SECURITIES ARBITRATION CLINIC AND SEMINAR (6) (CLC500)

Professor Howard Meyers

Provides hands-on lawyering experience in the area of securities arbitration.  This 6-credit course will extend over two consecutive semesters (4 credits in the fall, 2 credits in the spring).  Under faculty supervision, students are assigned to work on real disputes between individual small investors/customers and their brokers.  Students represent customers who have lodged complaints against their brokers through the arbitration divisions of securities industry Self-Regulatory Organizations (SROs), such as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), or the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).  The clinic offers students a unique opportunity to develop lawyering skills while assisting individuals unable to obtain legal representation in pursuing their complaints.  In the first semester of the clinic, students attend a weekly classroom seminar, which focuses both on the relevant substantive law (aspects of securities law as well as federal and state law governing arbitration) and on lawyering skills.  Through a combination of case work, seminar sessions and individual meetings with clinic faculty, students develop basic lawyering skills including interviewing, case theory development, fact investigation and analysis, counseling and negotiation.  They are assigned written and/or oral exercises, including elements of a simulated arbitration.  Teaching techniques include problem analysis, simulations, videotaping with feedback.  In the clinic itself, students work in two-person teams, as assigned by the professors.  Over two semesters, they represent their individual clients through the arbitration process, from the initial client interviews through the final week with a professor to discuss their cases.  Students must commit to regularly scheduled office hours, when they can  meet and work with their partners and case supervisors.  Students should expect to spend an average of 12 hours per week on clinic case work both in the fall and in the spring semesters, in addition to seminar preparation.  Grades are based on a combination of factors, including class performance in the seminar, performance on the written/oral exercises and simulations, and work in representing clients.  There is no final examination.  Enrollment is limited.  No more than 14 placement credits may count toward the J.D.

Corequisite: Corporations (BUS 210). Securities Regulation (BUS 225), although not a prerequisite, is recommended.