• review
• Write a 2–page executive briefing of a selected business-related case that has been decided by a U.S. state court, a U.S. federal court, or the U.S. Supreme Court.
• In this introductory course to business law, you will examine real-world court decisions pertinent to the topics that you will be studying. This is not a course designed to train lawyers, and you are not expected to be an attorney-in-training. However, you will be entailed to do a substantial amount of independent research in the scholarly and professional resources of the field. You will be called upon to locate court cases in which the legal topics of focus for each assessment are applied, to select one that you think represents a pertinent example of the law, and to write an analysis paper for each case.
• If you have never researched or read court cases before, you may find these tasks daunting at first. To help you get your research started, some prominent searchable databases of court cases have been recommended for you in the Resources. Try to imagine yourself as either the plaintiff or the defendant in the cases you review, to make these controversies more resonant to your life. It will help to make the material more engaging and enjoyable.
• Use the resources provided to begin to familiarize yourself with the legal terminology as early as possible, in order to help you make sense of the complex language often found in court cases. It is vital that you start by familiarizing yourself with the essential legal terminology, in order to develop a grounding in the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of American business law. The terminology that you will learn in this course will be useful in both a scholarly and everyday context.
• Context
• The U.S. legal system is often misunderstood. In the United States, jurisprudence is a result of centuries of commercial disputes, transactional lawsuits, scholarly opinions, and, interestingly, centuries of developed systems of law from Great Britain.
• Read the Assessment 1 Context document for important information related to the following topics:
  • Common Law Tradition.
  • Role of the Judicial Branch.
  • Parallel Systems.
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution.
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  Questions to Consider

  To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of the business community.

  • What are some of the differences between the models for law systems throughout the world? What are some of the benefits of each? What are some of the disadvantages of each?
  • What is the difference between procedural rules and substantive rules? Which are more important for the average person in society to know? Why?
  • How is your country’s legal system connected to business, and what is its impact? Is it favorable to the growth of business, or unfavorable? Does it protect some but not others? Does the legal system foster the goal of resolving disputes promptly, equitably, and peacefully?

  • Suggested Internet Resources

    Access the following resources by clicking the links provided. Please note that URLs change frequently. Permissions for the following links have been either granted or deemed appropriate for educational use at the time of course publication.

    • Nolo. (2013). Nolo law for all. Retrieved from http://www.nolo.com
      • This resource provides helpful background on a range of legal issues. You may find the Free Legal Information section of the site particularly helpful.

    Your assessments throughout this course will be case law analysis papers based on real-world court decisions you will choose and research independently. The following suggested resources provide helpful methods of locating relevant cases:

    • FindLaw. (2013).US Supreme Court opinions. Retrieved from www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html
    • Cornell University Law School – Legal Information Institute (LII). (n.d.). Supreme Court: Most recent decisions. Retrieved from www.law.cornell.edu/supct
    • Nolo. (2011). US Supreme Court center. Retrieved from http://supreme.nolo.com
    • Oyez, Inc. (2011).U.S. Supreme Court media – Cases. Retrieved from http://www.oyez.org/cases

Assessment Instructions

For this assessment, you will first select an actual business-related legal case that has been decided by a U.S. state court, a U.S. federal court, or the U.S. Supreme Court, based on briefly conducting associated research. Based on that, you will then select an organization that you believe would be impacted by that legal case. Having completed both of these tasks, you should assume you’re a senior manager in the organization you selected, and that you were asked to perform an analysis of the legal case and to write an executive briefing for the executive team of that same organization. Your executive briefing should include a summary of the case, as well as an evaluation of how the case impacts the organization.

The purpose of this format is two-fold:

1. To give you the opportunity to research and investigate a real court decision.
2. To challenge you to think about the business implications of the case, and specifically how the case will impact an actual organization.?

In your case law analysis, you must be able to navigate the court’s decision, and summarize and evaluate it. You may choose any business-related court case, either state or federal, as the basis for your case law executive briefings, as long as the case is applicable to the assessment topic. You are expected to conduct your own independent research to locate and evaluate the applicability of cases. A few appropriate case law websites are recommended for you in the Resources, but you are not limited to using cases from these sites.

For this assessment, use credible legal research databases and online resources, research federal and state court cases, and select any business-related case that has been decided by a state court, a federal court, or the United States Supreme Court. Then select an organization (potentially the organization for which you work) that you believe the selected case might impact. Write an executive briefing that addresses the following:

1. Articulate the context and relevance of law in a business environment:
   • Identify the parties who are before the court.
   • Provide a brief background and context associated with the case. Summarize the facts in no more than 2–3 paragraphs.
   • Identify the specific disagreement between the parties.
   • Explain the ruling of the court and its business relevance in no more than 1–2 paragraphs. Was there a dissenting opinion? If so, explain why some of the judges or justices disagreed with the majority in the decision.?
2. Evaluate the business impact of the case:
   • Summarize your analysis of how the case will impact businesses in general, including both positive and negative impacts.?
   • Indicate the organization you selected as potentially impacted by the case, and why you selected that organization.
   • Explain how the case will impact the specific organization you selected, such that the executive team will understand the implications of the legal decision.

Based on your executive audience, your executive briefing should be no more than two pages, and should be well organized and written in clear, succinct language. Follow APA rules for attributing sources that support your analysis and conclusions.

Case Law Analysis: Judicial Concepts Scoring Guide