Illuminate 9: An Introduction to Limited Companies

Illuminate 9 is included in the Illuminate Plus Programme or costs £50 if you only want to buy this course.

This course is about private and public limited companies as forms of business.

PREPARING FOR THE SQE: This module is excellent preparation for any international lawyer or law student who plans to take the new Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE). If English is not your first language, this course contains vocabulary, grammar and legal concepts that will help your understanding of SQE study material.

The focus is on the law that governs these types of businesses, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of setting up a business as a limited company. The module looks at how a limited liability company can be set up, the legal requirements surrounding how a company is run, and some of the fundamental differences between a private and a public company. It also looks in detail at some of the exceptions to the rules on limited liability for debt, especially where there has been activity that fits the definition of wrongful or fraudulent trading.

Course access: this online legal English course will be available for 180 days after purchase

At the end of this course in English for lawyers, you will know more about:

• a limited company as a legal entity with a legal personality separate from that of its owners
• the general liability the owners have for the debts of a limited company and the exceptions to the rules on liability in the case of wrongful or fraudulent trading
• companies limited by shares  and companies limited by guarantee 
• the issue of shares, the nominal price of shares, the market price of shares, and the share premium 
• giving a director’s personal guarantee 
• the articles of association and the procedure of setting up a new private limited company
• public limited companies, the process of going public and floating a company on a stock exchange
• an initial public offering (IPO) and the role of investment banks in this process
• company meetings, the company AGM, shareholders, dividends, voting methods, proxies, and the requirement of a quorum 
• some key legal English dictionary terms that are essential to practising commercial law at an international level

TOLES PREPARATION: This course is excellent preparation for all three levels of the TOLES exams in professional legal English.