Certificate in Business and Transactional Law

Students who desire to concentrate their elective and extracurricular courses of study on the general areas of business and transactional law can seek a Certificate in Business and Transactional Law. The Certificate is an acknowledgment by the Faculty that the student has successfully completed a focused course of study to expand his or her knowledge in business law while developing essential skills of the transactional lawyer. 

Course of Study

Required Course

  • Business Associations (LW 703, 4 hours)

Optional Curriculum Courses

12 credit hours selected from the courses listed below. Unless the appropriate certificate advisor approves a different mix of courses, of the twelve required elective credits, a minimum of six must be earned in courses taught by full-time faculty. Externship credits will not count towards the six-credit minimum, and no more than three externship credits will count towards the twelve-credit elective requirement.

  • Advanced Evidence: Expert Witnesses (LW 950 - 1 hour)
  • Advanced Intellectual Property Seminar (LW 954 - 2 hours)
  • Advanced Oil & Gas Law (LW 855 - 3 hours)
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution (LW 753 - 3 hours)
  • Antitrust (LW 782 - 3 hours)
  • Arbitration (LW 854 - 2 hours)
  • Artificial Intelligence and Law (LW 792 - 2 hours)
  • Barbados: Comparative Legal Systems-- Labor and Employment Law (LW 849 - 3 hours)
  • Clinic: Transactional (LW 911 - 4 hours)
  • Commercial Law (LW 870 - 4 hours)
  • Commercial Leasing (LW 871 - 1 hour)
  • Commercial Transactions and Bankruptcy in Agriculture (LW 987 - 1 hour)
  • Comparative Alternative Dispute Resolution (LW 848 - 2 hours)
  • Copyright Law (LW 953 - 3 hours)
  • Corporate Compliance: Law and Policy (LW 873 - 2-3 hours)
  • Debtor-Creditor Relations (LW 718 - 3 hours)
  • Directed Research (topic approved by Certificate Advisor) (LW 763 - 1-3 hours)
  • Drafting Contracts and Conveyances (LW 946 - 1 hour)
  • Employment Discrimination (LW 786 - 3 hours)
  • Employment Law (LW 917 - 2-3 hours)
  • Entrepreneurial Law (LW 910 - 3 hours)
  • Estate and Business Planning for Farmers and Ranchers (LW 873 - 1 hour)
  • Estate Planning and Taxation (LW 749 - 4 hours)
  • Evolution of a Business Transaction (LW 937 - 1 hour)
  • Externship I (placement approved by Certificate Advisor) (LW 921 - 2 hours)
  • Externship II (placement approved by Certificate Advisor) (LW 922 - 2 hours)
  • Farm and Ranch Taxation (LW 986 - 1 hour)
  • Fundamentals of Real Estate Law (LW 938 - 1-2 hours)
  • Housing Law (LW 872 - 2-3 hours)
  • Insurance Law (LW 710 - 3 hours)
  • International Business Transactions (LW 778 - 3 hours)
  • International Petroleum Transactions (LW 973, 3 Hours)
  • Introduction to Nonprofit Law (LW950 - 1 hour)
  • Labor Law (LW 783 - 3 hours)
  • Landlord Tenant Law (LW 879 - 1 hour)
  • Law and Accounting (LW 717 - 2 hours)
  • Law and Economics (LW 853 - 2-3 hours)
  • Mineral Title Examination (LW 952 - 1 Hour)
  • Mining Law (LW 977 - 1 Hour)
  • Negotiations (LW 857 - 2 hours)
  • Patent Prosecution (LW 961 - 2 hours)
  • Public Employment Law (LW 959 - 2 hours)
  • Real Estate Transactions (LW 733 - 3 hours)
  • Renewable Energy Law: Wind and Solar (LW 985 - 1 hour)
  • Secured Transactions (LW 838 - 3 hours)
  • Securities Regulation (LW 785 - 3 hours)
  • Specialized Legal Research: Business and Tax (LW 920 - 1-2 hours)
  • Tax Clinic: Low Income Taxpayer (LW 791 - 1-3 hours)
  • Tax Policy Seminar (LW 823 - 2 hours)
  • Taxation of Business Enterprises (LW 940 - 3 hours)
  • Trademark Law (LW 898 - 3 hours)
  • Transactional Drafting (LW 707 - 3 hours)
  • Transactional Intellectual Property Practice: Trademarks and Marketing (LW 834 - 2 hours)
  • Transactional Law Meet Competition (LW 889 - 1-2 hours)
  • Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Compliance (LW 892 - 1-2 hours)
  • White Collar Crime (LW 936 - 2-3 hours)

Extracurricular Course of Study

Students must attend four extracurricular programming events sponsored or supported by the Business and Transactional Law Center or by a bar association or other professional association relating to business and transactional law. Attendance may be in person or online but must be synchronous. From time to time, the Center will make available a list of associations that typically sponsor such events, but students should feel free to investigate other programming that is likely to qualify and check with their certificate advisor. Students are responsible for keeping track of their attendance at qualifying events and presenting their record to their Certificate advisor before graduation.

In addition to Business and Transactional Law Center-sponsored speakers at the law school, students may satisfy the extracurricular course of study requirement by attending an approved outside CLE/webinar (63 KB PDF).

Writing Requirement

Complete the upper level writing requirement (or equivalent writing project) on a pre-approved Business and Transactional Law topic. Students may satisfy the Certificate writing requirement through Directed Research (LW763) or an alternative writing opportunity approved in advance by the student's certificate advisor. Students must receive a grade of "B" or better on the paper they submit to satisfy the writing requirement.

Lawyering Experience Requirement

Students earning a Business and Transactional Law Certificate must complete a lawyering experience consisting of, for example, the Clinic/Transactional, a Transactional Law Meet Competition, a Washburn Law-sponsored externship, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, or other work experience related to business and transactional law. With respect to other work experience that will fulfill this requirement, students should feel free to check with their Certificate advisor.

Learning Outcomes for J.D. Business and Transactional Law Certificate

  1. Students will demonstrate competent knowledge and understanding of the terms, rules and principles of business and transactional law subjects.
  2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the authorities and sources of business and transactional law.
  3. Students will demonstrate analytical and problem-solving skills when presented with issues of business and transactional law, including the ability to apply controlling legal principals to legal problems.
  4. Students will be exposed to issues related to the practice of business and transactional law and some of the questions confronting practitioners in the area.
  5. Students will demonstrate the ability to write in a clear, concise, well-organized, professional manner that is appropriate for business and transactional legal practice.
  6. Students will demonstrate competency in business and transactional practice skills expected of attorneys in the area.

General Requirements

Students interested in pursuing a Business and Transactional Law Certificate must first meet with a faculty member administering the certificate (Professor Westbrook) to declare their interest and plan their course of study. This must be done prior to completing 40 hours of study. [NOTE: This requirement will be adjusted to accommodate students who have completed 40 hours but desire to pursue this new Certificate opportunity.] Following the meeting the faculty member and student will complete a "Meeting Summary" (27 KB PDF) in which the faculty member who will serve as the student's Certificate Advisor will be identified.

The student must complete 90 hours of total law school credit and achieve a minimum grade point average of 3.0 in the 16 hours of courses selected by the student to meet the Certificate requirements.

Note: Students who declared their intent to pursue a Certificate prior to June 1, 2021, and who obtained a minimum grade point average of 3.5 for courses used to satisfy their Certificate requirements, will be awarded the Certificate in Business and Transactional Law (with distinction).

Approved by the faculty: October 2006. Revised: August 25, 2022.

Short URL for this page:
https://washburnlaw.edu/transactionalcertificate

Faculty Members
Photograph: Amy Westbrook.

Amy Deen Westbrook
Director, Business and Transactional Law Center and
Kurt M. Sager Memorial Distinguished Professor of International and Commercial Law

Courses offered within the law school curriculum are subject to change at any time.

Certificates of Concentration

Students at Washburn University School of Law may distinguish themselves in the job market by earning a Certificate of Concentration. The areas of concentration can be completed within the traditional 90 credit hours required for graduation. While students do not declare majors because law school provides a broad foundational education, earning a certificate at Washburn Law allows students to formalize an area of specialization within the traditional law school curriculum.

Certificates may be earned in the following areas:

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