Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professors Villa and Fox

J.D. Course 118 | 2 credit hours

This course will explore the multifaceted problems facing corporate lawyers, both inside counsel and law firms, in advising a public company and especially the board of directors in times of extreme stress. It will be taught through a series of classes which first review the basic legal principles (corporate law, fiduciary duty and professional ethics) and then require the students to apply them in a series of "moot board of directors' meetings." Students will be given a corporate crisis and asked to make a written and oral presentation to a board of directors. The board will be composed of the professors, other practicing lawyers or businesspeople and other students. Grading will be based solely on the quality of the oral and written presentations and the ability to pose and answer questions.

Prerequisites: Corporations; prior or concurrent enrollment in Professional Responsibility. Strongly Recommended: Securities Litigation or Securities Regulation.

Students may not receive credit for both this course and Corporations Under Fire: Law, Ethics, and Decisionmaking.