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Indiana Law students can build their own plan of study by taking classes from a number of different areas, or they can choose an area of focus.

B672 Secured Transactions

Description The law of secured credit governs lending relationships in which a creditor takes an interest in a debtor#s property as collateral to secure a loan. Examples of secured credit include mortgages, automobile loans, business credit secured by equipment, inventory, and accounts receivable, and judgment and tax liens. This course examines how secured transactions are structured, the rights of secured as opposed to unsecured creditors, and the ways in which secured creditors can enforce their rights. We will focus on Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, which governs security interests in personal property. Mortgages in real property are considered only for comparison purposes. Article 9 has four basic concepts that we will study: remedies on default, attachment, perfection, and priority. The course will also provide an introduction to treatment of secured claims in bankruptcy, where secured creditor#s rights are most often tested. You will also learn a great deal of important legal vocabulary and get to work on skills of statutory analysis. Materials and methods: The textbook for fall 2013 is Lopucki & Warren, Secured Credit#A Systems Approach (Wolters Kluwer/Aspen, 7th Ed. 2012). Students also need a statutory supplement that includes Articles 1 and 9 of the UCC and the Bankruptcy Code. The recommended version is Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law#Selected Statutes (Foundation Press, most recent edition, but not earlier than 2011). You need an edition with the 2010 amendments to Article 9. Please bring the supplement with you to each class for reference to statutory language. We will meet in two hour blocks once a week. Every class is important. Everyone is expected to participate regularly to keep the classes lively and productive. Each class will start by creating an agenda, listing student suggestions of focus (what is unclear, what is most interesting, what seems troubling, etc., in the assigned reading). You will need to have done the reading and attempted to work through the assigned problems before class. Some problems are difficult, so do your best to get started on an analysis but don#t worry if you get stuck; class is for getting unstuck. Often the problems don#t have one clear answer, so that the question is more what alternative ways you could analyze them. The course focuses on both consumer and business loans. Lawyers encounter secured credit issues regardless of their chosen fields of law, so the course provides a means to master core legal knowledge. Sequencing and grading: There is no prerequisite for this course. If a student can take only one commercial law course, it should be Secured Transactions. This material is tested on many bar examinations and is harder to learn on one#s own than Sales. It also makes sense to take this course before taking Bankruptcy if possible. There will be a take-home midterm (worth a third of your grade) and an open-book, in-class final examination requiring application of law to new facts. There will not be multiple choice or true-false questions on the exam.

Faculty H. Buxbaum, D. Long, S. Hughes, A. Raymond, J. Braucher