The Business Law “competency requirement” may be satisfied in several ways:
1. Based on Professional Designation: Students enrolled in the joint JD/MBA program or who already hold a JD degree are exempt from the competency requirement.
2. Based on Academic Experience: Students who have completed graduate courses in business law may petition for a waiver of the requirement. Such courses must demonstrate sophisticated and comprehensive coverage of legal concepts, standards, systems and institutions in the specific context of the business environment. Students must submit: (a) a copy of their transcripts with the relevant graduate courses highlighted; (b) a copy of the syllabi for the courses taken; and (c) a statement discussing the courses’ coverage of the Learning Objectives for the FTMBA Business Law Competency Requirement (found on the next page of this document). Factors to be considered in evaluating the waiver request include: how recently the graduate courses were taken; the number of such graduate courses taken; the depth and rigor of the graduate courses; whether the graduate courses satisfy the Business Law Learning Objectives; the student’s performance in the graduate courses; and, if the graduate courses were taken in a non-U.S. jurisdiction, whether the topics covered were sufficiently international in scope to provide understanding of both civil and common law legal systems.
3. Based on For-Credit Coursework: The student may select and successfully complete one or more courses from the following menu of for-credit courses. The menu approach provides students the opportunity to customize their selection to match their career interests.
BL 504 / ES 504 Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship
BL 507 Law of Finance and Banking
BL 509 Intellectual Property Law
BL 511 Real Estate Law
BL 512 Foundations of Business Law
BL 513 Law of Marketing
BL 514 Legal Aspects of Managing Human Capital and DEI
BL 517 Law of Business Organizations
The overall goal of the Business Law curriculum in the FTMBA program is to develop future business leaders who will enable their organizations to fulfill the legal aspects of their business responsibilities and who understand how organizations can achieve competitive advantage by reducing legal risk and using the law responsibly to create economic value and to make a positive difference in the world. The legal literacy goals of the Business Law curriculum can be achieved in the context of a wide variety of legal subject matter, such as intellectual property law, employment law, business organization law, or the law affecting finance and banking, marketing, or real estate. The Business Law Area promotes flexibility and freedom of student choice by providing students with a menu of options for achieving these learning goals.
The Learning Objectives in all of these options include:
- The ability to compare how various legal systems, standards, and institutions function, to analyze the relationship between law and business, and to utilize legal resources, such as contracts, statutes, regulations and case law in the specific context of the business environment
- The ability to identify and proactively manage the legal dimensions of decision-making in a global business environment that is often complex, uncertain, and/or ambiguous
- The ability to engage as a business leader in productive relationships with legal advisors, including the abilities to determine when to seek professional legal advice and to communicate effectively with legal counsel
- The ability to evaluate and implement legal advice and to manage legal risk and ambiguity effectively and appropriately
- The ability to effectively defend business decisions that implicate legal matters and to effectively communicate legal concerns to the media and to shareholders, directors, employees, customers, government regulators, suppliers, and other stakeholders
rev. 04/23