Corporations are highly regulated and often intersect with complex legal issues. Many professionals would benefit from legal knowledge to increase their impact and improve their career advancement opportunities.

New for Fall 2024, our concentration in Corporate Compliance offers a solid grounding in the law and a broad knowledge of the legal issues that business professionals are likely to encounter in their workplaces as well as best practices and current topics, which include.

• Corporate Governance
• Financial Regulation
• Privacy and Cybersecurity
• Fair Business Practices

Whether you are a professional interested in a new and exciting career change or an experienced business professional looking to grow your legal knowledge and employment opportunities, Wayne Law's MSL – Corporate Compliance degree can provide the tools you need to achieve your career goals.

Core courses (12-15 credit hours)

• MSL 8900: Working with Lawyers (3 credits)

  An introduction to the language of the law and the basic structure of the legal system. It teaches legal research and writing for non-lawyers, with a focus on producing investigative reports. Much of the course will deal with the nonlawyer professional's interface with legal counsel, both within and outside the organization. The course will include instruction regarding the types of activities nonlawyers can handle and what activities should be reserved for lawyers, emphasizing the relevant ethical constraints.

• MSL 8901: Survey of the Common Law (3 credits)

  An overview of torts, contracts and property. It includes an introduction to basic legal concepts, especially those likely to be encountered in the business world, including agency, vicarious liability, the differences between civil and criminal liability, and how rights are enforced through legal remedies.

• MSL 8902: Civil Procedure and Introduction to Dispute Resolution (3 credits)

  How legal disputes unfold, from demand letters, pleadings, and service of process through discovery, trial, and appeal. It addresses both formal courtroom process the life-cycle of a lawsuit and informal processes such as negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. The course touches upon due process issues and includes an overview of evidence principles.

• MSL 8903: Government Organization and Regulation (3 credits)

  An introduction to the structures of government. The course covers the key concepts of our constitutional system, including the enumerated powers of the federal government, separation of powers, federalism, the role of the judiciary in constitutional interpretation, and criminal procedure. It also addresses the processes of legislation and administrative law.

Corporate compliance concentration courses (18 credit hours)*

• MSL 8950: Regulatory Compliance (3 credits)

  This course serves as an introduction to fundamental statutes, regulations, and administrative practices essential for regulatory compliance within business and corporate entities. It provides students with a foundational understanding of basic risk management concepts. Throughout the course, students will acquire the skills to identify pertinent laws, regulations, and industry standards crucial for the development of strong compliance management programs. They will learn to formulate and execute effective compliance policies and procedures, as well as design appropriate audit protocols to assess the efficacy of existing policies and procedures. Additionally, students will gain skills to guide the organization's response to regulatory audits or investigations.

• MSL 8951: Corporate Governance (3 credits)

  This course provides students with a basic understanding of the law that governs business organizations, particularly publicly held corporations. The course considers different business relationships, including the agent/principal dynamic, partnerships, LLCs, ESG, and nonprofits, along with the rights and duties of boards of directors, officers, and shareholders. Other topics include the nature of debt and equity securities, the role of fiduciary duties, the regulation of conflicts of interest, and the fundamentals of mergers and acquisitions. The course introduces students to state and federal statutory systems that regulate business organizations. The course also reviews ethical considerations along with specialized issues in the corporate world.

• MSL 8952: International Business Compliance (3 credits)

  This course provides a survey of the principles required to understand the importance and specialized landscape of legal compliance when conducting international business transactions involving the sale of goods, provision of services, licensing of technology, and foreign direct investment. General themes will include the range of transactions that one encounters in international business, the history and development of compliance and risk assessment in a global context, and the particular challenges of compliance in settings where transactions are regulated by two or more national governments. The course will also address specific areas of compliance, including: official corruption; export controls; import and customs procedures; economic sanctions; anti-boycott regulations; approval of foreign investments; privacy and information security; tax and financial compliance; the effects of pandemics and other public emergencies on compliance; and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks such as the exploitative labor practices of third parties in the supply chain.

• MSL 8953: Environmental Compliance (3 credits)

  This course explores important federal and state environmental laws and regulations as well as significant international treaties concerning the environment. Students will learn about how these laws and regulations are enforced and the role of the various stakeholders involved with monitoring and otherwise ensuring enforcement, including employees, consumers, investors, advocacy groups, and various governmental agencies. Throughout the course, students will acquire familiarity with, and the skills to identify environmental issues arising under pertinent laws, regulations, and industry standards applicable to various industry types or company operations. They will be introduced to environmental reporting and other compliance requirements and how environmental compliance programs are designed and implemented.

• MSL 8954: Financial Regulation and Compliance (3 credits)

  This course explores the regulation of financial institutions and financial markets in the United States. Financial institutions operate in a highly regulated environment. The financial system has evolved rapidly over the past fifteen years, and much of that change has been driven by regulation enacted after and in reaction to the global financial crisis of 2008. More changes may be on the horizon, with the rise of financial technology and cyberthreats. This course will equip you with the basic knowledge and vocabulary to navigate the web of financial institutions, markets, and the legal and regulatory frameworks to which they apply. You will leave this class with: (1) relevant knowledge about financial compliance and the laws and regulations governing financial institutions, (2) an understanding of how financial institutions reduce their legal risk, and (3) well-reasoned opinions about financial regulation and compliance to contribute to future policy debates. The concepts we explore in this class will be relevant for those considering a career in investment banking, financial services, private equity, consulting, accounting, or law.

• MSL 8955: Privacy and Cybersecurity Law (3 credits)

  This course provides an introduction to the law and policy of privacy and cybersecurity. It covers the principal federal laws regulating privacy, such as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act along with the ethical considerations of data privacy. It addresses relevant state laws, including security breach laws and the rapidly expanding set of comprehensive privacy laws, as well as some key non-U.S laws. It introduces cybersecurity frameworks and touches on cybercrime. In addition to cases and statutes, the course will draw from policy discussions and will address the role of regulatory agencies in the enforcement process.

• MSL 8956: Understanding Financial and Tax Reporting (3 credits)

  This course covers basic accounting and tax principles necessary to understand, interpret and analyze financial statements, comply with reporting obligations, and communicate intelligently with business and financial professionals. This class will use real-world examples to illustrate the interrelationships between financial and tax reporting obligations and specific business transactions. The class will also spend time analyzing past financial and tax scandals, the issues that led to them, and the role that compliance professionals could have played in preventing them.

• MSL 8957: Fair Business Practices (3 credits)

  This course explores the regulation of business practices in the United States. Intended to balance the often-competing goals of consumer protection and business growth, laws and regulations governing business practices may put businesses at risk of financial penalties and public scrutiny. This course will equip you with the basic knowledge and vocabulary to navigate issues related to unfair and deceitful business practices, false advertising and marketing, antitrust, consumer law, and the role of federal and state agencies in regulating business practices. You will leave this course with: (1) relevant knowledge about the laws and regulations governing fair business practices, antitrust, consumer law, and false advertising; (2) an understanding of how businesses identify and reduce their legal risk in these areas, and (3) the ability to engage in meaningful discourse surrounding these topics.

• MSL 8995: Capstone-CC (3 Credits) - Required

  Group project or field placement project, drawing on concepts covered in other courses and focusing on a specific problem or area of interest.

*Students in the Corporate Compliance concentration may not take more than 3 credits outside of the Corporate Compliance concentration.