FSF is designed for students entering the Graduate Program in Banking and Financial Law seeking an LLM who do not have significant exposure, either through academic courses or through employment experience, to financial services law as practiced in the United States. Through a series of eight specific topic modules, each comprised of two or three class sessions, the student is introduced to a variety of corporate law, administrative law and financial services law topics which will allow the student to enter into the study of financial services law courses with a basic level of financial services literacy.

No, this is designed as a basic introduction to a variety of legal aspects of financial services law. While some legal background will be helpful, this is designed to start at the beginning and assumes no prior knowledge. Non-lawyers can take the course, as well.

While the course is designed to address the topics of which any student entering the BU Graduate Banking Program should be aware, the course would be useful for international students preparing to enter LLM programs focused on financial services law, banking law or securities law at other law schools. It would also prove useful for those international students entering a more general corporate or business law LLM program in the US.

The eight modules include the following topics:

1. Introduction to Common Law and the US Court System: the power and authority of US courts, their role with respect to other branches of the government, the federal and state courts and how to read court cases.
2. Banking Law and Structure: a brief history of US banking themes, major statutes, regulatory structure, types of banking institutions.
3. Corporate Law Principles: the organization, governance, ownership and operation of structures from corporations to business trusts. Includes basic corporate governance principles.
4. Principles of US Administrative Law: the powers and authority of U.S. agencies serving as financial services regulators and a description of the regulatory process by which they issue regulations, orders, interpretive letters and guidelines.
5. Capital Markets Regulation in the US: an introduction to the regulators and statutes governing the activities of investment banks, funds, investment advisors and asset managers. Themes of capital markets regulation, including disclosure, duties owed and consumer protections.
6. Financial Services Products: a basic description of derivatives, futures and options, as well as asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities and other sophisticated debt products. A brief introduction to payment systems.
7. Fundamentals of Insurance Regulation: Insurance is the third pillar of Financial Services in the United States. This segment examines the objectives of insurance regulation and the administrative and procedural processes that accompany such regulation.
8. Fintech: the application of innovative technologies to products and services in the financial industry.

The schedule for 2024 is posted on this page. The 2025 schedule will be posted later in the spring. The course will be taught in person at Boston University School of Law.

Each professor will provide a group of slides to the students and perhaps some short readings that can be reviewed on an overnight basis. There will be no cost for books or materials.

Tuition for the 2025 session is $1650. Tuition must be paid by the first day of the program.

The faculty consists of seven experienced practitioners in the financial services area, two of whom currently teach in the Graduate Banking Program: Kevin Handly (Banking Structure and Regulation, Mergers and Acquisitions) and Frank Morrissey (Corporations I & II and Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights).

There will be a 90-minute objective examination on the second day following the last day of instruction, to determine that the student was sufficiently attentive to the material presented in the course and, in the case of Graduate Banking Program students, a particular student is prepared to move into the Banking Program. The course is not offered for academic credit.

The course offering will introduce students to the concepts of reading and discussing financial law concepts in English in an American law school setting. There could be English language benefits to the program. In addition, the approach taken should assist international students to be more comfortable in an American law school environment in terms of reading cases and regulations and asking and answering questions.

August 1, 2025. Course registrations received after that date will be processed on a space-available basis.

Students who choose to withdraw from Financial Services Fundamentals must do so in writing no later than the day before classes begin to receive 100% refund of tuition and fees. Students withdrawing in the first three days of the course will receive 100% tuition refund, but no refund of the $60 fee.  As of the fourth day of the course, no refund is available.

No. Students who are enrolling in one of BU Law’s LLM programs will  take this course within the 30-day period before the start of their graduate program during which they are allowed to enter the United States. International students who are not enrolled in a BU degree program must contact us at banklaw@bu.edu to discuss their visa status.

Please contact us at banklaw@bu.edu or by phone at 617-353-3023.