I've been going through the page proofs of the 3d edition of my Examples & Explanations textbook, and it occurred to me that there are some cases a PR book just couldn't do without. Has anyone ever compiled a list of canonical PR cases, whose absence from a casebook, supplement, or class would be kind of weird? A canonical case might be one that establishes an important legal principle (e.g. Strickland v. Washington and Nix v. Whiteside); one that very nicely illustrates a principle that has wider applicability (I find myself referring back to Westinghouse v. Kerr-McGee constantly in class, to make various points); or simply one that's memorable and vivid (like "the Flopper" case in torts -- is there a PR equivalent?). There are many areas in which the principle is important, but you can cite one of many different cases. Former-client conflicts and the substantial relationship test is obviously important, but it doesn't really matter whether you use Analytica, Brennan's, or some other case.
For what it's worth, in addition to the cases mentioned, my list of canonical cases would include: Togstad (formation of atty-cl relationship); Upjohn (corporate atty-cl privilege); Fordham (reasonableness of fees); and maybe Birbrower (UPL and MJP). What do y'all think?
The canon I'm thinking of is composed of teaching cases. I mean to exclude some cases, like IBM v. Levin, which are foundational in some area of law and which every lawyer in this area knows, but which don't appear frequently in casebooks. It might be interesting to think about what makes a case canonical as opposed to foundational.