Navigating the Business Law Curriculum: Corporate Finance

The Richmond Law & Business Forum is highlighting course offerings related to business law.  In this post, we asked Professor Daniel Schaffa to discuss his Corporate Finance course.

Q: Why do law students need to know corporate finance? 

A: In survey responses, law firm partners list finance as one of the most helpful competencies for incoming associates. Finance is everywhere—mortgages, investments, student loans, rent-or-buy decisions are all applications of finance. This course offers a useful framework to understand these things, in ways that will help you make personal finance decisions, run a business or a practice, and give good advice to your clients.  

Q: What topics are covered in this course? 

A: Finance is the study of how to allocate money. We cover all the standard finance topics, including the time value of money, risk and return, capital structure, market efficiency, and valuation. These terms might sound technical, but it always comes down to the same question—how should someone decide between investment A and investment B? For example, how should we think about the value of a dollar today compared to a dollar in ten years? How should we compare risky investments to safe investments? How should companies decide whether to issue debt or equity?  

Q: How is the course graded?

A: Participation: 20% of the grade. In the past, I’ve asked students to contribute to the discussion at least once per week or once per class, depending on the class size. Questions, answers, and comments all count as participation.  

Final exam: 80% of the grade. In the past, the final exam has been three or four hours long and open book (no internet).  

In some iterations of the course, I've also given occasional quizzes.  

Q: What advice do you have for students who might be nervous about taking this course?

A: Students considering corporate finance most often worry about two things. First, they think that there will be lots of complicated math. Second, they worry about classmates who might have had more previous exposure to finance. 

To be clear: this class is designed for law students who have taken high school math and have no background in finance. The math we use is addition, multiplication, and exponents. We cover it all very slowly, and I’m happy to meet with anyone who needs help. I’ve never had a student in the course struggle because of the math. As a former student wrote to me, “Even though I was afraid of taking corporate finance, it ended up being one of my favorite classes in law school so far. So I am really glad I stuck with it.”  

It’s true that some students have more exposure to finance. If a student has a really strong finance background, I’ll suggest that they take a different course—you only have so many credits, and it’s better to use them to learn new things! That being said, the emphasis of the course is different from a finance course taught in a business school—mine is a course designed for law students! So even students who have some finance exposure may benefit from taking corporate finance.  

If you have any questions, shoot me an email. I’m happy to talk about the course (or anything else).

Q: What advice do you have for students on succeeding in this course? 

A: The best advice, which I think applies generally, is stay curious and ask questions. Meet with me if there’s something you don’t understand or if there’s something you think is interesting and want to talk about.