(2 credits), Professor Arthur Pinto, Brooklyn Law School
This course will examine how different countries deal with significant corporate governance issues primarily involving publicly traded corporations as compared to the United States. Issues that may be covered include formation, structure, allocation of power, ownership, shareholder voting, fiduciary duties, enforcement and other governance issues. There will also be some discussion of the European Union harmonization efforts through Directives on Company and Securities Law. In addition, the issue of the effect of globalization and the question of whether different systems will converge will be covered. Knowledge of U.S. corporate and partnership law is not a prerequisite since there will be a basic introduction and discussion of the relevant law.

(1 credit), Professor Chiara Giovannucci Orlandi (University of Bologna), and Professor Domenico Borghesi (University of Modena)
This course will concentrate on arbitration, which is the principal alternative form of dispute resolution to civil litigation. The course will cover the major differences between arbitration and other methods of alternative dispute resolution, and will focus on issues relating to international commercial arbitration. Special attention will be given to the European laws on international arbitration and to the rules of the most influential international arbitration institutions (e.g., The International Arbitration Chamber of Milan, The International Chamber of Commerce of Paris, The American Arbitration Association, and The London Court of International Arbitration). Special regard will be given to the 1958 New York Convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards and its application in the United States.

(1 credit), Professor Jeffrey Atik, (Loyola Law School, Los Angeles )
This course is a broad overview of the world's major legal traditions. We first will briefly examine customary and ancient law, especially Roman law, which was rediscovered in Bologna in the eleventh century and is the basis of the civil law system used in Europe, Latin America, and parts of Asia. Next, we will discuss the modern civil law tradition, including its use of codes, as well as substantive areas like constitutional, contract, and tort law. Finally, we will survey the pre-eminent contemporary supranational legal system: the European Union. Although time constraints will limit our treatment of these various legal systems, we will cover the basic principles and the most salient features of each one, hoping in this way to gain a greater appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of our own machinery of justice.

There are no prerequisites for these courses.

Students may drop a course at any time, but with no tuition refund after April 13, 2012. Students may switch or add courses up until Monday, May 21, 2012. See Important Dates for complete information on tuition due dates, withdrawals and refunds.