The Business Law Certificate Program will offer students advanced exposure to business law courses and topics relevant to lawyers with business law practices. The certificate is awarded upon completion of at least 20 units of business law courses and a substantial research paper on a business law topic. Students must maintain a grade point average of at least 3.0 in graded certificate classes.
Business Law Certificate Requirements
To qualify for the Business Law Certificate students must take the Business Law Foundation Courses and a minimum of four courses, totaling ten or more units, from the Business Law Elective Courses (listed below). ***Please note that only one of the following courses can count towards the Business Law Certificate: Intellectual Property, Trademark and Unfair Competition Law, and Trade Secrets***
Independent Study and Externships
Students may satisfy up to 4 units of the required 10 elective units (and one of the four elective courses that are required) through a business law group study project, independent writing project or externship approved by at least one business law faculty member. A paper written for group study will not satisfy the writing requirement for the certificate without prior approval from a supervising business law faculty member.
Writing Requirement
Students must complete a writing requirement by completing a paper on a business law topic. The topic must be approved by a business law professor. The paper may be completed through a seminar, an independent writing project, a group study project, or law review, but to satisfy the certificate writing requirement the paper must be supervised by a faculty member. The same paper may be used to satisfy the law school writing requirement and the certificate writing requirement.
Business Law Foundation Courses
Students must take Business Associations (Law 215 or Law 215C) and Federal Income Taxation and either Securities Regulation or Securities Regulation I.
Foundation Courses
- 215 Business Associations (3 or 4)
- 215C Business Associations (3)
- 220 Federal Income Taxation (4)
- 236A Securities Regulation I (2)
- 236 Securities Regulations (3)
Students must take a minimum of four courses totaling ten or more units from the Business Law Elective Courses. Elective courses are offered on a rotating basis. Not all courses will be taught in any given year. Please check the Course Descriptions webpage for current course offerings. ***Please note that only one of the following courses can count towards the Business Law Certificate: Intellectual Property, Trademark and Unfair Competition Law, and Trade Secrets***
Elective Courses
- 243C Advanced Bankruptcy Practice: Corporate Reorganization (2)
- 262 Antitrust (3)
- 262C Antitrust and Intellectual Property (1)
- 243B Bankruptcy (3)
- 269 Basic Finance for Lawyers (2)
- 248C Business and Human Rights (2)
- 258G Business Fundamentals for Lawyers (3)
- 215D Business in Society (2 or 3)
- 215E Business Law and Climate Change (3)
- 294C Business of Professional Sports (2)
- 266 Commercial Law (3)
- 215F Comparative Corporate Governance (3)
- 290D Comparative Privacy Law (2 or 3)
- 258C Conscious Lawyering (1)
- 269B Consumer Protection and Financial Regulation (3)
- 270C Contract Drafting and Development (3)
- 245 Corporate and White Collar Crime (2)
- 423 Corporate Counsel Externship (2-6 units)
- 215B Corporate Integrity and Responsibility (2)
- 245A Corporate Responsibility: Case Studies in (Un) Ethical Leadership (2)
- 247B Corporate Tax (3)
- 274J Current Controversies in Intellectual Property Law (2)
- 269F Fintech Innovation and Financial Inclusion (2)
- 274 Intellectual Property (3)
- 274K International and Comparative Intellectual Property (3)
- 211B International Business Negotiations (3)
- 270 International Business Transactions (2 or 3)
- 247A International Taxation (3)
- 290T International Trade Law: Public Law Issues (3)
- 284 Law and Economics (3)
- 228C Law and Statistics (3)
- 215A Law of Corporate Governance Seminar (2)
- 298A Leadership and the Law (1 or 2)
- 258A Legal Ethics and Organizational Practice (3)
- 228A Mergers and Acquisitions (3)
- 215G Modern Topics in Business Law: Business Law Seminar (2)
- 211C Negotiating Joint Ventures (2)
- 271 Nonprofit Organizations and Drafting: A-Z Coverage with Document Drafting (4)
- 271T Nonprofits Organizations: Key Legal Topics (2)
- 209G Privacy, Technology and the Law (2)
- 269E Public Finance (2)
- 262B Regulated Industries (2)
- 286G Representing Life Science Companies (2)
- 243A Secured Transactions (2)
- 236B Securities Regulation II (2)
- 228 Startups and Venture Capital (3 or 4)
- 230B Sustainability Law (2)
- 220B Tax and Distributive Justice (3)
- 247 Taxation of Partnerships and LLCs (3)
- 247C Taxation of Business Entities (4)
- 270B Technology Transactions (2)
- 295A Trademark and Unfair Competition Law (2)
- 274B Trade Secrets (2)
- 245C White Collar Investigations and Prosecutions (2)
Business Law Certificate Form
Upon satisfying the above requirements students should complete the Business Law Certificate Form and have one of the business law faculty members approve the form. The approved form should be submitted to the Law School Registrar's Office.