Commercial Law

This seminar will provide an overview of commercial law in the context of the increasingly digital nature of business and markets. Since consumer transactions account for two-thirds of GDP, much of the course, though not all, will focus on transactions between businesses and consumers. Regardless of the industry, consumers increasingly interface with businesses through tech platforms—whether that be an advertisement on Facebook, a Google search to decide which business to visit in person, or a phone comparison of the Amazon option to the in-store product on the shelf. Areas of law treated will include (often necessarily briefly) Secured Transactions, Sale of Goods, Bankruptcy, Electronic Commerce, Consumer Protection, Antitrust, Dispute Resolution, Financial Regulation, and the role of the Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The goal will be to provide future lawyers with a broader sense of the many laws that come to bear on commercial transactions, and the array of stakeholders involved—especially consumers, employees, business owners, workers, and the public. GRADING NOTICE: This class will not offer the CR/NC/H option. LIMITED WRITING REQUIREMENT OPTION: A limited number of students may be permitted to satisfy the upper-class writing requirement with this seminar. **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.