Micro-Seminar: Contracts - How to Read and Understand Contracts of Every Type PART TWO

Micro-Seminars have two parts. Attendance to both parts is required. Registering for the PART ONE session will automatically enroll you in the PART TWO session on Friday.

Part 1: Thursday, August 22, 2024 from 3:00 – 4:30 pm (PST)
Part 2: Friday, August 23, 2024 from 10:00 – 11:30 am (PST)

This course is a mini version of a course taught for over 12 years at the law school. It is intended to be an introduction for students interested in any area of law or public policy. The course also will be of interest to students who may become involved in startups, who might sometime in the future submit applications for various types of research or other projects, or for anyone who has just wondered how to read a contract.

Day One will be a cram session on the basics of contracts (offer, acceptance, etc.) as well as common errors. A simplified version of a contract will be used to highlight the usual structure of a contract and how virtually anyone can read and understand a contract of almost any type.

In day two, students will have assigned to them ahead of time several types of contracts (website terms of use, credit card agreement, apartment lease, etc.) and will be asked to give a short (one-minute or less) oral summary of what they thought of that contract. After that, the instructor will take the class through each of those contracts and point out different approaches that were used and why those approaches likely were used. By the end of this second session, students should never be afraid of reading and understanding the basics of virtually any type of contract, whether it be long or short, formal or informal.

Lead By: Professor Michael Roster

Michael Roster formerly was managing partner of Morrison & Foerster’s Los Angeles office, co-chair of the firm’s Financial Institutions Practice Group worldwide, resident in both L.A. and D.C., and a member of the firm’s policy committee. In 1993, Roster was appointed general counsel of Stanford University, Stanford Medical Center and Stanford Management Company. He subsequently was executive vice president and general counsel of Golden West Financial Corporation. Roster also has served as chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel, chair of the Stanford Alumni Association, steering committee co-chair of ACC’s Value Challenge, and chair of two start-up companies. He currently teaches Contract Drafting and Analysis at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law and is a director of MDRC in New York, a nonprofit organization that evaluates the effectiveness of government and other programs affecting lower income families and individuals.

https://sites.google.com/view/michael-roster and https://gould.usc.edu/lecturer/profile/roster-michael/

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