Michael J. O'Hara Office Hours

CBA 502 UNO Omaha NE 68182 Monday & Wednesday 10:00 - 11:30 a.m.

(402) 554-2823 (with voice mail) Wednesday: 5:30 - 6:00 p.m.

mohara@unomaha.edu and by appointment

fax (402) 554-2680

web http://unicron.unomaha.edu/faculty/mohara/web/ohara.htm

 

ADVANCED BUSINESS LAW

Fall 1998

LAWS 3920-001 # 01749 Monday & Wednesday 8:30 - 9:45 a.m. CBA 218

LAWS 3920-002 # 01750 Monday & Wednesday 11:30 - 12:45 p.m. CBA 208

the final exams will be on Wednesday, December 16th

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

3 credit hours. "LAWS 3920 focuses on commercial law, employment law, business organizations, and the regulation of business. Ethical and international issues are addressed. Intended primarily as a required course for business administration students, may be an elective for students outside CBA, especially students in the College of Information Sciences and Technology. Prerequisites: LAWS 3910, its equivalent, or approval of the department Chair."

 

GRADED EVENTS:

An "A" is earned with a total course percentage of 90.0% or more; a "B+" is earned with 85.0% or more; a "B" is earned with 80.0% or more; etc. Assignment grades and course grades will be posted on the O'Hara's web page.

 

100% EXAMS

A student may reasonably expect a class mean of between 70 and 80 on Exams #1, #2, #3, and the Solo Final; as well as reasonably expect a class mean of between 80 and 90 on the Group Final. Reflecting differences in study effort, a student may reasonably expect a large variance around the class mean. Thus, without extra credit, the low end of the expected class mean for the course is a 72% while the high end of the expected class mean for the course is an 82%. A wise student will plan on attempting to earn all of the extra credit points if the student plans on earning a course grade of "B" or better.

 

TEXTS:

As you progress through college you will move increasingly away from the high school pupil-teacher roles and move increasingly towards university student-professor roles. Pupils typically are passive recipients of information, while students are active gathers and active synthesizers of knowledge. Students do far more studying than do pupils. Teachers typically are dispensers of information, while professors act as guides in the pursuit of knowledge. In this course, many of you will make a major change in your customary roles.

Professors reasonably expect students to: [1] give assigned readings a close reading prior to lecture and [2] learn what can be learned from the text. Professors explore issues in depth rather than providing learners with their initial exposure to the material.

Jargon is necessary for precise and efficient communication. Translating legal jargon "into your own words" is a laudable goal and an excellent learning technique. Successful translation is measured by learning of the jargon. Mastery of legal jargon will be one of your main tasks in this course.

It is not the object of this course to make you a lawyer. Rather, the course objective is to develop your abilities to think and to talk like a lawyer. Why? The prime objective of this course is to prepare you to be an efficient and knowledgeable consumer of legal services during your business career.

 

 

EXAMS:

 

There are five exams: four completed working alone (i.e., Exam #1, Exam #2, Exam #3, and the Solo Final) and one completed by the Study Group (i.e., Group Final). All final exams are comprehensive.

 

Questions on Exam #1, Exam #2, Exam #3, and the Solo Final will reflect the text, the ABL Lecture Notes, and the lectures. Note particularly the Major Topics list immediately after this syllabus in the ABL Lecture Notes and on O'Hara's web page.

 

On Exam #1 there will be thirty-five True/False statements, graded as if there are thirty-three. On Exam #2 and Exam #3 there will be fifty-two True/False statements, graded as if there are fifty. On the Solo Final Exam there will be one hundred and five True/False statements, graded as if there are one hundred. The surplus questions on each exam will be the only curve any exam receives. Also note, the existence of surplus questions will render an ambiguous question as a non-harmless error unless a student wishing to claim injury can identify more ambiguous questions than the number of surplus questions.

 

All of the questions on the Solo Final Exam will be developed from the questions on Exam #1, Exam #2, and Exam #3; except for the questions on microeconomics, which only will appear on the final exams. "Developed from" means that the topics [note plural] within each prior exam question will be fair game for the final exams. Keep your exams and use them as study aids.

 

The Group Final Exam will have twenty (20) "no guess" multiple choice questions with the option to answer a, b, c, all, none, a+b, a+c, or b+c. The questions for the Group Final Exam will be transplanted from the Solo Final Exam (e.g., Solo Final Exam questions 1, 3, and 5 may together become Group Final Exam question 1). For the Group Final Exam, each group may repeatedly submit their exam for grading. As time allows, this may be done up to three (3) times. A sample of a group final exam appears at the end of the ABL Lecture Notes and on O'Hara's web page.

 

The Major Topics list which appears immediately after this syllabus in the ABL Lecture Notes will be used by your professor when constructing your exams. When you are preparing to read the text and when you are preparing to attend a lecture you should consult this list of Major Topics. The Major Topics List is a list of questions to guide your legal analysis, not a list of statements. Also, this is a list of your major memorization tasks.

 

Exam #1 is scheduled for Monday September 14 and is worth 10% of the course grade.

 

Exam #2 is scheduled for Wednesday October 21 (after the new fall break) and is worth 20% of the course grade.

 

Exam #3 is scheduled for Wednesday December 2 and is worth 20% of the course grade.

 

The final exam has two parts worth a total of 50% of the total course grade. Part one is a Solo Final Exam, which will be completed working alone on an in-class exam and is worth 30%. Part two is a Group Final Exam, which will be completed by your Study Group and is worth 20%. All final exam parts are due at the Regent's scheduled final exam time (i.e., on
December 16 from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 am; or on December 16 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., depending upon your enrollment).

 

During in-class exams students shall not wear or use any clothing, hats, glasses, or any other object which obscures the exam proctor's clear view of the student's eyes.

 

Exams from prior semesters appear on O'Hara's web page. Answer keys are not provided so as to improve your learning by discouraging mere rote memorization instead of attentive reading and analysis.

 

The 8:30 and 11:30 exams will be very similar, but not necessarily identical. Seating space permitting, a student may take an exam at either time. Under penalty for Academic Dishonesty, a student who takes the 8:30 exam shall not discuss the exam contents with a student who will take the 11:30 exam.

 

STUDY GROUPS:

 

The class shall divide into Study Groups of three (3) or four (4) members each. The Study Groups will complete the Group Final for a total of 20% of the course grade.

 

Any time before the start of class on Monday November 16 the class may inform the instructor that the class as a whole has formed into voluntary Study Groups. If any student is not in a voluntary Study Group by that deadline, then the instructor will randomly assign all students to Study Groups without any regard to any voluntary groups that purportedly had been formed.

 

Membership in any particular group is voluntary (unless random assignment by the instructor is required). This means you do not have to join any specific group, and nor does any specific group have to accept you. NO voluntary group officially exists until ALL students are in voluntary Study Groups. It is your personal responsibility to see to it that ALL students are in voluntary Study Groups.

 

After the formation of Study Groups has occurred, the withdrawal from the class by one or more members of a Study Groups will empower the Study Groups to
DISBAND ONLY IF the group size is reduced to less than three (3). An additional prerequisite to disbanding is that all of the remaining members are able to voluntarily join other voluntary Study Groups. A Study Group that receives a disbanded person(s) may swell to five (5) members.

 

 

LEGAL ANALYSIS PAPER (extra credit):

 

This extra credit assignment is worth up to 5% of the course grade. This assignment is based upon attending and writing two drafts of a two page typed legal analysis of a live performance of the play All in the Timing.

 

The paper assignment has three parts. Part one is worth 1% and is earned by attendance at a live performance and submitting your cancelled ticket stub along with your First Final Draft. A ticket stub will earn 0% if attached to anything other than a First Final Draft that earns a grade of Pass. Part two is worth 1% and is earned on the First Final Draft of the paper due at the beginning of class on Monday December 7. Part three is worth 3% and is earned on the Second Final Draft of the paper due at the final exam on Wednesday December 16.

 

Performances are staged in the Weber Fine Arts Building (between and south of the Library and the Durham Science Center). Performances start promptly at 8:00 p.m. and generally are over about 10:30 p.m. The play will be staged November 19 to 21 and December 2 to 5. Your professor will attend the Thursday November 19 performance and will be available in the lobby the half-hours before and after the play to discuss the assignment with you. Tickets are available from the UNO Theatre Box Office (near south door of Weber). Reservations may be made by phone at (402) 554-2335 or in person. Reservations are recommended on Fridays and Saturdays; and reservations require ticket pick up prior to 5:00 p.m. on the day of the show. Family members and guests are most welcome.

 

On Monday December 7 those seeking extra credit shall submit two copies of a First Final Draft. During class on December 7, one copy will be graded by another student and returned to the student author. The other copy will be evaluated by the instructor on a pass-fail basis as to whether the First Final Draft is, objectively, a good faith attempt at a "final draft." A pass will earn 100%, while a fail will earn 0%. See Typing Requirements, remember to staple you cancelled ticket stub to your First Final Draft.

 

The Legal Analysis Paper is to be typed on two pages, one page devoted to contracts and one page devoted to torts. You will select one scene from the play for legal analysis on whether a contract is or is not present as well as select one scene from the play for legal analysis on whether a tort is or is not present. You shall conclude either for contracts, or for torts, or for both that there is "no adequate remedy at law" and then proceed to an analysis of the most appropriate equitable remedy. You may use the same scene for both contracts and torts. The purpose of this assignment is to develop and demonstrate your ability to see the application of legal rules in a novel situation where the participants are not necessarily acting with the law in mind. This assignment is to prepare you to use law as it will pop up in your business career.

 

During your final exam time on Wednesday December 16 each student seeking extra credit shall submit one copy of a Second Final Draft which will graded by the instructor. See Typing Requirements. The Second Final Draft will be graded as 100% for papers which are clearly excellent; 80 % for paper that are clearly adequate; 60% for papers of suspect quality; and 0% for the remainder of the papers. It is not necessary to turn in a Second Final Draft to earn the extra credit points for attending the play or for the First Final Draft.

 

 

TYPING REQUIREMENTS:

 

All typed assignments shall be in 12 font, shall be double spaced, shall use one inch margins on all four sides, and shall be typed on only one side of 8 1/2" x 11" white paper. No cover sheet will be used, instead all identifying information will appear in a header, reading from left to right: (1) student author; (2) assignment; and (3) class [e.g., LAWS 3920, Monday and Wednesday, Fall 1998]. All of the sheets shall be securely stapled in the upper left corner: other ceremonial entombment is not welcome. Be sure to staple your cancelled ticket stub to your First Final Draft.

 

The ENRON Computer Lab in CBA 403 has word processing software and hardware for you to use and for which you have been charged a fee. Campus computing rooms in CBA 007, EAB 009, and DSC 104 also provide computer support for which you have been charged a fee. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling do influence your grade. For page limits and other assignment specific TYPING REQUIREMENTS, see the specific assignment. Each significant failure to comply with typing requirements will cause, at a minimum, an automatic deduction of 5% of the assignment grade.

 

ORAL QUIZZES, extra credit:

 

The skill of listening is the most important skill students develop during class participation, this is your principle task when you are not competing for Oral Quizzes extra credit points. Listening is critical to effective management. During Oral Quizzes, most of YOUR TIME will be spent LISTENING to other students solve problems. YOU will waste a huge amount of YOUR class time if YOU do not specifically work on developing YOUR listening skills. The grade you receive for listening will be imbedded in your grade for the Group Final Exam.

 

Oral Quizzes are extra credit and, collectively, are worth either +5% or 0% of your course grade. There is no Make-Up Work for Oral Quizzes. Oral Quizzes are unannounced, but will be so routine as to be almost a daily experience. You will earn +5% extra credit if you routinely prepared to correctly answer questions when you were randomly called on in class. You will earn 0% extra credit if:

MAKE-UP WORK: Recall that the professor's office phone (402) 554-2823 has voice mail and the professor's email address is mohara@unomaha.edu.

 

"Is this absence beyond the control of the student?" will be the central question your professor will explore with you prior to permitting any Make-Up Work. There is no Make-Up Work for Oral Quizzes.

 

Make-up work is strongly discouraged (and not really possible for group work). There are two prerequisites for make-up work.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:

 

Any form of academic dishonesty (e.g., an 8:30 exam taker discussing the exam contents with a person who will take the exam at 11:30; or an exam taker looking on another students exam paper) will be grounds for a course grade of "F."

 

DATE MATERIAL TASKS and DEADLINES