MBA ELECTIVES FOR SPRING 2007 LEGAL ENVIRONMENT OF BUSINESS A top executive of a Fortune 50 company recently noted that in a post-Enron, Sarbanes-Oxley kind of world, “[i]t’s not possible to think of a [business] strategy that doesn’t have a legal compliance and regulatory element to it.” No wonder, then, that the
AACSB, the accrediting organization for business schools, recently decided that the skill set MBAs should have upon graduation includes, first (and arguably foremost) the ability to manage a business ethically and legally. Businesspeople who can identify legal issues, who can include legal considerations in their strategic plans, and who know when to call in their company lawyers have a meaningful competitive advantage. McCombs is blessed to have the second best (behind Wharton) legal environment faculty in the nation. Below are summaries of the Legal Environment of Business (LEB) electives that will be offered in the Spring 2007 semester. All are listed in the course schedule as topics under the LEB 380 heading. LEB is located in the IROM Department. LEB courses are generally a good bet. For the following LEB courses for MBAs currently listed on the UT Course Instructor Survey Online Results page, the average course instructor evaluation has been 4.6 in recent semesters.
LEB 380 - topic 1: Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Business (#03485) 9:30 – 11:00 TTh Faculty: Paula Murray This course covers ethical aspects of the managerial decision making process and application of fundamental ethical principles to business, legal, and social problems. Topics include ethical implications of financial markets’ race and gender discrimination; employee privacy; health, safety, environmental and consumer issues; insider trading; multinational business firms. Enron, Arthur Andersen, and Sarbanes-Oxley will probably be mentioned occasionally. Professor Murray is a hoot, to put it mildly. LEB 380 - topic 3: Law of Commercial Real Estate Finance and Development (#03495) Tth 2:00 – 3:30 Faculty: Paula Murray
This course covers the legal framework for commercial real estate finance and development, including basic real estate law concepts, legal aspects of financing techniques and instruments, subdivision land-use controls, and environmental regulation of real estate development. Ethical dimensions are covered where appropriate. Professor Murray evaluations in this class are typically 4.5 or so. LEB 380 - topic 4: Securities Regulation (#03500) TTh 8:00 – 9:30 Faculty: Robert Prentice
This course studies the legal environment within which securities are issued and traded, including such matters as insider trading, mergers & acquisitions, proxy fights, venture
capital, private equity funds, initial public offerings, and the like. Legal responsibilities and liabilities of investment bankers, stock analysts, hedge fund managers, auditors, and other professionals are studied. Sarbanes-Oxley will get a mention or two. The course is quite helpful for the Series 7 and other professional certification exams. It will be worth your while, even at 8:00 am. We promise. Professor Prentice is a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers and his evaluations for this class are consistently 4.8 and 4.9. LEB 380 - topic 7: Corporation Law (#03505) TTh 12:30 – 2:00 This course will examine the various business entities such as partnerships and limited liability companies but with an emphasis on corporations. Students will learn how these entities are formed and governed, determine which entity may be appropriate for a certain types of business, and examine agency law to determine how employees create profits and liabilities. Finally, students will examine the relationships between the owners of a business such as the shareholders and the managers of the business such as the officers and at the duties and liabilities imposed on those managers. This course will be taught by a lecturer. We’ll hire somebody good, we promise. LEB 380 - topic 26: Law for Entrepreneurs (#03515) TTh 11:00 – 12:30 Faculty: Christopher Meakin
All entrepreneurs face a raft of difficult legal issues, including how to protect their intellectual property, how to hire and retain employees, how to raise capital without violating SEC rules, how to extract wealth from their company without being sued, etc. Professor Meakin has something to do with the MBA program, but we’re not sure what. He has taught at Rice as well as UT. He has practiced law with one of the nation’s most prestigious firms in Houston and avoided indictment. He has also been general counsel to a start-up company in Austin. The last time he taught this class, students evaluated him at 4.8.