Vinson & Elkins partners Jason Halper, Kaam Sahely, and Francisco J. Morales Barrón — adjunct professors at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School — sit down for conversation on why they teach and how they approach it.
Law students today have numerous courses to choose from, but few whose subject matter is evolving as fast as yours. What should we know about your course and approach?
Jason: My course centers on corporate governance, compliance, and ethics. Essentially, my co-professor and I examine the complex challenges facing today’s companies, and how companies, their boards, and senior management can best navigate these challenges.
Thorough preparation is key to our approach. New trends and developments are constantly altering the legal and business environment, with major implications for directors, senior executives, investors, and numerous other stakeholders. We take great care to keep apprised of these trends and developments — to understand them deeply — and tailor every iteration of our course to reflect them.
Kaam: I co-teach with a Vinson & Elkins alum and Chubb executive — Maggie Peloso — and our course covers climate change, regulation, and dealmaking in the energy transition. We have both law and Wharton students, and they generally arrive already familiar with the basics of clean and renewable energy. So, we aim to build on that foundation, by making the course as practical as possible.
How so?
Kaam: By simulating the experiences of established energy-transition dealmakers — for example, negotiating agreements, leading a client meeting, or developing and presenting investment strategies.
All of these activities are collaborative in our course, just as they are for Vinson & Elkins lawyers. On some exercises — like when we ask students to prepare a private placement memorandum —we have clients come in to evaluate the students’ work.
Francisco, you’re teaching on generative AI, and the spring semester is your first, if I recall.
Francisco: Right. I’ll be exploring how generative AI can be used in the M&A process, along with the legal, ethical, and social implications of using it in corporate practice more broadly. The course will include some elements of a conventional corporate law lecture, but mostly it will be interactive — almost like a lab setting.
By that I mean, I’ll be asking students to use generative AI tools in their assignments, particularly to draft and markup a nondisclosure agreement. We’ll be experimenting with prompts, evaluating the tools’ strengths and limitations, contemplating best use cases — and talking through it all together.
What about your work experience — do you try to bring that into the classroom?
Jason: For sure. You have to be mindful of confidentiality and privilege issues, of course. But when we feel that it’s appropriate and relevant to incorporate our experiences as practitioners, we often do, and I think students appreciate that real-world insight.
During our last semester, for example, I helped secure a favorable resolution for a client that was under investigation by the Department of Justice.
But you couldn’t dig into the details of the matter, though — right?
Jason: Not in any depth. But what I could do was draw from the experience, which was still fresh in our minds. In doing so, I could share insights into what works and what doesn’t when dealing with the federal government, and use those insights as a platform for further discussion.
Kaam: Our mindset is similar. Whenever I’m working on a deal, I think about how we might be able to apply something from it in the classroom. Sometimes, this is as simple as asking students: “Issue X came up in a negotiation last week. If you were leading the deal team, how would you handle it?”
In other instances, it’s more complex. But students often tell us that they derive substantial value from using our experiences to jumpstart conversations, so we’re always looking for ways to weave those experiences in.
Teaching requires a substantial commitment of time and energy — on top of your already busy careers. What motivates you to make it part of your lives?
Francisco: I’m a big believer in the value of teaching, and mentoring early-career associates — on quality of work, on business development, on client service — is an important part of my practice. Being able to take that belief from the firm to the classroom is a motivation in itself.
Separate from that: We don’t know exactly what the future holds. But we can be confident that the role of generative AI in corporate law and the industries we serve will continue to grow, and I’m excited to participate in that growth. I’m also looking forward to the continual learning it will require to keep my course relevant, and to using what I learn to help strengthen our firm.
Jason: We talked about staying current — that’s a major motivator for me. But more important, teaching enables me to pay forward the quality education and mentorship I received in law school, and to connect with students and fellow faculty. We’ve been forging these connections for a decade now, and our course and practices have benefitted tremendously from them.
Kaam: You know, I always try to surround myself with forward-thinking people, and in many cases, our students are among the most forward-thinking people I encounter. Understanding how they think — not just about law and business, but about the broader societal issues we discuss — that’s inspiring to me. It makes me a better professor, and enhances my own lifelong learning as well.
What defines success?
Kaam: When students go on to succeed. Recently, I got on a call about a new deal, where one of the bankers on the call happened to be a former student of mine, and we ended up chatting about it later. Hearing that someone you taught is building a fulfilling career is rewarding for any educator. Seeing it in real-time — and knowing that you played a role in their success — is even more so.
Jason: For me, success is when we can inspire curiosity — when we can stir students to engage deeply in the subject matter. Many approach teaching as a script, but we see it as a conversation — a two-way street where students can feel free to comment, question, and draw their own conclusions.
In our experience, curiosity leads to more thoughtful conversations. Not just on the complex legal issues we cover, but also when we dive into the realities of practice and what it takes to navigate law firm life in a healthy and productive way.
Francisco: My teaching career is only just beginning, so I could probably give a more detailed answer after the semester. But I can recall law professors who challenged me to think differently, who pushed me to do my best work, and one who has remained a mentor to me throughout my legal career. If I can be for my students what those professors were for me, that would be just about all the success I could ask for.