The Legal Environment of Business aims to be the most readable, understandable, and student-friendly textbook in its field. Covering both classic and cutting-edge business law issues, the book’s 23 chapters offer many practical examples of how the law affects business, and they give students the opportunity to apply the theories in a variety of practical exercises. These features are all designed to help students learn to use and apply, not just memorize, legal concepts.

While the book is aimed primarily at the undergraduate “Legal Environment of Business” course, it is also appropriate for a variety of other undergraduate courses as well as business seminars and programs involving legal issues. The authors provide thorough coverage of traditional legal doctrines important to business, such as contracts, torts, property, and forms of business organization; but they also offer full treatment of contemporary issues such as cyberlaw, electronic monitoring of employee activities, developments in Constitutional law, the Microsoft antitrust case, the legality of Internet contracts and various other “e-commerce” issues, and a thorough examination of recent developments in the European Union and other international legal issues important to business. Social and ethical issues are also addressed throughout the text.

Because the authors understand that the subject of business law is difficult enough for undergraduates, without shrouding the issues in “legalese,” The Legal Environment of Business strives to be the most readable of all its competitors in the field.

Together, the authors have more than 60 years of experience teaching undergraduate business students, and all three have won teaching awards at their universities. Michael Bixby, professor of legal studies in business at Boise State University, is past president of the Pacific Northwest region of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, and a member of the governing council of the Business and Corporate Section of the Idaho State Bar. Caryn Beck-Dudley is currently Dean of the Business School at Utah State University, and past president of the national Academy of Legal Studies in Business. Patrick Cihon is an associate professor of law and public policy at Syracuse University School of Management; he is an active member of the ALSB and many other professional associations, and serves as president of the New York Association of University Professors and board member of the American Association of University Professors.

Features

• in addition to basic business law issues such as contracts, property, torts, and business organizations, includes up-to-date explanations of rapidly developing issues like intellectual property, cyberlaw, and topics in international and global business.
• features many recent court cases, as well as classics in the field.
• one whole chapter devoted to international legal issues in business, including complete descriptions of the European Union and the World Trade Organization.
• financial and accounting scandals of 2001 onward explored from ethical and legal standpoints; important provisions of ensuing Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 examined over several chapters.
• all new legal terms explained as they are used, many highlighted in bubbles in the margins.
• three to four legal cases presented in each chapter, carefully chosen and edited to show clearly how legal principles operate in “real-life” situations; one case in each chapter presented using only the language of the court, allowing closer analysis of the legal reasoning process
• “Memo from the Legal Department” boxes in each chapter offer practical advice directly to students concerning legal concepts discussed in the text
• “In Consultation” boxes present fictional managers discussing a legal problem with the company lawyer, and a series of questions and answers from the lawyer
• “Social/Ethical” boxes ask student to consider not only legal problems, but the principle and public policy behind various laws; these and the one chapter devoted exclusively to business ethics and social responsibility encourage students to consider their own ethical principles and apply them to business situations.
• End-of-chapter review questions followed by hypothetical dilemmas for which students must propose a solution based on material in the chapter