The course will examine Supreme Judicial Court and United States Supreme Court cases concerned with the intrusions of an individual's privacy and an individual's right against self-incrimination. Class time will consist of lively discussions concentrated on the constitutional analysis of fact patterns from selected cases. This interactive approach will teach students how to raise issues under the 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments and Articles 12 and 14 of the Massachusetts Constitution. Grades will be based upon a final examination, class participation and performance. A student may not also take the course Search, Seizure and Suppression.
Examination is required.
This course covers the analysis of case law and relevant legislative materials relating to various topics including variances, special permits, nonconforming uses, amendments, spot zoning, interim zoning, contract zoning, exactions and fees, condominiums and zoning, growth controls, cluster zoning, intergovernmental zoning conflicts, inclusionary and exclusionary zoning. The legal writing requirement may be fulfilled as an adjunct to the course, but the final grade is based solely on the final examination performance. A premise of the course is that the attorney-client relationship can benefit from careful planning. In the process of examining law as both profession and enterprise, students will conduct library and online research about their chosen area of law practice as well as personal interviews of practicing attorneys. The course concludes with an oral presentation by each student of a written law practice management plan incorporating the results of the student's research and analysis.