Law - International Business Law Online Graduate Certificate

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The Online Graduate Certificate in International Business Law (IBL) is designed to equip students with the tools to understand how their organization engage in cross-border transactions, helping them identify the different risks, mitigation measures, and tools to address any disputes that may arise. 

As international trade and globalization continues to grow, U.S. organizations doing business abroad and foreign corporations doing business in the U.S. face different contractual risks than those with which they are accustomed in their home jurisdictions.  Understanding the similarities and key differences between a domestic and a cross-border transaction is essential - and in some cases, existential - for organizations as they seek to expand their business.

The IBL Certificate is designed to provide the practical foundation to enable students to advance or begin their careers in international commercial law. The curriculum focuses on the core areas of U.S. and international business law as applied to business transactions, and to the resolution of cross-border disputes through litigation, mediation, and/or arbitration.  Upon completion, students will have a solid working knowledge of the complexities of cross-border business transactions, a roadmap of the potential pitfalls and most likely areas where disputes will arise, and the framework for how to either avoid those issues, or work toward resolving them if a formal dispute arises.

The IBL program consists of five 8-week courses, taken in sequence and will be completed in 10 months of course work, spread over one year.  They are taught by experienced legal professionals who have worked extensively in the field of cross-border transactions, some serving as part-time professors, others as Pitt Law Faculty.

Students will learn to identify key risks in transactions that cross national boundaries, and to design strategies to eliminate or mitigate those risks to their business operations.   They will understand all kinds of cross-border transactions, from simple sales to complex joint ventures.  They will be exposed to, and learn how to, spot issues in areas such as intellectual property, taxation, trade compliance, insurance, and risk management.  They will learn about the practices and pitfalls of resolving disputes that may arise from a cross-border transaction, including the techniques of negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and litigation. 

In their final seminar, they will apply this knowledge to a complex cross-border investment scenario that resulted in nearly a decade of multi-jurisdictional disputes.  They will examine the underlying business strategies, the changing governmental regulations and goals, and write a final paper that takes the perspective of either the acquiring company or the government, and look for lessons learned.

Students may elect to combine their certificate studies with the Online MSL core courses to earn both a Master’s Degree and a professional certificate in as little as two years, studying part-time.