NORMANDALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE                                                COMMON COURSE OUTLINE

BUSN 2155:  LEGAL ENVIRONMENT OF BUSINESS

I.          Effective Date: Spring 2006.  To be reviewed by department annually.

II.                   Catalog Description:

BUSN 2155  Legal Environment of Business  3 CR, FALL  SPRING  A survey course about the legal aspects of managing a business.  It includes a review of the basic U.S. Legal system, ethics, contracts, legal structure of business, employment, consumer issues, and international business law.

III.         Recommended Skills:  No prerequisites. 

IV.        Course Content: 

A.                  The Foundations – Legal and International Foundation, Ethics, The U.S. Court System, and dispute resolution – litigation and alternative dispute methods.  This is basic background material.

B.                  The Public Environment – Constitutional authority to regulate business; powers and functions of administrative agencies; tort liability between individuals and businesses and criminal law.

C.                  Contracts and Product Liability – The formation and enforceability of contracts.  Product liability covers warranties under contract and tort liability.  We will spend more time on contracts than any other chapter.

D.                  Business Organizations and Employment Issues – Business organizations covers the legal structure of business organizations and the operation of those businesses.  The law of Agency, relationships between agents and principals, overlaps the business organization and employment issues.  Other employment issues are liability for employee actions and equal employment opportunity.

V.         Outcomes:  The course will increase your awareness of how much the legal system impacts your everyday life and business transactions.  Although you will learn some legal basics, this class will NOT make you an expert on the law.  It will stimulate your thinking about law, ethics and fairness in legal rational and policy.  You should also look at this class as an introduction to the concept of preventive law and learn to recognize circumstances when knowledge of the law may be crucial to a business.

VI,        Methods for Evaluation of Student Learning:

Examinations (Tests & Quizzes)

Written case studies, Research assignments, Student presentations.

VII.       Special Information:  none