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| Banking Law Course Description |
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| Saturday, 02 December 2006 | |
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BANKING LAW & REGULATION COURSE DESCRIPTION Professor Fred Galves UNIVERSITY OF THE PACIFIC McGEORGE SCHOOL OF LAW Summer Session, 2002 CLASSROOM "A" TUESDAY AND THURSDAY: 6:15 - 9:30 P.M. I. COURSE DESCRIPTION This course surveys banking law and regulation in an era of regulatory reform after one of the worst periods of financial institutional failure and taxpayer bailout in U.S. banking history (1980's) and examines the banking industry's profitable rebound marked by "merger mania" bank consolidation, activity expansion, and globalization (1990's) and finally considers the recent further broad expansion of activities in which banks are now allowed to engage (insurance and securities) after the revolutionary Graham-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act of 1999. We will begin with an overview of the history of banking in the United States and the basic monetary and policy functions of financial institutions and the federal agencies that regulate them. We will then examine the entry process into the banking business. Next, we will consider the regulatory structure of banking activities and a bank's ability to participate in various non-traditional banking activities. We also will consider consumer protection, discriminatory lending, and community reinvestment issues. We will briefly look at Bank Holding Companies and their powers and limitations and then briefly consider the securities powers of financial institutions. We will then survey the laws governing the examination and enforcement of bank regulations by various federal agencies, especially with respect to troubled and failing financial institutions. Finally, we will examine bank failures, resolution procedures, failed bank litigation, and possible regulatory and market reforms. In addition to these issues, throughout the course we will consider various banking regulation policy concerns. The major underlying policy concerns -- including the competing ideological arguments -- are the relative merits of competing methods of regulation as well as the extent to which certain activities should be regulated by the government or left to the discipline (or lack thereof) of the market. We will not focus on bank-customer lawsuits or debtor-creditor disputes. Instead, the focus will be on larger regulatory issues and more macro-policy, in short, how banks can and should be allowed to operate under existing laws and regulations. This course will give you an important exposure to a regulated industry and the heavy reliance on the advise of attorneys such industries and businesses therein have. II. COURSE METHODOLOGY/CLASS PARTICIPATION This course is NOT a difficult course, although there is much basic information to review and with which to start becoming familiar, especially at the beginning of the course. The course will consist primarily of lecture, dialogue, class discussion, and end with student presentations of their research topics. This is a seminar course with the emphasis on class discourse and your independent research. Class participation is an important part of the learning experience in a small, seminar course such as this. Development of your oral communication skills is key to your success as an attorney. I view classroom time as an opportunity to exercise your oral skills in an environment where experimentation, and sometimes mistakes, are part of the learning and sharing process. You will learn much from your classmates as they will share the results of their independent research of an issue interesting to them, especially during the second half of the class. You should keep in mind that this is not a difficult course and I do not intend to make it a difficult course. You do not need to have any special course prerequisites or even any background in finance or economics. III. GRADING Grading in this course will be based on: (1) a one-hour final examination/quiz (30% of the final grade); and, (2) a 15-20 page research paper on any Banking Law and Regulation topic of your choice (I am very flexible on the topic as long as there is at least some plausible connection to banking law). The paper will be due the last week of class (70% of your final grade). During the last two class sessions each student will give a short (15 minute) presentation of their paper topic. Such should include the results of their research, their general thesis (analysis and critique) and their suggestions for reform. You will learn a great deal from one another during this process. The student will also need to be open to questions. Finally, please note that I may add to (or detract from) your final grade as much as a half of a letter grade for extraordinary, consistent class room participation (or for poor class participation and/or for inadequate attendance). This grade adjustment usually helps rather than hurts the grand majority of students' grades. IV. COURSE MATERIALS The REQUIRED texts for this course are: - Macey & Miller, Banking Law and Regulation, (Aspen Publishing 1997). - Supplemental Materials/Handouts (distributed in class and/or available in the Faculty Secretaries' Office). V. CLASS MATERIALS For each class session, I will distribute a "Class Outline" setting forth the cases and issues we will be addressing for that particular class (always check the bottom of the outline for special class notes and announcements). These outlines will help you to organize your notes and they will inform you where we will begin the next class in case we ever get behind. You should find this especially helpful as you study and outline for the final exam. I also will often distribute additional articles or materials for your consideration for the next class. Finally, please note that I will use computer images daily in class. You therefore should take a seat where you can easily view the screen. The information contained in the computer images will help to direct class discussion and will greatly facilitate your note-taking -- but please do not reduce class to an attempt to transcribe everything on the computer screen to your notes, this is law school not court reporting school. Use the computer information as a catalyst for thought and analysis rather than as a mere source of information to be copied. V. OFFICE HOURS My office is located on the first floor, Room 184, of the faculty office building. Becasue the class is so small I will not have official office hours. Instead, please feel free to simply come by my office anytime or call my office (739-7117 or home 689-6479) either to make a special appointment or to ask questions by phone. Also, please register (next week) on "TWEN" so we can communicate as a class by computer. Finally, I will distribute weekly syllabi; accordingly, every Thursday, I will distribute the reading assignments for the following week. |
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