Reference: Business Law Legal Environment, Online Commerce, Business Ethics, and International Issues. Eighth Edition.

By: Henry Cheeseman

Short Topics

• How law is defined
• How courts of different states can use decisions made in other states
• The doctrine ofstare decisis
• Distinguishing features of the common law legal system
• Branches of the government and how they affect law
• Why common law was "common"
• Different legal theories and Schools
• Uniform Commercial Code
• Common vs. code vs. civil law
• Role of the Constitution and judicial branch of government

Long Topics

• Positives and negatives of relying on a precedent with examples; judges' leeway
• Precedent (or lack thereof) in modern cases with new issues not previously addressed

Short Topics

• Types of courts in the United States and their power
• Jurisdiction (subject matter, in personam, etc.)
• Venue vs. standing

Short Topics

• What a default judgment establishes
• Motion for summary judgment
• The process of an appellate court
• Cross-complaints and answers
• Forms of alternative dispute resolution

Long Topics

• The purpose of a trial when both parties know what will be said

Short Topics

• States' entitlements to representatives, senators
• The Bill of Rights and what it applies to
• Federal vs. state powers
• Major Constitutional clauses and their impact on business
• The Fourteenth Amendment
• Free speech and protected speech (commercial, political, offensive)

Short Topics

• What a tort is
• Characteristics of a malicious prosecution case
• Determining liability for conversion of personal property
• Comparative negligence and contributory negligence
• Doctrines (negligence per se,res ipsa loquitor, public use, etc.)
• Characteristics of assumption of risk in a negligence case

Short Topics

• What the plaintiff must prove in a product liability case
• Generally-known danger defense
• Applying breach of warranty, negligence, and strict liability
• Avoiding and assigning liability in the chain of distribution
• Designing products to avoid liability

Long Topics

• Recovering in product liability and eliminating the need to prove negligence; who wins and loses

Short Topics

• Misappropriation of trade secrets and how to recover
• Federal legal protection of trade secrets
• Trademark registration and renewal
• What a plaintiff must prove in a trademark infringement case
• Doctrines related to granting patents
• What can and cannot be patented
• Statutory period for patent protection

Long Topics

• Determining how much a business should be allowed to sell something for during patent protection
• Why patent protection limits exist; patenting vs. not patenting an item
• Length of copyright validity and the advantages and disadvantages of that period

Short Topics

• Characteristics of guilt in a criminal trial
• An indictment vs. an information in criminal law
• Offenses for which imprisonment can be imposed
• Probable cause in the criminal process
• Two elements required to prove guilt of a crime
• Bribery, fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, robbery, burglary, etc.
• Basis for criminal law and what constitutes criminal liability
• Proving a pattern of racketeering under RICO

Short Topics

• Types of contracts
• Contracts: unilateral vs. bilateral, implied vs. express, executory vs. executed
• Requirements for creating an enforceable contract
• Common law as a source for contracts (state vs. federal law)
• The adoption of the Uniform Commercial Code
• The purpose of the Uniform Information Transactions Act
• Describing a contract
• Characteristics of an express contract

Short Topics

• Who can communicate an offer
• Valid offers and counteroffers
• Rejecting offers and when rejection is effective
• When an offer lapses

Short Topics

• Requirements for a contract's validity
• What legal consideration is
• Promises and not keeping them
• Consideration in a two-party contract
• Promising to deliver merchandise in the future

Short Topics

• Contracts involving minors, including after becoming an adult
• Contracts with someone who has been adjudicated insane
• Avoiding contracts based on intoxication
• Usury laws
• Breach of contract when contract calls for violation of a statute

Long Topics

• Exculpatory clauses and their validity and enforceability under different circumstances
• Covenants not to compete and their enforceability under different circumstances

Short Topics

• Misrepresentations of law and how they relate to fraud
• Duress
• Being mistaken and rescinding a contract

Short Topics

• The Statute of Frauds
• Measuring the 1-year period for written contract under Statute of Frauds
• When a contract is oral vs. when it is written
• What parol evidence is, what the parol evidence rule does