Certificate in Business Law

Starting in Fall 2010, students will be able to earn a certificate in Business Law. This certificate will make graduates more attractive to employers by signaling that students have the knowledge and skills to be top-notch business lawyers. All L.L.M and J.D. students are eligible for this certificate, including those who will be graduating in 2011.

To obtain a Certificate in Business Law, J.D. students must take a total of at least 27 units of the mandatory and elective Business Law Courses listed below.

To obtain a Certificate in Business Law, L.L.M. students must take a total of at least 14 units of the mandatory and elective Business Law Courses listed below.

The mandatory Business Law Courses for J.D. students are:

• Business Organizations
• Securities Regulation
• Accounting for Lawyers
• Corporate Finance or Analytical Methods for Lawyers
• Tax
• Corporate Tax (not required of students graduating in 2011)

The mandatory Business Law Courses for L.L.M. students are:

• Business Organizations
• Securities Regulation
• Corporate Finance or Analytical Methods for Lawyers

The elective Business Law Courses at the law school are:

• Advanced Contracts
• Antitrust Law
• Bankruptcy
• Business for Lawyers
• Commercial Paper
• Contract Drafting and Negotiation
• Contract Drafting and Strategy
• Corporate Fraud: Enron and the Financial Crisis of 2008
• Corporate Reorganization
• Counseling the Start-Up Company
• Deals
• Entertainment Law
• Insurance Law
• International Business Transactions
• Law & Economics
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Mortgage Law
• Partnerships & LLCs
• Partnership Taxation
• Real Estate Transactions
• Real Estate Transactions Problems
• Real Estate Finance
• Real Estate Finance Problems
• Realities of Commercial Lending
• Reviewing and Negotiating Business Contracts (LLM Only)
• Sales
• Secured Transactions
• Securities Fraud
• Small Business Clinic
• Sports Law
• Topics in Corporate Law: Corporate Governance

The following courses at the Marshall School of Business also count as elective Business Law Courses:

• Corporate Financial Strategy. FBE-532
• Corporate Financial Policy and Corporate Control. FBE-531
• Entrepreneurial Finance: Financial Management for Developing Firms. FBE-527
• Mergers & Acquisitions. FBE-560
• Financial Analysis and Valuation. FBE-529

For L.L.M. students, the following count as elective Business Law Courses:

• Accounting for Lawyers
• Taxation
• Corporate Taxation

Students must take all the mandatory Business Law courses.

Students must take all the mandatory Business Law Courses.

No more than 4 units of mandatory or elective Business Law Courses may be taken CR/D/F.

Students who have taken Accounting or Corporate Finance before coming to Law School may petition the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to be relieved of those requirements. Such students will still have to satisfy the 27 or 14 units required for the certificate.

Other courses at the Law School or at other parts of the University or at other universities may count as elective Business Law Courses or may substitute for mandatory Business Law Courses with the approval of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Students graduating in 2011 do not need to take Corporate Tax, but, if they do take it, its 4 units will count as elective Business Courses.

A student may take both Corporate Finance and Analytical Methods, and, if s/he does so, all 6 units count toward the 14 or 27 units required for the certificate.

2Ls working toward the Business Law certificate are strongly encouraged to take Prof. Walton’s 5-unit Business Organizations class. Students who take or have already taken a 4-unit Business Organizations class may not take the 5-unit Business Organizations class.

3Ls working toward the Business Law certificate are encouraged to take the Deals course which Professor Kamar will be teaching in the spring. This class is designed to be the capstone of the Business Law Program. It will bring law students and business students together to negotiate deals, which will then be discussed and analyzed by leading business lawyers.

Students in the J.D.-M.B.A. program are eligible for the certificate.

Students may earn certificates in both Business Law and Entertainment Law. Courses, such as Business Organization, Taxation, and Entertainment Law, may count toward both certificates.

Classes taken at other parts of the university count toward the units required for the certificate, even if the student chooses not to have those units count toward the JD.