Curriculum

This course provides an overview of the law governing employee benefits plans, including retirement plans (401(k) and pension plans) and welfare benefits plans (life, health, disability, long-term care and post-retirement medical). The course will review the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the main federal law regulating employee benefit program, as well as rules governing coverage, vesting, funding, fiduciary standards, claims administration, remedies and preemption of state law.

An introduction to the law of business organizations, including agency, partnership, and business corporations. Topics include formation and structure of the corporation, power and fiduciary responsibility of management, rights and liabilities of shareholders, shareholders' derivatives litigation, acquisitions and tender offers and insider trading.

The potential for lawsuits plays a critical role in business decisions, particularly in regulatory compliance, risk management, and contract procurement and vendor risk management. This is often especially true in highly regulated fields such as healthcare, finance, HR, cybersecurity, and supply chain management. Litigation – whether in front of administrative agencies or courts – is generally the endgame for regulatory, contractual, or other liability problems that institutions may face. This class provides students with a basic understanding of the process of civil litigation in the U.S. We will trace the pathway of a lawsuit from the initial pleading stage to the appeal. Students will gain a solid grasp of the concepts and vocabulary that underlie the U.S. litigation system. Topics include types of lawsuits, forums, pleadings, response, discovery, trial procedures, appeals, administrative adjudication, and arbitration.

A study of the obligations of regulated companies when there has been a compliance failure. Topics covered include: audits and other internal governance approaches for discovering compliance problems in a timely fashion; investigations; reporting; mitigation; regulatory responses; and remediation. 

This course explains the major regulations governing the workplace and the legal and practical approaches to planning, conducting, and documenting internal workplace investigations of employee complaints and suspected employee misconduct.

A study of consumer protection regulations, including consumer lending, mandatory and voluntary disclosures, common law fraud, and unfair and deceptive acts and practices. 

This class covers contract risk management best practices, as applied to both individual and portfolio of contracts. Topics include contract negotiations, term sheets, pre-contractual liability, contract performance, breach, waivers, post-breach actions, and the relationship between liability and business risks. Students will also learn about key contract terms including representations and warranties, conditions, default, indemnification, arbitration, liquidated damages, and choice of law and venue. 

A study of legal and risk management issues surrounding the use of big data analytics, machine learning and other AI technologies by regulators, business firms and other organizations. Special focus is given to issues arising in health care regulation, financial and securities regulation, and employment law—for example, health care fraud and abuse, Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering, economic sanctions, Federal securities Laws, and employment discrimination. Topics include privacy, cybersecurity, algorithmic fairness, smart contracts, robot and computer system accountability, social media censorship, regulatory reporting, monitoring of employees and transactional monitoring.

This course provides a practical study of employment discrimination law, which is primarily federal and statutory in nature. The course will examine multiple issues surrounding employment discrimination but will focus on identifying discrimination and advising employers on avoiding claims of discrimination. The course will also examine what happens when a claim of discrimination is filed at both the administrative level and in federal court. These issues will be considered in the context of discrimination on the basis of race/color, national origin, gender/sexual orientation, age, religion and disability. 

This course will provide you with a basic overview of employment law as it relates to day-to-day employment practices. You will be guided through the entire employer-employee relationship—from the initial decision to fill a position to the ultimate decision to terminate the employment relationship. Topics include the laws and regulations covering the employment relationship, employee recruitment, background checks, employment tests, wage and hour standards, benefits, performance appraisals, privacy, training and development, termination and post-termination issues.  

This course will cover the principles, frameworks, and best practices for analyzing and managing risks within business firms. Students will learn how to construct frameworks for managing strategic, operational, financial, and legal/regulatory risks. They will also learn how to assess and measure these risks.

This course focuses on environmental legal risk management and compliance. Students will learn about federal and state environmental statutes and regulations that provide the basis for compliance in the areas of air, water, solid waste, climate change, and environmental justice. Students will also explore best practices for identifying and managing environmental risks and remedying compliance failures. Students will learn about environmental due diligence, environmental policies and procedures, mandatory self-reporting, and voluntary self-policing (monitoring, disclosure, and remediation). Through environmental case studies, students will learn about the intersection of federal and state regulators and explore emerging environmental compliance challenges. Environmental risk management is important in almost every industry, including manufacturing, technology (e.g., AI, cloud computing, cryptocurrency), transportation, public utilities, energy, defense contracting, health care, real estate, and entertainment and hospitality. It is also important for those working in contract and transactional risk management in financial services, supply chain, HR, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial real estate. In a semester-long assignment, students will focus on an environmental risk management topic relevant to their industry and/or professional goals.

This course covers basic accounting principles necessary to understand, interpret and analyze financial statements, formulate effective inquires, and communicate intelligently with business and financial professionals (as well as with their future clients). Students will read and use the information from real companies to analyze and interpret their financial statements. Specifically, this class will use real-world examples to illustrate the interrelationships between financial statements and the documents underlying certain deals/transactions. The students will learn about financial reports, cash flow versus income, tax versus accounting books, the quality of earnings and analytical ratios, all of which may be necessary to conduct due diligence on a particular matter and to draft operative agreements. The class will also spend time analyzing past financial scandals and the financial issues that led to them (and the role various professionals could/may have played in preventing them).

An introduction to corporate governance, risk management, and compliance within business firms and financial institutions. Topics include: the role of the board of directors and executives in managing firms and overseeing risk management and compliance; Codes of Ethics; internal controls; the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; whistleblowers; crisis management; and disclosure requirements under Federal Securities Laws and under banking statutes and regulation.

This course introduces students to government contracting. The course cover statutes and regulations governing the government procurement process, as well as the core contract law issues relevant to government contracting. The course will also look at the specific contracting issues related to defense contracting, including the Department of Defense’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC).

This course covers the legal issues related to human resource documentation and employee policies and procedures.  Topics covered include: what actions to document and how and when to document them; document retention guidelines under various employment laws; privacy issues; and best practices and legal issues related to employee handbooks.

A study of insurance contracts and insurance law. Topics covered include: the nature of insurance, insurable interests, persons and interests protected, contractual obligations of the insured and insurer, the claims process, bad faith, and subrogation. We will explore insurance contracts from the point of negotiation and execution through the claims process, settlement and dispute resolution.

This course introduces students to key concepts in law of patents, trademarks, trade secrets and copyright. Special focus is given to risk management techniques to protect a company’s intellectual property, including monitoring for potential infringements, addressing suspected infringements, IP licensing, non-compete agreements and non-disclosure agreements.

This course introduces students to effective legal research techniques for navigating the vast landscape of legal sources and business information. Students will learn research strategies for working with primary legal sources--such as federal and state statutes, regulations, case law, and municipal ordinances and codes--as well as secondary legal sources. Students will learn how to efficiently research administrative materials, including federal and state registers and codes, proposed rules and comments, agency guidance, and enforcement actions. Students will also learn how to research business sources relevant for engaging in transactional due diligence, contract risk managements, vendor, and third-party risk management. Students will gain practical, hands-on experience working with both free and paid legal and business resources, and databases.

In this course, you will learn the main principles, concepts, tools, and skills of negotiations and bargaining. These will not only help you develop a good understanding of the subject but will also equip you with what is needed to be a “successful” negotiator. We will give primary attention to negotiation and bargaining in legal contexts. These include: contract negotiations; bargaining during the performance of long-term contracts and during other long-term relationships; bargaining between a business firm and its employees, customers, suppliers, vendors, and investors; bargaining among business firms regarding joint ventures and supply chain management; and bargaining during legal conflicts, both before and during litigation. You will learn how to identify the parties’ relative bargaining power and how to increase bargaining power–e.g., by using pre-commitment devices and acquiring information. You will also learn about the factors that can lead to quick, efficient agreements and those that can lead to costly delays and bargaining breakdowns, including the role played by bargaining procedures, informational gaps between parties, “credible” and “non-credible” threats, and trust and fairness.

In this course, students will learn about program management and project management from the perspectives of governance, contracting, and regulatory compliance. Topics: Project management lifecycle, from project conception, negotiation, and initiation through project delivery and closure. Predominant project management types—e.g., Waterfall, Agile, and Lean/Scrum. Selecting and managing the project team, assessing and managing risk, engaging and managing stakeholders, and determining and managing outsourcing and procurement strategy. The course gives special attention to legal risk management issues. These include project governance, contract risk management, project finance, human resources and employment law, intellectual property, and vendor risk management.

A study of the legal issues related to outsourcing contracts, including liability issues arising from these relationships. Students will also learn about best practices for assessing, monitoring, and managing vendor and outsourcing risks.

A study of the legal rules covering the workers’ compensation system. Topics include: agency concepts as they apply to employment relationships, compensable accidents and injuries, tort concepts, causation and the worker’s compensation process, from injury to an employee’s return to work, fraud and civil liability issues.

A study of workplace safety. Topics covered include: the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970; OSHA standards, inspections, and enforcement actions; recordkeeping requirements; whistleblower protection and anti-retaliation protections; health and wellness initiatives; mental health issues; workplace violence issues, including OSHA requirements, third-party victim negligence claims, and employee references; workers compensation system.