Legal Studies and Business Ethics
Please note: Before scheduling classes, check with the department to determine the availability of courses for the upcoming semester or visit the Legal Studies and Business Ethics website.
Legal Studies and Business Ethics allows students to supplement
their major field with in-depth knowledge of one or more
relevant legal areas.
The study of law provides valuable insight into the business- government interface and the development of public policy affecting the global market. It also enhances students’ knowledge and skills in practical areas directly relevant to business transactions. Familiarity with the law enables one to identify potential legal problems, seek appropriate counsel before making key business decisions, and work more effectively with lawyers.
Wharton’s Legal Studies and Business Ethics courses help students to hone their reasoning skills, an intellectual discipline useful in many diverse problem-solving contexts. The core course, LGST 621/BPUB 621, co-taught with the Business and Public Policy Department, is part of the MBA core curriculum. Several other legal studies courses (as indicated below) may count toward majors in other departments.
The Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department plays the central role in integrating business ethics into the Wharton curriculum. Working with colleagues from other departments, Legal Studies and Business Ethics faculty lead the Wharton Ethics Program, responsible for teaching business ethics in the MBA core curriculum and incorporating ethics content into MBA courses. Legal Studies and Business Ethics faculty are also engaged in cutting-edge research about ethics in business. Many Legal Studies and Business Ethics courses are directly relevant to majors in other departments. Consult the particular major requirements to determine whether and how Legal Studies may be counted. (Several courses are cross-listed under other departments’ numbers.)
The Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department also participates in the cross-functional major in Environmental and Risk Management and plays an important role in teaching the popular Negotiations course.
MBA Advisor: Kevin Werbach (telephone: 215.898.1222; email: werbach@wharton.upenn.edu)
- Finance
- LGST 802 Corporate Law and Management in Global Perspective
- LGST 804 Real Estate Law
- LGST 807 Securities Regulation
- LGST 804 Real Estate Law
- Health Care
- LGST 811 Legal Aspects of Health Care
- Management
- LGST 802 Corporate Law and Management in Global Perspective
- LGST 804 Real Estate Law
- LGST 806 Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
- LGST 809 Sports Business Management
- LGST 813 Legal and Transactional Aspects of Entrepreneurship
- LGST 814 International Business Transactions in Industrialized and Emerging Economies
- LGST 815 Environmental Management Law & Policy
- Marketing
- LGST 805 Law of Marketing and Antitrust
- Operations and Information Management
- LGST 806 Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
- Real Estate
- LGST 804 Real Estate Law
LGST/BPUB 621 (.5 cu)
The Governmental and Legal Environment of Business
Description: See description in Core section.
LGST 652 (.25 cu)
Ethics and Responsibility
Description: See description in Core section.
LGST/MGMT/OPIM 692x
Advanced Topics in Negotiations
Description: See OPIM 692x.
LGST 802
Corporate Law and Management in Global Perspective
Description: This course provides an introduction to the law of corporate management and finance, focusing on large publicly held corporations. It is presented from the perspective that before too long virtually all students will serve on one or more corporate boards of directors and that each should, therefore, know about the duties owed by directors and officers to those toward whom they bear a fiduciary duty. The course covers the basic obligations of corporate directors and managers under state corporate law and the federal securities laws. It also considers the rights and responsibilities of other major stake holders in the governance of public corporations, including shareholders, creditors/bondholders, employees (including corporate executives), investment bankers, corporate lawyers, and accountants. Particular attention is given to the law of mergers and acquisitions. Important issues of social policy concerning large business corporations are also discussed.
Format: Discussion of legal cases and materials, midterm and final.
Prerequisites: None.
LGST/REAL 804
Real Estate Law
Description: See REAL 804.
LGST 805/MKTG 760
Law of Marketing and Antitrust
Description: The course explores the legal aspects of marketing strategy. The first half considers relevant antitrust doctrine and policy: mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures; pricing strategy (e.g., price fixing, exchanging price information, predatory pricing, and discriminatory pricing); marketing channel strategy (e.g., resale price maintenance, territorial and customer restrictions, exclusive dealing, refusals to deal, etc.); and limits on market dominance. The second half considers issues the intellectual property dimension (including federal patent, copyright, and trademark law), as well as federal and state laws pertaining to trade secrets, unfair competition, and consumer protection. The focus is primarily on U.S. law, but the challenges posed by diverse domestic, foreign, and international regimes will also be emphasized. The course is useful to students contemplating employment in the field of marketing, and to students interested in anticipating legal constraints on competitive strategies. Most broadly, the course should be of interest to anyone desiring to understand the legal and public policy issues relating to the government regulation of business.
Format: Lecture and legal case discussion, midterm and final.
Prerequisites: None.
LGST 806/MGMT 691/OPIM 691
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
Description: This course examines the art and science of negotiation, with additional emphasis on conflict resolution. Students will engage in a number of simulated negotiations ranging from simple one issue transactions to multi-party joint ventures. Through these exercises and associated readings, students explore the basic theoretical models of bargaining and have an opportunity to test and improve their negotiation skills.
Format: Lecture, class discussion, simulation/role-play, video demonstrations. Course diary of responses to readings, simulations, and observations of techniques in practice. A final paper.
Prerequisites: None.
LGST 807
Securities Regulation
Description: The course examines the federal securities laws and the operation of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The legal responsibilities of corporate managers, accountants, underwriters, and broker-dealers, occasioned by the securities regulatory scheme, will be investigated. Students will be encouraged to evaluate, from a managerial perspective, the various aspects of securities regulation studied. The course will discuss the recent financial crisis and ask the question whether enhanced securities regulation will prevent such a crisis in the future. The material covered in the course will provide familiarity with the basic legal structure of securities regulation and will assist in understanding the current policy issues in securities law. The course should help students to develop the ability to read and learn further in the field and to improve their effectiveness of communication with attorneys. It will also suggest ways of detecting instances in which an attorney should be consulted. The course is particularly useful for those students pursuing careers in corporate finance, investment banking, mergers and acquisitions, sales and trading, venture capital, private equity, entrepreneurship, accounting, corporate management, and real estate.
Format: Lecture, class discussion, problems, midterm and final exam.
Prerequisites: None.
LGST 809/MGMT 815
Sports Business Management
Description: The purpose of this course is to introduce future sports business leaders to a compendium of business and legal issues that apply in the context of the management of professional and amateur sports. Although the factual situations will focus upon sports, the technique of inserting a legal dimension into management decision analysis is transferable to other industries as well. The course will provide both practical and theoretical approaches. Students will read standard case law and business cases in the sports area as well as law review articles and economic materials.
Format: Lecture, class discussion, case study, simulation, written preparation of cases, midterm exam or paper, and a final exam.
LGST 810
Business Ethics and Corporate Responsibility
Description: This course examines the foundations of moral reasoning and the analysis of ethical issues that arise in a wide range of contemporary business practices, both domestically and globally. The central aim of the course is to enable students to develop a framework through which to recognize, analyze, and address challenges as they arise in their careers. The course also involves an evaluation of the institutions that structure the interaction of corporations and individuals in the conduct of business.
Format: Class discussion, student presentations, and guest speakers, one short paper, one team presentation of a case, final paper, and presentation of final paper.
Prerequisites: None.
LGST 811/HCMG 854
Legal Aspects of Health Care
Description: See description in HCMG 854.
LGST 813
Legal and Transactional Aspects of Entrepreneurship
Description: This is a practical and intensive course that examines the critical legal issues confronting start-up and emerging growth companies. Although the context of the course is early stage companies, many of the concepts studied are equally applicable to more mature, established companies. The course provides perspective on how to use the law strategically to manage risk, deploy resources and maximize shareholder value. Topics include the enforceability of confidentiality, non-competition and other restrictive covenants in employment agreements; choice of business form including the legal, financial and tax advantages and disadvantages of general partnerships, limited partnerships, corporations and limited liability companies; tax and securities law; and legal aspects of raising capital including structuring venture capital and private equity financing; letters of intent and mergers and acquisitions, employment law, and intellectual property law including trade secrets, copyrights, patents, and trademarks.
Format: Lecture and discussion with coverage of legal cases and text materials, class participation, midterm and final exam.
Prerequisites: None. Students who have taken certain legal studies courses may find limited overlap with this course.
LGST 814
International Business Transactions in Industrialized and Emerging Economies
Description: This course aims to familiarize students with and prepare students for the conduct of international transactions. Students will work their way through a series of hypothetical trade transactions, placed against a background of concept and general theories. Students will take a hypothetical firm through a series of possible transactional investments, again after discussion of concepts and general theories. Throughout, the course will discuss issues of importance to emerging economies. Students should be able to make thoughtful choices rather than simply reciting bullet points about international business transactions.
Format: Some lecture, considerable class participation, quizzes and final exam.
Prerequisites: None.
LGST 815
Environmental Management Law & Policy
Description: This course provides an introduction to environmental management with a focus on law and policy as a basic framework. The primary aim of the course is to give students a deeper practical sense of the important relationship between business and the natural environment and to think critically about how best to manage this relationship.
LGST 820
International Business Ethics
Description: The course is a multi-disciplinary, interactive study of business ethics within a global economy. A central aim of the course is to enable students to develop a framework to address ethical challenges as they arise within and across different countries. Alternative theories about acting ethically in global environments are presented and critical current issues are introduced and analyzed. Examples include bribery, global sourcing, environmental sustainability, social reports, intellectual property, e-commerce and dealing with conflicting standards and values across cultures. As part of this study, the course considers non-Western ethical traditions and practices as they relate to business.
LGST 830x
Social Impact and Responsibility: Foundations
Description: This course is designed to provide a survey and framework for the study of social impact and responsibility. The course is organized around the question: "How should business enterprises and business thinking be engaged to improve society in areas not always associated with business?" A key element of the course is the development of frameworks to define and measure social improvement. The course also examines approaches for success in corporate philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, socially responsible investing, business-nonprofit partnerships, social entrepreneurship and the adaptation of business thinking to the social sector. Examples are drawn from a range of areas, including the environment, education, health, economic development, microfinance, human rights, and community engagement. The course is intended for students who seek careers in this field and for students who seek to prepare themselves for the social and political demands placed upon business enterprises operating in a global economy.
Format: Twelve-session discussion-based course with midterm exam and final project.
Prerequisites: None.