Academic

My friend and law school classmate Lyrissa Lidsky blogged the other day at Prawfs about how she handles skewed expectations of students in her Mass Media Law class.  Basically, this course isn't Mass Comm. for law students; it's a lot of Con Law and Advanced Torts.  She scares off all but the brave and then has a great semester.  This is how I feel about Securities Regulation.

The subject matter of Securities Regulation may be boring to you.  Did you like tax?  Then you'll love Sec. Reg.  Do you like really long rules found in statutes, or should I say parts of various statutes and regulatory rules?  Then you'll love Sec. Reg.  Are you fascinated by complex financial products and markets?  Then that's a different building a few blocks north.  Oh, I'll make stuff fun by talking about the efficient market hypothesis and the law and economics of disclosure, but that still doesn't get away from the rules.  I can only put so many policy questions on the exam, and most questions are going to begin "On June 1, SmallCo. decides it wants to sell securities to the public."  Most of the semester will be taken up deciding what is a security, what is not a security, how one registers a security, and when one doesn't have to.  A small part at the end will deal with what happens if you lie to people when you register or sell a security or when you have registered securities outstanding.  But we will not slick back our hair, start using really bad cuss words, make our own sushi or get really hot dates like Bud Fox.