Business and Commercial Law Certificate

Overview

The Business and Commercial Law Certificate is a response to the longstanding demand for attorneys with expertise in the field. Completion of the certificate requirements allows a student to develop the knowledge and skills needed to begin a successful career as a business lawyer.

A student who obtains the certificate will receive a solid grounding in the basic principles of business and commercial law. The student will be familiar with many of the transactions that business and commercial lawyers commonly encounter in practice.

Certificate Requirements

Students who intend to pursue a certificate program should complete the Declaration Form. The form deadline for your intention to pursue a certificate is November 1st of your 3L year, though you may certainly do so at an earlier point. If you fail to meet the requirements of the certificate by the time you graduate, you will not earn the certificate.

In addition to all other J.D. degree requirements, students must complete the requirements below to earn the Business and Commercial Law Certificate.

Core Courses

Complete:

• Business Organizations

Elective Courses

Any three of the following courses:

• Accounting for Lawyers (or other accounting course precluding enrollment in LAW 911)
• Antitrust Law
• Arbitration
• Commercial Law: Secured Transactions
• Corporate Governance
• International Commerce and Investment
• Real Estate Finance
• Taxation of Business Enterprises

And any two of the following courses:

• Bankruptcy
• Business Planning Seminar
• Contract Drafting
• Corporate Finance
• Deals
• Due Diligence in Business Transactions
• Independent Research*
• Life of a Startup
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Securities Regulation
• Transactional Law Competition

Course descriptions

A student must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 in the courses that count toward the certificate.

*If Independent Research is selected, it must be for 2 credits; the topic must be certified in advance by the director of the certificate program as involving advanced study of business or commercial law; and the resulting paper must satisfy the standards of the upper-level writing requirement.