Course Level

intermediate - advanced / 3rd - 4th year

Module Language

English

Module Classification

This is a Themis course. It is also open to non-Themis students.

Module Type and Contact Hours

Lecture & seminar (3 contact hours per week)
both courses are mandatory!

ECTS-credits

7,5 (if exam in the seminar has been passed and both parts of the course have been attended regularly)

Teaching Mode

face-to-face teaching

Frequency

This module will probably be available once a year, rather in the winter than in the summer term. It is available in the winter term 2025/26.

Time Schedule and Course Venue

You will find both parts of this course in our electronic course catalogue.

Module Content

Listed public companies have been at the heart of the corporate governance debate for the past decades. These companies tend to be economically important and receive much public attention. They raise complex governance challenges because of their broad and diverse shareholder base. The course will look at these major companies and the inherent agency conflicts between company insiders (management, controlling shareholders) and outside shareholders. From a legal perspective, this raises important issues under corporate law and securities regulation. The course will focus on securities regulation from both the economic and legal perspective. 

It is taught jointly by Jochen Bigus (a professor of accounting at the Business School) and Andreas Engert (a professor of corporate and securities law at the Department of Law).
The course combines a lecture (“Vorlesung”) with extensive classroom discussion (“Seminaristischer Unterricht”). Both of these parts will be taught in combined sessions even though they appear as two different offerings in the university’s course program. Also, the course will be concentrated in the weeks before the Christmas break. Therefore, you should plan to attend the full four-hour sessions even if the course plan contains two separate two-hour slots.

Reading Requirememts

Students are required to prepare for classes by reading at least the “required readings” in the syllabus. The required reading for each class amounts to 50–60 pages.
Unprepared students will have difficulties to follow the presentation, participate in classroom discussions and generally in understanding the key ideas of the course. Because there is no standard textbook, performing well in the exam critically depends on the readings and the classroom interaction.

[to be updated]

Restricted Enrollment

no (that means that everyone who signs up for this course in time can take part in this course)

Course Registration

via Campus Management

registration period: 1 October 2025, 9 a.m. -  31 October 2025, 12 a.m. (midnight)

Please register for the seminar under "Study Program for Exchange Students - Module 10".

[tbc]

Please sign up for the lecture under the module "Fakultatives Lehrangebot im SB 3"

Please sign up for both parts of the module, the seminar and the lecture!

De-Registration from this Module

via Campus Management

Please make sure that you drop two courses, the lecture and the seminar.

regular drop period: 1 October 2025, 9 a.m. - 31 October 2025

After the regular drop period you can only drop this course with a valid cause until 14 days prior to the exam. Please contact the International Office at the Law Department if you have to use this option.

Type of Exam and Exam Period

Visiting students from the Law Department will have to submit two reaction papers.

Each reaction paper must reflect a topic discussed in the course or must further elaborate it. Students are free to choose the topics of their reaction papers. However, they should be written shortly after the respective session and during the term. Reaction papers have to be submitted as two separate text documents.
from a standard word processor to sekrengert@zedat.fu-berlin.de no later than
[to be announced].
Please name your text files with your last name, then first name, followed by the
number of your reaction paper (i.e., “1” or “2”).

[tbc]

Registration for the Exam

Students will automatically be registered for the exam when they sign up for this course.

De-Registration from the Exam

Students who drop this course via Campus Management are automatically de-registered from the exam. Students who do not drop this course via Campus Management and do not take the exam, are going to finish this course with a non-passing grade (0 points).

Grade Release

via Campus Management