You've Got A Deal! Using the Film Draft Day to Teach Fundamental Contract Law and Analytical Skills

Date01 January 2017
AuthorFarzad Moussavi,Judith Kish Ruud,William N. Ruud
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/jlse.12056
Published date01 January 2017
Journal of Legal Studies Education
Volume 34, Issue 1, 41–61, Winter 2017
You’ve Got A Deal! Using the Film
Draft Day to Teach Fundamental
Contract Law and Analytical Skills
Judith Kish Ruud,William N. Ruud,∗∗ and Farzad Moussavi∗∗∗
I. INTRODUCTION
Undergraduate business students in the United States generally take business
law or the legal and social environment of business courses (introductory
courses).1Faculty teaching such introductory courses help students develop
critical thinking skills and learn important laws influencing business.2Con-
tract law is essential to business law students because it pervades business
and makes our free-market system operate fairly and effectively.3Therefore,
Attorney, Adjunct Professor Department of Communication, Marietta College, (formerly Ad-
junct Instructor of Management, University of Northern Iowa).
∗∗President and Professor of Management, Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio (formerly, President
University of Northern Iowa).
∗∗∗
Chaired Professor, Robert & Margaret Bradford Chair in International Business, University
of Northern Iowa College of Business Administration, Cedar Falls, Iowa.
1See, e.g., Shelley McGill, The Social Network and the Legal Environment of Business: An Opportu-
nity for Student-Centered Learning, 30 J. LEGAL STUD.EDUC. 45, 46 n.6 (2013); Susanna C. Mon-
seau, Multi-Layered Assignment for Teaching the Complexity of Law to Business Students, 4 INTLJ.
CASE METHOD RES.&APPLICATION 531, 531 (2005); AACSB Eligibility Procedures and Ac-
creditation Standards for Business Accreditation (2016, Jan. 31) at 29–32, AACSB Eligibility
Procedures and Accreditation Standards for Business Accreditation (2016, Jan. 31) at 29–32,
http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/standards/2013-business.
2Monseau, supra note 1, at 531; Susan Park & Denise Farag, Transforming the Legal Studies Class-
room: Clickers and Engagement, 32 J. LEGAL STUD.EDUC. 47, 61 (2015) (discussing how legal studies
courses in business schools often require that students learn general legal rules and apply those
rules to issues to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills).
3TONY MCADAMS ET AL., LAW,BUSINESS,&SOCIETY 237(10th ed. 2015); see, e.g., Larry A.
DiMatteo & T. Leigh Anenson, TeachingLaw and Theor y Through Context: Contract Clauses in Legal
Studies Education, 24 J. LEGAL STUD.EDUC. 19, 25 (2007); Catherine Jones-Rikkers, Active Learning
C2017 The Authors
Journal of Legal Studies Education C2017 Academy of Legal Studies in Business
41
42 Vol. 34 / The Jour nal of Legal Studies Education
contract law is one of the most important areas of law taught in introductory
courses.
The primary teaching pedagogies for introductory courses are lecture
and analysis of case excerpts illustrating a single point. Those pedagogies
have their strengths and weaknesses.4Lectures can be stimulating, but as
passive activities they often cause students to lose interest.5Similarly, case
excerpts show how the law relates to “real” situations; however, it is difficult
for undergraduates to analyze information that has been severed from its
context.6
Thus, scholars recommend supplementing7traditional pedagogies with
pedagogies like film to improve student learning. Using film gives students
the context necessary to understand complex and abstract lecture and text-
book material.8To further enhance student learning, scholars recommend
in the Legal Environment of Business Classroom,16 J. LEGAL STUD.EDUC.174, 177 (1998) (explaining
that contract law often comprises one-third of introductory course content); Marc Lampe, ANew
Paradigm for the Teaching of Business Law,23J.L
EGAL STUD.EDUC. 1, 6 (2006) (discussing that
introductory course content includes contract law); O. Lee Reed et al., The Role of Contracts in
the Introductory and Only Law Course That Most Business Students Will Ever Take, 9J.L
EGAL STUD.
EDUC. 1 (1990) (discussing the importance of contract law in introductory courses).
4John Collins, Learning to Make Business Decisions in the Shadow of the Law, 17J. LEGAL STUD.EDUC.
117, 117–18 (1999); Larry A. DiMatteo, Contract Stories: Importance of the Contextual Approach to
Law,88W
ASH L. REV. 1287, 1288 (2013); Jones-Rikkers, supra note 3; Lampe, supra note 3.
5See, e.g., Abdullah Al-Bahrani & Darshak Patel, Using ESPN 30 for 30 to Teach Economics,81S.
ECON. J. 829, 829–31 (2015); Kermith V. Harrington & Ricky W. Griffin, Ripley, Burke, Gorman
and Friends: Using the Film “Aliens” to Teach Leadership and Power, 14 J. MGMT.EDUC.79, 79 (1990)
(discussing that unlike some traditional pedagogies, film does not cause students to become
confused and detached); Kristen Stowe, A Quick Argument for Active Learning: The Effectiveness of
One-Minute Papers,10J.E
CON.EDUC. 33, 33–38 (2010); Edith R. Warkentine, AALS Contracts
Transcripts: Why Teach Contracts Transactionally? 34 U. TOL.L.REV. 723, 723 (2003) [hereinafter
Warkentine, Why Teach Contracts].
6DiMatteo, supra note 4, at 1292–93 (discussing the difficulty of analyzing cases that are severed
from their context); see also Edith R. Warkentine, Kingsfield Doesn’t Teach My Contract Class; Using
Contracts to TeachContracts,50J.L
EGAL STUD.EDUC. 112, 115–16 (2000) [hereinafter Warkentine,
Kingsfield].
7Jones-Rikkers, supra note 3, at 173–74; Donna M. Steslow & Carolyn Gardner, More than One Way
to Tella Stor y: Integrating Storytelling into YourLaw Course, 28 J. LEGAL STUD.EDUC.249, 271 (2011);
see also Monseau, supra note 1, at 532 (explaining that most professors regularly implement new
teaching techniques and discard others to improve student learning).
8George W. Kester et al., Hollywood Movies in the Classroom: Bringing Finance and Busi-
ness Ethics Alive, Acad. of Bus. Educ. Proc. (2009), http://media.wix.com/ugd/4ccb80_
04416f90e87e47b78f39da5633b92ece.pdf; McGill, supra note 1, at 84; see also, e.g., DiMatteo,

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