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- January 2004 (Revised September 2004)
- Background Note
Confidentiality in Settlement Negotiations: Ethics & Law
By: Michael A. Wheeler, Dana Nelson and Gillian Morris
Legal policy has a long history of protecting confidentiality of negotiations that are designed to produce settlement. However, within the past several decades there has been a significant push toward openness. Compelling arguments support confidentiality: It helps... View Details
- December 2003 (Revised November 2015)
- Background Note
The Fiduciary Relationship: A Legal Perspective
By: Lynn Sharp Paine
Discusses the concept of a fiduciary, as developed in the Anglo-American common law tradition, and outlines the principal differences between the legal standard applied to fiduciaries compared to ordinary arms'-length contractors. View Details
- October 2003 (Revised February 2004)
- Background Note
Introduction to the Large-Scale Investment (LSI) Course at Harvard Business School
By: Benjamin C. Esty
Introduces students to the Large-Scale Investment (LSI) course taught at Harvard Business School. LSI is a case-based course about project finance that is designed for second-year MBA students. The course is about project finance, which involves creation of a legally... View Details
- September 2003
- Case
Growing Up in China: The Financing of BabyCare Ltd.
By: Mihir A. Desai and Mark Veblen
The CFO of this infant nutritional products company must choose among competing financing offers. The interplay of Chinese legal and customs restrictions and venture capitalists' bargaining techniques challenge the CFO to navigate a tricky negotiation and to devise a... View Details
- July 2003
- Background Note
Expropriation in International Business
By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Meghan Gallagher-Kernstine
Covers several important expropriation cases in international business from the 20th century and highlights the legal and political difficulties these companies faced. Serves to explain expropriation, to stress the vulnerability of foreign direct investments to... View Details
- July 2003 (Revised February 2004)
- Background Note
M&A Legal Context: Standards Related to the Sale or Purchase of a Company
By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Constance E. Bagley and James Quinn
Introduces students to the legal standards affecting officers and directors when selling or purchasing a company. Provides a practical understanding of the Revlon Standard, the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, Rule 10b-5, and the legal criteria for a cause of... View Details
- July 2003 (Revised February 2004)
- Background Note
M&A Legal Context: Hostile Takeovers
By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Constance E. Bagley and James Quinn
Introduces students to the main tactical maneuvers used by hostile bidders, including bear hugs, proxy fights, tender offers, and toeholds. Also describes how, in the United States, tender offers are regulated by the federal government via the Williams Act. View Details
- June 2003 (Revised June 2003)
- Background Note
M & A Legal Context: Basic Framework for Corporate Governance
By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Constance E. Bagley and James Quinn
Students are introduced to the basic framework for corporate governance. Begins by describing the complex role of the modern corporation, then proceeds by discussing the fiduciary duties to which a board of trustees is bound (duty of care, duty of loyalty, etc.), and... View Details
- 2002
- Other Unpublished Work
Legal Management: The Case for a Managed Model for the Delivery of Legal Services
This essay takes a brief look at the innovations in the delivery of legal services made due to the expansion of the pre-paid sector and uses those changes in the power dynamics of the industry to make a compelling case for a more widespread, managed model. The managed... View Details
- August 2002 (Revised August 2002)
- Case
Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A)
By: H. Kent Bowen and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld
Focuses on modifying operations to increase profitability at an upscale senior care facility in California. Jennifer Raiser, president of Raiser Senior Services, opened the Stratford in 1992 as a high-end, continuing-care retirement community. Ten years later, the... View Details
- July 2002 (Revised August 2003)
- Case
Unilever Superannuation Fund vs. Merrill Lynch, The
By: Andre F. Perold and Joshua Musher
In 2001, the Unilever Superannuation Fund sued Merrill Lynch for damages of 130 million British pounds. Over the period 1977 to 1998, the Unilever Fund had significantly underperformed the benchmark, and its trustees contended that the poor returns resulted from... View Details
- May 2002
- Teaching Note
Venture Law Group (A) & (B), TN
By: Ashish Nanda and Thomas J. DeLong
Teaching Note for (9-800-065) and (9-800-191). View Details
Keywords: Legal Services Industry
- April 2002 (Revised February 2003)
- Module Note
Teaching Project Finance: An Overview of the Large-Scale Investment Course
By: Benjamin C. Esty
Large-Scale Investment is a case-based course about project finance for second-year MBA students. Project finance involves the creation of a legally independent project company financed with nonrecourse debt for the purpose of investing in a single-purpose industrial... View Details
- 2002
- Working Paper
Legal Risk as a Determinant of Syndicate Structure in the Project Finance Loan Market
By: Benjamin C. Esty and William L. Megginson
- February 2002
- Background Note
Mediating in the Wake of Disaster: The MIT Settlement
By: Michael A. Wheeler and Gillian Morris
In 1997, MIT freshman Scott Kruger died from alcohol poisoning after a ritual fraternity ceremony. His death sparked national controversy over the responsibility of universities for their students. For his parents, though, the pain was personal and almost solely... View Details
- February 2002
- Background Note
States vs. Microsoft, The
By: Michael A. Wheeler and Gillian Morris
Although the federal Justice Department managed to settle its massive antitrust litigation against Microsoft in 2001, the state suit against the company continued. State attorney generals, perhaps emboldened by their recent victory over the Big Five tobacco companies,... View Details
- November 2001 (Revised April 2005)
- Case
Lonestar
By: Michael A. Wheeler and Georgia Levenson
Explores the legal and ethical responsibilities of a manager who believes that he has heard of a serious instance of sexual harassment, but who has been implored by the victim not to report it. Discussion can focus on the immediate problem or be expanded to a broader... View Details
- November 2001
- Background Note
Sexual Harassment Law and Policy
By: Michael A. Wheeler, Georgia Levenson and Arturo Corso
Outlines the recent development of legal principles regarding sexual harassment, including procedures in the United States and state courts, what circumstances constitute harassment, the resolution of these conflicts and the resulting consequences for the individuals... View Details
- 2001
- Other Unpublished Work
'Pure Accidents' and the Evolving Bias of American Liability Law
By: David Moss and Michael Fein
- June 2001
- Case
NESWC (A)
Documents attempts to restructure a public-private partnership between the operator of a $200 million trash-to-energy cogeneration plant and a consortium of two dozen Massachusetts municipalities. Describes the process that led to a one-sided agreement, as well as the... View Details