This course, which is complementary to the trade and investment class, offers a systematic introduction to the international rules governing free trade. The main focus of the course is the multilateral trading system as established by the World Trade Organization (WTO). In one session the basic rules of international investment will be explored.

The course examines (i) the history and institutional set-up of the WTO, (ii) its basic agreements (in particular GATT, GATS and TRIPS), (iii) trade remedies (anti-dumping, subsidies and countervailing measures, safeguards) (iv) the WTO dispute settlement system, (v) issues relating to trade-offs between trade and environment or labor rights. The current new round of multilateral trade negotiations (Doha round) will be taken into account. Furthermore, the basic concepts of international Investment law will be introduced.

The class addresses regulatory issues on a state-to-state (or state-to-investor) level. It does not deal with the international commercial relations among private companies. Such issues are addressed in the various courses on international business relations the program offers.

Reading assignments include introductory texts to the course topics as well as decisions of the WTO Appellate Body. The course concludes with a written exam.

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The course "International Trade and Investment" first looks at issues of an ever more globalized world economy and the implication for international business. It then examines the rationale and problems of international trade. Subsequently, the reasons for trade policy and efforts to liberalize international trade are discussed. The last part of the course focuses on foreign direct investment. Reasons and problems of such activities as well as government policies in this area are studied.

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Legal aspects of corporate governance primarily concern the (executive) directors’ fiduciary duties as well as the tasks and rights of those controlling the management (non-executive directors, members of the supervisory board, shareholders). The course will focus on corporate governance in (listed) stock corporations and will deal in detail with the German Corporate Governance Code.

Major issues discussed include the monitoring role of individual shareholders as well as of institutional shareholders, virtual general meetings, legal rules concerning the transparency of the corporation, the disciplinary role of takeovers, liability of the management, the business judgment rule, the legal framework for direct and derivative suits, the reporting of the annual financial statements, the role of the auditors of the corporation, and the rights and duties of the supervisory board.

As corporate governance today must be seen in a comparative context, recent international trends will be taken into account. The reading material will contain a number of case studies from around the world of prominent examples of corporate failure.

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In this course, conflicts of interest within the firm will be analyzed and mechanisms to mitigate these problems will be discussed. Since corporate governance mechanisms vary around the world, the course will cover the main taxonomies of corporate governance systems developed by financial economists and legal scholars. In addition, the relationship between firm value and corporate governance practices and investor protection will be discussed.

We will critically assess the empirical evidence on the importance and effectiveness of various corporate governance devices. Special emphasis will be on ownership structures and large shareholder monitoring, shareholder activism, executive compensation, the board of directors, and current reforms in corporate governance (SOX and German Corporate Governance Code).

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The class "Labor and Employment Law in an International Context" (Labor Law) covers a vast field. Therefore we will not go into details, but analyze with the help of practical examples how to find the law and how to apply it at least from a legal perspective. The course will focus on anti-discrimination law, collective bargaining and – depending on the progress in class – co-determination. Although the course will consider "black-letter" law when necessary, greater emphasis will be placed on the general rule that lies behind the statutory wording.

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The fundamental objective of this course is to help you develop managerial leadership skills. This course introduces you to the fundamentals of managing organizations at three levels: individual level, team level, organizational level. Using important models and concepts of organization management science, you will analyze human behavior in organizational settings as well as organizational processes and systems.

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This course provides an overview of the fundamental issues of taxation implicated by international transactions. Topics will include the bases of jurisdiction for taxation, including residency and source, permanent establishments and business profits, taxation of capital gains, financing structures and repatriation of cash, transfer pricing, various mechanisms to relieve double taxation, and EU tax law.  The course will focus on business transactions, but will also touch on individual issues in the context of cross-border compensation and exit taxation. We will use the OECD Model Income Tax Treaty as the primary basis for class discussion.

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The aim is to give an introduction to international tax planning and to show how international investment and financing decisions are affected by taxes. The course takes corporate taxation and personal income taxation into account. The course intensifies and builds on the topics taught in the course "International Tax Law". International tax law knowledge will be used to discuss practical problems and to train business decisions by solving case studies.

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This course explains the economic workings, risk profiles and other commercial aspects and addresses the major legal issues of principal international banking transactions, such as deposits, loans / project finance, guarantees, forwards, futures, swaps, options, commercial letters of credit and securitizations.  With respect to the latter, the course will also deal will the causes and some of the planned remedies for the recent financial and economic crisis.

The course is practice oriented and will deal with leading international cases, real life documentation and scholarly materials and will include an exercise for the negotiation of a major international project.

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In recent years, especially banks have continuously developed a wide range of innovative financial products. These products have supplemented financial markets and allowed investors to align their investment portfolios much better according to their needs. Furthermore, financial derivatives enable companies to adequately hedge risk exposures with respect to risk factors such as exchange rates, interest rates, or credit worthiness of contract partners. However, financial scandals, such as the cases of Metallgesellschaft, Orange County, and Barings Bank, have led to an extensive discussion concerning regulation of the usage of derivative products.

The aim of this course is to give students an overview of financial innovation offered on capital markets. It covers the most important derivative products in the areas of equity and fixed income markets. Basic pricing models are introduced and applied. The course is directly linked to "International Banking Transactions" and provides students with the necessary skills to analyze innovative financial products from an economic point of view.

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The importance of competition law has been constantly growing over the last decades and is of relevance to all practitioners in commercial law. The competition law course combines legal and economic analysis in covering anti-competitive agreements and practices, the control of market dominance, merger control and the enforcement of competition law in the EU member states.

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Real-world markets depart in many ways from the textbook ideal of perfect competition. Industrial economics is thus devoted to the theoretical and empirical analysis of imperfectly competitive markets. As such, it provides the economic underpinnings for competition law and policy. The course develops the framework and provides the tools for the economic analysis of antitrust cases. Topics are strategic interaction, collusion, horizontal and vertical restrictions of competition, abuse of dominance, and mergers.

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This course addresses the principal business and legal issues in cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions, including forms and techniques of combining two businesses, takeover defenses, successor liability, negotiation, pricing and other economic terms, due diligence, issuance of securities, duties of managers, corporate governance and social issues (especially important outside the United States).  The assigned reading covers the basic business and legal issues most frequently encountered in Mergers and Acquisitions of two companies across national borders.

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This course offers an introduction into Corporate Finance. It is primarily designed for students not familiar with the Corporate Finance tools, but also targets former finance students who want to refresh their knowledge in the topics covered. Topics are: Goals of Corporate Finance, Capital Budgeting, Cost of Capital, Capital Structure Theories, Payout Policy and Corporate Governance. We will also apply some of the tools covered to real case studies. The course is recommended for students who would like to write their Master Thesis in the field of Corporate Finance.

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Patent law determines to what extent technical innovations may be used and monopolized by one person or company in exclusion of others. This course examines the legal requirements to obtain a patent, the legal effects of a patent and how patents are enforced under German law and under the European Patent Convention. The course will also address patent strategies, patent licensing and complementary know-how protection. The course will emphasize how patent law issues are handled in legal and commercial practice.

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Intellectual property (IP; especially patents and trade marks) has become a major driver of competitive advantage in many industries. Students in this course learn how to manage IP in order to maximize its impact on business performance. The course illustrates how information from patent data can be used for multiple strategic planning purposes; e.g. competitor monitoring, R&D management, external acquisition of technological know-how and human resource management in R&D. Case studies illuminate the corporate experience in the use of patent information for strategic business planning purposes.

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