Eligibility
Eligibility for another certificate program, such as TI:GER, does not preclude participation in the Transactional Law Certificate Program. Similarly, JD/MBAs who complete the requirements may receive a certificate.
Eligibility for the Transactional Law Certificate Formal online submission » Students must also contact Professor Payne to discuss course selection and other matters. There are no other prerequisites to becoming eligible to receive a certificate, only course requirements for its receipt.
Required Courses
- Accounting in Action or Analytical Methods (can be waived if equivalent course previously taken)
- Business Associations
- Contract Drafting
- Corporate Finance OR Real Estate Finance
- Deal Skills
- Fundamentals of Income Taxation OR Federal Income Tax: Individual
- Federal Income Tax: Corporations or Federal Income Tax: Partnerships (Fundamentals of Income Taxation is a prerequisite unless waived by the professor)
- Capstone course or an approved field placement
Skills Courses
Contract Drafting
Students learn how to translate a business deal into contract concepts, analyze a contract from the client's business perspective, and problem-solve through a succession of drafting exercises. Contract Drafting is a prerequisite for Deal Skills, and those two courses are prerequisites for most of the capstone courses and field placements that count as a capstone course. Check the prerequisites for capstone courses.
Deal Skills
Upon completion of Contract Drafting, students learn how a business deal evolves and practice performing due diligence, drafting corporate resolutions, building risk-reduction mechanisms, managing a transaction, and negotiating a contract.
Capstone Courses
These semester-long simulations allow students to play the lawyer in a transaction, honing the skills learned in previous courses. Each capstone course focuses on a different type of transaction, such as a merger and acquisition or a commercial real estate deal. Capstone courses include:
- Commercial Lending Transactions
- Commercial Real Estate Transactions
- Complex Restructurings and Distressed Acquisitions in Chapter 11
- Corporate Practice
- The General Counsel in Negotiated Transactions
- Intellectual Property Transactions
- Private Equity
- Venture Capital
Externship
Contract Drafting and Deal Skills are prerequisites for a field placement to qualify as a capstone course fulfilling the certificate requirement. (Not all of these placements are available each semester. Check with lawexternships@emory.edu for an updated list.)
- The Coca-Cola Co.
- Federal Reserve Bank
- GE Energy
- Internal Revenue Service
- Securities and Exchange Commission
- Scientific Atlanta (a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems Inc.)
- UCB Inc.
Electives
Students may consider taking the following electives in addition to the courses required for the certificate.
- Bankruptcy
- Banking Law
- Commercial Real Estate
- Commercial Law: Sales
- Copyright Law
- Corporate Crimes
- Deferred Compensation
- Economic Analysis of Law
- Employment Discrimination
- Employment Law
- Franchise Law
- Intellectual Property
- International Business Transactions
- International Tax
- International Tax and Business
- International Tax Topics (Seminar)
- International Trade Law
- Labor Law
- Licensing
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Negotiation
- Real Estate Finance
- Real Estate Loan Restructuring (Seminar)
- Regulation of Nonprofit Organizations
- Secured Transactions
- Securities Regulation
- Trademark Law
- Workers' Compensation