Business Litigation and Debt Recovery

Organisation over 20 weeks

Four 5-week blocks (4 weeks of classes, 1 week of assessment). The two course units are taken unchanged from the original degree: same content, same assessments.

• Blocks 1 and 2 (weeks 1 to 10): CCR 422 — Debt Recovery and Enforcement Procedures
• Blocks 3 and 4 (weeks 11 to 20): ARB 532 — Arbitration, Mediation and Litigation Strategy

CCR 422 - Debt Recovery and Enforcement Procedures

To make the learner operational in debt recovery, which the curriculum assumes to be a major source of business litigation, under the law now applicable.

Learning outcomes

• Choose between amicable recovery, simplified procedure and attachment according to the debtor's situation and the title held.
• Prepare an application for an order for payment and follow the procedure through to an enforceable title.
• Analyse the conditions and effects of the main forms of attachment.
• Assess the risks of enforcement litigation.

Content

• Acte uniforme portant organisation des procédures simplifiées de recouvrement et des voies d'exécution (Uniform Act Organising Simplified Recovery Procedures and Enforcement Measures; Kinshasa, 17 October 2023), in force since 16 February 2024; transitional regime for proceedings initiated before that date.
• Order for payment; order for delivery or restitution.
• Conditions for compulsory enforcement: enforceable title, claim, immunities from enforcement.
• Protective attachments and enforcement attachments on movable property, debts and immovable property.
• Enforcement litigation and competent court.
• Amicable recovery and relations with officers of the court.

Assessment: Continuous assessment (50%): application for an order for payment and recovery plan on a fictitious case. Written final examination (50%): practical case.

ARB 532 - Arbitration, Mediation and Litigation Strategy

To enable the learner to choose and conduct the method of settling a business dispute: mediation, arbitration or proceedings before state courts, up to the CCJA.

Learning outcomes

• Assess, for a given dispute, the advantages and risks of each settlement method.
• Draft an effective mediation or arbitration clause.
• Conduct the stages of an arbitration and assess the available remedies.
• Build a litigation strategy and a body of evidence before a state court.

Content

• Acte uniforme relatif au droit de l'arbitrage (Uniform Act on Arbitration) and Acte uniforme relatif à la médiation (Uniform Act on Mediation) (Conakry, 23 November 2017).
• CCJA arbitration: Règlement d'arbitrage révisé (revised Arbitration Rules), administrative role of the Court, exequatur, remedies.
• Mediation: appointment of the mediator, confidentiality, mediation agreement and enforceability.
• Code de procédure civile (Code of Civil Procedure; décret n°64-572 du 30 juillet 1964, amended in particular by décret n°2013-1071 du 6 août 2013): jurisdiction, proceedings, remedies; subsequent amendments to be checked.
• Appeals to the CCJA against decisions applying the Uniform Acts.
• Evidence, including electronic evidence; settlement agreements; mock trial.

Assessment: Continuous assessment (60%): drafting of clauses and marked participation in a mock mediation and a mock trial, held in a classroom or in a virtual classroom using the same rubric. Written final examination (40%): strategic legal opinion on a dispute.

Career opportunities

Litigation lawyer, debt recovery officer, support in conducting an arbitration or a mediation.

At your own pace: the self-paced pathway

In a class, this certificate takes 20 weeks, on the cohort's dates. On the self-paced pathway, you start whenever you like, online, and progress at your own pace. The price is the same.

Admission

Bachelor's degree in law or experience in litigation or debt recovery assessed on application. Admission based on application; detailed requirements set by the school.

The credits you earn are recognised without further assessment if you later join the programme they come from, Professional Master's degree in Business Law, within a period set by the certificate regulations.