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Not all courses listed below may be offered in both the spring and fall semesters.
This course presents law as an evolving social institution, with special emphasis on the legal regulation of business. It considers basic concepts of law and legal process, in the U.S. and other legal systems, and introduces the fundamentals of rigorous legal analysis. An in-depth examination of contract law is included. [top]
This course provides an introduction to the law of
corporate management and finance, focusing on large publicly held
corporations. It is presented from the perspective that before too long
virtually all students will serve on one or more corporate boards of
directors and that each should, therefore, know about the duties owed by
directors and officers to those toward whom they bear a fiduciary duty.
The course covers the basic obligations of corporate directors and
managers under state corporate law and the federal securities laws. It
also considers the rights and responsibilities of other major stake
holders in the governance of public corporations, including
shareholders, creditors/bondholders, employees (including corporate
executives), investment bankers, corporate lawyers, and accountants.
Particular attention is given to the law of mergers and acquisitions.
Important issues of social policy concerning large business corporations
are also discussed. [top]
This course examines the fundamentals of real estate
finance and development from a legal perspective. The course serves as a
foundation course for real estate majors and provides an introduction to
real estate for other students. It attempts to develop skills in using
legal concepts in a real estate transactional setting. The course will
be of interest to students contemplating careers in accounting, real
estate development, real estate finance, city planning, or banking. The
main topics covered may include the following: land acquisition,
finance; choice entity; tax aspects; management (leasing,
environmental); disposition of property (sale of mortgaged property,
foreclosures, wraparound mortgages, sale-leasebacks); and recent legal
developments. [top]
The course explores the legal aspects of marketing
strategy. The first half considers relevant antitrust doctrine and
policy: mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures; pricing strategy
(e.g., price fixing, exchanging price information, predatory pricing,
and discriminatory pricing); marketing channel strategy (e.g., resale
price maintenance, territorial and customer restrictions, exclusive
dealing, refusals to deal, etc.); and limits on market dominance. The
second half considers issues the intellectual property dimension
(including federal patent, copyright, and trademark law), as well as
federal and state laws pertaining to trade secrets, unfair competition,
and consumer protection. The focus is primarily on U.S. law, but the
challenges posed by diverse domestic, foreign, and international regimes
will also be emphasized. The course is useful to students contemplating
employment in the field of marketing, and to students interested in
anticipating legal constraints on competitive strategies. Most broadly,
the course should be of interest to anyone desiring to understand the
legal and public policy issues relating to the government regulation of
business. [top]
This course examines the art and science of negotiation, with additional emphasis on conflict resolution. Students will engage in a number of simulated negotiations ranging from simple one-issue transactions to multi-party joint ventures. Through these exercises and associated readings, students explore the basic theoretical models of bargaining and have an opportunity to test and improve their negotiation skills. [top]
The purpose of this course is to introduce future sports business leaders to a compendium of business and legal issues that apply in the context of the management of professional and amateur sports. Although the factual situations will focus upon sports, the technique of inserting a legal dimension into management decision analysis transferable to other industries as well. The course will provide both practical and theoretical approaches. Students will read standard case law and business cases in the sports area as well as law review articles and economic materials. [top]
Practical business solutions to problems arising in
the workplace and effective human resources policy and procedures
require knowledge and understanding of employment law. This course
examines the development, evolution and current status of workplace laws
with particular emphasis on workplace privacy and security issues
including electronic communications, surveillance and monitoring;
recruiting and hiring; civil rights in employment including
discrimination, harassment, diversity and affirmative action; the
non-employee workforce; and the regulatory environment including laws
protecting workers, fair labor standards and labor/management relations.
It provides students with an introduction to the law of the workforce
and examines the balance between business goals and employment law
compliance. [top]
This course explores business responsibility from rival theoretical and managerial perspectives. Its focus includes theories of ethics and their application to case studies in business. Topics include moral issues in advertising and sales; hiring and promotion; financial management; corporate pollution; product safety; and decision-making across borders and cultures. [top]
This course offers a current and historical overview
of the regulation of health care delivery in the U.S. It examines
principles and practical applications of the laws that affect the
operational decisions of health care providers, payors, and managers and
that impact the development of markets for health care products and
services. Also considered are the social, moral, and ethical issues
encountered in trying to balance the interests, needs, and rights of
citizens against those of society. For part of the term, the class will
divide into two groups so that students can focus on their choice of (a)
health care management or (b) selected issues of patients' rights.
[top]
The course is designed to teach students how to
think as an economist about legal rules; to evaluate alternative legal
rules against standards of economic efficiency and distributive justice;
and to understand the nature of the legal process and several specific
areas of the law. With the use of alternative texts, both deductive and
inductive reasoning will be employed to study the formation and
interpretation of legal rules. [top]
Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship is a practical and
intensive course that examines the critical legal issues confronting
start-up and emerging growth companies. Although the context of the
course is early stage companies, many of the concepts studied are
equally applicable to more mature, established companies. The course
provides perspective on how to use the law strategically to manage risk,
deploy resources and maximize shareholder value. Topics include the
enforceability of confidentiality, non-competition and other restrictive
covenants in employment agreements; choice of business form including
the legal, financial and tax advantages and disadvantages of general
partnerships, limited partnerships, corporations and limited liability
companies; tax and securities law; legal aspects of raising capital
including structuring venture capital and private equity financing;
letters of intent and mergers and acquisitions, employment law, and
intellectual property law including trade secrets, copyrights, patents,
and trademarks. [top]
This course aims to familiarize students with and
prepare students for the conduct of international transactions. The
first topic covered in the course is international trade, from trade on
letters of credit to barter. The mechanisms of U.S. and international
trade regulation are also discussed, in the context of how such
regulations may be used or opposed by traders. The course then studies
forms of direct international investment, such as joint ventures,
licensing, and distributorships. Finally, the course examines the global
context of international business transactions, with an emphasis on
issues that affect emerging economies.
[top]
This course provides a practical overview to the
management of environmental issues as practiced in today’s business
world, and how approaches are likely to develop for the future. Using
case studies, guest speakers, and selected essays, the course will
explore the effects of environmental regulation and policy on business
practices. The primary aim of the course is to give students a
theoretical and practical sense of the complex relationship between
business and other stakeholders and the natural environment, how that
relationship is mediated by statutory and common law rules, and how to
think critically about how best to manage this relationship. As part of
the course, students will work in consultative teams with local
Philadelphia businesses to assess and improve their organization’s
business practices as they may effect the environment. The course will
be co-taught by a business executive and a practicing environmental
regulator. Key components of the course include: - Development of a theoretical and practical framework for how relevant environmental laws impact businesses. - Real world examples of how businesses and various stakeholders address difficult issues in balancing corporate and environmental objectives. - An approach for building effective environmental management systems that is consistent with global standards such as ISO 14001. - A consultative external class project with a local
Philadelphia business to address specific environmental challenges for
that business. [top]
This course explores important issues in conducting business internationally in and with emerging economies. Much of the course attempts to define emerging economies and to understand the changes occurring in these countries. The course also examines the position of emerging economies in the global context, and how broad social issues affect the development of emerging economies and the ability to establish relationships or conduct business in emerging economies. [top]
The goal of this course is to study the role the law
has played, and continues to play, in addressing the problems of racial
discrimination in the United States. Contemporary issues such as racial
profiling, affirmative action and diversity will all be covered in their
social and legal context. The basis for discussion will be assigned
texts, articles, editorials, and cases. In addition, interactive videos
will also be used to aid class discussion. Course requirements will
include examinations and class discussions. [top]
This course introduces students to the frameworks for regulating international business – national, regional, and international, singling out the most relevant features of these for special attention. Topics include international dispute resolution, jurisdictional and choice of law problems, patterns in extraterritoriality, managing conflicting legal standards, and problems of in the way of creating more uniform rules affecting the conduct of international business. Students are encouraged to evaluate the policy dimensions of current legal regimes and proposals for reforms and to develop their own critical perspectives regarding these. [top]
This course is a multidisciplinary, interactive study of business ethics within a global economy. A central aim of the course is to enable students to develop a framework to address ethical challenges as they arise within and across different countries. Alternative theories about acting ethically in global environments are presented, and critical current issues are introduced and analyzed. Examples include bribery, global sourcing, environmental sustainability, social reports, intellectual property, e-commerce, and dealing with conflicting standards and values across cultures. As part of this study, the course considers non-Western ethical traditions and practices as they relate to business. [top]
The course explores the fundamentals of U.S. constitutional doctrine and adjudication, with an emphasis on commercial and business issues and implications of constitutional law. The course starts by considering the Constitution and the structure and relationship of the governmental entities it establishes and upon which it depends. Special attention is given to the role of the federal courts, especially the Supreme Court, in interpreting and applying constitutional principles. From this foundation, the course moves on to examine in detail the major economic and business implications of constitutional law in different eras of the nation's history. A core theme is how historical events and changing notions of public policy have affected and been affected by the evolution of constitutional doctrine. [top]
This course examines the law relating to the
developing field of electronic commerce or electronic business. The
first part of the course looks at private law. Private law issues are
typically commercial law issues which arise between the various parties
engaged in e-commerce. Examples of this include the laws relating to
making contracts online, electronic data interchange, dealing with
electronic payments, and so forth. The second part of the course
involves public law issues, which involve regulatory or governance
issues that are imposed upon e-commerce providers by governmental or
quasi-governmental agencies. Examples of this include regulations
governing privacy, certain types of forbidden content, and regulation of
spam and advertising, amongst others. After examining these two main
components, the course focuses on a number of specific examples of
e-commerce businesses which demonstrate how these legal issues apply to
particular scenarios. Existing examples include Internet gambling, and
online offerings of investment securities, but other examples will be
introduced as they become relevant.
[top]
The course examines the federal securities laws and the operation of the Securities Exchange Commission. The legal responsibilities of corporate managers, accountants, underwriters, and broker-dealers, occasioned by the securities regulatory scheme, will be investigated. Students will be encouraged to evaluate, from a managerial perspective, the various aspects of securities regulation studied. The course will discuss the recent financial crisis and ask the question whether enhanced securities regulation will prevent such a crisis in the future. The material covered in the course will provide familiarity with the basic legal structure of securities regulation and will assist in understanding the current policy issues in securities law. The course should help students to develop the ability to read and learn further in the field and to improve their effectiveness of communication with attorneys. It will also suggest ways of detecting instances in which an attorney should be consulted. The course is particularly useful for those students pursuing careers in corporate finance, investment banking, mergers and acquisitions, sales and trading, venture capital, private equity, entrepreneurship, accounting, corporate management and real estate. [top]
The 2000 UN Global Compact and the 2003 UN Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights have confirmed the role of TNCs as central actors in the field of international human rights law. This course introduces students to how international human rights law is currently being expanded to capture the operations of TNCs and why this development is controversial. The course examines competing perspectives on the pros and cons of imposing human rights responsibilities on businesses based in capital-exporting countries that are operate in emerging economies. Perspectives of various governments, businesses, international institutions, academics, and NGOs on issues of human rights and globalization will be considered, and a variety of case studies will be analyzed. [top]
Markets play a central role in the life of a
capitalist democracy. But is this a good thing? Should we let markets
decide who is rich and who is poor? Who makes decisions and who follows
them? Whose ideas get heard and whose ideas do not? The goal of this
class will be to examine the market from the perspective of various
social values to see whether we should want a market system and, if so,
what kind of market system we should want. Among the issues we will
examine are the following. Does the market contribute to the common
good? If so, how? Does the market conflict with the idea that all human
beings are of equal value? What is the relation between the market and
freedom? Does the market liberate us or oppress us? Can we reconcile the
market with our democratic ideals? What role should corporations play in
a healthy democracy? What role should markets play in an increasingly
globalized world? We will read several important philosophers,
economists and political theorists writing on these issues, including
Adam Smith, John Rawls, Amartya Sen, Friedrich Hayek, Karl Marx, Robert
Nozick, Ronald Dworkin, Jürgen Habermas, Peter Singer, and others. [top]
This course explores the history, literature, and philosophy of two age-old questions: what does it mean to be successful and how does one achieve this elusive goal? It surveys some of the classics of the “success” genre – from Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography in the 18th century to Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People and Marcus Buckingham’s Now, Discover Your Strengths in the 20th and 21st centuries. Case studies of remarkable achievements in business and society and Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman provide additional contexts within which to reflect on the questions at the center of the course. Students will keep a personal journal and use web-based tools to examine their own character strengths, talents, and achievement orientations. Grading is based on class participation, reading response papers, a final paper and quizzes on the readings. No final exam. [top]
This course focuses on the areas of association, contract, constitutional, labor, antitrust, and agency law as they apply to the sports industry. This course exposes the student to many of the legal issues facing those in sports organizations. special attention is given to the regulation of professional and amateur athletics, agency law, antitrust law, the organizational structure of sports leagues and associations, labor-management relations, and Title IX. The development of effective communication skills will be emphasized through class presentations and written assignments, leadership and interpersonal communications will be developed through small group projects and meetings, and critical thinking and problem solving skills will be fostered through the careful study of numerous cases. |
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