General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6323 / JDOC6323 |
| Course name: | Legal Concepts and Practical Application in Financial Transactions |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme / JD Programme |
| Semester: | First |
| Credit point value: | 9 credits / 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
The purpose of this course is to examine significant legal concepts and private law issues encountered in commercial finance and investment banking.
This course builds on the knowledge students have acquired in the core course of Contracts in the application to the financial markets. It will provide a deeper understanding of the part that private law plays in such markets. This will include a discussion of how the law has responded to significant economic developments such as the 2008 global financial crisis and the PRC real estate defaults. We will also consider recent developments in financing including the rise of private capital and digital/tokenised securities.
The course will begin with an introduction to transactional structures in the financial markets including loans, bonds, guarantees and derivatives. The aim is to consider various concepts in contract, property and trusts which are used to allocate, manage and transfer risk in transactions. While the focus will be on English law and Hong Kong law, the course will consider civil law jurisdictions for comparison (and the practical impact on transactions). The course will focus on bonds and asset-backed securities as a means of illustrating the concepts.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Yvonne Siew | siewy@hku.hk | N/A | By email |
1.4 Course outline (for elective course)
| Please click the link here for the course outline (HKU Portal login required). |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Describe and explain the transactional structures covered and the application of private law to issues that arise.
CLO 2 Describe and apply the principles of private law to the transactions and issues discussed.
CLO 3 Describe and explain the theories, doctrines, and debates pertaining to topics on private law presented in the course.
CLO 4 Engage with academic writing and discussion about legal principles and potential developments.
CLO 5 Demonstrate an awareness of the impact of private law doctrines on their broader economic and socio-cultural contexts.
2.2 LLM and JD Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link:
LLM – https://course.law.hku.hk/llm-plo/
JD – https://course.law.hku.hk/jd-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| CLO 5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Class participation | 20% | 5 | 1, 2, ,3 ,4 ,5 |
| Research essay | 80% | 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by course convenor. See also Course Outline above.
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar: | 3 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
The course will be presented in weekly seminars. Class participation is encouraged (and forms part of the Assessment for the course).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | Fuller on The Law and Practice of International Capital Markets, Fourth Edition (GF Book) |
| Recommended reading list: | Posted to Moodle each week by topic |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/