S. Global Challenges of Inside Counsel

This course will explore some of the challenges faced by practicing lawyers in today's global business environment. Our focus is on instances where businesses based in the U.S. encounter issues arising from elsewhere in the world and confront conflicts between U.S. (or generally accepted) law, values and standards on the one hand and local law, custom and culture on the other. We do this through in depth analysis of vignettes drawn from across the contemporary business landscape. Our analysis considers a broad range of factors in litigation, regulatory and corporate law settings: law, compliance, regulation, culture and custom, public policy and politics, communications and public relations, ethics and corporate citizenship.

The course is taught by two practicing lawyers, both of whom have served as partners in international law firms and senior government lawyers, and one of whom has also been general counsel of large global businesses. As a result, we include discussion of the skills needed to address the challenges from this demanding form of legal practice. We also focus on the lawyer's role in crisis management, as many of the cases involve a company problem of the existential variety.

In addition to the take-home final exam, students will write four one-page papers during the course of the semester and be evaluated for class participation. With respect to the waitlist, the professor may add students from the waitlist.