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BADM 4101
Spring 2015 Syllabus
BUSINESS LAW AND ETHICS
CRN 44922 M-W 9:35am – 10:50am / Duquès 152
CRN 44919 M-W 11:10am to 12:25pm / Funger 208
Professor: Gastón de los Reyes, Jr.
Department: Strategic Management & Public Policy (SMPP)
Office: 610 Funger Hall
Office Hours: Wednesday 2-4pm & by appointment
Office Phone: 202-994-5189
Email: gdlr@gwu.edu
Course Description: This class provides an introduction to the humanities of business. We will
engage personal and social values and the law with cases drawn from the dynamic and contested
global context that shapes business today. Through and through, the class is normative in
orientation. “Normative” is defined as “establishing, relating to, or deriving from a standard or
norm, especially of behavior.” We will consistently be asking what is right, better, good, wrong,
ideal, acceptable, sub-optimal, illicit, optional, frowned upon, etc., in any given situation. The
point is for students to learn how to raise and reckon with these kinds of judgments about the
activities we undertake as professionals and on behalf of our business organizations.
To this end, the class is divided into four parts:
First, we will emphasize questions of purpose: personal and organizational. Asking what we seek
from our careers and how we should think about the goals of a business will provide
anchors for addressing a variety of normative questions.
Second, we will focus on the difficulty presented by conflicts between personal values and the
culture, goals and directives that arise in organizations. How can you learn to give voice to
your values on the job?
Third, we will study the logic behind the central norms that have evolved in the common law to
protect property and person and provide structure for entering into contracts.
Fourth, we will focus on questions of justice and human flourishing that arise from the domestic
legal context and from global business practice and that call for professionals and
companies to become norm-makers.
Final Grade:
Requirement
Attendance
Contribution to Course Experience
Three quizzes (15% for top 2, 10% for low)
Paper
Case analysis (on final which also includes Quiz 3)
Total
Percentage
10%
10%
40%
33%
7%
100%
1 Course Objectives: This class is designed to help students:
1) Map out a personal sense of purpose in business and to develop a hierarchy of personal
commitments and values;
2) Understand the interplay between personal and organizational values and law;
3) Develop a vocabulary and conceptual framework for making sense of the normative
challenges of business life;
4) Provide a foundation for understanding the role of legal norms in business, especially those
evolved by the common law;
5) Develop the ability to articulate and defend normative claims;
6) Develop the ability to write argumentatively in a persuasive manner;
7) Develop sensitivity for each other’s values and aspirations; and
8) Learn how to work cooperatively and effectively in small groups.
Course Format: Students will be required to prepare a “problem set” for every class. The problem
set comprises each day’s assigned readings and the reading questions provided, including one
discussion question to be answer on Blackboard. Completing a problem set means carefully
preparing the assigned reading and working out preliminary answers to the reading/discussion
questions. In addition, students are strongly advised to draft a “brief” for each case and theoretical
reading. A case brief: (1) summarizes the facts/puzzles, (2) identifies the issues/questions and (3)
summarizes the relevant analysis.
Classes will consist of introductory lectures to frame the topics and discussions to make sense of
the readings and the issues they raise. I will call on students in each class especially to initiate
discussion and will also rely upon volunteers. We will also break up into small groups (4 +-1) for
discussion and role plays.
Course Requirements in Detail:
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Attendance is mandatory and counts for 10% of the final grade. Each student can preserve
a perfect attendance score with 2 or fewer absences excused in advance. All other
absences cost 2 points. Tardiness not excused in advance costs 1 point.
Contribution to class counts for 10% of the final grade, especially through in-class
discussion. Thoughtful posts on blackboard also count as contributions to class, especially
for the Discussion question posted for each class.
To reinforce the material practiced with the daily problem sets, we will have three quizzes,
corresponding to three of the four course parts. Each quiz will count for 15% of the final
grade and will be based on one of the three parts of the class, except that the lowest quiz
grade will count 10%. The first two quizzes will be held during class (see schedule below).
The last will be a component of the final. All quizzes are taken on laptops with ExamSoft.
The other component of the final is a case analysis that counts for 7% of the final grade
and will require students to articulate the personal commitments that they have come to
find as central to their professional aspirations. The case analysis builds especially on the
second part of the course (which is not quizzed).
The final paper will count 33% and will require students to propose a topic for approval
and then to submit an ungraded first draft for my comments.
Performance Journals: Students are responsible for keeping two journals updated on a class-byclass basis. The first is an “Attendance” journal, where students log lateness and missed classes
(and whether and when notice was provided regarding either lateness or absence). The second is a
“Contribution to Course Experience” journal, where students log a summary of their in-class
contributions as well as supplemental contributions, such as Blackboard blogging.
2 Decorum: Please arrive on time. We will all turn our phones off before class (if anyone has a
pressing reason to stay connected silently, please let me know at the start of class). Computers and
tablets must also be turned off, unless you sign up to take notes using the ExamSoft platform
(which locks out your computer except for taking notes).
Course Materials: Please purchase from the GWU Bookstore (or elsewhere, e.g., Kindle) the
following book: Jay Feinman, Law 101 (4th edition hardcover, 2014). Other readings will be posted
on Blackboard, Study.net or electronic reserves. Materials on Study.net may require purchase. Any
Harvard cases will be available for purchase. Assignments are posted on Blackboard.
Commitment Expectations: Preparing the problem sets for each class should take at least 2 to 2.5
hours. Please let me know if prep is taking you longer. If you are spending less than 90 minutes,
you are almost certainly compromising your ability to process class discussion (and hence to score
well on the quizzes). Students will also need additional hours to review and study the material in
preparation for the quizzes. Study groups are strongly encouraged for quiz prep. The paper will
also draw additional time and energy over the course of the semester (see schedule below).
EVERY STUDENT IS EXPECTED TO COME TO CLASS ON TIME PREPARED TO
DISCUSS THE DAY’S MATERIAL. YOU SHOULD UNENROLL FROM THIS CLASS
IMMEDIATELY IF (1) THE COMMITMENT THAT IS REQUIRED IS INCONSISTENT
WITH YOUR INTENTIONS AND AVAILABLE BANDWIDTH FOR THIS SEMESTER
OR (2) YOU DO NOT INTEND TO ATTEND EVERY CLASS (OTHER THAN ONE OR
TWO EXCEPTIONS WITH ADVANCE NOTICE PROVIDED). IF YOU ARE ENROLLED
IN MORE THAN 5 COURSES YOU SHOULD SPEAK TO ME TODAY. YOU ARE
EXPECTED TO ENGAGE CLASS PROFESSIONALLY AND COOPERATIVELY,
ESPECIALLY DURING SMALL GROUP WORK.
Final Paper: The assignment is to find a normative problem in business that you are puzzled by
and care about. Students will define the problem and motivate the importance of the normative
question the paper proposes to ask and then answer in 6 to 8 pages. Students will propose the paper
by articulating (1) the question, (2) why it’s important to care about this question, (3) what you
need to learn and (4) a key concern you have with the project.
Though ungraded, first drafts will be studied carefully by me. You will have a chance to read my
review comments to revise and improve your draft for the final and graded draft. Relevant
deadlines are detailed below.
Disabilities: Any student who may need an accommodation based on the potential impact of a
disability should contact the Disability Support Services office at 202-994-8250 in Rome Hall,
Suite 102, to establish eligibility and to coordinate reasonable accommodations. For additional
information please refer to: http://gwired.gwu.edu/dss/
Grading: At the end of the semester, points for each requirement will be added to create a linear
distribution of overall student performance. A’s will go to students who performed exceptionally
on this distribution. A-’s are for other students who excelled in the class. B+ reflects satisfactory
completion of course requirements. Lower grades will also be based on a curve of the distribution.
Each quiz will be scaled on a curve as necessary.
Plagiarism/Cheating: Any student unfamiliar with expectations concerning the norms of fair
attribution of ideas and quoting others’ writing must speak with me prior to the first paper deadline.
All papers will be screened for matching content from the Internet and other sources. Plagiarism
will always require complete rewriting of a paper in order to receive a grade and may result in a
zero on the paper requirement. Cheating of any kind on any quiz will result, at a minimum, in a
zero on that quiz (or on the case analysis). Please review http://studentconduct.gwu.edu/ for further
information on the potential consequences of academic integrity violations.
3 Planned Class Schedule (27 class sessions plus Blackburn Lecture and final exam)
Date
1/12
Topic
Opening
Part I: Purpose (8 sessions plus quiz and required Blackburn Lecture)
1/14
Personal Purpose
1/21
Purpose and Law
1/22 [Special Lecture: Required]
Blackburn Lecture: Michael Sandel 6pm Lisner
1/26
The Purpose of Markets
1/28
The Purpose in Decency (Practice Quiz)
Focus on Corporate Governance
2/2
Hobby Lobby & the Purpose of Closed Corporations
2/4
Friedman on Managing Public Corporations
2/9
Andrews on Managing Corporations
2/11
Securities Laws; Insider Trading
2/18
Quiz 1: Purpose
2/20 [Field Trip: Recommended]
Recommended Field Trip to DC Court of Appeals
9:30am @ 333 Constitution Ave. [to be confirmed]
Part II: Giving Voice to Values (3 sessions without quiz)
2/23
The Pinto Case
2/25
Courage & Whistleblowing
2/27 [Paper Deadline]
Paper Proposal Due
3/2
Sexual Violence in the Military and Universities
Part III: The Common Law (8 sessions plus quiz)
3/4
The Case of the Speluncean Explorers
3/6
Proposal Comments to Authors
3/16 [No Class]
NO CLASS (in exchange for Sandel lecture)
3/18
History of the Common Law; Intellectual Property
3/23
Civil Procedure; Intentional Torts
3/25
Negligence & Strict Liability
3/27 [Paper Deadline]
First Draft Paper Due 5pm
3/30
Remedies in Tort and Contract
4/1
Construction of Contracts
4/6
Perfection of Contracts; Unconscionability
4/8
Fraud; Employment Contracts
4/13
Quiz 2: The Common Law
Part IV: Justice and Norm-Making (6 sessions plus quiz on final)
4/15
The Constitution of the United States of America
4/17 [Paper Deadline]
Reviews of First Drafts to Authors
4/20
White Supremacy in Business Transactions
4/22
Making a Difference in Global Health
4/27
Labor in the Global Supply Chain
4/28 [Make-up Day]
Environmental Sustainability and Demand
4/29
Wrap-Up Class: Justice and Income Distribution
5/1 [Paper Deadline]
Final Draft Paper Due 5pm
As scheduled by Registrar
Final Exam: Quiz 3 & Case Analysis
*There is no class on the underlined dates. **Review sessions will be scheduled for each quiz.
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