1109 | Essential Frameworks for a Corporate / Commercial Transaction Lawyer

How does this course relate to the programme curriculum: Does it develop on a prior course in the programme or is it a foundational or standalone course?

The Course is combination of a foundational and a standalone course. It seeks to reprise or repeat the understanding, appreciation and analysis of fundamental legal principles across three legal subjects, which lie at the heart of the modern Indian corporate or commercial law transactional practice.

To that extent, the Course aims at reinforcing the objectives of the overall programme curriculum and builds on the core courses in these subject the students have previously studied. This it aims at doing, by going ‘back-to-basics’ in building a strong, principles-driven foundation in three core legal subjects. The perspective of how the practice of the transactional law treats these critical legal issues is merely a point of reference, or contrast, to the understanding of the critical legal principles themselves.

That said, a student having such a strong fundamental foundation in these principal legal subjects, will be a better professional asset in the corporate / commercial world after law school – a consequence that is certainly salutary, though not intended to be necessary.

Describe how you have approached the course. What have you included/excluded and why? Choice of materials: primary or secondary readings / case law?

The Course relies principally on leading textbooks, treatises and commentaries (both India and English), as well as case law readings embedded therein. These materials provide a jurisprudentially rich and detailed analytical framework for a reprise of one’s understanding of these core legal subjects.

The Course does not purport to be a comprehensive restatement of each of these subjects. It rather strides to identify key foundational legal principles, while attempting to deconstruct them for ease of a future practitioner’s sound understanding. To that extent, the approach adopted is doctrinaire; the focus being on essential principles of law, rather than the practice.

Describe your pedagogical method: lectures, Socratic discussion, seminar style discussion, response papers or group work, field work.

The Sessions will largely be lecture-based. There will be components of discussions (Socratic and seminar style), particularly around the template agreements to be circulated / discussed, and in eliciting responses in the contact classes, to how much the students have come prepared with the readings.

Describe the layout of the course: module structure and sequence.

The Course is divided as follows: (i) 4 modules of Contract Law Reprise, of 4 hours each; (ii) 5 modules of Company Law Reprise, of 4 hours each; and (iii) 1 module of Foreign Exchange Law Reprise, of 4 hour duration.