Foundations of Business Law and Legal Environment

Reviewed by Elizabeth Nowakowski, Associate Professor, Paralegal & Legal Studies, Bristol Community College on 6/29/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

I have been using parts of this book in multiple classes where I teach using OER. I use some of the foundation chapters in my "Introduction to Legal Studies" class and I use more advanced chapters in my "Business Organizations for Paralegal" course. I like this book because it offers a very comprehensive coverage of each topic. I really appreciate the cases and exercises that come at the end of the chapters, which I often use as well. ok.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found the content to be accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content is relevant and not needing any supplementing.

Clarity rating: 5

Students have commented that the book is easy to follow.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is consistent throughout the book.

Modularity rating: 5

I like the interface and the way the book is laid out. I can links to particular chapters without sharing the entire book.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The material is very well organized within the chapters.

Interface rating: 5

The click throughs within the books and chapters are very helpful.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I haven't seen any typos or grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is culturally sensitive.

Comments

This book can be used in different ways - either in its entirety in a Business Law class (where the instructor would still have to pick and choose the material to cover) or, as I have done, use individual chapters in a OER class where materials from various sources are used throughout the semester.

Reviewed by Jason Roberts, Instructor, Portland Community College on 1/7/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Appropriately comprehensive for a lower undergraduate course in the subject. One noticeable omission is any serious discussion of intellectual property issues (patent, trademark and copyright) each of which likely merit a section of their own in a text like this.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

As a broad based overview of the subject, the book is accurate throughout. It largely avoids delving into nuanced concepts, or applications of law specific to limited jurisdictions, areas likely to be volatile. An instructor should expect to supplement materials with information that is relevant for jurisdictions they are teaching in, or significant recent developments.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Content deals largely with broad principles of business law, and avoids treatments of specific cases or rulings. As such it is likely to remain relevant. Since the book is organized into discrete topic units, content areas requiring updates can be easily updated.

Clarity rating: 5

Prose is straightforward, suitably readable for a lower undergraduate course. New terminology is defined, and examples are frequently provided.

Consistency rating: 5

Each chapter and section is consistent in terms of structure.

Modularity rating: 5

Book is made up of 32 chapters, each on a discrete topic. Within each chapter are sections that are prefaced by a "Learning Takeaways: summary, and conclude with "Key Takeaways" and exercises. As such this book could easily be used in a course that was a broad overview at an undergraduate level of business law, or as a text that was a smaller in-depth look at particular topics. Individual sections would be excellent supplementary materials for other courses, where relevant, as well. Chapter 30: Employment Law in an HR course, or chapters 20 to 23 on business entity choices in a general business course for example.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The only odd choice made by the other was to place the chapters dealing business entity types in the middle of the text. Given that so many other topics stem from this, it would seem to be more logical and intuitive to place this as one of the earliest matters discussed.

Interface rating: 4

Note that the pdf version does not have a table of contents included. This is a minor navigational annoyance. Otherwise the interface is solid.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No noticeable grammar errors, or other linguistic issues.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

Book is neither culturally offensive or insensitive. That being said, hypothetical examples do not use a wide range of individuals with different backgrounds.