For a complete list of course offerings in Corporate and Securities Law, including full descriptions and faculty who will be teaching the offerings in 2008-2009, refer to the online Curriculum Guide.
Columbia Law School's selection of courses in the area of corporate and securities law reflects the school's posotion as a preeminent legal institution located in one of the major financial centers of the world. The offerings in this area allow students to consider legal and organizational issues from both theoretical and practical perspectives, in domestic and international settings, and in contexts ranging from multibillion dollar enterprises, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations.
The corporate and securities law offerings can be roughly divided into introductory courses, internaitonal and comparative offerings, courses that expose law students to relevant non-legal subjects, classes aimed primarily at developing practical skills, and a variety of advanced courses and seminars focused on specific issues and approaches.
Corporations and Securities and Capital Markets are the two core courses taken by many students and required as prerequisites for many advanced classes. Corporate Reorganization and Bankruptcy and Antitrust and Trade Regulation offer introductions into two regulatory areas that hold particular importance for modern business organizations. International and comparative offerings include International Finance: Law, Money and Banking in the Global Economy; International Financial Transactions; and Comparative Corporate Governance.
It is difficult to understand or evaluate the reasons behind the regulation of corporations and securities markets or the effects of the releval legal rules without a grasp of financial economics and financial accounting. Courses that introduce students to these subjects include Corporate Finance, Securities and Capital Markets, and Financial Statement Analysis and Interpretation. The Deals course and related seminars teach students the nuts and bolts of structuring, negotiating and defending business transactions. These classes, often taught by leading practitioners, include Deals Workshop: Mergers and Acquisitions, Deals Workshop: The Art of the Deal and Deals Litigation.
The Nonprofit Organizations/Small Business Clinic offers a hands-on experience to those interested in acquiring practical skills in a different context. The Columbia Business Law Review, the first legal periodical at a national law school to be devoted solely to the publication of articles focusing on the interaction of the legal profession and the business community, involves students in the editing of leading articles in business law, as well as the opportunity to produce student-written notes.
Advanced offerings vary from year to year and include a course in mergers and acquisitions, as well as seminars on corporate governance, white-collar crime, regulation of derivatives, investment funds and nonprofit institutions.
