Introductory Legal Courses
Boston College Continuing Education offers a series of pre-recorded courses online in various aspects of legal education. Courses are taught by expert Boston College Law School professors and include lectures with visual materials, handouts, readings, and quizzes.
The Introductory Legal Courses are targeted toward international law students and lawyers, those interested in the legal profession, and lawyers as a refresher.
Courses
Course Details
Introduction to Transactional Law Practice
Instructor: Paul R. Tremblay, Clinical Professor of Law, Boston College Law School
Course Fee: $50
Course Description:
Most lawyers in the United States engage in transactional practice. Unlike litigators who represent clients in court or administrative hearings, lawyers work with individuals or businesses to arrange their affairs, establish legal and organizational structures, and advise about compliance. This introduction will focus on one increasingly relevant aspect of that work—representing startups. The course will outline the typical steps in organizing a new business, including choosing an appropriate entity, arranging the relationships among the founders and any new investors or workers, protecting the enterprise’s intellectual property, and addressing any ethical issues that arise.
Estimated time to complete: 2 hours
Paul R. Tremblay is a Clinical Professor of Law and Dean’s Distinguished Scholar at Boston College Law School. A member of the faculty since 1982, he teaches clinical courses at 51²è¹Ý Legal Services LAB within the Center for Experiential Learning. He served as the Associate Dean for Experiential Learning from 2012 until 2015. Professor Tremblay also teaches a professional responsibility course each year. Prior to his appointment at Boston College Law School, Professor Tremblay was a Senior Attorney at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and an instructor at UCLA School of Law. He has also taught a course at Harvard Law School.Ìý
Professor Tremblay directs the Community Enterprise Clinic, one of Boston College Law School’s transactional clinical courses. In the Community Enterprise Clinic, students represent low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations. The mission of the Community Enterprise Clinic is to support economic progress in under-resourced neighborhoods, and to offer a vibrant educational experience to students interested in business law, transactional work, and community economic development.Ìý
Before developing the transactional clinic, Professor Tremblay taught civil litigation and housing law clinics at the Boston College Legal Assistance Bureau.Ìý
Professor Tremblay is actively involved in matters of professional ethics, transactional practice, interdisciplinary collaboration, and legal services for the poor. He is a member of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct, and served from 1993 until 2020, including two terms as co-chair, on the Boston Bar Association Ethics Committee. He is a board member and Vice President of Lawyers Clearinghouse, and a board member and Treasurer of Lawyers for Affordable Justice. He has also served on the Executive Committee of the Section on Professional Responsibility of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). He is the co-author of two textbooks used in law school clinics around the country, and more than 30 law review articles.Ìý
In January, 2020, Professor Tremblay received the William Pincus Award, given annually by the AALS Clinical Section. He was the recipient of the 2004 Outstanding Advocate for Clinical Teachers Award from the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) and was awarded the Emil Slizewski Excellence in Teaching Award at Boston College Law School in 2008.
Introduction to Evidence
Instructor: Jeffrey Cohen, Associate Professor of the Practice, Boston College Law School
Course Fee: $50
Course Description:
U.S. judges use rules of evidence to control the flow of information that a jury is allowed to hear. Evidentiary rules seek to balance access to relevant information with a desire to avoid evidence that is unreliable, inflammatory, or repetitive. This course will explore the reasons for Rules of Evidence and cover some of the major topics, including relevance and hearsay.
Estimated time to complete: 2 hours
Jeffrey M. CohenÌýreceived his J.D. from Stanford Law School. He has also received a masters degree from Oxford University in Social Anthropology. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. His primary research interests include criminal law and procedure, especially in the areas of corporate sentencing and punishment. Jeffrey was an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Massachusetts, where he prosecuted and tried numerous high-profile public corruption and government fraud cases. Before joining the U.S. Attorney's Office, he worked at the Department of Justice in Washington D.C. as an Honors Program Trial Attorney, where he litigated civil False Claims Act cases around the country. Jeffrey clerked at the United States District Court in Massachusetts for Judge Reginald C. Lindsay and at the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts for Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall. Prior to joining 51²è¹Ý, Jeffrey was Acting Assistant Professor at New York University School of Law.Ìý Before NYU, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Boston University School of Law, where he taught courses in white collar crime and criminal trial practice.
Perspectives: Judges and Prosecutors on the U.S. Legal System
Instructors: Hon. Christine McEvoy (ret.), Adjunct Professor, Boston College Law School and Kevin Curtin (deceased), Adjunct Professor, Boston College Law School
Course Fee: $50
Course Description:
Justice Christine M. McEvoyÌýand Prosecutor Kevin J. Curtin address the respective roles of an independent judiciary and a professional prosecutor’s office in the U.S. criminal justice system. Their focus is on the process of fairly adjudicating the criminal responsibility of persons accused of crimes, while protecting the individual rights of all parties involved and respecting the accused’s right to the due process of law.
Estimated time to complete: 2 hours
Justice Christine M. McEvoyÌýis presently an Adjunct Professor of Law at Boston College Law School, teaching Trial Practice, having served as a faculty member since 1987. She has also been a Visiting Professor teaching Evidence and Criminal Law. She is a retired Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court where she presided over numerous high-profile trials during her 21 years of service. She also was a District Court judge for 5 years and a Middlesex County Assistant District Attorney for 12 years. Upon her graduation from law school, she served as a Law Clerk to the Justices of the Superior Court. She is a board member of the Flaschner Judicial Institute, having chaired their Evidence program for many years. She is co-author of Suppression Matters under Massachusetts Law, Grasso & McEvoy, 2020 Ed., Lexis-Nexis, as well as contributing chapter author of several Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education publications. Justice McEvoy has lectured extensively on search and seizure, homicide, criminal law, criminal procedure, and evidence at numerous judicial and legal forums and has taught bar review courses. She also chaired the Rule of Law committee for the Massachusetts Judges Conference and lectured in China, Russia, Cuba, and Uzbekistan.
Kevin Curtin passed away in 2020. He was the Senior Appellate Counsel for Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan '79. He tried approximately 100 jury cases and handled over 100 criminal appeals. Mr. Curtin taught trial practice at 51²è¹Ý Law School and was active in its global engagement initiatives. He was also an instructor in the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop and a faculty member of the National Trial Advocacy College at the University of Virginia School of Law. Mr. Curtin was a 1988 graduate of Boston College Law School and served as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. William G. Young of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, from 1988-1989.
Introduction to Appellate Litigation
Instructor: Thomas Barnico, Adjunct Professor, Boston College Law School
Course Fee: $50
Course Description:
This course will introduce the student to appellate litigation in the United States. We will cover the organization and jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court, including the considerations that inform Supreme Court review of lower federal and state court decisions. The course will next cover the key elements of appellate litigation: the decision to appeal, preparation of the briefs and record, and oral argument. Finally, we will study a case argued by the instructor and decided in the United States Supreme Court, Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council, 530 U.S. 363 (2000) (striking down Massachusetts law restricting state entities from buying goods or services from companies doing business with Myanmar (Burma)).
Estimated time to complete: 2 hours
Thomas Barnico is an adjunct faculty member at Boston College Law School, teaching the Attorney General Civil Litigation Program and Seminar and the Administrative Law Externship Seminar. He has directed the AG Program since 1989. In 2010-2011, 2012-2013, and 2015-2016, he was a visiting professor at the Law School, teaching Federal Courts and Administrative Law in addition to the AG Program. He also coached the 51²è¹Ý Law team in the Braxton Craven Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition at the University of North Carolina Law School from 2001-2019. Mr. Barnico served as an Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1981 to 2010. He represented the state and its officers in civil cases involving constitutional law, administrative law, and business regulation. He has argued three cases in the United States Supreme Court, 18 cases in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and 72 cases in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Mr. Barnico received his A.B. degree from Dartmouth College in 1977. He received his J.D. degree from Boston College Law School in 1980. He served as an Assistant District Attorney in Essex County (MA) in 1980 and 1981.
Environmental Law and Its Lessons for Future Governance
Instructor: Zygmunt Plater, Professor, Boston College Law School
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Course Fee: $50
Course Description:
Environmental protection law is a relatively young sector of law in the U.S. and abroad; however, patterns and frameworks have evolved that illuminate major themes and necessities of long-term societal governance and sustainability. Environmental protection law is one of the only areas of the U.S. legal system that explicitly takes into account the needs of future generations in establishing its regulatory standards. In this course, we will explore some of the specific features of U.S. environmental law that have direct relevance in other national systems, as well as its general thematic features, which are relevant in virtually all modern national states.
Estimated time to complete: 2 hours
Zygmunt Jan Broël Plater is a Professor of Environmental Protection Law and Property Law at Boston College Law School, and Coordinator of the Boston College Land & Environmental Law Program. He has taught on seven law faculties in the U.S. and abroad. He chaired the State of Alaska Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill Commission’s Legal Research Task Force, and has worked on multiple environmental problems—including toxics contamination, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, whale entanglements, national parks, strip-mining regulation, predatory land condemnations, and chemical pollution in the USA and abroad. With his students, he carried the nation’s first major endangered species case through court proceedings and a presidential Cabinet-level economic review, arguing successfully in the U.S. Supreme Court against the Attorney General of the United States. Professor Plater was named the Boston College Public Interest Law Professor of the Year in 2011, received the 2019 Kravchenko Environmental Human Rights Award, and the American Bar Association’s 2019 SEER Award for Excellence in Environmental, Energy, and Resources Stewardship.
A Mindfulness Break for Lawyers
Instructor:ÌýFilippa Anzalone, Professor and Associate Dean for Library and Technology Services, Boston College Law School
No Fee
Course Description:
Lawyers are busy people and the practice of law is a deadline-driven profession that requires critical thinking and emotional intelligence. Because of the profession’s demands, attorneys are often driven to perfectionism and judgmental habits of mind. One of the side effects of being in a stressful legal job is that practitioners often experience higher levels of depression than the general population. The National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being’s 2017 report,ÌýThe Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change, called on the legal profession and academy to do more to alleviate the alarming levels of substance abuse, addiction, and mental-health issues among attorneys.
This short course on mindfulness will introduce you to the concept of mindfulness, which is intentionally staying in the present moment without judgment. The time you spend on the course will help you to explore ways that mindfulness can help you to be a healthier and more successful lawyer. This course is the first step toward breaking the dysfunctional stress/reactor loop to which lawyers so often fall prey.
Estimated time to complete: 45 minutes
Filippa Marullo Anzalone has served as Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Library and Technology Services at Boston College Law School since August 2002. Professor Anzalone has taught Semester in Practice, an Art Law seminar, and Advanced Legal Research. Besides art law, legal education, higher education management, student formation, and law library leadership are of particular interest to her.
Before joining Boston College Law School, Filippa Marullo Anzalone was at Northeastern University School of Law School for almost eleven years. When she left Northeastern University School of Law School Library, Filippa was Professor of Law and Director of Information and Research Services. Professor Anzalone had served as Acting Dean of the Northeastern University Libraries for the 2000/2001 academic year.
Prior to entering academic law librarianship, Filippa Marullo Anzalone was director of the law library at the Boston law firm of Bingham, Dana and Gould (now Bingham McCutcheon). She has also worked as a research librarian at Dike, Bronstein, Roberts, Cushman & Pfund, as a public library administrator at the Cambridge Public Library, and as the head children's librarian in the Medford Public Library.Ìý
Professor Anzalone has published many articles, book chapters, book reviews and opinion pieces. She is active in the both the Law School and University communities. Professor Anzalone has served as a panelist and chaired several programs at recent AALL and AALS conferences and she has participated in numerous ABA, AALS, and NEASC site evaluations of law schools. She has served as a consultant to a number of law school libraries and she has lectured both in the United States and abroad on leadership and management issues.
Professor Anzalone received an A.B. from Smith College in 1975, a M.S.L.S. from Simmons College Graduate School of Library Science in 1977, and a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School in 1985.
Course Pricing
General Admission
General Admission for each online course is as follows:
Introductory Legal Courses: $50
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General Information:
You must be at least 18 years old to participate in the Introductory Legal Education courses. All sales are final; we are not able to offer refunds. Registrations may not be transferred to another person or to another course, workshop, or program.
Online registration is required to participate in a course. Tuition for each course is to be paid by debit or credit card. Registrations will be processed upon receipt of payment. Payment is due in full in order to enroll.