Good news!  You have chosen to take part in our study of Business Law.  Coming into this class, students often fear the drudge of reading through a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo, while hoping to stuff into their heads the least amount of information necessary, and remember it long enough, to pass the class.  Yuck!  Do you really believe I would want you to pay to do that?  The good news is that:

The study of Business Law is pretty much just learning more about the business relationships you deal with every day in our society.

You have many business relationships and they are all with people, whether the people are acting on their own behalf or representing a company or the government.  When you buy fast food, you are in a relationship with the seller.  When you turn on a light at home you are taking advantage of your relationship with the electric company.  The same is true when you turn on the water.  When you drive your car, your relationship with the other drivers on the road requires that you drive carefully to avoid hitting them.

So the study of Business Law basically is learning more about the general rules concerning these relationships, your everyday relationships.  This learning involves reading and considering the views of people who have thought more about these relationships than you have.  These people include judges, the authors of the Text, Wiley Snail, Esq. and me.  More good news:

As you will see, because the laws have been developed by people thinking about relationships, the laws are usually based on common sense and what is fair in a given situation. 

Even more good news:

Each of you already has a basic knowledge of and experience with these types of relationships.  We also have common sense, including a sense of what is fair. So as you learn more about the general rules (the laws) that apply to business relationships, you will usually be working with concepts you already know something about.

The more you understand the various aspects of the business relationships you are, or may be, involved in, the more successful you will be in dealing with them.  People will not be able to take advantage of you.  You will be able to assert the rights and protections that the law provides to you.  Most importantly, you will not feel like a total helpless victim when something happens to you in a business relationship.  You will have knowledge and knowledge is power!

In addition to your own experience with relationships, the foundation of your learning in this course will come from reading the text we will use, Business Law Today: The Essentials (Eighth Edition), by Roger LeRoy Miller and Gaylord A. Jentz.  You need to read the assigned portions of the Text!  Then, by using the information in the Text in doing the exercises and tests, you will develop a working knowledge of the basic rules involved in business relationships. 

Note: The Text is a resource for you to use, not something that must be fully digested. 

Additional basic information about all the subject areas you will work with, the reading assignments and all of the course exercises are found on the course web site.  You are reading the home page of the course web site.  At the top right hand corner of the home page, there are 10 subject areas listed that are linked to this course homepage.  Each subject area has its own home page, with links to each of the exercises related to the subject area and information that will be helpful to you in completing the exercises.  The assigned reading for each subject area is at the top of the subject area homepage.

While it is important to your success in this course to read the Text, it is also important that you take time while reading, and then while working on the course exercises, to think about your own experience with the type of business relationships you are dealing with.  In this way you will learn to approach legal situations by (1) looking at the relationship involved, then (2) identifying the rules that might apply in the particular situation, and then (3) using your text and the other course materials (including the thoughts of your classmates) to apply the rules to what is happening in the relationship before making a decision on what to do.

A fundamental part of this learning experience will be you and the other students in the course acting as co-owners of a manufacturing business and completing the Group Exercises.  Most of the Group Exercises will be related to legal issues and relationships typically involved in the operation of a small business.  In order to complete these exercises you will need to communicate with your classmates via the WebBoard, just as you would meet to discuss the issues in an actual business setting.  To have fun with this part of the course and get the most out of this experience, you will need to, as they say in the movie business, suspend disbelief and really assume the role of a business owner. 

LAW 2420 Syllabus.rtf

LAW 2420 Syllabus.doc
 

You will note from reading the course syllabus that your active participation in the Group Exercises accounts for a significant part of your final grade in the course.  So, if you are not comfortable suspending disbelief or using e-mail and the WebBoard to work on problems with other people, this is not a good course for you to be taking, unless you are willing to learn and practice doing these things.

There are two other activities that you will engage in during the course that will require your individual work to complete.  First, are the Individual Exercises, in which you will consider situations to increase your appreciation for the impact of Business Law in your everyday relationships.  The Individual Exercises will also give you the opportunity to delve into some basic legal issues involved in commercial transactions.  Second, you will be asked to put on a black robe to complete the You Are the Judge Exercises, where you will assume the role of a justice of the Supreme Court in the fictional State of Walleye and render decisions by applying the law to fact situations presented to you.

To assist you in completing the exercises we have engaged the services of Wiley Snail, Esq.  He will provide you with his thoughts concerning the legal principles you will be working with.  Mr. Snail has prepared confidential memoranda for each of the You Are the Judge Exercises to assist you in rendering your decision.  He has also prepared other confidential memoranda that will assist you in your work in other parts of the course.

In addition to the exercises mentioned above, there will be two tests for you to complete.  Each test will involve your working with the course material that has been covered up to that test.  Each test will be the will be open book, open note, even open Internet law library if you want, and require you to look at several fact situations and respond as requested with your opinion concerning the application of the law to the situation.  You will have several days from the time the test is posted on the WebBoard until you must e-mail your responses to me.

WARNING: IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH PROCRASTINATION YOU SHOULD THINK AGAIN ABOUT TAKING THIS COURSE.

I honestly believe that it is pretty easy to get a good grade in this course.  BUT, to do so it is very important that you keep up-to-date in completing the course exercises.  This is particularly true with regard to the Group Exercises.  If you are not working on the Group Exercises at the time the other group members are working on them neither you nor they will have the benefit of your thoughts and participation.

Because each of us has experience with business relationships I am looking forward to seeing the perspective that each of you brings to this course and how you apply this perspective in working with the law involved in these relationships while completing the exercises and the tests.  I have no doubt that you will be a more knowledgeable and valuable employee, consumer or business owner after completing this course.  You'll be better able to protect yourself in regard to all of these relationships.  So hang in the there and have some fun.

 Updated 4/08/08