… examines several advanced topics in the legal environment that will equip students
to recognize the legal challenges they will encounter
as managers and entrepreneurs …
Prerequisite: BLAW2301, Legal Foundations of Business
Stillman’s Mission
… is to enrich each student’s life through an ethics-centered education focusing on transforming concepts into business practice.
Welcome To The Course
Welcome to Advanced Topics. This is part of your course syllabus. We will meet F2F weekly (MW, 2:00p – 3:15p). I will update this syllabus if I add something to the course or if something unexpected intervenes … like a hurricane or blizzard. It is your responsibility to remain current on course assignments and materials by reviewing this syllabus regularly for updates.
You should review the entire course syllabus, calendar, deliverables, schedule and any other materials included in this course site carefully. You will find answers to any questions when you review the rest of the information included on this site. If you have any questions after you’ve reviewed this syllabus and the rest of the course site, you can DM me in Slack to contact me.
Before We Meet
We will meet for the first time on Monday, August 27th at 2p in JH118.
Before we meet please click Before We Begin to complete some housekeeping items that include introducing yourself to your classmates, agreeing to the learning contract and completing your Slack account creation.
Click here to signup for Slack and complete your Slack profile. You must use your SHU email (firstname.lastname@student.shu.edu) to complete the signup process. Your Slack team name is 3184310aa.slack.com. Please use your full name, e.g., @firstname.lastname, as your screen name when you join the course team and create your Slack profile. Do not use your SHU short name or some variation thereof. Complete your Slack signup immediately since all of our course communication will be via Slack and I will not use email for our course communication in the future.
Introduction
Managers face a variety of legal challenges that can both help and hinder success. This course examines several advanced topics in the legal environment that will provide a foundation that will equip students to recognize the legal challenges they will encounter as managers. We will focus on several of the cases decided during the 2017/2018 SCOTUS term. We will examine cases that address issues touching on constitutional law, employment and labor law, patents and antitrust. While we will not turn students into lawyers, we will develop the legal knowledge and analytical skills that guide entrepreneurs in a complicated legal environment.
What Should You Expect?
The subject matter of the course is interesting, challenging and very timely. We will cover some very interesting topics that are particularly important in the economy of the 21st century. We will use a variety of digital platforms to interact with each other and the course materials. I will actively engage you through the use of the Socratic Method, both in class and during our discussions outside class. You will have a better sense of my class sessions after you read my perspective on Teaching and Learning.
Learning Objectives
This course is an elective that is required for those students who have decided to pursue the Minor in Legal Studies. The course will help prepare students to meet the legal and regulatory challenges and opportunities they can expect to encounter as managers of private and public businesses. The course provides a conceptual framework for understanding the various legal tools available to managers engaged in evaluating and pursuing opportunities. This course will not make you a lawyer. It will, however, help you to develop insights into the law so you can handle the legal aspects of management with confidence. This includes developing legal literacy and learning what to look for when selecting an attorney and then … knowing when to call one.
Required Course Text
Hunter, Shannon, Amoroso & O’Sullivan-Gavin. Law, Business and Regulation: A Managerial Perspective, CreateSpace (2017).
The required course text is available from the SHU bookstore or you can click the link above to order the text directly from the publisher, CreateSpace. You will need the text before our first class meeting to complete the assignments described in the Course Schedule.
Additional Materials
I may assign additional materials for use in our course. I will post links to those materials in advance in the Course Schedule. Please check the syllabus regularly for updates.
Technology
Since you have reviewed my Course Policies, you are already familiar with my expectations about the use of technology in my courses. Your participation in this course will require you to engage with a number of different digital platforms. Our communication and collaboration platform will be Slack. If you need to reach me or have a question, please DM in Slack. We use Slack video for our virtual office hours on Tuesday mornings. You will prepare your writing assignments using digital platforms that will allow you to incorporate multimedia that will enhance your text based content. You will use resources as varied as a search engine (Google, DuckDuckGo or Bing) and also the resources available from our own Walsh Library.
You are responsible for “figuring it out” when it comes to the “how to” aspects of a project. If you don’t know how to do something … “Google” it!
Many of my students have told me that “figuring it out” was both an unexpected and beneficial experience and a critical learning outcome.
Course Policies
It is your responsibility to become familiar with my Course Policies including in class performance; attendance, preparation & participation; assignments; course communication; assessment and plagiarism. Please review them carefully.
As in the law … ignorance (of the Course Policies) is not an excuse.
Contact Me
Professor John H. Shannon
- Office: 651 Jubilee Hall
- Email: john DOT shannon AT shu DOT edu
- Office Hours: Mon & Wed, 12:30p – 1:30p (JH651); Tue, 9:30a – 10:30a (Slack video); also by appt
We can schedule an alternative meeting time if you are not available during my office hours. As you know, our course communications platform is Slack. Please DM me in Slack with some days/times when you are available and we can schedule a video conference in Slack.
I can be reached via any number of platforms … Slack, Teams, email, voice or video conference. As a general rule, I am available if I am online. If you are already enrolled in one of my courses then DM me in Slack and I will respond. I will try to reply to email and voice messages as soon as possible but certainly no more than 24 hours after receipt. If you prefer a video conference (and who doesn’t?) please ping me with some convenient days/times and we’ll set it up.
My office hours are subject to change pretty much every semester so please check your course syllabus for my current office hours (see above). I generally schedule at least one hour a week using Slack video to accommodate those who have a conflict with my scheduled office hours. If you are unavailable to meet in my office, you can schedule an appointment for a F2F meeting or we can set up a video conference via Skype or Slack. I prefer video conferences because they give me more options when answering your questions.
That said, I do try to carve out some space for thoughtful consideration of life. The practical impact of that desire is to keep evenings and weekends clear for family, friends and other forms of social interaction. If you going to ping me late on a Friday then I will get back to you on Monday unless it is an emergency … a REAL emergency.
So, you ask, what are the variety of contact points where you can reach me? You can reach me by email (john DOT shannon AT shu DOT edu), Skype (shannojh) or Twitter. Please DM me in Slack if you are already enrolled in one of my courses.
When communicating with me please include the following information: your name, the question or issue to be resolved, your course/section and any other necessary information.