Contracts

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Friend-of-the-BLPB Beth Burch has announced that the University of Georgia School of Law is conducting an open-rank search for four or five full-time, tenure-track or tenured faculty. Hiring priorities include multiple business law areas–contracts, bankruptcy, and secured transactions–as well as property, torts, environmental law, business law/corporations, banking, international law, administrative law, and employment law. You can find the posting here.

If you’re interested, feel free to reach out to Beth at LawHiring@uga.edu.

Friend of the BLPB Geeta Kohli (formerly Tewari) at Widener Law Delaware recently launched a newsletter on Substack called Defining Money that may be of interest to business law profs and their students (as well as others). She circulated a message about the newsletter through the AALS Section on Business Associations listserv earlier this week–very timely as we all start to prepare for fall classes. I have checked the newsletter out. Geeta covers a bunch of great topics (some traditional in the business law space and some nontraditional but truly helpful–including for family businesses and the divorce and trust/estate law areas that intersect with family business practice) informed by her business law background and personal experience. Here is what she personally noted in the listserv message.

I’ve recently launched a newsletter called Defining Money, where each week I break down a finance or business law term and pair it with a short story or example-designed especially for those of us who may have experienced financial issues or abuse. After the semester starts, I’ll be focusing more on contract and business related terms.

This project grew out of my desire to make financial concepts more accessible, particularly for students navigating…

Friends keep sending me contracts they created with ChatGPT or Claude.

They read well. The formatting is clean.

But essential clauses are often missing—or the terms don’t reflect the actual business deal.

Sometimes I revise heavily. Sometimes I start over.

This post isn’t about whether AI is capable.

It’s about whether the person prompting knows how contracts actually work in business.

A contract isn’t a CYA document like my friends think. It reflects how the parties have chosen to allocate risk, reflect their priorities, and protect relationships and business interests.

AI can assist with drafting. I use it. I teach it. But without commercial judgment, even the best prompt won’t protect the business.

We’re need to train future lawyers and all workers not to rely on AI but to partner with it.

At University of Miami School of Law, we’re preparing students to step into the real world—with both digital and business acumen.

In our Transactional Skills Program, students don’t learn theory.

They negotiate, redline, bill, meet with simulated clients, and use AI responsibly. They also work with real-world agreements—documents they’ll see in practice:

✅ NDAs, employment, and contractor agreements

✅ SaaS, MSAs, and licensing deals

✅ Escrow, loan…

This year’s symposium, titled Navigating the Relationship Between the Administrative State and Emerging Technology, will focus on the evolving regulatory frameworks around emerging technologies like digital assets and artificial intelligence (AI). These technologies are rapidly transforming the way individuals and businesses engage in commerce, interact socially, and innovate. These advancements, however, raise profound questions about the applicability of existing regulatory structures. The symposium will bring together leading experts to discuss how the administrative state can balance the protection of innovation with the mitigation of risks associated with these technologies, while ensuring that laws evolve to meet the challenges of the future.

We are thrilled to welcome Michele Korver, Head of Regulatory & Operating Partner at a16z crypto, to deliver the opening keynote. Michele’s wealth of experience in both the public and private sectors will provide invaluable insights into the state of digital asset regulation. The event will conclude with a thought-provoking closing address, offering reflections on the key discussions of the day.

Welcome and Opening Remarks (1:15 PM – 1:25 PM)

The symposium will begin with brief welcoming remarks, setting the stage for an afternoon of in-depth discussions and exploring the complexities surrounding the intersection of technology, law, and…

Mercer University School of Law invites applications for up to two faculty members (one entry-level and one tenured), with appointments beginning in Fall 2025. We welcome applicants from all subject areas, with a particular focus on legal writing, commercial law, contracts, evidence, and remedies.

Founded in 1873, Mercer University School of Law has a long tradition of producing practice-ready lawyers who are committed to service. The school has earned a reputation for providing excellent legal education with an intense focus on student and faculty interaction. With an enrollment of approximately 375 students, Mercer Law School is one of 12 schools and colleges of Mercer University, which is consistently listed among the top institutions of higher education in the nation. The School of Law is nationally recognized for its exceptional programs in legal writing, advocacy (moot court and mock trial), public service, and professionalism and ethics.

The School of Law is located in Macon, Georgia, a city of approximately 156,000 residents. Macon is known for its rich musical heritage (e.g., Otis Redding, Little Richard, the Allman Brothers), vibrant arts community, recreational offerings (e.g., the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park), and affordable cost of living. Located 85 miles from Atlanta, Macon offers…

A law firm recently reached out to me to conduct a CLE on Mental Health Challenges in the Age of AI. It was an interesting request. I’ve spoken about AI issues on panels, as a keynote speaker, and in the classroom, and I wrote about it for Tennessee Journal of Business Law. I also conduct workshops and CLEs on mental health in the profession. But I’ve never been asked to combine the topics. 

Before I discussed issues related to anxiety about job disruption and how cognitive overload affects the brain, I spent time talking about the various tools that are out there and how much our profession will transform in the very near future.

If you’re like many lawyers I know, you think that AI is more hype than substance. So I’ll share the information I shared with the law firm.

According to a  2024 Bloomberg survey on AI and the legal profession, 69% of Bloomberg survey respondents believe generative AI can be used ethically in legal practice. But they harbor “extreme” or “moderate” concerns about deep fakes (e.g., human impersonations, hallucinations and accuracy of AI-generated text,  privacy, algorithmic bias, IP, and of course, job displacement.

Those are…

I’m super excited to attend and moderate a panel on How to Improve Your Contract Skills with Gen AI Tools and Products at the ContractsCon in Las Vegas from January 22-23, 2025. As the GC for a startup and a nonprofit, and someone who directs the Transactional Skills Program for a law school, I have to stay up to date on the future of contracts for my clients and to prepare our students for a world that will be completely different from the one they expected.

This is not the typical boring CLE. How to Contract Founder, Laura Frederick describes it as “practical training for the work you do all the time.For every mega M&A transaction or financing, there are thousands of regular contracts that companies handle day-in and day-out. This training helps you learn how to do those BETTER with strategies based on best practices used by top lawyers with solid real-world in-house experience. Have a ton of experience already? This event is perfect for lawyers and professionals with 10+ years of contract experience too. We’ve added a whole day of training built to teach advanced contract skills. Plus you can connect with your peers and help out…

One of the best ways for students to feel like "real lawyers" is for them to negotiate and draft contracts. The University of Miami will be announcing an inaugural invitational in the coming weeks so if you want to be in sunny Florida in early February, stay tuned. That competition will not require knowledge of M&A.

If M&A is your happy place, here's a fantastic opportunity from the American Bar Association. 

MAC CUP II- ABA M&A Committee Invitational

Fall 2024 – January 2025

Application and Preliminary Instructions

The M&A Committee of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section is seeking applications from JD students enrolled in ABA-approved law schools in the US and Canada to participate in its annual ABA M&A Committee Invitational (the “MAC Cup”).

Get your sunscreen and sunglasses ready — the “Final Four” teams will win an expense-paid trip to Laguna Beach, California, to compete for the championship at the ABA M&A Committee’s annual meeting on January 30 – 31, 2025.

Students should apply, and will participate, in teams of two. Qualifying rounds will be held during Fall 2024, with final rounds in January 2025. Additional information is attached below. Materials from last year’s MAC Cup, and…

The School of Law at Texas Tech University invites applications for a full-time, 9-month tenure-track Professor of Law position to begin in August of 2025.  The position is open to both entry-level candidates and candidates who are on the tenure-track or tenured at another school.  Candidates who satisfy Texas Tech University’s requirements to be hired with tenure will also be eligible to hold the Frank McDonald Endowed Professorship in business law.

Required Qualifications

In line with TTU’s strategic priorities to engage and empower a diverse student body, enable innovative research and creative activities, and transform lives and communities through outreach and engaged scholarship, applicants should have experience or demonstrated potential for working with diverse student populations at the undergraduate and/or graduate levels within individual or across the areas of teaching, research/creative activity, and service.

Specific required qualifications are:

  1. Candidates should have a J.D.;
  2. Candidates should have a demonstrated potential for excellence in research, teaching, and service; and
  3. Candidates should have demonstrated potential for excellence in the areas of Contracts and in corporate/business law, such as Business Entities, Securities Regulation, Mergers & Acquisitions, and related courses.

Preferred Qualifications

In addition to the required qualifications, individuals with the following preferred qualifications are…

Many in the business law world have been following the saga involving the adoption of  S.B. 313 by Delaware's General Assembly last week.  S.B. 313 adds a new § 122(18) to the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (DGCL) that broadly authorizes corporations to enter into free-standing stockholder agreements (not embodied in the corporation's charter) that restrict or eliminate the management authority of the corporation's board of directors.  See my blog posts here and here and others cited in them, as well as Ann's post here.

In the floor debate on S.B. 313 last Thursday in the Delaware State House of Representatives, a proponent of the legislation stated that fiduciary duties always trump contracts.  That statement deserves some inspection in a number of respects.  I offer a few simple reflections here from one, limited perspective.

The historical centrality of corporate director fiduciary duties (which were the fiduciary duties referenced on the House floor) is undeniable.  Those who have taken business associations or an advanced business course with me over the years know well that I emphasize in board decision making that the directors’ actions must be both lawful and consistent with their fiduciary duties in order to…