Courses
The following courses are specifically designed to teach economic analysis of law, economics, or empirical methods.
Analytical Methods for Lawyers 100, Professors Louis Kaplow, Guhan Subramanian, and Lecturer David Cope
Lawyers in almost every area of practice (litigation, corporate, government, public interest) deal routinely with problems that are usefully illuminated by basic business and economic concepts. This course is designed to teach the most important analytical methods to law students, in a manner that will be fully accessible to those with no prior quantitative training or background in the subjects covered. Using text, classroom activities, and written exercises, we will show you how these tools may be used to analyze concrete problems that arise in a wide range of legal practice settings.
The course will consist of seven units: Decision Analysis/Games and Information, Contracting, Accounting, Finance, Microeconomics, Law and Economics, Statistics.
Bankruptcy and Corporate Reogranization - Advanced Issues (Reading Group), Professor Mark Roe
In this reading group we will examine complex issues in corporate reorganization in bankruptcy, paying attention to current bankruptcies and proposals to reconstruct the framework of corporate reorganization.
Economic Analysis of Law, Professor Steven Shavell (taught in Academic Year 2004-2005 by Visiting Professor Omri Ben-Shahar of University of Michigan)
This course will systematically develop and examine the economic approach to the analysis of law. Property, tort, contract, criminal law and the litigation process will be discussed. Also, the relationship between welfare economics, morality, and the law will be examined.
Economics and Public Law, Professor Christine Jolls
This is a course about economic concepts that help to illuminate basic issues in antitrust law, corporate law, employment and labor law, environmental law, regulation and administrative law, and taxation. Not offered on a regular basis.
Negotiation Advanced: Deal Design and Implementation, Professor Guhan Subramanian
This course will focus on the creation of value through transaction design. The first half of the course will examine barriers to transacting, such as information asymmetries, strategic behavior, and transaction costs. The goal for this part of the course is to understand the generic set of problems and solutions that are common to all complex transactions. The second half of the course will apply these tools to a series of real-world deals. In some of these case studies, student teams will participate in simulated negotiation and drafting exercises; in other cases, student teams will examine and present the deal from a third-party perspective. Teams will include students from the Harvard Business School. For several of the case studies, the lawyers and/or principals who participated in the transactions will attend class to provide their perspectives.
Seminar: Corporate Governance, Professor Mark Roe
This four-credit seminar will meet over the academic year. We will focus on current academic thinking on corporate governance, on the bases for differences around the world, and on the current state of corporate governance in the United States after the Enron-class scandals. The first semester will not have a research component; the second semester will.
Seminar: Law and Economics, Professors Louis Kaplow and Steven Shavell
This seminar will provide students with an opportunity to discuss ongoing research in economic analysis of law. At most of the meetings invited speakers-many from the Law School-will present works in progress. Outside speakers have included Cass Sunstein, Robert Ellickson, Richard Posner, and Richard Revesz.
Seminar: Law, Economics and Organization Research, Professors Lucian Bebchuk, Oliver Hart, and Louis Kaplow
The seminar involves the presentation of works in progress in the field of law and economics with the papers being of the type written by professional economists.