Madison Condon

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.

This is an introductory survey course in environmental law. We will consider the theoretical foundations and political dimensions of environmental law as we focus on several key statutes including the Clean Air Act (and its application to climate change), Clean Water Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (the Superfund statute), and the National Environmental Protection Act.

This seminar will examine the relationship between law and capitalism. How do legal institutions, legal concepts and rules establish the essential social relations for capitalism? How does capitalism shape black letter law and the structure of our legal institutions? We will tackle these questions theoretically and through a series of doctrinal case studies. That is, first we will delve into theories of capitalism to better understand how a range of scholars have described the relationship between state regulation and the capitalist mode of production. Second, we will also study capitalism in more concrete terms in the late 20th and early 21st century, through the rise of neoliberalism. Specifically, we will situate particular areas of law, like tax law, criminal law, environmental law, family law, money regulation, corporate law, constitutional law, sovereign lending – in scholarly debates and historical context to better understand how these enable, constrain and shape capitalist social relations. Throughout this course, we will examine the reproduction of group hierarchies, asymmetries, and antagonisms, and as expressed through class, race, gender, disability, and empire. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: This class may be used to satisfy the requirement. **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, will be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.