LAW 376 - Election Law Practicum

Challenges of the General Counsel This course will explore the fundamental roles played by lawyers who work in-house at companies, political parties, and other entities (campaigns, etc.), including the roles of a legal technician, wise counselor and leader. The course will advance for critical analysis the idea of the general counsel as a complex business leader who is required to navigate between different constituencies (i.e.regulators, the media, senior officials). The course will address the conflicting concerns faced by these in-house practitioners by examining a series of hypothetical cases. The “cases” in this course involve questions beyond narrow legal issues and delve into larger issues of policy and politics, by using specific illustrations drawn from the political and business world. These cases involve a broad range of considerations: risk management, public policy, politics, and reputation. For each case the students would be given the factual scenario, reports from the media, and other background materials. The students would be directed to issue spot and research the laws that could be involved. For each class the students would come prepared to discuss not only the scenario itself and the law implicated, but also appropriate responses by general counsels to each scenario, examining the pros and cons of responding to the situations in differing ways. Each student would be required to prepare a 3 to 5-page memo examining each of the cases, including analysis of key legal, public relations, and corporate citizenship issues. Each memo must also include recommendations on appropriate responses by the company/campaign/party involved in the case. The papers will be of the type used in practice by in-house counsel, in presenting emergency items to management and the board for action. In addition, each student would be asked to present his or her memo once during the semester to the rest of the class with the class assuming the role of the Board/management, and asking the student to discuss the identified issues and make recommendations. Grading will be based upon the quality of the papers submitted (80%) as well as the presentations made to the class (10%). Participation in class discussion will count for 10% of the total grade.