California State University, East Bay Dr. Doris
Duncan
College of Business and Economics
ACCT 2701 Legal Environment of Business
Fall, 2011
COURSE
SYLLABUS
COURSE DESCRIPTION: LEGAL ENVIRONMENT OF BUSINESS
Legal and
institutional setting in which business operates; the nature, sources,
functions, and processes of law and legal reasoning relating to contracts,
agency, torts, partnerships, and corporations; government regulations and
administrative law as they apply to the legal environment.
COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this course
you should be able to:
1.
Be familiar with the foundations of business law
principles, including negligence, contracts and corporate formation and
governance.
2.
Understand how business laws and regulations affect the
conduct and management of business.
3.
Understand the underpinnings of the legal system: court
system, lawmaking and the U.S. Constitution.
4.
Understand the importance of compliance with business
laws and avoidance of legal liability.
5.
Gain knowledge of the ethical values and socially
responsible behavior applicable to business.
6.
Be familiar with the topics listed in the detailed course
schedule.
OFFICE AND HOURS:
Office: Valley Business
Technology Center VBT 428, Phone: (510)
885-3364
email:doris.duncan@csueastbay.edu
(include course, section, topic in subject line)
Web page: http://www.cbe.csueastbay.edu/~dduncan
Office hours: Tuesday/Thursday 12:15 – 1:15 p.m. and by appointment.
REQUIRED MATERIALS:
Miller, Roger Leroy and Frank B. Cross, The Legal Environment Today:
Business in Its Ethical, Regulatory, E-Commerce and Global Setting, 6th
edition. Cengage Learning/ South-Western
Publishers, 2010. ISBN-13: 978-0-324-59925-1.
Alternate web site to search: http://www.cengage.com/highered/
2 Scantron sheets, green, 4.5 by 11 inches,
available in CSUEB bookstore.
Check Blackboard frequently for additional class materials, updates and
announcements.
COURSE PROCESS:
The tentative course schedule attached shows the order of topics,
readings and any homework assignments. Before each class meeting study the
reading assignments, prepare any written assignments and be prepared to discuss
questions and exercises in the text.
Class discussions will emphasize some parts of the textbook material and
elaborate on others. You are expected to
bring your textbook and be on time for all class meetings. It is disruptive when students arrive late or
leave early. If you must miss class, it
is your responsibility to get any notes or announcements from another
classmate. Out of consideration for your classmates, during class be sure
electronic devices such as cell phones and pagers are turned off.
GRADING:
Individual course grade will be determined by the number of points that
you accumulate, taking into account both their absolute and relative values to
other scores in the class. Points will be
based on two exams, case study papers, in-class participation and possibly
quizzes. These course components will be
weighted as follows:
Midterm 45 points
Final Exam 45 points
Case study
paper and participation
10 points
Total
possible points 100 points
EXAM POLICY:
Exams will cover text readings, case assignments and class
discussions. They will be closed book,
closed notes, closed electronics and closed neighbor. Questions will be mostly multiple choice but sometimes include true/false, matching, short
answer, case analyses and essays. No
make-ups will be allowed. You must take
the final exam to successfully complete the course.
CASE STUDY PAPER:
Your paper is due on the date specified in the course schedule. Your case will be Hybrid Automobile Battery
Manufacturing, a start-up, which is
described on page 638 of your Miller/Cross Legal
Environment of Business (6th edition) textbook. Address the seven
questions presented and incorporate the IRAC method described below.
You should do your own work. If it appears that several students have
collaborated extensively on the paper, all will share the grade. For example, a
case worth 10 points split five ways would be 2 points each. The instructor’s judgment will rule in these
cases. If you want to minimize the risk that your work may appear as part of collaboration,
be sure your submission is unique.
Papers should be a maximum of four pages, typed and double spaced
between paragraphs and subheadings. Margins should be one inch all around on
your 8 ½ x 11 inch sheets of paper. Staple pages together in the
upper left corner before class.
Include a cover sheet on top with:
Your name: last name, first name
Your NetID: XXXXXX
ACCT 2701 Section XX
Date the paper is due
Descriptive title of the case
The paper must be turned in at the beginning of class. The instructor will not accept alternate delivery including email,
drop box or FAX. You may turn your work in early, but late papers will not
be accepted.
IRAC METHOD (Issue,
Rule, Analysis, Conclusion)
Issue
Every case you read entails a ruling on one issue, sometimes many
issues, raised by the parties, typically on appeal. The issue statement often begins with the
word “whether.” For example, “whether the defendant breached
the contract.” The issue
typically ends with facts particular to the case and is marked off by the word
“where.” For example, “whether the defendant breached the
contract where it failed to deliver 100 widgets by April 1, 2007.”
To form a better issues statement, drop the words “whether” and “where”
and make the issue statement into a question. For example, “Did the defendant
breach the contract by April 1, 2007?
The court is better able to form an answer to an issue if the issue is presented
as a question.
Rule
Once you have framed an issue, you must figure out what rule to apply to
that issue. Taking the breach of
contract issue, the rule of law may be something like, “it is a breach of
contract where a party fails to perform under the terms of the contract.” In a case, a rule like this will come with
citation to statutes, cases or a combination of these.
The legal system is based on “stare decisis”
which in lay terms means relying on examined old and
previously examined principles and applying them to future factual
scenarios. Thus, the court will
reference a principle already considered, unless the case is one of
first-impression, and will begin its analysis there.
Analysis
Once you have your rule, you have to apply the facts to that rule. Analysis, by far, is where most law students
lose points on exams. Some people jump
to a conclusion before going through the analysis. If this is what was intended, that is, to
discuss your conclusion in the analysis, the process would be called IRA
instead of IRAC.
The analysis should come in the form of comparing and contrasting the
facts you face with the facts of other cases you have encountered. For example, perhaps a case you read held
that it is not a breach of contract where the defendant substantially performs
under the terms of the contract. So
perhaps you could argue that in your fact pattern the defendant delivered 75%
of the widgets just one week later than the deadline and, therefore, there was
no breach. But you must remember to argue the other side. That is what separates a great grade on an
exam from a poor grade, in law school anyhow. Attorneys pick their sides, not
based on right or wrong, but based on the side their client happens to be. One day you may be required to argue breach
and another day you will argue no breach.
In law you don’t get to choose the side to represent. So you could argue that substantial
compliance requires absolute compliance with a deadline, which your fact
pattern lacked. Whatever the case may
be, remember to argue both sides. Even
if you do not believe the argument will prevail, you must present it.
Underline/highlight the facts.
Put checkmarks near them once you have used them. Then find a way to use every fact. Let your rule be your guide. Find a way to make each fact impact how the
rule applies.
Conclusion
The conclusion is the least important part of IRAC. This is because the conclusion is a function
of how the judge feels that day. You can
make the same argument to 10 different judges and you will not get the same
result 10 times.
As long as your analysis is complete, it does not matter how you
conclude, so long as your conclusion has a logical basis evidenced by your
analysis. A good approach to the
conclusion is to simply explain why you think one avenue of the analysis is the
more appropriate result versus any other avenue. If you have written a thorough analysis
section, you will be pointing to an argument you already made. It may be a breach, or it may not be. Identify what you consider to be the strongest
argument and this should work well for you.
Again the points must be made in the analysis, not in the conclusion.
IRAC can be applied to areas other than the study of the legal
environment of business.
EMERGENCY
INFORMATION: California State University, East Bay is
committed to being a safe and caring community.
Your appropriate response in the event of an emergency can help save
lives. Information on what to do in an
emergency situation (earthquake, electrical outage, fire, extreme heat, severe
storm, hazardous materials, terrorist attack) may be
found at:
http://www.aba.csueastbay.edu/EHS/emergency_mgnt.htm.
Please be familiar with these procedures. Information on this web page is updated
regularly. Please review the information
on a regular basis.
NOTE: Consult the current California
State University, East Bay catalog for specific guidelines governing add/drop,
withdrawals, incompletes, academic dishonesty and other administrative policies
and procedures. For example, if you have a documented
disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact the
professor during the first six days of class or as soon as possible.
ACCT 2701 Fall, 2011 Hayward Office: VBT
428 (510) 885-3364
Legal
Environment of Business email:doris.duncan@csueastbay.edu
|
DATE |
TOPIC |
READING ASSIGNMENT (CHAPTER) |
|
SEP 22 |
Business and Its Legal Environment |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
SEP 27 |
Ethics and Business Decision Making |
2 |
|
SEP 29 |
Courts and Alternative Dispute Resolution |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
OCT 04 |
Constitutional Authority to Regulate Business |
4 |
|
OCT 06 |
Torts and Cyber Torts |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
OCT 11 |
Criminal Law and Cyber Crime |
6 |
|
OCT 13 |
International Law in a Global Economy |
7 |
|
|
|
|
|
OCT 18 |
Intellectual Property and Internet Law |
8 |
|
OCT 20 |
Contract Formation |
9 |
|
|
|
|
|
OCT 25 |
Sales, Leases, and E-Contracts |
11 |
|
OCT 27 |
MIDTERM |
Chapters 1-9, 11 |
|
|
|
|
|
NOV 01 |
Small Business Organizations Corporations |
14 15 |
|
NOV 03 |
Agency
|
16 |
|
|
|
|
|
NOV 08 |
Employment, Immigration, and Labor Law |
17 |
|
NOV 10 |
Employment Discrimination |
18 |
|
|
|
|
|
NOV 15 |
Consumer Protection |
20 |
|
NOV 17 |
Protecting the Environment CASE STUDY PAPER
DUE Nov 17 |
21 |
|
|
|
|
|
NOV 22 |
Land Use Control and Real Property |
22 |
|
NOV 24 |
Thanksgiving
holiday |
|
|
|
|
|
|
NOV 29 |
Investor Protection and Corporate Governance |
24 |
|
DEC 01 |
Review |
All |
|
|
|
|
|
DEC 08 |
FINAL EXAM |
Chapters 14-18,20-22,24 |
2701_syl_fall2011.docx