Written by: Hannah Huston

This summer, Iowa Law students found themselves rolling dice, forging alliances, and forming corporations in a one-of-a-kind classroom experience. In Foundations of Corporate Law, Mihailis Diamantis, Ben V. Willie Professor in Excellence, reimagined business law through the lens of the popular role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D)—bringing strategy, storytelling, and legal doctrine together in one creative, immersive course.

Offered during the summer 2025 session, the course used simulation-based instruction grounded loosely in D&D rules. Diamantis’ goal was to design something that would engage students who might not otherwise be drawn to business law. 

“You can study these [corporate issues] abstractly as economic principles, or you can try to experience them from the inside as lived tensions and opportunities,” he said. “For students who may not otherwise be interested in taking business law, I thought this would be to provoke their curiosity about this bar exam topic.”

3L law student Emilia Frigo, who took the course, credits the innovative format for helping her grasp complex material. 

“I really appreciated the format because I am not someone who necessarily has a ‘corporate law brain.’ Getting to see the real practical application of the law allowed me to better understand a topic that would have been difficult for me otherwise,” she said. “The format also made the reading and exercises more interesting as I applied them to my character's (Bianca Businessa) year in business.”

A typical class would blend corporate law with role-playing. Before the course began, students completed D&D–style character sheets—writing their own backstories and choosing traits like their profession (e.g. bee keeper, oil rig worker, helicopter pilot), skill set (charisma versus intelligence), motivational alignment (philanthropic versus egoistic), and legal alignment (law-following, chaotic, or opportunistic). Their character attributes influenced the storylines then encountered throughout the course.

Early sessions introduced key legal concepts and small-scale scenarios about agency and responsibility. Later, students formed corporations of six, assuming roles such as shareholder, director, and CEO. Each class opened with dice rolls to determine profits and payouts, followed by role-play scenarios involving corporate conflicts. Rotating student “game leaders” helped moderate facts, and peers judged the outcomes. Afterward, Diamantis led a discussion connecting the gameplay to real-world corporate law doctrines.

Through this mix of imagination and legal analysis, students gained more than just an understanding of corporate structure—they sharpened their ability to think strategically, communicate persuasively, and understand the human factors that influence business decisions. 

“You have to think more strategically about how facts interact with doctrine,” Diamantis said. “You learn advocacy—you must try to persuade everyone else in the class that your side is right. The game leaders learn how to be neutral mediators, because their goal in developing facts is not to favor one side or the other.” 

The creative format of the course also transformed the classroom dynamic, inspiring students to take ownership of their learning and explore legal concepts from fresh perspectives. According to Diamantis, student engagement was not only high, but at times, delightfully chaotic.

“I was really encouraged that students got into the role-play,” Diamantis said. “Sometimes students even tried shenanigans outside of class, like conspiring with the competition or stealing money from their corporation.” 

With a waitlist twice the size of the available spots, the demand for Diamantis’ innovative course speaks for itself. Encouraged by the strong interest, he plans to offer it again next August.