Law 794: Business Strategy for Lawyers

Most business law classes teach students about law, not about business: how to tell, in a given industry, which businesses compete with which and over what, what are their competitive advantages, opportunities or threats.  Yet understanding the answers to these questions is essential to knowing your corporate client's interests. 

 

This course introduces students to principles and techniques of evaluating the competitive structure of an industry and the competitive effects of transactions such as mergers and joint ventures.  It will give you the tools to understand what makes an industry tick.  Such analysis is the bread and butter of an antitrust lawyer's work, but it is also useful to any practitioner who represents businesses.  

 

The course combines theory with practice.  To enhance students' practical skills, the course includes simulations, in which students research (before class) and analyze (in class) a given industry or the effect of hypothetical transactions in that industry.  At the end of the semester, each student will need to submit an elaborate competitive analysis report of an industry of her/his choice.  Grades in this course are based on the quality of the industry analysis report and on class participation.   The paper will be due on the last day of class.

 

Sequence and Prerequisite:  None.