theory grounding and contextualizing aspects of the course, as relevant.

Covers contemporary insurance issues in property, liability, automobile, health, and life insurance. These areas are studied in the context of disputes, such as coverage for pollution, discrimination, or sexual abuse. Emphasis is given to rules of policy interpretation and applicability of public policy. Background issues are incorporated into the course and include fraud, extracontractual damages, the duty to defend, conflict of interests, and the role of legislatures and regulators. The purpose of the course is to familiarize the student with traditional insurance principles, theories of insurance law, and the approaches to insurance issues that underlie tort and statutory remedies. This course may be offered every other year.

Explores the primary methods by which the state defines and controls juvenile delinquency in our society. Through the study of case law, students are exposed to the history and philosophy of the juvenile justice system and to the concept of juvenile delinquency. In particular, focus is given to the unique juvenile court, its roles as a legal system and as a social welfare system, and a comparative analysis of juvenile law and process. Also explored are dependency, neglect, and diversion programs.

Focuses primarily on regulation by the National Labor Relations Board and the federal courts of union/management relations in private industry. Much time is devoted to gaining an understanding of the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act. Specific topics surveyed include union organization tactics, including use of company and union propaganda, representation elections, determination of bargaining units, contract negotiations, arbitration proceedings, strikes, boycotts, pickets, the rights of striking employees, and a union’s duty to employees. This course may be offered every other year.

Students in this course explore various common law principles, constitutional and regulatory issues, and practical skills required for the practice of land use law. The law of nuisance, takings, substantive and procedural due process, zoning, subdivision development, and area planning are all likely topics of coverage. Practice-skills development may be a prominent component of the course, and students should emerge with practical knowledge of the processes for seeking variances, special permit, and site- plan review, among other development-related processes. Timely issues such as affordable housing, growth management, green development, environmental impact review, and energy alternatives may be covered, depending on student interest. Research, writing, and presenting may be components of the course, which may or may not include an exam. Please check the most recent course registration information to determine if this course meets the Experiential Education/Professional Skills Requirement.

This class examines the relationship between residential property owners and their lessees, and focuses on Massachusetts law and practice. The course takes an in-depth look at issues such as the formation of the landlord-tenant relationship, including terms of tenancies (for years and at will), required and prohibited terms of a rental agreement, payments at the start of a tenancy (paying close attention to rules governing security deposits), tenant protections and landlord obligations related to rental unit conditions (implied warranty of habitability, covenant of quiet enjoyment, and state sanitary code), termination of tenancies (with a special focus on summary process evictions), protections for tenants in foreclosed buildings, housing discrimination, homelessness as a consequence of eviction, rental housing affordability, and landlords’ tort liability.

This class presents a broad overview of the legal and policy questions relating to aging individuals and an older society. As our elderly population continues to grow faster than the population as a whole, the legal profession must be prepared to address the wide range of legal issues that particularly affect the elderly. Topics that are explored include how the elderly live when they retire and their income drops, health-care options and access to care, housing alternatives when a person ages and becomes frail, and long-term care policies. Students also study health-care decision making, planning for incapacity, legal considerations when individuals can no longer make decisions for themselves, and elder abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation. This course involves frequent use of simulations, and problem-solving extrapolated from actual situations encountered by elderly clients. Please check the most recent course registration information to determine if this course meets the Experiential Education/Professional Skills requirement.

Law Practice Management teaches students how to set up and run a small law firm or a solo practice; however, the skills and lessons learned in the class are transferable to any law practice, large or small. The class focuses on what is needed to launch your practice, how to generate business, how to establish a fee structure, how to actually handle the substantive work, how to manage clients, how to deal with opposing counsel, and how to fire a client. The class also discusses law firm economics, which is critical to understand, whether you are hanging your own shingle or working for someone else. Ethical considerations and malpractice traps in the context of the day-to-day practice of law are weekly themes. Additional elements of a law practice that are examined include 1) forming a business plan; 2) incorporation/partnership, employment/independent contracts; 3) insurance; 4) tax liabilities, annual and other filings and deposits, IOLTA; 5) space; 6) equipment; 7) management; 8) rainmaking and networking; 9) computer software; 10) banking: client funds, trust accounts, operating accounts, conveyancing accounts, IOLTA requirements; and 11) marketing and advertising. Former and current practitioners are guest lecturers, and in the past, they have included a disbarred lawyer to speak of his ethical missteps, bar counsel from the Office of Bar Counsel, a panel of seasoned practitioners, representatives from LOMAP and LCL. The course also involves a “shadowing” program, where students are matched with local practitioners based upon substantive law and geography. Each student meets with a local practitioner to discuss his or her practice and start to build the student’s network. Please check the most recent course registration information to determine if this course meets the Experiential Education/Professional Skills requirement.

This one-semester course serves as an introduction to civil litigation. Students attend a 2-hour weekly class and perform 16 hours per week of clinical work, working on civil cases through the Clinical Law Office or other legal services offices, such as Greater-Boston Legal Services. Students represent clients under Rule 3:03 of the Supreme Judicial Court, the student practice rule, and may assume responsibility for all phases of cases they handle. Students meets on a weekly basis with their assigned supervisor to discuss progress and strategy on the student’s cases, and are responsible for handling cases until the end of the examination period. The major objective of the course is to develop a conceptual framework within which students can understand and evaluate their own experience in practice, both during the course and in future practice. The skills studied include client interviewing, case planning, investigation/discovery, client counseling, negotiation, argument, and the presentation of evidence. In addition to providing the opportunity to develop skills, the course examines institutional and ethical problems that arise in the student’s practice. Written work includes short papers and an examination. Prerequisites/corequisites include Evidence or Trial Practice. This course satisfies the Experiential Education Requirement.

This class will examine the legal structure and powers of cities and towns, and consider how the law interacts with municipalities’ ability to confront specific policy or transactional challenges. The class will be organized around a series of case studies through which students will confront an array of the types of questions faced by attorneys who represent, appear before, or litigate against local governments. Topics considered this year will include: a municipality’s role in enforcing federal immigration laws; local regulation of “sharing economy” businesses such as ride sharing and short-term rentals; selling a parcel of public property for large-scale private development; redistricting and managing a local election; funding the operation of a new public space; and structuring an incentive package to encourage a business to locate in a specific city. This course may be offered every other year.

Students are introduced to the principles of conflict resolution through the mediation process and through evolving mediation hybrids, including learning about the legal, ethical, sociological, and procedural aspects of mediation through a series of simulated exercises. Students participate directly in simulations drawn from many areas involving conflict, such as family law, trusts and estates, land use and real estate, business, sports law, construction, entertainment, and employment. During the second half of the course, the focus is on the role of lawyers in the mediation process and the skills needed to be an effective and appropriate advocate in resolving disputes for clients. Please check the most recent course registration information to determine if this course meets the Experiential Education/Professional Skills requirements.

Students in this clinical component course will spend 10 (2-credit) or 15 (3-credit) hours per week in settings that expose them to various aspects of dispute resolution, mediation. Students will submit weekly journals, describing and reflecting on their experiences in the field, and will meet in a series of seminars with the course instructor and/or the Clinical Director to explore the relationship between the principles covered in the substantive class and the students’ fieldwork. Prerequisites/corequisites include Alternative Dispute Resolution, Mediation, or Negotiation. This course satisfies the Experiential Education/Professional Skills Requirement.

This course provides an in-depth look at the tort of medical malpractice, from both a theoretical and practical perspective. The course will cover topics such as the treatment relationship, the elements of a medical malpractice claim, the standard of care, confidentiality, informed consent, loss of chance, causation, risk-management issues, and the role of insurance in medical negligence. The class will also delve into the mechanics of a medical malpractice lawsuit, from both the plaintiff and the defendant’s perspective, and cover potential theories of liability, pretrial discovery, depositions of medical experts, evidentiary issues at trial, defenses to medical malpractice actions, and allowable damages. This course may be offered every other year.

Focuses on three principal areas: real estate sales, conveyancing, and mortgage law. In the area of sales transactions, the course covers such topics as the lawyer’s professional responsibility, duties owed by brokers to sellers and buyers, offers of purchase, purchase and sales agreements, remedies for breach, and closing. In the area of conveyancing, the course covers the requisites and construction of deeds, escrows, surveyor malpractice, recording procedures, liabilities of grantors for defective conditions, title searches, title abstracts, and title insurance. In the mortgage law component, the course covers the defining characteristics and standard provisions of a mortgage, mortgage substitutes, discrimination in lending, lien priorities and subordination of interests, assignments by mortgagees, transfer by mortgagors, foreclosures, redemption, waste, usury, and fixture security interests. The course emphasizes the negotiation and proper drafting of instruments.

Explores the theory and the art of resolving conflict through negotiation. Various styles are presented for comparison and analysis. Students are urged to evaluate their own intuitive style and to experience others. Practical experience is achieved through one-on-one and group negotiations exercises. The theory of conflict, strategic choice, ethical issues, and the negotiator’s dilemma are presented in a variety of substantive contexts. Please check the most recent course registration information to determine if this course meets the Experiential Education/Professional Skills requirement.

This course will examine nonprofit organizations and the sector in which they operate. The course will focus on the legal framework governing the operation of the nonprofit organizations, including issues of choice of form, governing bodies, and regulation of solicitations. The course also will survey the basic federal income and state property tax issues relevant to operation of the nonprofit organization. These issues include qualification for tax exemption, filing requirements, engaging in commercial activities, and the distinction between public charities and private foundations. This course may be offered every other year.

This course covers the Internal Revenue Code provisions applicable to the tax treatment of individual taxpayers. Students also will study tax policy, case law, and the tax doctrines and principles applicable to the determination of an individual’s taxable income. This course provides the basic structure for understanding and interpreting the Internal Revenue Code, and serves as a foundation for upper-level tax and business-related law school courses. Areas of coverage includes: gross income; the tax consequences of property transactions; property acquired by gift, bequest, devise, or inheritance; scholarships, prizes, and awards; life insurance and annuities; discharge of indebtedness; personal injury damages; fringe benefits; divorce; and deductions related to a trade or business or profit-seeking activity. When offered as a distance-learning course, there will be required weekly readings from the casebook and online statutory and regulatory sources, regular mini-lectures on prerecorded video accompanied by PowerPoint slides, discussion forums to which students must make posts each week, and weekly quizzes. All course material other than the casebook will be accessible by any computing device through an Internet connection. While most of the course will be asynchronous, opportunities will be presented for synchronous digital chat. In addition to posing questions and providing guidance on the discussion boards and through the video lectures, the professor will be available throughout the course by e-mail, conference call, or live chat. Grading will be based on participation in the forums (including a qualitative component), performance on quizzes, and a final “open-book” examination.

An analysis of the various means for assessing responsibility for damages arising from products sold in commerce. Among the topics covered are theories of liability, including negligence, misrepresentation, warranty, and strict liability; the concept of defectiveness; and special types of defendants. Liability is analyzed under both common law and statutes. This course may be offered every other year.

This course covers the federal tax treatment of the four main business entity forms. Students will study and learn the tax provisions and tax principles that provide for double tax treatment of C corporations and single-level tax treatment of S corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies. Emphasis will be on issues related to the formation, operation, and liquidation of those business entities. This course is intended for students with an interest in a business law practice, for students who have a strong interest in tax law, as well as for students who are interested in specializing in tax law.

In this course, students investigate the state and federal systems of trademark law. This study includes trademark creation, registration, protection, and litigation. The class also explores other, more general theories of unfair competition, including right of publicity law.

This skills course is designed to prepare students for the trial phase of litigation. Although it presumes prior knowledge of the substantive areas of law covered during the first two years of law school, especially evidence, the course itself concentrates on trial procedure and the development of jury trial advocacy skills. Students conduct complete mock trials in which they participate as parties, witnesses, and counsel. Problems faced by students acting as counsel include jury selection, opening statements, closing arguments, examination of witnesses-including opinion testimony, offers of exhibits, objections to evidence, and impeachment of witnesses. Mock trial exercises are critiqued by the instructor and class members. Consideration also is given to client interviews, investigation, discovery, pleadings, pretrial motions, and the preservation of rights to appeal. Please check the most recent course registration information to determine if this course meets the Experiential Education/Professional Skills requirement.