BUCERIUS SUMMER PROGRAM
IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LAW 2015
COURSE CATALOGUE
1.
ACADEMIC CALENDAR
2.
COURSE LIST
3.
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
4.
FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES
ACADEMIC CALENDAR
JULY 13 – 31, 2015
Please note that this is a preliminary schedule only and will be expanded and updated over the coming months.
Tuesday, June 2 – Monday, June 8 Online Course Pre-registration
Monday, July 13 Welcome Breakfast & Orientation Program
Monday, July 13 Courses begin
Friday, July 24 – Sunday, July 26 Study trip to Berlin (optional)
Thursday, July 30 - Friday, July 31 Exam period*
Friday, July 31 Farewell Ceremony
* Please note that all participants must be physically present in Hamburg for their exams. Exams cannot be rescheduled for individual students.
COURSE LIST
Participants are required to enroll in a minimum of three courses, but since courses do not overlap, you are welcome to enroll in all six.
COURSE NAME LECTURER HOME INSTITUTION CREDITS
Business Mediation Prof. Dr. Lars Kirchhoff
Dr. Felix Wendenburg
European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/O. & TGKS Law Firm, Berlin
1 ABA/ 2 ECTS
Commercial Instruments Dr. Thomas Krebs Oxford Univ., Brasenose College,
UK 1 ABA/ 2 ECTS Corporate Governance in Publicly Traded Corporations
Dr. Carsten Jungmann Duvinage Laywers, Munich,
& Bucerius Law School
1 ABA/ 2 ECTS International
Commercial Arbitration Dr. Maxi Scherer
Queen Mary Univ. of London & WilmerHale, UK
1 ABA/ 2 ECTS International
Commercial Sales Prof. Dr. Peter Huber University Mainz, Germany
1 ABA/ 2 ECTS International
Mergers & Acquisitions
Dr. Hilke Herchen John Hammond
CMS Hasche Sigle, Hamburg & Stuttgart
1 ABA/ 2 ECTS
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
BUSINESS MEDIATION
PROF. DR. LARS KIRCHHOFF & DR. FELIX WENDENBURG Participants: max. 22
Pre-requisites: none
Attendance: Full attendance required (i.e. 100%) Assessment: An essay
This course aims to provide the students with a first impression of both the practical skills and the theoretical background of professional conflict management and resolution, with a focus on the interest-based method of mediation. Several areas of business conflict management are introduced, including the management of workplace conflicts, choice of procedure in inter-business conflicts and the interplay between mediation and arbitration.
The main subject during the first day is conflict and communication analysis, followed by the techniques and methods of conflict management on the second day. Students learn to deal with conflicts systematically and constructively by means of role plays and simulations, which are individually analyzed.
Class preparation includes reading articles and book excerpts. COMMERCIAL INSTRUMENTS
BY DR. THOMAS KREBS Participants: max. 40 Pre-requisites: none
Attendance: Bucerius attendance policy applies Assessment: Exam
This course will be dealing with three commercial instruments which are in common use in International Trade:
The Bill of Lading: We will be discussing the use of this instrument as a document of title, representing the goods on board a ship. We will see how the bill of lading operates in practice, and why it is different from sea waybills, warehouse receipts or delivery orders. We will also examine the BOLERO system to see whether the effects of the bill of lading can be replicated in a modern online environment.
The Bill of Exchange: If the bill of lading is a document of title to goods, the bill of exchange can and sometimes is described as a document of title to money. It is a
convenient way of transferring a debt from one creditor to another. At the heart of this instrument is the concept of negotiability; the holder of a bill of exchange can sue the acceptor or any parties prior to the holder notwithstanding any defects in title or defenses which would have been available to a claim on the underlying contract.
The Documentary Credit: This ‘lifeblood’ of international commerce combines the other two instruments covered in this course. A bank gives an irrevocable and independent undertaking to pay the seller of goods in an international supply contract, or accept its bill of exchange, on presentation of conforming documents, including normally a bill of lading. The course covers the operation of the credit, the principles of autonomy and strict compliance, its theoretical justifications and practical utility.
The course as a whole aims to facilitate a deeper understanding of the financing mechanisms which underlie international trade.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANIES BY DR. CARSTEN JUNGMANN
Participants: max. 36 Pre-requisites: none
Attendance: Full attendance required (i.e. 100%) Assessment: Group work & Presentation
In addition to a short introduction to German stock corporation law, this course will deal in detail with (legal) questions of corporate governance. The problems addressed primarily concern the directors’ fiduciary duties as well as the tasks and rights of those who are in control of the management (members of the supervisory board, shareholders, auditors, etc.).
As the clear focus of the course is on publicly traded corporations, participants also gain a sound knowledge of securities regulation provisions and the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code. Well-known financial scandals (e.g. Enron) are reviewed in case studies.
INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION BY DR. MAXI SCHERER
Participants: max. 40 Pre-requisites: none
Attendance: Bucerius attendance policy applies Assessment: tbd
International Arbitration is a more and more specialized area of law. In this module, students will learn the specific skill sets needed to become a successful arbitration lawyer. Oral and written advocacy, understanding of different cultural legal backgrounds and other skills will be taught on a “learning by doing basis.”
Students will take part in practical exercises, stepping in the shoes of arbitrator, counsel or clients. Applying the theoretical concepts of international arbitration in practice, students will lean the fundamental skills that will give students an important qualification in a competitive legal market.
INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL SALES BY PROF. DR. PETER HUBER
Participants: max. 40 Pre-requisites: none
Attendance: Bucerius attendance policy applies Assessment: Exam
This course deals with the law of international sales contracts. Its main focus lies on the UN Convention on the Law of International Sales (CISG) which is in force in more than 80 countries, among them most of the world’s leading trading nations (eg most EU states, the USA, China, Japan, Russia, Brazil). This Convention governs the formation of the sales contract and the rights and obligations of the parties under the contract. Numerous court decisions and arbitral awards applying the Convention have been rendered since it entered into force.
The course will deal with the central elements of the Convention taking into account case law from several jurisdictions. In addition it will briefly address issues of private international law relating to international commercial sales and other relevant instruments such as the Unidroit Principles of International Commercial Contracts.
INTERNATIONAL MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS BY DR. HILKE HERCHEN & JOHN HAMMOND Participants: max. 40
Pre-requisites: none
Attendance: Full attendance required (i.e. 100%) Assessment: Group work & Mock Negotiation
This course examines the principal business and legal issues in cross-border mergers and acquisitions including forms of business combination and sale and purchase agreements. It covers the M&A process from letters of intent, due diligence, structuring, drafting and negotiating purchase agreements. Particular emphasis is placed on the purpose of various elements of a purchase agreement, such as warranties, indemnities, purchase price mechanism (such as locked box and cash-free-debt free/ working capital purchase price adjustments). Participants are given the opportunity to discuss some aspects of the course in smaller break-out sessions. The course ends with a mock negotiation of parts of a purchase agreement using the skills acquired during the previous sessions.
ACADEMIC DIRECTOR
Professor Dr. Karsten Thorn President of Bucerius Law School
FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES
John Hammond specializes in international M&A transactions, including private equity and joint ventures, and has wide experience, particularly in Russia, CEE and Germany. He has extensive expertise in the oil and gas, TMT, chemical and pharmaceutical, real estate and financial spheres. John represents major domestic and international companies in their natural resource projects, M&A transactions, long-term supply agreements and dispute resolution. John has been involved in some of the largest and most complex oil and gas transactions, including offshore upstream projects as well as downstream investments. He graduated with a law degree from Oxford University and qualified as a lawyer in England in 1987.
After ten years working in the City of London at Lovells and then CMS he moved abroad and since then has worked for 8 years in Germany and 12 years in Russia. He qualified as a Rechtsanwalt in Germany in October 2006. John is a member of the Law Society of England and Wales and the Rechtsanwaltskammer Stuttgart.
Hilke Herchen specializes in Mergers & Acquisition and in Corporate Law, especially Stock Corporation Law. Hilke Herchen advises strategic and financial investors in national and international M&A transactions. Recently, she has advised both on seller’s and buyer’s side in various transactions on a national and international level in different industrial sectors, with a focus on energy and IT. After studies in Passau (Germany), St. Petersburg (Russia) and Würzburg (Germany), she graduated with a law degree. She spent her traineeship (Referendariat) in Hamburg and Buenos Aires. She qualified with
second state examination (bar exam) as lawyer in 2001 and graduated in 2003 as a doctor in law at Hamburg University. She started her career with CMS in 2002 and is a partner since 2008. Hilke Herchen is author and co-author in various legal handbooks and commentaries, such as the commentary on stock corporation law "Ziemons/Binnewies "Aktiengesellschaften", of the handbook to stock corporation law "Happ" and of the handbook on partnerships and limited partnerships “Münchener Handbuch des Gesellschaftsrechts”.
Professor Dr. Peter Huber is professor of Law at Johannes-Gutenberg-University Mainz (Germany) where he holds the chair for private law, conflict of laws and comparative law. His main interests lie in the fields of International Sales Law, of German and Comparative Contract Law and in the area of International Litigation and Arbitration. He has published several books and articles on these issues and teaches them regularly. He is the Head Coach of the Mainz University team for the W.C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition and the Foreign Direct Investment Moot Competition. Visiting appointments have led him to the Hague Academy of International Law, Nihon University Tokyo, New York University, Tulane Law School, the University of Georgia (Athens) and the University of Burgundy (Dijon).
Dr. Carsten Jungmann is a program director at Bucerius Law School, coordinating the Diploma in Business Law Program at WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, and a partner at the law firm DUVINAGE in Munich/Hamburg. His primary fields of research are insolvency law, corporate law (including corporate governance), banking law and corporate finance. He studied law at the University of Bonn and at the University of Edinburgh. At the University of Bonn, he graduated as a Doctor of Laws. As a trainee solicitor, he worked inter alia with the international law firm Hogan Lovells and with HSH Nordbank; he also clerked for High Court Chief Judge Dr. Buechel. After passing the bar exam at the High Court of Hamburg, he went to the US and obtained an LL.M. from Yale Law School. Carsten Jungmann holds an M.Sc. in Finance, which he earned at the University of Leicester. Finally, he is a university-certified Compliance Officer.
Professor Dr. Lars Kirchhoff is an international lawyer and mediator, partner at the Berlin-based firm TGKS, as well as academic director of the postgraduate master’s program in mediation and the Institute for Conflict Management at the European University Viadrina.
He specialized in Dispute Resolution at Yale Law School, the OSCE and in the mediation program of the US District Court of Northern California. He is also a lecturer and conflict coach at Bucerius Law School, the External Action Service of the European Union and a wide spectrum of commercial and political institutions.
Lars Kirchhoff has authored numerous publications on state sovereignty, mediation and the interplay between international commercial arbitration and mediation.
Dr. Thomas Krebs read English and German law at the University of Kent at Canterbury, before going to Oxford to study for the postgraduate degree of Bachelor of Civil Law. He stayed at Oxford to complete a doctorate (D.Phil.) under Peter Birks, before then qualifying as a barrister. In 1999, he was invited to join the Law Faculty of University College London, where he spent four years as the Norton Rose Lecturer in Commercial Law. Since 2003, he has been an Associate Professor in commercial law at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford. He is also admissions coordinator for the Faculty of Law and tutor for graduates at Brasenose.
He continues to practice at the English Commercial Bar and is a member of a Chancery / Commercial Set of Chambers in Lincoln’s Inn.
Dr Maxi Scherer is a Senior Lecturer in International Arbitration and Energy at Queen Mary, University of London and a Special Counsel at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in London.
Maxi has extensive experience with arbitral practice and procedure both in civil and common law systems. She has represented and advised clients in over 50 international arbitrations proceedings before most major arbitral institutions and has served as arbitrator (presiding, co- and sole arbitrator) in over 20 ad hoc and institutional arbitrations.
Maxi is admitted to the bar in Paris (France) and as solicitor (England and Wales). She has been regularly ranked by Who’s Who Legal, The Legal 500 UK etc. as leading arbitration practitioner. Maxi is the General Editor of the Journal of International Arbitration (Wolters Kluwer), a member
of the IBA (International Bar Association) Subcommittee on Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards, a member of the French branch of ILA (International Law Association), a co-chair of DIS40 (German Arbitration Institution) and an executive board member of ICDR Y&I. Maxi Scherer is a full-time tenured faculty member at the School of International Arbitration, Queen Mary, University of London, and the Director of Queen Mary’s Paris LLM programme (http://www.law.qmul.ac.uk/postgraduate/llmparis/). Other academic appointments include Global Professor at New York University (NYU) Law School, Visiting Professor at SciencesPo Law School Paris, Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown Centre of Transnational Legal Studies, as well as visiting positions at University of Melbourne, Freie Universität Berlin, Sorbonne Law School, Université de Versailles, Université de Fribourg, Universität Würzburg, Pepperdine Law School, Universität Basel and Université de Paris X Nanterre.
Maxi publishes extensively in the field of international arbitration, and international litigation
(http://ssrn.com/author=2149379).
Dr. Felix Wendenburg, MBA, is a mediator, partner at the Berlin-based firm TGKS, co-director of the core practice and research field "business" at the Institute for Conflict Management and academic vice director of the postgraduate master's program in mediation (both at the European University Viadrina). After graduating from Bucerius Law School in 2008, he worked as a research associate and doctoral candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Law in Hamburg.
He received his mediation training at Bucerius Law School, the Lawyers’ Chamber (Celle), Boston College Law School, Fordham University School of Law (New York) and the mediation program of the US District Court of Northern California. Felix Wendenburg has authored several publications on “interprofessionality” in mediation, the legal framework of mediation and on law school grading policies.
