LAW3525 White Collar and Corporate Crime
4 General Credits
We study white collar and corporate crime, which is to say, frauds and schemes and corruption. We will study an array of specific federal crimes in order to understand exactly what actions constitute the crime. We will learn how a crime is prosecuted, from the prosecutor’s first knowledge of the crime to the final punishment. We will learn when a corporate employee can be convicted for something he was told to do by his boss, and when the boss can be convicted for something done by an employee. You will learn what to do if you are the target of a federal investigation or are suddenly arrested, how to disassociate yourself from a conspiracy, and how to make a good faith effort to follow the law, so that even if someday you break a rule and find yourself as the subject of a criminal investigation, you may nonetheless be able to avoid prosecution or at least minimize punishment. You will learn the vocabulary of the federal prosecutor, so that you can be a discerning reader of the law section of the Wall Street Journal and keep current: What sort of business practices is the government now targeting? When should you tread carefully? When should you say no?
Students who have taken LAW3594 White Collar and Corporate Crime (2 credits) may not take this course.
Prerequisites: LAW1000