Corporate Law (LLM)
Program Description
In this LLM specialization, you’ll learn to be an effective lawyer by studying the deals that are shaping the next generation of US and global business activity in America’s financial capital.
You’ll develop an individualized curriculum from our exceptionally rich array of courses, taking classes with some of the nation’s leading theorists in law and economics, corporate law, securities regulation, and bankruptcy law, as well as academics whose work is oriented toward practice and the profession. You also can choose from finance or international business classes taught by professors at the NYU Stern School of Business.
Admissions
Program Requirements
The program requires the completion of 24 credits, and at least 21 of the required 24 [major] credits must be taken in courses and seminars from the following groups:
- Corporate and Securities Law
- (except first-year Contracts - LAW-LW 11672 Contracts)
- Contracts and Commercial Law
- Corporate Compliance and Enforcement
- Antitrust and Competition Law
- Intellectual Property and Information Law
- Taxation
- Transactional Law and Business
- Appendix (other related classes)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Corporations | ||
| Select one of the following: 1 | 4-5 | |
| Corporations | ||
| Corporations (For LL.M, Students) | ||
| Core Business Courses 2 | ||
| Select at least two classes carrying a total of at least four credits from the following list: | 4 | |
LAW-LW 10007 | ||
| A Study of 'Mega' Bankruptcy Cases: Impact on the Economy and Related Industries Seminar | ||
| Bankruptcy | ||
LAW-LW 11144 | ||
| Commercial Law | ||
LAW-LW 11972 | ||
| Corporate Bonds Simulation | ||
| Corporate Crime and Financial Misdealing: Legal and Policy Analysis Seminar | ||
| Corporate Finance | ||
| Corporate Finance and Investment Banking | ||
| Corporate Governance Seminar | ||
| Cross-Border Insolvency and Related Issues | ||
| Digital Currency, Blockchains and the Future of Financial Services | ||
| Ethical and Legal Challenges in the Modern Corporation | ||
| Iconic Delaware Cases Seminar | ||
| International Business Transactions | ||
| Introduction to Accounting and Finance | ||
| Introduction to Banking and Modern Finance. | ||
| Investment Banking | ||
| Law and Business of Bankruptcy and Reorganization | ||
| Law and Business of Corporate Transactions | ||
| Law and Business of Corporate Turnarounds and Leadership | ||
| Law and Business Projects Seminar | ||
| Mergers and Acquisitions | ||
| M&A Simulation: Anatomy of a Merger | ||
| Survey of Securities Regulation | ||
LAW-LW 10118 | ||
| Electives | ||
| Other Elective Credits | 16 | |
| Total Credits | 24 | |
- 1
All students in the Corporation Law program who have not taken a course in US corporation law must register for Corporations (LAW-LW 10644 Corporations) or Corporations (for LLM students) (LAW-LW 10344 Corporations (For LL.M, Students)) for four or five credits in the first semester of their studies.
- 2
Not all of the core classes are offered each year – to see what is offered in 2023-24 check the online class schedule.
Stern Business School Courses
Students are permitted to take up to six credits at Stern that may be counted toward the credits needed to earn the LLM degree. Note that classes cross-listed with Stern (designated by a “Z” in the Course Management System) are treated the same as any other Law School class so that they are not subject to this limit and (A), (B) and (C) below do not apply.
Stern classes designated “Preferential” may be taken for credit toward the LLM degree and count toward the 21 required credits in corporations and related classes. To receive degree credit for a Stern class that is not Preferential you must petition and be granted approval by the Vice Dean. In order to do so, you would need to complete a “Request to Register for Stern Non-Preferential Course” form found online.
Fall 2023 Preferential Courses will be listed online (the list of spring courses is available in late fall) and are designated by the code “Prf” in the Law School’s Course Management System. Please review the information on the Records and Registration website regarding cross-registration and take note of the following important items:
- (A) The credit value assigned to Stern courses by the Law School is lower than that assigned by Stern because of the number of meeting hours. For example, a course assigned 3.0 credits by Stern may be assigned 2.75 by the Law School. You may take no more than 6 credits (calculated at the Stern rate) in a given semester.
- (B) No more than 6 credits in courses taught at Stern or other divisions of NYU (outside the Law School) may be counted toward the 24 credits you may need to qualify to sit for the New York Bar.
- (C) Grades earned in Stern courses appear on the Law School transcript but are not calculated in the law school GPA.
Prerequisites for Stern Courses
Many Stern classes have pre or co-requisites. For example, for certain Stern upper-level finance courses there is a prerequisite of the Stern class Foundations of Finance (COR1-GB 2311 Foundations of Finance) and a co-requisite of the Stern class Corporate Finance (FINC-GB 2302 Corporate Finance). A law student who has completed Corporate Finance at the Law School (LAW-LW 11461 Corporate Finance) will have satisfied this requirement. [Note: The Law School’s Corporate Finance course (LAW-LW 11461 Corporate Finance) is mutually exclusive with both Corporate Finance at Stern (FINC-GB 2302 Corporate Finance) and Foundations of Finance (COR1-GB 2311 Foundations of Finance).] You may obtain a waiver of a finance prerequisite if you meet one of the following conditions:
- You have an MBA degree and have taken finance courses as part of that degree.
- You are in the LLM APCLB program and took the Stern summer course on finance topics that is part of this program.
- You were a Finance undergraduate major, or you can provide a minimum of five courses, from an accredited institution, which directly correspond to the subject matter.
If you do not meet the requirements above to waive the required pre and/or co-requisite for a Stern course, you will need to take a proficiency exam in the topic(s) required.
Please contact the Office of Graduate Affairs for assistance with questions about prerequisites or other aspects of registering for a Stern course.
Sample Plan of Study
| 1st Semester/Term | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| LAW-LW 10644 | Corporations | 4-5 |
| Core Business Course | 4 | |
| Credits | 8 | |
| 2nd Semester/Term | ||
| Elective | 4 | |
| Elective | 4 | |
| Credits | 8 | |
| 3rd Semester/Term | ||
| Elective | 4 | |
| Elective | 4 | |
| Credits | 8 | |
| Total Credits | 24 | |
Learning Outcomes
In accordance with Revised ABA Standard 302; N.Y. Court of Appeals Rule 520.18(a)(1) please find an inventory of student learning outcomes that covers the areas of “substantive knowledge and procedural law”; lawyering skills; and “proper professional and ethical responsibilities to clients and the legal system.”
The development of a mature business lawyer-advisor is a process that starts in law school but takes years to produce its result. Law school can allow students to create the foundation upon which a career as a corporate lawyer may be most effectively constructed. The foundational specialized legal knowledge for students interested in business law should include, in addition to the required course in Contracts, the basic course in Corporations and Securities Regulation.
In addition to being a sound lawyer, an effective business lawyer must also have specialized knowledge that allows her to understand her clients problems quickly and deeply. This understanding is not as a legal specialist alone, but rather is understanding of the problem as the client understands it: as a business problem. That knowledge will allow the creation of an effective framework for the legal understanding of the problem to be addressed. Therefore, the expert business lawyer must understand the language of business as well as the vocabulary and mechanisms of law. She must have a fundamental grasp of corporate finance and accounting because these topics often provide the means to understand the business problems that she will assist in solving. Thus students seriously interested in a business law practice should take the offerings in Accounting and Corporate Finance at a relatively early stage.
Other upper-level courses in business and corporate law allow students to appreciate the work of corporate and business lawyers and the regulatory environment within which they function. These courses cover many advanced topics, including cross-border transactions and “deal” or transaction focused classes. What is most important is that students acquire the analytical skills to see legal problems in their business context and sufficient mastery of legal doctrine and procedure to allow them to exercise imagination deploying legal skill to foresee and foreclose problems or to deal with them effectively when they arise.
Find out more about Corporate Law at NYU.
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