Related Courses

LAW JD 860

ALTERNATIVE BUSINESS ENTITIES

3 credits

Alternative business entities -- particularly LLCs and partnerships -- have become entities of choice, and many more LLCs are now formed than corporations incorporated (especially in Delaware, where more than 70% of new companies are LLCs). The course will address choice of entity decisions, examine the differences and similarities among alternative business entities, including new forms such as the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and consider questions involving management, fiduciary and other duties, obligations to non-owners and economic and tax issues. The class will also consider the diverse use cases for alternative entities and the intersection of alternative entity law with securities law, bankruptcy law, and other sometimes inconsistent statutory regimes.


SPRG 2026: LAW JD 860 A1, Jan 12th to Apr 22nd 2026
Days Start End Credits Instructors Bldg Room
Mon,Wed 9:00 am 10:25 am 3 Vivian Etter
LAW JD 816

Corporations

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.


FALL 2025: LAW JD 816 A1, Sep 2nd to Dec 19th 2025
Days Start End Credits Instructors Bldg Room
Mon,Wed 2:10 pm 4:10 pm 4 Scott Hirst LAW 414
FALL 2025: LAW JD 816 M1, Sep 2nd to Dec 19th 2025
Days Start End Credits Instructors Bldg Room
Tue,Thu 2:10 pm 4:10 pm 4 Pierluigi Matera LAW 414
SPRG 2026: LAW JD 816 A1, Jan 12th to Apr 22nd 2026
Days Start End Credits Instructors Bldg Room
Tue,Thu 2:10 pm 4:10 pm 4 Madison Condon
SPRG 2026: LAW JD 816 P1, Jan 12th to Apr 22nd 2026
Days Start End Credits Instructors Bldg Room
Mon,Wed 10:40 am 12:40 pm 4 Ayodeji Kamau Perrin
LAW JD 885

Sustainable Finance

2 credits

Climate changes, corporate scandals and inequality have put environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues of corporations in the spotlight. Many investors and other corporate stakeholders believe that these issues have a financial impact. In addition, investors are becoming more and more focused on the impact of their investments on society and the environment. These investment strategies are evolving rapidly and asking lawyers and regulators to address novel issues and reconsider issues that seemed settled. In this course, we will discuss the role of corporations, non-profits, investment funds and development finance institutions (DFIs) in this context. We will analyze how these strategies affect fiduciary duties and disclosure requirements. We will examine the tools that are available to implement these strategies such as: impact investment, blended finance, pay-for-success, public benefit corporations, and active shareholder engagement. After completing this course, students will develop an understanding of the different sustainable investment strategies and players in the industry, become familiar with the typical legal issues that arise in the sustainable finance industry and with some of the tools that are being used. PREREQUISITE/COREQUISITE: Corporations. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option.


LAW JD 784

Transaction Sim: Syndicated Loan

3 credits

Practice Areas: General Business, Banking/Finance, Corporate Governance and Restructuring This course is one of the semester-long transaction simulations offered as part of the Transactional Law Program. The simulated transaction is the structuring, negotiation and documentation, and subsequent restructuring of a $1.7 billion secured, syndicated commercial loan to a large, privately held medical testing company (the "Company"). The Company's primary purpose for seeking this loan is to use the proceeds to pay an extraordinary dividend to its founder and controlling shareholder and to several private equity firms which own stock in the Company (often referred to as a "dividend recap loan"). The course will explore some of the key issues, and students will perform several of the principal tasks, which transactional lawyers specializing in general business, banking/finance, corporate governance and/or restructuring must consider and carry out in advising corporate clients and financial institutions in a transaction of this kind. These tasks will include advising the Company's board of directors and officers or prospective lenders in evaluating whether to engage in the dividend recap loan transaction, the steps needed to obtain corporate approval of such transaction given that certain board members who are also shareholders will benefit from it, and structuring, negotiating and documenting these types of transactions. The course will also examine the critical role certain provisions of the credit and security agreements for the loan play following the loan closing when serious problems and potential events of default arise leading to a restructuring of the original loan. Finally, the course will consider various ways a troubled loan can be restructured either through an out-of-court consensual transaction or a Chapter 11 restructuring. The course grade will be based on class participation and graded drafting assignments. CLASS SIZE: Limited to 12 students. PREREQUISITE OR CO-REQUISITE: Corporations. Contract Drafting is recommended, but not required. NOTES: This course counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement and also satisfies the Transaction Simulation requirement of the Transactional Practice Concentration. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS: 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.


SPRG 2026: LAW JD 784 A1, Jan 12th to Apr 22nd 2026
Days Start End Credits Instructors Bldg Room
Thu 2:10 pm 4:10 pm 3 Steven B. Levine
LAW JD 871

Trusts & Estates

4 credits

This course explores the basic law surrounding the disposition of property at death: (1) overview of the estate planning process and the policy considerations regarding inheritance law; (2) the process by which property is distributed in the absence of a will (intestacy); (3) the law of wills, examining challenges to a will, formal requirements for the execution of a valid will, revocation, and construction; (4) will substitutes and planning for incapacity; (5) the law of trusts, including revocable and pour-over trusts, and creditor and beneficiary rights; (6) brief coverage of powers of appointment, perpetuities, spendthrift, and charitable trusts. This course does not address in detail tax-motivated estate planning.


FALL 2025: LAW JD 871 A1, Sep 2nd to Dec 19th 2025
Days Start End Credits Instructors Bldg Room
Tue,Thu 8:30 am 10:30 am 4 Ilana Hurwitz LAW 211
LAW JD 865

Trusts and Estates

3 credits

This course is an introduction to the basic elements of the gratuitous wealth transmission process. Topics include (1) an overview of the estate planning process and policy considerations bearing on private wealth transmission; (2) the distribution of property in the absence of a will (intestacy); (3) the law of wills, including formal requisites for validity, revocation and construction of, and challenges to a will; (4) will substitutes and planning for incapacity; (5) an introduction to types of trusts, and to the basic law governing interests in trusts and fiduciary administration; and (5) a brief introduction to wealth transfer taxation. Time permitting, there may also be brief coverage of powers of appointment, and spendthrift, and charitable trusts.


SPRG 2026: LAW JD 865 A1, Jan 12th to Apr 22nd 2026
Days Start End Credits Instructors Bldg Room
Tue,Thu 9:00 am 10:30 am 3 Theodore S. Sims