General Courses

The program starts with an introduction to Swiss Law where you get to know the most important institutions and regulations and an overview of the Swiss Business Law.

The goal of this language course is, on the one hand, to familiarize participants with legal vocabulary related to the lectures to be delivered in English. On the other hand, the course is comprised of practice-oriented work with legal texts and exercises based on practical, everyday situations, such as conducting negotiations or creating legal documents. The participants receive an introduction to the British and US legal systems.

Globalization is one of the most-discussed political and economic themes of our time. What are in fact the foundations of the international economic order? What is the purpose of the WTO?

In the first section, this module provides participants with a general overview of the sources and legal nature of international agreements in the area of the international economy. Further, the laws governing the World Trade Organization (WTO), as the most important organization in the field of international trade and its effect through the study of important cases will be discussed.

In the second part you will learn an understanding of the legal system of one’s most important partners. For this purpose the participants in this module will be introduced to the legal systems of both of Europe’s most important trading partners – the USA and China.

The law of the European Union affects not only its member states, but all nations with which they engage in trade. Switzerland is the second most important trading partner of the EU; further, Switzerland is geographically surrounded by EU member states. Nearly twenty bilateral agreements facilitate the relationship between the EU and Switzerland.

Against this background, Module 4 lays the foundation for the entire course. It serves as an introduction to European law and provides insight into the sources of law and institutions of the EU. Utilizing actual cases, the four fundamental freedoms – free movement of goods, free movement of persons as well as free movement of services and capital – will be presented. In a final practical section exercises related to the fundamental freedoms will be conducted and an introduction to practical application in work will be offered, the goal of which is to instill research techniques useful for resolving questions of European law.

In the second section of the module, the lecturers will introduce the competition law foundations of the European Community, such as state and private limitations on competition, market-dominant companies, mergers, regulatory group exemptions and effects on third states.

Globalization and increased mobility allow private persons as well as enterprises to conclude more legal business outside of their home countries. As a result, international private business laws have taken on increasing importance.

The module International Private Law and Corporate Law enables participants to stay abreast of these developments. A first area of focus deals with Swiss international private law, in relation to matters of conflicts of law, particularly choice of law and choice of jurisdiction. In addition, European business law will be dealt with. Applicable laws for public limited companies and for corporations will be presented. Further, international business law will be discussed in depth. Special attention will be given to directives of international organizations related to the conduct of multinational corporations as well as to international corporate tax law.

Compliance is becoming increasingly important in view of the increasingly extensive framework of responsibilities and actions, which is determined by civil law and public law obligations. The Compliance lessons provide an overview of the most important laws, guidelines, codes of conduct, directives and business principles and learn how to put them into practice in day-to-day business.

Although there is no general competence for the EU in the area of taxation and the power to regulate taxes still lies within the competence of each member state, the EU has attempted to effect a harmonization of user and corporate tax. The reason for that is among others that in international matters questions of taxation play an important role, especially in the area of corporate law.

After an overview of the Swiss taxation system, the module turns to the effects of primary and secondary EU law on the national tax systems of the single member states as well as the goals and bases of international tax law. The main scrutiny will be given to the effectiveness and function of double taxation treaties.

Because of an ever-strengthening international economic network, criminal behavior in the realm of business may have international components. Insider trading, corruption and money laundering are an example of this.The part Corporate criminal Law serves as an introduction to Criminal Business Law and deals with practical cases. In addition the fundamentals of international criminal law cooperation will be discussed as well as the legal situation in the EU and the efforts of international organizations in the area of criminal law.

In the first part, the module deals with special features of international contract drafting as well as international private law aspects of contract clauses. The second part of the module examines online services and software as support or as an alternative to individual or complete legal services. Furthermore particpants will deal with challenges when working in an international working field.

In this module, the participants actively engage in practical exercises with negotiation strategies and tactical procedures within the framework of contract negotiations (keyword "Harvard Concept"). The insights gained should enable them to achieve more optimal negotiation results in future negotiations.

With the strong expansion of global trade, international disputes before state courts and arbitration tribunals have increased significantly.

The aim of this module is to examine procedural issues in international commercial disputes before state courts and arbitration tribunals. In which cases are state courts competent and in which cases are arbitral tribunals competent? How is an international litigation conducted before a court and how before an arbitral tribunal? How are court decisions and arbitral awards recognised and enforced in other countries?

The first part deals with the question in which cases state courts have jurisdiction. It also shows the conditions under which international legal assistance is granted and under which a foreign decision is recognised and enforced domestically or a domestic decision is recognised and enforced abroad.

The second part examines, among other things, the conditions under which an arbitral tribunal is competent and how it is constituted.

All students are required to write a thesis. The topic of the work can be freely chosen with the guidance of a tutoring professor and the approval of the Director. For an accepted thesis, 12 ECTS points are awarded.

In conjunction with the lectures on the WTO and international business law, there is an excursion to WTO headquarters in Geneva. This not only offers the opportunity to gain a direct view into the working methods of this organization, but also provides the chance to ask questions regarding GATT, GATS, and TRIPS in lectures and discussions with on-site specialists. Within the framework of this information, questions regarding international trade/commercial law as well as the position of the UNO, particularly UNCTAD as well as the role of Switzerland in the WTO will be addressed and discussed.

See Study Trips

See Study Trips

See Study Trips

Please note: This study trip is only offered if enough participants apply.