Law Schedule of Classes

NOTE: Course offerings change. Classes offered this semester may not be offered in future semesters.


251.52 sec. 001 - Economics of Corporate and Securities Litigation (Fall 2023)

Instructor: Matthew Cain  (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only)
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only

Units: 1
Grading Designation: Credit Only
Mode of Instruction: In-Person

Meetings:

Th 6:25 PM - 9:05 PM
On 2023-09-14

F 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
On 2023-09-15

F 3:10 PM - 6:10 PM
On 2023-09-15

Sa 09:00 AM - 12:00 PM
On 2023-09-16

Sa 1:30 PM - 4:10 PM
On 2023-09-16

Course Start: September 14, 2023
Course End: September 16, 2023
Class Number: 31995

Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 15
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 30
As of: 02/07 02:03 PM


This course provides an overview of the application of financial economics to the field of corporate and securities litigation. We will cover specific real-world case types including insider trading, investment advisor cherry-picking, 10b-5 disclosure violations, earnings announcements, merger and acquisition fairness opinion valuations, and valuation of corporate governance improvements. Common statistical techniques will be covered such as testing for statistical significance; explanations and definitions of trading volume, stock prices, and stock returns; use of event studies, regression analysis, and tests for abnormal stock returns, volume, and information leakage; application of Monte Carlo simulation; and various tests for market efficiency. This course assumes no prior experience with finance, economics, or statistics. Through in-class role-playing exercises, students will learn how lawyers evaluate and interact with economic expert witnesses and their work product across a variety of litigation case studies.

Instructor Background:
Dr. Matthew D. Cain is a Senior Fellow at the Berkeley Center for Law and Business, University of California. He has provided economic analysis, consulting, and expert witness testimony on behalf of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other clients, including during investigations, settlement negotiations, and trials. He has experience in a variety of topic areas, including in cases alleging insider trading, foreign bribery, accounting fraud, investment advisor cherry-picking, mutual fund conflicts and violations, disclosure violations, improper valuations, and broker-dealer conflicts.

Dr. Cain spent several years working at the SEC, where he served as an advisor to Commissioner Robert J. Jackson, Jr. He also worked as a Financial Economist in the Office of Litigation Economics, part of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis. Prior to working with the SEC, Dr. Cain was an Assistant Professor of Finance in the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. He holds a Ph.D. in Finance from Purdue University, and prior to academia he worked as a capital markets analyst, assisting companies with capital raisings in relation to M&A and other corporate purposes.

We also have special academic rules for these condensed courses:
-Students must attend each course session and cannot attend any course session remotely (even for illness or emergency situations).
-The Registrar’s Office will drop a student who does not attend each course session.

Due to the condensed nature of this course, in-person attendance at all course sessions is mandatory. Absences cannot be excused for any reason, including illness or emergencies. The Registrar’s Office will drop any student who misses a session.

Requirements Satisfaction:


Units from this class count towards the J.D. Experiential Requirement.


View teaching evaluations for this class - degree students only

Exam Notes: (TH) Take-home examination
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Exam Length: 3 hours
Course Category: Business Law
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Litigation and Procedure

If you are the instructor or their FSU, you may add a file like a syllabus or a first assignment to this page.

Readers:
No reader.

Books:
Instructor has indicated that no books will be assigned.

Go to Course Search