Unit name | Corporate Governance in the United Kingdom and United States |
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Unit code | LAWDM0069 |
Credit points | 30 |
Level of study | M/7 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24) |
Unit director | Professor. Villiers |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | University of Bristol Law School |
Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
This unit aims to give students a fundamental understanding of the legal rules that determine the balance of decision-making power within Anglo-American public companies. It assesses the main theoretical models of the business corporation as developed within English and American jurisprudence and scholarship, in order to provide a basic conceptual structure to the course material. It then proceeds to examine and compare the key features of UK and US (Delaware & federal) company and securities law in relation to issues such as: the distribution of authority between directors and shareholders; the structure & composition of the corporate board; directors’ duties and financial risk management; and takeovers & the market for corporate control; and the relationship between corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. The emphasis is on studying how the legal rules and institutions interact with wider market pressures in establishing effective managerial incentives and disciplinary mechanisms.
By the end of the course students will:
This unit is taught by way of 20 lectures (approx.), 10 two-hour seminars and 2 assessment preparation and feedback sessions. Lectures are delivered jointly to students on the related undergraduate unit.
Summative: 2 x 3000 word essays (50% each) will assess the candidate's ability to research a topic within the scope of this unit. Both assessments will assess all of the Intended Learning Outcomes for this unit in the context of topics selected by the examiners.
Formative: students should do one formative assessment (this will usually be 1 x 1500 word essay).