Strategic Business Partnerships
LAWS 79917
- 01
(3)
s, u, w, x
As modern businesses face increasing pressure to increase innovation and speed to market while cutting costs and mitigating risk, they have increasingly recognized that the path to success includes partnering with third parties. Success in these relationships requires significant advance planning, a focus on shared goals, and the ability to capture the essence of the transaction in a legal document that is often negotiated on an accelerated time frame. Lawyers working for or with these businesses must bring more than legal expertise and negotiating skills to the table; they must also draw upon sound business principles, their knowledge of the underlying business, its core competencies and strategic needs, to implement successful and durable arrangements. This class, intended for those planning careers as either business/transactional attorneys or business leaders, will explore various alternative partnering options and how they are documented by the legal and business teams. These alternatives, intersecting law and business, will be examined, discussed, and negotiated against a backdrop of real-world business intelligence and agreements, using a publicly traded Fortune 100 retailer as the business case upon which much of the class will be based. A former CEO of the company will join the class as a guest speaker to provide business context; external attorneys involved in many of the transactions will provide occasional commentary and additional context.
Grades will be based on a series of short reflection papers, substantial in-class exercises and negotiations, and out-of-class projects.
Spring 2013
David Zarfes, Matt Myren
