4 credits

Course about the legal structure and characteristics of business corporations. Topics include the promotion and formation of corporations; the distribution of power between management and shareholders; the limitations on management powers imposed by state law fiduciary duties and federal securities laws; shareholder derivative suits; capital structure and financing of corporations; and fundamental changes in corporate structure, such as mergers and sales of assets. Hirst’s Section: This section covers similar topics, but has a different emphasis and approach, involving fewer cases, and more exercises and analysis of real-world transactions and documents, including from Tesla, Twitter, and Boeing. The course involves self-directed learning through the submission of multiple choice quizzes, and some use of corporate-finance-style numerical analyses. Laptops and similar devices are generally not permitted without an accommodation. The course serves as a prerequisite to advanced courses. PREREQUISITE: Business Fundamentals.

3 credits

This course will survey the regulatory architecture of major U.S. financial institutions, including commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds, mutual funds, and insurance companies. Understanding the regulatory framework surrounding financial institutions requires situating them within a rapidly evolving political, technological and global context. The course will explore various regulatory mechanisms, such as bank supervision, security disclosures, fiduciary duties, consumer protections, capital requirements, and risk monitoring. The design of these complex governance tools has important implications for the health and stability of the economy, and thus for society. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. PREREQUISITE: Business Fundamentals.

4 credits

Many commercial and consumer financing transactions involve the creation of security interests in the borrower's personal property that are akin to mortgages of real property. (Indeed, much commercial activity involves the grant of a UCC Article 9 security interest, and the economic system depends on Article 9 to provide much of the law against which modern commerce takes place.) In a secured transaction, in the event of the borrower's default, the lender can foreclose on the collateral subject to the security interest to help liquidate the debt. While simple to describe, secured transactions and the rules that govern them can be complex. This course covers the basic secured transaction governed by Article 9 of the UCC. Topics covered will include creation and perfection of security interests, priority contests, and default. The course is an excellent precursor to Bankruptcy and often helpful when sitting for the bar exam. PREREQUISITE/COREQUISITE: Business Fundamentals. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option.

3 credits

The seminar will evaluate the current affordable housing crisis and the ways in which it has been influenced by significant events, including population growth pressures, the Great Migration, the 1918 Flu Pandemic, the spread of zoning in the 1920s, race-based restrictive housing covenants, red-lining, rent control and other topics. The course will examine the impact of racism, casteism and economic discrimination on housing law and the permitting, financing and taxation of housing by reviewing the relevant decisional law, local, state and federal regulations and statutes and housing policy reports and articles. The affordable housing crisis will be examined from the perspectives of the individuals who need affordable housing, the individuals who oppose affordable housing being built near them, the developers who design and build housing, the local officials who perform the permitting and the state and federal officials who create and enforce the regulatory, statutory and tax schemes that mold how affordable housing is created. A 15-20 page term paper will be required that examines one or more aspects of affordable housing law, with a variety of potential topics to be offered at the outset of the course. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.

3 credits

The goal of this course is to improve students' ability to resolve disputes and to productively engage in conflict. In this highly interactive class, students will examine a variety of dispute resolution processes, other than traditional court adjudication, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, dispute system design and restorative justice. Over the course of the semester, students will engage in a series of exercises (i.e., role-plays) through which they can develop and hone their skills and approaches to dispute resolution. Discussion and short lectures will accompany the exercises, as appropriate. There will be short written assignments as well as a longer paper due at the end of the semester. No final exam. NOTE: This course counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option. RESTRICTION: Students may not enroll in both Alternative Dispute Resolution and Negotiation (JD921).

4 credits

The antitrust laws reflect a conviction that competition in the marketplace will yield the best outcomes for consumers and the optimal allocation of resources in our economy. Beginning with the Sherman Act of 1890, the antitrust statutes condemn a variety of acts -- from mergers to agreements among competitors to monopolists' exclusionary business practices -- that restrain trade or contribute to monopoly power. The statutes, however, are written in general terms, leaving it to the courts to draw the line between lawful competition and unlawful restraints of trade or monopolization. Early on, the Supreme Court established that the law reaches only "unreasonable" restraints, which only begs the question of how to draw the line between "reasonable" competition and "unreasonable" interference with competitive markets. Over the course of the twentieth century, the courts struggled to fix this line; as the century closed, they had settled on an economically-oriented normative framework that largely deferred to firm decisions and doubted the value of government intervention in markets. In recent years, however, a cacophony of voices -- ranging from activists to scholars to politicians of all stripes -- has begun to call that framework into question and to call for renewed enforcement of antitrust laws. This course will explore the principal statutes and common law that have shaped antitrust law over the past century-and-a-quarter since Congress passed the Sherman Act. We will also examine the standards and procedures that the antitrust agencies use to evaluate mergers and to challenge conduct as anticompetitive. As we critically evaluate the case law, we will also reflect on current calls for reform. While we will engage rigorously with economics, all of the economic principles necessary to understand the case law and debates will be explained in the course; formal training in economics is not a requirement.

4 credits

This course focuses on corporate reorganization and corporate finance. We will study the legal requirements for reorganization plans under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, as well as the use of going concern sales outside of Chapter 11. We will study important doctrinal issues relating to reorganization of corporate groups, including substantive consolidation and equitable subordination. We will investigate avoidance actions in bankruptcy, including preferences and fraudulent conveyance, and the treatment of pre-bankruptcy contracts. Other topics include the financing of corporate debtors in bankruptcy and workouts and duties to creditors outside of bankruptcy. Finally, we will also introduce and ultimately master some basic tools of corporate finance--present value, expected value, and risk and diversification. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option. PREREQUISITE: Business Fundamentals, Corporations.

3 credits

This course is the foundational skills course within the Transactional Law Program. It teaches students basic principles and skills of drafting and analyzing commercial and transaction agreements, with a focus on recognizing, and addressing through contractual provisions, key business issues in transactions. Although the course will be of particular interest to students interested in a corporate or transactional law practice, since most practicing attorneys will need to work with contracts at some point in their career, the concepts and skills which the course conveys are applicable to virtually all practice areas and specialties. While the course utilizes lectures to introduce various contract concepts and techniques essential for drafting and reviewing commercial and transaction agreements, it also requires that students complete both in-class exercises and out-of-class assignments as a means of building basic drafting skills and a solid understanding of the structure and operation of contractual provisions in a business transaction. The course also considers various ethical issues that may arise in the contract drafting and review process and in transactional practice generally. Grades will be based on class participation and graded drafting assignments. CLASS SIZE: 12 students. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT/EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING REQUIREMENT: This course is a designated Professional Writing Course which may be used to partially satisfy the Upper-Class Writing Requirement (with a grade of B or higher) or the 6-credit Experiential Learning Requirement, but not both. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: A student who fails to attend the first class or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar will be administratively dropped from the course. Students who are on the wait list are required to attend the first class to be considered for enrollment. Because the course involves regular in-class exercises, some of which are done in teams, and class participation is a significant component of a student's final grade, regular class attendance is essential and thus the course cannot accommodate flexibility in attendance.

3 credits

This course covers the foundations of corporate finance. It starts with the concepts of time value of money, discounting, and present value. With that background it then considers the major financial decisions made by corporate managers. Topics include the valuation of financial assets and liabilities, criteria for making investment decisions, business valuation, relationships between risk and return, portfolio theory, market efficiency, capital structure choice, and cost of capital. PREREQUISITE: Business Fundamentals, Corporation

3 credits

Corporations play a central role in our society. What corporations do, and how they do it, depends on the legal rules and other forces that govern them. The course examines the most important aspects of corporate governance by analyzing real world examples. The course considers the relationship between directors and executives, and the role that mutual funds, venture capital funds, hedge funds and private equity funds play in corporations and the capital markets. We will consider the objectives and the behavior of each of these groups, and the laws and practices that shape their actions. We will also consider the social and environmental responsibility of corporations, and how corporations--and the rules and institutions that shape their operation--affect our society. There will be no exam. Instead, students will be assessed on a course paper and their class participation. PREREQUISITE: Corporations (may be waived with instructor's permission). UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who waitlist for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.

3 credits

This IP seminar studies the complicated relationship of access and ownership in the development and sustainability of IP-rich communities in the internet age. Students read intensely for the first half of the semester about particular creative and innovative communities and their IP practices, e.g., video game developers, graffiti artists, biomedical engineers, podcasters, photographers, chefs, jewelry designers, app developers (the list is endless!). In this first part of the course, students write short response papers and discuss the material. They will also begin formulating a plan for the second half of the semester, in which they will choose their own a creative or innovative community to study in depth. The second half of the semester supports the student in that research project, identifying the community, gaining access to evidence about that community, analyzing the evidence, and developing legal analysis of intellectual property issues for that community. We workshop the individual projects as a group, read proposals together, and continue with our reading on intellectual property issues that relate to the chosen projects. The final project is a combination of (1) facts/evidence about the community, (2) a written analysis of the facts, (3) legal proposals to aid the achievement of its goals as a creative or innovative community, and (4) a short presentation to the class of the findings/analysis. COREQUISITE/PREREQUISITE: Intellectual Property, Copyright, Trademark, or Patent Law. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement. **A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.

2 credits

Understanding financial statements and reports. The objective of the course is that students will be able to read and understand the four financial statements and the 10-k annual report. Emphasis is placed on understanding the nature and meaning of the reports, as well as the relationship to the underlying transactions. Other topics include: basic accounting principles, US GAAP versus IFRS, financial statement analysis, the relationship of the financial statement information to covenant documents, and accounting gamesmanship. RESTRICTION: Not open to students who have had more than one three-hour college course, or its equivalent, in accounting. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option.

3 credits

Capital-intensive public and private development projects throughout the world, including large-scale infrastructure, transportation, energy, agriculture, technology and environmental projects depend upon project financing as the primary funding mechanism. Understanding and resolving the political, legal and financial risks associated with the planning and implementation of these projects, and often in emerging and unstable economies, is the critical first step in developing project finance opportunities. The seminar will combine theory and practice and focus on the negotiation and structure of actual project finance and concession agreements and transactions and the minimization of exposures and risks associated with these transactions. Each step of the project finance process will be analyzed, including the rationale and sources for the project finance, the legal framework for the project finance, the organizational and governance structure, risk allocation and mitigation and dispute resolution. An interdisciplinary analysis from the legal, finance and public perspective will be used to assess the views that investors, lenders, designers, contractors, governmental participants, citizens and other stakeholders bring to an infrastructure project. Several of the world's largest and most complex civil engineering and infrastructure mega projects including the English Chunnel, the Chad Cameroon Pipeline, the Dabhol Power Project and Boston's Central Artery Tunnel Project will serve as models for analysis of project finance and risk. A final research paper will be required in lieu of an examination. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may be used to satisfy the requirement. **A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.

3 credits

This class is intended to introduce students to the key legal and practical issues encountered when resolving disputes through international arbitration. Arbitration is a private means of dispute resolution where the parties agree to be bound by the decision of an arbitrator of their choice, whose decision in a final award has the same legal force as a court judgment or order. International arbitration is the main form of dispute resolution relating to cross-border commercial disputes and is also sometimes used in public international law contexts involving governments. This course will explore both doctrinal issues--such as what constitutes 'consent' to arbitrate and the relationship between international tribunals, who adjudicate the disputes, and national courts, who compel arbitration and enforce (or void) arbitral decisions--and policy debates, such as what issues are appropriate for resolution by private arbitrators rather than judges and the social ramifications of the lack of transparency in arbitration. There will be a skills component, including hands-on exercises such as roleplays, oral advocacy, and drafting arbitration clauses. PREREQUISITE: Students must have taken a course (any course) in international law (knowledge of the foundations of international law, e.g. what is a treaty, will be presumed). UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may be used to satisfy the requirement. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.

3 credits

This course is designed to give students a broad overview of the law--domestic, foreign, and international--governing international business transactions. With the significant growth in international commerce and trade, and the forces of economic and social globalization, lawyers will increasingly confront international legal issues during their professional careers. This course will focus on the legal problems encountered in business ventures that cross national borders. Topics may include formation of contracts, choice of law, financing the international sale of goods through letters of credit, sales and distribution agreements, licensing and contract manufacturing, joint venture agreements, foreign investment, international dispute settlement, and global compliance issues. This course explores one or more of these topics with contract drafting and negotiation exercises. NOTE: While prior background in international law is not required, it is strongly recommended.

4 credits

Spanning the range of industries from health care to financial services to manufacturing and beyond, compliance is the fast-growing practice of managing the full range of legal risk within highly-regulated organizations. At the complex intersection of law, business operations, reputation, and ethics, compliance lawyers practice "preventive law" to protect companies against corporate criminal and civil liability. We will discuss how to identify and evaluate an organization's legal risks and and work in multidisciplinary teams to develop effective strategies to prevent wrongdoing (and detect violations when they do occur). Among other topics, we will look at the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and enforcement guidance from the Department of Justice and Securities & Exchange Commission to see how compliance has become a key mechanism of corporate accountability in the U.S. and globally.

3 credits

This course examines the historical underpinnings of language with a focus on how the prestige dialect affects understanding of and access to the law and legal system at all levels. The course will examine the language of law through four modules: (1) How language affects access to the American legal system; (2) How language affects outcomes in the American legal system; (3) How silence (what is not said or not written) affects access and outcomes; and (4) How language influences the attorneys' professional identities, including the students' own. Students will read a variety of cases and articles and listen to excerpts from podcasts and hearings in court to evaluate the role of language in shaping the law. Topics may be driven by student interest, but will center around issues of race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, ability, religion, age, and socioeconomic class. Students will also draw upon recent and current events to analyze how or if the language of law is changing and the impact therefrom. Students will choose an area where language impacts law to focus on and will use this topic for a research paper and presentation. Some shorter reflections may also be required. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may be used to partially satisfy the requirement.

3 credits

The Law and Economics Seminar is a research workshop. Class sessions will alternate between (1) lectures on selected topics in microeconomic theory and empirical methods, including methodology commonly used in law and economics scholarship, and (2) presentations of working papers by outside speakers (typically faculty members from other institutions). The specific legal topics considered will vary depending on the interests of the speakers, but all paper presentations will focus on application of economics concepts and tools to legal and regulatory issues. Students are responsible for preparing short memoranda that respond to the presented papers. Final grades depend on attendance and participation. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may not be used to satisfy the requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. OFFERING PATTERN: This class is not offered every year. Students are advised to take this into account when planning their long-term schedule. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.

3 credits

This course will cover the principal legal, tax and business issues of mergers and acquisitions. PREREQUISITE: Business Fundamentals and Corporations, or permission of instructor.

3 credits

The goal of this course is to improve your effectiveness as a negotiator. In this highly interactive class, students will examine negotiation from a variety of perspectives and learn specific negotiation strategies and tactics. Over the course of the semester, students will engage in a series of negotiation exercises (i.e., role plays) through which they can develop and hone their negotiation skills and approaches. Discussion and short lectures will accompany the role-plays, as appropriate. There will be short written assignments as well as a longer paper due at the end of the semester. No final exam. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 16 students. NOTE: This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. RESTRICTION: Students may not enroll in both Negotiation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (JD881).

3 credits

This seminar introduces students to the business and legal issues prevalent in private equity and venture capital deals and highlights the significant role that lawyers play in effecting these transactions. The seminar will begin with an overview of the private equity and venture capital industries, an introduction to investment transactions and will proceed through all aspects of the life of an investment from inception to exit. It will address how investment funds are formed and the legal and financial considerations present when those funds invest in private companies. We will examine deal terms and structures, pricing and corporate finance issues, and the management of deal risk. It will also highlight the due diligence process, stockholder relationships, fiduciary duties and securities laws considerations, and liquidity events. Theoretical readings will be balanced against practical articles and commentary, recent court decisions and model deal documents. The seminar will be highlighted by guest lectures by private equity and venture capital investment professionals. Grades will be based on a final exam, short pre-class exercises and class participation. PREREQUISITE: Corporations (May be waived with an instructor's permission.) UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may not be used to satisfy the requirement. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.

3 credits

With approximately $30 trillion in assets under management, registered investment companies (commonly referred to as mutual funds) perform a significant role in raising and deploying capital within the U.S. financial system. This course is designed to familiarize students with the legal and regulatory framework of the investment management industry. The course focuses primarily on the regulation of investment advisers and mutual funds under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Investment Company Act of 1940 and examines how these statutes, in combination with other state and federal laws and regulations, govern the formation, structure, distribution and management of mutual funds and various investment-related products and services offered by advisers, brokers and other financial intermediaries. The course also examines the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission in regulating the investment management industry.

4 credits

Many commercial and consumer financing transactions involve the creation of security interests in the borrower's personal property that are akin to mortgages of real property. (Indeed, much commercial activity involves the grant of a UCC Article 9 security interest, and the economic system depends on Article 9 to provide much of the law against which modern commerce takes place.) In a secured transaction, in the event of the borrower's default, the lender can foreclose on the collateral subject to the security interest to help liquidate the debt. While simple to describe, secured transactions and the rules that govern them can be complex. This course covers the basic secured transaction governed by Article 9 of the UCC. Topics covered will include creation and perfection of security interests, priority contests, and default. The course is an excellent precursor to Bankruptcy and often helpful when sitting for the bar exam. PREREQUISITE/COREQUISITE: Business Fundamentals. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option.

4 credits

This course offers an introduction to federal securities regulation under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. We will examine how the securities laws shape the process by which companies raise capital through IPOs, public offerings, and private placements. We will also focus on the mandatory disclosure regime for publicly traded companies and the related topics of securities fraud, insider trading, market manipulation, and shareholder voting. We will study core concepts such as the definition of a security and materiality. Finally, we will spend significant time examining the role of the SEC and private shareholder litigation in policing the securities laws. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option.

3 credits

Whistleblowing has become a frequent topic in the news around law and politics. What exactly is it, and what laws govern it? Who represents whistleblowers, and what is there to know about lawyering in this space? This course will examine federal (and some state) laws that protect and incentivize whistleblowers to provide information and assist in the enforcement of laws prohibiting fraud and misfeasance in both the public and private sectors. It will cover both the substantive law as well as the practical aspects of lawyering in this field. There are two types of whistleblower laws, and the seminar will cover both: 1) laws which protect whistleblowers inside and outside of government from retaliation by their employers for having engaged in protected activity, and 2) laws which provide financial incentives to whistleblowers for reporting fraud against the government, or fraud in the securities and commodities markets. Each student will write a paper based on a whistleblower case and will be encouraged to interview one or more whistleblowers who have gone through the experience and/or whistleblower attorneys who have a substantial practice in this area. Alternatively, students who express a particular interest in an area relevant to the course may get permission to explore that topic in their paper. There is no examination in this course; the grade is based on the paper and the students' participation in the class discussions UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement. **A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.

3 credits

The purpose of this Course is to teach present-day white collar crime practice. The course will review: (i) the theoretical bases of modern white collar criminal prosecution; (ii) the major statutes used by prosecutors, including mail and wire fraud, securities fraud, bribery and extortion, obstruction of justice, perjury, and RICO; and (iii) the procedural aspects of white collar crime such as grand jury, attorney/client privilege, and sentencing. Students will learn the prosecutorial and defense techniques employed in significant recent white collar cases. Upon successful completion of the course, students will be familiar with the statutes, procedures, and legal analyses employed by prosecutors and private lawyers in white collar criminal practice. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. OFFERING PATTERN: This class not offered every year. Students are advised to take this into account when planning their long-term schedule.