The Master of Laws (LLM) in Corporate Governance & Practice offers rigorous academic and professional training in corporate governance and transactional legal practice. This specialized program seeks to provide foreign business and transactional lawyers with a broad base of expertise in such areas as accounting, bankruptcy, corporations, finance, mergers and acquisitions, securities, tax, and venture capital that they can use when they return to law practice, most often in their home countries. Candidates admitted to the program will undertake an individually tailored sequence of courses, primarily from among the Law School's corporate and business-related courses.
The LLM in Corporate Governance & Practice is limited to students with a primary law degree earned outside the United States. Except under unusual circumstances, candidates must have at least two years of professional legal experience before commencing the LLM program.
LLM students are required to be in residence at Stanford during the full (nine month) academic year. They are required to take a minimum of 35 credit units and a maximum of 42 credit units.
The LLM academic program includes the following components:
To meet these requirements, each LLM student will develop an individualized course of study that will be reviewed and approved by the program director.
LLM students are required to be in residence at Stanford during the full (nine month) academic year. They are required to take a minimum of 35 credit units (and a maximum of 42 units).
Stanford Law School offers international graduate students an intensive two week Introduction to American Law course in early September, before regular classes begin. This course is required for LLM students. It is optional for SPILS Fellows, but is recommended for students with no prior exposure to American law. The purpose of this course is to:
All Corporate Governance & Practice LLM students will participate in a weekly seminar each quarter that is directed by the teaching fellow in Corporate Governance & Practice. The seminar will focus on selected issues in corporate and securities law. Students are also encouraged to attend other relevant seminars and colloquiums related to corporate governance that are held on campus.
Corporate governance and business law is one of the strongest components of the Law School's curriculum. The following is an illustrative list of the courses in this field that have been offered at the Law School during the last several years. Some courses are not offered every year and additional courses may be offered in a particular year. Students without a prior background in accounting and finance are encouraged to take appropriate courses in accounting, corporate finance, or both.
Visit the courses section of the Law School's website for a comprehensive list of offerings.
* Limited enrollment courses or seminars for which admission may be subject to a lottery or permission of the instructor.
The Law School's corporate governance and business law faculty includes professors nationally and internationally recognized for their scholarship, teaching, and professional activities.
Michael Klausner, Nancy and Charles Munger Professor of Business and Professor of Law, and Director of the LLM Program in Corporate Governance & Practice.
Principal subjects: corporations; banking; nonprofit organizations.
Joseph Bankman, Ralph M. Parsons Professor of Law and Business.
Principal subjects: taxation; business associations.
G. Marcus Cole, Professor of Law, Helen L. Crocker Faculty Scholar, and Associate Dean for Curriculum.
Principal subjects: bankruptcy; contracts.
Richard Craswell, William F. Baxter-Visa International Professor of Law.
Principal subjects: contracts; secured credit; commercial paper.
Robert M. Daines, Pritzker Professor of Law and Business.
Principal subjects: corporations, law and economics of corporate governance.
Barbara H. Fried, William W. And Gertrude H. Saunders Professor of Law. Principal subjects: taxation; property; contracts.
Ronald J. Gilson, Charles J. Meyers Professor of Law and Business.
Principal subjects: business associations; economic structure of transactions and contracting; securities regulation; corporate acquisitions.
Joseph A. Grundfest, W. A. Franke Professor of Law and Business.
Principal subjects: corporate law; securities regulation; mergers and acquisitions; venture capital.
Thomas C. Heller, Lewis Talbot and Nadine Hearn Shelton Professor of International Legal Studies.
Principal subjects: international law and political economy; legal theory; environmental law.
Joy Ishii, Assistant Professor of Finance, Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Principal subject: Corporate Finance.
Daniel P. Kessler, Professor, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and Professor (by courtesy) of Law.
Principal subjects: Antitrust; law and economics.
Maureen F. McNichols,
Marriner S. Eccles Professor of Public and Private Management, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and Professor (by courtesy) of Law.
Principal subjects: Financial reporting.
David W. Mills, Senior Lecturer in Law.
Principal subjects: corporate tax; tax policy; white-collar crime.
Paul C. Pfleiderer,
C.O.G. Miller Distinguished Professor of Finance, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and Professor (by courtesy) of Law.
Principal subjects: Corporate governance
A. Mitchell Polinsky, Josephine Scott Crocker Professor of Law and Economics.
Principal subject: law and economics.
John Crawford, Teaching Fellow in Corporate Governance & Practice and Lecturer in Law.
Madhav Rajan, Gregor G. Peterson Professor of Accounting, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and Professor (by courtesy) of Law.
Principal subjects: Managerial accounting, financial reporting
Kenneth E. Scott, Ralph M. Parsons Professor of Law and Business, Emeritus.
Principal subjects: business associations; financial institutions; securities regulation.
Dan Siciliano, Lecturer in Law and Executive Director of the Stanford Program in Law, Economics & Business.
Principal subjects: corporate finance; law and economics; corporate governance.
Jeff Strnad, Charles A. Beardsley Professor of Law.
Principal subjects: tax law and policy; finance; securities regulation.
Corporate Governance & Practice LLM candidates have the opportunity to participate in several Law School programs of academic and professional interest. The Program in Law, Economics and Business, launched in 2003, builds upon the strengths of two of Stanford Law School's most repected programs, the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics and Corporate Governance, and the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance.
The John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics plays an active role in the Law School, and more generally in the University, in promoting interest in the economic analysis of law. Olin program activities include the Law and Economics Seminar and an ongoing Law and Economics lunch discussion series.
The Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University was created with the vision that advances in the understanding and practice of corporate governance are most likely to occur in a cross-disciplinary environment where economists, lawyers, financial experts, political scientists, engineers and practitioners can meet and work together.