Before acquiring, merging, or selling a company or assets, purchasers and sellers need to engage in a process of better understanding the company or assets in the transaction as well as the risks inherent in the transaction. A key element of corporate law practice is engaging in "due diligence" to help the client understand the transaction's elements, risks, and possibilities.
New attorneys are often asked to conduct due diligence without any significant training. This course seeks to fill that gap by first establishing the legal reasons for conducting due diligence and a lawyer's professional obligations in the process. It will then use a combination of lectures and skills exercises to explore how to conduct due diligence on corporate matters such as minutes and bylaws; commercial matters such as contracts; and compliance matters such as environmental and sustainability.