The concept of serving an apprenticeship as a means of training skilled workers dates to the Middle Ages. Apprenticeships in the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance were typically seven years in duration, in order to ensure that the masters recouped their investment and that the apprentice was given sufficient time to become skilled and not…

This case study examines the role of bribery in the global marketplace through an example involving access to safe drinking water in the developing world. Parts II and III set out the objectives and methods of classroom delivery for the case study. Part IV is the background reading relating to bribery with particular emphasis on the Foreign…

A Harvard Business School-style teaching case can be a powerful pedagogical tool to teach law and ethics to business students because instructors can combine a traditional business case study with Socratic-style dialogue and legal analysis from a managerial perspective. This teaching note includes suggestions for several methods of using the case,…

Tobacco has been an agricultural staple from the time of the first recorded European encounter with the plant in the fifteenth century. The pervasive nature of its cultivation and consumption has made tobacco one of the most profitable crops in world agricultural history. This case study examines the role of tobacco in the global marketplace with…

A great deal of research by legal studies scholars pertains to employment law, international law, and corporate governance, as well as other fields including ethics and international law. The fields typically addressed are very important and rightfully receive considerable attention in the scholarship and textbooks. However, bankruptcy as a…

The news is rife with Ponzi schemes--named after Charles Ponzi, who enticed investors with promissory notes paying an above-market return. Ponzi schemes present a unique opportunity to bring to life a federal Bankruptcy Code by illustrating the requirements for commencing a voluntary or involuntary bankruptcy case, the broad avoidance powers of…

In today's Internet-based and global business environment, the legal issues companies face will often involve issues of intellectual property. Virtually every product people purchase is protected by a trademark, a patent, and/or copyrights. Thus, basic concepts of intellectual property are a natural component in any business law or legal…

Business ethics may be defined as "the principles, values and standards that guide behavior in the world of business." The importance of ethical awareness in business transactions and education is widely recognized, and evidence shows that ethics education can influence decision making in the workplace. As a result, colleges of business often…

This article describes a model that aims to create a greater ability to recognize the negative aspects of making unethical decisions. To this end, the authors developed an ethical decision-making model to aid students through the process of analyzing these situations--a model that is easy to remember and apply. Through this model, the COVER model,…

Legal studies faculty need to take the long view in their academic and professional lives. Taking the long view would seem to be a cliched piece of advice, but too frequently legal studies faculty, like their students, get focused on meeting the next short-term hurdle--getting through the next class, grading the next stack of papers, making it…

There are varied approaches to incorporating the subject of ethics in the business school curriculum. The evolving process has included a debate over fundamental matters such as whether all students should be required to take a discrete course in ethics, who should be teaching ethics, and whether ethics can even be taught. The ethics subject…

Negotiation skills are vital for concluding international treaties on subjects ranging from arms agreements, and rights in outer space to trade agreements. Yet the importance of being able to negotiate effectively is not limited to international treaties or crises situations. Using negotiation exercises represents a student-centered approach to…

Many MBA classes, such as those in accounting and finance, require students to examine securities filings to perform financial analyses of companies. Often, however, students are unaware of the vast amount of additional information that can be obtained from a company's securities filings and other public information. Much of this information…

This article focuses on "The Role of Law and Lawyers in Society (Law and Lawyers)", a special capstone course for prelaw majors in business programs, and provides ideas and materials for teaching methods and goals, as well as materials on substantive law and ethics that can be incorporated into a variety of legal studies courses. The author begins…

Law classes help reveal the successes of the American legal system. Students observe that the law is honorable, workable, and effective. At the same time, law classes offer the opportunity to look at those situations where the legal system sometimes struggles to achieve its justice goals. Students certainly need to learn that lesson, but they also…