381 - 390 of 873 results for: LAW

Digital assets are increasingly important financial tools with unique affordances and unexpected legal implications--and, more now than ever, a rapidly-changing regulatory environment. This class will explore the current US digital asset landscape in great detail, with a focus on emerging legal considerations. We will trace a lineage from the historical advent of money through modern central bank digital currencies, with stops along the way to examine stablecoins, blockchains & cryptocurrencies, other early internet currencies such as eCash & Beenz, and even the intersection between AI and digital assets. Additionally, we will explore abstract but critical topics that fall out of tokenization (e.g., the notion of justice in an increasingly digital world), as well as the legal and philosophical perspectives behind the very notion of "money." Each week, we will have legal, technical, and/or philosophical readings, touching on law, economics, jurisprudence, computer science, and history. Coming out of this class, students will have a deep understanding of cutting-edge financial technologies, the risks & opportunities inherent in digital money, and the regulatory pressures that are currently affecting the development and distribution of digital assets in the US. The course is designed to be non-technical (in fact, no particular background is required), although students will become fluent in the technology over the quarter. This class will be appealing to anyone interested in emerging technology, financial regulation/policy, privacy, or economics--or anyone who is concerned that the world is turning dystopian and wants to learn how technology can help. After the term begins, students accepted into the course can transfer from section (01) into section (02), which meets the R-paper requirement, with consent of the instructor. Elements used in grading: Class participation; final exam or final research paper.

This class will introduce students to the business of private equity and the execution of "leveraged buyout" transactions (LBOs) by exploring how private equity funds are formed and then invested. We will focus on the various facets of an LBO, including (i) the primary M&A transaction, (ii) corresponding debt financing(s) and (iii) the composition and governance of equity investors. Legal documentation for LBOs will be introduced and the business and economic rationales underlying LBO structures will be discussed. The course will also present some history of the private equity industry's evolution and highlight the major participants (e.g., private equity funds, law firms, and banking institutions) who routinely play a role in the LBO marketplace. Student evaluations based on attendance, participation, and a take-home exam. The course is open to GSB and other non-law students with permission of the instructors. See Non-Law Student Registration at https://law.stanford.edu/education/courses/non-law-students. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Final Exam.

Business Leadership for Lawyers in the Age of AI. With the emergence and growth of artificial intelligence in business strategy, operations, and governance, the need for lawyers to function not simply as compliance and regulatory experts but as business leaders and partners is foundational both to the success of the enterprises they help lead and to enduring societal benefit. This course prepares future leaders to guide, govern, and operationalize artificial intelligence with the purpose of engaging in key "real world" challenges and approaches to address derisking, shaping, governing, and enabling AI leadership in the private sector. Focus is geared not towards the deep technologist or the privacy/IP/regulatory specialist, but on the future general counsel and/or business leader who is interested in studying real world business issues in the rapidly changing landscape of AI. With an interdisciplinary approach, we will consider business, strategic, operational, financial, governance, and other emerging issues. The class format will involve practical case studies and projects and will include guest speakers, AI practitioners, and thought leaders from business, technology, law, and governance. The goal is to equip future lawyers to act as essential strategic leaders in enabling the effective, responsible, and beneficial use of AI into the future. Special Instructions: Students on the waitlist for the course will be admitted if spots are available on the basis of priority and degree program. Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, written assignments, final paper. Case study development, simulations, final presentation (written and oral).

This course examines the limitations of traditional corporate structures -- particularly the mandate for shareholder profit maximization -- which often lead to unsustainable growth and the externalization of social and environmental costs. Students will investigate alternative legal and financial models that support sustainability, such as Public Benefit Corporations, blended finance approaches, and governance tools that prioritize mission in addition to profit. The course emphasizes the need for legal frameworks, funding pathways, and compensation structures that allow companies to define their stakeholders and pursue positive impact on their behalf. Class meetings will consist of lectures, guest speakers, and discussion around project-relevant aspects of the startup ecosystem. Deliverables will consist of project-focused exercises, written reflections, and a final presentation.The course is by consent and is open to law students and to graduate students in the fields of environmental science and sustainability, public policy, and business. Previous exposure to startups, corporate law, and venture investment is preferred but not required. Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, written assignments. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete a Consent Application Form available at SLS Registrar https://registrar.law.stanford.edu/.

Taught from a litigator's perspective, this course examines using LLMs in everyday practice. The course will teach how attention, the skill that defines great advocacy, bridges legal practice and the transformer architecture powering LLMs. Lawyers already structure arguments, visuals, and case narratives to direct attention; large language models allocate it through a structurally parallel process. A model's context window demands the same discipline as a jury's attention span: structure, selection, and sequence matter. From that foundation, students develop a practitioner's understanding of transformers, tool use, reasoning, and agentic systems, and apply them to case development, context assembly, strategic analysis, and advocacy. Students then design and build their own AI-powered workflows for case development and analysis. The course shows why the litigator's craft is already the foundation of AI-augmented practice, and gives students the tools to prove it. What remains irreducibly human: judgment, strategy, and framing. No coding required. Elements used in grading: Paper.

The Law School offers two survey courses dealing with constitutional criminal procedure. "Criminal Investigation" will consider questions that arise under the fourth, fifth, and sixth amendments regarding investigations, interrogations, and charging decisions. This course, "Criminal Adjudication," will look at the way the judicial system handles criminal cases. Topics will include the right to counsel (and the concomitant right to "effective assistance" of counsel), prosecutorial discretion and plea bargaining, joinder and severance, discovery, the right to jury trial, double jeopardy, sentencing, and appellate review. Students may take both Criminal Investigation and Criminal Adjudication. (There is, of course, no requirement to do so.) Elements used in grading: Attendance, participation and final exam. Small grade adjustments will be made for exceptional class participation.

The law school offers two survey courses dealing with constitutional criminal procedure. "Criminal Adjudication" covers the formal pretrial and trial processes, including the right of counsel, prosecutorial charging criteria, grand juries, bail, speedy trial, discovery, plea bargaining, trial by jury, and double jeopardy. This course, "Criminal Investigation," covers government investigation in the form of searches and seizures, interrogations, lineups, and undercover operations, and hence examines the Fourth and Fifth (and, to a limited extent, the Sixth) Amendment rules regulating government actors in these endeavors. Students may take both Criminal Investigation and Criminal Adjudication. (There is, of course, no requirement to do so.) Elements used in grading: Final exam (limited open book) and class participation (the specific elements of which will be delineated in detail in the class syllabus).

The law school offers two survey courses dealing with constitutional criminal procedure. "Criminal Adjudication" covers the formal pretrial and trial processes, including the right of counsel, prosecutorial charging criteria, grand juries, bail, speedy trial, discovery, plea bargaining, trial by jury, and double jeopardy. This course, "Criminal Investigation," covers police investigation in the form of searches and seizures, interrogations, lineups, and undercover operations, and hence examines the Fourth and Fifth (and, to a limited extent, the Sixth) Amendment rules regulating the police in these endeavors. It also incorporates some of the federal laws governing electronic communications and privacy. Students may take both Criminal Investigation and Criminal Adjudication. (There is, of course, no requirement to do so.) Elements used in grading: Final exam (open book), plus small adjustments for exceptional class participation.

This is a class on the law of criminal investigations, and in particular the federal constitutional limits of criminal investigations. It focuses on two primary questions. First, what are the legal limits on the government's powers to search for evidence, detain or arrest suspects, and use force under the Fourth Amendment? And second, what are the legal limits on interrogations under the Fifth Amendment and the Due Process clause? Elements used in grading: Attendance, Final exam (open book), plus adjustments for exceptional class participation.