ISE Legal Environment of Business, A Managerial Approach: Theory to Practice

Sean P. Melvin is an associate professor of business law in the School of Business at Elizabethtown College (Pennsylvania), where he served as department chair for eight years, won the Delta Mu Delta Outstanding Teacher of the Year award, and received several Faculty Merit awards for teaching and scholarship. Prior to his appointment at Elizabethtown, he was an assistant professor of business at a large state university where he taught in both the undergraduate and MBA programs. Before his academic career, Professor Melvin was a corporate lawyer in a large Philadelphia-based law firm and went on to become vice president and general counsel at a publicly traded technology company. Professor Melvin is the author or co-author of nine books (including six textbooks), has contributed scholarly and professional articles and case studies to over two dozen publications, and is a member of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB). His article “Case Study of a Coffee War” was selected as Best International Case Study at the 86th annual ALSB conference. F. E. Guerra-Pujol teaches business law at the University of Central Florida (UCF), where he also serves as faculty editor of The Pegasus Review, UCF’s undergraduate research journal. Prior to his appointment at UCF, he was an associate professor at the Pontifical Catholic University School of Law in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and practiced business and tax law with a large Latin American law firm. Professor Guerra-Pujol received his BA from UC Santa Barbara and his JD from Yale Law School. Professor Guerra-Pujol has published refereed articles, book chapters, and other scholarly works on the law and ethics of strategic decision-making and is a member of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB). He is currently writing a book titled Alternate Legal Worlds exploring law from a science fiction perspective.

UNIT ONE: Fundamentals of the Legal Environment of Business
Chapter 1 Legal Foundations 2 Appendix to Chapter 1A Business Student’s Guide to Understanding Cases and Finding the Law
Chapter 2 Business and the Constitution
Chapter 3 The American Judicial System, Jurisdiction, and Venue
Chapter 4 Resolving Disputes: Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution
Chapter 5 Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Law

UNIT TWO: Law and Commerce
Chapter 6 Overview and Formation of Contracts
Chapter 7 Contract Enforceability and Performance
Chapter 8 Contracts for the Sale of Goods
Chapter 9 Torts and Products Liability

Business Law Simulation Exercise 1

UNIT THREE: Regulation in the Workplace
Chapter 10 Agency
Chapter 11 Employment Relationships and Labor Law
Chapter 12 Employment Discrimination

Business Law Simulation Exercise 2

UNIT FOUR: Business Entities, Securities Regulation, and Corporate Governance
Chapter 13 Choice of Business Entity, Sole Proprietorships, and Partnerships
Chapter 14 Limited Liability Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships
Chapter 15 Corporations
Chapter 16 Regulation of Securities, Corporate Governance, and Financial Markets

UNIT FIVE: Regulatory Environment of Business
Chapter 17 Administrative Law
Chapter 18 Environmental Law
Chapter 19 Antitrust and Regulation of Competition
Chapter 20 Creditors’ Rights and Bankruptcy
Chapter 21 Warranties and Consumer Protection Law
Chapter 22 Criminal Law and Procedure in Business
Chapter 23 Personal Property, Real Property, and Land Use Law
Chapter 24 Intellectual Property 756 Chapter 25International Law and Global Commerce

Business Law Simulation Exercise 3

CAPSTONE CASE STUDIES
1. Coffee Wars: Starbucks v. Charbucks
2. The Odwalla Juice Company Crisis
3. Fraud under the Arches: The McDonald’s Game Piece Scandal

APPENDIX A: The Constitution of the United States of America
APPENDIX B: Excerpts from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002