Study

Financial services have been dramatically impacted by the deep technology revolution. Transactions, including payments and trading, have become almost instantaneous, validated by electronic signatures. Financial services are available anywhere, anytime, accessible from cards or devices in customer pockets.  As a result of all this "electronification," traditional bank "back rooms" and old-fashioned trading pits have disappeared, to be replaced by "clouds," iPhones, infrared beams, and so on.  Customer data, once safe in the hands of bankers, is now frequently compromised in massive electronic breaches.  We have no way of knowing whether state agencies or criminals now hold this information in their possession.  Seldom do financial firms attempt to deliver services on their own anymore; instead the end result is the result of behind-the-scenes collaboration among numerous market participants, the quality and capabilities of which varies widely.  It is a world of the future present, with which we are only starting to come to grips.

FinTech and the Law will review the origins of these developments.  We will seek to understand the architectures, principal legal and regulatory issues, and the dynamics of modern financial marketplaces as these are shaped by technology.  The seminar will help prepare students for a rapidly evolving framework in which successful business and legal practice must become technologically "bilingual."

The course is a seminar based on a compilation of readings provided during the course.  Enrollment is strictly limited to 12 students.

Enrollment Pre-/Co- Requisite Information

Students must have completed either Big Banking Regulation or Securities Regulation as a prerequisite.  Each student will be required to undertake a substantial research assignment, prepare a detailed and up-to-date reading list of the results of the research, and write a memo (30 pages) for oral presentation to the class at the appropriate time.  JD writing credit will be available to the first five students who present research proposals, approved by the instructor, complete paper drafts by Wednesday March 9 for grading and comments, and submit their final drafts in response to comments by last day of classes (when all papers will be due).

Spring 2016

Course Number	Course Credits	Evaluation Method	Instructor
581.01	Course Credits 2		Lawrence G. Baxter
Sakai site: https://sakai.duke.edu/portal/site/LAW.581.01.Sp16
Email list: LAW.581.01.Sp16@sakai.duke.edu