Applying Legal Concepts to Business in a Legal and Ethical Environment of Business Course: The Build‐a‐Business Project

• Published in: The Journal of legal studies education Vol. 34; no. 1; pp. 89 - 126
• Main Authors: Grelecki, Ryan C., Willey, Susan L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2017
• Subjects: Assignments; Business Administration Education; Case Method (Teaching Technique); Concept Teaching; Course Descriptions; Educational Benefits; Educational Objectives; Ethical Instruction; Feedback (Response); Fidelity; Law Related Education; Student Projects; Teaching Methods; Georgia
• ISSN: 0896-5811; 1744-1722
• DOI: 10.1111/jlse.12058

One of the most significant hurdles to overcome in teaching law to business students is getting them to recognize and appreciate the real-world applicability of the law, a seemingly esoteric and irrelevant discipline. This hurdle is especially challenging when teaching Legal and Ethical Environment of Business (LEEB), a course that most business students are "forced" to take. In this article, the author describes a project that originated as an assignment to help students improve their writing skills and to accomplish university and college written communication educational objectives and learning outcomes. The current iteration of the Project is a highly versatile, multipart, semester-long assignment that can be easily modified based on individual instructor content delivery, class size, instructor interest, and whether students take the LEEB course prior to, or concurrent with, upper-level, specialized business coursework. Through their analysis, students come to see the practical application of legal principles to the business world in which they will someday operate. The second part of this article discusses the Project's educational objectives followed by a description of its standard structure. The authors go on to discuss the benefits realized by implementing the Project. They then describe the versatility of the Project, setting forth a number of variations they have developed and tested in their sophomore-level LEEB course. Lastly, the article concludes with a discussion of student feedback the authors have received over time.