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Updated: March 2007
The Business Law Focus Area is intended to present the business law curriculum so that students may take a relatively cohesive package of courses, all of which are rooted in the business law context, that emphasizes substantive knowledge, analytical skills, and practical skills.
Virtually every student takes a few business law courses beyond Contracts, and some students take as many such courses as they can. The Business Law Focus Area allows all students, those with little or no business interest as well as those with a strong desire to specialize in business law, to select intelligently those classes that will be most appropriate for them.
Every student in the Business Law Focus Area must take the foundational courses Business Entities and Individual Income Tax. One or both of these courses is a prerequisite for the rest of the Business Law Focus Area curriculum. More practically, every lawyer, whether in civil or criminal practice, with a large urban firm or in a rural solo practice, encounters corporate law and tax issues. Further, business entities concepts are usually tested at least once on each Washington State Bar Examination and tax concepts are often tested in other states.
Every student pursuing the Business Law Focus Area curriculum must also take at least one course that involves skills components. Some of these courses are drafting labs. Drafting labs are 1-credit courses that are attached to substantive courses such as Business Entities. The labs involve both a consideration of general principles of good drafting and a specialized attention to the nuances of drafting within the context of a particular substantive area. In the Community Development & Entrepreneurship Clinic, business students and law students are teamed in pro bono representation of the new and existing small businesses that are the clinic's clients. These ventures are seeking financial and resource support from two local micro-lenders, Community Capital and Washington CASH. From business planning to business growing, the course emphasizes principles, interdisciplinary skills and values from both a legal and business perspective. Each two-person team is assigned a supervising lawyer and business consultant to advise and facilitate their work. Other skills courses are clinics or externships in substantive areas such as bankruptcy. These courses allow students to work in real practice settings either on behalf of real clients under the supervision of a licensed attorney, or in the chambers of a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge or U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee.
Every student in the Business Law Focus Area must also take at least three elective courses. These courses currently include Advanced Topics in Business Law, Antitrust, Bankruptcy, Business Planning, Corporate Acquisitions, Corporate Finance, Corporate Governance, Corporate and Partnership Tax, Corporations & Public Policy Seminar, International Business Transactions, International Taxation, International Trade and Securities Regulation. These courses allow students to pursue more specialized interests within the Business Law Focus Area. For example, a student interested in traditional corporate law might choose Corporate Acquisitions, Corporate Finance, and Securities Regulation, whereas a student interested in the international aspects of business law could choose among the business law electives that have an international perspective.
The Center on Corporations, Law & Society at Seattle University School of Law conducts and promotes interdisciplinary scholarship and dialogue on issues related to the roles and obligations of corporations in an increasingly privatized and interdependent global society. In addition to serving as a platform for enhanced scholarly inquiry, the Center provides a forum for sustained discussion among academics, legal practitioners, business leaders, activists, policy makers and community members on the complex and important relationships between business enterprises and their many stakeholders.
The Center offers a range of opportunities for students interested in exploring the role law plays in maximizing the positive contributions of corporations while protecting fundamental public interest values. Students are invited to attend the many conferences, speakers and films that the Center hosts throughout the year. In addition, students are welcome to visit the Center on Corporations, Law & Society for advice on professional development, curricular choices, and scholarship. Finally, Student Fellows, who work closely with the Center Director, assist with planning and organizing Center events, support faculty research and other substantive Center projects, have opportunities to network with the outside community of stakeholders working in a wide range of fields, and otherwise engage in facilitating the work of the Center.
| Eric Chiappinelli | Business Entities, Corporate Acquisitions, Securities Regulation |
| Mark Chinen | Business Transactions Simulation, International Business Transactions |
| Shelly Frankel | Corporate and Partnership Tax, Individual Income Tax |
| Carmen Gonzalez | International Trade |
| Lily Kahng | Individual Income Tax |
| Jack Kirkwood | Antitrust, Business Entities, Law & Economics |
| Susan McClellan | Director, Externship Program |
| Rafael Pardo | Contracts, Bankruptcy |
| Russell Powell* | Business Entities, Corporate Governance |
| Chris Rideout | Drafting Labs |
| Kellye Testy | Business Entities |
*Focus Area Chair
| James Bush | Business Planning |
| Theodore Collins | Distinguished Practitioner-in-Residence |
| Dana Gold | Adv. Topics: Whistleblowers & the Law |
| Rick Hansen | Corporate Finance |
| Andrew Kashyap | Community Development & Entrepreneurship Clinic |
| Cynthia Kuno | Bankruptcy Clinic |
| John Mericle | Securities Regulation |
| Charles Routh | International Business Transactions |
The focus area requires students to take two foundational courses, one skills component, and at least three courses chosen from an approved list of electives. Plan the completion of your focus area with a focus area tracking form.
Business Entities (4 cr)
Individual Income Tax (4 cr)
Business Law Drafting Lab (1 cr)
Corporate Acquisitions Drafting Lab (1 cr)
Community Development & Entrepreneurship Clinic (4 cr)
Bankruptcy Clinic (1 cr)
Bankruptcy Judicial Externship (4 cr)
Bankruptcy Law Trustee Externship (3-4 cr)
Advanced Topics in Business Law (2-3 cr)
Antitrust (3 cr)
Bankruptcy (3 cr)
Business Planning (3 cr)
Corporate Acquisitions (3 cr)
Corporate Finance (3 cr)
Corporate Governance (3 cr)
Corporate and Partnership Tax (4 cr)
Corporations & Public Policy Seminar (2 cr)
International Business Transactions (3 cr)
International Taxation (2 cr)
International Trade (3 cr)
Securities Regulation (3 cr)
Students pursuing the Business Law Focus Area may find that related courses not strictly within the focus area are of interest. These courses may include the following:
Basic Real Estate
Advanced Real Estate
Employment Law
Employment Discrimination
Intellectual Property
Labor Law Private Sector
Law and Economics
Payment Law
Pensions and Employment Benefits
Taxation of Charitable (Non-Profit) Organizations
Transnational Litigation and Arbitration
UCC Sales and Secured Transactions
Whistleblowers & the Law
Courses in the Albers School of Business and Economics