Course Descriptions

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Spring 2018 Business and Corporate Law Class Descriptions

Antitrust (LWBC503)

Instructor(s): Mark Lee

3 credit(s), Letter Graded
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), Intellectual Property (JD), Public Interest Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), Intellectual Property (LLMUS), Intellectual Property Law (LLMG), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS), Intellectual Property Law (MSLS)

Courts (through the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act) have regulated a wide variety of business practices including price-setting cartels, trade association activities, distribution agreements, franchising, package selling, boycotts, long-term contracting, and mergers. This course focuses on the issues raised by these regulations.

Understanding and formulating the arguments bearing on these issues requires the use of elementary microeconomics, but students need not have studied economics. The course will include instruction in the relevant economic concepts as they arise. Class discussion will focus on questions about cases and problems. Students will develop their analytical skills through these exercises.

Grade is based on the final examination. Push points for quality participation may be awarded.

Note: There are limitations on Intellectual Property (JD) concentration eligibility. Please check the Intellectual Property Concentration web page for more information.
Additional Information: Intellectual Property Concentration (JD)

Bus Transactions in the People's Republic of China (LWBC546)

Instructor(s): Ralph Folsom

3 credit(s), Letter Graded
Requirement(s): Writing
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), International Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), International Law (LLMUS), LLM in International Law (LLMI), International Law (MSLS)

This course focuses on inbound and outbound sales, licensing and foreign investment transactions related to the PRC, including negotiations, regulations,dispute settlement and the law, legal system and politics of the PRC and Hong Kong SAR. A research paper suitable for the Law School's writing requirement is mandatory.

Business Planning (LWBC520)

Instructor(s): Dennis Doucette

2 credit(s), Letter Graded
Requirement(s): Experiential OR Writing
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS)
Prerequisite(s): Tax I, Corporations

This seminar combines advance work in Corporations, Federal and State Securities laws, and Federal Taxation in the context of business planning and counseling. The course is based upon a series of problems involving common business transactions which present corporate securities law and tax issues for analysis, and resolution. The problems cover such topics as factors in the decision to incorporate; the formation of partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations, both closely held and publicly owned; securities law considerations in raising capital; corporate distributions; the sale and purchase of businesses; mergers and other forms of acquisition; and recapitalization, division, and dissolution of corporations.

Contract Drafting (LWGC563)

Instructor(s): Staff

2 credit(s), Letter Graded
Requirement(s): Experiential OR Writing
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS)

Transactional drafting is crucial to the legal profession. It refers to the process of creating documents to formalize agreements between parties. This course trains students to be able to use the process comfortably. You will learn to structure agreements, and express them in clear and concise language that will benefit clients and maximize the likelihood of favorable interpretation. The course emphasizes both cooperative and individual drafting work. Each week in class, you will focus on selected components of the drafting process, and prepare a document or exercise requiring you to practice what you learn. You will receive immediate feedback on that day’s drafting activity, and written comments on individual weekly homework assignments. Visits by attorneys who draft contracts in their practice will provide a view of how the legal profession depends on this skill. This class will use various types of contracts that touch on various areas of substantive law: contracts for the sale of goods, business or property (contract law, commercial transactions); residential and commercial leases (landlord-tenant and real estate law); settlement agreements (torts); employment, non-disclosure and non-compete agreements (employment law); retainer agreements (legal ethics); intellectual property rights (intellectual property); corporate acquisitions (corporations, securities law); entertainment contracts (entertainment law); vendors’ contracts (sports law). Grades are based on the scores on individual weekly assignments. Students may only enroll in two of the following during their law school career: Advanced Legal Writing OR LWR III: Lit & Judicial Drafting OR LWR III: Legal Writing OR Contract Drafting. Students desiring to add the second class in this series must receive a signature on their add/drop form from the Office for JD Student Affairs, and provide the form to the Registrar office (that is, students cannot add the second class themselves online.)

Note: This course may fulfill either the Experiential OR Upper Division Writing requirement. Students will be asked in class at the beginning of the semester to elect which requirement they would like this course to fulfill. The student's election is final.

Corporate Counsel Externship I (LWVL591)

Instructor(s): Beth Baier

1-4 credit(s), P/F Graded
Requirement(s): Experiential
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), Employment and Labor Law (JD), Health Law (JD), Intellectual Property (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), Environmental and Energy Law (LLMUS), Intellectual Property (LLMUS), Employment and Labor Law (LLMG), Environmental and Energy Law (LLMG), Intellectual Property Law (LLMG)

The Corporate Counsel Externship Program consists of a work component and a class component and allows students to earn academic credit working in the legal department of a corporation, company or other business entity. Students may also work in other departments of a corporation as long as they are supervised by an on-site licensed attorney.

Students work a minimum of 50 hours per unit of credit and may receive 1-4 credits. Academic requirements include: mandatory orientation, journals between student and professor relating to the field placement; periodic discussion boards on legal practice topics; a three-five page reflective paper at the end of the semester; an example of work product for professor review; and, satisfactory completion of work experience. The Externship is graded on a Pass-Fail basis. To review all the pertinent course resources, including course information, form, and helpful internet links, please see the Corporate Counsel Externship Handbook.

If you have been offered and have accepted a field placement, meet the eligibility requirements, agree to meet the course obligations and want to register for the Externship course, fill out the Field Placement Form. The Office of Career and Professional Development will then confirm your placement and instruct you on registering for the course.

Contact lawcareers@sandiego.edu with placement questions. Contact Professor John Sansone, Academic Director, at jsansone@sandiego.edu with academic questions.

Note: There are limitations on JD concentration eligibility. Please check the JD concentrations web pages for more information. Contact Law Student Affairs to find out if your work in this internship qualifies for a concentration.
Additional Information: JD Concentrations Web Page, Email Law Student Affairs

Corporate Counsel Externship II (LWVL589)

Instructor(s): Beth Baier

1-4 credit(s), P/F Graded
Requirement(s): Experiential
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), Employment and Labor Law (JD), Health Law (JD), Intellectual Property (JD), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), Intellectual Property (LLMUS), Employment and Labor Law (LLMG), Intellectual Property Law (LLMG)

Externship II students refine their skills, with a longer opportunity to specialize their training in a specific area. Externship II is limited to students who have previously worked at a Corporate Counsel Externship placement. Please refer to Corporate Counsel Externship I description for additional requirements. To review all the pertinent course resources, including course information, form, and helpful internet links, please see the Corporate Counsel Externship Handbook.

Corporate Finance (LWBC530)

Instructor(s): Staff

3 credit(s), Letter Graded
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), LLM in Taxation (LLMT), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS)
Corequisite(s): Corporations

This course covers the core concepts of finance as they relate to the study and practice of law. The course is designed to accommodate both students with no background in finance as well as those with substantial knowledge of the field. It will start with basic financial literacy and will build toward more advanced topics, such as financial statement analysis, valuation of stocks and bonds, risk management, portfolio theory, derivatives, and corporate financial management. The course includes quantitative concepts and exercises, and students will be required to use a spreadsheet program, such as Microsoft Excel. This class will be of particular value to students who intend to pursue transactional legal practice, but it will also be valuable to litigators.

Corporate Reorganization (LWTE510)

Instructor(s): Staff

3 credit(s), Letter Graded
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), Taxation (LLMUS), LLM in Taxation (LLMT), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS), Taxation (MSLS)
Prerequisite(s): Tax I
Recommended Class(es): Corporate Tax

This course considers the tax treatment of corporations and shareholders in corporate acquisitive reorganizations, single corporation reorganizations and corporate divisions, including carryovers. Prerequisite: Tax I.  This class will have a take-home final exam.

 

Corporate Tax (LWTE560)

Instructor(s): Paul Yong

3 credit(s), Letter Graded
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), Taxation (LLMUS), LLM in Taxation (LLMT), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS), Taxation (MSLS)
Prerequisite(s): Tax I

The course involves a study of the basic concepts of federal income taxation of C corporations and their shareholders, including organization of corporations; cash and stock dividends; redemptions of stock; partial and complete liquidations; sales of corporate businesses and reorganizations. Taxation of corporations is compared with taxation of partnerships, limited liability companies and S corporations. The emphasis is on careful analysis of Code provisions, Treasury Regulations, other administrative materials and important judicial decisions in relation to problems that are frequently assigned in advance of class discussion. 

Note: This is a required course for the Business and Corporate Law Concentration (JD).

Corporations (LWBC545)

Instructor(s): Thomas Smith

4 credit(s), Letter Graded
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), Employment and Labor Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS)

This course examines the structure and the rights and obligations of directors, officers, and shareholders mainly under state corporations law. Other topics include partnerships and limited liability entities. The course covers, among other subjects, the characteristics of the corporation as distinct from other forms of business association, the special problems of the closely-held corporations (a corporation owned by a few persons), the fiduciary obligations of directors and controlling shareholders in closely-held and public corporations, procedures for decision making by directors and shareholders, shareholder voting rights, and certain federal securities law subjects, such as insider trading.

Note: This is a required course for the Business and Corporate Law Concentration (JD) and the LLM in Business & Corporate Law.

European Union Commercial Law (LWIC522)

Instructor(s): Staff

1 credit(s), Letter Graded
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), Intellectual Property (JD), International Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), Intellectual Property (LLMUS), International Law (LLMUS), Intellectual Property Law (LLMG), LLM in International Law (LLMI), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS), Intellectual Property Law (MSLS), International Law (MSLS)

As business is becoming more international so must the law and lawyers. In a world of international trade and transactions companies and their advisers need to have a global legal horizon. Until quite recently, it would not have made any practical sense to talk about an “EU commercial law”. However, due to the ongoing harmonization of the law of the EU countries a body of truly common European law is emerging from the melting pot of the national laws and traditions and EU institutions and courts. The course draws on the results of 30 years of continued and ongoing EU harmonization to provide US law students with an overview of some of the central aspects of European commercial law. The course focuses on the practical legal problems facing an American enterprise doing business in Europe but at the same time provides for a basic understanding of the EU legal framework. After a brief general introduction to EU law the course falls in two parts. Part I deals with the transfer of goods and covers such topics as general contract law (PECL Principles of European Contract Law), the EC directive on Unfair Contract Terms, and the EC directive on Products Liability. Part II deals with the trade in intangible rights notably patents and trademarks. This part opens with a general presentation of the European systems for the protection of inventions and trademarks. It then moves on to discuss aspects relating to the exercise of those rights in regard to the Treaty rules on the free movement of goods (“parallel importation” and the principle of “exhaustion of rights”) and to tech-trans agreements and other issues involving competition law. The course requires no prior knowledge of European law.  There will be a final exam scheduled in March.

Global Antitrust (LWBC566)

Instructor(s): Staff

3 credit(s), Letter Graded
Requirement(s): Writing
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), Intellectual Property (JD), International Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), Intellectual Property (LLMUS), International Law (LLMUS), Intellectual Property Law (LLMG), LLM in International Law (LLMI), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS), Intellectual Property Law (MSLS), International Law (MSLS)

This course introduces students to antitrust law in leading jurisdictions worldwide. As economies become increasingly global, U.S. and other businesses can be directly and indirectly affected by these laws, including especially laws outside the U.S., which are materially more restrictive than corresponding U.S. law. The course is designed to provide students with at least rudimentary familiarity with basic concepts, as well as approaches to utilize with business clients regarding their operations and expectations. In addition, the course will cover the impact of politics, industrial policies and the enforcement process, all of which are often determinative in lieu of antitrust principle and evidence.

Note: There are limitations on Intellectual Property (JD) concentration eligibility. Please check the Intellectual Property Concentration web page for more information.
Additional Information: Intellectual Property Concentration (JD)

In-House Corporate Counseling (LWBC567)

Instructor(s): Stephen Ferruolo

2 credit(s), Letter Graded
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), Employment and Labor Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS)
Prerequisite(s): Corporations

In-house lawyers practice in the law departments of for-profit business entities, non-profits, and in government at the federal, state, and local levels. (It is estimated that 20 to 30% of all lawyers will practice in-house at some time in their careers.) This course will be conducted by Dean Stephen C. Ferruolo with experienced corporate counsel from San Diego based corporations. Topics to be addressed include: The Roles of the In-house lawyer; Professional Responsibility Issues for In-house Lawyers; Practicing Preventive Law; Corporate Business Ethics Programs; Compliance Programs and Internal Investigations; Corporate Governance Best Practices; Risk Management and Crisis Management; Why and How to Teach Your Clients Contracts 101; Litigation Outside Counsel Management; Trade Secrets and Intellectual Property; International Operations and Transactions; Counseling the Public Company Board and Officers, Shareholder Meetings, and Compliance with Federal and State Securities Laws. The class will also discuss what In-House lawyers should know about labor and employment law, and accounting and finance.

International Sales (LWIC555)

Instructor(s): Staff

3 credit(s), Letter Graded
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), International Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), International Law (LLMUS), LLM in International Law (LLMI), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS), International Law (MSLS)

This course focuses on the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG), with comparisons to domestic law (the UCC in particular). Considerable time is devoted to the application of the CISG to problems that typically arise in international sales transactions. The course does not include an exam. Students instead prepare written memos that reflect the type of assignments they can expect in practice with a law firm.

Negotiation (LWLP560)

Instructor(s): Herbert Lazerow, Virginia Nelson, Susan Hack

3 credit(s), H/P/L/F Graded
Requirement(s): Experiential
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), Civil Litigation (JD), Employment and Labor Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), Employment and Labor Law (LLMG), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS)

Effective negotiation skills are essential to the successful practice of law. Most legal disputes are resolved through direct negotiation. This course will teach students effective communication techniques and negotiation strategies in a workshop style setting. The course will introduce students to different types of bargaining, different approaches to bargaining, specialized communication techniques used by effective negotiators, and techniques for overcoming negotiating impasses. Negotiation practices will be taught using both lecture and experiential methods (interactive exercise, role play exercises). This course will be practical in its orientation, with an emphasis on prevailing negotiation techniques and strategies customarily used by practicing lawyers. Due to the participatory nature of the course, enrollment will be limited. Grades are based upon in class participation, in class exercises, student reflection/self-assessment, and homework assignments. The course is graded on a 4-tier Pass/Fail basis. 

Note: There are limitations on concentration eligibility. Check the Business and Corporate Law Concentration (JD), Civil Litigation Concentration (JD), Employment and Labor Law Concentration (JD) web pages for more information.
Additional Information: Business and Corporate Law Concentration, Civil Litigation Concentration, Employment and Labor Law Concentration