As someone who teaches and researches both business law and energy law, I often focus on the overlap of the two areas, which I find to be significant. One of my most recent projects has been to write a new casebook, Energy Law: A Context and Practice Casebook, which will be available for courses taught this fall. I wrote a detailed description of the book in a guest post at the Energy Law Professor blog, but here I wanted to highlight the business aspects of the book.
The second chapter of my book is titled The Business of Energy Law. That chapter begins with some key vocabulary, and I then provide students with a client issue to frame the reading for the chapter. The issue:
Your firm has just taken on a new client who is a large shareholder in many companies. She is particularly concerned about her holdings in Energex, Inc., a publicly traded energy company. Energex was founded in 1977 by a oil and gas man from Louisiana who is still the CEO and a member of the board of directors. The client is concerned that the CEO is taking opportunities for himself that she thinks belong to Energex. As you read the following sections, consider: (1) What are the potential conflicts of interest the CEO might have? (2) Is it a conflict of interest if the activity is permitted under the CEO’s employment contract? (3) What kind of documents might be publicly available for review and where would you find them? (4) If it goes to litigation, what other information might you seek? From whom?
The first part of the chapter covers Business Organizations and Employment Law as Energy Law, including derivative suit and executive compensation contracts. The chapter also has the following sections: Antitrust as Energy Law, Mergers and Acquisitions, and Entity Structure and Fiduciary Duties.
Over the years, as I have taught my Energy Law Survey course and Business Organizations (as I do again this fall), I found that I can help make sense of things for students in each class when I borrow examples from the other class. My book helps make the connection concrete, and I hope it will help students understand more of the "why "to go along with the "what." As I often tell (preach to?) students, understanding business organizations is critical to all aspects of practice, regadless of where you intend to focus, whether it's energy law, environmental law, criminal law, or even family law.
This fall should be fun. For me, at least.