Prerequisites: None

Exam Type: In Class

Grades will be based principally on the final exam, but also, to some extent, on class participation or assigned classroom exercises.

Secured credit – in the form of bank lending, mortgages, and asset securitizations – has fueled the American economy. The details and the consequences of secured credit have been a major preoccupation of everyone dealing with the economy. This course deals primarily with understanding what secured credit is all about – the various aspects of the use of credit and collateral in sale and loan transactions, ranging from routine consumer purchases to complex business transactions. This is a course about commercial lawyering. It is a problem-based exploration of commercial deal-making that considers statutory interpretation and policy in meeting the needs, and reconciling the interests, of the various parties to secured transactions – consumers, manufacturers, dealers, lenders, insurers, and the government. The focus is on developing legal strategies appropriate to specific situations.