Advanced Secured Transactions Seminar (LAW203H1S)

This seminar course will be of interest to students who have taken Secured Transactions, are interested in a deeper understanding of the topic and who welcome the opportunity to work on a significant paper (between 5000 and 7000 words) with the goal of producing a work product of a quality that would be expected of an entry-level lawyer in the private or public sector and of publishable quality. The course will explore secured transactions issues not currently addressed in the Secured Transactions course.  Some of the topics that may be covered in this seminar include securitization and other receivables financing techniques, characterization of transactions (particularly, sales of receivables and chattel paper, consignments and leases), the Ontario Personal Property Security Act (OPPSA) approach to taking security on investment property, some of the OPPSA’s special priority rules (e.g. for fixtures) and cut-off rules (e.g. for leased property and purchases of chattel paper), and the priorities of PPSA security interests against statutory/common law liens and Bank Act security.  The topics that will be selected and covered by the instructors will depend on how many of the enrolled students took the Secured Transactions course in the Fall of 2022.

The paper is designed to encourage discussion, research and reflection on the role of secured transactions in our society and areas where our current law can be improved or clarified. Under the guidance and with the approval of the instructors, students are expected to select a research topic as early as possible in the term (the instructors will offer some possible topics but students may also pick their own topic with the instructors’ approval). Before the end of the term, students will be required to present to the entire class an approximately 20 minute discussion (the amount of time will depend on the number of enrolled students) of their close-to-completed papers. The class will then provide comments and input that the students can take into account in completing their papers.

Following completion of the seminar, the instructors will select up to two papers that the instructors believe are exceptional and topical for publication with the goal of assisting the relevant students in successfully submitting their papers for publication.