Law 798:  Role and Responsibilities of In-House Counsel

Are you considering business law?  Whether you work at a law firm, for a business, or as a sole proprietor – if your client is a business you WILL work with in-house counsel.  This class provides invaluable knowledge about the role of in-house counsel and gives you greater insight into your future clients.  It is designed to provide students with a mixture of practical skills, opportunities to use and apply them as they learn to navigate some of the challenges corporate counsel face.  Students will learn to translate their legal knowledge into client-friendly communications, present to an audience of non-lawyers, develop remote working networking and professionalism strategies, and have opportunities to interact with legal counsel at a variety of corporations.  To meet these objectives students will complete Harvard Business School case studies, read articles directed at practicing attorneys, give presentations and work through training modules. 

Tentative topics include the Role of In-House Counsel, Shareholder Activism, Internal Investigations, Privileges and Confidentiality, Business Ethics and Professional Responsibility, Conflict of Interest policies, Employment and Labor Law, Establishing Credibility and Reliability, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Anti-Bribery.

Prerequisites and Sequence: There are no prerequisites for this course. 

Evaluation: There are three short response papers and a final paper.   In addition, there are two ten-minute presentations and small homework assignments which are part of class preparation. You will not have to write daily response papers.

The course will be fully in-person.  The schedule for 2024 is as follows:

5/13/2024:  9:00 - 1:30

5/14/2024:  8:00 - 6:30

5/15/2024:  8:00 - 6:30

5/16/2024:  9:00 - 1:30

5/17/2024:  9:00 - 2:30

5/20/2024:  9:00 – 1:30

5/21/2024 – 9:00 – 1:30

5/22/2024:  Trip to Chicago:  8:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.

5/23/2024:  8:30 - 5:30

5/24/2024:  8:30 - 5:30