Business Associations
Fall 2026
Prof. Amitai Aviram
Main course page
Schedule: The course schedule is tentative and may change as we progress through the course. Assignments from YouTube are hyperlinked to the link from which you can download them. Assignments with page numbers are from the course materials packet. Assignments that are in square brackets are optional. Class types are: L – lecture; A – application; R – Review.
|
Date |
# |
Type |
Topic |
Pre-class assignment |
|
8/26 |
1 |
L |
Intro to the Business
Associations course |
[Firms: An
Economic Perspective] [Case 1: Foreshadowing, pp.
23-27] |
|
8/27 |
2 |
L |
Firms (1/4): Types of firms |
--- |
|
9/2 |
3 |
L |
Firms (2/4): Creating a
firm |
--- |
|
9/3 |
4 |
A |
Firms (3/4): Constitutional
documents |
|
|
9/9 |
5 |
L |
Firms (4/4): Control in the
firm |
--- |
|
9/10 |
6 |
A |
Actors
(1/4): Types |
|
|
9/16 |
7 |
A |
Actors (2/4): Formal actions/Duty to A |
|
|
9/17 |
8 |
A |
Actors
(3/4): Asserting control – authorization |
|
|
9/23 |
9 |
A |
Actors (4/4): Asserting
control – ratification |
|
|
9/24 |
10 |
L |
Contracts (1/3): Liability
framework |
--- |
|
9/30 |
11 |
A |
Contracts
(2/3): Apparent authority/estoppel |
|
|
10/1 |
12 |
A |
Contracts (3/3): Virtual
apparent authority |
|
|
10/7 |
13 |
A |
Torts
(1/3): Respondeat superior (Employee) |
|
|
10/8 |
14 |
A |
Torts (2/3): Respondeat superior (Scope of employment) |
|
|
10/14 |
15 |
A |
Torts (3/3): Negligence/Actual/apparent authority |
|
|
10/15 |
16 |
A |
Reaching better defendants:
Veil piercing |
|
|
10/21 |
17 |
R |
Mid-term review (law “wargaming”,
day 1) |
--- |
|
10/22 |
18 |
R |
Mid-term review (law “wargaming”,
day 2) |
Mid-term practice exam (p.
287) [Case 2: Overkill (pp.
288-290)] |
|
10/28 |
19 |
L |
Corporate governance:
Policy & politics |
--- |
|
10/29 |
20 |
A |
FD analysis (1/6) - Flaws |
|
|
11/4 |
21 |
A |
FD analysis (2/6) - Duty
& standard of review |
|
|
11/5 |
22 |
A |
FD analysis (3/6) -
Application: Agency SoR |
Case 3: No Good Deed (p.
359) |
|
11/11 |
23 |
A |
FD analysis (4/6) -
Application: BJR |
|
|
11/12 |
24 |
A |
FD analysis (5/6): Entire fairness / Enhanced scrutiny |
|
|
11/18 |
25 |
A |
FD analysis (6/6): Review |
Case 4: Snap Decision (pp.
371-372) |
|
11/19 |
26 |
A |
Reaching defendants: Aiding
& abetting FD breach |
Case 5: Suing Fortune (pp.
373-375) |
|
12/2 |
27 |
R |
Exam preparation |
Practice exam #1 |
|
12/3 |
28 |
R |
Final course review |
Practice exam #2 |
Syllabus: Click here for the course syllabus.
Course outline: This is an outline of the entire corporate law sequence, which combines several courses. Our Business Associations course consists of chapters 1 through 3 of this sequence.
Business Associations
1. Acting through others
a. Introduction to the BA course
b. Firms
1.Types of firms
2.Constitutional documents
3.Control in the firm
c. Actors
1.Types of actors
2.Formal actions
3.Beneficiary’s duties to an actor
4.Asserting control over an actor (authorization & ratification)
2. Corporate compliance (the shielding problem)
a. Liability for actor’s contracts
1.Liability framework
2.Apparent authority
3.Estoppel
4.Virtual apparent authority
b. Liability for actor’s torts
1. Respondeat superior
2. Negligence/actual authority/apparent authority
c. Reaching better defendants
1. Veil piercing
2. Aiding & abetting FD breach
3. Corporate governance (the agent problem)
a. Fiduciary duty (litigation solutions)
1. Private paternalism
2. FD analysis: Duty & Standard of review
3. FD analysis: Application
b. Customizing the firm
1.Mandatory vs. default rules
2.Customizing via constitutional documents
3.Customizing via shareholder agreements
c. Exit solutions
1.Alienability
2.Dissociation
3.Termination
4. Shareholder activism (Chapter 1 of the M&A course)
5. Dealmaking & dealbreaking (Chapter 2 of the M&A course)
6. Financing firms (Chapter 3 of the M&A course)
Seminar: The Evolution of Corporate Law & Finance
7. History of Business Organization Law
1. Course overview
·
Administrative details of the course
·
Writing a research paper
·
Economic and legal history methodologies
2. Pre-capitalist economic systems
·
Overview of our theoretical framework
·
The guild: pre-capitalist manufacturing
·
The manor: pre-capitalist agriculture
3. Commercial capitalism
·
The commercial revolution
·
The joint stock company
4. Industrial capitalism
·
Demand for incorporation
·
Public purpose
·
General incorporation statutes
·
Antitrust: a missed opportunity for corporate law?
1. Regulation of financial transactions
·
Early views on lending & money
·
Regulation of lending by the Catholic Church
·
Regulation of lending in the common law & 20th century U.S.
2. History of the corporate entity
·
Demand for limited liability
·
Early forms of limited liability
·
Pre-modern attitudes towards limited liability
·
Could limited liability have developed without corporations?
·
The evolution of limited liability in corporations
·
Asset partitioning and the development of business entity law
3. History of corporate governance
·
Evolution of the board of directors
·
Intervention solutions to the agency problem: ultra vires & the BJR
·
Voice solutions to the agency problem: shareholder voting
·
Exit solutions to the agency problem: dissolution & dissociation
1. Regulatory competition
·
Race to the bottom?
·
Race to the top?
·
Competition with federal law
2. The business cycle
·
The business cycle & development of corporate law
·
The bubble law problem
·
Case study: the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
·
Law as a tool to manipulate the public’s risk perceptions
3. Political economy of the primacy debate [omitted]
4. Legal origins [omitted]
5. The future of business entities
·
A brief history of business entities
·
End of the public corporation?
·
End of private equity?
·
Resurgence of large-scale unincorporated business entities?
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