Point (1) is false as to bankruptcy. About half the standard class is on Chapter 11, and the coverage is more than adequate. Spending time on individual bankruptcy is a natural and maybe essential way to be introduced to the bankruptcy concepts needed to dive into restructurings. Also, restructuring occurs in the shadow of Chapter 7 liquidation and is affected by how things would play out in liquidation (best interest of creditors test). Prof. Jacoby, a tenured professor, teaches a business bankruptcy seminar focusing on restructuring.bookofblue wrote: A few things:
(1) bankruptcy, secured transactions, banking law, nonprofit orgs, health/finance, and construction law are not your typical "corporate" subjects that are practiced in biglaw. Bankruptcy is very focused on commercial (i.e. individual Ch. 7 and 13) matters, not Ch. 11 corporate (though there may be a class taught by an adjunct). Secured transactions is heavily commercial based, though is important conceptually for larger corporate matters. The final three are regulatory or litigation focused. IBT you are right - overstated my point.
(2) Banking law is pretty specific. It is more corporate related, but not in the since of biglaw practices. Again, highly regulatory, not transactional.
(3) The banking journal, and Lisa Broome, are fantastic. Given Charlotte as a large merchant banking hub, the focus there could be highly beneficial if you like it. But it is NOT investment banking focused. Very much focused on depository institutions.
(4) The community dev. clinic is great, but nonprofit focused. If you want to do transactional biglaw, it is not the same, though might be helpful.
The context here is that UNC places really well in NC, which means its focused on more middle market subjects that most UNC grads go into. Word on the street is the new Dean is trying to change that and expand the curriculum to more M&A / biglaw-centric transactional stuff, so this could change.
Generally, you're right that class offerings for "biglaw transactional work" (which you construe pretty narrowly) are a bit thin. But so what? With few exceptions, class selection doesn't matter. Classes don't prepare you for practice. You learn on the job. Nor is it often that classes get you or qualify you for a job. If you're able to transfer out of UNC for a school like Harvard, it's not because you want to lock down a "biglaw transactional" job in NYC or to take class offerings that will prepare you for such a job, which is easily obtained from the top of the class at UNC. You want that sweet prestige or to have a better shot at academia or unicorn-type jobs, maybe all of the above. Anything else is window dressing you're using to deceive yourself or others about your motivations.
