Thomas Jersild: Introduction to American Legal Culture. Company Law. Corporate Governance

Thomas N. Jersild

Tom Jersild is a retired partner of the international law firm Mayer Brown LLP. Since his retirement he has consulted and taught, largely on company law, capital markets law, investment law, and land law, in 32 countries in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Africa, the Arabian Gulf, Central and Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean. This work has included drafting of commercial laws throughout these areas and teaching in universities in former-Yugoslav countries, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Afghanistan.

Courses by Tom Jersild

Schedule:

 

05 May	Monday	10–12	Classroom: Trial Simulation Room, B tower, B317
07 May	Wednesday	10–12	Classroom: Trial Simulation Room, B tower, B317
08 May	Thursday	12–14	Classroom: Trial Simulation Room, B tower, B317
12 May	Monday	10–12	Classroom: Trial Simulation Room, B tower, B317
14 May	Wednesday	10–12	Classroom: Trial Simulation Room, B tower, B317
15 May	Thursday	12–14	Classroom: Trial Simulation Room, B tower , B317

The courses will include PowerPoint presentation and supplemental reading materials.

1. Introduction to American Legal Culture Concentrating on the Law on Individual Human Rights

This course will look at America's founding documents - the Declaration of Independence from the British (1776) and the Constitution (1787 and 1791) and trace how those have led to American attitudes including individualism and distrust of collectivism including socialism. All students will be given booklets of the founding documents for reading in class.

The course will then examine the three-part structure of the US government and will discuss some often-made criticisms of American democracy.

The class will then read leading US court opinions on racial discrimination, abortion rights, prisoners' rights, right to carry a gun, freedom of speech, money in politics and other controversial subjects, and discuss how these decisions fit into US and other countries' legal culture.

2. Company Law, Concentrating on Private and Family Companies

This course will first review basic principles using the Romanian company law and comparing it with other countries' company laws. The students will be expected to have copies of the Romanian company law.

The course will then concentrate on the structuring of private and family companies, looking at planning for family conflict, voting control, distribution of profits, sale of shares to outsiders, dealing with personal conflicts of interest, and other issues. Sample agreements covering these subjects will be reviewed.

The students will be given cases in which minority shareholders were treated unfairly by controlling shareholders of a company, and the students will be asked how this could have been prevented in advance with negotiation, written agreements, and good legal advice.

3. Corporate Governance and International Best Practices

Corporate governance is a "hot topic" internationally, particularly because of its effect on a company's ability to raise capital and attract investors. For the most part this subject concerns "publicly-traded" rather than private companies. The laws and Codes of several countries and institutions (including the Romanian Corporate Governance Code) will be reviewed, and specific issues will be discussed including conflicts of interest between directors and shareholders of a company, trading by insiders in a company's stock, dual-class stock (where some shares have more votes than others), rights of minority shareholders in general, and others.

Some scandals will be analyzed including the US Enron and WorldCom cases where shareholders and employees lost everything and directors went to prison, leading to new and controversial laws in the US and other countries.

KURZUS JELENTKEZÉS:

- A Sapientia EMTE és a BBTE joghallgatói és végzett jogászok jelentkezhetnek (összesen max. 20 fő).

- A kurzusok heti 3x2 óra, két hét alatt összesen 6x2 óra jelenlétet feltételeznek.

- Az előadásokon való részvétel ingyenes. A jelentkezés feltételezi, hogy a hallgató a program egészén részt vesz, és amennyiben nem, a jelentkezésével vállalja 150 euró, illetve végzett jogászok esetében 350 euró költségtérítés megfizetését (nem alkalmazandó, ha a kimaradásnak megfelelő orvosi papírral alátámasztott egészségügyi okai vannak).

- A képzés elvégzéséről a résztvevők diplomát (participation certificate) kapnak.

- Az angol nyelv megfelelő ismerete előfeltétel.

- Jelentkezni 2014. április 29-ig, az albert.kati[kukac]kv.sapientia.ro e-mail címen lehet (az e-mail-nek tartalmaznia kell a jelentkező teljes nevét, személyi igazolvány számát, állandó és kolozsvári lakcímét, személyi számát, e-mail címét és mobil telefonos elérhetőségét, az egyetem elnevezését és az évfolyamot).

- A jelentkezők legkésőbb április 30-án visszaigazolást kapnak a jelentkezés elfogadásáról vagy elutasításáról. A  végleges résztvevői lista is ekkor kerül közlésre.