Corporate & Commercial Law

The Power of Choice

Corporate and commercial law is a deep and diverse area at NYU, with a large faculty that includes leading theorists as well as those whose work is oriented more toward practice and the profession.

Students can begin honing expertise early: Corporations is offered as a 1L elective, positioning students to pursue advanced courses at the Law School and at NYU’s Stern School of Business in their second year. Corporate and commercial law students also benefit from a number of distinctive transactional law and business courses, which analyze how real-life transactions are structured and negotiated. Thanks, in part, to the Law School’s location in one of the world's financial centers, leading practitioners are frequent guests in these and other classes, and regularly participate in lectures and events held by the Pollack Center for Law & Business, a joint venture with Stern, which is one of many intellectual hubs for those with corporate and business interests. 

NYU is notable for its strength in international business law, including cross-border transactions, dispute resolution and regulation. The faculty also has expertise in financial institution regulation, corporate compliance, and corporate criminal enforcement—areas in which the market for lawyers is rapidly expanding. The Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement is a law and policy program dedicated to developing a richer and deeper understanding of the causes of corporate misconduct and the nature of effective enforcement and compliance. NYU Law claims some of the nation’s preeminent faculty in commercial law and bankruptcy; their interests include the theory of contract law, consumer credit, contracts and privacy issues in the online world, and limits of the powers of bankruptcy courts. Several well-respected former judges are also part of our faculty, including Arthur Gonzalez LLM ’90.

The Mitchell Jacobson Leadership Program is a comprehensive academic program for exceptional students with an interest in pursuing high-level careers in law and business. Several combined degrees and certificate programs are offered, including a JD/MBA, JD/MA, or PhD in Economics, business-oriented LLM degrees, as well as an Advanced Certificate in Law and Business.