Harpur College of Arts and Sciences will offer Harpur seniors the opportunity to take a special seminar next semester on the topic of class-action lawsuits, taught by Jonathan Plasse ‘97, chair of the securities litigation committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

The one-credit course, “HARP 481A: Class Action Litigation: A Means to Achieve Social Justice,” will run from 9:40 a.m. to 12:40 p.m. on five Mondays from March 19 to May 11 in the Library Tower. The course capacity is capped at 15 students.

Class-action lawsuits are claims brought by a group of plaintiffs on behalf of a larger class of people. The class will examine class-action lawsuits from the past 50 years involving issues in environmental law, civil rights and anti-trust laws. These include Dukes v. Walmart, this summer’s landmark Supreme Court case that dismissed a class-action lawsuit against Walmart for sexual discrimination, and set precedent making it much harder for plaintiffs to be certified to proceed in court as a class.

Students enrolled in the class will be required to draft mock briefs for the certification of various class-actions and participate in oral arguments against a panel of “judges,” which will consist of both students and teachers.

Plasse, who is currently a partner at Labaton Sucharow LLP law firm in New York City, has litigated class-action lawsuits for more than 30 years.

Harpur College Dean Donald Nieman said the idea for the class came from Plasse, who expressed interest in teaching a course.

“We try to bring alumni back to campus to share their expertise with their students and Jon has been back to campus many times to … meet with students, to share his advice on law,” Nieman said. “He was interested in doing a short course and we thought that it would be great for students to learn about the law from someone who practices it at a very high level.”

Neiman said the course is only being offered to seniors due its complexity.

“It’s an opportunity to help students understand a pretty technical aspect of the law that has huge social ramifications,” Nieman said. “Students who are more experienced who have developed an interest and some level of expertise in constitutional issues may be best able to take advantage of this course.”

Some Harpur seniors said they were interested in enrolling in the class.

“I think it’s definitely a good thing,” said Anthony Dichiara, a senior majoring in sociology. “There should be a wider range of class options to prepare students for law school. Even if you’re not studying law, [the class] would still give students a pretty good sense of the country’s legal system.”