306.01 Corporate Crime
This course serves as an introduction to the field of corporate crime, which now covers a large realm of government and law firm practice. The course will give students a first exposure to: (1) the contemporary practice in federal government agencies and medium to large corporate law firms of investigating, sanctioning, and representing corporations and their managers and employees involved in potential criminal violations (and certain civil analogues), and the law that governs those processes; and (2) the debate in the public policy realm over whether, why, how, and when the criminal law should be applied in the corporate and business context.
This field is large, complex, and developing rapidly. This course therefore can cover only a selection of topics, and will emphasize policy and the need to confront gaps and uncertainty in doctrine. As there is no unitary body of black letter law in this field, students should not expect this to be that form of law course. Coverage is likely to include mail and wire fraud, perjury and obstruction of justice, securities fraud (including insider trading and accounting fraud), the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, corporate criminal liability, grand jury powers and procedure, representation of entities and individuals, the Fifth and Sixth Amendments in the corporate context, plea and settlement agreements, and sentencing.
The materials consist of a newly published text, which is the outgrowth of former course packs. The text will be available in bound book form for approximately $28 through Amazon, or in pdf form at no charge from the course website. There may be occasional handouts. Assigned readings average 30 pages per class meeting, with less case law and more fact-based practice documents, problems, and commentary than with a typical case book. The grade will be based primarily on a floating take home exam, with some weight given to class participation.
Fall 2021
Course Number | Course Credits | Evaluation Method | Instructor | ||
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306.01 |
Course Credits
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Final Exam
Class participation
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Samuel W. Buell | ||
Sakai site: http://sakai.duke.edu/portal/site/LAW.306.01.F21 | |||||
Email list: LAW.306.01.F21@sakai.duke.edu |
Course |
Course
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Degree Requirements |
Course Requirements - JD
Course Requirements - LLM
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Course Areas of Practice |
Course Areas of Practice
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