Commercial and Consumer Law

Commercial law governs the broad areas of commerce, banking, bankruptcy, and consumer transactions. In other words, commercial law makes the economy go around. every product, ingredient, or service purchased by you or a company by cash, credit, or exchange is governed by commercial and consumer law. Most business transactions and many private purchases are based on or regulated through contractual arrangements. The first-year required course in Contracts provides an introduction to the law of contracts and explores many fundamental legal concepts regulating trade and commerce.

Students may continue to study advanced issues related to commercial law in the upper-level curriculum. For example, advanced courses dealing with both individual and business bankruptcy law examine the obligations and rights of creditors and debtors. The core commercial courses of Secured Transactions and Sales focus on the Uniform Commercial Code (U.C.C.) and related materials. In addition, Moritz offers a number of course offerings focused on consumer law and consumer protection.

Professor Larry garvin teaches in this area of law and was recently selected to take over the writing of Farnsworth on Contracts, the gospel on American contract law. He teaches first-year Contracts as well as the upper-level commercial law courses.

Professor Creola Johnson has dedicated her research and teaching to consumer protection issues. She frequently publishes on predatory lending schemes, foreclosures, and questionable credit card marketing tactics toward college students. She worked closely with policymakers in Ohio to change the laws applying to payday lenders.

Students interested in commercial law or consumer protection have multiple opportunities to work with bankruptcy judges as externs or with state agencies, including the Ohio Attorney General's Office, or nonprofit groups through our externship programs.

Course Sampling for Commercial and Consumer Law

• Banking Law
• Business Associations
• Business bankruptcy
• Commercial Paper
• Consumer Credit
• Contracts II
• Contracts Drafting
• Debtor and Creditor Law
• Doing business in China
• International business Arbitration
• Law and economics
• Sales
• Secured Transactions