A Course to Meet the Unique Needs of Business Prelaw Students*

• Date: 01 January 2009
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1722.2009.00059.x
• Published date: 01 January 2009
• Author: Paulette L. Stenzel

A Course to Meet the Unique Needs

of Business Prelaw Students

n

Paulette L. Stenzel

n

I. INTRODUCTION:THE ROLE OF LAW AND LAWYERS

IN SOCIETY

When I was accepted into law school, I had never met an attorney and

never taken a law course. I was a Spanish and French high school teacher

in a small Northern Michigan town. I loved teaching, but I knew I would

not be satisfied by a long-term career in that setting. Therefore, I set out to

look for additional education that would provide me with intellectual chal-

lenge and enable me to choose among a variety of career tracks. In ad-

dition, I wanted to serve others, and I had a vague idea that a legal

education would help me to do so. When I was accepted by Wayne State

University Law School, the only law school to which I had applied, I called

Susan Bensinger, an acquaintance from college, and asked for help by

saying, ‘‘I know you married a lawyer. Would he be willing to meet with

me?’’ In response, she introduced me to her husband, Richard Bensinger,

and he invited me to meet with him. During our visit, we toured his office,

and I met other attorneys as well as legal secretaries and assistants.

1

It was

an overdue introduction to law, giving me information about one kind of

law firm. Now that I advise and teach prelaw students at a major university,

I want to make sure that my students are far more knowledgeable than

I was about the law school application process, factors to consider in

choosing a law school, and potential career paths in law.

When I began teaching at Michigan State University (MSU) in 1982,

we did not have a course designed to meet the needs of our business

r2009, Copyright the Author

Journal compilation rAcademy of Legal Studies in Business 2009

1

Journal of Legal Studies Education

Volume 26, Issue 1, 1–46, Winter/Spring 2009

n

Professor of International Business Law, Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State

University. I am grateful to my undergraduate research assistant Stephanie L. Mills for help

with research and editing of this article.

1

Thank you to attorney Richard G. Bensinger, Gaylord, Michigan.

prelaw majors in the Eli Broad College of Business (Broad College).

2

In the fall of 1992, MSU changed from an academic system with three ten-

week terms

3

per year to one with two fifteen-week semesters.

4

In the tran-

sition, the two course requirement (four credits each) for most business

majors was reduced to one semester course (three credits). We designed a

new course called Business, Law, and Public Policy (Law and Public Policy) and

established it as a requirement for all business majors except accounting

majors.

5

Thus, it is required for business prelaw students (prelaw majors)

also.

6

In addition, we used the opportunity to redesign our prelaw major

relying on existing courses in the university plus a new capstone course for

prelaw majors. That course is the subject of this article.

As we reviewed prelaw programs and courses available throughout

our university, we did not find any offerings designed to help students

think about law school and a career in law. We did, however, identify

courses that could help with writing and substantive law. Therefore, we

changed our prelaw major requirements in two ways. First, we updated

our list from which students select two courses from outside the Broad

College.

7

We selected courses that provide students with writing experi-

2

The MSU College of Business was renamed the Eli Broad College of Business in 1991. See

http://www.bus.msu.edu/information/about/history.html (last visited Oct. 7, 2008). The num-

ber of prelaw students in our college has consistently been about 9 to12 percent of business

majors. In the spring semester of 2003, there were 4988 undergraduate students in Broad

College. Among those students were 574 General Business Administration–Prelaw (GBL)

majors. In the spring semester of 2007 (the most recent date for which figures are posted),

there were 5328 undergraduate students in Broad College. Among those students were 495

GBL majors. Office of the Registrar Enrollment and Term End Reports, http://www.reg.msu.edu/

RoInfo/EnrTermEndRpts.asp(last visited Oct. 7, 2007).

3

Some universities call such segments quarters.

4

Archived Description of Courses, http://www.reg.msu.edu/ROInfo/DescYearIndex.asp (last vis-

ited Oct. 7, 2008.)

5

Accounting majors are offered an alternative course modeled on Law and Public Policy that

incorporates law materials needed for preparation for the CPA exam.

6

As a part of budget cuts in 1992, the GBL department was abolished and GBL became a

program within the existing Department of Finance. Our group within the finance depart-

ment is called General Business–Business Law,and the acronym GBL is used to designate our

courses as well as our group. The major is supervised by GBLprofessors in the Department of

Finance who make decisions regarding the academic program for prelaw majors and advise

prelaw majors.

7

Through spring term of 1992, prelaw majors were required to take the two courses required

for nearly all business majors. The only difference was that, in addition to the two required

2 Vol. 26 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education

ences, exposure to substantive law (such as constitutional law), and e xpo-

sure to subject matter that is useful as background for the study of law

(such as constitutional history, ethics, and logic).

8

Second, we created a

capstone course for the prelaw majors.

The capstone course is The Role of Law and Lawyers in Society (Law

and Lawyers).

9

Students’ achievements and feedback from current students

and graduates over the past fourteen years confirm that Law and Lawyers

provides multiple benefits for students. Yet such courses do not exist in

most colleges of business.

10

In fact, prelaw programs are not prevalent in

schools of business. Professors Carol Miller and Susan Crain write that,

as of 2005, 404 U.S. universities had undergraduate programs in busi-

ness and were accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate

Schools of Business (AACSB).

11

Fifty-seven accredited universities were

identified as offering sixty-seven law-based degrees.

12

And among those

programs, only ten were housed in AACSB-accredited business colleges,

and those programs did not require many business law classes.

13

Miller

and Crain say, ‘‘[p]re-law programs are most frequently housed outside

the college of business (and often do not even include a business law

class).’’

14

As of April 2008, there are 459 U.S. universities accredited by

business courses, our prelaw majors were required to choose two courses from a slate pre-

pared by our GBL faculty.The list included courses from the departments of Political Science,

Philosophy, Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures.

8

For a list of courses, see Undergraduate Academic Services: General Business Administra-

tion–Prelaw, http://www.bus.msu.edu/undergrad/majors.cfm?major=gbapl(last visited Oct. 7,

2008).

9

Law and Public Policy is a prerequisite to Law and Lawyers.

10

In my conversations with colleagues from the Academy of Legal Studies in Business and

through a search of Web sites for major business colleges, I have not learned of similar re-

quired courses in the United States. Nevertheless, there are likely to be such courses, and I will

be delighted if this piece leads to contact from others who are teaching courses with similar

objectives.

11

Carol J. Miller & Susan J. Crain, Law Based Degree Programs in Business & Their Departments:

What’s in a Name?,24J.LEGAL STUD.EDUC. 235, 236 (2007). For background on the AACSB,

see http://www.aacsb.edu (last visited Oct. 7, 2008).

12

Miller & Crain, supra note 11, at 236.

13

They usually require other business, social science, or English classes. Id.

14

Id.

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