look at life in the Law and Entrepreneurship LLM Program (LLMLE) at Duke, from a student's perspective. For the 2012-13 year, Josh Lawson is your guide to the LLMLE program.Elect Commercial & Bankruptcy Law
I’d like to introduce you to Suzy Fitzgerald (LLMLE ’13), one of the kindest and smartest folks you’ll ever meet. Suzy is an Illinois native, attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she majored in Mechanical Engineering (like I said, smart). Suzy worked as a business analyst at JPMorgan Chase in Chicago before attending Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she was a national moot court champion. Suzy has been active at Duke and adapted quickly to her Durham surroundings. I hope every future LLMLE class has at least one Suzy.
Hi prospective LLMLEs! My name is Suzy and I’m excited to write a post about one of my favorite elective courses: Principles of Commercial & Bankruptcy Law. As you know, LLMLE students may enroll in a number of electives in addition to their core curriculum, both at the Law school and at Fuqua School of Business. I chose to write about this particular elective to give you an overview of the course in case any of you are thinking of taking it during your year.
Commercial & Bankruptcy law is taught by Professor Steven Schwarcz, who “helped to pioneer the field of asset securitization” – he’s kind of a big deal, just check out his faculty bio. Schwarcz is extremely knowledgeable in all areas of commercial law and his class provides a great overview of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and the Bankruptcy Code. But it isn’t everyday that you get a prof who leads his field and pens reviews of the Triangle’s restaurant scene.
The course follows a fictitious company, Groco, from its early formation through bankruptcy, touching on commercial law issues along the way. Professor Schwarcz is highly skilled at weaving together different Articles of the UCC so that the students can see the big picture. I took Secured Transactions during law school, but if someone had asked me how Article IX interacted with any other Article, I would have looked at them with a blank stare. Now, I understand how the Articles can work together and how the Bankruptcy Code affects a firm’s decisions in structuring commercial transactions.
I highly recommend this course to you future LLMLEs (and any other Duke student). Commercial Law can be dry at times, but Professor Schwarcz keeps it interesting and practical (he has great war stories!). Plus, I think commercial law is a topic that arises in lots of different practice areas and in life generally. If you did not take a UCC class during law school, this course gives you a basis in Sales, Secured Transactions, Commercial Paper and many other Articles.
When and if you have questions about the course, or the program in general, feel free to email me at suzanne.fitzgerald@duke.edu. I would be happy to share my thoughts!