LAW48715: Capital Markets Law

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• To introduce students to the structure and functioning of the capital markets, including actors, regulators, infrastructures, core products, services and instruments offered.
• To provide a good knowledge of the basic institutional architecture and governance of the UK capital markets and, when possible, of the EU and the international capital market.
• To introduce students to the regulatory obligations applicable to investment firms and market infrastructures when buying or offering a financial product and/or service under English law.
• To provide a good understanding of the nature of securities.
• To encourage an awareness of the social and economic contexts and the systemic goals that influence the regulation of capital markets.

• The structure of capital markets (investment firms, clearing and settlement firms, investors, and regulators).
• What is a security? Different types of securities and their legal characteristics
• Securities offering
• Disclosure and reporting rules
• Clearing and settlements (legal and regulatory aspects)
• Insider Trading and market abuse
• Civil and regulatory liability
• Rating agencies

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Students will gain an advanced understanding of capital markets and their basic components.
• Students will gain an advanced understanding of the principles of capital markets regulation as they apply at the UK, EU, and international levels.
• Students will gain an advanced knowledge of the secondary literature on securities law and policy.
• Students will gain an advanced knowledge of the key legal, regulatory, and supervisory issues relating to the working of investment firms, market infrastructures and other institutions operating in capital markets.
• Students will gain a critical understanding of the effectiveness of the law as a means of protecting investors given the legal, political, economic, social and cultural context in which it operates.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Ability to identify and describe the roles played by the UK, EU, and international policymaking, as well as regulatory and supervisory bodies responsible for the health of the financial system.
• Ability to identify the legal, economic, and policy issues relating to capital markets regulation and supervision.
• Ability to articulate in writing and/or orally and apply the core principles of financial law and regulation to real financial scenarios.
• Ability to explain in writing and/or orally the limitations of the current legal, regulatory and supervisory system.
• Ability to engage in informed debate on the evolution of the law in the field of capital markets law.
• Ability to conduct research into regulatory materials from a variety of national and comparative sources.
• Ability to formulate in writing and/or orally complex legal, policy, and regulatory arguments.

Key Skills:

• Advanced research skills.
• Advanced writing skills.
• Advanced oral presentations and discussion skills.
• Ability to work independently and take responsibility for their learning.
• Ability to analyse and comment critically on laws, regulations, and policies.
• Ability to engage with the academic literature.
• Critical thinking.

• The teaching will be based on seminars supported by substantial but targeted reading assignments before each seminar to provide a deeper understanding of the issues. The readings are selected from established doctrinal sources and cutting-edge scholarship in the area.
• The assessment supports the aims of the teaching methods. The in-class tests will assess the ability of the students to analyse the subject material, conduct research, and present a structured and articulate argument on the subject.

The formative will entail the analysis of a regulatory issue on a topic covered by the syllabus. The analysis will be 1000 words in length.

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