Business Associations

Catalog description

Required Course: Upper Division Students Course Requirement: exam Business Associations (?BA?) surveys the law governing ?Firms,? which are business organizations such as partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies. BA requires students to have a fundamental working knowledge of legal principles in general (learned in the first year of law school), but this course neither requires nor assumes that students have any background in accounting, economics, finance, management, or any other business background. BA addresses the legal considerations associated with planning, forming, financing, owning, managing, transferring, dissolving, restructuring, and suing the Firm. BA reviews the legal rights and fiduciary duties of people related to the Firm, including: principals and agents; partners, limited partners, and limited liability partners; members and managers of limited liability companies; corporate shareholders, directors, and officers; and other stakeholders in society. BA examines how legal mechanisms may be used to enforce legal rights, duties, and equity regarding Firms. This study of statutory law, common law, contract law, federal securities rules and regulations, and various policy considerations underlying business associations is valuable for the bar and various types of law practice. BA considers professional and ethical concerns for attorneys who advise and interact with different Firms, including their own Law Firm. Students benefit from this course not only by learning the law of business organizations who might become their clients or with whom their clients will interact, but also by learning how the law of business applies to the business of the practice of law. BA encourages students to develop their own professional identifies while studying business ethics and the role of the Firm in society.