{"id":863,"date":"2014-09-30T09:00:35","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T13:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/?p=863"},"modified":"2014-10-07T11:07:31","modified_gmt":"2014-10-07T15:07:31","slug":"4-questions-with-professor-holger-spamann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2014\/09\/30\/4-questions-with-professor-holger-spamann\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Questions with Professor Holger Spamann"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Product: The Battle for Unocal<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Professor<\/a>

Professor Holger Spamann<\/p><\/div>\n

Professor Holger Spamann recently published his first case study, <\/em>The Battle for Unocal, after piloting it in his Corporations course at Harvard Law School. This case focuses on the plight of Unocal Corporation, which faced a tender offer from Mesa Petroleum in the 1980s. In an economic climate of merger mania, the Unocal board was intent on blocking a hostile takeover. Case participants adopt the decision-making role of the Unocal board to navigate fiduciary responsibilities and resolve the hostile takeover crisis. In groups, participants are asked to brainstorm the Unocal board\u2019s options to defy Mesa and its colorful chairman, T. Boone Pickens. Afterwards, the class reconvenes to discuss proposed strategies and address misguided options.<\/em><\/p>\n

Professor Spamann shared with us his reflections on developing and teaching the Unocal case:<\/em><\/p>\n

EM: What inspired the case study?<\/strong><\/p>\n

HS: <\/strong>The practice of corporate law is overwhelmingly transactional. Corporate lawyers have to anticipate problems and transact around them. It is difficult to convey that from an appellate case such as Unocal v. Mesa<\/em>. It certainly does not provide any training of transactional thinking. That prompted the idea of transforming this seminal Delaware decision into a case study by stepping back in time a couple months, before the parties had made the decisions that were ultimately adjudicated by the Delaware court. Giving more background also makes it easier for students to understand what is really at stake. And the personal stories may make it more interesting and memorable.<\/p>\n

EM: What challenges and opportunities did the case writing process present?<\/strong><\/p>\n

HS: <\/strong>I had never done it. Fortunately, I could collaborate with an expert case writer, Lisa Brem, and a very fast-learning student, Amanda Ravich.<\/p>\n

Another issue was that Unocal v. Mesa<\/em> was decided thirty years ago. There are much fewer documents available online from that time than there would be today. Moreover, most key figures of the deal are dead, so interviews were out of the question. I think having an important case is worth it though.<\/p>\n

EM: How did the students react to the case study? Did anything surprise you in the classroom?<\/strong><\/p>\n

HS:\u00a0<\/strong>I think the students liked it a lot. Participation was great. Nobody came up with Unocal’s coercive self-tender, but there were plenty of good (and aggressive) ideas.<\/p>\n

EM: What, if anything, would you do differently next time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

HS: <\/strong>I am considering spending more than 80 minutes on the case, or at least more time on talking through the students’ ideas. Last time, I gave a lot of time for brainstorming, perhaps too much time. There is only so much you can come up with if you don’t have the complete background.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Product: The Battle for Unocal Professor Holger Spamann recently published his first case study, The Battle for Unocal, after piloting it in his Corporations course at Harvard Law School. This case focuses on the plight of Unocal Corporation, which … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5482,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[88580],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-case-study-program-blog-posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4CR8M-dV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1099,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2016\/04\/05\/the-classroom-experience-prosecutorial-discretion-in-charging-and-plea-bargaining-the-aaron-swartz-case-a-and-the-battle-for-unocal-case-studies\/","url_meta":{"origin":863,"position":0},"title":"The Classroom Experience: Prosecutorial Discretion in Charging and Plea Bargaining: The Aaron Swartz Case (A) and The Battle for Unocal Case Studies","author":"Alec Villalpando","date":"April 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"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 in two different classes, at two different institutions.\u00a0The classes were\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/03\/Singer-4-1024x681.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/03\/Singer-4-1024x681.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/03\/Singer-4-1024x681.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1404,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2018\/06\/08\/robbing-the-piggy-bank-moving-from-mutual-to-stock-form-at-friendly-savings-bank\/","url_meta":{"origin":863,"position":1},"title":"Robbing the Piggy Bank? Moving from mutual to stock form at Friendly Savings Bank","author":"morourke","date":"June 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A Q&A with Harvard Law School Professor Holger Spamann by: Lisa Brem Corporations and corporate finance courses typically spend the majority of their time talking about the stock form of corporate organization, which makes sense, given that this is the dominant form used by businesses in capitalist economies.\u00a0 However, Harvard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Study Program Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Case Study Program Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/case-study-program-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2018\/05\/iStock-479603043-500x500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":84,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/01\/14\/the-case-development-initiative-at-harvard-law-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":863,"position":2},"title":"The Case Development Initiative at Harvard Law School","author":"Lisa Brem","date":"January 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Case Development Initiative (CDI), including Ashish Nanda, Faculty Director and Robert Braucher Professor of Practice (pictured left), Dechert Fellow Nicholas Haas (right), and Program Coordinator Rachel Gibson (center), focuses on producing cases for use in a variety of business-oriented courses at HLS. \"We're currently working on a professional service\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\/2012\/01\/CDI-group-500x375.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1090,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2016\/03\/23\/new-product-the-allergan-board-under-fire-a-and-b\/","url_meta":{"origin":863,"position":3},"title":"NEW PRODUCT: The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) and (B)","author":"Amanda Reilly","date":"March 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Case Development Initiative (CDI) at Harvard Law School recently debuted a new case study on the HLS Case Studies website. 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The letter, from celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, alleged that he\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\/05\/FVM93131-500x340.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":547,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/08\/13\/hnmcp-case-studies-website-shapes-harvard-negotiation-institute-negotiation-workshop\/","url_meta":{"origin":863,"position":5},"title":"HNMCP Case Studies Website Shapes Harvard Negotiation Institute Negotiation Workshop","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"August 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Heather Kulp With one hundred participants representing over twenty countries, the summer Harvard Negotiation Institute\u2019s Negotiation Workshop offered five days of instruction to expand participants\u2019 negotiation toolboxes. 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