Best reading material for Company Law

dee8839

Hi, I'm going into my final year of a law degree and will be doing Company Law 1 and 2 in the next two semesters. All I've heard about it is how bad it is. However, I really need this to be one of my best law grades yet in order to up my degree, so I said I'd start early and have a look at some books.

So hopefully I am not breaking any charter rule by asking - which book on the subject did other boarders find most useful? I think the official text for college is Courtney, but I've heard this is hard to understand. I've gotten my hands on one by Keane, is this one any better, or even useful at all? Any opinions/recommendations would be really appreciated, if that is permitted.

Thanks
dee8839;)

johnnyfox24

Hi Dee...theres a new edition ( 2007) of the company law book by Michael Forde, it's a student edition and very well written.

There's also a company law nutshell by catherine mcconville, its a revision book, but good for getting a grasp of the subject.

Also if you have a look at the FE 1 study group on google groups, there are FE1 exam company law manuals for sale from Griffith or independent colleges.

dee8839

I had wondered about getting FE1 manuals, but are they much good for college exams, as I get the impression that in uni, academics opinions are required, journal articles, etc. (if only I'd realised that two years ago, sigh!) whereas with FE1s its entirely case-law based. I suppose they'd be good for summarising topics and then I could add in my own academics, could I?

If you were forced to pick, due to lack of funds (why oh why are law books so dear?) would you buy the FE1 revision notes or the Forde book, keeping in mind I do have the Keane book already?

As for nutshells, great for Land, but the Labour Law one of those should be used for wrapping fish and chips, so that it could be useful for once! So I'll be careful about buying those in future.

johnnyfox24

Im just doing company for fe1, but i found that nutshell along side a textbook to be a good study guide.

There's probably no point getting the new Forde book if you have the Keane one...they're all pretty much the same! But you should have a look in your college library if you can make it in and see what you think of it...its just a bit of a dull subject but its not too bad!

dee8839

I'm being very sneaky and photocopying the whole Keane book while on an internship, chapter by chapter. But its an old-ish volume, like 1991 I think, so probably out of date. I'll have a look at Forde too. Thats comforting to hear, anyway, that its not that bad as a subject. People seem to be terrified of it in my course. Well if we got through EC law, we'll surely make it through this! Best of luck with the FE1s, cheers for the info!:)

ronnie3585

As Company is quite a coarse and dry subject it is essential to understand the basics first. I found McConvle's Nutshells book superb for explaining the basics. It's probably quite dated now (don't know if it has been re-issued) but it is very good for getting your head around some of the topics. Thereafter, Thomas Courtney's book should fulfill any question about Company Law you might ever have. In my opinion it is streets ahead of the competition. For both study and practice I have found Courtney to be the best. It is however about 1300 pages long, but dont be put off by that. In comparision to others it is actually a very easy book to read and use as it is well layed out and well indexed.

Also, don't forget when studying any law subject academic journals are your friend. The contributors do buckets of reading, summate and publish an article which will contain all the relevant up to date law and an opinion. They can save you hours if not days of reading.

Font22

In college I used Courtney and found it invaluable. In the office I've found its the only textbook that is ever really recommended. It covers everything! As for the FE1 manuals, the company manual from Griffith is brilliant. I found it explained topics that could be complex in a concise and easily digestible manner. But having said that you arent back in college for awhile yet so I'd just read one of the nutshell books on company (which are supposed to be very good) and get a grasp of the basics so you can smile to yourself when you start lectures knowing you are a step ahead!!

impr0v

I personally used a 'make that grade' (can't remember the exact name but it's similar to a nutshell) book as an overview and the new edition of Keane's book for detail. Don't be too afraid of the subject, I actually quite liked it. While there's a lot of case law it's primarily driven by legislation and is in some ways quite logical.

dee8839

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Thereafter, Thomas Courtney's book should fulfill any question about Company Law you might ever have. In my opinion it is streets ahead of the competition. For both study and practice I have found Courtney to be the best. It is however about 1300 pages long, but dont be put off by that. In comparision to others it is actually a very easy book to read and use as it is well layed out and well indexed.

I have found a book in the office called "The Law of Private Companies" by Thomas B Courtney, published 1994. Is this the Courtney book you refer to?

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Also, don't forget when studying any law subject academic journals are your friend. The contributors do buckets of reading, summate and publish an article which will contain all the relevant up to date law and an opinion. They can save you hours if not days of reading.

Its such a pain, can't get access to anything except Westlaw.ie and Firstlaw in the office, no Lexis, and the uni library isn't open weekends so short of taking a day off work for it, I won't be able to find journals until September (I may sound like I'm getting ahead of myself but I need journals, etc. for my thesis as well!) But good advice, thanks.

impr0v wrote: »

I personally used a 'make that grade' (can't remember the exact name but it's similar to a nutshell) book as an overview and the new edition of Keane's book for detail. Don't be too afraid of the subject, I actually quite liked it. While there's a lot of case law it's primarily driven by legislation and is in some ways quite logical.

I see the Company Acts for sale in lots of shops. Are they necessary reading? Maybe not in full, but are they handy to own?

Font22 wrote: »

As for the FE1 manuals, the company manual from Griffith is brilliant. I found it explained topics that could be complex in a concise and easily digestible manner. But having said that you arent back in college for awhile yet so I'd just read one of the nutshell books on company (which are supposed to be very good) and get a grasp of the basics so you can smile to yourself when you start lectures knowing you are a step ahead!!

Everyone seems keen on this Nutshells book, I'm off to the shop!:) Thanks for the help, all of you.

impr0v

dee8839 wrote: »

I see the Company Acts for sale in lots of shops. Are they necessary reading? Maybe not in full, but are they handy to own?

I think the consolidated acts are prohibitively expensive, so I wouldn't bother. You should be provided with them for any exam.