Level: 100 level. Read more information on levels in our FAQs

Fees:  Please see Fees and payments

Lectures: 36 hours 

Classes: 18 hours

Assessment*: One examination and one essay

Typical credit*: 3-4 credits (US) 7.5 ECTS points (EU)

*Assessment is optional but may be required for credit by your home institution. Your home institution will be able to advise how you can meet their credit requirements.

For more information on exams and credit, read Teaching and assessment

There are no prerequisites for this course.

• The fundamentals of corporate law
• Separate legal personality
• The regulation of share issues and share capital
• The common law method and approaches to statutory interpretation
• Regulation of the appointment and removal of directors
• Directors' duties and the composition of the board
• Enforcement of shareholders' rights
• The operation of the market for corporate control

This course is designed as a combination of lectures, classes and readings. Classes are an opportunity to discuss the material covered in the previous day’s lecture and to answer problem questions.

The course is assessed through one 1,000-word essay (20%) and a final course examination (80%). Case studies will be handed out during the course to give you the opportunity to engage with the material and receive feedback, but will not contribute to your overall grade.

Further details will be provided at the beginning of the course.

• Understand the basic principles of legal systems and legal analysis
• Identify the different types of business organisation and corporate vocabulary
• Articulate how corporate law and governance mechanisms facilitate economic activity, and how they respond to the problems generated by the organisational form of the company
• Understand the different ways in which law can respond to economic demands and problems
• Illustrate the importance of the distribution of decision making power within an organisation

This course is ideal if you want to develop a well-rounded understanding of corporate law and governance and its implications for business. It is especially suitable if you are targeting a role in consulting, corporate law, regulation and business management.

LSE’s Law Department is one of the top-ranked departments in the UK, receiving the highest rating of 5* in the most recent Research Excellence Framework. It also ranked in the top 10 law departments worldwide in the 2020 QS World University Rankings. The Department’s research output has a significant impact on national and international policymaking and on decision-making within business, government and other agencies.

Students have unique access to a wide breadth of courses which explore the biggest and most pressing issues affecting our society today. The courses are continually adapted to cover global social phenomena and contemporary developments within law. Many of the full-time graduates of the Law Department go on to play leading roles in law, politics, government, business, media and administration, in the UK and abroad.

Professor David Kershaw
Professor of Law, Department of Law

A.Dignam & J. Lowry, Company Law, OUP, 11th edition (2020)

D. Kershaw, Company Law in Context: Text and Materials, OUP, 2nd edition (2012)

*A more detailed reading list will be supplied prior to the start of the programme

**Course content, faculty and dates may be subject to change without prior notice