Business Associations

Amitai Aviram

Course Outline and Assigned Reading

 

·                    I may modify this outline and the assigned reading throughout the semester. Please make sure to check my website (http://home.law.uiuc.edu/~aviram) each weekend to confirm the assigned reading for the following week.  If I must make more immediate changes, I will notify of them in class.

·                    PowerPoint presentations are available by clicking on the hyperlinked class topic.  These presentations are made available solely as study-aids for the use of students in the course, and are not to be modified, sold or transferred to others.

 

Business Associations I

 

Introduction

 

I.                   Agency Law

 

  1. The Agency Relationship

·        Creation: Restatement (Third) on Agency (“Restatement”) § 1.01-1.04, 2.01, 2.03; Gorton (1-6); Cargill (7-12)

·        Estoppel: Restatement § 2.05; Hoddeson (40-43)

·        Termination: Restatement § 3.06-3.13

·        Duties: Restatement § 8.01-8.11, 8.14-8.15; Reading (80-82); Singer (83-86)

 

  1. Liability of Principal in Contracts

·        General Principles: Restatement § 6.01-6.04, 6.10-6.11

·        Actual Authority: Restatement § 2.02, 3.01; Hogan (14-16)

·        Apparent Authority: Restatement § 3.03; Lind (16-21)

·        Undisclosed Principal: Restatement § 2.06; Watteau (25-27)

·        Ratification: Restatement §4.01-4.08; Botticello (36-39)

 

  1. Liability of Principal in Torts

·        Restatement § 2.04, 7.01-7.05, 7.07-7.08

·        Vandemark; Bushey (62-66)

 

II.                The General Partnership

 

  1. Forming the Partnership

·        Uniform Partnership Act (1997) (“RUPA”) § 103, 201(a), 202-204, 401

·        Fenwick (91-95); Martin (96-99); Putnam (132-135)

 

  1. Operating the Partnership

·        RUPA § 301, 303, 305-308, 401, 403-404, 501-504

·        Meinhard (109-114); Meehan (117-124); Lawlis (125-130); Stroud (140-142); Summers (142-144); Day (146-150)

 

  1. Terminating the Partnership

·        RUPA § 601-603, 701-703, 801-804, 807; UPA § 38

·        Collins (155-160); Owen (152-155); Prentiss (163-165); Kovacik (179-181)

 

III.             The Corporation – Basic Concepts

 

  1. Introduction to the Corporation

·        Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) § 101-102, 106-109, 141(a), 242

·        Capano; CA

 

  1. Limited Liability

·        Model Business Corporation Act (“MBCA”) § 6.22

·        Walkovszky (207-211); Sea-Land (212-218)

 

  1. Capital Structure

·        DGCL §151, 153, 157, 161; MBCA § 1.40 (6), (22), 6.01-6.03, 6.21, 6.24, 6.31

·        Stroh (585-588)

 

IV.            Directors and Officers

 

  1. Centralized Management

·        DGCL § 121-122, 124, 141, 142; MBCA § 3.01-3.02, 3.04, 8.01, 8.03, 8.20-8.25, 8.40, 8.43-8.44

·        Fogel; Steigerwald; Dodge (288-293); Shlensky (293-297)

 

  1. Insiders’ Duty of Care

·        DGCL § 141(e); MBCA § 8.30, 8.31(a)(2)(ii, iv), 8.42

·        Kamin (328-331); Van Gorkom (332-342); Brehm (345-355); Francis (356-361); Caremark (362-371)

 

  1. Insiders’ Duty of Loyalty

·        DGCL § 141, 144; MBCA § 8.31, 8.60-8.63

·        Bayer (374-379); Broz (384-388); eBay (389-392); Fliegler (405-407); Wheelabrator (408-411)

 

BA I - Exam Preparation

 

 

Business Associations II

 

V.               Introduction to BA2

 

  1. Course Technicalities

·        No assigned reading

 

  1. Finance

·        No assigned reading

 

  1. Law

·        BA 1 review & Simulation 1 material

 

VI.            Shareholders

 

  1. Fiduciary Duties of Shareholders

·        DGCL § 141(d), 223; MBCA §8.03-8.06, 8.08-8.10

·        Sinclair (394-398); Zetlin (697-698); Perlman (700-704); Essex (705-708)

 

  1. Derivative Actions

·        MBCA § 7.40-7.46

·        Tooley; Beam; Oracle; Finley

 

  1. Shareholder Voting & Inspection Rights

·        DGCL § 211-212, 214, 216, 219-220, 228, 242; MBCA § 7.01-7.02, 7.04-7.08, 7.20-7.22, 7.24-7.28, 10.04, 16.01-16.02, 16.20

·        Licht; Blasius; Pershing Square; Pillsbury (575-578)

 

VII.         Mergers & Acquisitions

 

  1. Mechanics of Mergers & Acquisitions

·        DGCL § 251, 253, 259, 262, 271; MBCA § 11.04-11.05, 11.07, 12.01-12.02, 13.02, 13.20-13.23, 13.26, 13.30

·        Farris (715-721); Hariton (722-723); Berger

 

  1. Friendly Acquisitions

·        Van Gorkom (332-342); Weinberger (724-734)

 

  1. Hostile Acquisitions

·        Unocal (770-779); Revlon (781-790)

 

VIII.      Closely-Held Corporations

 

  1. Shareholder Agreements

·        DGCL § 218, 341-343, 350-351, 354-355; MBCA § 6.27, 7.30-7.32

·        Ringling Bros. (599-606); McQuade (606-611); Clark (611-613)

 

  1. Fiduciary Duties in Close Corporations

·        Wilkes (630-635); Ingle (637-642); Sugarman (642-646); Atlantic Properties (646-650)

 

  1. Dissolution

·        DGCL § 275, 278; MBCA § 14.02, 14.05, 14.30, 14.32, 14.34

·        Stuparich (687-692)

 

IX.            Securities Regulation

 

  1. Application of Securities Laws

·        Securities Act of 1933 § 2-5, 11-12; Reves; Doran (422-428)

 

  1. Securities Fraud

·        Securities Exchange Act of 1934 § 10, 13

·        Basic (450-461); West (463-466); Santa Fe (468-473)

 

  1. Insider Trading

·        SEC Rules 10b-5, 10b5-1, 10b5-2, 14e-3

·        TGS (482-491); Dirks (494-500); O’Hagan (501-507)

 

  1. Proxy Solicitation & Shareholder Proposals

 

BA II - Exam Preparation

 

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