Majoring in Legal Studies in Business

A major in Legal Studies in Business introduces you to the principles of the law, social values, moral concerns, financial regulation, insurance, risk management, and intellectual property, to name a few, and how these concepts relate to business and commerce. The Legal Studies major helps students develop essential non-quantitative reasoning skills that leaders must use in making complicated choices under circumstances of empirical and moral uncertainty – a common theme in rapidly changing markets. Legal Studies majors develop many analytic skills, including the ability to identify legal and moral issues concealed within complicated and multifaceted fact patterns; the ability to use legal and moral principles to form ethical and legal conclusions; the ability to reason by analogy between like cases and circumstances; and the ability to argue from legal and moral rules and precedents to form logically consistent recommendations for action.

Legal Studies in Business Major Degree Requirements

To complete a Legal Studies in Business major, two courses are required:

• In Business Law, you’ll start with the basics of contracts, then explore the intersections of law and business, including business entities, basics of contracts, mergers, bankruptcy, and specialized topics like property law, insurance law and estate law.
• In Legal Writing and Research, you’ll be introduced to legal databases and learn how to interpret and apply case law and how to draft memoranda and briefs.

You’ll take 12 hours of Legal Studies electives, choosing from courses covering a wide variety of topics including taxation, discrimination, employment, e-commerce and white-collar crime. Sample classes include:

• In Preventing Discrimination in Business, you’ll examine the effect of legal and regulatory requirements on business decisions regarding issues of race and inclusion. The course focuses on the legal requirements and ethical implications of business decisions regarding racial and discriminatory issues in a variety of business endeavors.
• Billions of people are active on social media, and firms such as Google, Facebook, Amazon and Alibaba are among the world’s most valuable and influential. The Law of E-Commerce covers topics including dispute resolution, cyber torts, crimes, intellectual property issues, risk management, information security and privacy issues.
• White Collar Crime addresses the unlawful activities that damage major corporations and financial institutions; Federal, state and local governments; and private organizations and individuals. You’ll learn about specific offenses such as fraud, obstruction of justice, bribery, environmental crime, computer crimes, currency crimes, insider trading and RICO.

As a legal studies major, you may be able to take advantage of special opportunities only available at Freeman.

• You can apply for Court Watch, a service-learning course that will send you into court to analyze the efficiency of the New Orleans criminal justice system by observing how judges preside over criminal trials.
• You may choose to take Mock Trial, a year-long course that includes simulation exercises involving trial preparation and trial procedures, including motion filing and oral arguments.

In addition to elective requirements within your major, you will also complete 12 hours of general business electives. For these courses, you can choose from any academic area, as long as you are not also counting them toward your major requirements. With electives, you can explore topics outside your major that will apply to the career path you ultimately choose. If you wish, you can use these 12-credits towards an additional Freeman major, minor or certificate (our Freeman academic advisors can guide you through your options).