LAW 230: Legal Environment of Business

Introduction

Today's legal environment is constantly changing. The expanded use of technology for both business and private use has led to new ways of doing business, and to a changing legal environment, ushering in an era of increasingly complex legal considerations. The list of social, political, ethical, and regulatory pronouncements has expanded, making it even more important for those entering the business world to understand the legal and regulatory environment within which business operates. This course will help you understand how the legal environment influences the business world. The skills you develop will help you keep abreast of changes in industry.

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Course Objectives

After successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• identify and define basic information about the sources of law (including practical background of the court system) and relate them to business operations
• analyze, compare, and relate the rights, duties, and liabilities of business operating nationally and internationally in terms of current legal systems
• identify and explore the social, environmental, and political dimensions of current legal issues.

The textbook provides an explanation of the most significant rules that are applied in the legal environment of business. The authors offer a thorough treatment of the nature of moral and ethical values and ideas—ideas that help us to decide what is right and wrong. The text also provides a view of the realities of American business with an emphasis on the identifiable, underlying structures that shape our business society, including the impact of large corporations and the federal government.

The course will also:

• expose you to some of the tools used in legal research and enhance your library skills
• develop your analytical and critical thinking skills
• improve your written communication skills
• introduce you to legal terminology used in court decisions and legislative enactments
• familiarize you with the American system of jurisprudence.

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Textbook

The textbook for this course is

R.L. Miller and F.B. Cross. The Legal and E-commerce Environment Today, 4th edition (2005).

You can order this textbook from the Higher Grounds bookstore at the Friday Center either online or by using the book order form.

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Grading

Your final grade will be based on the combined grades for the written assignments at the end of each lesson, two legal research projects, and the midterm and final exams.

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Written Assignments

Lesson Assignments

At the end of each lesson there is a written assignment for you to complete. Please respond to the questions completely and follow the directions within each assignment. Written assignments will account for 20 percent of your overall grade.

Legal Research Projects

There will be two legal research projects. These projects will be exercises in how to find a law. One will use a traditional approach requiring the resources of a law library. The other will be Web based, allowing students to explore the vast legal resources of the Web. These projects are designed to enhance your legal research, writing, analytical, and critical thinking skills. The combined projects will account for 20 percent of your overall course grade (10 percent each).

Instructions for Legal Research Project 1

Instructions for Legal Research Project 2

Note: If you do not have access to a law library, please contact your instructor immediately to discuss available alternatives so that you can complete the second research project.

Submitting work for this course

Your assignment should be typed using Microsoft Word. If you use other software, please save your work in Rich Text Format (.rtf). Use a filename that includes your last name, such as "lesson3-Smith.doc."

Send your assignments to be graded by clicking the "Submit Assignment" button located in each lesson. This opens an e-mail message that is pre-addressed to me and the Self-paced Courses office. The e-mail containing your assignment must be addressed to both of us in order for you to receive credit for your work.

Send your assignments as attachments. In the subject line of the e-mail message, enter "SPC LAW 230 Submission #" and your last name (example: SPC LAW 230 Submission 3 Smith). By providing the submission number and your name, you allow me and Student Services to track your progress and keep your work separate from that of other students. (You may want to add your own address to the "send list" as a check.)

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Exams

You will be required to take a midterm and final exam. The midterm will account for 20 percent of your course grade, and the final will account for 40 percent of your course grade. The midterm exam will be administered upon completion of the first five lessons. The final exam will be administered upon successful completion of all the lessons.

When you are prepared to take the exam, e-mail your instructor. You will receive the exam, instructions, and submission guidelines via e-mail.

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Suggestions for Study

Because this is a self-paced, online course, there are no regularly scheduled class meetings. Thus, you may take whatever time you need to absorb the material. You can finish the course in as little as twelve weeks or as long as nine months. Perhaps the best way to complete the course is to devise a schedule that seems reasonable to you and adhere to it. Under normal circumstances, you should be able to complete a lesson in one week. Depending on your schedule and obligations, you may find it necessary to give yourself two weeks to complete each lesson. If you need to finish the course by a particular date, simply figure out approximately how long you have to complete each lesson and govern yourself accordingly.

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Communication

The primary method of communication in this course is electronic. You will communicate with me and submit your assignments via e-mail. It is essential to inform me and Student Services of any change in your e-mail address.

Contact me with questions regarding the content of the course and your progress. There is a link to my e-mail address at the top of every lesson page.

If you have any questions about course credits, transfers, withdrawal, extensions, and so on, contact Student Services at the Friday Center for Continuing Education, telephone 919-962-1134 or 800-862-5669.

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Lessons

The course is divided into ten lessons. Each lesson covers different legal concepts and theories.

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Lesson 1