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 should notify the registrar of their intention to satisfy the certificate requirements before the end of their first full academic year.

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
• Commercial 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**
• 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.

*Business Associations I or Business Associations II will count toward the requirements for this certificate for students who entered law school before August 2019.

**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.