Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professor Hetzer

LL.M Course 899 (cross-listed) | 1 credit hours

Globalisation of business, an increasingly complex legal and regulatory environment and strong focus of international companies on developing of emerging markets have transformed the role of an international corporate General Counsel. The scope of legal and regulatory issues , which international companies are facing today and the speed of change in the international legal and regulatory environment have also increased. Consequently, business decisions require more proactive legal risk management today than in the past. A corporate General Counsel today is not only a legal advisor, but also “the corporate conscience “ and legal risk manager, who needs to be involved as early as possible in the planning and the strategic decision making process of an international company. Such complex business, legal and regulatory environment requires multifunctional skills of a corporate General Counsel . He needs not only to have the ability to analyze complex legal and regulatory questions, but also to find practical and cost-efficient answers for the business.

The objective of the course is to give an overview of the role and function of an international corporate General Counsel in theory and practice. In the first part, the course will in particular focus on the characteristics of the legal and regulatory framework in a global business environment and the typical scope of activities, such as corporate governance, management of ethical issues, selection of external consultants, management of legal budgets and regulatory and public affairs issues. Furthermore, practical legal tools and techniques will be discussed, which will be helpful in solving international legal and regulatory issues. In the second part, real-life case studies will be used as examples how to approach and manage legal and regulatory challenges in practice. The course will be graded on class-participation, in-class presentations and a final written exam.

This course will meet for four weeks.