Cases & Controversies

 Board Briefing Simulation

You are leaders of the Corporate Communications department at your company. There has been a headline-generating controversy involving a company similar to yours that has resulted in a significant legal battle and court case. 

You have been following press coverage and have been brought up to speed on the legal aspects by the company's lawyers. Now you have been asked to give a briefing to the Board of Directors to bring them up to speed and explain the legal and ethical issues that might affect your company since it is similar to the one at the heart of the dispute.

Your presentation should be 8-10 minutes with PowerPoint slides. Since your bosses will be present, you will want to be at your top notch — prepared, scripted, well-rehearsed and properly dressed.

You have made the following rough outline (more could be added) for your talk:

Introduction

Talk about the events and circumstances that led to the dispute. You'll get into the legal details later. Here, you want to capture the "so what?" aspect — why it's important, why people care about the issue. In particular, what are the social/ethical/moral dimensions.

Background on the Issue

Here, you want to give the board a short primer on the underlying legal topic involved. (For example, the Kim Kardashian case below is about "deceptive advertising." The NCAA case below is about "right of publicity." The Citizens United case below is about "campaign finance.")

Plaintiff's Case

Lay out the arguments of the person or party that claims some harm or wrongdoing. What are their claims and the bases for these claims?

Defendant's Case

Lay out the argument of the person or corporation being accused of the harm or wrongdoing. What are their defenses?

Conclusion

If a court has rendered a verdict in your case, explain the decision and the court's rationale for arriving at that verdict. If not, speculate on how you think a court will settle the dispute.

Implications

How did the press and scholars react to the outcome of the case? What might be the lasting implications? What do legal scholars say today, looking back? 

References

On your final slide, include URLs to sources that include both articles from the press and scholarly articles. You could also include links to court documents.

Case List

• Langford v. Monsanto, tort liability case involving glysophate in Roundup weed-killer and cancer

• Alston v. NCAA, right of publicity case challenging amateurism rules that prevent college athletes from making money from endorsements and advertising

• SEC v. Kim Kardashian, deceptive advertising claim about online influencers who do not disclose compensation

• Grutter v. Bollinger, Fourteenth Amendment discrimination case upholding constitutionality of race considerations in college admissions, now challenged by a new case before the Supreme Court

• SEC v. Elon Musk, claiming a "pump and dump" scheme to artificially boost stock prices

• Taco Cabana v. Two Pesos, trade dress infringement based on restaurant building designs

• United States v. William McFarland, fraud case caused by FRYE Festival debacle

• Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado, discrimination case involving gay couple and wedding cake

• NFIB v. OSHA, case challenging federal vaccine mandate for businesses with more than 100 employees

• Louboutin v. YSL, trademark case involving a single color, red, used in high-fashion shoes

• Murphy v. NCAA, case challenging the federal government's ability to ban sports gambling in states

• Citizens United v. FEC, case challenging Congress authority to limit corporations' campaign contributions

• Paredes v. Berman, tort liability claim against Travis Scott over deaths at Astroworld concert

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