General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6094 / JDOC6094 |
| Course name: | Law of International Finance 2 |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme / JD Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Prerequisites: | Law of International Finance 1, an academic equivalent, or substantive and demonstrable professional experience. |
| Credit point value: | 9 credits / 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
Law of International Finance 2 is a sequential course for students who have completed Law of International Finance 1. Its guiding theme is ‘shadow’ finance, which for lawful or evasive motives avoids banks and other conventional intermediaries — and addresses its uses, contract formation, the effects of regulation, and customary market practice. LIF2 provides insights to several aspects of complex financial transactions and structured finance. This includes consideration of the parties involved and their objectives; why transactions succeed or fail; and how financial regulation conditions transaction design and shifts in activity between the ‘conventional’ and shadow financial systems.
Topics include the uses and risks of special purpose vehicles (SPVs); non–recourse finance for movable objects (ships, trains & aircraft) and infrastructural investment; credit derivatives and synthetic transactions; mis–selling to retail and professional users; and shadow banking among central banks. The course will consider the roots and features of complex transactions; how they became notorious during the 2007–09 financial crisis; and examine legal aspects of recent transactions, especially when one elemental contract combines or is embedded with others.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Paul Lejot | plejot@hku.hk | CCT 304 | Tue-Fri 1500-1800 by appointment |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Develop a usable understanding of complex debt capital markets and structured finance transactions. This includes consideration of parties and their motives, contract formation, why transactions succeed or fail, the documentation used to structure transactions and allocate risks, and the impact of financial and prudential regulation on contract design.
CLO 2 The use of generic transaction structures and documents will be accompanied by commercial and contextual explanations of current transactions. With respect to substantive law, the course will provide an understanding of specific legal risks and the methods by which they are typically mitigated.
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 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due dates | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Three Take home exams | TBC | 100% | 1, 3, 5 | 1, 2 |
| *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 |
6.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by course convenor(s).
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
| Lecture: | 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
To be advised by course convenor(s).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Posted regularly at Moodle during the course |
| Core reading list: |
|
| Recommended reading list: | Provided in Course Outline, and posted prior to Class 1 |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/