Business Law (BLAW-435-0)
This course is a survey of the basic and fundamental legal concepts that managers and entrepreneurs will be exposed to in public, private and non-profit entities. It is not a surrogate for a law school course (as such the course is not open to law or JD/MBA students) ; it does not delve into subjects of legal procedure (e.g. rules of evidence and rules of civil or criminal procedure). Rather, it covers a variety of legal topics of greatest interest to managers. For example, the course includes instruction on torts, a subject normally covered in a full semester law school course, by focusing on the basics of torts (e.g. negligence, professional negligence (malpractice), and product liability) in a meaningful way so that the student is armed with the ability to identify and analyze tort-related issues going forward. The ten week quarter also includes two topics (contracts and corporations) that are each spread over two weeks of instruction. One week of the quarter is geared to agency law, a subject of great importance in business since under certain circumstances, an employer is automatically liable for the acts of its agents occurring within the scope of their employment. While the majority of class time is spent on civil legal matters (e.g. money damages, equitable relief in the form of injunctions), one week is devoted to a review of criminal law, specifically those crimes that touch U.S. business on a frequent basis (e.g. the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)). Also, due to frequently-expressed interest by students, one week is designed to provide a solid overview of antitrust and intellectual property issues. (Students seeking a deeper dive into these topics should consider taking BLAW 437 upon completion of BLAW 435.)

Regulation of Competitive Strategies (BLAW-437-0)
Firms (whether they be brick and mortar or web based) employ any number of approaches to enhance or grow market share. However, for many of those strategies, there is a legal component with respect to their implementation or execution. This course will explore upwards of ten (10) different strategies while providing the student with an opportunity to explore how to insure proper compliance with applicable state/federal and often international competition and trade regulation laws. While domestic U.S. competition laws will be featured, the course will delve into the application of certain state (e.g. dealer/franchise) and international e.g. merger filings, cartel enforcement) competition requirements. One week of the course will be devoted to the criminal ramifications of certain types of conduct but the vast majority of the topics will concern themselves with the civil consequences and ramifications of hatching a strategy that is not mindful of the appropriate legal guidelines. Examples of the strategies that will be evaluated include: - Growth by acquisition or merger (e.g. corresponding Hart-Scott-Rodino filing requirements and international counter-parts); - “Cooperative efforts” with direct, horizontal competitors (and under what circumstances those “cooperative efforts” can be found illegal conspiracies to restrain trade); - Exclusionary, non-price conduct aimed at competitors; - Predatory or below-cost pricing; - Non-price, vertical restraints imposed by suppliers or manufacturers on resellers (e.g. territorial limitations, exclusive dealing); - Vertical, price restraints (e.g. resale price maintenance or MAP (minimum advertised price) polices); - Dealer relations including franchise laws; - Price discrimination practiced by sellers against buyers under the Robinson Patman Act; - Use of intellectual property (e.g. patent misuse) to extend or maintain market positions, (e.g. branded against generic pharma).

Law and the Corporate Manager (BLAWX-440-0)