Business Law

Secured Transactions

Discussion - 2 hours.  Secured transactions are transactions where a lender takes an interest in the debtor’s property as “collateral,” or security, for repayment of a loan.  This course will cover secured transactions in personal property, such as auto loans and bank loans against business inventory.  Time permitting, the course will give limited coverage to secured transactions in real property such as home mortgages.  Potential subtopics include foreclosure; repossession; replevin; judicial sales; default; acceleration; reinstatement and cure; modification of debt in

Law and Statistics

Discussion - 3 hours. Introduction to fundamentals of statistical analysis and how statistical analysis is used in the law and public policy. Course goal is to help students become excellent consumers of statistical information and evidence. No prior background in statistics will be required or assumed. The class will begin by introducing students to the basic tools of statistical analysis (mean, variance, correlation, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, regression analysis, etc).

Bankruptcy

Lecture/Discussion - 2 Hours.  Even as stock markets break records (and unemployment rates hit historic lows), economic disruption is an abiding feature of American life.  Think, e.g.: growing income disparities; the demise of brick-and-mortar retailers; competition from foreign manufacturers; burgeoning student loan debt; the growing cost of health care, etc.  This course will address the basics of Chapter 7 liquidation, Chapter 11 business-reorganization and Chapter 13 consumer-reorganization; it will emphasize how bankruptcy law interfaces with the practices of commercial,

International Arbitration

Discussion - 2 hours. This course will provide students with an introduction to the theory and practice of international arbitration--the preferred method of dispute-resolution in international business.

Public Finance

Lecture - 2 hours. This course will explore public finance issues from a theoretical and practical perspective. Initial readings will be theoretical as we consider what the government should do and why. We will then move on to the various bodies of law that govern public finance practice: local government law, federal securities law and federal tax law.

Graduation Requirements: May meet Advanced Writing Requirement with the instructor's permission.
Final Assessment: Paper and/or Exam

Advanced Bankruptcy Practice: Corporate Reorganization

Discussion - 2 hours.  A prior course in bankruptcy is not required.  Concurrent or prior completion of Business Associations would be useful, or prior work experience providing familiarity with the different forms of business entities.

Consumer Protection and Financial Regulation

Lecture - 3 hours. This course examines efforts to ensure a “fair” financial marketplace. These efforts include focusing on the Dodd-Frank Act and its creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; disclosure requirements; prohibitions on unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices; and other regimes enacted to protect consumers. Students will study salient contemporary markets for consumer credit, residential mortgages, and student lending. The course will also address how the concept of financial “fairness” has evolved and been influenced by social movements.

Counseling and Legal Strategy in the Digital Age

Seminar - 2 hours. This course explores the complex challenges that entrepreneurs, businesses, and other organizations face when trying to address legal issues relating to technology. The seminar's approach is both practical and multidisciplinary, and it encourages students to explore the roles of a wide range of stakeholders (including lawyers, policy advocates and policymakers, businesspersons, and technologists) in developing legal and business strategies.

Business and Human Rights

This course provides an introduction to the burgeoning field of business and human rights.  It begins with an introduction to international human rights law that contrasts this body of law with American civil rights law.  It then briefly examines the historical antecedents to the development of the modern business and human rights movement as we know it in the 1990s, before exploring how and when corporations are held legally liable for causing and contributing to human rights abuses in several different legal systems.  It then examines the different roles that the Uni

Corporate Integrity and Responsibility

Seminar- 2 hours. The course explores familiar topics of corporate governance, including, directorial duties, managing agency behavior, corporate transactional practices, from a corporate integrity perspective - especially, of those related corporate social responsibility and anti-bribery/corruption regimes of US, EU and select Asian jurisdictions.

Final Assessment: Take-home exam
Grading Mode:  Letter Grading