Unocal<\/a> case study in order to introduce mergers and acquisitions law.\u00a0Both elicited more student involvement than any class all year and I\u2019m quite sure they will be among the most memorable classes of the year.<\/p>\nAt the core of what made the classes successful was that each case study placed students in the position of lawyers facing difficult decisions\u2014in one how to fight off a corporate raider without counseling their clients into a violation of their fiduciary duties, in the other, how to proceed with a prosecution against an accused whose politically motivated actions many students found sympathetic\u2014and each case also gave them a rich factual background that put their decisions in context.\u00a0As a result, the students could see how abstract concepts like the duty of loyalty and serving the interests of justice mattered; how those concepts and other legal rules framed issues and raised questions.\u00a0But they also saw that those rules and concepts did not provide answers.<\/p>\n
The rich factual background allowed them to make textured arguments, develop alternative strategies, and understand the stakes of their advice and decisions.\u00a0In the Unocal case, students formed small groups and fashioned defensive measures against a coercive two stage tender offer.\u00a0One group even got pretty close to the self-tender strategy the Unocal board eventually adopted.\u00a0In the Swartz case, students had to weigh the risks of a high profile prosecution and the potential coercion inherent in tough plea bargaining to determine how a prosecutor can best seek justice.\u00a0In both cases, students were forced to not just make legal arguments, but to evaluate the risks and rewards those arguments created and then consider the implications of those risks.\u00a0The students, in other words, had to be more than rule experts.\u00a0They had to be lawyers.\u00a0They loved it. And so did I.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Post by Logan Sawyer, Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Harvard Law School \u201cThat class was awesome,\u201d and \u201cYou should definitely do that again next year,\u201d were the first things I heard from students after the two case studies I taught … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7947,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4CR8M-hJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1011,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2015\/08\/11\/improving-first-year-doctrinal-classes\/","url_meta":{"origin":1099,"position":0},"title":"Improving First-Year Doctrinal Classes","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"August 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by E. Scott Fruehwald, Contributing Editor at Legal Skills Prof Blog While legal scholars have written a great deal on improving legal education by adding experiential classes to the second and third years of law school, it is equally as important that law professors make changes in how they teach\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1200,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2017\/03\/16\/using-case-study-method-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":1099,"position":1},"title":"Why and How: Using the Case Study Method in the Law Classroom","author":"Lisa Brem","date":"March 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo by: Brooks Kraft Post by: Jackie Kim and Lisa Brem Why should legal educators use case studies and other experiential teaching methods, such as role plays and simulations, in their classes?\u00a0 Hasn\u2019t the Langdell method served legal education well these last 140 years?\u00a0 Certainly creating and using experiential materials\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"person walking by langdell","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2017\/03\/2237550-R6-019-8-1024x659.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2017\/03\/2237550-R6-019-8-1024x659.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2017\/03\/2237550-R6-019-8-1024x659.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1417,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2018\/06\/19\/worker-centers-our-walmart-case-studies-on-the-changing-face-of-labor-in-the-united-states\/","url_meta":{"origin":1099,"position":2},"title":"Worker Centers & OUR Walmart: Case studies on the changing face of labor in the United States","author":"morourke","date":"June 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo credit: The All-Nite Images from NY, NY USA on Wikimedia Commons A Q&A with Sharon Block, Executive Director of the Labor and Worklife Program and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School by: Lisa Brem* Recently, HLS Case Writing Fellow Brittany Deitch and I worked with Sharon Block, Executive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Development Initiative Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Case Development Initiative Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/case-development-initiative-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2018\/06\/optional-image-for-worker-centers-Occupy_May_Day_2015_17334527022-500x333.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":58,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2012\/12\/20\/information-law-and-policy-advanced-problem-solving-workshop\/","url_meta":{"origin":1099,"position":3},"title":"Information Law and Policy: Advanced Problem Solving Workshop","author":"Lisa Brem","date":"December 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"HLS Visiting Professor Susan Crawford taught the Information Law and Policy: Advanced Problem Solving Workshop this fall at HLS. The course combines case studies with mini lectures, classroom exercises and guest speakers to provide an interactive, participant centered experience for students. The case studies were developed in last spring's Advanced\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Problem Solving Workshop Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Problem Solving Workshop Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/problem-solving-workshop-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2012\/12\/10.16.12Crawfrd0771-300x200.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":446,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/06\/18\/financial-management-case-studies-at-columbia-law-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":1099,"position":4},"title":"Financial Management Case Studies at Columbia Law School","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"June 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Rachel Gibson Columbia Law School launches a new course this fall, Law Firm Financial Management, co-taught by Madhav Srinivasan, Director in Finance at Paul Weiss, and Dr. Silvia Hodges, Director of Research Services at TyMetrix Legal Analytics. The course will prepare students who are planning to enter the profession\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Development Initiative Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Case Development Initiative Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/case-development-initiative-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/06\/Silvia-Hodges-June-2013-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1353,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2018\/03\/06\/spotlight-on-international-and-comparative-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":1099,"position":5},"title":"Spotlight on: International and Comparative Law","author":"eyook","date":"March 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The flow of goods, technology, ideas, capital, and people across borders means that the work of lawyers, whether in private practice or public service, increasingly involves matters in which knowledge of legal systems beyond one\u2019s own can prove important.\" -- from International and Comparative Law Overview, hls.harvard.edu. HLS Case Studies\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2018\/02\/international-space-station-1176518_1920-1024x681.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2018\/02\/international-space-station-1176518_1920-1024x681.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2018\/02\/international-space-station-1176518_1920-1024x681.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7947"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1099"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1120,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1099\/revisions\/1120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n