Riga Graduate School of Law (RGSL) invites professionals from the legal, banking and other industries as well as public sector and international organisations to join a number of open Master’s level courses starting in April. Joining selected courses is an excellent opportunity for those who want to deep-dive on a certain topic, but do not have the chance to commit to a full time studies. All the courses have strong practical application for professionals in both private and public sectors and are taught in English.
The courses will take place from 3 April to 2 June 2018 during the evenings as well as on Saturdays to accommodate the schedule of working professionals.
Participation fee per one course: EUR 450
RGSL Alumni fee: EUR 300
15 % discount applies to two and more participants from one organisation
Participation fee includes:
12 lectures per course.
Online access to the course materials.
Access to RGSL Law Library.
Attendance and successful completion of the exam will provide participants with 3 ECTS points that can be added to studies towards Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree.
Contact person: Anda Lesiņa (anda.lesina(abols)rgsl.edu.lv); phone: 67 039 206
State Responsibility in International Law
Ieva Miļūna (LLM)
3-14 April
This course explores the origins and content of the State Responsibility Law as a set of secondary rules and examines the main elements of this law as customary international law. The course explores the International Law Commission in its Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts and the manner in which they are used as guidance in procedures to invoke the responsibility of a State for an internationally wrongful act. The Articles will serve as the basic legal text for students following this course.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Zinta Jansons (J.D.) and Raimonds Slaidiņš (LLM)
16-28 April
This course will provide an introduction to the legal aspects of mergers and acquisitions from a practitioner’s perspective. The course will examine basic M&A structures, transaction processes, regulatory aspects including competition and securities regulation, contract drafting and negotiation issues. Specific topics of a current nature including business transfers (transfer of undertaking) and cross border mergers will also be examined. Students will be required to examine and present case studies upon conclusion of the course.
International Carriage of Goods and International Payment Methods
Gabor Palasti (PhD)
16-26 April
International business contracts relating to goods require an element of geographical relocation of movables: international carriage of goods. It is a highly sophisticated area of private law with a high level of international unification by carriage modality (by rail, by road, by air, by the sea, by inland waterways, by container and multimodal transport). The course lists the major characteristics of the available carriage conventions and other international sources of law. International business contracts equally require the relocation of the price from one party to the other. The course covers the major available payment method conventions and other international sources on bank transfer, collection order and letter of credit.
Case Law of International Business Contracts
Gabor Palasti (PhD)
7-19 May
The European and international unification of legal matters relevant for business is high. This covers the procedural law environment (jurisdiction, recognition, enforcement), the conflict of laws rules and substantive contract law. Most internationally unified important legal sources have their own on-line case law database. The course provides an introduction into the most important specialized databases in the field. Students will read and discuss many cases mostly relating to the Brussels I regime, the Rome I Regulation, the CISG, various carriage conventions and some other sources (e.g. the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts).
Competition Law
Robert Lane (PhD)
7-19 May
The course analyses at an advanced level the competition law of the European Union: the justification for regulation in a free market economy, the applicable rules and their operation. Throughout there will be comparative consideration of equivalent rules in national law and how the two layers (seek to) coexist. Students taking the course will obtain a thorough understanding of the main areas of competition law and policy in the EU.
International Insolvency Law
Rolef de Weijs (PhD)
21 May-2 June
The course provides a thorough introduction to the working of the European Insolvency Regulation. Particular attention is paid to the issue of bankruptcy migration (transferring assets and activities in order to have the insolvency proceedings opened in a different Member State with more favourable rules for parties involved). In addition to questions of private international law (jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement), the course will also deal with substantive insolvency law in different Member States in the European Union. A comparison will be made with regard to the rules on transaction avoidance in insolvencies (actio pauliana), the issue of shareholders and subordination of shareholders loans (equitable subordination) and rules on reorganisation procedures. The course will also deal with harmonization of European Insolvency Law, with topics that have already been harmonized such as protection of depositors and workers in case of insolvency, and topics which are currently being harmonized, most notably the rules on bank insolvency which seek to end the problems related to TBTF (Too Big To Fail).
Knowledge-based capital and fundamentals of Venture Capital Industry
Sergejs Jakimovs (LLM)
21 May-2 June
The course deals with the legal, financial and intellectual property components in the venture capital industry, providing an insight into the legal status of actors involved, types of risk capital, relevance of intellectual property as an asset of the risk-capital seeking company, as well as specifics of freedom-to-operate searches. The course explains:
- the key concepts the venture industry operates with;
- functioning logic of venture funds, their legal commitments and requirements;
- ways of IP protection and monetisation, as well as using IP as an asset to attract equity funding or utilising it as an in-kind contribution.
Furthermore, the course aims to provide an insight in a structure of a venture deal, focusing on different types of supporting agreements, licenses and in-kind contribution arrangements.