Legal Drafting: Contracts (LAW-849A-001)
Richard Pollak
Meets: 10:00 AM - 11:50 AM (Tu)
Enrolled: 30 / Limit: 30
Notices
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Description
This course will provide you with some of the skills you will need when you leave law school and start to practice law. This course will introduce you to the basics of transactional law (finance, mergers and acquisitions, etc...) by focusing on one or more commercial transactions. Much of the work may be in the context of a purchase transaction or a commercial loan. Starting from the first class, you will learn to draft and negotiate commercial agreements to a successful outcome. The course will be conducted by a combination of class discussion and lecture, student drafting, and student negotiations, both in team and individual settings. In a typical class I will review the prior week’s assignment, present a new drafting element and how it is used, we will then draft the element in class and then you will have an assignment where you will apply the concepts we learn in class. Class participation is an important element of the course.
There are no prerequisites for this course. The course may be a good precursor for Secured Transactions, but the lack of exposure to Secured Transactions will not affect your performance in this course. The course focuses on proper construction and drafting of commercial agreements. Most of the work is drafting, the reading is light and meant to supplement the class work. The class is a 2-credit class.
Textbooks and Other Materials
The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.
The textbook for this course is Developing Professional Skills: Secured Transactions – Marth M. Ertman (West Publishing).
You might also want access to Transactional Skills: How to Structure and Document a Deal, Second Edition, Stephen L. Sepincuk and John Francis Hilson. This text is a helpful source of information.
In a typical week, we will discuss a drafting concept in class and then review. An assignment will then be posted to assess your understanding of the concept which we discussed in class. In the following class, we will review the assignment and introduce a new concept. Each class will build on the materials learned in the prior weeks. Further, from time to time, I will also use examples of good and bad drafting which I see in my practice and ask you to analyze and critique them.
First Class Readings
Read pp 26-30 in Ertman and pp 78-80 Theory and Tips for Successful Negotiation
Syllabus
Use your MyAU username and password to access the syllabus in the following format(s):
Microsoft Word 2007 (DOCX)