Postgraduate Module Descriptor

LAWM105: Corporate Law and Governance

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

Module Aims

The module aims to introduce you to some of the important topics and themes in Company Law and give you a strong foundation in the legal regulation of companies, particularly those registered in England and Wales. Having completed the module you should appreciate the legal nature of a company and its role within the business environment and have a strong understanding of key legal issues. The module aims to equip you with the ability to identify pertinent issues and problems in company law and evaluate and assess them from both a theoretical and a practical standpoint.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. Understand and critically evaluate the role of companies and company law and the implications of incorporation 2. Demonstrate detailed and comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the principal features of company law. 3. Identify, explain, assess and analyse comprehensively issues arising in the areas of company law considered in the module and identify and apply relevant legal rules and theories to those issues
Discipline-Specific Skills	4. Demonstrate a high level of ability in selecting, integrating and presenting coherently and reflectively, relevant law and legal/theoretical arguments 5. Demonstrate a high level of ability in integrating and assessing information from a wide variety of primary and secondary legal sources, using this to produce reasoned arguments and analysis in relation to legal issues.
Personal and Key Skills	6. Demonstrate ability to manage relevant learning resources/ information/ learning strategies confidently and effectively and to develop independently own reasoned arguments and opinions 7. Communicate and engage in debate effectively and accurately, orally and in writing, in a manner appropriate to the discipline and context

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

It is anticipated that the following topics will be considered in the following order, but the precise content and order of delivery may vary:

Introduction: companies and company law
Corporate personality and lifting the veil of incorporation
Directors, the company and stakeholders
Directors’ duties
Minority shareholder remedies
Directors in public companies: remuneration, reporting duties, and strict liability.
Shareholder democracy and investor protection
Corporate finance and regulation
Takeovers and insider trading
Corporate liability, accountability and governance
European company law and harmonisation

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
33	267

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching	33	11 x 3 hour interactive seminars
Guided independent study	120	Preparation for seminars 2-11 reading and consideration of issues
Guided independent study	30	Preparation of paper and presentation for seminar
Guided independent study	117	Preparation for assessed essay

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

Companies House: http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-innovation-skills

Financial Reporting Council: http://www.frc.org.uk/